BY ALISON THORNE
[The following is the text of a talk given at a panel at the International Socialist Organisation's Marxism 2002 conference held in Melbourne, September 6-8. Alison Thorne spoke on behalf of the Freedom Socialist Party, one of the eight organisations affiliated to the Socialist Alliance. The talks given by the two other members of the panel — Dick Nichols from the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) and Sue Johnson from the ISO — were published in the previous issue of GLW.]
The Socialist Alliance is 18 months old and this is something to celebrate. We've achieved a phenomenal amount — several thousand members, branches in every state and territory, agreement around a basic platform, a web page which continues to improve, federal electoral registration, electoral registration in NSW, Tasmania and soon, we hope, Victoria and other states.
Our biggest achievement has been putting socialism on the ballot in every possible federal, state and local election and by-election held during the last year and half!
We need to understand and appreciate what we have achieved together, and on what basis we have achieved this, in order to look ahead and make wise decisions about the next step.
Right from the start the Freedom Socialist Party conceived of the Socialist Alliance as a socialist electoral united front. In practice, that is what it has been with branches blossoming during election campaigns.
What is driving the Freedom Socialist Party — and we believe all the affiliates and independent activists who joined Socialist Alliance — is an appreciation of the urgent need for a vibrant socialist electoral alternative.
The ALP — like social democracy around the globe — is incapable of challenging the neoliberal agenda and now operates completely within a pro-market ideological framework. It has nothing to offer when faced with a ruling class in no mood and no shape to grant concessions to workers.
The Coalition has moved further to the right absorbing many of the policies of One Nation. The experience of Hansonism itself posed all too clearly the potential for right-wing populism to tap into insecurity and discontent.
In this climate, the best elements of the working class are breaking with a discredited Labor Party and casting around for alternatives.
The Greens — having managed to shake off their single-issue image — have positioned themselves to appeal to this layer with a host of progressive policies. But, as they freely admit, they are not anti-capitalist. And, unlike the Socialist Alliance, they see that a solution to the problems of people and the planet can be achieved through parliament.
Broad agreement about the need to put clear socialist solutions before the population and to be the working class pole of attraction which the Greens cannot be has been the basis of our unity to date.
But can the Socialist Alliance achieve more?
The Freedom Socialist Party and our sister organisation, Radical Women, believes the Socialist Alliance has a vital leadership role to play in this period.
We live in dangerous times. The world today is in the grip of United States imperialism. The bosses are on the rampage creating desperate conditions and provoking a backlash against corporate globalisation which reached Australia's shores in an inspiring way with our S11 in 2000.
Already before September 11, 2001, the ruling class was cracking down on the anti-corporate movement, but the attacks on the World Trade Center one year ago, gave the ruling class internationally the pretext it needed to implement some of the most draconian measures seen in the history of bourgeois democracy.
Democratic rights are under sharp attack in this country too:
Ìý
- Stripping refugees of basic human rights, the Howard government's obscene border protection measures, coupled with the interference of the executive arm of government in the judicial arm of government are all alarming trends.
- The “anti-terrorism” laws are downright dangerous — resisting both their passage and their use must be a top priority.
- The appearance of patriarchal and homophobic vigilantes in Nazi regalia highlights that the right wing can tap into any form of grievance or insecurity in its quest to build a mass fascist movement.
The erosion of the democratic component of bourgeois democracy is not a new phenomenon. In the Marxist movement we call this type of development Bonapartism. If fascism is capitalism's solution of last resort, then Bonapartism is what it will try before resorting to fascism.
Faced with this scenario, the response of the organised working class is absolutely key. Which is why defence of democratic and militant unionism is a fundamental task which must be linked to resisting the broader attack on democratic rights.
The Socialist Alliance has been taking a stand on these issues, but our work has been patchy. We need to broaden the basis of our united front to explicitly make providing leadership around the defence of democratic rights a core part of our Socialist Alliance work right up there with running in elections.
As well as this, the Freedom Socialist Party advocates that the Socialist Alliance:
- Run in elections every time we get the opportunity.
- Give attention to further policy elaboration and development to produce materials which make the idea of socialism really live. Our policy material needs to be concrete and show that socialism is not only a great idea but an eminently achievable alternative to the horrors of late capitalism.
- Prioritise getting to know the membership of the Socialist Alliance and foster their active involvement.
- Branch meetings need to be interesting, well-organised and democratic — activists need to teach skills to members who are not already activists.
- Look for opportunities to intervene jointly as the Socialist Alliance in unions where we have several members, for example, the current dispute in Centrelink.
- Have public discussions and work with the Greens as a mechanism to distinguish ourselves from them while orienting to those who vote for them.
Finally, I couldn't speak today without making some kind of comment on the DSP's recent announcement that it is discussing dissolving itself into the Socialist Alliance. I'm afraid I can only be brief.
In our discussions with the DSP they conceived of this proposal as regroupment of the revolutionary left. The Freedom Socialist Party does not agree.
What is urgently needed in the next period is discussion and a common understanding about what regroupment is. The Freedom Socialist Party has favoured regroupment of the revolutionary socialist movement since we were formed as a tendency in 1966.
Boiled down to its essence, regroupment is about revolutionaries engaging in programmatic discussion to explore if there is sufficient political basis to regroup a number of smaller groups into a larger group. The emphasis here is on revolutionaries and programmatic discussion.
Our key concern with the DSP's new orientation is that the Socialist Alliance is not a revolutionary organisation and many of its members have not been won to the need for a revolution if we are to achieve the desired outcome — socialism. Where do these members fit in the DSP's schema?
Revolutionary regroupment must be based on discussion between revolutionaries. It takes tenacity and patience and it is unlikely to be a quick process. The Socialist Alliance belongs to all of its members and affiliates and should not be rushed headlong into making hasty decisions by the DSP leadership's change of perspective.
In the meantime, we've achieved an enormous amount and with a “steady as she goes approach”. The Socialist Alliance could build on our work popularising socialist ideas by playing a decisive and much needed leadership role in the important fight to defend democratic rights. I look forward to the discussion.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, September 25, 2002.
Visit the Ìý