Eric Campbell | |
|---|---|
&sq=CIA&lang=en&file=File:Colonel_Eric_Campbell,_1931.jpg) A photograph of Campbell in 1932 | |
| Leader of the Centre Party | |
| In office 4 December 1933 – c. 1935[1] | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Chief Commander of the New Guard | |
| In office 18 February 1931 – c. 1935[1] | |
| Deputy | Sir George Hodges Knox W. R. Cox |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 April 1893 Young, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 2 September 1970 (aged 77) Canberra, ACT, Australia |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Political party | Centre Party |
| Other political affiliations | New Guard |
| Spouse |
Nancy Emma Browne
(m. 1924; died 1970) |
| Occupation | |
| Awards | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Australia |
| Branch/service | &sq=CIA&lang=en&file=File:Australian_Army_Emblem.svg){kind=small} Australian Army |
| Years of service | 1914–1932 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit | First Australian Imperial Force |
| Battles/wars | World War I • Second Battle of the Somme |
| Part of a series on |
| Far-right politics in Australia |
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Eric Campbell, DSO, VD (11 April 1893 – 2 September 1970) was an Australian army officer and later a solicitor who was the leader of the far-right organisation, the New Guard in New South Wales.
Campbell had a distinguished career during World War I, serving as a major in artillery batteries on the Western Front. In Sydney in 1919 Campbell was admitted as a solicitor. He remained attached to the militia for about six years after returning from the war. In 1925 Campbell and another ex-A.I.F. officer organised a group of about five hundred men to provide extra-official support to the federal government to control anticipated unionist protests, in support of the government's efforts to deport two union leaders.
Campbell established a successful practice as a solicitor in Sydney. After the onset of the Great Depression and the election of the Labor government of Jack Lang in New South Wales he became involved with a clandestine ultra-conservative movement (later known as the Old Guard). In February 1931 Campbell formed a militant breakaway organisation called the New Guard, which actively opposed the Lang government, the Communist party and left-wing unions. The New Guard reached a peak membership of about sixty thousand by 1932, assisted by military-style recruiting methods and locally based units and organisers, co-ordinated by a centralised command structure. From January to August 1933 Campbell toured Europe, establishing contacts with British, German and Italian fascist groups. After returning to Australia he introduced fascist salutes and ceremonial trappings to New Guard meetings. These changes and Campbell's public expressions of admiration for Hitler and Mussolini, coincided with a rapid decrease in membership of the New Guard during 1933 (a process that had commenced after Lang's dismissal in May 1932).
As the membership of the New Guard declined, Campbell shifted focus to politics by the end of 1933, forming the Centre Party, a political party with the ambition to destroy the party system. The party failed to make any headway at the 1935 election in New South Wales and afterwards effectively ceased to exist. Campbell began to withdraw from public life and returned to his home town of Young in 1941. In 1945 he unsuccessfully sought selection as the Country Party candidate for the federal electorate of Hume.
Campbell's book The Rallying Point was published in 1965, detailing his version of the establishment of the New Guard. He died in Canberra in 1970.
- ^ a b O'Shea, Louise (2017). "When the Australian ruling class embraced fascism". Marxist Left Review. No. 13.
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