Candidate launches socialist platform
By Sylvia Porter
BRISBANE — The Democratic Socialist Campaign launched its policy platform at a meeting here on February 24 with a talk by Brisbane candidate Susan Price.
Price outlined the strategy for socialists running in elections, drawing on the experiences of revolutionary forces in Russia in the early 20th century. Price said that elections present themselves as a "time when campaigns such as ours can test our program with the mass of people, and promote our platform in the community".
The Democratic Socialist campaign has policies on full employment, education, youth rights, the environment, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander struggles, women's rights, gay and lesbian rights and the economy.
"It is clear that in this election we are offered very little choice between the major parties", said Price. "In the press the debate has been limited to the two major parties and to one major aim: how to successfully restructure the capitalist economy in Australia.
"Keating's Labor Party wants to ensure that it can continue with its economic rationalist program, while still appearing to be the party of working people. They are cutting funding to social services, while increasing subsidies to big business and whitewashing these moves with the rhetoric of 'a fair go for all'."
The Coalition, said Price, "is trying to confuse the public into believing that by adding 15% to the cost of a bottle of washing up liquid, consumers are actually paying less, not more!
"We are expected to swallow the lies that a return to 'family values', abolition of Medicare and the privatisation of child-care and education are going to benefit the ordinary person, while big business sits by gleefully awaiting the fruits of Labor and Liberal policy."
According to Price, business enterprises and the private sector have not come out openly in support of one party, and it is difficult to tell who they support most. "The Labor Party gave them industrial peace through the Accord. However, the Coalition promises cuts to income tax, employment contracts and an undertaking to undermine the union movement."
Price continued, "The fight to give capitalism a 'human face' is a losing battle. In the 1990s, Australia's economic crisis is part of an international economic crisis. An unemployment rate of 11.3%, huge foreign debt, the increasing gap between rich and poor are all insurmountable problems for capitalism. Internationally, even the countries revered for their welfare states such as Sweden, are no longer enjoying economic booms, while the North-South divide is sharpening".
The meeting concluded with a call for alliances between progressive ons.