Gough Whitlam’s Government Was the Victim of a Right-Wing Coup
In 1975, an Australian constitutional coup brought down Gough Whitlam’s reforming Labor government, with the Queen’s governor-general delivering the fatal blow. Whitlam’s fate was a crucial lesson for left-wing movements everywhere: capitalists will only allow so much democracy before pushing back.
Gough Whitlam stands in front of a portrait of SIr John Kerr while at a book launch in Toorak, Australia almost seven years after the coup. (Peter van der Veer / Flickr)
On November 11, 1975, Australia’s governor-general summoned Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam to a private audience at his Yarralumla residence. The governor-general, Sir John Kerr, sacked Whitlam and handed power to the Liberal Party leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker until new elections could be held.
It was a constitutional coup — pushed through, as we now know, with the backing of the CIA. The bosses at Langley referred to Kerr, Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Australia, as “our man.” It also went ahead with the full sanction of the Queen herself.
At the time, progressive social movements and unions were stronger than at any other time in Australia’s modern history, having been encouraged by Whitlam’s reforming government. The news of Kerr’s coup triggered a tremendous backlash, including a national strike wave.
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