Basket Weavers and True Believers The Middle Class Left and the ALP Leichhardt Municipality c. 1970-1990 by Tony Harris A thesis presented to the University of New South Wales in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Library Copy Sydney, Australia, 2002 © Tony Harris, 2002 Certificate of Originality. ii iii Acknowledgements This thesis is in large part based on oral history interviews and I wish to express my gratitude for the generous time given by informants, in participating in recorded interviews or in providing written responses. I also wish to thank the Australian Labor Party, New South Wales Branch for granting access to the Party’s archival sources at the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, as well as for communicating with local branch and electorate council secretaries on my behalf. Jack Bolton, David West, Robert Grieve and the late Greg Johnston generously made local branch records available and Sue Tracey of the NSW ALP Labor History group provided valuable advice. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Federal Department of Administration and Finance in giving permission to access the records of the Glebe Project Office in the National Archives. Further thanks are due to a wide range of people who were of assistance. The staff of the State Library of NSW, including Rosemary Bloch, Jim Andrighetti and Arthur Easton. The archivists and librarians from the NSW Housing Department Library, Leichhardt Municipal Library and National Archives of Australia, Chester Hill. George Georgarkis and Dianne Walker at Leichhardt Council. The process of researching and writing this thesis was made all the more enjoyable by the collegiate support of the History School of the University of New South Wales; the academic and general staff and other postgraduate students with whom I have had association. My thanks then are due also to them but most particularly to my supervisor Bruce Scates for his encouragement, good humour and hard work in providing constructive criticism throughout the project. Finally I would like to thank my partner, Julie for her support and advice. iv Abstract In the two decades between 1970 and 1990, hundreds of people passed through the ALP branches of Leichhardt Municipality. These were predominantly members of what this thesis calls a ‘middle class Left’, employed in professions and para-professions like teaching or the public service and motivated, to one degree or another, by the social movements and politics of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. This is a social history incorporating the life histories of a selection of these people. It is set against the backdrop of conflicts with incumbent, conservative, working class-based political machines and the political climate of the times. The thesis is in four parts. Part I, the introduction, establishes the point of view of the writer as it shapes what is also a ‘participant history’. In this context, and that of the oral history interviews, the introduction addresses the relationship between memory and history. Parts II and III are the body of the thesis and each is lead by a ‘photo-essay’, recognising the complimentary importance of a visual narrative. Part II sets out the broad political topography of the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Chapter one describes the middle-classing of the ALP in Leichhardt Municipality, set against a review of the principal literature. It then moves through chapters two to four to examine the three loci of middle-classing: Annandale, Balmain and Glebe. Part III moves on into the 1980’s when the middle class Left ‘takes power’. It examines, in chapter five, the emerging, sharp, divisions among the Left on Leichhardt Council and in the contests for federal and state parliamentary seats. Chapter six examines the deepening of these divisions in the mid to late 1980’s, concluding with the climactic struggle over the Mort Bay public housing project. Chapter seven looks at the diaspora of the Labor Left in Leichhardt at the end of the 1980’s as the branch membership declined and many sought out political alternatives to the ALP. Part IV brings the thesis to its conclusion, focussing on the complexities and ambiguities of the middle class Left and drawing out the main socio-political themes of the two decades. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... iii Abstract ..................................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................v Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... viii PART I MEMORY’S MOSAIC: AN INTRODUCTION....................................................................1 A political road. ...................................................................................................................6 History, memory and the ‘participant-observer’. ................................................................8 Structure.............................................................................................................................16 PART II A POLITICAL TOPOGRAPHY Chapter 1 THE MIDDLE-CLASSING OF LABOR IN LEICHHARDT MUNICIPALITY .......................................................................................19 The middle-classing of the ALP in Victoria: Ian Ward.....................................................21 The middle-classing of the ALP in NSW: Andrew Scott. .................................................25 Michael Thompson and the gentrification of the ALP ......................................................31 A ‘new class’? ...................................................................................................................33 The Leichhardt Context: Andrew Jakubowicz and Benno Engels. ...................................36 Posing the problem. ...........................................................................................................42 Defining the Middle Class Left: the ALP and Leichhardt.................................................43 Chapter 2 ‘ALL THE TROUBLE FOR US CAME OUT OF ANNANDALE’..................54 Moving In. .........................................................................................................................55 Confronting the Machine: the Annandale Branches and the 1971-1974 municipal council. ..............................................................................64 A shifting focus .................................................................................................................70 High Times: 1974-1976. ....................................................................................................75 vi The Other Life. ..................................................................................................................78 The branch divides.............................................................................................................86 Chapter 3 BALMAIN AND ‘THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BRANCH STACKING’. .................................................................................95 Early Days .........................................................................................................................97 The Coming of the ‘Two Peters’, I. ...................................................................................99 The Coming of the ‘Two Peters’ II. ................................................................................104 1976-1977: A pregnant lady, a beer belly and a fire extinguisher. .................................112 Refining the Art. ..............................................................................................................122 Chapter 4 GLEBE: ‘ … A SORT OF BRIGADOON’?.....................................................133 First Contact: Glebe North. .............................................................................................136 Glebe branch and the politics of the Glebe Estate. ..........................................................144 Elsie. ................................................................................................................................155 Forest Lodge swallows Glebe North. ..............................................................................159 PART III POLITICAL POWER AND ITS DISCONTENTS Chapter 5 MAGNIFICENT OBSESSIONS: 1980-1984. ..................................................169 Leichhardt Council 1980 – 1982. ....................................................................................171 The Pre-selection of the Two Peters I: Peter Baldwin.....................................................185 The Preselection of the Two Peters II: Peter Crawford...................................................196 Chapter 6 THE CRASH: 1985-1988..................................................................................206 Labor’s changing fortunes. ..............................................................................................208 Counter-revolution on Council. .......................................................................................211 The Apprenticeship of Larry Hand..................................................................................218