Rhodesian Labour Party

The Rhodesia Labour Party was a political party which existed in Southern Rhodesia from 1923 until the 1950s. Originally formed on the model of the British Labour Party from trade unions and being especially dominated by railway workers, it formed the main opposition party from 1934 to 1946. The party suffered a catastrophic split during the Second World War and lost all its seats, and a further split over the attitude to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland ended its involvement in Rhodesian politics.

Labour interests were allied to the Responsible Government Association in seeking self-government for the colony. At the 1920 election to the Legislative Council, two of the Responsible Government Association candidates associated with Labour while three Labour candidates and one Independent Labour stood separately. Following the successful referendum in 1922 supporting self-government, Labour supporters made definite attempts to form a party. As negotiations over a constitution progressed, there were hopes that Labour might be the strongest party in the country, but the constitutional provisions for boundaries were reckoned to be unhelpful.

The party was formally established later that year. The largest contribution to the party was made by the Rhodesian Railway Workers' Union. When the Responsible Government Party became the Rhodesia Party in December 1923, it resolved that negotiations with the Labour Party should be entered into by 15 January 1924, and the broad outlines of an agreement were reached prior to the first general election. However, the Rhodesia Labour Party's insistence that it should be able to fight eight out of the thirty seats was regarded as unacceptable by the Rhodesia Party which was prepared to offer only five (with some members totally opposed to any form of deal), and negotiations broke down.

In the event, the two parties opposed each other at the 1924 election and the Rhodesia Labour Party was unable to win any seats. Ten out of the fifteen candidates were associated with the Railway Workers' Union. The party's line at the election was reported as being "extreme anti-capitalist and anti-Government" by The Times correspondent, and it obtained substantial votes only in Bulawayo and Umtali where the railways had substantial numbers of employees.

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