[back to June-July 2001 front page]
By Janet Burstall
The issue of solidarity for workers' struggles is likely to be highly contentious within the union movement under the Labor Government. Union leaders who can withstand the pressure from the peak union bodies to isolate struggles, and who can instead offer solidarity will be the key to strengthening the labour movement. The flip side of this means that if there is no effective solidarity for workers who do come up against the Labor Government, the workers involved are likely to learn bitterness and cynicism, rather than continuing to be active.
It is at the sharp points of union battles under Labor that the role of the Socialist Alliance could be most valuable. If we, in the Socialist Alliance, can build trust and support within ranks of the union movement, we can help lay the groundwork for the solidarity that will be needed. Workers who are angry and brave enough to fight against the Labor Government will have the most to gain from the solidarity of an organised national political force. And the more confident workers are to fight for their rights, the clearer will it become that Beasley's Labor Government does not represent the interests of working class people.
Winning votes for the Socialist Alliance is only one way in which the SA can help to build this confidence. We also have to be able to deliver on our promise to "give a voice to working class struggle". In order to be able to make this contribution after the Federal election, the Socialist Alliance needs to prepare for it within the election campaign.
However, the Alliance is not a fully-fledged party. The platform is limited in scope. The platform will expand and develop through discussion at its first National Conference in August, and thereafter. Public debate and discussion about election policies, and the way forward under a Labor Government will help Alliance members to think critically about the platform too.
Just as important as fleshing out the platform as a document, is the need to seeking unity with other socialist and working-class groups, ahead of claiming SA ownership of agitational work. We need to seek to be a voice for actual working class struggles, not just the struggles we think that there ought to be. These links need to be made on the ground, by SA branch members, in dialogue with workers involved. The development of an effective platform and relationship with the labour movement cannot be forced along, and indeed can be damaged by centralisation of the making of political statements on behalf of the SA. Patience is needed. In short, for the Socialist Alliance to become an effective force for developing working class politics under Labor we need to:
The groups which founded the Socialist Alliance united in response to particular circumstances - the experience of co-operation and success in the S11 anti-capitalist protests in Melbourne, and the inspiration of the British Socialist Alliance.
But the need for left unity is bigger than the specific circumstances that have enabled this first step in forming the SA. While we are separate left groups we are confusing to people, who find it difficult to see why any one group is better than the other. It is a truism that as whole we are more potent than the sum of our parts - but still a good reason to try to unite. In separate groups we do not always take up the challenge of understanding other points of view and working out new ideas. This (in part only) contributes to our isolation from working-class consciousness and concerns more broadly, and we fail to learn the good habits of dialogue, listening, and relating our ideas to people's experience. It is healthy for all of our groups in this left unity project to have many more opportunities to talk with both working-class voters and one another. The need for left unity is enduring, and the Socialist Alliance should continue regardless of who wins the election, as long as we can act on and develop the platform that we already have.
The Socialist Alliance has stated that it will "preference Labor candidates where we stand candidates and will call for supporters to vote Labor where there is not an Alliance or pro-working class green or progressive candidate (determined on a seat by seat basis)." Workers' Liberty is proposing that the Socialist Alliance needs some criteria for what constitutes a pro-working class Greens candidate. Repeal of the Workplace Relations Act and sections 45D & E of the Trade Practices Act is Greens policy, which each candidate should be asked about. The other crucial question is whether on principle they will support any workers who go on strike. If they say it depends, we should ask them to clarify, depends on what? We should specifically raise the real threat that Mitsubishi will close its Adelaide car plants and ask Greens candidates if they will support Mitsubishi car workers going on strike for their jobs, even though the industry is environmentally damaging.