EXTRACT
Calwell's Warning

In his 1972 memoir, Arthur Calwell warned the ALP of a 'faction' that had begun to assert itself in the party. Calwell, in arguably the most far-sighted observation on Australian politics, said the 'faction': consists of aggressive, assertive, philosophical, way-out people whose purpose is certainly not to promote the well-being of the party or of society; it is to create an agnostic, hedonistic society based on Freudian philosophy, even if the philosophy is largely discounted today. These people seek to challenge all accepted views and standards that govern our society ... Nothing that exists is above criticism to them. There are more of them in the Labor Party than any other party. But the newspapers, radio and television media have also been the object of similar penetration.

The story of the ALP from the mid-1960s onwards was one of the manner in which these aggressive, assertive, philosophical, way-out people were embraced by Gough Whitlam. And, in the aftermath of the electoral disaster of Paul Keating's prime minis tership, the question the ALP must now ask itself is implicit in Calwell's observation. It is this: do these aggressive, assertive, philosophical, way-out people promote the wellbeing of the Labor Party or of society?

Gough Whitlam's Strategy

Calwell's book was reviewed by Neal Blewett, later a Minister in the Hawke government. To Blewett, Calwell was an 'anti-intellectual' with 'scarcely a kind word for his successor Gough Whitlam. Blewett said 'the account ... reveals Calwell's blind ness to the need for change in organisation, style and policies' of the ALP. Blewett would undoubtedly agree with Paul Kelly's assessment that 'Whitlam ... modernised [emphasis added] the Labor Party in the three domains ideology, structure and social composition. Under Whitlam . . . the supremacy of the parliament wing over the machine was achieved in practice, and Labor became a respectable party for the expanding middle classes.' And he would agree, in part at least, with the succinct and lucid piece of political analysis by B. A. Santamaria, who wrote that to 'modernise' the party, Whitlam prepared a 'carefully calculated strategy' before succeeding to the leadership of the parliamentary ALP. Santamaria said:

The first necessity facing the new leader in his quest for the ultimate acquisition of power was to win and retain control of the Labor Party. The second was to lead that party to electoral victory. Mr Whitlam, being extremely intelligent, understood that the same formula would suffice for both. The moderates in the machine and the blue-collar workers in the electorate could be relied on unconditionally. What was necessary was to associate the communist-based Left in the unions and the new middle-classes in the suburbs.

The ALP hierarchy uses Whitlam's 'formula' to this day, with two modifications. First, since the demise of communism, the ex-communist-based Left in the unions now associates itself with the middle class. Secondly, the early Hawke government heard Bill Hayden's 'message' on competent economic management.