Politics in the Union: The Hursey Case by Tas Bull (1977)

Between 1956 and 1959 the Hursey case made the front pages in the newspaper s of Australia.

Frank Hursey and his son Dennis were waterside workers in Hobart who refused to pay a levy imposed by the union for the support of the Australian Labor Party during an election campaign. They were expelled from the union.

The conservatives in society, aided and abetted by some intellectuals who saw themselves as the saviours of mankind from union tyranny, rushed to the defence of the Hurseys. The Labor movement defended the union.

Professor Manning Clark