PARTISAN!

Max J asks what is the way forward for communists in Newcastle.

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Newcastle is a city which, unlike Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne, seems “politically dead”. There is a dearth of Left-wing, or even Socialist/Communist activity in Newcastle. Where it exists, it exists within the purview of the sects (Socialist Alliance, Socialist Equality Party and at times the Communist Party of Australia), or peripherally to professional activist groups such as the Greens, Rising Tide, Food Not Bombs, et cetera. The RCO has had a rocky time developing in Newcastle, and thus we must be strategic as to the decisions we make in order to build up the organisation in this city.

The ‘Left’ in Newcastle

The Left in Newcastle, especially the Socialist Left, is split between a small number of sects. The main Socialist group in Newcastle is Socialist Alliance, whose remaining ten or so members still reside around the old Resistance Bookshop on Hunter Street.

Food Not Bombs organises out of Pachamama House, an old building in Hamilton owned by two older Greens members, although it’s debatable whether Food Not Bombs could be considered a Socialist group. Nonetheless, many leftish activists coalesce around Food Not Bombs in Newcastle. Various charities and activist groups also are based in Pachamama House, and the Newcastle Greens have meetings there (as well as the Communist Party). Blockade Australia, which burst onto the activist scene in 2021, seems to be mostly moribund now (they appear to be mainly fighting numerous court charges – the inevitable outcome of these ‘direct action first’ type adventurist groupings) although their most recent ‘action’s were as recent as last year. It was peripheral and had a significant overlap with Food Not Bombs.

Rising Tide made a sudden comeback in 2022, and has continued to persist in activist networks since. It is a civil resistance environmental group that also has members in Melbourne and Brisbane, but mainly in Newcastle. Rising tide was responsible for a “blockade” of the Newcastle coal port in late November (24th-27th) of last year. School Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) in Newcastle is also run mostly by Rising Tide and Rising Tide adjacent activists.

At the University of Newcastle, there is the “Communist Students Collective”, which exists mainly as a stagnant student sect, although it was previously associated with Socialist Alliance (in a previous iteration). There is also the “International Youth Students for Social Equality”, which is the University wing of the Socialist Equality Party. Unlike in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, there is no Socialist Alternative presence at the University of Newcastle, nor is there a Solidarity branch.

The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) has a small group in Newcastle. The rightwing splinter group, the Communist Workers Party of Australia (CWPA), is also based in Newcastle, but is a dying formation. It is possible that members of the Communist Party of Australia Marxist-Leninist (CPA M-L) also live in and around Newcastle. There is no Australian Communist Party (ACP) presence.

What should we do with the sects?

In Newcastle, we are outnumbered by the sects. It is inevitable that at some point, Newcastle comrades will need to engage with them in some way. How should we go about this?

We must remember that we organise on the basis of a robust Marxist program, for the establishment of a mass Socialist Workers Party. Our main public activity, in terms of engaging with other Socialist formations, is to fight for our perspective. Our interactions with the other sects, then, should be done on the basis of fighting for a Revolutionary Marxist perspective (Macnair, 2006). While past experience has shown that engaging with Socialist Alliance (in Newcastle) is unproductive, we have yet to determine whether an intervention into Rising Tide would be a productive endeavour. Newcastle comrades are still on the fence about an intervention into Rising Tide, and our attendance at their “People’s Blockade” (which we reported on in Direct Action #8) did not provide us with any definitive answers.

Newcastle comrades should, through careful discernment and outreach, determine which sects are amiable to our general aim (communist regroupment), and work alongside these ones, while not shying away from critiquing and opposing those that are openly hostile and sectarian. We are small currently, so we should take into account the capacity of our few members when we establish who and where to intervene.

Our aims and tasks

The RCO aims to regroup communists and other militants in order to build the basis for a mass Socialist Workers Party. Particular focus could be made to young workers and students, many of whom are sympathetic to radical politics but have yet to take part. Our past experience with Socialist Alliance (in Newcastle, at least) taught us that the sects have little to no interest in genuinely fighting for young workers and students, and generally only seek to exploit their enthusiasm for as long as it takes for them to burn out, and then replace them with a new crop of eager youngsters.

Our most crucial task currently is to approach workers and students, and educate them. We have to provide them the means of educating not only themselves, but also others, on Communist politics. We firmly maintain that the first step to overthrowing Capitalism and to establish an emancipated society (Communism) is through rigorous education. Education provides the practical and theoretical tools necessary for effective political action. History has shown this. The “action-first” approach of many activists and those who would otherwise be comrades is detrimental to the movement broadly. We see this with groupings such as Rising Tide and Blockade Australia, who seem to be focused mainly on pulling off big media stunts that result in mass arrests. These tactics are more akin to peddling a bike without wheels than with effective political action.

We must also agitate locally. Young people across Australia are eager for change. This is why they cling to the left-liberal Greens, or the Labor Party. It is the task of Socialists to show young people that the only solutions to the problems of Capitalism can be found through Communism. In doing so, we help to build up Reds, a prospective youth organisation affiliated with the RCO.

We must develop militant cadres for the defence of not just young workers and students broadly, but also LGBTQI+ youth, young women, impoverished youth, youth on welfare, and so on. Socialism is the only movement that provides a genuine avenue for liberation for people of all kinds. We must turn people away from subcultural escapism, and onto the path of genuine change.

It would thus be beneficial for Newcastle comrades to campaign more strongly for communist unity among other Newcastle-based communists, while also centering the struggles of working people (and people out of work) in our propaganda. It would build not just the workers movement locally, but also the communist movement, and the RCO.

“While we know it’s essential to keep building our party, we also know that’s not sufficient. We understand that the construction of a mass party will be a complicated process. There will be zigs and zags, regroupments, unifications.” -Jim Percy, 1990

Further reading:

Bringing about a Marxist party, Mike Macnair (WW641, 2006)

A faction is not a party, Lars T Lih (WW912, 2012)

It’s good to talk, Mike Macnair (WW1460, 2023)

Building the Revolutionary Party, Selected Writings 1980-1987, Jim Percy

Traditions, Lessons & Socialist Perspectives (Selected talks 1990-1992), Jim Percy