Political Career
In 1891, the New South Wales Trades and Labour Council established the Labor Electoral League, which developed into Australian Labor Party, and McGowen stood for election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Redfern and was one of 35 Labor candidates to win and the most experienced unionist. He held the seat continuously to 1917.
While the Australian Labor Party eventually became the most disciplined in the world, the first Labor parliamentarians were almost as independent as their fellow parliamentarians. McGowen was one of three to sign the "pledge" to abide by party discipline. As a result of his increasingly skillfulness as a parliamentarian and his relative seniority he became Labor's parliamentary leader in 1894. After the 1898 election George Reid's Protectionist Government was dependent on Labor to push through New South Wales' adoption of Federation. McGowen's support for Federation was critical to Labor maintaining its support for the adoption of measures to implement Federation, even though it remained opposed to the Constitution adopted, which it saw as biased in favour of business interests. McGowen stood for the Federal seat of South Sydney in 1901, but was narrowly defeated.
Read more about this topic: James Mc Gowen
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