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 socialist members of the industrial wing of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

(ALP), at a time when the ALP's socialist ideology was a matter of intra-party dispute. It was closely aligned with 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 general ...

(IWW) and the One Big Union (OBE) movement. The party was formally founded at a conference in August 1919, with Arthur Rae becoming Secretary and Albert Willis President of the party. The party subsequently announced that George Burns and

William McCristal Timothy William McCristal (1881 – 24 June 1963) was an Australian soldier and left-wing activist, and one of the most prolific unsuccessful candidates for political office in Australian history. He was born in Bellingen into a large Cath ...

would nominate for the seats of

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollong ...

and

Cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

in the 1919 Australian federal election. They were opposed by endorsed ALP candidates and received less than 10% of the primary vote. In January 1920, the party merged with the

Socialist Labor Party The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...

, taking the name of the Socialist Labor Party. In February 1921, the parliamentarian

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 ...

and several other members split from the Socialist Labor Party and formed the Industrial Labor Party, 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 wa ...

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 la ...

member for Barrier 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 in 1920 after his expulsion from the ALP, and unsuccessfully contested the seat of Darling for the Industrial Labor Party in 1922.

Donald Grant Donald MacLennan Grant (26 February 1888 – 11 June 1970) was a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World in Sydney, a member of the Sydney Twelve charged with conspiracy in 1916, and later a member of the Australian Labor Party who was e ...

, one of 12 Australian IWW members gaoled in 1916, contested the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

seat of Sturt at the 1922 state election but received only 7.88% of the primary vote. He later became a member of parliament for the Labor Party. Other members of the party who later became prominent in the ALP were Jock Garden and Jack Baddeley.

References

1919 establishments in Australia 1921 disestablishments in Australia Australian Labor Party breakaway groups Defunct political parties in Australia Defunct socialist parties Industrial Workers of the World in Australia Labour parties Political parties disestablished in 1921 Political parties established in 1919 Socialist parties in Australia {{Australia-party-stub

See also

References