Book review - "1932" by Gerald Stone

You don't usually think of 1932 as being one of Australia's sexier years - too much depression and misery and homelessness, not like, say, 1901, 1942 or 1975. But when you think about it, it was very sexy - the year that Australia didn't go communist/fascist, which is could have, like many countries did during the Depression. Australia had strong reasons than most: heavy borrowing meant Australia's economy was hit hardest than any developed nation other than Italy, the communists were growing in strength, a far right organisation, the New Guard, were doing drills and preparing to come to the "aid" of the king, Jack Lang was refusing to pay interest on Australian bank loans. It was all very hot and bothered but we got through it, in time for World War Two. Stone tells a few stories from this year - a high profile divorce case, a missing explorer, a murder - none of which I was familiar with, but I knew about the main thing, the dismissal of Jack Lang. Stone is very sympathetic to Lang, but also to the Governor Sir Philip Game (contrast this with David Marr in his biography of Barwick who kind of made fun of him). Stone argues that Lang actually acted as a kind of stress relief for the whole nation - the left could pur their radical hopes into him while the right could focus their hate on him, then relax once he was out of the way (heaven knows what would have happened had he stayed in power - is this one reason why that unlike the 1975 dismissal few really argue the 1932 dismissal was wrong? Well, that and the fact that Lang was a thorn in the side of Labor rather than an icon, running candidates against the Labor party and helping keep them out of power - so he is not a Labor matyr).

Stone's book has its flaws - it is very NSW focused (specially Sydney), and perhaps more could have been on the Australian character - our innate conservatism mixed with apathy that as much as anything is responsible, I would argue, for our relative political stability (Australians often argue with/complain about the umpire but continue to play the game cf any Americans south of Canada, who tend to take up arms if they don't get their own way). But its enjoyably written, races along and deservedly puts the spotlight back on an important time in our history.