Officially we began in 1955. Constitutionally, we had our prior existence in the original Australian Labor Party that formed, after Federation, from the separate labour parties in the six States. We date back to the colonial pioneers of political labour, around 1890, and are a legitimate successor to the Australian labour movement of that period.
The Australian colonies, then, were in the grip of deepening depression. The wages, hours and working conditions at the time, were typically degrading and inhumane. The plight of working families - of social injustice, poverty and want - was grim.
Trade union strikes through 1890-94 had largely failed in their goal of bringing improved social conditions and the labour movement saw that a "fair go" for workers and their families would only be won through legislation - but legislation framed by governments of the labour movement itself.
Character of the Party
Such governments were subsequently to be formed by the original Australian Labor Party, with Prime Ministers Andrew Fisher (1908-09, 1910-13, 1914-15), Jim Scullin (1929-32), John Curtin (1941-45) and Ben Chifley (1945-49) its foremost, moderate-reformist and inspiring leaders.
The party they led embraced a broad spectrum of staunch labour conservatives, moderate reformers, opportunists and ultra-radical socialists. Factions had always been a part of the policy-making machinery, but the democratic processes of the party and the active involvement of the rank and file kept extremism contained.
Conflict
This was to change in the Curtin-Chifley years when a Communist Party takeover of major ALP-affiliated unions came within reach of subverting the Australian Labor Party. By 1945-48, the situation had become grave and rank and file "industrial groups" needed to be formed, organised and trained to defeat the communists in trade union elections.
By the early 1950's the industrial groups had almost completely curbed communist power in the unions. However, after Chifley, under the leadership of Dr Herbert Vere Evatt, in opposition, that success was reversed. Upon his failure to become Prime Minister in the 1954 election, Dr Evatt made malicious attacks on unionists active in the industrial groups. The Federal Conference held in Hobart in March 1955 acted unconstitutionally and proceeded to ban the industrial groups and change Australia’s foreign policy, which is what the communists wanted.
This was eventually followed by the expulsion of fifty anticommunist Labor Members of Parliament, Labor Party Executives, Frank McManus, Jack Kane and others, Trade union officials and labor branch members. The ALP supported the communists in trade union elections on 'unity' tickets. Once again affiliated unions came under Communist Party control allowing them to dictate the ALP’s policy in critical areas, including foreign affairs and defence.
Responsible Concern
This was unacceptable to patriotic Australians and to responsible members of the labour movement. It involved a serious breach of the ALP's own rules and was to lead, finally, to the establishment of the Democratic Labor Party.
Those who were to be its founders were eminent parliamentarians, trade unionists, constitutionally elected ALP officials and ordinary ALP members, mostly Victorian, who had been unlawfully expelled from the Australian Labor Party in the immediately preceding crisis that came to be known as "the Split".
They were expelled for their resistance to Communist Party designs to infiltrate trade unions and gain control of the ALP. They refused to collaborate with communism, recognising it for what it was - and would remain - an inherently corrupt, economically retrograde and brutally totalitarian ideology.
DLP Federal Conference Delegates Canberra 1958
Standing: J Meere (Vic), B Ryan (SA), F Riley (Vic), F Dowling (WA), B Peachey (WA), P Laserewitch (SA), K Davis (NSW), Dr O'Dwyer (NSW), P Saker (Vic), V Morgan (Tas), B Harradine (SA), A Murphy (NSW), J Atkins (NSW)
Front Row: U Shalew (Minute Sect), Senator George Cole (Tas), R Joshua (Fed Pres - Vic), J Kane (Fed Sect - NSW), Senator Frank McManus (Vic), J Little (Vic), Mrs J Meere (Vic)
Issues at Stake
The overwhelming majority of ALP members and ALP branches in Victoria, where the Split began, joined with the expelled anti-communists.
They knew what was at stake. Labour movement traditions - of democracy, justice and fairness - had been subverted. The rule book had been torn up and the policies of the Australian Labor Party - the alternative government - had begun to reflect the views of extremist union bosses with reckless economic agendas and allegiances to hostile communist regimes.
This posed dangers for democracy in Australia, threatened national security and put urgent social justice priorities for the families of workers at risk.
A Stand on Principle
To protect the national interest and stop the Australian labour movement from becoming the apparatus of the Communist Party, with ALP connivance, the expelled anti-communists had to take a stand - and the Democratic Labor Party began.
It was a noble stand; one that has endowed the Democratic Labor Party with the noblest of origins.
No political party in Australia, other than the Democratic Labor Party, can boast that its parliamentary founders - without any exceptions - were prepared to sacrifice promising political careers to uphold a principle.
All, 51 in total, including 14 ministers and a State Premier were to lose their parliamentary seats in elections following the Split - the outcome of an irrational and derisive media campaign orchestrated by communists and the pro-communist left to undermine public sympathy for the DLP stand.
Vindicated
It was ironic. In the legal battles over succession, after the Split, the Victorian Supreme Court held that those who became the Democratic Labor Party were the legitimate Labor Party and not the renegade ALP that expelled them.
The ultimate testimony to the legitimacy of the Democratic Labor Party and its anti-communist stand was to be the disintegration and downfall of communist military dictatorships across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1989-91.
History was to vindicate the Democratic Labor Party in its steadfast stand and give anti-communism deserved recognition as one of the most consequential political principles of the twentieth century.
Undaunted
Despite the electoral setbacks following the Split, and the media-led unpopularity of its cause, the Democratic Labor Party continued to champion Australian values and Democratic principles.
Holding to these principles, the party fought back. Subsequent elections saw a number of its leaders returned to the Senate. Under successive governments, until 1974, they were to play a "watchdog" role, scrutinising and approving vital legislation before it could be passed into law.
For the Family and the Nation
What the Democratic Labor Party offered was a distinct alternative to that of the other political parties. It was an alternative based firmly on two essential ends – Defending the family and Defending the nation - the policy keystones upon which DLP approval for legislation often had to rest.
The Democratic Labor Party brought a constructive balance to the Senate and this became its hallmark. The distinguished contribution by DLP Senators Frank McManus, Jack Little, Vince Gair, Condon Byrne and Jack Kane ushered in a period, unprecedented in Australia's political history, of stability, prosperity and growth.
Progressive
A pacesetter in the sponsoring of original ideas and policy initiatives, the DLP was the first of Australia's political parties to promote . . .
justice and equity in education funding
the vote for 18 year olds
equal pay for equal work
an independent pensions and needs tribunal
an end to the White Australia Policy
increased family-based immigration
decentralisation of government and industry
strategic development of Australia's inland, north and west
increased budget outlays for regional defence
responsible environmental protection
support for life and traditional family values
capital grants for the family home and for granny flats attached to the family home
a homemaker allowance and income tax splitting for families
a universal living allowance or guaranteed minimum income based on reverse taxation
nationwide portability of superannuation
market and product diversification in trade
producer cooperatives and income stabilisation
long-term low interest loans for small business and the family farm
industrial democracy, worker cooperatives and enterprise profit-sharing schemes
Spirit of the DLP
This progressive outlook has endured over the decades and will eventually prevail. Years of struggle against concerted opposition to the Democratic Labor Party, and what it represents, has served to strengthen and maintain its spirit. The Democratic Labor Party has re-emerged into the Australian political scene with a new, inspired and resilient membership dedicated to carrying on the fight - to win social justice and a decent society for the family and to build a fair, prosperous, self-reliant and secure Australia.
