December 1917 and defeated by 46% for and 54% against. This question was put to Australians: Are you in favour of the proposal of the Commonwealth Government for reinforcing the Commonwealth Forces overseas? After the failure of the first plebiscite, Billy Hughes and his supporters left the Australian Labor Party parliamentary caucus and took with them a good deal of the parliamentary party's talent. They created a new National Labor Party, and Hughes survived as prime minister by forming a conservative Nationalist government, which was dependent for survival on the Commonwealth Liberal Party. The remainder of the Labor Party, under the new leader, Frank Tudor, then expelled Hughes and all of those who had followed him. Following the split, Labor stayed out of office for ten years. After the first plebiscite, the government used the War Precautions Act and the Unlawful Associations Act to arrest and prosecute anti-conscriptionists such as Tom Barker, the editor of Direct Action and many other members of the Industrial Workers of the World and E. H. Coombe, who had three sons at the front, of the Daily Herald. The young John Curtin, then a member of the Victorian Socialist Party, was also arrested. Anti-conscriptionist publications, in one case, even when it was read into Hansard, were seized by government censors in police raids. Other notable opponents to Conscription included the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Daniel Mannix, Queensland Labor Premier Thomas Ryan, Vida Goldstein and the Women's Peace Army. Most trade unions actively opposed conscription. Archbishop Mannix, born in County Clare, stated that Ireland had been more wronged by Great Britain than Belgium had been by Germany. Many people thought positively of conscription as a sign of loyalty to Britain and thought that it would also support those men who were already fighting. However, trade unions feared that their members might be replaced by cheaper foreign or female labour and so opposed conscription. Some groups argued that the whole war was immoral, and it was unjust to force people to fight. South Africa and India were the only other participating countries not to introduce conscription during the First World War. Divided nation The conscription issue deeply divided Australia with large meetings held both for and against. The women's vote was seen as important, with large women's meetings and campaign information from both sides aimed at women voters. The campaigning for the first plebiscite was launched by