Analysis

USSR: a stolen victory Once again, the abortive coup in the USSR demonstrates that undemocratic methods cannot serve the cause of socialism, or indeed the aspirations of ordinary people for a better life under any political system. The failed

Privatising the pension As wage rises have proven very difficult to get under the Accord, the union movement has been offered something of an alternative in superannuation. The proportion of the workforce covered by super has probably doubled

Outing a media beat-up On July 23 Franca Arena, a Labor Party MP with a reputation for a generally positive stance on democratic issues, blotted her record with an outburst against supposed gay domination of the AIDS Council of NSW (ACON). She

Mary Mellor — feminist, environmentalist and socialist — believes the left urgently needs a reinvigorated vision. Today, she says, the concept of socialism evokes either the collapsed command-and-administer regimes of Eastern

The bomb and Iraq If a worldwide referendum were held tomorrow, there's little doubt an overwhelming majority of 5.3 billion people would vote for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. The question arises, why can't humanity rid itself of this

National transport plan In a welcome recognition of a huge problem, the July 30 special premiers' conference in Sydney is to discuss a national approach to long-distance freight haulage. Unfortunately, the main proposals likely to come out of this

The state of Roe v. Wade The film Roe versus Wade, shown by Channel 7 on May 29 (with a group of anti-abortion activists protesting outside) brought to life the legal and personal dimensions of the famous 1973 US Supreme Court ruling.

Congratulations to you For those who don't read the small print on the cover carefully: this is the 20th issue of Green Left Weekly. That makes it an anniversary of sorts. And thereby hangs a tale — quite a few of them, in fact. When the idea

The media and the ALP conference After it was all over, the Financial Review spoke its mind on last week's ALP national conference: "The most striking image of this conference was that of a vacuum, of weariness, of a political party too long in

ALP national conference Rather than the slick media event we've become used to in the past decade, this year's ALP national conference is shaping up as a three-ring circus. While the big business media push their campaign for Paul Keating to lead

Gareth Evans in South Africa The petty and irrelevant press coverage of Gareth Evans' trip to South Africa has served to conceal the true scandal of his visit: that the Australian government has chosen to lead the charge to have international

Editorial: After the NSW elections The May 25 NSW election confirms the unpopularity of all the main parties. Around the country, there are now five minority governments relying on the support of independents: NSW, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT