Democratic Labor Party (historical)

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This article is about the Democratic Labor Party of 1955-78. For the current party of the same name, see Democratic Labor Party.

The Democratic Labor Party (abbreviated as the DLP) was an Australian political party that existed from 1955 until 1978.

The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 1954. The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H.V. Evatt, and the majority of the Victorian branch, which was dominated by Catholics. The Catholic wing of the ALP was alarmed at what they saw as the growing power of the Communist Party in the trade unions, and had formed units within the unions called Industrial Groups to combat the Communists.

The intellectual leader of the Victorian Catholic wing of the ALP (although not actually a party member) was B.A. Santamaria, a Melbourne lawyer and lay Catholic activist who had the patronage of the Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix. Santamaria headed an activist group called "The Catholic Social Studies Movement" (often known as "The Movement"), which was modeled on Catholic Action groups in Europe and the Communist Party of Australia [1]. This group later became the National Civic Council (NCC). Evatt denounced the Movement and the Industrial Groups in 1954, alleging that they were trying to take over the ALP and turn it into a European-style Christian Democratic party. At the ALP national conference in Hobart, 1955, Santamaria's parliamentary supporters in the federal and Victorian parliaments were expelled from the ALP, against that party's constitutional rules. They then formed a group called the ALP (Anti-Communist), which in 1957 became the DLP.

The split soon extended to the Victorian state parliament, where a faction of Movement supporters crossed the floor to bring down the ALP state government of John Cain. In 1957 the split spread to Queensland, where the ALP state Premier, Vince Gair, was expelled from the party. He and his followers formed the Queensland Labor Party, which affiliated with the DLP that year, later becaming part of the DLP in 1962. In New South Wales, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Norman Cardinal Gilroy, was opposed to the Movement's tactics, and as a result there was no party split there.

Between 1955 and 1974 the DLP was able to command a significant vote, particularly in Victoria and Queensland, and during the period held between one and five seats in the Senate (which is elected by proportional representation). The DLP Senate leaders were, Frank McManus of Victoria, Gair and Jack Kane of New South Wales. Since the ALP and the conservative parties usually held approximately equal numbers of seats in the Senate, the DLP was able to use balance of power in the Senate to extract concessions from Liberal governments, particularly government grants to Catholic schools, greater spending on defense and non-recognition of the People's Republic of China.

During this period the DLP also exercised influence by directing its supporters to give their second-preferences to Liberal candidates in federal and state elections (see Australian electoral system), thus helping to keep the ALP out of office at the federal level and in Victoria. The DLP vote gradually declined during the 1960s but remained strong enough for the Liberals to continue to need DLP preferences to win close elections. Santamaria's strategy was to keep the ALP out of office in this way until it agreed to his terms for re-unification.

After Evatt's retirement in 1960, his successor Arthur Calwell, a Catholic, tried to bring about a reconciliation between the ALP and the DLP. Negotiations were conducted through intermediaries, and in 1965 a deal was almost done. Three out of four of the ALP's parliamentary leaders agreeing to a deal. However, Calwell refused to share power within the party with the DLP leadership on a membership number basis, so the deal failed. Santamaria believed that had he accepted, Calwell would have become Prime Minister. [2]

The DLP's policies were traditional Labor policies such as more spending on health, education and pensions, combined with strident opposition to Communism and emphasis for greater defence spending. The DLP strongly supported Australia's participation in the Vietnam War.

From the early 1960s onwards, the DLP also became strong opponents of "permissiveness," campaigning on issues such as homosexuality, abortion and pornography and drugs, which appealed to many conservative voters as well as the party's base among Catholics. Some members of the DLP disagreed with this, believing the party should stay focused on anti-communism. [3]

Interestingly, the DLP achieved their highest federal vote (11.11%) with Whitlam as ALP leader at the 1970 half-senate election.

The election of the Whitlam ALP government in the 1972 election brought the DLP's strategy of keeping the ALP out of power undone. In 1974 Whitlam appointed Gair Ambassador to Ireland in a bid to split the DLP and remove its influence. This tactic was successful and the DLP lost all its Senate seats at the 1974 election. The party was formally wound up in 1978. Soon after, a small group of supporters formed a new Democratic Labor Party, which continues to this day.

Santamaria continued to exercise considerable influence through the NCC until his death in 1998.