PARTISAN!

Brunhilda Olding polemicises against monarchism and advocates for a stronger turn toward Republicanism by the Socialist Left.

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The visit of ‘King’ Charles to Australia is one that must be resolutely opposed by every socialist, communist, or revolutionary.

Of course, this statement is perhaps stating the obvious, what socialist would support the institution of a monarchy? Disdain for the royal family is perhaps the bare ideological minimum for the left on this continent. Nonetheless in a period of strategic confusion, and ideological disconnect it is of vital importance that the Communists secure their position as the vanguard of the working class, with the most clarified, and revolutionary demands. After all, as Marx and Engels outlined in the Communist Manifesto ‘the first step in the revolution by the working class, is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy.’

Yet what the battle of democracy means has been distorted, falsified, and weakened. It is the task of the Communists to clarify what the struggle of the working class is in the battle for democracy, and the clearest answer that emerges is the fight for a socialist, democratic republic. A republic based upon the highest ideals of the proletariat, and the historical aspirations of humanity for liberty. This republic will not be one proclaimed through parliament but forged through the revolutionary transformation of society under the aegis of the proletarian revolution, a revolution that will be more than world-shaking, but era defining.

Whilst the bourgeois will claim that they hold the ability to grant republicanism, if we look at the historical facts, and recent political developments this statement will be revealed as the face it is. Even if restricted to Australia alone, we have plenty of examples of how the bourgeois and capitalists have actively failed the transition to Republicanism. For example, the 1999 referendum, sabotaged by John Howard’s proposal of a president. Under the Albanese regime, Labor has abandoned even the weakest support for a Republican referendum, deferring to a second term that they may not even get. Yet even if in some miracle the government grew a backbone and did introduce a referendum it would not be a democratic republic.

This Republic may claim the trappings of democracy, but the working class know better. The legacy of the Paris Commune burns bright in our memory, and in our struggle against the capitalist class. We fight for a parliament that is both a legislative, and an executive body. Not for a monarchical president or Prime Minister. The working class must be armed, and power granted to a universal militia as opposed to a standing army. As long as the state holds the monopoly of violence the bourgeois will rule, power must be placed in the hands of the working class, and the working class alone. As the old saying goes, ‘democracy is a rifle on the shoulder of the working class’. If Albanese were to proclaim a republic tomorrow, it would most certainly not be a workers republic.

The struggle for Communism is the fight for the total negation of the capitalist world order, it is for the transformation of society into one that is truly democratic, not one based off the rule of the bourgeois class. That is what we fight for when we raise the banner of a democratic republic, that is what we fight for as ‘King’ Charles deigns to visit England’s extant colony.

The transformation of class society will by necessity include finishing the uncompleted work of the bourgeoisie. In the Imperial periphery this takes the form of the final elements of state building, the breakup of large land holdings and the collectivisation of land, and the final destruction of all feudal remnants. Most notably the monarchies which infest the planet, and all other parasitical classes, that survived through their own transformation into the bourgeoisie. This is a task that unless led by the proletariat united under the banner of an international movement will fail.

We cannot rely on military juntas (such as those in the Sahel), or ‘reformist’ figures within the ruling classes to complete this. The revolution must be one led by the labouring classes to destroy all forms of exploitation. In the Imperial Core it involves winning the battle for democracy, which by necessity will see the smashing of the bourgeois state, and the laying of the groundwork for socialism. But socialism is a world system, our revolution will only be a foothold, it is vital that we push forwards to the final struggle, and the last state: the World Socialist Republic