PARTISAN!

Alyssa argues that the organised Socialist Left in Australia needs to unite to mature out of its unserious sectarianism which repels the working class.

We (the organised Socialist Left) are not going to survive in the Australian political landscape. At least not by ourselves. The survival of the left is entirely dependent on its unification. As history and current international conflicts show us, even with unification the state will invest as much capital as it takes to destroy whichever groups oppose the local and global hegemony. This process of decapitation becomes infinitely easier with the tiniest cracks that form between individuals within an organisation, its processes and more importantly, the movement as a whole. Decapitation becomes unnecessary, however, when these groups champion their own mutual destruction. We on the Australian left are guilty of tightening the noose on the necks of our comrades and then ourselves; For this we deserve to swing.

The RCO, CPA, Socialist Alliance and others to call themselves revolutionaries, but we are sniveling, name calling, cliches who focus too much on posturing and ‘storm chasing’ activism. This is a rat race with no end as the bourgeois capitalist class point and laugh or worse, completely ignore us. We embarrass ourselves in front of working Australians, confirm the stereotypes imposed on us by the right and disintegrate any notion of serious political legitimacy.

The three immediate aims for a modern communist party in this country are: establishing and maintaining political legitimacy, educating, disciplining and engaging the working class and everyday Australians, and fighting against the Australian capitalist state, exposing its crimes both at home and overseas, subsequently destroying the system and remaking it under a communist model. It is necessary that a party is formed to achieve this, and the best way to ensure that happens is to come together with a cross-left electoral ticket.

The present ‘alternative’

The alternative to a cross-left electoral campaign is the current strategy of the Australian socialist movement – sparse individual groups of so-called revolutionaries, too concerned with themselves to advocate or incite meaningful change within our environments.

Collaboration is few and far between in this space. The Marxist Conference run by Socialist Alternative (SAlt) consistently has at least a thousand people attend each year. While SAlt is more than happy to have the occasional independent speaker host a panel, doing so is generally not open to other organisations on the left.

This actively avoids engaging with other Marxist ideas. Hosting panels that critique the politics of adjacent parties seemingly to further cement their members in their politics, ignores that the arguments which arise from cross-left conversations, would allow all parties and their membership to hone and critique their ideas, and think for themselves. This would strengthen the theoretical capabilities of the left and build connections between comrades, in turn strengthening our organising capacities and moving us closer to a party.

As it stands, other groups are not able to defend their position in any meaningful capacity without purchasing tickets and attempting to argue their points, on the day, from the floor.

What’s worse is the organisations that are being critiqued, are rarely named, instead choosing to attack their general political lines; the party question, Leninism, Maoism, etc.

While the Marxism Conference is guilty of this, it does not exist within a vacuum. During the same time of year, other political organisations hold their own conferences separately from each other. To have some of the biggest and most diverse socialist organisations in Australia conduct separate socialist conferences is a tragic indication of the state of our political organising. Conferences are for the exchange of ideas and the study of fields. If our field is Marxism, or the socialist movement in general, then we ought to hold conferences together for the joint study of socialist theory and strategy.

This self-centred and insecure style of political organising is displayed across most Australian organisations. What’s worse is the more an organisation tends to grow in size the more suspicious they become of the ‘other’, and the more eager they are to criticise with no intention for being constructive or harbouring continuous dialectic debates. To what end? Why are we so quick to discard and suspect each other? Are we so afraid of each other that we do the bourgeois’ job for them? Instead, we should throw ourselves into organising together, collaborating on and exploring the utility of a joint left ticket.

The Far Right Lesson

I would argue that we are, in our disarray, responsible for many of the ways in which bourgeois democracy has masterfully reoriented to convince the working class that when they can see capitalism failing around them, the only means they have to fight it are from within the system.

Between flat-earthers, global cabal ‘truth’ seers and god fearing nationalists, one might assume it would be impossible to find a more unstable foundation for a political platform. Yet, instead most of the working class will answer ‘socialists’. Right wing extremism is unstable, desperate to consume the other in order to be saved, yet when the fascists win the only thing left to feed their insatiable appetites is themselves. Sound familiar?

Indeed, Trump’s recent inauguration promises to bolster the global reactionary turn, including the impending Liberal landslide. Why are they so successful?

Because liberalism has failed them, there is no end of history. What was liberalism saving them from anyways? Good (white) nuclear families, a living wage, or was it the economy that acted more like a playground than a safety net. We know these things came at the cost of millions of lives, slavery, constant political instability and imperialism. And, I believe the right knows that too. But they can see a bigger picture. They see a promised utopia of the past, which never existed. Right now, they all agree on the system they want to create, the system they believe they can exploit.

Similarly, the bourgeois class and bourgeois democracy (despite being in crisis) manage unity within the state, regardless of their constant divisions. Though they are inherently supported by the system, they too understand the fundamental rule of strength in unified force. When push comes to shove, Liberals and Reactionaries are served from the same working class, exploit the same countries and enjoy the same rewards. This truth has become more visible to the working class.

Data from the OECD Drivers of Public Trust survey show that in 2023, 46% of Australians had high or moderately high trust in the national government. It also showed that political parties (34%) and news media (41%) are the least trusted institutions in Australia. Australians are clearly tired of the status quo, they understand that society is not working for, nor does it care about them.

Working Australians need principled unity in order to recognise a need to destroy the system, to go beyond reformism. They should feel empowered to act. They should have faith in socialists, not disinterest. We should not blame them, when we seem to not be able to simply engage with each other, our immediate and easiest task.

There seems to be an expectation among socialists, that it is only once the perfect organisation with the perfect ideological line and structure appears, that we can rally behind one banner and act. In doing this, we ignore the fundamental principles, practising and engaging in genuine debate and unity in work, that can lead us forward.

This kind of organisation will never exist and it shouldn’t. But worse of all, this fantastical party could only be born from the freedom in debate and pursuit of continuous dialectic.

So not only will it never happen because this kind of party does not practice the politics that could give birth to that kind of organisation, but by the time its members come to this realisation, and accept imperfection, it will be too late. Such an organisation will have already reached the point of no return, collapsing or being decapitated by the state.

A joint Left electoral ticket will not only allow us to struggle and fight together, it will ensure the hardening of our cadre. With the open exploration and criticism that comes from arguing one’s ideas, of being wrong and growing, adapting to the situation. This is what will make us strong, this is the tool we can use to practice and refine our politics. So that when the state intervenes, we will be sharp, quick and ready.

Conclusion

The time for true unity is now. Today we call for collaboration, we invite anyone and everyone who believes that capitalism must be destroyed within our lifetimes. We call for all organisations to join us in running for a cross-left electoral ticket. We can not make up for the mistake of time already lost, but we can, with earnest and dedication, have these conversations, foster these debates and fight for our political line. We can strengthen ourselves, our politics and grow the movement together.