James Stout (trade unionist)

Vic Stout
National President of the Labor Party
In office
February 1961 – July 1961
LeaderArthur Calwell
Preceded byJoe Chamberlain
Succeeded byBill Colbourne
Secretary of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council
In office
1938–1964
Preceded byAlbert Monk
Succeeded byMick Jordan
Personal details
BornJames Victor Stout
(1885-08-10)10 August 1885
Port Melbourne, Colony of Victoria
Died13 March 1964(1964-03-13) (aged 78)
St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
PartyLabor
Other political
affiliations
Victorian Socialist Party (1906)
Spouse
Maud Mary Newton
​
​
(m. 1912; died 1955)​
[1]
OccupationUnion official

James Victor "Vic" Stout (10 August 1885 – 13 March 1964) was an Australian trade unionist and political party official who served as the National President of the Australian Labor Party from February to July 1961,[2] and as Secretary of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council from 1938 until his death. He additionally served five separate terms as President of the Victorian Labor Party.[3][4]

Career

James Victor Stout was born in Port Melbourne and attended local state schools in the depths of the 1890s depression. He worked in the boot trade and later in a draper's shop.[3] From 1907, when the drapers combined with other retail workers to form the Shop Assistants' Union of Victoria, he became more active in union affairs.

Trades Hall

In 1924, Stout was appointed an organiser for the Shop Assistants' Union,[5] and in 1933 was elected president of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council, the peak body representing unions in Victoria.[6][7] He served in this position for just one year, however remained a member of the Trades Hall Committee Executive as a representative of the Shop Assistants' Union. In 1938, Stout was elected Secretary of the Trades Hall Council.[8][9][10] He remained in this position until his death in 1964, suffering a heart attack in his Trades Hall office and dying in hospital the next day.[11][3] Stout was also elected as a union representative member of the Victorian Industrial Appeals Court.[12]

State politics

After serving as secretary of the Toorak branch of the Labor Party, Stout was nominated as the party's candidate for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Toorak in 1920.[13] He lost to Nationalist candidate Stanley Argyle, who would later go on to become premier.[14] He contested the same district at the 1929 election, again losing to Argyle. Stout contested the neighbouring district of Toorak at the 1932 election,[15] losing to United Australia Party candidate and Mayor of the City of Prahran, John Ellis. He was later elected to the state Labor executive, and served as president of the state party on five different occasions, the first being 1942.[16][3][17]

National president

Stout was elected National President of the Australian Labor Party at a meeting of the National Executive in Hobart in February 1961. The vacancy was caused by the resignation of incumbent president Joe Chamberlain, who was unanimously elected national secretary at the same meeting.[18] At a meeting held in Brisbane in July the same year, Stout was defeated in repeat ballot for the presidency by New South Wales branch secretary Bill Colbourne.[19] In a vote of 12 national executive members, the candidates were tied on 6 votes each and Colbourne won the presidency after his name was drawn from a hat.[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Death of Mrs J V Stout". The Argus. 9 July 1955. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  2. ↑ "New ALP Executive is setback to disruptors". Tribune. 22 February 1961. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Love, Peter. "James Victor (Vic) Stout (1885–1964)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  4. ↑ "Veteran Labor Leader Vic Stout dies at 78". Tribune. 18 March 1964. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  5. ↑ "Echoes of the Day - Stout Organiser". The Sun News-Pictorial. 1 May 1924. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  6. ↑ "Trades Hall Council New President". Labor Call. 29 June 1933. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  7. ↑ "Agreement was a triumph for Vic Stout". Labor Call. 3 December 1948. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  8. ↑ "Trades Hall Secretary - Mr J V Stout Elected". The Age. 20 May 1938. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  9. ↑ "THC Secretary". The Victorian Worker. 25 May 1938. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  10. ↑ "Trades Hall Secretary - Mr J.V. Stout". The Argus. 20 May 1938. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  11. ↑ Abjorensen, Norman (18 November 1995). "The Nemesis of the Labor Split". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  12. ↑ "Stout re-elected". The Argus. 6 March 1953. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  13. ↑ "Toorak - Mr Stout's Candidature". The Age. 13 October 1920. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  14. ↑ "In the Arena: Toorak". The Herald. 28 November 1929. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  15. ↑ "Mr Stout's Views". The Age. 3 May 1932. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  16. ↑ "Mr Stout on ALP Executive". The Herald. 29 April 1946. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  17. ↑ "Stout and Jordan seek ALP posts". The Sun News-Pictorial. 27 March 1951. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  18. ↑ "Militants Control the ALP Machine". The Canberra Times. 17 February 1961. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  19. ↑ "Colbourne wins ALP presidency". The Canberra Times. 7 July 1961. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  20. ↑ "Visit by ALP leader - chief's first meeting". The Cumberland Argus. 9 August 1961. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
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