Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is Australia's oldest continuous political party. The Labor Party was formed in 1891 and has used the name Labor over the more traditional Australian English usage of Labour since 1912. 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 Roman 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 Ben Chifley and 1970s Gough Whitlam. Although espousing socialist ideals the ALP has never introduced socialism to Australia.

The current national leader of the ALP is Kevin Rudd. The ALP is currently in power in every Australian state and territory. At a Federal level the ALP is in opposition with the Liberal National Coalition holding power.