Booklet produced by the Australian Labor Party for the 1949 election campaign

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Booklets
Date: 1949
Place: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Materials: Ink, Paper
Collection: People's Paraphernalia collection no. 2
Accession number: 1993.0119.0001

Description

A colour comic book consisting of eight pages and featuring a portrait of Ben Chifley smoking a pipe on the cover. The tile reads "YOU MUST / READ THIS STORY / HOW [Pounds] 18, 000, 000 / GREW TO / [Pounds] 100, 000, 000 / UNDER LABOR"/. The comic book was produced by the Australian Labor Party for the 1949 election campaign. The comic relates the story of how one family benefited from the social security policies of the Labor government from 1943 to 1949. It finishes with the slogan "CHIFLEY SPELLS SECURITY".

The key message of the comic is that a vote for Chifley is a vote for "security". It makes an appeal to the voters on the basis of governments record in relation to social security emphasising measures such as increase in pensions, health care, sickness benefits and the rehabilitation of returned servicemen. It also reminds the reader of the deprivations suffered by Australians during the Depression and implies that a Liberal government would not be as caring. The 1949 election was turning point in Australia's post war history. The Labor government, which had been in place since late 1942, was defeated by the Liberal party under RG Menzies who went onto serve a record term as prime minister. During the election Menzies depicted the Labor party as dangerous radicals who wished to "socialise" Australia's economy. Menzies made considerable capital from the industrial conflict on the coal fields and from the governments proposals to nationalise the banking industry. It would appear that the Chifley comic was part of a strategy to counter Menzies' attacks. It emphasised security and continuity in government policy as opposed to radical reform. The comic is also of interest for the way in which it packages a political message in an accessible and popular format. This may have been a conscious attempt on the part of the Labor party to target male working class voters.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:44:35 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-02-24. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.