Neither power nor glory : 100 years of political Labor in Victoria,1856-1956 / Paul Strangio.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Strangio, Paul, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Australian Labor Party. Victorian Branch--History.

Australian Labor Party.

Political parties--Australia--Victoria--History.

Political parties.

Political parties--Australia--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (367 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Carlton, Victoria, Australia : Melbourne University Press, 2012.

Summary:

When Frank Hardy published Power Without Glory, his notorious novel about corruption and venality in the Victorian Labor Party, it quickly came to be seen as a true account of the party. Until now, there has been no authoritative chronicle of the struggles of political Labor in Victoria, from its origins in the mid-nineteenth century through to the calamitous split of the 1950s. By conventional measures these were fallow years. Ensnared by the colony's powerful liberal protectionist tradition in the late nineteenth century, Victorian Labor then found itself hindered by a grossly unfair electoral system and the lack of a constituency outside Melbourne's industrial suburbs. But exile from government also meant that the party developed its own distinctive traditions and culture. It was a unique and intriguing species among the state Labor parties. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, Neither Power Nor Glory fills an important gap in Australian political history and our understanding of the Labor Party. It is also a timely antidote to nostalgia about Labor's past. In Victoria at least, that past was anything but golden.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Caught between two worlds

A condition of 'Rip Van Winkleism'

Competing interests

'The spirit of madness'

'We are in office, but not in power'

'They not only assassinated the Labor Government'

'They had forgotten they were part of a great movement'

The rise of 'the Victorians'

'A serious position exists'

'Prepared to fight to the last Victorian'

Epilogue

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780522862126

0522862128

OCLC:

1500761114