The Socialist Left also known as Labor left is a faction of the Australian Labor Party. The Left is an organised political faction that advocates within the party for traditionally Labor interventionist and socialist economic policies. However, since the party reforms by Gough Whitlam in the 1970s, the Left has also been the principal champion in the party of socially liberal values, such as women's rights, gay rights, reconciliation with Aboriginal Australians and land rights. It advocates an independent foreign policy which benefits Australia and its citizens rather than its foreign allies as many members of the faction are unenthusiastic about the Australian–US Alliance.
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Historically, the name "Socialist Left" is a truncation of the full faction's name, the "Combined Unions Socialist Left". This was first adopted by the left-wing of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party.
The NSW 'Steering Committee', or the 'Socialist Left' began as a reaction movement to the anti-communist campaigns by the 'Groupers' led by B.A. Santamaria in 1955.
Industrial Groups of the ALP existed to counter Communist Party of Australia activities within trade unions. In 1955, the majority of the branches and members of the Victorian branch were expelled with similar moves, although to a much lesser extent in New South Wales.
The formation of the faction occurred after intervention by the Federal Executive of the party into the Victorian branch. The Federal Executive's intervention resulted in the sacking of its elected officers and dissolution of the branch in 1970. Gough Whitlam sought to modernise the Victorian branch to increase its chances of electoral success. Dismissed officers are tabled below.
| Position | Dismissed officers |
|---|---|
| Secretary | Bill Hartley |
| Assistant Secretary | Glyde Butler |
| President | George Crawford |
| Organiser | Bob Hogg |
In response to their dismissal, Hartley and Crawford formed the Socialist Left as a rank and file organisation to propagate socialist views within the Australian Labor Party. It published a fortnightly newspaper called Action that covered union, community and internal party matters. The faction emerged from intervention as the largest faction with strong discipline and a program of monthly general meetings.
The faction also drew considerable support from the trade union movement, especially from figures such as Ken Carr and Jim Roulston. Incidentally, George Crawford was also a prominent leader in the Plumbers and Gasfitters Employees' Union.
The faction's membership included several notable members of state and federal parliament including Bill Brown, Jim Cairns, Kim Carr, Moss Cass, Bruce Childs, Joan Coxedge, George Crawford, Arthur Gietzelt, Gerry Hand, Brian Howe, Dr Harry Jenkins, Joan Kirner, Andrew Theophanus, Tom Uren.
Founding faction chairman, Bill Hartley was expelled from the Australian Labor Party in 1986, despite being regularly elected to Federal Executive and the National Conference of the ALP, because he was found to have brought the Party into disrepute by reason of his persistent public criticism of Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
The Left is the smaller of the two main factions in the federal Caucus, having a total of 38 MPs. Under the current factional agreements, the Labor Leader in the Senate comes from the Left, their Deputy from the Right, the reverse of the situation in the House of Representatives. Key members of the Left include the party's National President for 2007 and former Minister for Defence, Senator John Faulkner, the Leader of the Government in the Senate Chris Evans, the Manager of Government Business in the House of Representatives Anthony Albanese and the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin. Under the leadership of Kevin Rudd, Victorian Senator Kim Carr rose to prominence as a powerful Left Faction power broker in the Labor caucus, with the Innovation, Industry, Science and Research portfolio, and 2010 Federal President and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.
Federally, the Left is split internally between the "hard left" who promote a more confrontational stance towards the dominant Labor Right faction and some within the faction are considered far-leftist, and the "soft left" Ferguson group which includes Prime Minister Julia Gillard who are historically more acquiescent to policy initiatives of the Right.