TheLang Labor Party was apolitical party active inSouth Australia from 1931 to 1934, aligned withLang Labor and the policies ofPremier of New South WalesJack Lang.
It was formed as a result of increasing tensions within theAustralian Labor Party over the party's economic response to theGreat Depression in Australia. The opponents of austerity in the Labor Party, of which Lang was among the most prominent figures, had supported repudiating Australia's debt, while supporters of austerity policies would subsequently introduce the national "Premiers' Plan" to achieve those ends. The1931 Labor split occurred both at a state and federal level, with Lang's supporters being known as "Lang Labor".[1]
By May 1931, the "Lang Plan Campaign Committee" had been formed in South Australia to give publicity to and campaign for Lang's ideas. Its members were not, at its inception, outside the Labor Party; however, the breach between Lang's supporters and the mainstream party quickly broadened, and reports that month suggested that a split in the party was imminent.[2][3] The committee's president wasDoug Bardolph, and its secretary wasTom Howard.[4][5]
In July 1931, aby-election was held for theSouth Australian House of Assembly seat ofAdelaide, in the wake of Labor MPBert Edwards being sentenced to jail.[6] The Lang Plan Campaign Committee decided to separately contest the by-election, and the secretary of the Ironworkers' Union,Martin Collaton, was chosen as their candidate.[7][8] Collaton went on to win the by-election, in which he had been usually referred to as a "Lang Plan supporter" or a "Lang Plan candidate".[9]
The supporters of Lang had begun being referred to as the "Lang Labor Party" by August 1931, by which time they had established local branches.[10] In addition to Collaton, the party supported independent Labor state MPBob Dale, who had been expelled from the Labor Party for supporting Lang's ideas, and who would later run for re-election under the party's banner.[11][12] In October, the Lang Labor Party nominated Bardolph in aLegislative Council by-election for the Central District No. 1 seat and ran a significant campaign on his behalf, but saw him defeated by independentJoseph Anderson[13][14]
Two of the three Lang Labor Party MHAs elected at the1933 state election,Bob Dale andTom Howard, left the party in 1933 post-election after falling out with leaderDoug Bardolph and formed their own party, the South Australian Lang Labor Party (SALLP).
In June 1934, the four Labor factions were reunited.
