Labor’s titan: the story of Percy Brookfield, 1878-192, Gilbert Giles Roper
Source: Warrnambool Institute Press, 1983, edited by Allan and Wendy Scarfe. Copyright Allan and Wendy Scarfe. This digital edition for Marxists
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Transcription, mark-up: Steve Painter
Half a century has passed since the shooting of Percy Brookfield at Riverton railway station in South Australia,[1] and although he is remembered in many parts of Australia as a legendary spokesman for the working people, it seems to be appropriate that there should be a printed compilation to record some of the principal events and political drama in the life of the man who became known as “Labor's Titan”.
In 1955-56 in connection with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Brookfield’s death, a quantity of biographical material was collected by the author for use in a commemorative address, which was delivered in the Newsreel Theatre, Kings Cross, Sydney, under the auspices of the Darlinghurst branch of the Australian Labor Party, and also in articles published in Standard Weekly, at that time the official organ of the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales.
The memory of Brookfield survives as a legend among the working people in many parts of Australia, but there is no actual record of his life and speeches except in the dry pages of Hansarde moldering files of old newspapers. Even the period between the First and Second World Wars — a veritable golden age of anti-militarism — produced no literature on Brookfield. Brief references to Brookfield occur in several books, and he was immortalised in verse by Mary Gilmour, but Brookfield himself wrote very little. He was neither a theoretician nor a polemicist in the way that those terms are generally understood. His supreme talents lay in his ability to translate classical socialist doctrine into the political language of his day and to comport himself at all times in harmony with his socialist beliefs. He had remarkable ability to express the fundamental needs of the working people in the clearest possible language. Because he held fast to well-established principles he was able to provide an incorruptible and consistently inspiring leadership. The importance of such leadership to the working people is, in fact, the special lesson to be drawn from Brookfield’s life.
Brookfield was a fighter for industrial reforms. On the industrial front, his principal aim was the forty-four hour week in the Broken Hill mines. The forty-four hour week subsequently became one of the great industrial reforms legislated through the New South Wales Parliament by Jack Lang. From there it went to the federal Arbitration Court and became general throughout Australia. After World War II through proceedings in the federal Arbitration Court, forty hours became the standard working week except for rural workers: but for a quarter of a century the working of excessive overtime has robbed many workers of the anticipated benefits of increased leisure.
In the years since Brookfield’s death the labour movement has grown stronger in many ways. Yet the robber-burg of capitalism remains basically intact. Hours of labour have been reduced, but years of widespread overtime have left a great section of the workers a burnt-out generation. The rate of exploitation of the workers by the owners of industry has increased. Many industries, it is true, are nationalised. State ownership, however, is not necessarily socialism; it may be merely an expedient to undertake unprofitable development to ensure continuity of an enfeebled industry, to aid the military potential, or to guarantee the payment of interest to bondholders. The main criterion of socialism is the degree of workers’ control that has been established.
Socialists of Brookfield’s day were still heavily influenced by the Great French Revolution of 1789 and the subsequent ferment in Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century. In the make-up of continental flags, blue stood for the aristocracy, white for the clergy and red for the artisans and peasants. Garibaldi’s soldiers, fighting for the liberation of Italy, wore red shirts. The words of the Socialist song The Red Flag, attributed to Jim Connell, an English socialist, were usually sung to the music of an old German tune, Tannenbaum, which had also been parodied in the United States and given the name Maryland. This song became widely known. Some of Jack London’s books featured a red flag as the central motif on the covers. The frequent use of the red flag was a normal feature of socialist activity. Red tablecloths were sometimes used at socialist meetings, and often meetings ended with the singing of The Red Flag. The frequent singing of The Red Flag was therefore no more than symbolic of the period.
In 1917, most people were aware of the appalling conditions of the mass of the people in Russia, and consequently gave sympathy to the revolution led first by Kerensky and later by Lenin and Trotsky. Brookfield spoke in forthright support of the infant Soviet Republic.
There will be those who will criticise Brookfield’s support of the Soviet Republic. However, irrespective of one’s views on the subsequent development of this regime, it must be conceded that the very existence of a Communist government in Moscow had a domesticating effect on world capitalism as a whole, and on Wall Street capitalism in particular. It is only necessary to examine capitalism today and compare it with the capitalism of Brookfield’s times to understand the degree to which it has been reformed in order to compete with the growing power of Communism. Had capitalism succeeded in gaining complete domination, it would almost certainly have reverted to type.
Nobody in those days could foresee the coming to power of the Stalinist bureaucracy and its appalling consequences. Despite Stalin, however, the mere existence of the Soviet state did have a domesticating effect on the savageries of world capitalism against the working class.
To the end of his life Brookfield continued as a fighter for industrial reform, but by 1916, because of his belief that wars were created by capitalists who enriched themselves on the sufferings of the working class, he was absorbed in the struggle against militarism and the Great War. Despite his efforts, militarism has continued to grow. Not only has Australia staggered through the second world holocaust, which Brookfield accurately forecast would spring from the revengeful Peace Treaty of Versailles, but since 1939 the normal condition of Australia has been a state of war, interrupted only by brief periods of peace.
Today the very existence of life on this planet is threatened as a result of a hideous perversion of science. All that has happened in the last half-century merely confirms the utter correctness of Brookfield and those other brave minds who resisted the “Great” War and its senseless horrors.
It would be easy to lapse into speculation as to the changes that might have ensued in the labour movement had Brookfield survived. In particular the method by which Brookfield was preselected for parliament is of current interest. Barrier trade unionists were absolutely correct in insisting upon their right to select any member of any affiliated union or Labor League, provided the member concerned had a clean industrial and political record. Today’s Australian Labor Party pre-selection rules eliminate the right of affiliated unionists to nominate and vote in pre-selection ballots. As the basic strength of the Labor Party springs from the trade unions, a return to the Broken Hill system of pre-selection could be advantageous. The present narrow basis for pre-selecting Australian Labor Party candidates facilitates the domination of branch pre-selection ballots by cliques and factions and serves as a springboard for careerists and opportunists to bounce into councils and parliaments. The narrow pre-selection ballot was one of the secret sources of strength of that disruptive force known as “The Movement”.
Brookfield’s criticism of the inadequacies of many contemporary Labor parliamentarians awakened trade unionists and stimulated them to greater vigilance towards the parliamentary caucus (and to exert greater pressure on it). The long series of reforms legislated by Labor governments in New South Wales from the time of the first Lang administration were almost invariably initiated by the trade unions, the Labor Women’s Committee, or the rank and file in the branches of the Australian Labor Party.
The life of Brookfield prompts discussion on the influence of outstanding individuals on the labour movement and perhaps speculation as to the course of events had Brookfield survived the assassin’s bullets. However, the purpose of this short biography will be served if it succeeds in disseminating a greater knowledge of Brookfield and the fundamental principles by which he was guided.
Randwick, NSW, March 21, 1971
1. In 1921 at the age of sixteen Gilbert Roper saw Brookfield’s coffin leave Adelaide by train for Broken Hill. He was fascinated by Brookfield’s thought and actions and seeing many parallels between Brookfield’s life and his own he extended the articles that he wrote for the Standard Weekly into a fuller account. Between 1955 and 1971 he wrote and rewrote this manuscript and on his death two versions existed. The editors have combined and rearranged the two versions into the present work, adding approximately a half of the text to improve continuity of narrative. — Wendy and Allan Scarfe