July 1967 School Magazine
Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine
JulV, 1961
Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine
July, 1967
which deprive workers of other lands of all the happiness of living and already show themselves in this so-called "Paradise" of the working man."3 Not everybody, however, thought that Trade Unions should become political. In an editorial on October 6, 1890, the Sydney Morning Herald expressed the view that "Our greatest peril comes from the intrusion, which is inevitable unless an end is speedily reached, of the labour struggle into the field of politics. In one colony where a general election is now imminent, preparations are being made for the formation of a labour party. Can the employers of this Colony doubt that similar preparations are being made here? One characteristic of social strife of this kind is its extreme bitterness and violence. Nothing is more certain than that if it is begun the most extreme and violent men will control the situation." Despite resolutions to organize on a national level, however, in practice the party was organized by independent action in the several Colonies. In New South Wales, the Trades and Labour Council sponsored the formation of the Labour lElectoral League. Membership was offered to anyone who subscribed to the platform and paid the dues. Local branches were set up and a central committee, consisting of a parliamentary committee of the Trades and Labour Council and a representative of each branch was established. In the 1891 elections 36 members were returned. They held the balance of power in the Legislative Assembly. In Queensland, the Australian Labour Federation was formed "with Nationalization of the means of production and exchange as its main aims. It soon saw the importance of, moderation if it wet€ to receive electoral support."4 A Convention in 1892 established a fighting platform and drew up a list of immediate demands, all of which pointed the way towards nationalization. The 1893 elections saw 16 Labour Members take their seats in the Legislative Assembly. In Queensland and Nerv South Wales many of the policies advo- cated by labour members corresponded with those of the Liberals but the organization was made distinct by the exclusiveness of the organization and by the close links with Trade Unions. In Victoria, however, the situation was different. A Trade Union Convention had formed the Progressive Political League but the 10 members returned in 1892 did not regard thenselves a Labour party as much as liberais or radiqals with a special . responsibility to the Labour movement. Trade Union dissatisfaction with this situation led to the TraCes Hall Council's calling another conference at which the United Labour Party of Victoria was initiated. The party was not, however, seriously affected by ihe change of..name and continued to be a group of liberali not easily distinguished from other liberals. This was evidenced by the fact that in the 1894 elections, Labour entered an agreement not to contest seats held by well-known liberals, including Alfred Deakin. Report of the First Annual Session of the General Council of the A.L.F., held in Brisbane cn August 1,. 1890. R. A. Gollan. "Australia: A Sccial and Political History", Ed. G. Greenlood. Page I 70. (3) (4)
The situation in South Austraiia and Tasmania was more like that in Victoria than that in the northern colonies. In Western Australia conditions were even less favourable for the emergence of a distinctive Labour party. "Thus from a Trade Union movement for lrrhich an idealist socialism had acted as a cohesive ideological force emerged Labour politics whose political policies bore little -resemblance to The direct influence of sociaiist ideas."s A considerable degree of organization had been achieved within the I,abour p_arty. W. G. Spence reported that in New South Wales, poiitical Labour Leagues were formed in each electorate. With these were affiliated all Trades Unions willing to join. _, _Subscriptions were paid in by members of the League, and the Unions contributed so much per capita, .from their fundsl Some time previous to an election, nominations of persons willing to contest the seat in the interests of Labour were called for. Such-persons had to have been members of some League or Union for at least a year. If more than one nomination was received, a ballot of the members of the League was held to select the candidaie who then had to be approved by the Central Executive. With the nornination, a pledge was signed and three copies were kept - one by the local League, one by the Central Executive and the other by the Parliamentary Labour Par1y. The pledge had been found useful for two reasons. It was both a record and a test. Near election time men came for-ward and said that they quite believed in the Labour platform and were willing to support it ln the House. ,,They are asked to sign the pledge and stand for selection when they ai once find an excuse and shy off. That sort o,f person is of no use to Labour and cannot be depended on. He is bf the old school of opportunists, of whom too many are in political life today."6 In some cases where no local organization was prepared to take up the work o_r where they requested the Executive to do so, the latter-body made the selection. The method in the other States was much the same thoush the names usually differed. In South Australia, it was called the p6ttical Labour Council. The Victorian name was the United Labour party which selected candidates by grouping a number of electorates, leavin! to the Central authority the final allotment of men to the electo,ratesl This allowed for special knowledge being used to advantage, such, for instance, as sending a farmer to a farming constituency. In Queensland the name most used was the Workers' Poiiticat Association. In each State annual conferences were held, the business for which had been sent in by the various sections and then submitted in a printed agenda to all the Branch Leagues and Unions, so that they might discuss it and instruct their delegates. The newly-formed party had some doubts as to the merils of Federation. The 'Australian Workman', the official organ of the New South Wales Trades and Labour Council, asked in its iisue of March 7, 1891, "What is there in this federation of the colonies so far as lies in the intentions of Sir Henry Parkes and his co-federationists, that is (5) R. A, Gollan. "Australia: A Sccial and Political History,,, Ed. G. Greenwood. Page I 71. (6) W. G. Spence. "Australia Awakening", Sydney 1909. page 189.
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