An activist in the movement: an interview with Frank Scully.(Frank Scully)(Interview)

FRANK SCULLY is believed to be the only Labor parliamentarian before the 1955 Labor Split to have been a member of "the Movement", the controversial anticommunist organisation of the 1940s and 1950s led by B.A. Santamaria, which became the National Civic Council in 1957. A former railwayman, he was MLA for Richmond in the Victorian parliament from 1950 to 1958 and cabinet secretary and Assistant Minister in the John Cain Sr Labor government from 1952 to 1955. He was the only MP of the breakaway group that became the Democratic Labor Party to hold his seat at the 1955 election. After losing his seat in 1958, he became a newsagent, first at Yea in central Victoria and later at suburban Sandringham, where he now lives in retirement. He turns eighty-seven in January. This is an edited version of an interview conducted in June 2006.

Robert Murray: You might like to start with how you first got involved with the Movement.

Frank Scully: I first met Bob Santamaria in the early forties. I was working in the railways at the time as a shunter. I was secretary of the South Richmond branch of the Labor Party, and was active in the shunters' section of the Australian Railways Union. I became associated with a fellow named Jack Desmond, a train examiner in the railways. He was the distributor of a magazine called Rail Worker.

In the union elections we stood as Labor candidates, but found it very hard to make any progress without the endorsement of the Labor Party. We'd regularly contest elections and put our tickets up. We'd describe it as a Labor ticket, because we were all members of the Labor Party, but within a very short time "Labor" would be crossed out, and they would put "The Vatican" in. Sectarianism was very strong and it was very difficult.

Was the Rail Worker a Movement publication?

No, it started through Jack and his colleagues, but they went to Bob and sought his assistance. Bob used to give them assistance with the Rail Worker, and that's how I became associated with Bob.

That was in the early forties and my association grew from there. Bob was not a member of any political party, nor a member of any trade union, but he did make it very clear that you joined the political party of your choice and became active in that party.