State Labor Party
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Labour politics in Australia |
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The State Labor Party, also known as State Labor Party (Hughes-Evans), was an Australian political party which operated exclusively in the state of
Lang dominated the
This grouping, which was to become the State Labor Party (NSW), was led by Jack Hughes, President of the NSW Labor Council, and Walter Evans, General Secretary of the NSW Labor Party. Both of these men were undercover members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), and worked closely with the CPA executive leadership, which had adopted a policy of encouraging disaffected ALP members seeking membership of the CPA, to remain in the Labor Party as undercover operatives. With the outbreak of World War II, preceded by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the priority of the CPA was to work to ensure Australian neutrality towards the war in Europe. Hughes and Evans devoted their efforts towards this end, in their capacity as powerful executives within the ALP.
Ultimately, the position of the Hughes-Evans group came to be seen as untenable within the ALP, and their influence began to wane. In August 1940, the federal executive of the ALP moved to suspend the NSW executive, including Hughes and Evans. Several weeks later Hughes, Evans and their supporters formed a new party, the State Labor Party. This was only weeks away from the federal elections of September 1940. State Labor contested the poll for election to the House of Representatives in NSW, and achieved 6.6% of the vote in that state (2.6% nationally), but failed to see any of its candidates (including Greg McGirr) elected.[1]
The party contested the NSW State elections of May 1941, and secured 5.6% of the primary vote, but again failed to secure any seats. The party's final attempt to gain parliamentary representation was at the federal election of August 1943, but it polled less than 1% nationally. Five months later (January 1944), the State Labor Party voted to end its own existence and amalgamated with the CPA.
References
- ^ Clune, David. "Facts and Figures – Political Parties of NSW (Overview)". Parliament of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
Further reading
- McKnight, David (2000). "A Trojan Horse Within Social Democracy". Espionage and the Roots of the Cold War. London: Frank Cass.
- Nairn, Bede (1986). The 'Big Fella': Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party (1891–1949). Melbourne, Victoria: Melbourne University Press.