This little pamphlet brings to light a little of the unwritten history that lies buried in the vaults and backrooms of Australiašs libraries and Archives. The Depression saw an explosion in the number of Australians who were evicted from rented premises and homes, because they couldnšt pay their rent or mortgages.

One of the most moving stories I've been told is by a 74 year old man who told me with tears in his eyes how he still remembers how he helped his sisters and parents load up their meagre possessions in the back of a horse drawn drag because their home in Hawthorn was going to be repossessed the next day. Sixty seven years after the event he still remembered the pain, the humiliation and the utter despair the Depression caused to his family.

Lock out the Landlords demonstrates "that organised grass roots action can make a difference." The book chronicles a number of the instances where tenants and people who had their properties foreclosed by the banks attempted to physically prevent evictions. Information for this booklet has been gleaned from the pages of the Communist Party of Australia's Workers Weekly and the newspapers of the day.

Many of the attempted evictions resulted in full scale battles between unemployed, workers and the police, men, women and children were brutally beaten by police wielding batons.

Unemployed people organised against the evictions through branches of the Unemployed Workers Movement. The UWM lobbied for rent freezes for the unemployed and resisted evictions by picketing. In some cases people were so angry at being evicted, they burnt down the houses they were evicted from.

The chronicle begins with the story of 1000 people gathering to stop the eviction of a family in July 1929, in Adelaide and ends with the story of the destruction of an unemployed camp at Wakool in August 1936.

This handy little pamphlet lifts the lid on history that is barely remembered let alone recounted. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of Australians became involved in a movement to keep the roof over their heads. Lock out the Landlords has rediscovered and retold a story that should not be forgotten and is still relevant today.

This pamphlet is available from Barricade Publishing, P.O. Box 199, East Brunswick, 3057. MELBOURNE, AUST..