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Workers' Liberty has campaigned for the Socialist Alliance in the Federal election. At the same time we want the ALP to defeat the Coalition.
Our attitude to the Greens and other candidates who have been called 'progressive' is summed up in our preference policy that we proposed to the SA Conference.
Some Workers' Liberty supporters are advocating that a 2nd preference for some Greens candidates, notably Bob Brown for the Senate in Tasmania, and a 3rd preference for Labor, is in accordance with our policy - excerpts below. You can read more in our email discussion list.
The Socialist Alliance is standing to give a voice to working-class struggle in politics.
Accordingly, our preferences should be distributed to candidates who are also standing on or for working-class politics, or who are sponsored by working-class organisations.
The key issue in working-class politics is support for class struggle and the right to organise. This is the defining point around which failure and betrayal occurs. If we are asking workers to trust us, we are also asking them to trust our judgement on this issue.
At best, a scale of a more or less "progressive" list of radical and leftish policies presented as the key to socialist policy Ñ instead of working-class struggle Ñ obscures the fundamental issue for socialists in politics. At worst, the scale of "progressive" has been used by Stalinised Communist Parties to justify alliances with anti-working-class forces.
If as the Socialist Alliance we are to play any role in regrouping political forces who might be won to supporting working-class struggle (forces identified by the DSP as "progressive"), then we are not going to do this by offering our preferences carte blanche, simply because a party is deemed "progressive". We are not a lobby group. We can and should put to the Greens the basis on which we can in conscience advocate that advanced workers place reliance on the Greens. "Progressive politics" in this country has meaning for socialists chiefly as the politics of class struggle. Dissent in the Senate is an altogether subsidiary question.
In preferencing the Greens in either the House of Representatives or the Senate we need to establish 4 points with the candidate or party:
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