Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is
Australia's oldest continuous political party. The ALP was
formed in 1891. The ALP has a strong connection to the trade
union movement. During the 1950s communist scare in Australia,
the ALP expelled many anti-communist Catholic members. The anti-
communist Catholic members became suspicious of communist
influence in the trade union movement and groups were formed to
take control of the unions. The groupers went on to form the
anti-communist, Catholic aligned, Democratic Labor Party (DLP).
The DLP became largely irrelevant after the election of a
Federal ALP majority under Gough Whitlam in 1972. Famous ALP
prime ministers have included the war time John Curtin, 1970s
Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke. Although it has espoused socialist
ideals in the past, the ALP has never introduced socialism to
Australia. In recent decades, the ALP has remodelled itself in
terms of its ideological vision to combat political pressure
from outside sources. An overwhelming ma