The recent Australian Labor Party federal conference presents us all with a major challenge. Despite the hype and spin that Mark Latham's ascendancy over the ALP has been able to generate in the media, none of this extravagant attention addresses the question of what "we" do next?
Like a child's knock-knock game, we tap on the ALP to ask who's there? Whoever was there at this conference didn't get us very far at all. What hope there was for a major change in refugee policy was dashed. Latham Labor is not going to stray very far from the Coalition government's stonewalling approach to refugees.
The reality was that change for refugees was beaten back when the amendments went down. But does it then follow that our one course of action is that advocated by Carmen Lawrence — to now plan to come "back again and again and again" to future ALP conferences, each time arguing for further amendment? Is that what we do next? Lick our wounds and wait for another prearranged national gathering in the hope that policy then could be bent more to our liking?
Is it enough to console ourselves — as quite a few do — that at least under Latham the ALP has a chance of ousting the Coalition government? The ALP is currently in power in every state and territory in Australia and their implementation of the pro-corporate, economic rationalist agenda is there for all to see. There is no reason to believe that a Latham ALP government in Canberra would do any differently.
If the ALP left recognises this, it should reach out to the progressive forces outside the ALP to help shift the national political agenda to the left to counteract the ALP's right-wing leadership. This would be a dramatic shift in the ALP left's traditional role, which has been to integrate dissent into the ALP electoral option, not challenge it.
The problem with that approach is that it assumes that change in this country is hostage to the ALP alone. It is a perspective in dire need of a reality check. This year's ALP federal conference can be compared to the one held 20 years ago, in 1984. Then the ALP dramatically changed its position — deciding to support the mining and sale of uranium.
Immediately there was a massive reaction. Labor's turnaround was met with anger and disgust. Few anti-uranium activists were interested in coming "back again and again and again" with a cap in hand full of amendments. As a direct result of that conference decision, the Nuclear Disarmament Party was formed.
The formation of the NDP and its subsequent, if brief, electoral success, dramatically challenged the monopoly the ALP had over the progressive side of politics in this country. It kicked off twenty years of rich experimentation — both success and failure — to the left of the ALP.
We can draw nourishment from this experience. We can talk about the various forms this process has taken, but there is no contrived remedy we can point to. But we do know one thing: a party for real change can and has to be built outside the ALP. That has already been proven, especially with the continuing electoral success of the Greens.
The Socialist Alliance was formed by eight left groups and parties on February 17, 2001, as an anti-capitalist party.
We stand for socialism — democratic ownership and management of the social wealth. We believe that a society based on satisfying human need can be created, but only by taking power from the elites who now rule.
We stand for a society run by and for working people, both here, but also internationally. We believe that socialism will be won by the power of the masses on the streets and in the workplaces. We seek election to parliament not to "represent" the movements, but to help build them, resource them, and help them win.
We are committed to working with all other parties and individuals in campaigns for progressive change.
That's a big part of what the Socialist Alliance project is about. While the alliance makes a pitch for its share of the electoral disenchantment with the ALP, it doesn't just raise its head at election time. That's where the difference lies between it and other political formations.
For many people, politics like this — which is ongoing — may be a new approach to the perennial problem of seeking to change: whether it be a particular policy or the whole world. It isn't a self evident thing that effort and success don't have to cease once the polling stations are shut.
For the Socialist Alliance, the business of change never closes.
Dave Riley
[Dave Riley is a member of the Socialist Alliance editorial board.]
From Green Left Weekly, February 11, 2004.
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