Demons or Democrats: 1950s Labor at the Crossroads

The Labour Party split of the 1950’s had an enormous effect on the ALP and the nation. Party apologists have repeatedly argued that the blood letting was necessary and inevitable. In recent years, as the passions have subsided, a new consensus has started to form that attributes the ALP’s near destruction far more to erratic and inept leadership, than the sectarian feuding and factional intrigue that were also present. Painted as reactionaries in Labour folklore, those who went on to form the Democratic Labour Party were in fact years ahead of the mainstream ALP on issues such as white Australia, family support, Aboriginal Rights…, even the republic.