AustLit

The first issue of The Forum introduced its intention to produce 'a journal all-Australian in scope, in which thoughtful men and women can discuss the problems of Australia and can write and read about the things that interest thoughtful Australians, a journal on the lines of the English "Spectator" or "Nation", modified to suit Australian conditions'. Claiming no interest in appealing to 'class prejudice or class hatreds', it would provide a space for considered discussion of reasoned and honest opinions of every shade, including its own strongly held views, to which it sought to convert others. It believed that 'many, it may be most, of the evils from which Australia, like the rest of the world, is now suffering and of the dangers by which it is threatened are due to the neglect of old-fashioned virtues and old-fashioned truths -- the old-fashioned virtues of self-reliance, thrift, and industry'. In other words, it was serious, responsible, worthy, fair-minded, but anti-Labor. Most issues contained an Open Forum, in which leading commentators argued the case for and against such issues as motherhood endowment, proportional representation, compulsory arbitration, and censorship. It reviewed Freud's Introductory Lectures, and published a five-part series on Communism in Practice. While it covered the serious local and international questions of the day, it also ran regular columns on Turf, Sport, and Games (mainly cricket and golf) and on Art, Music, and Drama (it championed repertory against J. C. Williamson, q.v.).