Реферат: Social democracy

The influence of the CPA-ALP dual members played a significant although not decisive role in avoiding the conservative path of a National Government. Throughout the period in which Menzies enticed Labor to join him, Labor's leader John Curtin never wavered in his opposition to National Government. While in modern times such a stance by a leader would carry enormous weight, in this period this was less so. Curtin's opposition to National Government may have also been a response to the opposition to it within the party, a tone set by the NSW branch, which warned early and often about such a proposal.

Another influence on Labor's policy and hence government policy from 1941 to 1949 was the CPA's unwavering socialist commitment. This was translated to the ALP through the NSW branch and later by its influence in the trade union movement. Combined with the indigenous (but weaker) socialist tradition this led to a commitment in post-war reconstruction to a strong public sector, a welfare program and an unparalleled degree of regulation of private enterprise which lasted long after the post-war reconstruction period and after Labor's loss of federal government in 1949.

Against these factors consideration must be given to the counter-productive actions of the CPA dual members for most of the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact from October 1939 to June 1941. Most significantly, the CPA's strategy led to a period of electorally damaging public conflict. It began with the Hands Off Russia resolution, which led to a renewed split by Lang, then to defiance of the federal party on the National Security Bill, then to expulsion of the CPA-led Labor faction. Labor went to the September 1940 poll split into three groups. Predictably, Labor lost.

Historians have previously found it difficult to describe what actually occurred within Labor between 1936 (the beginning of the revolt which unseated Lang) and 1940 (the split) because of the secrecy of the CPA's undertaking. This has led to a lack of understanding of the internal dynamics of the NSW ALP's confrontation with the rest of the ALP, which began with the Easter conference in March 1940. Superficially, the 1940 split resembled previous Labor splits, but the crucial element was in fact a highly ideological grouping of undercover members of the Communist Party, who came to lead a mass reformist party following the strategy of the Communist International.