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The Australian Labor Party1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Louise Overacker
Louise Overacker
Affiliation:
Wellesley College
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Extract

In The Politics of Equality, Leslie Lipson points out that modern party organization has “exorcised some of the old devils from the body politic but has invoked others that are new and, as yet, untamed.” Applying to parties John Dewey's statement that

“Individuals can find the security and protection that are prerequisites for freedom only in association with others—and then the organization these associations take on, as a measure of securing their efficiency, limits the freedom of those who have entered into them…. We have now a kind of molluscan organization, soft individuals within and a hard constrictive shell without.…,”

Lipson adds: “How to harden the individuals and to soften the shell, both to the right degree, remains one of the outstanding political problems of our century.”

American parties are extremely soft-shelled mollusks—if, indeed, they have any shell at all. In contrast, the Australian Labor party has as hard a shell as any mollusk in the political zoo.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , August 1949 , pp. 677 - 703
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1949

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Footnotes

1

The field work for this study was made possible by a sabbatical leave from Wellesley College and a grant-in-aid from the Social Science Research Council in 1946–47, both of which the writer gratefully acknowledges. She wishes to take this opportunity, also, to express her appreciation to the staffs of the many libraries who were so helpful. To the trustees and staffs of the New South Wales Public and Mitchell Libraries, Sydney, where she spent so many happy hours, she is especially grateful. This is not the appropriate time or place to acknowledge her inestimable debt to the many Australians and Americans whose interested coöperation made the year as pleasant as it was rewarding. The material in this article is part of a book on Australian Parties and Politics now in preparation. It may be added that the article was written before the coal strike of June-July, 1949, which led the Labor government to take drastic action against the Communist leaders of certain unions.

References

2 Lipson, Leslie, The Politics of Equality; New Zealand's Adventures in Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 1948), p. 241 Google Scholar.

3 Ibid., p. 252.

4 Hereafter cited as the A.L.P.

5 See, for example, Lerner, Max, “The Outlook for a Party Alignment,” Virginia Quarterly, Vol. 25 (Spring, 1949), p. 179 Google Scholar; and various viewpoints expressed in “Next Steps in the Fair Deal,” New Republic, Mar. 7, 1949 Google Scholar, Special Section, Pt. II.

6 The Worker (Queensland), Feb. 6, 1892 Google Scholar. Ryan was successful in a by-election.

7 Quoted in Lloyd Ross, The Australian Labor Movement (unpublished manuscript).

8 The pledge, as drafted in 1895, bound the candidate, if elected, to do his utmost “to secure the carrying out of the principles embodied in the Labor Platform, and on all questions, and especially on questions affecting the fate of the Government, to vote as a majority of the Labor Party may decide at a duly constituted caucus meeting.”

9 In 1947, the New South Wales pledge read as follows: “I hereby pledge myself not to oppose any selected and endorsed candidate of the Australian Labor Party, New South Wales Branch. I also pledge myself, if returned to Parliament, on all occasions to do my utmost to ensure the carrying out of the principles embodied in the Labor Platform, and on all such questions, especially on questions affecting the fate of a Government, to vote as a majority of the Labor Party may decide at a Caucus meeting. I further pledge myself not to retire from the contest without the consent of the Executive of the Australian Labor Party, New South Wales Branch.… I also pledge myself to actively support and advocate at all times the Party's objective—the Socialization of Industry, Production, Distribution, and Exchange.”

10 See Lipson, Leslie, “Origin of the Caucus in New Zealand,” Historical Studies, Australia and New Zealand, Vol. II, No. 5 (Apr., 1942), pp. 1–10 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Western Australia was not organized as a colony until 1890.

12 For an elaboration of this thesis by an able labor historian to whom the writer owes much, see Ross, Lloyd, “The Philosophy of the Australian Labor Party,” Antioch Review, (Spring, 1947), p. 123 Google Scholar. The writer has been greatly assisted by Dr. Ross's unpublished manuscript, The Australian Labor Movement.

13 The article referred to was written by Mr. Brian Doyle, associate editor of the Catholic Weekly, and was published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 20, 1948. The resolution of the 1948 Federal Conference stated that the objective would be attained by “constitutional means,” national planning of economic, social, and cultural development, and the establishment of coöperative activities to train workers in the management and control of industry. It also provided for nationalization of banking, credit and insurance, monopolies, shipping, health services, and sugar refineries. ( Australian News and Information Bureau, Australian News Summary, Sept. 30, 1948 Google Scholar.)

14 The Bank Nationalization Act, invalidated by the High Court of Australia, was appealed to the Privy Council, which upheld the judgment of the High Court.

15 The current wording is: “Cultivation of Australian democratic sentiment, development of an enlightened and self-reliant community, and maintenance of White Australia.”

16 Lloyd Ross, The Australian Labor Movement, unpublished manuscript.

17 Notably the Sydney Morning Herald.

18 Australian News and Information Bureau, Australian News Summary, Sept. 30, 1948 Google Scholar.

19 Cameron v. Hogan, 51 C.L.R. 358 (1934), p. 378. The case arose at the time of the schism over the Premiers' Plan. Hogan, formerly state leader and premier, who had been denied endorsement as an A.L.P. candidate by the party central executive, brought action against Cameron and other members of that body for breach of contract and injunction. The supreme court of Victoria awarded him nominal damages, but refused to grant the injunction.

20 A.L.P., New South Wales Branch, Rules and Constitution (1945–46 ed.). The material which follows is drawn partly from this book and partly from interviews with party secretaries and attendance at meetings of two branches.

21 Men who are members of affiliated unions pay 3 shillings a year; members of non-affiliated unions, 3/6; those not eligible to union membership, 5 shillings. The fee for women is 2 shillings. Old age and invalid pensioners, and the unemployed who have been financial members for two years, are exempted from payment of dues.

22 There were 509 items on the agenda in 1947; 679 in 1948.

23 In Queensland, the executive chooses the delegates to the federal conference, and in Western Australia five are chosen by the district councils, the sixth by the state conference.

24 According to the 1947 census, population is distributed as follows:

25 In both the election and pre-selection, an “exhaustive ballot” is required; i.e., unless every name is numbered, the ballot is invalid or “informal.”

26 Also heatedly denied, it should be said.

27 Accurate figures on the participation in selection ballots are hard to obtain; estimates range from ten to twenty per cent in various areas, with participation much higher in a keenly contested “blue ribbon” Labor constituency.

28 The explanation usually given on these “leaks” is that some caucus members make a practice of giving such information to certain reporters in return for favorable publicity.

29 In the past, there have been 75 members of the House of Representatives (including one from the Northern Territory with limited voting privileges) and 36 members of the Senate. After the 1946 general elections, there were 76 members of the P.L.P. Since 1946, the size of Parliament has been doubled.

30 Held invalid by the High Court of Australia, the 1947 act was appealed to the Privy Council. After its passage, the Labor party lost control of the government of Victoria.

31 Parliamentary Debates, Vol. XIX, pp. 1342–1343, May 19, 1904 Google Scholar.

32 Idem, p. 1355.

33 The story of this controversy is ably told by Evatt, H. V., Australian Labour Leader: The Story of W. A. Holman and the Labour Movement (Angus and Robertson, Sydney and London, 1945 Google Scholar). Holman was active in the New South Wales Labor party from its organization until he was forced out over the conscription issue.

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