The "ac" code is for "adequacy-confidence"--a
data
quality measure ranging from 0 (low) to 9
(high)
Institutionalization
Variables, 1.01-1.06
1.01 Year of Origin and 1.02 Name
Changes
1890, ac9
0, ac9
The party was organized on a national level
in 1890. Other dates cited in the literature were not considered
discrepancies because they did not refer to the party's year of
origin at the national level. Other dates cited were 1891, the
year the party first participated in elections; 1892 and 1894,
years that the party formed in some of the states; and 1888, the
year that some individual candidates who supported Labor were
elected. The party was called "Labor" after 1908 and throughout
our time period.
1.03 Organizational
Discontinuity
12, ac9
The Labor Party experienced at least one
significant split before 1940, when the New Labor Party was
expelled in 1931 only to be re-absorbed later. But after 1940,
which marks the beginning of our scoring of organizational
discontinuity, there were two noteworthy splits. In 1954, a
Catholic-based schism in the ALP crystallized into the Democratic
Labor Party in 1955. A split of lesser importance occurred in
1957, when the Queensland Labor Party fought an election against
the official Labor Party and later merged with the Democratic
Labor Party.
1.04 Leadership Competition
15, ac9
J.B. Chifley was the leader of the ALP when
our period began, but he died in 1951 and was succeeded by H.V.
Evatt. Evatt led the party until 1960, when he retired. A.A.
Calwell was elected by the combined House and Senate
representatives of the Labor Party to replace Evatt, and Calwell
served out our period in that position.
1.05 Legislative Instability
Instability is .10 ac7
Legislative strength for the Labor Party
ranged between a low of 37 percent in 1959 and 1960 to 49 percent
in 1961 and 1962, producing relatively stable
representation.
1.06 Electoral Instability
Instability is .05, ac8
Legislative elections for lower house were held in 1951, 54, 55,
58, and 61, and Labor Party's percentage of votes ranged between
43 percent in 1958 to 50 percent in 1954.
Governmental Status Variables,
2.01-2.07
2.01 Government
Discrimination
0 for 1950-56, ac9
0 for 1957-62, ac9
There is no hint of discrimination.
Although the Labor Party functioned as the opposition for the
entire period, they always hoped to regain control. The Party
competed against the Liberal- Country coalition
aggressively.
2.02 Governmental Leadership
0 out of 7 for 1950-56, ac9
0 out of 6 for 1957-62, ac9
The Labor Party was never in power during
the 1950-62 time period.
2.03 Cabinet Participation
0 out of 7 for 1950-56, ac6
0 out of 6 for 1957-62, ac6
There was no Labor government or coalition
on the national level during our time period.
2.04 National Participation
6 for 1950-56, ac5
6 for 1957-62, ac6
According to 1961 sample survey data,
reported by Rose and Urwin in Comparative Political Studies
(April, 1969), Labor's percent of support according to region in
proportion to population varied by only 1.5 percentage points
across regions.
2.05 Legislative Strength
Instability is .10 ac7
Strength is .42 for 1950-56, ac8 and .41
for 1957-62, ac7
Legislative strength for the Labor Party
ranged between a low of 37 percent in 1959 and 1960 to 49 percent
in 1961 and 1962, producing relatively stable
representation.
2.06 Electoral Strength
Strength is .48 for 1950-56, ac8 and ..45
for 1957-62, ac7
Legislative elections for lower house were
held in 1951, 54, 55, 58, and 61, and Labor Party's percentage of
votes ranged between 43 percent in 1958 to 50 percent in
1954.
2.07 Outside Origin
8, ac9
The ALP was formed by labor union leaders, who can be regarded as
leaders of major legal social organizations.
Issue Orientation Variables, 5.01-5.15
5.01 Ownership of Means of
Production
2, ac7
During the 1940s, the Labor government
passed a number of acts aimed at the creation of public
enterprises and the nationalization of existing ones, witness the
formation of a government airline, the Snowy River development for
power and water, the government shipping line, and the
nationalization of banks - later invalidated by the high court.
Many authors identify these activities, particularly the
nationalization of banks, as the source of Labor's defeat in the
1949 elections. Despite these concrete actions in favor of
government ownership, the Labor Party was not strongly united on
this basic principle of socialism. The party was often
characterized as being unintellectual and more in favor of
material gains for its constituency than in promoting socialist
doctrine per se. During our time period, the Party was described
as having largely abandoned nationalization except as an ad hoc
remedy for particular situations.
5.02 Government Role in Economic
Planning
3 for 1950-56, ac6
3 for 1956-62, ac9
There seemed to be a consensus of opinion
among the parties as to the desired amount of government
intervention in economic planning. Our consultant advises that
both sides were firm practitioners of central economic planning,
the Liberals reluctantly, Labor enthusiastically.
5.03 Redistribution of Wealth
1, ac9
The Labor Party favored changes in the
existing graduated income tax that would redistribute wealth more
fairly, that is, that would make income load lighter for the poor
and harder on the wealthy and the middle class. Nothing other than
taxation of various kinds had been suggested as a means of
redistribution.
5.04 Social Welfare
5, ac 9
Throughout the entire period the Labor
Party never waivered from its struggle to abolish the dual
compulsory / voluntary system instituted by the Liberal
government. It favored universally available social welfare
through a program of public assistance.
5.05 Secularization of Society
0, ac7
Most Catholics in Australia are Laborites.
Catholic institutions are more likely to gain concessions from a
Labor government than a Liberal one. But the party could not
arrive at a clear policy on state aid to private schools during
our time period.
5.06 Support of the Military
1, ac3
There is very little documentation of this
code. Labor stood opposed to military conscription except for home
defense and proposed cuts in military spending, but not in the
context of support for some other program. One source says that
the Australian Army was largely part time and politically
neutral.
5.07 Alignment with East-West
Blocs
1, ac8
The Labor Party, in line with strong
anti-Communist sentiment in Australia, denied sympathy with the
USSR. It favored U.S. over USSR and Great Britain over both U.S.
and USSR.
5.08 Anti-Colonialism
1, ac6
During most of our time period, the ALP was
not especially concerned with foreign policy issues, and the party
accepted the standing policy of Australian membership in the
British Commonwealth.
5.09 Supranational Integration
0 for 1950-62, ac6
In keeping with its general neglect of
foreign policy issues, the ALP gave little recognition to
possibilities of regional international organizations during our
time period. Its policy on supranational integration of the area
was ambiguous at best.
5.10 National Integration
1, ac6
Our consultant advises that Labor was more
centralist than federalist in orientation.
5.11 Electoral Participation
2, ac6
Labor continually argued that the electoral
system was gerrymandered against the Party's representation in the
legislature and sought to amend the system according to the
principle of "one vote, one value," which would have reduced the
rural over-representation. But the important issue for scoring
this variable has to do with enfranchisement of the Aborigines,
who were not specifically given the right to vote in federal
elections until 1962. The Labor Party accepted this exclusion and
did not agitate for securing the Aborigines' right to vote under
existing laws. Less than 50,000 individuals were involved,
however.
5.12 Protection of Civil Rights
3, ac8
The Labor Party advocated a "white
Australia policy" of limiting immigration for the most part to
white Europeans.
5.13 Interference with Civil
Liberties
3, ac5
While leader of the ALP, Evatt led the
opposition to the amendment of the Constitution which would have
led to the validation of the Communist Party dissolution act. His
actions in defense of the civil liberties of Communists led, in
part, to a split in the Party and the formation of the Democratic
Labor Party.
5.14 / 5.15 US--Soviet Experts Left-Right
Ratings
U.S. says, 3, non-Communist left.
Soviets say, 2, social democratic, reformist,
bourgeoisie.
Goal Orientation Variables, 6.01-6.55
6.00 Open Competition in the
Electoral Process
4, ac9
It is clear that even though the ALP was
the opposition party for the entire period, it was successful at
the local level and depended entirely on the electoral process to
gain power.
6.10 Restricting Party
Competition
0, ac9
Although each side accused the other of
gerrymandering in local, state, or federal elections, no
accusation was proven. It competed openly against the Liberals,
and when it felt it was being restricted, it proposed bills in
Parliament to amend the electoral system.
6.20 Subverting the Political
System
0, ac9
The ALP was an opposition party from 1950
to 1962 and changed its policies from socialist to more moderate
in order to win votes and power on local level. It did not attempt
to subvert the government.
6.30 Propagandizing Ideas and
Program
6.31--1, ac9. Spotty attempts were made to
publish a Labor Party organ, but they were mainly local. Some
publications mentioned are-- Labor, Tocsin, Australia News Review,
Standard, and Barrier Daily Truth.
6.32--0, ac5. Attempts were made in the
past to have inner-party schools or university sponsored adult
courses, but they were before the period in question.
6.33--2, ac9. The party had a platform
which was reviewed tri-annually by an inter- state conference.
Resolutions were passed at all levels of the party
organization.
6.34--2, ac9. Position papers were
published during elections. News coverage of the candidate's
"platform speech" provided the clearest picture of the Party's
position on the issues. The published position papers were usually
more general.
6.50 Providing for Welfare of Party
Members
0, ac9
No mention was made of any Labor Party participation in the social
welfare activities defined in this variable.
Autonomy Variables, 7.01-7.05
7.01 Sources of Funds
1 (sector 01), ac9
The main source of ALP income was the
affiliation fees of the trade unions. This was augmented on the
local level by social functions, e .g., raffles.
7.02 Source of Members
5, ac5
One source in our file refers specifically
to membership in the ALP coming through membership in trade
unions, but our consultant advises that members join the party
directly as individuals. Party members must, however, join a union
if qualified to do so.
7.03 Sources of Leaders
1 (sector 01), ac7
About two thirds of the Labor Party M.P.s
appeared to come from the labor sector.
7.04 Relations with Domestic
Parties
7, ac9
The ALP occasionally aligned itself with
Communists or even with the country party in local elections. This
was not common practice, however. The ALP did not generally seek
alliances.
7.05 Relations with Foreign
Organizations
5, ac9
The ALP did not become a member of the socialist international
until 1966.
Organizational Complexity Variables,
8.01-8.07
8.01 Structural
Articulation
7, ac6
The major national organizations in the ALP
during our time period were the Federal Conference (composed of
six delegates from each of the six states), the Federal Executive
(composed of two delegates from each state), and the Federal
Parliamentary Labour Party, FPLP, which had its own leader who was
normally considered the party leader.
8.02 Intensiveness of
Organization
4, ac9
The branches of the ALP were strongly
organized and more active than those of the Liberals and the
Country Party.
8.03 Extensiveness of
Organization
6, ac9
Branch organizations were set up
geographically. The coverage was thorough although the branches
vary widely in membership and activity.
8.04 Frequency of Local
Meetings
5, ac8
The frequency varied from area to area, but
the literature indicated that on the whole Labor branches were
active and met monthly. A score of five was given because many
branches did not meet monthly.
8.05 Frequency of National
Meetings
3, ac9
The federal executive generally met twice a
year, but may have met more often under special
circumstances.
8.06 Maintaining Records
4, ac9
The Party produced little propaganda, did
not maintain any sort of archive and maintained incomplete and
inaccurate membership lists.
8.07 Pervasiveness of
Organization
10, ac9
The ALP was partially created by trade unions and as a Labor Party
was affiliated with unions. A union member was not necessarily an
ALP member, but the unions supported the ALP financially and were
represented at its conference by people who had to be members of
the ALP in their own right.
Organizational Power Variables, 9.01-9.08
9.01 Nationalization of
Structure
3, ac8
The federal conference and the federal
executive consisted of representatives from the powerful state
organizations. Although the federal conference was empowered to
determine the legitimacy of state parties, it used this power
gingerly, and state parties tended to operate independently of
federal control although not in federal matters.
9.02 Selecting the National
Leader
4, ac9
The leader was elected by an exhaustive
ballot of the Parliamentary party members.
9.03 Selecting Parliamentary
Candidates
3, ac6
The method for selecting parliamentary
candidates varied from state to state. Sometimes the selection
committee chose the candidate and sometimes the selection began
with a pre-selection ballot of active party members. But the state
executive, rather than the national organization, controlled
selection.
9.04 Allocating Funds
4, ac9
State organizations raised the bulk of
party funds primarily from the affiliation fees of trade unions.
Local branches raised only routine expenses. The state
organizations financed the running of the federal
organization.
9.05 Formulating Policy
6, ac7
The Party Conference was not a
policy-making body. The National Executive was thought to make
party policy but the Parliamentary Caucus had some freedom in
policy-making because of its National Executive.
9.06 Controlling Communications
3, ac9
The ALP did not publish any influential
papers on the local, regional, or national level. The few that
were published intermittently were done so locally or regionally
without a great circulation.
9.07 Administering Discipline
2, ac7
Although the Federal Executive is formally
entrusted with the enforcement of decisions of the Federal Caucus,
in practice the state organizations account for most of the
disciplinary activity within the Party.
9.08 Leadership Concentration
2, ac7
The leader of the Parliamentary Party and the head of the Federal
Executive might appear to share the leadership, but each are
essentially spokesmen for their groups. Usually, the FPLP leader
is considered the authoritative party spokesman, but when the FPLP
clashes with the Federal Executive, as it has on several
occasions, then the decentralized leadership is
evident.
Coherence Variables, 10.01-10.06
10.01 Legislative
Cohesion
.95, ac6
Although there was no material on roll call
votes of any kind, the literature made it clear that ALP members
were pledged to follow the majority opinion of the Caucus and that
the ALP was a highly cohesive force in the Parliament.
10.02 Ideological Factionalism
6 for 1950-56, ac9
4, for 1957-62, ac8
Industrial groups with Catholic action
support were actively anti-Communist until 1954, when the party
became completely polarized over the Petrov case and this right
wing faction split to form other parties. Since that time, other
groups became organized within the party.
10.03 Issue Factionalism
5, ac8
Federalism and conflicting interests of
unions strongly represented in ALP, combined to produce intense,
recurring, but continually shifting fissures within the party at
the federal level. State aid to private schools was an especially
divisive issue during our time period.
10.04 Leadership Factionalism
6 for 1950-56, ac8
1 for 1957-62, ac9
Evatt, the ALP leader, drew intense
opposition from conservative and Catholic members for his alleged
softness on Communism. The opposition split away to form the
Democratic Labor Party.
10.05 Strategic or Tactical
Factionalism
1, ac9
Although strategy and tactics are open to
debate, there were no factional disagreements.
10.06 Party Purges
0 for 1950-56, ac8
0 for 1957-62, ac8
The ALP anti-Communists, later known as the Democratic Labor
Party, split in 1955. A minor split occurred in 1957 with the
formation of the Queensland Labor Party. These splits did not
involve any purges.
Involvement Variables, 11.01-11.06
11.01 Membership Requirements
3, ac9
A new member must sign a document saying
that he accepts the principles of the ALP, pay a fee, and be
accepted by a branch. This branch acceptance is usually only a
matter of form, not a period of probation.
11.02 Membership Participation
3, ac3
Branches are generally active but no
percentage estimates were given as to how many members were
regular attenders.
11.03 Material Incentives
0, ac3
Documentation was sparse, but reading
suggests that material incentives were not the prime motivation
for party militants. However, no information was found to support
any particular incentive.
11.04 Purposive Incentives
2, ac3
It seems that some party militants were
active as a result of commitment to purpose rather than just
material gain, but the literature never really indicated any
particular incentive.
11.05 Doctrinism
0, ac9
The ALP has a party platform and a
constitution, but neither are referred to often or kept up to
date. The party is pragmatic. Marxist writings have little
relevance to the ALP.
11.06 Personalism
0, ac9
Labor Party leaders were often unpopular with a lot of party
militants . Their leadership had been achieved through working
their way up rather than being propelled to leadership through
personal magnetism.