Democratic Labor Party (historical) - History

History

The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party (ALP) that began 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 a faction composed largely of ideologically driven anti-Communist Catholics. Many ALP members in the Cold War period, most but not all Roman Catholics, were alarmed at what they saw as the growing power of the Communist Party in the trade unions. These members formed units within the unions called Industrial Groups to combat this alleged infiltration. The membership of the Industrial Groups generally supported the DLP after 1955.

The DLP was substantially, although not exclusively, a party of Irish Catholics. A minority of its parliamentarians and members, and a significant minority of its voters, were non-Catholics. Journalist Don Whitington argued in 1964 that the DLP, as a basically sectarian party, was a most dangerous and distasteful force in Australian politics. He claimed that the party was backed by influential sections of the Roman Catholic Church, and that while it professed to exist primarily to combat communism the party had less commendable reasons for being. Whitington's views were held by many people at the time they were written. The Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, was a DLP supporter, as were other influential clerics.

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 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, in organizational terms, on the methods of its principal target, the Communist Party of Australia. 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, which lasted until 1978.

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 Labor Party split in Queensland following the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair from the party. He and his followers formed the Queensland Labor Party, which became the Queensland branch of the DLP in 1962. In New South Wales, the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, Norman Thomas Gilroy, was opposed to the Movement's tactics, and as a result there was no party split there. The Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist)'s performance at the 1955 state elections in Victoria, where it obtained 12% of the vote and retained only one of the 12 Assembly seats it held, was another factor recommending against a similar split in New South Wales.

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 George Cole from Tasmania between 1955–1965, Vince Gair from Queensland between 1965–1973, and Frank McManus from Victoria between 1973-1974. Other DLP Senators were Condon Byrne from Queensland, Jack Kane from New South Wales and Jack Little from Victoria. No DLP Senators or state politicians were ever elected in South Australia or Western Australia — the ALP did not split in these states although some lay branch members switched to the new party once it had been established. 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 defence 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 agreed with 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. Four years later, DLP preferences kept Calwell's successor, Gough Whitlam, from toppling the Coalition despite winning an 18-seat swing and a majority of the two-party vote. Had four seats in the Melbourne area—the DLP's heartland—gone the other way, Whitlam would have won.

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 became increasingly socially conservative, opposing homosexuality, abortion and pornography and drugs. This stand against "permissiveness" 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.

The highest DLP vote was 11.11 percent, which occurred at the 1970 half-senate election.

Whitlam and the ALP won government in the 1972 election, bringing 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 National Civic Council (NCC) until his death in 1998.