Labor moderniser fell foul of the faceless men

WHEN Cyril Wyndham arrived at the Labor's federal secretariat in 1963 to work as the party's national secretary, the ALP wasn't in the phone book.

Cyril Wyndham

WHEN Cyril Wyndham arrived at the Labor Party's federal secretariat in 1963 to start work as the party's national secretary, the ALP wasn't even listed in the phone book.

When he left six years later - having been ruthlessly run out of the party by faction bosses who accused him of maladministering party funds - he felt betrayed. His mission to connect the party with the electorate, overhaul policy and modernise communications and campaigning was unfinished business.

Wyndham was born in London in 1930. At age 14, he joined the British Labour Party. After he finished school at 17, he began work in the party's headquarters as an assistant to the party's general secretary.

In 1957, he met Labor leader HV "Doc" Evatt at a conference of fraternal parties. So impressed was he with Wyndham's administrative skills, Evatt asked him to come to Australia to be his press secretary, which he did. Wyndham loved Evatt. "No one was closer to him than I," he wrote in an unpublished note.

He continued working for Arthur Calwell when he became Labor leader in 1960. The following year, Wyndham was appointed secretary of the Victorian Labor Party. In 1963, he applied for the £3000-a-year job as federal secretary. He beat 12 others for the position.

Despite a shoestring budget, tiny offices and few support staff, Wyndham threw himself into the job. He was the party's first moderniser. He gave frank public assessments about the need for new policies, better ways of communicating with the electorate and improved campaigning. He wrote pamphlets on policy and philosophy. He organised meetings for party officials.

In 1965, he handed to the federal executive a plan for sweeping reform to the party organisation. He wanted to open up the party and dilute the power of the "faceless men". Gough Whitlam championed the reforms when he became party leader and several were implemented.

Wyndham was initially supported by the party's Left-wing powerbrokers such as West Australian Labor secretary FE "Joe" Chamberlain. But Wyndham was outspoken and challenged their power. He could be brusque and uncompromising.

With Whitlam he developed a close relationship. Wyndham wrote him notes about internal party matters, political strategy and gossip. Their relationship soured, however, over the party's response to the 1968 electoral redistribution. Wyndham resented Whitlam's staff and often requested meetings in "complete privacy".

The acrimony between them grew. In a 1968 note, he described Whitlam as "more arrogant than ever". In 1969, after one encounter, he wrote of Whitlam: "The man's a complete fool and so are his staff." But when the party bosses moved against him, he confided to Whitlam: "The ratbags turned on me."

Although his integrity was in tatters, Wyndham kept his silence. He died in July this year. But he has gifted to history a treasure trove of confidential party documents, personal notes, correspondence, scrapbooks and fragments of a memoir which illuminate the inner workings of the Labor Party in the 1950s and 60s.