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South African Labour Party Suid-Afrikaanse Arbeidersparty (Afrikaans)
General secretaries	Frederic Creswell Walter Madeley
Founded	1910 (1910)
Dissolved	1958 (1958)
Headquarters	Bloemfontein
Ideology	Social democracy Democratic socialism White workers' interests
Political position	Fiscal:Left-wing Social:Right-wing
Colours	Red
Politics of South Africa Political parties Elections

TheSouth African Labour Party^[1] (Afrikaans:Suid-Afrikaanse Arbeidersparty), was a South Africanpolitical party formed in March 1910 in the newly createdUnion of South Africa following discussions between trade unions, theTransvaal Independent Labour Party, and theNatal Labour Party.^[2] It was a professedlydemocratic socialist party representing the interests of the whiteworking class.^[3]

The party received support mostly from urban white workers and for most of its existence sought to protect them from competition from black and other non-white workers.^[4]

The party was represented in the South African House of Assembly from theSouth African general election, 1910 until it lost its last seats in theSouth African general election, 1958. It never came close to acquiring a majority in Parliament or to being the official opposition, but it did spend periods as a junior coalition partner in the government of South Africa. Between 1910 and 1929 the Party was led byColonel F. H. P. Creswell.

The worldwide depression after the end of theFirst World War had led to a strike inSouth Africa, known as theRand Rebellion, which had been defused through a combination of military force and repression, including the imprisonment of Labour leader Frederic Creswell for a month. The government's heavy handed negotiations with the out-gunnedunions earnedJan Smuts the enmity of the labour vote and the Labour Party, whose support was boosted by the growing militancy of workers. This paved the way for an election agreement between the Labour Party and theNational Party (NP) for the1924 general election, in which the two parties would not oppose each other during the election and would support each other's candidates in certain constituencies.^[4] The alliance resulted in acoalition government known as the Pact. The Labour Party provided two members of the Pact government, including its leader, Creswell, asMinister of Defence.^[5] In the event, Creswell remained in office until 1933, for much of that time doubling as Minister of Labour. While serving in government, the LP initiated important economic and industrial legislation which improved conditions for white workers.^[4] In addition, the LP also helped to alleviate unemployment amongst whites, and a year after becoming labour minister, Creswell claimed that he had found employment for 12,000 previously jobless whites.^[6] These policies, however, did nothing to enhance conditions for black workers.^[4]

In 1928, the party split between two factions. The Labour MP who was Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Public Works,Walter Madeley, recognised the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union, which had non-white members. This angered the National Party. As a result, Madeley was asked to resign. When the Labour Party National Council refused to agree, the Minister could only be got rid of by the resignation and reconstruction of the whole Pact government. The "Creswell Labour" group, supporting the veteran party leader Colonel Creswell, remained in the Pact government. The opposing faction, known as "National Council Labour", went into opposition with Madeley as its leader.^[7]

After theSouth African general election, 1929, even though the National Party won an overall majority, Colonel Creswell and a colleague remained ministers. When the National Party formed a coalition with Jan Smuts'sSouth African Party, in 1933, the Pact government came to an end. At theSouth African general election, 1933, the Creswell faction became followers of General Smuts, thus leaving the National Council faction as the Labour Party.

The National Party and the South African Party merged in 1934 as theUnited Party (UP). When that party split, over the issue of South African participation in the Second World War, the Labour Party participated in a wartime coalition under the Premiership of Jan Smuts formed in 1939. Walter Madeley, the Labour leader, left the coalition in 1945.^[8]

On 24 July 1946, Walter Madeley resigned from the leadership and the party.^[9] Three other MPs also left the party during 1946–47 because they favoured a more conservative line on racial questions than the party organisation. Madeley, who had representedBenoni in the Union Parliament continuously since it was created in 1910, died in 1947. A dissident Labour candidate (representing the United Labour Party) contested the Benoni by-election, but lost by 949 votes to the official Labour candidate.^[10] Dissident Labour candidates also contested theSouth African general election, 1948 but won no seats.

After 1939, the Labour Party was clearly closer to the United Party than to the National Party. Labour had an electoral pact with the UP in 1943,^[11] 1948 and 1953.^[12] However Labour tended to oppose the NP, after it came to power in 1948, more vigorously than the larger and more conservative United Party felt able to do.

The Labour leader,John Christie, died during theSouth African general election, 1953. His successor, the last Labour leaderAlex Hepple, tried to pursue a socialist policy as well as maintaining relations with groups like theAfrican National Congress. His policies proved to be far too left-leaning for the majority Afrikaner-electorate and led a sound defeat in the1958 election, in which Labour gained 0.23% of the votes and lost all of its remaining seats. The Labour Party was dissolved soon after the election.

A small fraction of former Labour politicians formed theConservative Workers Party, which only gained 0.31% in the1961 elections and disbanded as well.

• 1910–1933: ColonelF. H. P. Creswell (disputed 1928–1933)
• 1928–1946:Walter Madeley (disputed 1928–1933)
• 1946–1953:John Christie
• 1953–1958:Alex Hepple

Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Result
1910	Frederic Creswell			4 / 121	4	3rd	Opposition
1915		24,755	9.63%	4 / 130		4th	Opposition
1920		40,639	14.64%	21 / 134	17	4th	Opposition
1921		39,406	13.82%	9 / 134	12	3rd	Opposition
1924		45,380	14.35%	18 / 135	9	3rd	Labour Party-NP coalition government
1929	Disputed	33,919	9.86%	8 / 148	10	3rd	Labour Party-NP coalition government
1933	Walter Madeley	20,276	6.34%	2 / 150	6	4th	Opposition
1938		48,641	5.87%	3 / 150	1	4th	Opposition (joined wartimeUP coalition 1939)
1943		38,206	4.36%	9 / 150	6	3rd	wartimeUP coalition government (left 1945)
1948	John Christie	27,360	2.57%	6 / 150	3	4th	Opposition
1953		34,730	2.87%	5 / 156	1	3rd	Opposition
1958	Alex Hepple	2,670	0.23%	0 / 156	5	5th	Extra-parliamentary

• Keesing's Contemporary Archives
• Smuts: A Reappraisal, byBernard Friedman (George, Allen & Unwin 1975)ISBN 0-04-920045-3
• South Africa 1982 Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, published by Chris van Rensburg Publications

• 1910 establishments in South Africa
• Defunct political parties in South Africa
• Social democratic parties in South Africa
• Labour parties
• Organisations associated with apartheid
• Political parties disestablished in 1958
• Political parties established in 1910
• White South African culture
• Working class in South Africa
• Social class in South Africa

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