James Scullin: an AWU Prime Minister

Jim Scullin was Australia’s ninth Prime Minister, in office from October 1929 to January 1932. Through no fault of his own, he holds the distinction of being the last Australian government to only serve one term.

An obituary published in the Melbourne Herald following his death in January 1953 commented that the Labor movement, not the man, failed the test of the Great Depression. Jim led Federal Labor to electoral victory on 12 October 1929, but over in the US, the Wall Street Crash followed up on 24 October, which then derailed most economic hopes for the Scullin Government.Scullin’s AWU journey began during a speaking tour across Western Victoria in 1907, establishing numerous PLC (ALP) branches along the way. The AWU, impressed with his energy, threw itself into expanding its influence socially (as well as industrially) and appointed Scullin as a political organiser in 1908. At the request of the PLC Warrnambool Branch, Scullin agreed to contest the federal seat of Corangamite in 1910.

Scullin after his election as MP in 1910

This all came together for Scullin in the breakthrough election of April 1910, when Andrew Fisher’s ALP won majority national government, a world first for the labour movement. Scullin took a place on the backbench but incredibly, the veteran Fisher invited the newbie Jim Scullin to deliver the new Government’s Address-in-Reply at the opening of the new parliament in July 1910 – a unique honour! Scullin threw himself into April 1911 and May 1913 referendums to expand Commonwealth powers, but both votes failed.

Following electoral defeat in 1913, the AWU invited him to edit a daily newspaper, the Evening Echo, which he did until 1922. The paper was based in Camp Street, Ballarat, but maintained a statewide circulation of some 60,000 copies.

Scullin, and the AWU moderates in general, believed in industry consultation rather than wholesale nationalisation. As early as 1906, AWU general secretary Donald Macdonell was complaining about the “ideas of Continental Socialists” (i.e. foreigners!) disrupting Labor’s steady progress. The AWU platform was pretty simple – secure borders, tariff protection, and industrial arbitration. Scullin had credibility as a skilled communicator, and returned to the federal parliament in 1922, becoming deputy leader then leader in 1928.

The Scullin Labor Government, 1929

Scullin faced internal rivals – the left-wing NSW Premier Jack Lang with his fire-breathing empty rhetoric and the right-wing Joe Lyons with his placid and reassuring moderation. On his side, Jim had a powerful ally from the Queensland AWU – former Queensland Premier and later Scullin’s vigorous but controversial Federal Treasurer, “Red Ted” Theodore. Economist JM Keynes later complimented Scullin and Theodore on minimizing the Depression’s impact in Australia, through public works and sustenance programs (“on the suso”).

The 1929-1931 Parliament was not a happy experience – all sides were shell-shocked by the Great Depression, and Labor buckled under the strain. Unlike the other crises which have scarred the ALP, the 1931 Split is messy and heroes are light on the ground, Scullin perhaps coming closest. It was the most traumatic of Labor splits, with both left and right wings of the party shearing off, leaving a shrinking band of ALP loyalists led by an exhausted Scullin.

Lyons and his right supporters objected and resigned in January 1931, linking up with the opposition to form a new United Australia Party. Two months later, the left supporters of NSW Premier Jack Lang resigned. The Scullin Government was a train wreck by March 1931, and limped on for another nine months until Lang Labor treacherously crossed the floor on a no-confidence motion.

The legacy of the 1931 train wreck was an obsession with unity, which served the later Curtin and Chifley governments well. As a high mark of respect during the Second World War, Scullin’s office at the Old Parliament House in Canberra was located right between PM John Curtin and Treasurer Ben Chifley. Scullin became an advisor to the wartime leaders – Curtin and Chifley would meet in Jim’s office and bounce their worries of the day off the old man (and also smoke him out of his own office!).

An active elder statesman, Scullin was both a physical presence and a persuasive voice in Federal Caucus, backing his successors against any potential disruptors, until ill health struck in 1947. Scullin would never have countenanced another party fracture after what he described as the “horror” of 1931. Jim retired at the 1949 general election and passed away in Melbourne in 1953. He is buried close to his old AWU colleagues – Grayndler, Barnes and McNeill – at the General Cemetery at Parkville.

David Cragg (1957-2025) was a dedicated unionist and member of the AWU Victorian Branch for 39 years, serving as an organiser, administrator and WorkCover officer from 1991-2009. He was then elected Assistant Secretary at the Victorian Trades Hall from 2009-2018. David was also a keen historian, chronicling the AWU’s history in his retirement and was awarded Life Membership in 2023.