In this bold, controversial book, Daryl Leeworthy takes a fresh andprovocative look at the struggle through radical political action forsocial democracy in Wales. The reasons for Labour's triumph, heargues, lay in radical pragmatism and an ability to harness loftyideals with meaningful practicality. This was a place of dreamersas well as doers. The world of Arthur Horner and Aneurin Bevan.
Simon Benson's explosive tell-all book reveals Kevin Rudd's betrayal of Australia's most populous State, that led to an elected Premier's forced resignation, exposing the Labor Party as one no longer focused on policy but politics. An insiders' account of Australian Labor Party machinations, from the Prime Minister down. It reveals nasty secrets about how the Labor Party is run today, and how today politics dramatically runs over policy. It will make readers wonder about Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's methods with worrying implications for federal Labor's prospects, and for Australia. BETRAYAL reveals these insights through The Daily Telegraph's Chief Political Reporter Simon Benson's detailed exposé of an extremely vicious, behind-the-scenes battle over a few clapped out power stations in NSW... when the Labor Party machine brought down an elected Premier and helped cripple Australia's most populous State. Simon Benson's explosive tell-all book reveals Kevin Rudd's betrayal of Australia's most populous State, that led to an elected Premier's forced resignation, exposing the Labor Party as one no longer focused on policy but politics. An insiders' account of Australian Labor Party machinations, from the Prime Minister down. It reveals nasty secrets about how the Labor Party is run today, and how today politics dramatically runs over policy. It will make readers wonder about Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's methods with worrying implications for federal Labor's prospects, and for Australia. BETRAYAL reveals these insights through The Daily Telegraph's Chief Political Reporter Simon Benson's detailed exposé of an extremely vicious, behind-the-scenes battle over a few clapped out power stations in NSW... when the Labor Party machine brought down an elected Premier and helped cripple Australia's most populous State.
This volume chronicles the increasing divisions inside the Labor Party that came to a head in the disastrous split in 1916 over conscription for overseas military service. The central figure of this era was William Holman, who became Premier in June 1913 when James McGowen retired from that office. Before conscription became the central issue Holman had come to be heartily detested by many in the extra-parliamentary party, largely because of his refusal to do anything to abolish, or curb the power of, the Upper House. The AWU and its journal, The Australian Worker, led the criticism of Holman and his Government during these years. For a few years Holman's superb political skills guaranteed his survival. However, by 1916 Holman's enemies had organized a tightly disciplined modern faction, the 'Industrial Section', (later the 'Industrial Vigilance Council') to take control of the Executive and Conference and force policy changes on Holman. When the conscription issue reached a climax with the first plebiscite ordered by Prime Minister Hughes, the party at Commonwealth and State level split. Both Hughes and Holman were expelled from the party, continuing in office in new Nationalist administrations, leaving a factionalised Labor Party to begin the process of reconstruction.See Labor Pains Series link, to the right, for details of other Volumes. A NSW Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government publication.
Once widely regarded as the workers greatest hope for a better world, the ALP today would rather project itself as a responsible manager of Australian capitalism. Labor's Conflict provides an insightful account of the transformations in the Party's policies, performance and structures since its formation. Seasoned political analysts, Tom Bramble and Rick Kuhn offer an incisive appraisal of the Party's successes and failures, betrayals and electoral triumphs in terms of its competing ties with bosses and workers. The early chapters outline diverse approaches to understanding the nature of the Party and then assess the ALP's evolution in response to major social upheavals and events, from the strikes of the 1890s, through two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the post-war boom. The records of the Whitlam, Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments are then dissected in detail. The compelling conclusion offers alternatives to the Australian Labor Party, for those interested in progressive change.
This is Volume One of an authoritative two-volume work containing biographies of the 13 Colonial Premiers to 1901 and the 26 State Premiers in the 20th century, up to and including Bob Carr. The portraits are detailed, scholarly and entertaining. Each has a real depth of scholarship while remaining sufficiently concise to satisfy those seeking a quick overview of particular periods or facets of NSW political history.Volume One's authors includes acknowledged experts on 19th century Australia such as John Bennett, Geoffrey Bolton, Alan Powell and Martha Rutledge. Volume One and Volume Two are available as individual purchases or as part of the Set. A NSW Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government publication.
Here are the political diaries of one of Australia's most promising national leaders—published within twelve months of his resignation from office—an historic first. The Latham Diaries are searingly honest bulletins from the front line of Labor politics. They provide a unique view into the life of a man, the Party and the nation at a crucial time in Australian history. Mark Latham resigned from parliament in January 2005, after only fourteen months as Leader of the Opposition, amid bitter post-election recrimination and his own ill health. From the beginning of his career he was viewed by many observers as the ALP's resident intellectual and larrikin, the great hope of a new generation with the drive and talent to become prime minister. So why did his career end so abruptly? As The Latham Diaries reveal, the rising tide of public cynicism about politics, the cult of celebrity, the dangerous liaison between politics and the media, and the sickness at the heart of the Labor machine all played their part. As did Latham's own errors, as he candidly records in these diaries. This is a riveting chronicle of life inside politics: the backroom deals, the frontroom conniving, the bitter defeat of idealism and the triumph of opportunism. The Latham Diaries is not just the story of the Labor Party in the last years of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century, but a sobering account of the state of Australian democracy 100 years after Federation.
