Bushman Tommy Ryan, pioneer of the Labor Party
[ad_1]
A new book chronicles the short but significant political career of the shearer who was instrumental in the creation of the Australian Labor Party. Doctor Lee Duffield reviews Tommy Ryan and childbirth.
WHO cares when a bushman with leadership talent got into state parliament last century for 15 months before losing the support of his own party?
The most important thing is that this event was a milestone for the democratic government that this man was Tommy Ryanfirst member of the Queensland Labor Party.
A journey to leadership
His story has been unearthed Pat Combenformer Minister of State for Environment and Education, in a short but thorough and meaningful biography.
As a farm laborer and stockman, Comben takes it upon himself to find out what happened to a man of unknown origin who is reticent to tell his own story and has “disappeared” back into the bush after a short period of life. fame.
Jim Cairns: Labor legend, Whitlam minister and philosopher
Through careful research, Comben discovered that Ryan was born aboard a migrant ship off Madagascar in 1857 and grew up in Perth before leaving to make a living in the north of the continent.
How they built the Labor Party
He ended up in the Queensland outback as a leader in the famous shearers' strike during the severe economic depression of 1890-91; in violent conflict with the “bunyip elite”, consisting of squatters and traders, who intend to suppress it by any violent means. The “war” was a failure for workers, but it forced the adoption of two vital strategies that made the New Labor Party an enduring force:
The first was the idea of mobilizing large numbers of workers, especially low-income agricultural workers, to gain seats in parliament and thus influence industrial laws and promote social justice. For this, many obstacles would have to be overcome.
Comben shows how the then Prime Minister, Sir Samuel Griffith, faced with four Labor members in the house, maneuvered to block the trend; cutting already modest parliamentary salaries in half to keep poorer candidates out, and passing a new Electoral Act to make it harder for voters, especially itinerant workers, to get on the rolls.
The second strategy was to transform such mobilization into the formation of a centralized, overarching political party with binding policies and rules; unite the disparate strike movements and local “People's Parliamentary Associations” that have sprung up all over the country.
Quick death
This consolidation move led to the rise of the ALP and the quick demise of Tommy Ryan, a man with a strong local following in the Bush electorate Barkbut the officials of the central authority do not like it.
As a politician, Ryan accomplished much in his short term after winning a by-election in 1892; in speeches, he told parliament about the realities of life in the community from which he came.
Gough Whitlam's enthusiasm for reform left a lasting legacy
The author says after fully reading the parliamentary debates (pp. 107, 113):
He supported, without success, a land-use scheme that would have helped the unemployed, one of his main concerns; demanded the release of the leaders of the shearers, who were arrested and remained in prison after a long strike; during the Blackbird era, he opposed the continued importation of Melanesian labor from the South Pacific, as it stifled the labor market; and dealt with several local matters relating to buildings and services in his electorate.
Insight and analysis
Pat Comben gives an insightful and sensitive account of Ryan's character and how he broke down, not from the self-styled gentry who would condemn him for the blunders he made not in accordance with parliamentary procedure, but from his enemies on his side (page 99 ):
The central body of the day, the Australian Federation of Labour, the forerunner of the ALP, held its first Labor convention in politics in 1892 and lost no time in dominating the independent membership.
In the author's analysis, Ryan is offended that he has his own fans; he was seen as a heavy drinker, while many of the senior Labor leaders were non-drinkers, despising the damage alcohol did to working-class families; he will borrow money and be slow to pay it back, with the result that rumors will circulate that he will be expelled from Parliament as a bankrupt; he supported the person who won the local primary against the candidate supported by the center; and he was prone to periods of illness, which was seen as weakening his reliability.
Several attackers mentioned the MP's salary, which apparently caused serious jealousy in the ranks; a prize to get for yourself or dedicate to a loyal foundation. He admitted that the sudden sense of the good life after a life of nothing but hard times was a distraction.
IA BOOK CLUB: People of Work by Chris Bowen
Friends are too warm, whiskey too strong, pillows too soft
“Friends are too warm, whiskey too strong, and pillows too soft for Tommy Ryan. His place among the shearers is on the billabongs, said Comben, quoted in the book (p. 130).
Again and again, when challenged, the man did not appear at the appointed time to defend himself, or he was very self-deprecating in his speech, giving up, admitting mistakes. He suffered from a urological condition that forced him to cancel engagements or put him in the hospital.
Ultimately, in this analysis, he showed signs of persistent clinical depression, given as the reason for his desire to seek refuge back in the west and the reason for the obscurity of his final days. Time of death and place of burial unknown.
history
For all its focus on solidarity and discipline, it was typical of the early Labor Party to split and splinter into hostile factions as they struggled to fix their priorities. Further, Comben tells of a very destructive devastation in the neighboring party of New South Wales at the same period (p. 131).
Evidence is given that Ryan was the main torturer Matt Reid, an aloof migrant from Scotland known for his abuse of others, a former carpenter and head of the Australian Federation of Labour. Reid's commitment to a strongly organized party was not matched by commitment to its cause, so he became one of the first few Labor leaders to defect. After two terms as a Labor politician he became an independent, then became a long-term trustee on the Conservative bench in Canberra, 1917-35.
Tommy Ryan had a rival for the title of Queensland's first Labor MP Thomas Glassey, who had been elected in 1888, but as a self-styled “Labour Independent”, without the formal endorsements Ryan had received. He does claim to be Australia's first Labor MP, but left the party after 11 years and unsuccessfully campaigned on a non-Labor endorsement.
The Queensland Labor Party formed the world's first Labor government in 1899 and had two long periods of government: 1915-1957 (39 of 42 years in office) and 1989-2023 (29 of 34 years).
Tommy Ryan's History is a very readable and erudite work. It highlights the courage and determination of the early leaders who laid the foundations of the labor movement and Queensland. It also explains the interplay of risk and opportunity in political life that will continue.
Tommy Ryan and Childbirth by Pat Comben can be purchased here And also Books for $25.00 RRP.
Among Dr Lee DuffieldHaving vast journalistic experience, he worked as a European correspondent for ABC. He is also a respected scholar and member of the editorial advisory board of the Pacific Journalism Review.
