Australia Uprooted was the first of a series of popular style economics pamphlets produced by the AMWSU. In the first instance it was sent to every member of the union. The pamphlet featured in the AMWSU’s education programme and then spread quickly into the courses run by the newly emerging Trade Union Training Authority for union shop stewards and officials. The enthusiastic response from union members across the whole movement led to its republication, in the same format, for sale to the public. The public sales were also successful leaving the National Council with a decision on how to deal with the profit.
Australia Uprooted, published by the AMWSU National Council with an introduction by National President, Jack Garland.
Laurie Carmichael led the discussions that enabled the Union’s Combined Research Centre to produce this outstanding example of union communication for workers’ learning about the economy.
The pamphlet features cartoons, graphs and other diagrams, and text in plain language style, thus showing how complex issues can be presented for workers who have not been to a university even completed secondary school.
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Australia Uprooted was followed over the next ten years by several other pamphlets in a similar style: Australia Ripped Off, Australia on the Rack, and Australia on the Brink, all produced by the AMWSU.
All of them emphasised in different ways the living standards linkages between job creation, manufacturing industry, the industrial wage, the social wage, investment and profits, and private ownership of the system.
In 1987, the Labor government published Australia Reconstructed, a comprehensive tripartite report on future government policy arising from a tripartite delegation to northern European countries initiated by Laurie Carmichael and driven by his close associates in the ACTU and the AMWSU. (See separate Item.)