Brothers: Eight Leaders of the Labor Council of New South Wales

By Marilyn Dodkin, Sydney: UNSW Press, 2002, 298 pages, paperback, $44.95. Reviewed by Jim Chalmers in the June 2002 issue.

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Marilyn Dodkin's Brothers: Eight Leaders of the Labor Council of New South Wales reads like a political thriller. The personalities and intrigues of the Labor Council and, by extension, the New South Wales Labor Party, the DLP, ASIO and the CIA and other political and social institutions leap from its pages, narrating a complex web of Catholicism, the cold war, anti-communism and the split, Labor and labour politics, spying, and international influence. Using access bestowed on a factional operative and Party activist Dodkin provides an intriguing historical insight into Australia's most successful, most intriguing, most pragmatic, and most dogged party within a party -- the NSW right -- and its significant influence on the industrial and political wings of the labour movement.

The book's key theme is portrayed by the cover illustration, featuring the passing of a relay baton from one individual to the next. Dodkin convincingly argues that the dominance of the right in the ballots and activities of the New South Wales Labor Council can be attributed to the discipline of the faction, and it's system of internal promotion based upon, with rare exceptions, the principle of seniority. These standards, therefore, taken together with the anointment of subsequent leaders by outgoing council secretaries, has underpinned an unbroken string of Right leaders from Jim Kenny to Michael Costa. Following Dodkin's argument, the faction's dominance of the Labor Council also buttressed its control over the Labor Party in that state.

Dodkin links personalities with the fortunes of the Labor Council and with the success of the right within it. Each of the eight leaders are analysed in the context of their background, Council activities, administrative competence, ideology and legacy. Multiple chapters feature Kenny (three) and John Ducker (two), suggesting these are the monoliths upon which the modern Labor Council was built. At times, though, the personality-based approach to the author's historical analysis lets her down. One example of this is her treatment of Michael Easson. Dodkin paints him as soft, too accommodating to the Greiner Government, and unsuited to the rigours of the role. This analysis may discount the context in which Easson served, and fails to explain adequately why the pragmatism of the Right faction and its leaders, seen in his dealings with a conservative government, is praised elsewhere but leaves Easson painted as some sort of class traitor and ultimate failure.

This personal focus is also relied upon to paint a picture of the links between the industrial and political wings of New South Wales Labor. Much is made of Ducker's role in 'kingmaking' former NSW Premier Neville Wran. The relationship between Labor and labour leader is a potentially stormy one, especially in government. In this context it is somewhat disappointing that more is not written about the very recent experiences of battles over the privatisation of electricity, and workers' compensation. The rolling of Premier Bob Carr and the blockade of the state parliament are important, some would say monumental, events in Labor history, but they are given only cursory explanation in Brothers. Perhaps Marilyn Dodkin's closeness to the subject prevent a fuller and franker discussion of very recent history. Probably, too, the remarkable list of interviewees consulted in her research were unwilling to discuss such controversial matters.

Despite these criticisms, the book is impressive, exciting, and well written. It paints valuable portraits of key Labor figures, but also tells a parallel story of the changing demographics of centre-left activists. The shift from Depression-influenced anti-communists to middle class, moderate, tertiary educated leaders and the growing prominence of women is important to any consideration of the development of trade unions from ideological battlegrounds to service providers. One constant, effectively highlighted by Dodkin, is that they remain a training and proving ground for prospective Labor politicians. Though Easson failed to make the switch to parliamentary politics, his experience is the exception rather than the rule. The Premiership of Barry Unsworth after a successful stint as Council Secretary illustrates well the potential for transfer. Similarly, Michael Costa's very recent meteoric rise from Labor Council leader to the Police Ministry speaks volumes about the influence available to senior union figures.

Labor politics in New South Wales and the manoeuvrings of the right will always be interesting to many within the state party and outside it. In this respect, Brothers: Eight Leaders of the Labor Council of New South Wales adds to our understanding of the beast that is the largest faction in the largest state, its remarkable string of success within the Labor Council and the Australian Labor Party, and eight important brothers at the helm.

Citation

• Jim Chalmers. 'Review: Brothers: Eight Leaders of the Labor Council of New South Wales by Marilyn Dodkin' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), June 2002. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 25 May 2013].

Back Cover Blurb

• 'Marilyn Dodkin tells the story with a deft and sympathetic touch … This history is controversial in parts, with a touch of intrigue … a work that will leave a few egos grazed but little of the story untold.' - Bob Carr, Premier of New South Wales
  
  For half a century the right wing of the New South Wales Labor Party has dominated the state branch and had a major influence on the federal ALP. Fundamental to the power of the Right has been its extraordinary grip on the leadership of the Labor Council of New South Wales.
  
  Brothers: Eight Leaders of the Labor Council of New South Wales is a critical examination of the rise to power of eight men who led the Labor Council between 1946 and 2001. It provides a unique insight into the relationship between the Labor Council and the Labor Party and throws new light on the right-wing faction.
  
  Labor Council leaders Jim Kenny, Ralph Marsh and John Ducker were major players in the Industrial Groups and the fight against communists in the unions during the turbulent 1950s. In later years Barrie Unsworth, John MacBean, Michael Easson, Peter Sams and Michael Costa brought their own styles to the leadership, all of them exercising power in the Labor Party.
  
  Brothers is a controversial study of how these eight men maintained the predominance of the Right in the New South Wales labour movement.

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