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Australian Labor Party

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Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party Logo
Current Leader: Mark Latham
Founded: 1901
Headquarters: Centenary House
19 National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
Political ideology: social democratic
Holds government: NSW, VIC, QLD, SA
WA, TAS, ACT & NT
Website: Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party or ALP is Australia's oldest political party. It is so-named because of its origins in and close links to the trade union movement. While Australians normally spell Labour with an "-our" ending, in the name of the party it is spelt with an "-or" ending.

History

No exact date can be given for the founding of the Labor Party. Labour Leagues and similar electoral organisations existed in New South Wales and Queensland from about 1890. Party mythology says it was founded at a meeting of agricultural workers under a tree (the "Tree of Knowledge") in Barcaldine, Queensland, in 1891. The Balmain, New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia. The party as a serious electoral force dates from 1893 in Queensland, 1894 in New South Wales, and later in the other colonies. Labor became a Federal Party when the former colonies of Australia federated in 1901. The ALP was the world's first successful labour party, first forming a minority national government in April 1904, and forming its first majority government in 1910.

The party has historically been committed to socialist economic policies, but, while supporting national wage fixing and a strong welfare system, it did not nationalise private enterprise - an attempt to nationalise the banking system in the 1940s was ruled unconstitutional by the High Court of Australia.

In the 1970s and beyond, the party, through the efforts of Gough Whitlam and his supporters within the party, gave up some of its socialist views and became essentially a social democratic party (though some references to democratic socialism still remain in the party's constitution, they are a contested issue, with some members believing that they are relics and do not reflect the views of the party members or its broader support base). Indeed, during the 1980s the party was responsible for the introduction of many economic policies such as privatisation of government enterprises, and deregulation of many previously tightly-controlled industries, which are normally the province of conservative governments.

From its formation until the 1950s Labor and its affiliated unions were the strongest defenders of the White Australia Policy, which banned all non-European migration to Australia. This policy was partly motivated by 19th-century theories about "racial purity" (shared by most Australians at this time), and partly by fears of economic competition from low-wage labour. In practice the party opposed all migration, on the grounds that immigrants competed with Australian workers and drove down wages, until after World War II, when the Chifley government launched a major immigration program. The party's opposition to non-European immigration did not change until after the retirement of Arthur Calwell as leader in 1967. Subsequently Labor has become an advocate of multiculturalism, although some of its trade union base continue to oppose high immigration levels.

The Labor Party has suffered three major splits. In 1915 over the issue of conscription (the then-leader Billy Hughes supported conscription, but the majority of the party did not support it), in 1931 over economic issues revolving around how to handle the depression (split between those who believed in radical-left economic policy such as NSW Premier Jack Lang and Federal Treasurer Ted Theodore, the centrists led by Prime Minister James Scullin and Federal MP Ben Chifley and the fiscal conservatives led by Federal MP Joseph Lyons). In both of those instances, the Labor Party was splintered by the warring factions, and kept out of power for decades by infighting, but the most devastating split was the 1954 split on communism.

Ironically, the pre-war Labor Party was often a development ground for conservative leaders. Conservative Prime Ministers Joseph Cook, Billy Hughes and Joseph Lyons were all ex-members of the Labor Party, with both Billy Hughes and Joseph Lyons holding very senior positions in the party (Prime Minister and Premier respectively).

During the 1950s the issue of communism caused great internal conflict in the Labor party; many believed that it was being infiltrated by communists and Soviet agents. A large Catholic, anti-communist faction split from the ALP to form the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). Its intellectual figurehead was Bob Santamaria. The DLP was heavily influenced by Catholic social teachings and had the support of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. (The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, however, was opposed to the DLP, and continued to support the ALP.) The DLP helped the Liberal Party of Australia remain in power for almost two decades but the DLP was successfully undermined by the Whitlam Labor Government during the 1970s and ceased to exist as a parliamentary party after the 1974 election. (See also VENONA project.)

The Labor party is well-known for its institutionalised system of factions. These sub-groupings within the party only encompass a small fraction of the membership, but, through strong norms of loyalty, wield almost all of the power. The nature of the factions is constantly changing, and there are separate groupings within each State. Currently, the two largest factions are the Labor Right and the Socialist Left.

Through its membership of the Socialist International, the ALP is affiliated with other democratic socialist, social democratic and labour parties in many countries.

ALP federal leaders

Current ALP State Premiers / Territory Chief Ministers

Prominent past ALP state Premiers

Other past Labor politicians

For current ALP federal politicians, see:

See also

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