, the CPA itself was growing. A report to Comintern noted: В«The outstanding feature of our latest recruits is the number who have previously been leading activists of the ALP and are at present leading trade union activists. В» Further, В«our successes in the trade unions, to a large degree are due to these comrades who have great authority and were already minor trade union officials prior to joining our party В».
Within the labour movement, both the CPA and the ALP members shared a common culture. They spoke the same language, worked alongside each other and both held socialism to be the goal, albeit to be achieved by different roads. This had always been so but with the more liberal policies of the Seventh Congress this shared culture meant a steady stream of recruits as well as union election successes for the CPA. These communist victories in trade unions had a direct impact on the power balance within the Australian Labor Party because unions were affiliated to the party and directly represented in Labor congresses.
The CPA success in trade union elections and in recruitment of ALP members hooked something of a prize catch in the shape of one talented union official, Jack Hughes. At the time of his recruitment in 1935, Hughes, was an assistant secretary of the Federated Clerks Union. In 1936 he won an official position on the Labor Council of New South Wales, which was the umbrella group for all unions and which played a key role within the Labor Party machine.
Yet on the surface, 1936 was a year in which Labor splits healed. Since 1931 two Labor Parties had existed in New South Wales. One supported the NSW-based Jack Lang and the other allied to the federal Labor Party. Jack Lang was a former NSW state premier who commanded a mass following in Sydney and other parts of New South Wales. A demogogue and fiery speech-maker, Lang had clashed with the banks at the height of the Depression, then been dismissed as state Premier by the Governor, a relic of Australia's colonial past.
The early 1930s saw Lang establish political supremacy within Labor, defeating the weaker В«Federal Labor PartyВ». By 1936 a tenuous re-marriage was concluded between the two parties. This prompted Lang to try to increase his dominance. His first target was the radio station owned by the trade union council, the NSW Labor Council.
The Sydney-based radio station 2KY had been set up in 1925 as В«first labour radio station in the western world В». Lang urged the Council to integrate it with the Labor Daily newspaper, which he controlled, a move designed to entrench his own political power. The Sydney newspaper, Truth , summed up Lang's move:
Two great assets of the NSW Labor Party - the 2KY wireless station and the Labor Daily - are plums for which many people have hungrily licked their lips. Some have been able to take a bite, but nobody - yet - has been able to snatch them for their own, their very own. Mr Lang is now trying to pluck these golden plums. p> Truth 's description of the В«chilly, alert atmosphereВ» of the Labor Council when Lang addressed it on 2KY was an indication of the storm which would gather strength over the next three years. The communists, both overt and covert, and the non-communist left wing opposed Lang's move to integrate the radio station with the newspaper and, to widespread surprise, his plan was defeated.
In August 1936 the unions in the Labor Council called what would be the first of many meetings to oppose Lang's control of the party machine. Lang immediately expelled four members of parliament, 17 union officials and a number of others. В«This lit the fire, В»recalled Hughes many years later.
In December 1936 another major conference of anti-Lang unions and ALP branches was held. By this time it was clear that Lang was also trying to entrench his total control of the Labor Daily . In the preceding months the militant unions had begun to organise the union shareholders to vote against Lang directors on the newspaper's board. But after the ballot opened, it became clear that Lang's men had systematically tried to rig the vote. Ballot papers disappeared, others never arrived at union offices. On Christmas Eve 1936 the result of the ballot for directors was due to be announced but before that could be done the Miners 'Federation began a legal challenge to the conduct of the ballot.
In the following year, 1937, a pending federal election led to an uneasy peace in the factional warfare. In June the four expelled MPs were readmitted to the NSW branch after demands from the federal ALP executive. The anti-Lang dissidents continued to mobilise although Lang remained firmly in control of the state party machine. In October the factional warfare revived. Labor had lost the federal election and in the Labor Daily case t...
