A fair decade's work : the origins of compulsory arbitration in Australia and New Zealand, 1890-1905

Abstract

This thesis examines the origins of compulsory arbitration in Australia and New Zealand, analysing the political and ideological struggles surrounding the advent of compulsory arbitration between 1890 and 1905. It opens with an examination of developments in Victoria and New South Wales prior to the Maritime Strike, then surveys events in the period following the Strike in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, New Zealand, Queensland and the Commonwealth, culminating with the passing of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act in 1904. It argues that current explanations for the origins of compulsory arbitration are inadequate, that a detailed re-examination of the issue is required. It is my contention that compulsory arbitration was a manifestation of class struggle, and the result of democratic socialist ideas of political action and social change. It was the means by which labour co-opted the power of the state in its struggle against capital, extending industrial conflict into the realms of politics and law. Compulsory arbitration was a self-conscious articulation of class struggle in a non-revolutionary form. Show more