Post-mortem rituals and party reform: Australian Labor debates, 1963-1981

Abstract

After election defeats, parties usually engage in post-mortem rituals. These can take a wide variety of forms. Committees of inquiry may be established. 'Rankand- file' members may be given opportunities to have their say about 'what went wrong'. Parliamentary leaders may attempt to convince voters that the party has mended its ways. Within the party, matters of organisational structure, programme and ideology may be debated, although post-mortems are often effectively confined to a narrow range of topics. Post-mortem ritual talk generally includes reference to more effective campaigning, intra-party democracy and 'adaptation' to 'social change'. 'Managerial' discourses, emphasising electoral success, efficiency and party professionalism jostle with the 'participatory' discourses embodying activists' aspirations (emphasising the party's mission, 'rank-and-file' rights and 'educating' the electorate). Commentators often dismiss these rituals as meaningless exercises, interesting only insofar as they provide a backdrop for vealpolit-ik power plays about who is to be 'blamed' for the defeat. However, if we analyse postmortem rituals seriously, we have a useful vantage point for examining what goes on within political parties. Both 'managerial' and 'participatory' forms of 'rationalistic idealism' may be little more than camouflage for realpolitik manoeuvre and machination. However, party reform involves the crystallisation of new meanings as well as factional struggles. 'Rationalistic idealism' may help new meanings to crystallise and a new self-understanding to emerge within a party. Of course, the connections between post-mortem rituals and party reform are contingent. Post-mortems may, or may not, lead to party reform. They take place at a time when party leaders have suffered a loss of confidence. The study of post-mortem rituals allows us to examine intraparty processes when, at least potentially, they are in a state of flux. By comparing different post-mortems in the same party over time, we can also address the vexed question of 'social change' and party 'response'. The literature on parties abounds with generalisations about the 'effects' of 'social change'. Such generalisations often rely on little more than hunches about what goes on within parties. This thesis explores post-mortem rituals in the Australian Labor Party in two periods, 1963-67 and 1977-81. In each of these periods, there were some connections between the postmortems and attempts at party reform. Comparison of the two cases can help us appreciate some of the complexities involved in the relationship between changes in Australian society and changes in the ALP. In contrast with previous arguments about the 'middle-classing' of the ALP in a 'middle-class' society, distinctions are drawn between the emergence of Australian Social Democracy, Mark 1 as a model for 'new' Labor practice in the 1960s and the conflicts between Australian Social Democracy, Mark 2 and Labor Managerialism in 1977-81. Changes in ALP practice cannot simply be derived from changes in Australian society. They require analysis in their own right.