The Socialist Labor Party was a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

political party of Australia that existed from 1901 to the 1970s. Originally formed as the Australian Socialist League in 1887, it had members such as George Black,

New South Wales Premier The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

William Holman William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Party, ...

and

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

History

Australian Socialist League

The Australian Socialist League, a multi-tendency organisation similar to the British Socialist League, was founded on 4 May 1887, and publicly launched several months later on 26 August at 533 George Street,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales Colony. The Socialist League was largest within the state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The League consisted of three major groups, the "Modern Socialists", the " Scientific socialists or Communist-Anarchists", and the "

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

and

individualist anarchists Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-relia ...

" Labor historian

Verity Burgmann Verity Nancy Burgmann (born 17 September 1952) is Adjunct Professor of Politics in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University and Honorary Professorial Fellow in the eScholarship Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, where she ...

describes the Modern Socialists as a unique historical tendency that "espoused a co-operativist strategy: it was a kind of micro-socialism in that it aimed to build socialist society in bits and pieces, by the voluntary establishment of worker-owned enterprises that would eventually form a socialist whole". Between the late 1890s and 1905, the League shifted towards the radical unionist ideas of

De Leonism De Leonism, also known as Marxism-De Leonism, is a Marxist tendency developed by Curaçaoan-American trade union organizer and Marxist theoretician Daniel De Leon. De Leon was an early leader of the first American socialist political party, t ...

. The Socialist League and their ideas were influential within the 1890 Maritime strike and the

1891 Australian shearers' strike The 1891 shearers' strike is one of Australia's earliest and most important industrial disputes. The dispute was primarily between Trade union, unionised and non-unionised wool workers. It resulted in the formation of large camps of striking work ...

. In March 1888 the party sought to establish a Labor Party within New South Wales with the policies of the "

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of land and resumption of all

monopolies A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

". The League supported the Trades & Labor Council's decision in 1891 to establish the Labor Electoral League of New South Wales, and actively campaigned and ran candidates within the party due to a belief the party would eventually establish the League's policies of

state socialism State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition fr ...

. During the 1891 New South Wales election, in some regions nearly half of all the Labor candidates were League members. At its peak the League had several members elected within the Trades & Labor Council, and several elected members of parliament. The League's list of parliamentarians included

, George Black, and

Arthur Hill Griffith Arthur Hill Griffith (16 October 1861 – 1 November 1946) was a politician, teacher and patent attorney in New South Wales, Australia. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1894 until 1917 and held a number of min ...

. By the mid-1890s, the League became dissatisfied with the ability of the Labor Party in achieving its goals of socialism. The League established a newspaper in 1894 named '' The Socialist'' in an attempt to promote socialist ideas. In 1898 the League split from the Labor Party, leaving behind its affiliated Labor parliamentarians, and sought to establish their own Labor Party.

Socialist Labor Party

The party was founded by the Australian Socialist League in 1901 to contest the Australian federal election of 1901. The party nominated six candidates (known as the "Socialist Six") for the Senate seats of New South Wales: Andrew Thomson, James Moroney,

Harry Holland Henry Edmund Holland (10 June 1868 – 8 October 1933) was an Australian-born newspaper owner, politician and unionist who relocated to New Zealand. He was the second leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. Early life Holland was born at G ...

, James Morrish, John Neil, and Thomas Melling. None of the candidates came close to winning a seat. The Socialist Labor Party is credited with introducing the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

to Australia and establishing its first branch in 1908. In January 1920, the party merged with the

Industrial Socialist Labor Party The Industrial Socialist Labor Party, Industrial Labor Party and the Independent Labor Party were short lived socialist political parties in Australia in 1919 and the early 1920s. The Industrial Socialist Labor Party was founded by radical soci ...

, which had broken away from the Labor Party in 1919, retaining the name Socialist Labor Party. The amalgamated Socialist Labor party ran in the

1920 New South Wales state election The 1920 New South Wales state election was held on 20 March 1920. The 24th parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 18 February 1920 by the Governor, Sir Walter Edward Davidson, on the advice of the Premier William Holman. The election ...

, with one of the members

Percy Brookfield Percival Stanley Brookfield (7 August 1875 – 22 March 1921) was an Australian politician and militant trade unionist. He was variously known as Percival Jack Brookfield or Jack Brookfield, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly f ...

winning the seat of Sturt as a Socialist candidate. Brookfield had the balance of power in the assembly following the election but was murdered the following year. Several months before his death, in February 1921, Percy and several other members split from the Socialist Labor Party and reformed the independent

Industrial Labor Party The Industrial Labor Party or Heffron Labor Party was a short-lived but influential political party active in New South Wales between 1936 and 1939. It was a splinter group of the Labor Party (ALP) and was formed by Bob Heffron after he and Car ...

, citing they were "dissatisfied with the manner in which the affairs of that party have been carried on".

Michael Considine Michael Patrick Considine (c. 26 January 1885 – 2 November 1959) was an Irish-born Australian politician and unionist. He represented the seat of Barrier in the House of Representatives from 1917 to 1922. A controversial figure, Considine was ...

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member for

Barrier A barrier or barricade is a physical structure which blocks or impedes something. Barrier may also refer to: Places * Barrier, Kentucky, a community in the United States * Barrier, Voerendaal, a place in the municipality of Voerendaal, Netherla ...

in the federal

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1917, joined the Socialist Labor Party in 1920 after his expulsion from the ALP, and unsuccessfully contested the seat of Darling for the party in 1922 as an Industrial Labor candidate. Support for the party rapidly diminished after the ALP adopted the Socialist Objective in 1921, with many members returning to the ALP and others joining the newly founded

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...

founded in the same year. Unlike many other socialist organisations, the Socialist Labor Party rejected the unity conferences which led to the Communist Party, labelling it as "a front for capitalist spies". The party survived into the 1940s, under the leadership of E.E. Judd. The party was re-established at a significantly smaller size in 1961, and maintained writing its newspaper ''The People'' until the 1970s.

Electoral results

Notes

References