By Oliver Marras, Socialist Party Melbourne

As I entered my mid-teens, exposure to a mix of world events, music and political material increased my concerns about the political situation around the world today. The continued decline of human rights, living standards and democratic and economic freedoms eventually led me to a breaking point.

I needed to find solutions to what seemed like a colossal interconnected world-wide mess. I was looking for something that would offer logical conclusions and an overall analysis of the world coupled with real solutions to the problems we face.

After meeting a few members of the Socialist Party, I was initially taken aback by their ideas. But after considering them, I soon realised that their critique of past and present society, and the alternative they presented, was the most scientific and evidence based I had ever heard.

However, I did not join straight away. I was still unsure and apprehensive about their methods of organisation. Fantasies of affinity groups and other forms of political activism which may have required less commitment seemed, at first, more attractive.

Then I had a realisation. The reason the Socialist Party and its international sister parties are so effective and efficient in their work is because their political and social ideas of democracy and egalitarianism, inform the way they operate. No other group is making such a difference for the working-class worldwide on a daily basis. This party is struggling for a future society based on maximum freedom, democracy in every possible instance and the welfare of all people - in other words socialist principles.

That is why I decided to join, and why you should too.

By Mick Suter, Socialist Party Perth

In recent weeks police in Perth have repeatedly attacked the Nyoongar Tent Embassy on Matagarup (Heirisson Island). Large numbers of officers have been used along with horses and dogs. Four people have been arrested on trumped up charges in an attempt to try and weaken the protest.

The Barnett Government has ordered the police to remove the protesters. At the moment the Tent Embassy is the most vocal and visible form of opposition to the government’s attempt to take land from the Nyoongar people in South Western Australia.

Resources and mining companies, and other developers, have for a long time demanded access to land in the South West of Western Australia. This land is rich in natural resources. In order to facilitate the needs of big business Barnett has proposed extinguishing Native Title arrangements as part of a $1 billion deal.

This ‘offer’ equates to roughly $29,000 per person (approximately 35,000 Nyoongar people over 10 years). Clearly $29,000 per person will not be enough to end the poverty and provide enough jobs and services for people in order to close the wealth gap and bring an end to the discrimination that Indigenous people face.

If the Barnett government was serious about providing funding for jobs and services for the Nyoongar community they would not be linking the deal to the extinguishment of Native Title arrangements. As has been explained by Tent Embassy activists this deal equates to just another land grab and swindle.

It is the equivalent of being offered $14,500 now, and $14,500 plus interest in 10 years time for a house and property worth $535,000! (the median price for a house in WA). This dodgy deal would correctly make most people feel cheated and angry. This mood in part is what is being expressed at the Nyoongar Tent Embassy.

The resources and mining companies are raking in huge profits at the expense of ordinary people, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Ordinary people, be they black or white, are struggling to make ends meet while the rich continue to get richer. This trend has to be stopped and a campaign to defeat the Barnett government deal is the first step.

The initial plans of the Tent Embassy to explain the deal to the 35,000 Nyoongar people is a good start. Further to this we demand that all Nyoongar people should have the right to vote on the deal. We can not have a situation whereby the South West Land and Sea Council (SWLSC) vote undemocratically on behalf of the entire Nyoongar community.

Side by side with a campaign to defeat this dodgy deal we need to also fight to ensure that Indigenous communities are properly resourced and have the power to decide how those resources are allocated. We argue for full land rights and for collective ownership and democratic control of Indigenous land.

If resources were owned and controlled by the majority we could then plan to build housing and community services in a democratic way. In contrast to Barnett’s sham deal this would create real jobs and drastically improve the living standards of the Nyoongar community and others alike.

SP Newsletter No.398

Last month Socialist Party members helped launch the new Fightback! campaign. This campaign was set up to tackle the constant cost of living increases. Not only does Fightback! point out where the problems in society lie, but it outlines a way to genuinely address the issues we face.

As the global economic crisis gets worse internationally, many people in Australia are keeping their fingers crossed that things won’t get as bad here.

But young people’s prospects are already bleaker today than they were just 5 years ago before the crisis hit. All the indicators suggest things are only going downhill!

At the moment, the number of people leaving high school who don’t have full time study or full time work to look forward to is higher than any time in the last 20 years. Around 1 in 5 people between the ages of 15 and 25 aren’t studying, aren’t doing an apprenticeship, and don’t have full time work. That’s about half a million young people!

Many young people are turning their backs on higher education due to the high costs, particularly if their parents can’t provide them with financial support. But they are not faring any better on the jobs market. Youth unemployment has risen to 12.5%. In some areas it’s over 30%!

While youth unemployment is rising, those who do have work while they are studying full time are having to work longer hours to get by. 1 in 5 students are now working more than 25 hours per week! This clearly impacts on their study, with an estimated 1 in 4 students regularly missing classes due to work commitments.

Young people are also twice as likely to experience housing stress. 1 in 5 young people spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Due to the housing affordability crisis, many people are moving further and further away from where they work or study. This creates further stress and financial strain having to deal with an expensive and inadequate public transport system.

All the while, the corporate elite are getting richer! Last year, Australia’s 200 richest people increased their wealth by 23%! Australia’s richest 20% own 61% of the wealth, while the poorest 20% own just 1% of the wealth! Clearly the system is not working for the majority.

Even if Australia’s tax rates were the same rate as in the UK, an extra $108 billion would be available for public spending on education, housing, public transport, job training and real action to address climate change.

We would actually go further and point out that this is just a fraction of what’s possible. If Australia’s biggest companies were brought into public ownership and under democratic community control, we could go further by increasing wages and making many services free.

At the moment very little is being done to address the problems of enormous wealth inequality. This is because people have very little genuine political representation. The major parties represent the interests of business at the expense of the bulk of the population.

Fightback! is about providing people with a vehicle which they can use channel their anger along productive lines. It is but a first step on the road to fighting for a society whereby people’s needs are put before corporate profits.

If you want to be part of the Fightback! join the campaign today.
Visit: www.fightback.org.au

Socialist Party meetings

Northern Melbourne Branch

The Northern Melbourne Branch of the Socialist Party meets regularly on Thursdays at 7pm in the Northcote Town Hall, 189 High Street Northcote. Some upcoming meetings that are open to the public include:

17/5 – Ireland: The campaign against the household tax
24/5 – Socialists and ‘Left unity’

Melbourne City Branch

The Melbourne City Branch of the Socialist Party meets regularly on Wednesdays at 7pm in Trades Hall, corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets Carlton South. Some upcoming meetings that are open to the public include:

16/5 - Socialists and ‘Left unity’
23/5 - The rise of the Far Right in Europe

For more information or for details of meetings in other parts of Australia contact our National Office on 0396399111.

News links:

Greece: Political earthquake sees pro-austerity parties’ support collapse
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5744

France: Weekend that shocked Europe
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5746

Ireland: No to the austerity treaty!
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5745

Join the Socialist Party

If you agree with what you have read in our newsletter or on our website you should consider joining our party. The Socialist Party has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth as well as members and supporters in all other states.

We are involved in trade union work and student work. We also run community, anti-war and environmental campaigns. But most of all we want to build a party that will fight to get rid of the capitalist system, the system that is at the root of all of all our problems. We fight for democratic socialism - a system that will bring an end to wars, poverty and environmental destruction.

To join the Socialist Party contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.

Subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ magazine!

Support the Socialist Party by subscribing to our monthly magazine ‘The Socialist’. Subscription rates are only $33 per year for 11 copies delivered to you either electronically or in hard copy. You will also receive our email newsletter every week and you will know that you are supporting an organisation that is at the fore of fighting against the capitalist system.

To subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.

Contact the Socialist Party

Socialist Party National Office
Phone: (03) 9639 9111
Post: PO Box 1015 Collingwood Victoria, Australia, 3066
Visit: Level 1, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street Carlton South, Victoria

The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is organised in over 45 countries across the world.

By Chris Dite, Socialist Party

The Hunger Games franchise has become a runaway hit, with the release of the Hollywood adaptation reviving interest in Suzanne Collins’ book trilogy.

The series is set in what we imagine to be North America in the future. This cruel society is strictly divided into a wealthy Capitol and 12 poverty-stricken districts, each of which represents an essential industry (such as mining or food production). The Capitol maintains the status quo by selecting two children from each district every year and pitting them against each other in a reality TV show that resembles a gladiator arena.

Katniss Everdeen is a streetwise teen who volunteers to play in the Hunger Games when her younger sister is chosen by lottery to compete. Throughout the series Katniss - by no means a born revolutionary - must constantly weigh up what she is willing to do in order to survive and how much she is willing to challenge the system that keeps her district hungry and poor. Her preference for self-sacrifice or self-preservation becomes central to the future of her society.

Much has been made of the violence in The Hunger Games and its appropriateness for teen audiences. Some reviewers have argued it is primarily an environmentalist series, with future food shortages and so on representing our current lack of attention to climate change and the environment.

Few reviewers have pointed out that The Hunger Games is very much a series for our time - an era of rampant capitalism, biting austerity cuts, sweeping man-made famines and signs of collective resistance. The central premise, that a wealthy minority prosper from and even revel in the unrewarded labour of the majority, is today becoming a mainstream idea. It is perhaps no coincidence that its initial release coincided with the sharp turn in the global financial crisis in 2008.

Both the film and the books highlight the absurdity of poor people labouring and bloodthirstily competing for the benefit of a wealthy few. A particularly chilling scene in the film - in which Katniss and an ally murder a vicious competitor in the Games - has the viewer initially cheering, then cringing, as it becomes clear that this now-screaming competitor is just another poor teenage girl from the districts.

It also condemns the logic of a society tiered into classes. In a revealing scene, the President of the Capitol (played by Donald Sutherland) asks a fellow citizen if he likes underdogs. When the citizen replies that he does, the President declares that he himself doesn’t like underdogs, that the districts are filled with them, and if the Capitol residents could see them, they wouldn’t like underdogs either. In interviews about the film, actor Donald Sutherland has made connections between the class warfare in the film and Occupy Wall Street.

The Hunger Games does not romanticise poverty or simplify inequality. It goes to great lengths to demonstrate that class divides are unstable, destructive and complicated things. The 12 districts entirely sustain the wealth of the Capitol, but organising to challenge this situation proves more difficult than imagined.

Whether you read The Hunger Games as a warning for the future or a metaphor for today’s capitalism, the series does an excellent job of condemning a world in which a ruling class lives like a parasite off the labour of the majority, and of highlighting both the pressing need for the majority of these workers to join together to challenge the system.

SP Newsletter No.397

Languishing at around 30% support in opinion polls, the ALP continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. Despite repeated attempts to spin their way out of trouble, most ordinary people see Labor’s politics for what they are - helping the rich to get richer while the bulk of the population struggles to make ends meet.

Since the beginning of the year downward trends in the world economy have intensified. The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has gotten worse and China’s consumption, output and growth have all fallen. All of this is effecting the situation in Australia, with China’s problems widely predicted to worsen as time wears on.

Large parts of Australia are effectively in recession. The eastern states of Australia are not benefiting, and in fact are suffering, from the mining boom. Waves of job losses have rolled across the country in manufacturing, finance and retail. Increasing numbers of people are forced to accept insecure and often low-paid forms of work, like casual jobs, short term contract positions or day-to-day labour hire.

While some people are spending in excess of 50% of their incomes on housing costs, other household bills like food, water, electricity and childcare are skyrocketing. At the same time the major banks, the big business profiteers and property speculators are making record profits.

People are rightly laying the blame for cost of living increases on the ALP and their pro-rich policies. At the recent Queensland state election the Labor Party was almost annihilated. That election and gave a glimpse of the anger that exists amongst working people about the situation that Labor presides over.

Labor’s historic budget cuts also hang over the heads of working people. This European-style austerity coupled with a worsening economic outlook paints a bleak portrait of the future. Rather than implementing policies to alleviate the impact of these problems, Labor are leading the charge to make ordinary people pay to prop up big business profits.

Further compounding people’s hatred of Labor are the lies, back flips and the stench of corruption hanging heavy in the air around them. The Craig Thompson affair has shone the torch on the festering axis between the right wing trade union leaders and the vampire-like ALP factions.

Gillard’s desperate deal with Peter Slipper and the allegations surrounding him have amplified to a deafening roar the ALP’s pure opportunism. The Slipper deal was done in the first place to shore up Gillard’s numbers in Parliament after she betrayed independent MP Andrew Wilkie on pokies reform at the behest of the gambling profiteers.

This only entrenched her reputation as a liar after she back flipped on her promise not to impose a carbon tax, a measure which will see ordinary people pay for the big polluter’s mess with no outcome.

It is now highly likely that the hatred that exists for the Gillard government will lead to the coming to power of an Abbott Coalition government. In the absence of an alternative, voters will use the election to punish the incumbent party. This is despite there being no real enthusiasm for Tony Abbott and his lot.

Working people are right to want to punish Labor, however a conservative Coalition is clearly no alternative. The two parties of big business parties agree on the same economic fundamentals and increasingly on the social issues as well. Their only minor differences are stylistic.

Rather than continuing on the pro-big business party merry-go-round a new political force is needed to provide political representation for the majority in society. Rather than representing the rich we need a mass party that bases itself on a political and economic alternative to the status quo of profiteering, corruption and falling living standards.

Fightback! campaign

The Socialist Party has been involved in setting up a new campaign aimed at addressing the rising cost of living. Visit the campaign website and get involved!

www.fightback.org.au

Socialist Party meetings

Northern Melbourne Branch

The Northern Melbourne Branch of the Socialist Party meets regularly on Thursdays at 7pm in the Northcote Town Hall, 189 High Street Northcote. Some upcoming meetings that are open to the public include:

10/5 – How to address the food crisis
17/5 – Ireland: The campaign against the household tax
24/5 – Socialists and ‘Left unity’

Melbourne City Branch

The Melbourne City Branch of the Socialist Party meets regularly on Wednesdays at 7pm in Trades Hall, corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets Carlton South. Some upcoming meetings that are open to the public include:

3/5 – Socialists and bourgeois elections (Thursday @ NIBS meeting room)
9/5 – The problem with conspiracy theories
16/5 - Socialists and ‘Left unity’

For more information or for details of meetings in other parts of Australia contact our National Office on 0396399111.

News links:

Germany: Heading towards days of action against Troika austerity
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5733

France: Down with Sarkozy and austerity policies!
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5734

Kazakhstan: Three activists jailed for 15 days
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5727

Join the Socialist Party

If you agree with what you have read in our newsletter or on our website you should consider joining our party. The Socialist Party has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth as well as members and supporters in all other states.

We are involved in trade union work and student work. We also run community, anti-war and environmental campaigns. But most of all we want to build a party that will fight to get rid of the capitalist system, the system that is at the root of all of all our problems. We fight for democratic socialism - a system that will bring an end to wars, poverty and environmental destruction.

To join the Socialist Party contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.

Subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ magazine!

Support the Socialist Party by subscribing to our monthly magazine ‘The Socialist’. Subscription rates are only $33 per year for 11 copies delivered to you either electronically or in hard copy. You will also receive our email newsletter every week and you will know that you are supporting an organisation that is at the fore of fighting against the capitalist system.

To subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.

Contact the Socialist Party

Socialist Party National Office
Phone: (03) 9639 9111
Post: PO Box 1015 Collingwood Victoria, Australia, 3066
Visit: Level 1, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street Carlton South, Victoria

The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is organised in over 45 countries across the world.

International Workers’ Day and the socialist alternative to austerity and barbarism

May Day (International Workers’ Day) is an opportunity for celebrating the militant internationalist traditions of the working class movement, converging with the explosive struggles of today. 1st May this year is as a key date in the calendar of living struggles and movements. The CWI believes that these struggles - from Greece to Chile, Nigeria to Tunisia - not only represent the inevitable explosive response to the current crisis. They also signal the emergence of a social force capable of reducing to rubble the plans of the international ruling class to pauperise workers and young people. The organised working class, mobilised in the fight for a genuinely socialist alternative, can transform society.

In Spain, the crucible today of the European crisis, 1st May will see new mobilisations against the labour reform and cutbacks. In the USA, the ‘Occupy’ movement is building towards another huge day of protest, including attempts to incorporate workers’ class action. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, this year’s May Day mobilisations take place against the background of increasing instability. The spreading of the effects of the world economic crisis, and the impact of the Maghreb and Middle Eastern revolutions, have ushered in new upheavals and a consequent increase in state repression, often bloody and brutal. These factors will also undoubtedly be reflected as workers, youth and the poor take to the streets on 1st May.

Europe - epicentre of economic crisis, austerity and resistance: for a socialist workers’ alternative to the capitalist EU!

Europe remains the area in which the capitalist crisis finds its most concentrated expression. It reveals the dead end on offer from the capitalist system for workers, the unemployed and youth. The repeated and desperate attempts of European governments and financial and economic elites to draw a line under the chaos of the Eurozone debt crisis, quickly give way to repeated and devastating episodes of crisis and failure. The epicentre of the crisis is constantly shifting and expanding, now towards Spain, but also increasingly towards the previously ‘stable’ core countries, such as France and the Netherlands. The partial default and second ‘bailing out’ of Greece, along with the growing confirmation that similar bailout projects in Portugal and Ireland have failed to meet their stated objectives, are crushing reminders, not only to the ruling class but also to the majority of people, of the depth of the current crisis. Countries outside the Eurozone also face massive cuts and the risk of “contagion”, such as the UK and Czech Republic. On a world scale, any ‘recovery’ is shaky and unstable. There is the beginning of a downturn in those countries seen as exceptions to the crisis (such as China and India). This will have profound economic and political effects worldwide.

We see soaring ‘risk premiums’ and the ‘no mercy’ approach of the financial markets and international and European institutions. The capitalist governments’ attempt to satisfy them through imposing austerity budgets and anti-worker reforms and they respond with demands for more blood to be drawn from the welfare state and workers’ living standards. Despite this, and the clearly depressionary effects of such policies, the entire capitalist political establishment maintains the propaganda that ‘There is no alternative’.

But this cosy consensus has been broken again and again on the streets and across the workplaces of Europe. So far in 2012, powerful general strikes have rocked Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Greece, bringing the economies to a halt and millions onto the streets. They give a glimpse of the power of the working class to halt the attacks upon it, through a serious sustained struggle armed with political alternatives to cuts and capitalism.

Even in those countries until now lauded as an example of peace and tranquility, the spectre of mass struggle is emerging. Ireland had been held up by the capitalist establishment everywhere as an example of a people who knew how to sit back and ‘swallow the medicine’. It is currently experiencing a mass revolt against the government and the Troika-imposed ‘Household tax’. The Socialist Party (CWI in Ireland) is playing a leading role in this defiance movement . In France, the likely defeat of Sarkozy, following the first round of elections, will have far-reaching consequences both in France and beyond, with at least a limited shaking up of the agenda of the ‘Merkozy’ axis.

A Hollande government will be immediately put to the test in the heat of the crisis and events. Its policies, including welcome reforms which it may introduce, such as the increase in taxes on the wealthy etc, will unfortunately be limited to austerity as a solution to the crisis. The experience of this ‘Socialist’ government will undoubtedly push many people to search for genuinely socialist answers and policies, following the last period of attacks and ridicule heaped on the ideas of Socialism and Marxism, exacerbated by the experience of so-called ‘Socialist’ governments worldwide which continued and deepened neo-liberal policies. Political instability and volatility are on the order of the day, with important swings in the political outlook of millions towards both left and right wing formations. This has been recently demonstrated on the electoral plane and in opinion polls in France and also in the Netherlands, where the government is in the process of falling. In the absence of mass fighting socialist parties and organisations capable of uniting opposition around a consistent anti-capitalist programme, the danger of increasing social division and advances for far-right and reactionary forces are growing. This demands a serious and united response from the left and labour movement. Splits and discord are also emerging within governments and regimes, as witnessed recently in the UK ConDem coalition and in the deep splits that have opened up in the Chinese ruling elite.

The workers’ struggles in the majority of countries, come up against the obstacle of the right-wing ‘yellow’ bureaucracies in the leadership of many trade unions. They pursue a strategy of demobilisation and policies limited to only slightly limiting the austerity measures being imposed. It is essential to build mass opposition to such leaders from below, with demands for leaders to be regularly elected, subject to recall and to live on no more than the average workers’ wage. The National Shop Stewards’ Network in the UK is an inspiring example of how to build a combative workers’ organisation. It was a key force for bringing about a public sector general strike on 30 November last year - the most significant action since 1926 and something on which an escalating fight-back can be built.

Build an international fightback! For co-ordinated strikes and protests in Europe!

It was a feature in the revolutions of 2011 and the Indignados/Occupy movement that big similarities between the situations in different countries showed the possibility of struggles spreading on an international scale. This is now a real possibility in the case of the countries on the European ‘periphery’, under the boot of the markets, credit agencies, the Troika and governments. To an astonishing degree, the same questions: of fighting back, of general strike action as part of a strategy to win, of the need for viable alternative policies to capitalism, are all placed onto the table simultaneously.

Portugal and then Spain were convulsed by general strikes in the same week, between 22 and 29 March. What would it have cost the trade union leaders to coordinate these strikes, in a simultaneous and powerful expression of workers’ power across borders? A continuation of largely token protests by the European trade unions is insufficient. The CWI continues to demand and fight for the urgent development of plans for coordinated strikes and protests in the peripheral countries and beyond, as steps towards an all-European general strike. This demand deserves to be given a wide hearing on 1st May, a celebration of working class internationalism. Such a struggle is where the fight for a socialist alternative to the capitalist EU begins.

Solidarity against repression! Middle East/Maghreb: towards a second revolution! No to imperialist interventions!

In Tunisia, where the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ began, May Day celebrations and protests will take place in the aftermath of brutal episodes of repression. The new government installed following the removal of Ben Ali, has been trying to firmly establish itself, sending a clear message to the left and trade union movement not to stand in its way. The CWI has organised, and continues to organise, workers’ solidarity in word and deed, with these and other movements.

In Tunisia and Egypt, the incomplete character of the revolutions has led to a growing sentiment of the need for a ‘second revolution’ to sweep away the economic and political systems responsible for the misery of the region. The building of the forces or Marxism in these countries in order to organise around a programme capable of completing the revolution, is a key task which the CWI is engaged in.

In such situations, only the power of the organised working class and poor, in their millions throughout the planet, can be relied upon. In Syria, as in Libya before, only the mobilisation of these forces, not an imperialist intervention, can begin to lay the basis for a way out of the bloodshed and dictatorship of Assad and imperialist interests. The false status of imperialism’s ‘friendship’ with the peoples of Syria is revealed by its astonishing hypocrisy in the case of its ally, the Bahrain dictatorship, which received only a mild ‘wringing of hands’ by imperialism when it crushed pro-democracy protests last year. It also displays a cosy relationship with the murderous dictatorship of Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan, which CWI comrades play a key role in opposing.

In Asia, state repression has also been hiked up, with the ‘disappearances’ of leading socialist activists in Sri Lanka, and the wave of arrests, including the forced exile of comrades of the CWI, in China. Again, these developments follow an upturn in struggle as the labouring hundreds of millions of this mighty continent take steps forward in the organisation of often successful struggles, as seen recently in Sri Lanka. In February this year, India witnessed a general strike of more than a hundred million workers, exposing the lies of the boom in ‘Shining India’ benefitting’ the majority.

Africa has also seen general strikes - in South Africa and Nigeria. CWI comrades have played a crucial role in organising support for a strategy of struggle linked to a pro-working class and poor programme to break with capitalism. In Latin America, the recent summit of the Americas reflected growing division and instability despite the best efforts of Obama and co. In the mass movements in Chile, we have seen a glimpse of what is to come in the continent. Even in countries lauded for their economic growth, such as Brazil and Chile, serious developments in the class struggle have been seen, exposing the unequal character of capitalist ‘growth’.

Support the ‘Occupy’ and ‘Indignados’ movements with class policies

This is also the first May Day since the magnificent movement of the ‘indignados’ exploded in Spain, then across Europe and the world. In the US, where the ‘Occupy’ movement has seeen an outpouring of anti-capitalist sentiments, May Day this year sees a new stage in this movement, reflecting important advances made towards basing itself on workers’ action, including calls for strikes. In a year dominated by the presidential election - a debate from which the concerns of the working and unemployed majority have been without a voice - this movement continues to play a key role. The indignados and occupy movements are calling international mobilisations on 12 May and 15 May in which the CWI will continue to stress the need to ‘unite the generations’ in a class movement against capitalism.

There is an alternative! Build the struggle for a socialist world!

The events of the last year have confirmed again and again that working and poor people will not take the destruction of living standards lying down. Both this year and next, May Day will reflect the period of class battles and revolutions which capitalism has opened up. Whether these battles will result in a way out from the crisis of capitalism in the interests of the overwhelming majority – the 99% - depends on the level of preparedness of our class, both organisationally and politically. The absence of a widely understood alternative to capitalism and austerity is the central problem.

Only the building of mass political parties to popularise a socialist alternative of nationalisation under democratic workers’ control and management and a socialist planned economy on a world scale, can help to solve it and end the spiral of crises. A key task of the hour is the re-popularisation of genuine ideas of revolutionary socialism - of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky and of the Russian revolution (before the Stalinist counter-revolution) - which have enjoyed support throughout the working class movement historically. This is a task which the CWI enthusiastically embraces. This could open the way for a new historical epoch, in which after the disaster which capitalist governments, of and by the 1%, have administered, new governments of and by the working people can develop the economy and society. The CWI appeals to workers, unemployed, young and poor people around the globe to join the struggle for the building of such organisations, and to begin to make possible a socialist world.

SP Newsletter No.396

Bob Brown, the leader of the Australian Greens, announced that he was resigning from the leadership of the party earlier this month. He will also resign from the Senate. Brown has been a senator for 16 years and leader of the party since it was formed in 1992.

Christine Milne has been elected as the new leader of the Greens and Adam Bandt has been elected deputy leader.

Since the party’s inception the mild mannered Brown has been the face of the Greens and its main national spokesperson. Under Brown’s leadership the Greens have grown to be the ‘third force’ in Australian politics winning 1.7 million votes in the last federal election.

Brown said that the reason for his resignation was that he was getting on, now 67 years old. This contradicted previous statements where he said that he would stand for another term. While the real reasons for his departure may not come out for some time to come we can say that Brown has chosen to leave the scene at what is really the height of the party’s game.

The Greens, like Labor, are looking at the current polls showing that a Liberal/National Coalition would be swept to power if an election was held tomorrow. While it is possible that the Greens could increase their numbers in the Senate, on the basis of the current polls, the Liberals/Nationals would win a majority of seats in both houses.

This would diminish the role of the Greens as they would no longer hold the balance of power in the upper house. At the same time Adam Bandt is going to be hard pressed to maintain his seat in the lower house – especially if the Liberals decide not to preference him.

In one of his final speeches Brown said that the Greens would one day be a party of government. It is extremely unlikely that the Greens will be in a position to govern in their own right any time soon. As we have said before, because of their lack of a class approach to politics, they will find it difficult to really break out of the inner city areas and to win a genuine base of support in working class suburbs.

The truth is that the rise of the Greens is more so linked to the crisis facing the major parties – especially the ALP. At the moment there is not much enthusiasm for either of the major parties. Their embrace of neo-liberal economic policies coupled with the ongoing capitalist crisis has led to a growing anti-party mood.

The Greens were able to take advantage of this by presenting themselves as something different. They managed to win votes by relating to social movements, especially those that developed in the early 2000s.

By opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, by promoting a more human approach to asylum seekers and by supporting same-sex marriage rights they have managed to eat into a section of the ALP’s voter base – especially in inner city areas.

The fact that they have now gone into a coalition with the ALP at a federal level, as well as in some states and Councils, has meant that they are now somewhat implicated with ALP policies. The carbon tax in particular is extremely unpopular and will make it harder for them to further eat into the ALP’s suburban supporter base.

Their dilemma is that the closer they get to power the closer they resemble the major parties. Because they have no alternative to the economic ideas of neo-liberalism when they get into positions of influence they end up implementing pretty much the same policies as the ALP.

This is seen in the way that they have voted for budgets that include cuts that undermine people’s living standards. Even on issues like climate change they have retreated, supporting a carbon tax package that will see Australia’s carbon emissions reduced by just 2% by 2050!

While most ordinary people support action on climate change they see no reason why they should be forced to pay for it when it is big business that does the bulk of the polluting.

In regards to the Greens role on Yarra Council in inner city Melbourne we recently said that because “the Greens have no focus on extra-parliamentary (or outside the Council Chamber) activity, they are rarely able to implement their policies. Rather than mobilising people to affect change they instead prefer to play a type of negotiating role. What they don’t understand is that without a mobilised base of support ‘negotiators’ are impotent.

“The key to winning reforms is to have a dual approach. While it’s good to have representatives on the inside you also need a focus on building grass roots campaigns. The Socialist Party links this type of approach with a vision to fundamentally change society. This is how we are able to win things despite being the Opposition.”

In order to develop an approach along these lines the Greens would need to change their entire political and economic philosophy. This is extremely unlikely to happen. It would actually make more sense to just set up a new party. This is what we are calling on trade unions and community groups to do.

The departure of Brown will definitely be a blow to the party’s prestige but as long as the ALP continues to disappoint the Greens can maintain a certain momentum. To really address the problems ordinary people face however a party that really challenges the profit first system will be required.

Fightback! campaign

The Socialist Party has been involved in setting up a new campaign aimed at addressing the rising cost of living. Visit the campaign website and get involved!

Socialist Party meetings

Northern Melbourne Branch

The Northern Melbourne Branch of the Socialist Party meets regularly on Thursdays at 7pm in the Northcote Town Hall, 189 High Street Northcote. Some upcoming meetings that are open to the public include:

10/5 – How to address the food crisis
17/5 – Socialists and ‘Left unity’

Melbourne City Branch

The Melbourne City Branch of the Socialist Party meets regularly on Wednesdays at 7pm in Trades Hall, corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets Carlton South. Some upcoming meetings that are open to the public include:

3/5 – Socialists and bourgeois elections (Thursday @ NIBS meeting room)
9/5 – The problem with conspiracy theories

For more information or for details of meetings in other parts of Australia contact our National Office on 0396399111.

News links:

Ireland: ICTU decides not to take a stance on European fiscal treaty
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5724

Nigeria: 42% youth unemployment
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5719

Venezuela: Where are Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution heading?
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5706

Join the Socialist Party

If you agree with what you have read in our newsletter or on our website you should consider joining SP. The Socialist Party has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth as well as members and supporters in all other states.

We are involved in trade union work and student work. We also run community, anti-war and environmental campaigns. But most of all we want to build a party that will fight to get rid of the capitalist system, the system that is at the root of all of all our problems. We fight for socialism - a system that will bring an end to wars, poverty and environmental destruction. To join SP contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a membership application form.

Subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ newspaper!

Support the Socialist Party by subscribing to our monthly newspaper ‘The Socialist’. Subscription rates are only $10 per year or $20 solidarity price. You will receive 11 copies per year delivered to your door every month. You will also receive our email newsletter every week and you will know that you are supporting an organisation that is at the fore of fighting against the capitalist system. To subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a subscription form.

Contact the Socialist Party

Socialist Party National Office
Phone: (03) 9639 9111
Post: PO Box 1015 Collingwood Victoria, Australia, 3066
Visit: Level 1, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street Carlton South, Victoria

The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is organised in over 40 countries across the world.

Reviewed by Anthony Main, Socialist Party

Allyson Hose from Socialist Alternative has written a new pamphlet called ‘The Baiada poultry workers’ strike - How class struggle unionism can win’. It is an attempt to give an overview of the Baiada strike which took place in the western suburbs of Melbourne in late 2011.

The introduction of the pamphlet claims that its goal is to highlight “important lessons that workers, rank and file unionists, socialists and activists need to learn from the Baiada workers’ victory in order to build back strong, combative unions that can challenge the priorities of Australian capitalism and win.”

Unfortunately this pamphlet falls well short of its stated aim. From the title you would hope that the work was a critique of the industrial strategy put in place by the leaders of the National Union of Workers (NUW). Instead it paints the union leaders as mere bystanders, which in the final analysis, covers over the conservative role that they played and continue to play in relation to this dispute.

As far as giving an insight into some of the basics of the dispute this pamphlet gives a satisfactory background. Hose outlines the massive amounts of wealth accumulated by the owners of Baiada, contrasted with the poverty wages paid to the workers. The horrific health and safety conditions which these workers endure are also detailed.

She highlights the exploitative role played by management and the fact that the company has been responsible for the deaths of two workers. As ‘punishment’ the company received little more than a slap on the wrist from the courts. The strike was both in response to the conditions the workers faced and a result of a year long NUW recruitment campaign.

There is no doubt that the workers themselves were highly courageous and showed extraordinary determination. The Vietnamese women along with other migrant workers were among the most militant sections of the workforce. To leave it at this however tells only one side of the story.

No dispute can be correctly understood without an analysis of the class forces involved, the role of the rank and file workers and the role of the trade union bureaucracy. In Australia today the union bureaucracy is a privileged stratum which is tied closely to the ALP.

The NUW leadership were actively overseeing every stage of this dispute. Many important decisions were made by NUW officials, without properly consulting with the members or even the delegates! Hose chooses to ignore this fact.

The NUW are in fact a right-wing union aligned with some of the most corrupt elements in the ALP. As a result of their politics they went into this dispute without a discernable industrial strategy. This served to unnecessarily prolong the strike.

The weakness of their approach became apparent on the first day of the dispute when a senior NUW official present manoeuvred to allow 15 trucks to break the picket line.

It seems Hose totally misunderstood these events. She suggests that the workers mistakenly made the decision to let the 15 trucks out. After realising their ‘mistake’ they apparently subsequently implemented a “no-one in, no-one out” policy. The real story of what transpired is markedly different.

From the beginning of the picket the workers were blocking the gates and chanting “nothing in, nothing out”. The decision to let the 15 trucks out was undemocratically pushed through by the NUW official to the utter dismay of the bulk of the workers.

At the sight of the trucks leaving, and their efforts being turned to dust, some workers began crying while a number of others left the picket in disgust. Many refused to return stating that it was pointless to stand around on a ‘picket’ that was purely symbolic. Many of these workers never came back to the picket again.

This was a key turning point in the dispute and one that sparked discussion about the industrial strategy. Many of those workers who did stay on the picket berated the NUW official and forced the return of the ‘nothing in, nothing out’ tactic.

Socialist Party members played an important role at this time of the dispute. While accepting that this was a set back, the task was to try to limit the damage. We explained the weaknesses of the NUW leaders’ approach and strove to convince the workers that they would have to fight for a strategy that was capable of winning.

Far from highlighting the role played by the union bureaucrats, Hose actually sows illusions in them. In the entire pamphlet the only real comment she makes about them is that “they had played an important role in supporting and consolidating the picket…”

While Hose states at one point that the dispute “showed up the inherent weaknesses in the strategy of class collaboration and holding back industrial action…” Elsewhere she seems impressed that a community BBQ was attended by the right-wing “ACTU president Ged Kearney, who spoke form the platform, along with several other prominent union officials.”

From reading this pamphlet it seems that Hose has reduced ‘class struggle unionism’ to the ‘community unionism’ model recently championed by the NUW leaders and a number of other conservative union leaderships.

The NUW’s recent adoption of the tactic of ‘community pickets’ resulted from the 2010-11 dispute at the Swift abattoir in Brooklyn, in Melbourne’s western suburbs. After numerous weeks on strike sitting out the front of the factory watching trucks and scabs enter and leave as they pleased, the workers had become extremely demoralised. The NUW leaders’ strategy of negotiating with management whilst production was moving along unabated was a clear failure.

A number of the workers wanted to take more direct action, but were held back by NUW officials. After discussing with the workers, Socialist Party members initiated a picket at the front entrance. Not long after, trucks were backed up as far as the eye could see.

The unbridled enthusiasm shown by the workers when they saw production being halted for the first time in the long, drawn out dispute was electric. Our plan was to demonstrate how quickly management reacts when you attack them where it hurts – at the point of production.

The NUW leaders opportunistically seized on the newly developed mood and invited other ‘community members’ to staff the picket while they continued negotiations with management. While a ‘community picket’ was set up, and production was impacted, the union leaders, and not rank and file members, maintained control.

Real class struggle unionism is based on rank and file control, not bureaucratic manoeuvring. Genuine militancy flows from a world view that is anti-capitalist. It is one thing to point out the advantages of blockades and pickets but this in and of itself does not equate to a return of class struggle unionism.

As we explained in a letter to ex-Socialist Alternative member, and then NUW official Sam Salvidge, at the time of the Baiada dispute “Unfortunately many seem to think that the defensive strategy of ‘community unionism’ is the best that can be done and the main tactic we should base ourselves on.

“For the pro-ALP union leaders ‘community unionism’ means not bothering to mobilise union members to staff pickets, instead just relying on the ‘community’ (usually made up primarily of the hard Left). They think it is their role to decide how and when “solidarity and unity” is conducted. They refuse to challenge their own anti-worker laws in any meaningful way and politics is only to be discussed within the confines of the ALP. Anyone who dares talk politics or outline an alternative strategy is labelled ‘divisive’.

“If and when the pro-ALP union leaders decide that ‘community unionism’ is hampering their work in the ALP they will shut it down, just as they did with Union Solidarity a few years back.”

Rather than obscuring these points socialists should be highlighting them in order to help strengthen the Left within the movement. Ignoring them is nothing but a gift to the pro-ALP forces and helps those ideas remain dominant.

Hose mentions that a feature of this dispute was the return of “no-one in, no-one out” picketing. On a number of occasions she states that it is something that has not happened for “many years”. In reality, there have been a number of disputes of this character in recent years. Visy, Boeing and the Westgate Bridge dispute are but a few examples. Such naïve comments reflect the inexperience of Socialist Alternative and the fact that they have spent their time bunkered down on campus, ignoring industrial struggle.

Nevertheless while the ‘nothing in, nothing out’ policy was a positive aspect of this dispute, taken up with enthusiasm by the most militant sections of the workforce, it was not comprehensive. From the early stages of the strike it became apparent that the company had set up production at other sites in order to undermine the impact of the picket. While the NUW leaders were happy to block the gates of the main factory in which production had halted, they were reluctant to expand the picketing to the alternative sites where production and distribution was taking place.

In fact on at least four occasions they called off planned ‘community pickets’ of the other sites. These actions were supported by the most active workers, though did not eventuate due to the refusal of the NUW officials to support them. Again Hose makes no comment about this manoeuvring. Had the picketing been extended to where production was actually taking place it would have put the negotiators in a much stronger position and led to a better deal.

The outcome of any dispute should not only be judged by the nominal pay rise achieved. Serious activists need to look at whether or not the union has been strengthened or weakened as a result of the battle. Again Hose totally ignores this side of the dispute.

When the strike was called off, the NUW leaders told the workers that an agreement had been reached with management (4% per year for 2 years). The truth came out later that only an ‘in-principle’ agreement was in place. The final deal was actually signed well after the strike ended, lessening the bargaining power of the union.

While the final agreement did win some improvements on the rights of casuals to be made permanent, it did not seek to seriously protect the jobs of those who were involved in the picket. This was a major omission and one that was not openly discussed with the workers.

Not surprisingly, after the strike ended management made a whole number of union activists redundant and cut the shifts of a layer of casuals involved in the strike. While the workers won the dispute on the picket line the union leaders ended up handing it back at the negotiating table.

Given that the final agreement has led to the dismissal of most of the activists on site this dispute can hardly be uncritically held up as a positive example. Rather activists need to learn the lessons in order to make sure that these mistakes are not repeated.

While the employer was forced to sign a union agreement, management has since removed the union framework within the shop. This has weakened the workers ability to keep a day to day regime in place. Winning improvements to wages and working conditions through a collective agreement is just the beginning. Unless workers are organised on the shop floor, these improvements will inevitably be wound back or never implemented in the first place.

One worker told the Socialist Party recently that “the involvement of the union did mean that employees received more money when they were made redundant but what now given that lots of them are unemployed?”

“I’m not sure whether the NUW should claim that the outcome of the strike was a victory when they failed to prevent workers from losing their jobs” she said.

In a few sentences this worker sums up the post dispute mood and the disappointment many of the workers feel about the role the union leaders played. The union organisation within the factory has been severely diminished because of this and it is dishonest of Hose to ignore this reality.

The ongoing situation has demoralised the bulk of the members who are still employed at Baiada and will mean that a lot more work will need to be done before these workers are prepared to struggle at the same intensity again.

All this, as the Socialist Party explained at the time, could have been avoided if a proper industrial strategy was in place from the beginning. This outcome was not inevitable, especially given the bravery of the workers involved. Hose chooses to omit these aspects of the dispute preferring to portray it as a fairytale whereby the workers lived happily ever after.

While we would all prefer a ‘happily-ever-after’ story, unfortunately this bears no resemblance to reality. Socialists need to proceed from a proper assessment of what has taken place. As the German workers leader Ferdinand Lassalle once said “Every great action begins with a statement of what is.”

If our movement is to be strengthened socialists need to ensure first that a genuine analysis has taken place and the correct lessons are drawn at every stage of the struggle. While we need to praise every victory we also need give an honest assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of every dispute. Hose fails to do this in any way, shape or form.

At the time of this strike the Socialist Party was involved in a number of debates and discussions about the dispute. Much of this material is publicly available yet none of the key issues debated are even touched on by Hose. It is as if she was removed from the dynamics of the strike and the discussions that were taking place on the ground.

Hose talks about the role of socialists but rather than emphasising the need to advance an alternative political and industrial strategy she merely talks about the staffing of pickets, the organising of BBQs and fundraising. The leaders of right-wing unions are more than happy for socialists to carry out these tasks. What they don’t want socialists doing however is offering workers an alternative to the class collaborationist strategy they employ!

A perfect example during the Baiada dispute was when the NUW leaders attempted to get the workers to sign a form to dip into their superannuation funds to cover their wages while they were on strike. They attempted to do this without properly explaining what the paperwork was!

Socialist Party members discussed with the workers while this was happening and suggested that rather than using their retirement money, the NUW should wage a serious fundraising campaign amongst its 90,000 members and amongst other unions. There was potential to raise tens of thousands of dollars if the union had a genuine outward looking approach. Such an approach would have not only raised more money for the workers but it would have helped spread support for the strike and educated a wider layer of workers.

When Socialist Party members suggested this and one of the workers tried to ask a question to the NUW official about other approaches to raising funds, the official undemocratically shut down the discussion. They then attempted to single people out asking them one-on-one to sign paperwork which allowed them to withdraw from their superannuation account.

In response Socialist Party members conducted meetings with the workers - including in Vietnamese - explaining the nature of the forms and urging them not to sign them. It was proposed that they should campaign for a more serious attempt to develop solidarity amongst other workers in the NUW and beyond. If the union leaders refused to organise speaking tours and levies at other shops, the workers should have began the process themselves.

The workers then confronted the union leaders and told them they would not be signing the forms. One suggested that they “stop paying the ALP and use that money to support the strike”. This put pressure on the NUW leaders to back off on the idea of dipping into people’s superannuation accounts and to look for the money elsewhere. On top of staffing pickets and basic solidarity, this is an example of how socialists should operate in order to help workers adopt a strategy to win.

This type of intervention stands in stark contrast to the approach outlined in Hose’s pamphlet. Hose’s pamphlet is really an example of how to operate as a passive observer in the trade union movement. Far from outlining a socialist approach to union work, this pamphlet attempts to tell a feel-good story by ignoring the actual events.

In order to attract the best union militants to a critical analysis of class collaborationist strategies, a much more sophisticated approach is required. Genuine militants will be highly unlikely to join a group that publishes material that does not correspond with their reality.

Rather than acting as uncritical servants of the pro-ALP union bureaucracy, socialists need to highlight the contradictions that exist between the class collaborationist bureaucracy and the members themselves. We need to expose these contradictions and intervene in the struggle with the aim of developing a conscious and active rank and file.

We should be striving to organise this conscious layer into a militant current that can begin to offer a political and industrial alternative to the ALP. This is the approach the Socialist Party has been arguing for and implementing, on a modest scale, for many years. Part and parcel of this approach is opposing rotten compromises from the pro-ALP union bureaucracy and highlighting the real dynamics of every dispute.

This pamphlet not only gives a naïve one sided history of events but it fails to go anywhere near addressing the real issues facing the labour movement. If activists are really trying to understand ‘how class struggle unionism can win’ they will not learn it from this pamphlet.

SP Newsletter No.395

Socialist Party members are involved in establishing a new campaign to fight against the increasing cost of living. The campaign, called ‘Fightback!‘, will kick off this month and aims to grow into a dynamic force that can win real changes.

While Australia has so far averted the worst of the economic crisis, there has already been an impact on people’s living conditions. Young people in particular have been hit hard. The future looks bleak unless people begin to fight back to change things for the better.

Fightback! will address six main themes, all related to the cost of living and the need to fight for a decent, sustainable future. They are employment, education, housing, transport, the environment and wealth inequality. On all these themes, Fightback! will outline an alternative to the status quo and point a way forward towards winning improvements.

For example, at 18%, youth unemployment remains much higher than the national average. Those who are able to find work are usually locked in insecure low paid jobs. There is clearly frustration at the lack of work opportunities.

For many people education is also becoming less and less accessible. While tertiary education used to be free, this is no longer the case. Even if you are able to get into TAFE or University you will likely be lumped with a huge loan to pay off on completion.

On top of increasing education costs and the lack of jobs, young people are also suffering from the housing affordability crisis. The average rental property is often out of reach for low income earners and those in full-time study.

A further burden on young people is the high cost and poor performance of the public transport system. While most people would prefer to use public transport as a more environmentally friendly way to travel, the network is of a poor quality and in desperate need of expansion.

On every issue the problem is an economic system that puts profits before all else. Every level of government is currently dominated by parties who represent the interests of the rich rather than the majority of the population. The future for young people will be determined by whether or not we are prepared to continue to put up with this situation.

If we are to have any hope of a future, we need to challenge the current system that puts profits before people and the environment. It is in the interests of ordinary people to have a stake in the way society is run. Under capitalism, most of the important decisions about how we live our lives are left in the hands of profiteers.

At the moment ordinary people do not get to decide what is produced, how it is produced or by whom. It is clear that we should not leave our fate in their hands, whether on the question of education, housing, jobs, transport or the environment they are making things much worse.

The alternative to the chaos of capitalism is a system that is based on human need and not private profit. On the basis of public ownership, democratic control and a sustainable plan of production a socialist economy could easily provide jobs, homes and services to all while at the same time protecting the environment. This is the type of future Fightback! is campaigning for.

If you agree with the ideas and aims of Fightback! visit the website and sign up today!

Socialist Party meetings

Northern Melbourne Branch

The Northern Melbourne Branch of the Socialist Party meets regularly on Thursdays at 7pm in the Northcote Town Hall, 189 High Street Northcote. Some upcoming meetings that are open to the public include:

26/4 - The politics of ANZAC Day
10/5 – How to address the food crisis

Melbourne City Branch

The Melbourne City Branch of the Socialist Party meets regularly on Wednesdays at 7pm in Trades Hall, corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets Carlton South. Some upcoming meetings that are open to the public include:

3/5 – Socialists and bourgeois elections (Thursday @ NIBS meeting room)
9/5 – The problem with conspiracy theories

For more information or for details of meetings in other parts of Australia contact our National Office on 0396399111.

News links:

Venezuela: Where are Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution heading?
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5706

Norway: Far right Breivik states his loathing of ’equality’ and socialism
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5711

Palestine: Raids by Israeli forces on Palestinian TV stations
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5701

Join the Socialist Party

If you agree with what you have read in our newsletter or on our website you should consider joining SP. The Socialist Party has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth as well as members and supporters in all other states.

We are involved in trade union work and student work. We also run community, anti-war and environmental campaigns. But most of all we want to build a party that will fight to get rid of the capitalist system, the system that is at the root of all of all our problems. We fight for socialism - a system that will bring an end to wars, poverty and environmental destruction. To join SP contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a membership application form.

Subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ newspaper!

Support the Socialist Party by subscribing to our monthly newspaper ‘The Socialist’. Subscription rates are only $10 per year or $20 solidarity price. You will receive 11 copies per year delivered to your door every month. You will also receive our email newsletter every week and you will know that you are supporting an organisation that is at the fore of fighting against the capitalist system. To subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a subscription form.

Contact the Socialist Party

Socialist Party National Office
Phone: (03) 9639 9111
Post: PO Box 1015 Collingwood Victoria, Australia, 3066
Visit: Level 1, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street Carlton South, Victoria

The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is organised in over 40 countries across the world.

The following perspectives document was discussed, amended and voted on at the recent Socialist Party National Conference held in Melbourne. This document builds upon past perspectives documents and should be read in conjunction with the documents which were agreed by the last meeting of the International Executive Committee (IEC) of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI).

While the economic crisis has not had the same dire impacts on Australia as it has in places like the US and Europe, it has begun to have an effect. Unemployment is set to rise further over the next six months, as is underemployment.

According to Newspoll 60% of voters rate unemployment as a very important issue, putting it ahead of national security concerns. The last time Newspoll surveyed attitudes towards unemployment was July 2008, when only 46% rated it as a very important issue.

With nearly 40% of the workforce employed on an insecure basis concern about secure working hours is at an all time high. This goes hand in hand with housing stress and a general worry about rising costs of living and the growing divide between rich and poor.

The international backdrop does nothing to alleviate people’s concerns. There is a series of global crises hanging in balance. The economic situation in Europe and the US is dire, and China is also facing a slow down with the distinct possibility of a hard landing.

Any one of these issues can have global ramifications. Australia, being connected to the world economy by a thousand strings, will not be left untouched.

Undoubtedly there is also growing opposition to increasing wealth inequality. This has become a worldwide phenomenon, typified in 2011 by the spread of the Occupy movement. In Australia the movement was met with mass sympathy but not mass participation. This was largely due to the fact that Australia has been somewhat shielded from the crisis because of the mining boom.

Because of the rotten role played by the trade union leaders and the absence of a mass party of the working class, movements of this character can and will develop in the future. While Occupy expressed a low political level, it was able to reflect the mood of wide layers of young people and even an older layer of workers.

The Occupy movement has led to attempts from the capitalists and their representatives to try to address the opposition to growing inequality. Even Deputy PM Wayne Swan penned an essay for The Monthly in early March which set off a national debate about wealth inequality.

Swan’s words were really a reflection of the pressures that the ALP finds itself under due to the impacts of the economic crisis.

Economic situation

The Australian economy is unique compared to most other advanced economies in the sense that it has two distinct speeds. The mining sector is still growing and this especially props up the States of Western Australia and Queensland. The rest of the States rest heavily on manufacturing and the service sectors which are effectively flat or in recession.

In the 1960s mining made up 8% of all exports. Now mining makes up around 60% of all exports. Despite this rapid growth the Treasury Department has estimated that the ‘mining related’ economy could account for as little as 9% of GDP. The sector directly employs about 200,000 people but at the same time, since the financial crisis began, many more than 200,000 workers have lost their jobs in other sectors.

The non-mining capitalists are feeling left out of the mining boom and are in fact experiencing negative impacts because of it. One example of this is the high Australian dollar. It is making Australian exports less competitive on the global market, including manufactured goods and private education. Tourism is affected as is retail thanks to cheaper online shopping.

The one sided nature of the mining boom is shown by the fact that in 2011-12 more than 70% of all investment in Australia is slated for the minerals and energy sector. We have a situation where an industry that makes up just one-tenth of the economy now commands more capital than the other 90%.

Between the political coup that removed Kevin Rudd as PM and recently, the ALP has been a staunch representative of the mining industry. Gillard’s first task as PM was to modify the mining tax thereby saving the mining bosses billions of dollars. This was at the expense of other sections of big business, like manufacturing, which missed out on tax cuts as a result.

Since then the global economic downturn has further impacted on Australia. While mining continues to power along with record profits, the rest of the economy is effectively in recession. This has seen other sections of the big business elite cry out for government support. They, along with the more far sighted strategists of capitalism, are demanding reforms that can provide a buffer for the non-mining sectors.

It seems that the ALP is now starting to accept that putting all of your eggs in the mining basket is a dangerous plan. This is especially the case as China’s economy is slowing down and it is likely that we see a fall in commodity prices in the short term. While Australia has missed out on the worst so far, the ALP knows that this can not last.

China

The biggest single factor that has kept the Australian economy afloat is the export of raw materials from mining to China. Demand for these raw materials in China is largely thanks to speculation in the property market and a resulting construction boom.

China’s property bubble is unsustainable and will inevitably burst. When it does it will send commodity prices tumbling and impact badly on Australian government revenue. Flow on effects will be felt in the Australian housing sector and by Australian banks.

There is already a significant slowing of growth in China, which could be reduced to 8% or even 7%. Reduced demand for industrial commodities, food and energy from China, moreover, will have a knock-on effect on the Australian economy as well as other economies that have grown on the basis of trade with China.

Local government debt in China is something that is also causing a great deal of alarm. Further to that loans to property developers, to industries with high levels of overcapacity, to home buyers and to businesses that diverted funds into property or stock market speculation are all areas harbouring significant default risks.

In an attempt to avert a banking crisis, the Chinese government has imposed tighter controls on bank lending and on real estate transactions. This has led to many infrastructure projects being axed due to insufficient funds and banks cutting credit lines to local governments and their financial vehicles.

The railway sector is perhaps the most glaring example, with cutbacks to around a third of planned projects and many of the industry’s six million casually employed migrant construction workers going unpaid for months. It is projects like this that require steel which is made from Australia’s raw materials.

China is clearly heading for a new bad loans crisis and very probably the need for a banking system bailout in some form. The effects of this can be a long-term drag on economic growth, by soaking up funds that would otherwise be used for investment or to finance basic welfare provisions. The likelihood of this rises as the economy slows, property prices fall and local governments sink deeper into debt.

This all has major implications, not only for Australia, but for global capitalism. The Chinese economy has accounted for around 30% of global GDP growth in the last three years. The rise in problem loans within the banking system means it may not be possible for the Chinese regime to repeat its stimulus feat of 2009-10, at least not in the same way. This makes it highly unlikely that China can be the ‘white knight’ to again rescue global capitalism, something Australia’s politicians seem to be hoping for. The unfolding crisis at the heart of Asia means all sectors of the global economy are threatened with upheaval and crisis in the period ahead.

Employment

While Australia has so far managed to avert the worst of the crisis, the effects of the downturn have disproportionally affected young people and women. The female unemployment rate is 9.7% compared to the male unemployment rate of 7.7%.

The number of young people unable to work or a place in education peaked at the onset of the crisis and has yet to recover. The youth unemployment rate also remains much higher than for adults, and with an estimated 200,000 jobs losses in the retail sector by the end of 2012, many more young people will find themselves jobless soon enough.

The number of school leavers not fully engaged in education or work remains higher than at any time during the last 20 years. Those who have managed to find employment struggle with insecure working conditions, low wages and a rising cost of living. Those lucky enough to secure a place in higher education suffer from ever-increasing tuition fees, which even when deferred represent an enormous debt burden that can take decades to overcome.

The pathway of schooling to higher education to a secure job to eventual home-ownership has become an unattainable dream for this generation. The idea that if you work hard you can get ahead does not ring true for those studying full time, working long hours and still failing to make ends meet.

Unemployment more generally is expected to rise further in 2012 with the high dollar continuing to impact on jobs in the manufacturing and tourism sectors. One of the reasons youth unemployment has risen is due to substantive job losses in the retail sector, one of the main employers of young people.

Since the onset of the global financial crisis, the retail sector has placed the full burden of reduced sales onto their workforce. Instead of accepting slightly reduced profit margins, retail bosses have slashed tens of thousands of jobs. Because many young people are employed as casuals, they are the easiest to get rid of.

By employing young workers as casuals on youth wages, then sacking them when sales dip, the retail industry has increased its profits by 67.4% over the last 5 years, while wages have barely kept up with inflation.

Youth unemployment (15- 19 year olds not fully engaged in work or study) stands at around 18%. This is over three times higher than the unemployment rate across the whole of the population (5.2%), and does not include those looking for work whilst studying or those who have stopped looking for work.

Some regions are particularly impacted by youth unemployment, with areas such as the outer eastern parts of Melbourne, the western suburbs of Adelaide and the Central Coast of NSW experiencing youth unemployment rates of well over 30%!

Not yet satisfied, the National Retail Association has now proposed reducing the retail minimum wage by 10%, scrapping penalty rates for nights and Saturdays, reducing penalty rates on Sundays and cutting the minimum shift to one hour!

Poor retail sales reflect the financial stress many people are feeling due to the rising cost of living. These problems will only worsen with the introduction of further job insecurity and wage reductions, as people will be less willing and less able to spend money on consumer goods.

One of the reasons why bosses see young people as an easy target is because only around 1 in 10 young workers are members of their trade union. However, a mass fighting union of young workers across the retail, hospitality and fast food industries, taking up the issues of casualisation and youth wages could win important reforms and improve conditions for young workers across the board.

Frustration at the lack of opportunities for young people is demonstrated with over 40% of young people in Australia feeling that they have very little or only some control over their life. This is no surprise, considering young people have no genuine representation in political and economic life. To make matters worse the vast bulk of student unions and trade unions have failed to fight for the interests of students and young workers.

On top of increasing job losses, education costs and low wages, young people are also suffering from the housing affordability crisis. Young people today are staying at home longer than ever before. 80% of young people remain in the parental home at least until they are 24 years of age. One in four people aged 20–34 can’t afford to live independently of their parents.

The average rental property is often out of reach for low income earners or those in full-time study. Figures from the Tenants Union of Victoria show that the average rental property often consumes more than 30% of household income. This is often much higher for young people. Some households are spending up to half their income on rent!

Of course it is the disadvantaged that suffer the most as Australia’s housing crisis gets worse. 41,000 people in Victoria alone are on the public housing waiting list. The average waiting time is 4 years but some have waited up to 18 years in some circumstances. The longest wait on record for an individual was an appalling 226 months - just under 19 years!

The problems faced by young people, and indeed by all ordinary people, are not temporary or a diversion from the status quo. The problems come part and parcel with a system that puts profits before all else.

Banks

The banks have also announced huge job cuts with Westpac set to slash 560 jobs while ANZ have announced more than 700 sackings. This is despite huge profits. For example ANZ made $4.36 billion annual profit last year. With European banks lurching further into crisis, the ‘big four’ Australian banks are already being forced to pay steeper interest rates on the international markets. It is estimated that combined they have $96 billion worth of borrowings at this point in time.

The Australian Financial Review has reported that these increased costs marked a “steep change” in the cost of funds for Australian markets, therefore increasing the financial pressure on them not to pass on any future official interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank.

The facts are that because of the crisis centred in Europe borrowing costs are increasing sharply. This is starting to impact on domestic interest rates and it is also a reason for the increased job losses in the banking sector. At the same time the banks are seeing an increase in bad debts.

Company liquidations and mortgage defaults are also on the rise. Over the 12 months to June 30, 2011 Victoria as a whole had 4518 bankruptcies. Queensland had 6148 bankruptcies in the same period while New South Wales’ was by far the highest of any state with 8133.

As we have said before far from being rock solid, the Australian banks and the entire economy are highly exposed to the deepening global crisis. As job losses continue to mount, this will further impact on people’s ability to pay their mortgages.

Interestingly Bob Carr’s elevation to the Foreign Ministry is seen as a boon for the big banks. Since leaving the NSW State parliament Carr has worked as a consultant for the Macquarie Bank. He will certainly represent the views of the big banks in his new job.

Electoral perspectives

While it is possible for this weak ALP minority government to limp along for a little while longer it is also possible that events could take a sharp turn and an election could be called sooner rather than later.

Recent polls (23/3/2012) show the Coalition leading the ALP 57-43 on a two party preferred basis. As preferred leader Julia Gillard’s has also lost ground to opposition leader Tony Abbott. This has in part been because of issues like the carbon tax. While most working class voters want to see action on climate change they see no reason why they should be forced to pay for it when it is big business that does all the polluting.

Polls show that 82% of people are concerned that pollution is making climate change worse, yet 75% think the ALP’s carbon tax policy will have little or no effect in reducing carbon emissions.

Policies like the carbon tax along with regular corporate handouts to the tune of billions of dollars each year have helped develop an ‘anti-rich’ mood in society. This mood was typified by the rise of the Occupy movement on a global scale.

Wayne Swan’s recent attacks on the mining barons are part of a broader populist strategy which is aimed at trying to win back votes amongst working class and middle class people by taking advantage of this ‘anti-rich’ mood.

While it is still possible for the ALP to claw back some support we would have to say that that seems unlikely at this point in time. It is likely that the next election will see the coming to power of a conservative government.

This coupled with a worsening economic situation would be seen by the ruling class as a green light to move forward with deeper cuts and attacks on the working class. With all the underlying problems, the establishment would be immediately pushing for European style austerity measures in an attempt to shore up their own interests.

We say that punishing one big business party by voting for the other is no solution to the problems ordinary people face. We need a party that fights for the interests of the 99% in the parliament, in the workplaces and in our local communities. The need to build such a party will become clearer to more people as economic and political instability increases.

Indigenous people

The Gillard Government has both continued and extended the racist Northern Territory Intervention which was first introduced by Howard. This policy has now been extended under a new name and, as we warned at the time, some of the measures are now being rolled out in other parts of Australia.

At the same time State governments, like the West Australian Barnett Government, continue to use the race card to demonise Aboriginal people. There are a number of examples whereby racist arguments have been used by state governments to assist them in their quest secure Aboriginal land for big mining and resource companies.

The conditions of life for Aboriginal people and Torres Straight Islanders continue to get worse. Recent findings show that income for Indigenous men is only 44.2% of that of non-Indigenous men, and 75.7% for Indigenous women. The imprisonment rate of Indigenous women increased by 46% in the last decade and by 27% for Indigenous men. Indigenous people in general are 13 times more likely to end up in prison than non-Indigenous people.

Despite this oppression Aboriginal activists around Australia have waged a number of struggles to highlight the conditions that they face. The tent embassy protests in Canberra and Perth were two such examples. There are ongoing discussions amongst activists about how to win land rights and self determination.

Socialists point out that we need fundamental system change to address the inequality that exists within capitalism. We strive for maximum unity between ordinary people both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. We campaign against institutional racism as well as discrimination in our schools, workplaces and in the wider community.

ALP leadership tensions

While Julia Gillard was able to fend off a challenge from Kevin Rudd in late February, the underlying issues that led to the tensions remain. Many commentators in the capitalist press tried to portray the Gillard/Rudd battle as one of competing personalities. While inevitably there were aspects of personality involved, the real underlying issues were political.

The ALP clearly needs a leader who can give them more credibility amongst voters but at the same time they are a party who, like the Coalition, is at the mercy of big business interests. The rich and powerful need a leadership that will be best placed to deliver for them – especially in a period of deepening economic crisis.

All of this manoeuvring for leadership in the ALP has shown once again that despite the apparent economic stability around the mining boom, the underlying atmosphere in Australia is one of uncertainty. This is especially the case with slowing growth in China and falling commodity prices.

As we have explained the Australian economy is extremely vulnerable on a number of fronts. The political crisis and divisions in the ALP are really a reflection of the problems Australian capitalism faces and differences about how to deal with the fall out.

While it is true that both Gillard and Rudd are pro-capitalist to the core, they do differ on a number of secondary questions which are important consideration for the ruling class. For example Rudd was originally removed as PM after attempting to bring in a mining tax. At base this tax was about taking from the super rich to give to the rich. The idea was to use mining super profits to stimulate less profitable sections of the economy.

Gillard opposed this plan and was seen as a more reliable representative of big mining interests. She was also seen as someone who was better placed to make the shift away from stimulus to austerity more generally. This has been a trend the rich have pushed internationally in order to make ordinary people pay for the crisis.

With the ever present threat of a worldwide double dip recession it is certain that the debate around austerity verses stimulus will come back to the fore in Australia. The ruling class are looking for an ALP leader who will best represent their interests. At the moment Gillard is their best bet.

Further to this Rudd and Gillard have diverging views about how to deal with increased tensions between the US and China. This is a major dilemma facing the ruling class as Australia has always been tied politically to the US but the economy is now almost totally reliant on exports to China.

Gillard is seen by the US as more reliable ally. The US is clearly uneasy with Rudd’s ideas about creating an ‘Asia Pacific community’ that would include China. They think that could undermine their influence in the region.

These are just some of the things being considered by the ruling elite who play a key role in choosing the leaders of the major parties and in many cases governments themselves.

At this stage many sections of big business are not convinced that the Coalition under Abbott could hold together a stable government against the backdrop of an economic downturn. He is seen by some as a populist and has yet to outline an economic vision that satisfies their needs. That said they would manage with Abbott should he be thrown into power.

A consideration for more far sighted sections of the ruling class however is which party and which leader can lead a government that can both protect their profits but also maintain political and social stability.

The ALP is a very reliable servant of big business but at the same time they also have connections to the working class through the trade union movement. This means they can be used to act as a brake on struggle and social unrest.

In times of crisis this makes them a much better option for the rich. The problem for the rich however is that often the ALP’s policies are so unpopular that the working class choose to throw them out of office and replace them with the other main capitalist party.

This was most recently seen in Queensland where the ALP was voted out of the State Government in a spectacular fashion. They have been reduced to a parliamentary rump of a mere 7 MPs. The willingness of voters to punish the major parties at the ballot box is an indication of the general dissatisfaction that exists under the surface in society.

In a sign of where the priorities of the ALP lie Rudd said recently that the reason for his resignation as Foreign Minister was because the “ongoing tension over the federal Labor leadership had been damaging for the business community” (!). Not a word about the issues faced by working people just a pitch to big business that he would better represent them!

If nothing else, what the ALP leadership crisis has shown is that while big business has two parties to choose from, workers, the unemployed and young people are currently without any genuine representation.

Greens

The Green party in Australia occupies a significant place on the political landscape. They are the largest party seen to be to the left of the ALP and until recently effectively held the balance of power in both houses of the federal parliament. The Government currently needs the support of either the Greens and Independents or the opposition Liberal-National Coalition to pass legislation.

As we predicted the Greens have not used their position to push through any significant reforms, let alone to assist in the building of social movements or grass roots campaigns. They have a purely parliamentary perspective which has allowed them to be sucked into the game and rendered them ineffective in real terms.

The Greens have agreed to oppose any parliamentary no-confidence motions and vote for Labor’s budgets – even if they contain deep cuts to spending. It is not ruled out that at some time in the future the Greens end up in a similar position to the Liberal Democrats in Britain, where that party is helping to implement some of the harshest austerity measures ever seen.

Even on climate change the Greens have been ineffectual. The proposed carbon tax operates firmly within the confines of the market system and will do next to nothing to reduce emissions. The big polluters are set to pass on any costs to ordinary people. The carbon tax is a step towards an emissions trading system which will create yet another market – this time for big business to profit from trading in pollution permits.

The real role that the Greens are playing is providing the ALP with a left cover for their right-wing policies. Under pressure, and particularly in times of economic crisis, they find themselves implementing the opposite of what they claim to stand for.

While many hundreds of thousands of people voted for the Greens hoping to see progressive change, we have to say that unfortunately they will be bitterly disappointed. To effect real change requires developing both a political and economic alternative to the profit-driven system.

Trade unions

The trade union movement’s response to the mounting job losses has been pathetic at best. At the moment most union leaders have resisted putting up a fight against unemployment instead preferring to call on the government to prop up failing companies. What they are really doing is parroting the bosses’ arguments for tax-funded corporate subsidies and protectionism. None of these measures are in the interests of workers.

Subsidies have consistently failed. In 2008 the car industry bosses received $6.2 billion in corporate welfare. At the time we commented that that this would be a stop-gap measure and that it wouldn’t be too long before they came back again, cap-in-hand, threatening to slash jobs.

The basic problem with this idea is that once the money is handed over to private companies there is no way to make sure it is used to protect jobs, wages and conditions. It is impossible to control what you don’t own.

Similarly protectionist measures like tariffs only lead to higher prices and inevitably off load the problems on to workers in other countries. Not only do they not address any of the fundamental issues but they create new economic problems.

Instead of accepting the logic of a system that puts profits before people’s needs the trade union movement needs to adopt a new fighting strategy. Every job should be defended with industrial action if necessary. Employers who claim they can not operate without slashing jobs should be forced to open their books. Let us see where all the profits and subsidies have gone. Further to this rather than subsiding companies that threaten job losses the movement needs to demand that they are brought into public ownership.

The key to understanding the conservative nature of today’s trade union bureaucracy lies in its material roots as a privileged stratum. This layer is almost without exception bound hand and foot to the ALP. It is the ALP that provides their ideas and marching orders.

Not only are the unions politically bound to the ALP, but the Accord introduced in 1983 under the Hawke/Keating government led to fundamental structural changes to all unions. A minority of unions who resisted were forced to comply or were crushed.

We saw the creation of super unions brought under the control of imposed national bodies and union rules. This was all done with little to no say from union members themselves. These structural changes are coupled with an increasingly repressive legislative framework that binds unions even more closely to the state and the needs of the ruling class.

The results are clear. Shrinking union membership goes side by side with wage deals that, in the main, deliver cuts to pay and conditions year after year. All independent working class action and thought is stifled and past successful militant actions are written out of history. Anyone who dares outline an alternative view is labelled as ‘divisive’.

Almost without exception pro-ALP union leaders have replaced action with theatrics. This serves to cover their policies of collaboration with employers and governments for what they claim to be the ‘good of the industry’. In short their politics have meant that the rich get richer while social services are destroyed and more and more workers struggle to make ends meet.

While there are low level differences around Keynesian economic polices verses neo-liberalism, none of the pro-ALP union leaders have any economic or political alternative to capitalism. From their pro-capitalist world view flows the policies of class collaboration, economic nationalism, and support for the ALP.

The current batch of union leaders will go down in history as presiding over the movement at a time when profits soared, wages declined and strike levels were at an all time low. They will be known as the most ineffective union leaders in the history of Australian capitalism. While the Health Services Union (HSU) is in spotlight right now many other pro-ALP leaderships are involved in similar levels of corruption. The task ahead is to remove these rotten leaders and rebuild the union movement along militant and democratic lines.

Even recently rank and file workers have shown their willingness to struggle but on almost every occasion they have been held back by their conservative leaders. This highlights both the opportunities and challenges of building an alternative political current in the union movement.

In contrast to the politics of the current union leaders the Socialist Party is fighting for a totally different type of trade unionism. We fight for a militant class struggle unionism that is anti-capitalist in nature and therefore necessarily internationalist.

Our goal is to strengthen this current in the unions through the building of rank and file groups. Further to this we campaign for the unions to break from the ALP and contribute to the building of a new workers party in Australia.

Potential for struggle

While the ALP remains in power it is almost certain that the union leaders will do very little to organise any serious struggle. At this stage they feel that they have their feet under the table in Canberra and they do not want to do anything to rock the boat.

If the Coalition came to power it is possible that their attitude could change and that they could allow limited struggles to take place. But just as we saw in the lead up to 2007 this would all be designed to supplement an ALP re-election campaign.

The difference however now is that the working class is likely to be less patient with the ALP given their failures of recent years. We could see a process take place in a similar fashion to what happened in Victoria in the early 1990s where the working class responded to the coming to power of the conservative Kennett Government with a series of impressive strikes and mobilisations.

Even in the short term it is possible that some defensive industrial battles can take place. With falling revenues more budget cuts are on the agenda. This will mean a continuation of the attacks on the public sector. We can expect more job losses and a reduction in services as the government attempts to ‘bring the budget back into surplus’.

It is also possible that industrial struggles could take off outside of official union structures. As we have seen elsewhere in the world on occasion workers that are outside of the control of the conservative leaders can sometimes go further than those who are held back by a tight grip.

However, because of the role of the union leaders it is unlikely that we will see major struggle break out on the industrial arena in the short term. We are much more likely to see struggles develop amongst young people, students, around community campaigns and around social issues.

Consciousness

The consciousness of the working class still lags behind the objective situation. This is in part because of the role of the trade union leaders but also because of the absence of a broad mass workers’ party. In Australia there is a layer of workers who are still hoping against hope that we will avoid the worst of the downturn.

Another layer reluctantly still puts some faith in the ALP or the Greens because they are the only big ‘shows in town’. Unfortunately we have to say that neither the ALP nor the Greens will be a saviour for ordinary people. Because of the absence of genuine political representation many working people are likely to be disappointed in the next period.

There is, on the other hand, an important layer of workers and young people who are searching for a political alternative. They have already been affected by the crisis, they are influenced by world events, they have been inspired by movements like Occupy and they are moving towards political activity. Our task is to reach them and then win them to our party.

The period ahead

Given the objective conditions we face in Australia we need to be prepared for two possible perspectives. One is that because of the underlying instability, things can change quickly. We need to be alert to this and make sure that our organisation is prepared to make a turn quickly if the situation requires it.

The other perspective is that things could continue to move along at a slow pace for a little while longer. The slowdown in China could take a little while longer to have an impact on Australia and we could see a situation where by the ALP, the union leaders, the Greens and the cross bench independents do all within their power to keep this government hanging on for a full term.

For all of them a change in government would see them locked out of influence for the foreseeable future so they will do all they can to cling on. This type of situation could mean that there is a lull in struggle for a little while longer. The absence of any objective pressure pushing people into struggle can mean that people are reluctant to be fully engaged in political activity.

Either way we can say that a change in Australia’s fortunes is on the horizon. The only question is the timing which is always the hardest thing to predict in politics. If we witness a sharp turn in events we can expect large sections of the class to change their outlook quickly. This may not mean that they will adopt a fighting attitude straight away. A layer can be knocked by events especially if they are accompanied by a sharp drop in living standards.

Regardless of whether we see a sharp turn in events or not we know already that a layer of young people in particular are feeling the pinch. It is this layer who can be drawn around radical politics now. If we are able to draw a layer of youth around our periphery in the short term a change in circumstances can see them come closer to revolutionary politics in a short space of time.

Our job is to prepare for a change in the objective situation drawing in those who are open now but understanding that the system is creating the conditions for many more people to be drawn to the ideas of socialism.

Socialism is the only alternative to the chaos and callousness of capitalism. Economic and political power must be taken out of the hands of the 1% who are destroying the lives of the 99%. We need a system based on production for human need not private profit. On the basis of public ownership and democratic control a sustainable plan of production could be developed to provide jobs, homes and services to all while at the same time protecting the environment. This is the type of future that the Socialist Party is fighting for.

See also this document on world and European perspectives which will be proposed by the CWI’s International Secretariat to a meeting of the European Bureau in late April.