The Socialist Alliance and political representation:
Socialist Alliance needs to become a united democratic socialist party (editorial
#2).
Socialist Alliance and trade unions. Bryan Sketchley - unaligned member,
QPSU Melissa White - member of Workers' Liberty, NTEU propose a new orientation
to the unions by the SA.
HowardÕs proposed new laws would pave the way for dictatorship. Lynn
Smith looks at HowardÕs anti-teror laws.
PSA: more lost than won. T he Public Service Association of New South
Wales recently held its Annual Conference. The following analysis of the current
state of the union was written by Janet Burstall as a leaflet by the Progressive
PSA, a rank-and-file grouping in the union, for the Annual Conference.
Pay Equity Struggle wins by Leon Parissi, a PSA delegate who was central
to the pay equity campaign as a result of which the Industrial Relations Commission
of NSW on 28 March 2002 granted library and archives workers a gender based
Ôcatch upÕ pay rise of up to 25% (with most getting about 10-15%).
TeenagersÕ corner "Think about refugees as people" Interview with Rosa
Brown, high school student.
Are European workers on the move? Leon Parissi looks at the French elections,
we present John Bulaitis (a supporter of the "Socialist Solidarity Network",
now living in France) and Martin Thomas (Alliance for WorkersÕ Liberty) debating
whether socialists should have supported a vote for Chirac in the second round
of the French Presidential election. Also an eyewitness account France, Strange
days by Vincent PrŽsumey.
Palestinian elections now, by Edward Said.
Chinese government unions
Reviews The Navigators, directed by Ken Loach, written by Rob
Dawber The New Rulers of the World, by John Pilger, reviewed by Ronald
F. Price
India-Pakistan: No war! Self-determination for Kashmir by Cathy Nugent.
India/Pakistan use war against workers.
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W e are not protesting against mandatory detention and temporary protection visas for the sake of it. We are campaigning to win very specific changes to government policy, in fact to defeat government policy. Howard has made such a central issue of his refugee policy, that we have to defeat the Coalition in order to change Australian refugee policy. LaborÕs policy under Simon Crean is barely any better. However, there are huge cracks emerging in the ALP on refugee policy. This is good! It is a significant achievement that the largest ALP state conferences (Victoria, NSW and Queensland) have voted against mandatory detention and temporary protection visa (TPVs). But even if similar votes are achieved at other State Conferences, it will be extremely difficult to get a similar policy adopted by the ALP National Conference in Tasmania next year, and even harder to enforce such a vote on the parliamentary ALP. A number of unions are also coming out against mandatory detention, though many of them are not affiliated to the ALP and thus will not have any influence on ALP conferences. One of the largest affiliated unions is the AMWU, whose National Council has come out in support of policy similar to "Labor4Refugees". The stronger the clamour from within the ALP and affiliated unions becomes, the more the issues of accountability within the ALP will become obvious. Changing Labor policy on refugees should be one of the aims of the diverse campaigns to support refugees and especially to end mandatory detention and the TPVsystem. We keep fighting these policies and any governments that implement them. We also keep going to community groups and trade unions, to the streets, to speak out and involve more people in showing solidarity with refugees. These are all a vital part of mobilising. The Socialist Alliance also contests elections on a platform of solidarity with refugees. Not only that, the Socialist Alliance is a voice for the struggles and interests of working-class Australians, whose anxieties and fears the Howard Government has so cynically and hypocritically exploited in its fear-mongering campaign. Increased insecurity of employment and the downward pressure on incomes for many low- to middle-income wage earners are not caused by refugees arriving in Australia. Profit-taking capitalist madness is the cause. A government that stands for workers' interests and takes the side of workers wherever we struggle against the employers will also be a government for all workers without distinction of nationality. Workers' Liberty supports the efforts of Labor4Refugees to win a change of policy from the Labor Party. And we say vote for Socialist Alliance in the elections to say that working-class solidarity is the answer to the pressures of capital, and the foundation for international solidarity.
What underlies the debate about the trade unions in SA is: what, in fact, is our political project? Workers' Liberty argues that the aim of the Socialist Alliance should be the establishment of a mass-based, left-wing workers' party. A strategic orientation towards this has two main aspects Ð firstly, transforming the Socialist Alliance and, secondly, relating to other developments in the working class. Transforming the Socialist Alliance The Socialist Alliance needs to develop towards being a united and democratic socialist party, with a much fuller, more comprehensive program, campaigning cohesively on many more fronts than election campaigns and propaganda events, and with a regular publication. This cannot be achieved in one big jump Ñ for n united Socialist Alliance revolutionary party NOW! Ñ but has to be worked towards. Among the tasks on this road are: increasing the role for SA in co-ordinating interventions (and discussing tactical differences) in campaigns; increasing the level of political debate and discussion; common activities/clubs on campuses, etc.; building a profile of regular activity in local campaigns; a regular Socialist Alliance paper. These are necessary to attract the many independent leftists who are holding back, waiting to see if SA is more than a sectarian bearpit. It also requires a change in priorities for many of the affiliates. SA is just one among many priorities at the moment and it shows. (This is not a jibe at the International Socialist Organisation or Democratic Socialist Party. Workers' Liberty has great problem in allocating our meagre resources). If the participating groups orgnaised more of their activism through the Socialist Alliance, instead of separately, this could be resolved. Relating to political developments in the working class. The biggest developments are: the continuing development of a militant and politically conscious leadership of a group of particular Victorianunions (with varying degrees of limitation). This has the potential to lead to a major split to the left from the ALP. Evidence of this is the AMWU developments, Dean Mighell's shift to the Greens, the TCFUA/AMWU/CFMEU stand on refugees at MayDay etc. Even the right-wing NSW Labor Council is challenging Crean's policy on refugees. Crean's moves to reduce the influence of unions in the ALP are an attempt to show the ruling class that he is not beholden to the working class. And Crean is meeting with resistance, though rarely for effective political reasons. These developments within the Labor movement show a search for new political answers. The Socialist Alliance needs to be there to join in the discussion of what those answers should be, to argue for class struggle and independent working-class politics, and to educate our own members and supporters in working-class politics. There is explosive growth of support for the Greens. This support is electoral Ñ membership growth and practical support amongst leftists and unionists. There are significant left forces in the Greens who do bother to relate to the Socialist Alliance and who would welcome, in the future, a formal relationship with unions. (Fraser Brindley, Moreland Greens Councillor, was very good on this at the Melbourne TU seminar). If the Socialist Aliance is going to win voters, supporters and members from the Greens, then we need to clarify our differences. Class struggle, union politics and an analysis of capitalism are the fundamental issues that the Socialist Alliance has to take up with the Greens. If the Socialist Alliance can successfully carry out the transformation towards being a socialist party that unites the left at a deeper level than elections, it can have a real impact on the developments in the working-class movement. We can increase our credibility in the eyes of militant unionists, community activists and the left of the Greens. The way to do this is for the SA to develop real roots in working-class communities, to make a rich and democratic internal life, and to form a more comprehensive platform which is based on advocating for union, community and environmental struggles. We need to help to create conditions in which the leaders of the left unions will be prepared commit themselves, whether in or out of the Labor Party, to a platform to fight the leaders of the parliamentary Labor Party at all levels. We should also aim to convince the left of the Greens to commit to building an environmentally-conscious workers' party.