Social+cohesion+and+strikes


 * Social cohesion**

Dissention over the conscription debate: > > > Split in the Labor Party
 * Society was divided into loyalists and disloyalists. That is, those who supported the conscription debate, and those who didn't.
 * There was also division between Catholics and Protestants. Protestans officially supported the conscription debate, while the Catholic church under Archbishop Daniel Mannix, supported the "NO" vote. Mannix linked Ireland's fight for freedom with the anti conscription campaign and even went so far as to label conscription a "hateful thing...almost certain to bring evil..." (M. McKernan, Australians in Wartime)
 * Division also arose between the working class and the middle class. The working class suffered the most under economic harship in that farmers and workers feared a loss of labour. In addition, the middle class questioned the loyalty and patriotism of the working class, which caused greater dissention.
 * Following the first vote on conscription, Billy Hughes left the Labor party on November 14 before it expelled him.
 * In January 1917 the split was confirmed when Hughes and his followers merged with the Liberals to form the Nationalist party.
 * In May 1917 the newly formed Nationalist Party under Hughes won a majority in the House of Representatives.

Strikes and marches:
 * Growing social unrest and economic hardship worsened tensions within society in the year following the first conscription referendum.
 * A government attempt to introduce a new card system sparked off strikes in the railways, tramways, road transport workers, miners and martime workers.
 * By 22. August 1917, 97 500 workers were on strike. (Imagining Australia, Miriams S., Davidson M., Gordon S.) This was the largest industrial action ever taken in Australian history and lasted until 22. October 1917.
 * The strike failed and the workers returned to work, while many were not reinstated.
 * T.W. McCristal, president of the Wharf Labourers' Union and a returned soldier declared: "All kings, governors, bosses and parliamentarians are parasites fattening on the backs of the workers..." (M. McKernan, Australians in Wartime)
 * Historian M. McKernan suggests that "The 'great strike' demonstrated how completely consensus had collapsed." (Australians in Wartime)

Women: > > //**Key Quote: > "The Great War brought no...national revitalisation. It killed, it maimed and it incapacitated...The war...hardened prejudices, accentuated division." (Historian Stuart McIntyre, The Concise History of Australia)**// > >
 * Women took to the streets in 1917 against profiteering and high food prices. The Women's Peace League staged a series of marches in Melbourne between August and September, which saw damage to property and the arrest of its leaders; including Adela Pankhurt, who Billy Hughes tried to deport to England.