
Issue No 104		27 July 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

History

Faded Vision of The American Bounder

King O'Malley was an American ex-pat who dreamed of a people's bank. Neale Towart looks at what happened to his vision.


	King O'Malley

**************

We got a people's bank because we couldn't trust the financiers. Some ALP politicians realized that discontent was rife, especially in rural areas, where the ALP had a lot of support. Andrew Fisher eventually supported the idea and the Commonwealth Bank Bill got up in 1911. Chifley's proposal to nationalise the banks after WWII was prompted by the same ire from the rural sector, and the massive social unrest caused by an unemployment rate of over 30%. The people's bank has gone, but the discontent remains, as One Nation support and Bob Katter's discontent with the Nationals shows.

(SCENE. O'Malley in Federal Parliament)

King: You will listen to me!

If it's ends and means

Then I'll get your attention

By any way at all that is fit for me.

It's a bank

It's a bank

A Federation Bank

That we need here and now

To stop us going bust

With its own note issue

And a plethora of branches

For all the workers' money and the workers' trust.

...

(next scene)

Angel: Once upon a time there was a lovely green meadow called the Labor Party.

Where all the boys got together

While their wives were scrubbing floors

And having children

And they were all happy...

...

King: But, oh best beloved, into this lovely garden came a slinky, sleaky serpent all gaudied up with fancy ideas and nasty remarks. He said they should leave their happy meadow and go places and do things they'd never heard of. He even got some of the children on his side to make a big hole in the garden called a Commonwealth Bank where all the children could bury their toys.

It probably wasn't quite like that. Michael Boddy and Bob Ellis' dramatized the story of the "American Bounder" King O'Malley getting the Commonwealth Bank established under Labor PM Andrew Fisher. You get the idea though.

A people's bank to protect people from the evils of finance capital and overseas bond holders was O'Malley's aim Rural people were some of the key supporters of the idea. Many ALP MPs were opposed as they feared the opposition of the newspapers and public opinion to the idea. O'Malley and Jimmy Catts campaigned hard to change popular opinion on thei ssue. Eventually they got it into the ALP Fighting Platform in 1908. The ALP lost the 1909 election, after not pursuing the ban k policy. O'Malley kept at them and eventually in 1911 a bill for the bank was introduced to Parliament. Some dispute O'Malley's story of the move for the bank, but there can be little doubt that he campaigned long and hard for it, against the small mindedness of his colleagues.

Rural people also were some of the first movers for full nationalisation through the lobbying of the Farmers and Settlers' Association, the forerunner of the Country Party.

The ALP, after the Depression of the 1930s and having acquired increased commonwealth planning powers during the War (taxation powers in particular), sought to nationalise the whole banking industry in 1947. This got massive opposition from the Libs and the finance industry, and was a major factor in the 1949 election loss. Labor supporters, however, had built up huge resentment against banks after the ravages of the 1929 crash and the demand from the banks that all loans, in particular loans to British banks, be repaid and money not be used for Australian reconstruction and employment generation purposes.

W F Sheahan in a pamphlet from the 30s on the nationalisation campaign, set out the credit trickery of banks.

"It was once thought that governments controlled finance, but it was now realised that financial interests controlled governments".

Sheahan attacked the Niemeyer plan (Premier's Plan) which forced Australia into a repayment scheme that protected the bank profits, decided upon by an international banking conference at Basle in 1929 (shades of Genoa, Davos etc) which resulted in a restriction of credit. Our interest burden was very heavy.

"Socialisation of credit is simply the control of credit by the people on behalf of the nation, and not by a limited number of private banks, who now have complete control, and by restricting credit they can force the people to live in destitution and poverty."

"If the Commonwealth Bank had been left to function as it did under Sir Denison Miller, its first governor, it could finance Australia now as it did during the war [World War I].

"If such financing can be done in Australia for destructive purposes, it can be done for productive work," commented Sheahan.

The referendum campaign run by the ALP in office after the defeat of attempts to legislate for nationalisation took on the panic merchants and part of it was addressed to rural people who suffered heavily in the 1930s. As the pamphlet said:

FARMERS WILL REMEMBER

� when dairymen received as low as 6d to 7d per lb. for butter

� when wheat returned the lowest for 300 years

� There were 2,000 deserted farms in Victoria in 1940

� 1,400 farmers in South Australia passed through Bankruptcy Court in a few years

� There were 2,790 deserted farmers in Western Australia

THIS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN AGAIN

IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN IF THE PEOPLE HAVE CONTROL OF THE WEALTH OF THE COUNTRY.

Eddie Ward also campaigned hard on the issue as his pamphlet

Should the People or the Banks Rule showed.

Of course the scare campaign won out.

As Evan Jones pointed out in Workers Online a few weeks ago "In the past, government and community groups created other institutions that by-passed bank intransigence. State government savings and agricultural banks joined with mutuals to complement private sector priorities. However, the constituents of the Commonwealth Bank (Central Bank, savings bank, trading bank and development bank) became the centrepiece of socially-oriented government infrastructure.

"These days the historically sensible procedure of public sector provision is politically unthinkable. Worse, the institutions that were established to counteract and complement the private sector have now been appropriated for the same narrow private purpose."

References

Michael Boddy and Bob Ellis The Legend of King O'Malley; in; Plays of the 70s volume 1 edited by Katherine Brisbane. Sydney: Currency Press, 1998

Dorothy Catts. King O'Malley: man and statesman. Sydney: Publicity Press, 1938

J B Chifley. Bank Nationalization: "the welfare of the Australian Community." (in Things Worth Fighting For. Melbourne Uni. Press, 1952)

A R Hoyle King O'Malley: 'The American Bounder.' South Melbourne: MacMillan, 1981

L C Jauncey. Australia's Government Bank. London: Cranley & Day, 1933

Evan Jones. Banking on Goodwill. Workers Online issue 101, 6 July 2001

Labor's Bank Reforms: Credit Trickery Exposed: address by Mr W.F. Sheahan, LLB

NSW Fabian Society. The Case for Bank Nationalisation.. Pamphlet no. 1

Yes Nationalisation Concerns You! Do you believe in the Welfare of the Community or the Welfare of the Few. ALP NSW Branch

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 104 contents

Interview: A Super Agenda
Labor's federal spokesman on superannuation Kelvin Thompson outlines the challenges a Beazley Government will face in managing the nation's savings.

E-Change: 1.4 The Shifting Sands of Ideology
Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel conclude the first part of their study of new politics by looking for core Labor values in a post-Cold War environment.

Corporate: Locking Horns
The same names keep cropping up in the business pages as the web of corporate control stays tied to a few big players. Georgina Murray has been looking at the extent and depth of the connections.

Unions: The Workers Bank
With banks on the nose, David Whiteley looks at how unions and super funds have got together to create the real deal � the workers bank.

International: Phil Davey's Amazon Postcard
The CFMEU's Boy Wonder has downed the megaphone for three months in South America. Here's what he's been up to.

History: Faded Vision of The American Bounder
King O'Malley was an American ex-pat who dreamed of a people's bank. Neale Towart looks at what happened to his vision.

Activists: The Big Gee-Up
With the big guns of the anti-corporate movement in town, Mark Hebblewhite goes looking for a definition of globalisation.

Indonesia: Where to the Workers After Gus Dur?
At the end of a turbulent week, Jasper Goss looks at the impact of the overthrow of Wahid on Indonesian workers.

Review: Mixing Pop and Politics
'The Bank' is a new Australian film that takes a contemporary political issue and transforms it into a piece of compelling popular culture.

Satire: Milosevic's Defence: "I Was Just Issuing Orders"
Disgraced former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has brushed off against charges for war crimes against humanity and mass genocide.

» Community Banks Are No Collectivists

» Labor Vows to Widen Royal Commission

» WorkCover Finally Fesses Up � Premiums the Problem

» Unions Launch 56 Hour Watch

» Call Centre Campaign Bares First Fruit

» Justice at Last for One.Tel Workers

» Entitlements Push Gathers Momentum

» Employer Dirty on Leave Win

» Rights Put In Too Hard Basket

» AMA Move on Doctors� Hours Welcome

» Aussie Post Workers Rally

» Strike by Airport Guards Lawful

» Workers Rejects Brough Deal

» Unions Will March at CHOGM

» Average Response to Robberies

» Coca-Cola Sued for Using Paramilitary Force

» Activists Notebook