Editing Labor Left (section)

===Labor Left split in the 1980s===
Labor leftists continued to formalise their organisation into the 1980s. In New South Wales, the Steering Committee (which later became known as the Socialist Left in 1989) made advances in branches across the state in the late 1970s and early 1980s under the leadership of [[Peter Baldwin (politician)|Peter Baldwin]], initially in the suburbs of Sydney before spreading to the inner cities. This culminated in the deselection of the right-aligned MP for [[Division of Sydney|Sydney]], [[Les McMahon]], and the selection of Baldwin as Labor candidate for the seat. This was followed by other Labor Right MPs in Sydney's [[Inner West]] similarly being usurped by left candidates.<ref name=albo>{{cite web |url=https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/australian-labor-party-anthony-albanese-new-south-wales-right-wing-politics |title=Labor's Anthony Albanese Is Not a Friend of Australia's Left – And He Never Was |last=Daniel |first=Nicholas |date=13 November 2020 |website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]] |access-date=17 November 2020}}</ref>

In Tasmania, the Broad Left formalised itself in 1983, having taken control of the state party after reforms democratised it in 1976.<ref name=jacobin /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Davis |first=Richard |editor-last=Alexander |editor-first=Alison |encyclopedia=[[The Companion to Tasmanian History]] |title=Labor Party |url=https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/L/Labor%20Party.htm |access-date=31 July 2020|year=2005 |publisher=[[University of Tasmania]] |isbn=1-86295-223-X}}</ref> In the Australian Capital Territory, the Left Caucus was founded after a left candidate was not [[Preselection|preselected]] in 1982. However, the Left was unable to translate their organisational advances into a presence in the [[Hawke government]]: although about a third of the Parliamentary caucus were aligned with the Left at the time, only one member was appointed to [[First Hawke Ministry|Hawke's first cabinet]], [[Stewart West]]: leading left-winger [[Brian Howe (politician)|Brian Howe]] placed high in the ministry ballot, but was relegated to a junior ministerial position. This came against the background of an increasing factionalising across the party and the emergence of a centre-left faction which joined with the Labor Right to dominate the Hawke government. Left influence was also restricted by the ALP's binding pledge committing legislators to accept caucus discipline, allowing members little freedom to dissent. Left influence also declined at the national conference, with the faction losing its conference majority in the early 1980s.<ref name=jacobin />

During the 1980s, prolonged disputes over tactical issues and personality conflicts resulted in a split occurring within the New South Wales Labor Left, creating two sub-factional groupings; the 'Hard Left' and the '[[Ferguson Left|Soft Left]]',<ref name="factions&fractions">{{cite journal |last1=Leigh |first1=Andrew |title=Factions and Fractions: A Case Study of Power Politics in the Australian Labor Party |journal=Australian Journal of Political Science |year=2000 |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=427–448 |doi=10.1080/713649348 |s2cid=144601220 |url=http://andrewleigh.org/pdf/Factions(AJPS).pdf}}</ref> the latter of which was the successor of the Baldwinites.<ref name=albo /> A significant event which caused the split was the election of the Secretary Assistant of the New South Wales Labor Party, where the Hard Left faction supported [[Anthony Albanese]] while the Soft Left faction supported [[Jan Burnswoods]].<ref name="factions&fractions" /> The Hard Left faction was more closely aligned with left-wing groups external to the Labor Party, maintaining "closer links with broader left-wing groups, such as the [[Communist Party of Australia]], People for Nuclear Disarmament and the [[African National Congress]]" as well as trade union officials, political staffers, lobbyists and student politicians, while the Soft Left's main base of support was among rank-and-file party branch members.<ref name="factions&fractions" /><ref name=albo /> In terms of tactics, the Hard Left favoured a top-down approach of transactional negotiation with the Labor Right, whilst the Soft Left advocated a continuation of the Baldwinite bottom-up strategy of mobilising the grassroots membership to win party positions. This difference in approach led to struggles between the two factions over candidate selections, with the Hard Left using their control over the party apparatus in tandem with sections of the Right to deselect Soft Left MPs across the state, particularly in [[western Sydney]], [[Newcastle, New South Wales|Newcastle]] and [[Wollongong]]. For example, in Newcastle [[Bryce Gaudry]] was deselected in favour of the Right's [[Jodi McKay]], following which about 130 members resigned or were expelled from the city's ALP branches, previously the largest in the state.<ref name=albo /> The factions also had differing views on policy. While members of both the Soft and Hard Left opposed the Hawke/Keating government's privatisation of the [[Commonwealth Bank]] and [[Qantas]], the Hard Left was seen as being more staunchly resistant to these changes.<ref name="factions&fractions" />