James Scullin

Politician

• Born: September 18, 1876
• Birthplace: Trawalla, Australia
• Died: January 28, 1953
• Place of death: Melbourne, Australia

Also known as: James Henry Scullin; Jim Scullin

Significance: James Scullin was Australia’s ninth prime minister, serving from late 1929 to early 1932. He led the country through the early years of the Great Depression, but his effectiveness was limited by political opposition and a major rift in his own Labor Party.

Background

James Scullin was born on September 18, 1876, in Trawalla, Victoria, Australia. The fifth of nine children of Irish immigrants John Scullin and Ann Logan, he grew up in the rural villages of Trawalla and Mount Rowan in central Victoria. He attended local schools until he was fourteen. He then worked various laborer jobs in mining and farming while taking night classes.

When he was in his mid-twenties, Scullin became the manager of a grocer’s shop in Ballarat, Victoria, a position he held for ten years. He read widely to further his self-education, joined the Catholic Young Men’s Society and the Australian Natives’ Association, and became a prize-winning competitive debater.

Political Career

Scullin joined the Political Labor Council, which later became the Australian Labor Party, in 1903. Three years later he became a political organizer for the Australian Workers’ Union and helped to set up local branches in western Victoria and worked on state campaigns. He made his first, unsuccessful bid for elected office in 1906 when he ran as the Labor member for the federal parliament seat held by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin. Scullin’s second attempt, in April 1910, was successful and he entered Parliament as the member for Corangamite. An advocate for increased federal powers and land taxes, he earned a reputation as a skilled speaker.

After losing his seat in the June 1913 election, Scullin worked as an editor for the Ballarat Evening Echo, a Labor-affiliated daily newspaper, for eight years. He remained active in party affairs and vocally opposed conscription during World War I (1914-1918). During a 1916 Labor conference, he moved the motion to expel all party members who favored conscription. The vote passed, but it split the party. Several Labor members left the party and merged with the Liberal Party to form the Nationalist Party.

From 1918 to 1919 Scullin served as the president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party. Following World War I, he became more radical and pushed for the party to adopt more socialist objectives. Scullin attempted to reenter Parliament in a by-election for Corangamite in 1918. Two years later he attempted to gain the Grenville seat in the Victorian parliament but was again unsuccessful.

Scullin returned to Parliament in 1922 for the electorate of Yarra and would be reelected in every subsequent election through his retirement in 1949. In 1927 he became Labor’s deputy leader and, the following year, was elected party leader. At the time the Australian Labor Party was highly fragmented, especially between radicals and moderates. Scullin helped Labor win seats in the 1928 election, but much division remained.

Prime Minister

As an MP, Scullin was highly critical of the economic policies of Stanley Bruce’s coalition government and warned about the dangers of the country’s debts and trade imbalances. After the Nationalist-Country coalition fell in September 1929, he led Labor to victory in the October 1929 election, winning a significant majority of seats in the House of Representatives. However, the party failed to gain a majority of seats in the Senate. Labor gained the government for the first time since 1916, and Scullin became prime minister on October 22, 1929. He also appointed himself the minister of industry and minister of external affairs.

Within days of Scullin taking office the New York Stock Exchange crashed, sparking a global depression known as the Great Depression. Australia’s economy was already in disarray, with high debt, high unemployment, decreased export prices, and a loss of international credit. Scullin initially addressed the economy with a legislative package known as the Melbourne Agreement, which called for rationing, decreasing wages, raising tariffs, cutting back on assisted immigration, and increasing social service assistance. Though some of these measures showed success, many were controversial, and other efforts were blocked in the Senate. Scullin’s government was also damaged when his treasurer, Edward Theodore, was forced to resign due to scandal in 1930; Scullin himself briefly took over the treasury portfolio.

In 1931 simmering discontent within Labor and disagreement with Scullin’s economic policies led to a major double split in the party. A faction led by Theodore favored inflationary measures, while a group led by New South Wales premier Jack Lang favored deflationary measures. When Scullin supported Theodore’s reinstatement as treasurer, cabinet members James Fenton and Joseph Lyons resigned and eventually cofounded the United Australia Party. Shortly thereafter, six Labor MPs who supported Lang’s views also resigned from Labor and formed the Lang Labor Party.

Differences across party lines on an extensive bill to restructure public finances, known as the Premiers’ Plan, led to the fall of Scullin’s government in November 1931. Parliament was dissolved following a no-confidence motion, and a general election was held in December 1931. Labor was devastated in the election, maintaining just fourteen seats. On January 6, 1932, Scullin was succeeded as prime minister by Lyons of the newly formed United Australia Party.

Scullin remained the leader of the Labor Party until October 1, 1935, when he stepped down and was succeeded by John Curtin. From 1935 until his retirement in 1949, he served on multiple committees and worked on press censorship, a uniform federal tax, banking reform, and the federal income pay-as-you-earn tax system, among other issues.

Scullin died on August 23, 1953, in Melbourne, Victoria, after several years of declining health.

Impact

Though widely respected for his integrity in office, Scullin is most remembered for leading a government that struggled to respond to the Great Depression. Though his ineffectiveness was in part due to a Senate controlled by the opposition, his policies also exposed deep rifts in the Labor Party. The fall of Scullin’s government in seen by some as marking the point at which Labor began to shift away from a socialist focus on the working class toward an embrace of capitalism. On a smaller scale, Scullin made history as Australia’s first Catholic prime minister and the first to override the British government by insisting on the appointment of an Australian-born governor general.

Personal Life

Scullin and Sarah McNamara wed in 1907. They lived in Richmond and Hawthorn, Victoria. Scullin was known for being modest and straitlaced, and did not drink or smoke. He played violin as a hobby.

Bibliography

“James Scullin.” Australia’s Prime Ministers, National Archives of Australia, primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/scullin. Accessed 11 May 2020.

“James Scullin.” Australian Prime Ministers, Museum of Australian Democracy, primeministers.moadoph.gov.au/prime-ministers/james-scullin. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.

“James Scullin.” National Museum of Australia, www.nma.gov.au/explore/features/prime-ministers/james-scullin. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.

Robertson, J. R. “Scullin, James Henry (1876–1953).” Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1988, adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scullin-james-henry-8375. Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.

Wildman, Kim, and Derry Hogue. “James Henry Scullin: The Ill-Fated President.” First among Equals: Australia’s Prime Ministers from Barton to Turnbull, Exisle Publishing, 2016.