The Great Labor Schism: A Retrospective

Abstract

In 1954–55 the Australian Labor Party suffered a devastating split which shaped politics in this country for a generation. A traumatic event in the lives of many Australians, the Split not only tore apart former political allies and trade unionists but divided Catholic from Catholic, and friend from friend, and even rent individual families. It was a period of high drama, dwarfing even the 1975 Constitutional Crisis for the passions and enmities it created and sustained for years afterwards. Fifty years on, this book revisits the Split, with contributions from a range of leading historians and writers. It examines the Split from several perspectives, including the part played by key personalities such as B. A. Santamaria, Archbishop Daniel Mannix, H. V. 'Doc' Evatt, and Frank Hardy; the role of religion in the Split; how the media reported the Split; and the distinctive nature of the Split in different states. Special attention is paid to the long-term consequences of the Split, including assessments of the Democratic Labor Party and reflections on when, if ever, the Split 'closed'.