“A Bloody Migrant Who Thinks He Can Run a Union”: The Case of Jerzy Bielski, a Migrant Trade Unionist in 1950s Australia

Article

Nilsson, Ebony and Persian, Jayne. 2024. "“A Bloody Migrant Who Thinks He Can Run a Union”: The Case of Jerzy Bielski, a Migrant Trade Unionist in 1950s Australia ." Labour History: a journal of labour and social history. 126 (1), pp. 97-115. https://doi.org/10.3828/labourhistory.2024.7
Article Title

“A Bloody Migrant Who Thinks He Can Run a Union”: The Case of Jerzy Bielski, a Migrant Trade Unionist in 1950s Australia

ERA Journal ID34266
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsNilsson, Ebony and Persian, Jayne
Journal TitleLabour History: a journal of labour and social history
Journal Citation126 (1), pp. 97-115
Number of Pages19
Year2024
PublisherLiverpool University Press
ISSN0023-6942
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3828/labourhistory.2024.7
Web Address (URL)https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/labourhistory.2024.7
AbstractJerzy Bielski, a Polish displaced person (DP) who resettled in Australia in 1949, was the first post-war migrant to work for an Australian trade union. He was recruited in 1951 by the Australian Workers Union (AWU) as a migrant unionist and, some years later, established his own migrant trade union: the New Citizens Council. The council faced heavy criticism from within the trade union movement, including by right-wing DPs who, acting as Cold War warriors, were instrumental in the Labor Party split in the mid-1950s. Ultimately, this article argues that migrant trade union activism has a longer post-war history than is commonly acknowledged.
KeywordsDisplaced Persons; Trade Unions; Migrant Activism; Migrants’ Rights; Assimilation
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020430319. Migration history
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Byline AffiliationsAustralian Catholic University
School of Humanities and Communication
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