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Issue No. 136 | 17 May 2002 |
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Modern Labour
Interview: Licking the Wounds Industrial: The Accidental Tourist Unions: Stars And Stripes International: The Un-Promised Land History: Mate Against Mate Politics: Reith's Gong Poetry: You've Got a Friend Review: War on Terror: Now Showing Satire: Burmese Regime Makes Genuine Commitment To Pretence Of Change
The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Postcard Week in Review
 Gangsta RapMore May Day Hate MailWhat Women WantChucking a WobblyIs Caustic Costello the Despot of Despair?East Timor: Independent Or Mendicant?
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History Mate Against Mate
************* Division is a constant in the ALP. V.I. Lenin said that a political party is not a political party until it is divided against itself. The ALP has long qualified in this category, although it has also always failed his idea of what a socialist party is. Conferences used to be a place where different ideas were debated. In 1890 the first steps by labour activists towards political representation were taken. The Sydney Trades and Labour Council's Parliamentary Committee was instructed to consider the advisability of standing Labour candidates in the next NSW election and and to draw up a parliamentary platform. As has been well recorded, the move to parliamentary representation was fueled over the next year or so by the failure of the maritime strike and the perceived need for legislated protection of the rights of workers. Working people in parliament was the way to go. Other sectors of the labour movement were more concerned to move to a revolutionary position, a split in the labour movement that has remained in various ways to this day. The decision to field candidates was successful with 35 labour members being elected in 1891. This success ensured a strong continuing commitment to parliamentary reform. Almost immediately there were problems, as members were seen as not following up on their previous commitment to the labour cause. The Pledge debate was thus initiated, and the first meeting of the elected members, on 3 July 1891, approved a motion by George Black that "in order to secure the solidarity of the Labor Party, only those will be allowed to assist at its private deliberations who are pledged to vote in the House as a majority of the party, sitting in caucus, has determined." Eight of the thirty five objected, about another issue that still inflames debate within the ALP, free trade and protection. George Black recorded that several alleged Labor supporters demanded to be admitted to the meeting, ...and some leaky vessels inside provided ...the newspapers with information". Thus, as Freudenberg put it, two Labor traditions were established, rank and file suspicion of elected politicians, and the caucus leak." The question of the separate identity of the parliamentary party within the movement was a cause of much acrimony, as was the issue of endorsed candidates having a real commitment to the cause of labour, as various members voted against the wishes of the caucus, as the motion moved by Black (see above) required them to. The Pledge was hotly debated at the 1893 Conference. Caucus independence was asserted strongly by prominent members, such as George Black and Joe Cook. William Holman moved to center stage at this conference, so two famous "rats" in ALP history were the main players in the first of many "Unity" conferences. The wording of the Pledge was not popular with the caucus, but was endorsed in a form in the 1894 conference. Holman was Premier in another divisive moment in the history of the ALP. The 1916 conference saw Holman at odds with many in the movement and the party, but on side with the Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, another key figure in organizing the ALP in the 1890s, and both now to become the most famous rats. Holman was already deeply unpopular with many workers for failure to control prices and profiteering during the war, his attitude to pay and conditions of public servants, and his refusal to move to abolish the Legislative Council, as called for by ALP policy. The industrial wing was keen to censure the Premier, but this was avoided by various manouvres. However a key motion was passed at the conference that was to have huge ramifications. Arthur Rae's motion was: "That this Conference solemnly pledges itself to oppose, by all lawful means, conscription of human life for military service abroad, and directs all Leagues and affiliated unions to take immediate steps to oppose all Labor members who vote for or otherwise support conscription, so as to make this matter the issue between the forces of democracy and despotism." So the stage was set in the Prime Minster's home state for a strong anti-conscription mood in the ALP. At the time Hughes had given no indication that he was in favour of conscription. The bitter battles began in August, and lead to Hughes and Holman forming Nationalist governments. The splits lead to a lot of ALP reorganising and faction fighting amongst those who remained. The 1921 federal conference incorporated for the first time a socialisation objective. The NSW ALP avoided this becoming part of the state platform in 1922, with the AWU under Bailey having their last hurrah on this issue. The left was on the rise at the time, with the establishment of the Soviet Union, and the endorsement of communist parties around the world by the Soviet leadership. Lenin's views on the ALP mentioned above were partly based on some of those in the early CPA visiting him and passing on their views on socialism in Australia. The 1923 conference was a battle that lasted 13 days and nights, according to Jack Lang. The role of the AWU under Bailey, and Jock Garden were the big factors. The executive under Bailey expelled Dooley after he had called for a clean up of the NSW party (ie of Bailey). This was Lang's move into the limelight, as he orchestrated the moves against Bailey and established his long and destructive hold on the state ALP. Lang also at this time moved to ensure that Garden's CPA could not affiliate with the ALP, thus establishing the rule that still applies that members of other political parties can't also hold ALP membership. The later battles with the Movement and the standing of its activists as members showed the way this rule was again one designed to protect key ALP values against tactics of the right and left. Lang's hold over the ALP was maintained until the late 1930s. The pressure in NSW to dump him had been mounting for years, but Lang's control over key groups held them off. John Curtin's loss of the 1937 federal election was the catalyst to move against Lang. Then the ALP decisively lost the 1938 NSW elections. Now the Labor Council and the Labor Daily openly opposed Lang. Various anti-Lang moves saw key figures moving into influential positions, against Lang's wishes. Bill McKell was one of these, as was Bill Sheehan, who got onto the federal executive at the 1938 Easter conference. Two events worked to restore the ALP to favour in 1939. The first was the replacement of the UAP Premier Stevens by the dull Alexander Mair. The second was the special Unity conference held in Newtown in August. Public drama, as was usual with ALP bunfights, was the order of the days. Unions who had resisted the drift away from Lang to this point were the key at this conference, and Heffron, the public face of dissent, got all his representatives on the executive, and Lang none. Also the conference reversed the infamous decision of the 1927 conference that the conference was to elect the parliamentary leader. The conference resolved that the parliamentary caucus was to meet within two weeks to elect the leader, deputy leader and officers and ministers. Lang and Heffron, who were the subject of most of the drama, observed proceedings from the gallery. McKell, the man to lead the ALP back to government, appears not to have attended at all. When caucus met on 5 September, McKell emerged as the leader. On 16th May, 1941, after the ALP had been in opposition for nine bitter years he was sworn in as Premier, and the ALP remained in office until 1965. Sources: Graham Freudenberg. Cause For Power: the official history of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party. (Pluto Press, 1991) Christopher Cuneen. William John McKell: Boilermaker, Premier, Governor-General. (UNSW Press, 2000) Robin Gollan. The Trade Unions and the Labour Parties, 1890-4; in; Historical Studies, vol. 7, o.25, November 1955 Bede Nairn. Civilising Capitalism: the beginnings of the Australian Labor Party. (Melbourne University Press, 1989)
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