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'Not a Dictatorship of the Proletariat but a Comradeship of All': Methodism and the Newcastle Labour Movement

2003; Liverpool University Press; Issue: 85 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/27515940

1839-3039

Tony Laffan,

Australian History and Society

A number of historians have noted the importance of the Methodist Church (now part of the Uniting Church in Australia) for the British labour movement. This is especially the case for the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The activities of those members of the labour movement who were also Methodists is an important topic for research. Methodism was important in a variety of locations as well as for certain professions and occupations in Australia as it was in Britain. Methodism had many core value systems that were co-extensive with what may be called craft unionism. These values were also widely held throughout professions such as finance, teaching, nursing, police and administration. Geographical areas where Methodists were a significant component of the overall population were often also key areas for the emergence of the values of Taborism' in Australia. Examples include the various coalfields of NSW and the copperbelt of South Australia. Newcastle with its coal miners provides one area where there is considerable evidence of this activity. These mines required skilled workers. Engine drivers, under managers, deputies and the contract miners had to be recruited from those areas in the UK where coalmining occurred. Among these were Durham and Northumberland, the very areas in the UK where the Methodist link was of greatest significance. Consequently Newcastle's religious affiliation was very different to NSW as a whole. The critical statistic is that, in 1891, Methodists made up 31.1 per cent of the Newcastle colliery district population compared to 10.1 per cent for the whole of NSW. For non-conformist potestants as a group (including similar denominations such as Congregationalists and Salvationists) the total was 52.8 per cent for Newcastle versus 25.9 per cent for the state.1 Given that Newcastle itself had administrative, business and port functions we can assume that the Methodist component was even stronger in the various mining centres. These townships included Lambton, Wallsend, Minmi, Adamstown, Dudley, West Wallsend, Kurri Kurri, Weston and Cessnock.