DSP congress resolves to 'take the initiative'

BY SUE BOLAND 

“The rise of a new radical international movement against neo-liberal globalisation could lay the foundations for a major turn in the class struggle by tapping the pent-up dissent against the capitalists' attacks” — that was the optimistic assessment made of the political prospects for the Australian radical left by the Democratic Socialist Party at its January 3-7 congress.

The major piece of evidence for this claim, made in a report on the party's perspectives and tasks for 2001 presented by national executive member Pip Hinman, is the S11 protests against the World Economic Forum in Melbourne in September and similar protests around the world, the party believes. The S11 protests had mobilised a large radical constituency of up to 20,000 people, independent of the Labor Party.

The S11 events showed a paradox in Australian left political life. Disinterest in the elections is massive because nearly everyone knows that regardless of whether the Coalition is re-elected or Labor replaces it, nothing much will change. But, at the same time, the S11 protests demonstrated that large numbers of people are prepared to take a stand on political issues — if the avenue exists for them to do so.

In his report to the congress on the Australian political situation, national executive member Peter Boyle charted how this situation came to be. 

Many trade unionists, Boyle said, were frustrated that federal Labor governments had been able to prevent working class opposition to neo-liberal policies in the 1980s and early 1990s. They had hoped that the end of the federal Labor government in 1996 would free up unions to fight the capitalists' attacks. This proved a false hope.

The union movement dropped any pretence of a serious campaign against the Workplace Relations Act, for example. Instead it relied on the Democrats to block the legislation in the Senate; the Democrats, then led by Cheryl Kernot, immediately turned around and did a dirty deal with government to pass the legislation.

In a similar way, the Howard government was able to get away with its neo-liberal attacks on welfare, health, education and trade union rights with little opposition. Australian politics became a one-sided affair — with a consequent demoralising effect on the mass of the working class.

Political independence

Those examples of large-scale resistance which have provided inspiration have all come about without the support of the ALP, Boyle noted. Rather, they have come about because radical activists have taken the initiative themselves and not just hung around waiting:

• Between 1996-98, large demonstrations were staged across the country against Pauline Hanson and her racist One Nation party, including two large school walkouts by secondary students in July and August 1998 organised by Resistance. These actions took place without the support of, and in some cases in direct defiance, of the Labor Party and ALP-aligned trade unions.

• In April and May 1998, militant and mass resistance prevented the government and Patrick Stevedores from smashing the Maritime Union of Australia — not because of leadership by the Australian Council of Trade Unions or even the national leaders of the MUA, but because other militant trade union leaders were prepared, albeit temporarily, to turn impotent “peaceful assemblies” on the docks into militant mass pickets.

• In 1999, tens of thousands of people demonstrated for an end to the killings in East Timor, eventually forcing the federal government to send troops and force the eviction of the Indonesian military. This movement had been built by decades of work by solidarity activists, in direct conflict with the ALP leaders who backed the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

• The September 11-13 blockade of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne also came about because of the practical efforts of the radical left, working against both a Labor state government, which eventually sent riot police in to beat up protesters, and Labor-aligned union leaders who consistently sought to moderate the blockade.

The lesson that the radical left, and the party, should learn from these events, Boyle argued, was the importance of beginning now to build a militant wing within the trade union and student movements which is independent of the ALP and can therefore begin to mobilise workers and students.

Such an effort won't be easy. One problem is that the conservatism of most of the unions and the remnants of the other old social movements has restricted the number of potential allies who may be interested in building an opposition movement in the streets. While the Greens had made ground in the electoral sphere, for example, they were unwilling to lead mass street protests.

The DSP therefore has to be willing to shoulder a considerable responsibility for building up stronger militant constituencies, Boyle argued, through a variety of alliance-building, movement-building and party-building efforts. If the party proved unwilling to take initiatives and push the boundaries of what was possible, then important opportunities for popular mobilisation would be squandered.

A start has been made

Already a start has been made in building such a militant trend. While the majority of trade unions and student unions abstained from or opposed the S11 protests, there were a few notable exceptions. There is already a small group of unions in Victoria, for example, which is prepared to act more independently of the ALP than unions have done for decades.

The hub of this group is the Workers First leadership of the Victorian branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. Its initiative to launch Campaign 2000 for a common “pattern bargaining” agreement across the metal industry last year has had an influence beyond Victoria, with the AMWU taking up a similar campaign nationally in 2001 and the miscellaneous workers union initiating a similar Paint 2000 campaign for the paint industry.

In 2001, the DSP's trade union activists will throw their support behind the campaign against corporate tyranny and the proposal for a global strike against capitalism and a blockade of the stock exchanges on May 1, and seek the support of other unionists for the proposal.

The DSP will also continue to encourage union solidarity, by encouraging support for groups of workers involved in important struggles, such as the Yallourn power workers in Victoria and the BHP workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

In the student arena, DSP members in the socialist youth organisation Resistance will help the group build clubs on 23 campuses this year. These clubs will aim to refocus the student movement back towards activism and away from political careerism and sectarianism.

Resistance will also build support for the anti-corporate movement amongst students on university campuses and at high schools by seeking support for a national university student strike and a national high school walkout on May 1.

The DSP congress also voted to continue giving a high priority to its international solidarity campaigns, especially campaigns which help counter the imperialist aims of the Australian ruling class in Indonesia and East Timor.

The party's congress resolved to devote more attention to building solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, including through a new book Cuba as Alternative and a round of meetings and other solidarity events.

The party also decided to back an international student solidarity conference, with the theme “Global Action for Global Justice”, which will be held in Sydney at Easter and the Asia Pacific Peoples Solidarity Conference Against Neo-Liberalism, being organised by the People's Democratic Party of Indonesia in Jakarta in June. The DSP has also proposed holding another international solidarity conference in Australia in Easter 2002.

Many of the party's hopes for future political movements depend on its ability to strengthen itself and to expand its size and influence.

Hinman used the example of the MUA struggle to demonstrate that “mass working class solidarity and militancy is still alive in this country. All it took to rekindle this was leadership”. That is why, Hinman said, “We want to convince people of the need to build a revolutionary cadre party now, and not at some unspecified time in the future.”

A key projection of the congress was for a national recruitment drive to increase party membership by 25% by 2002.

As the biggest socialist party in Australia, with the widest geographic spread of branches, the party continued to expand in 2000. As well as establishing new branches in regional cities such as Geelong, the DSP is establishing a network of suburban branches in the sprawling capital cities. In 2001 new party offices will be opened in Geelong, Lismore, the inner western suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne's north-east and western suburbs.

While the DSP will seek maximum support for its candidates in state and federal elections this year, its key emphasis will be on building the extra-parliamentary resistance movements: against neo-liberal globalisation; against the government's cruelly racist policies towards refugees and Aborigines; in support of workers struggles; continuing to build solidarity with the progressive movements in East Timor and Indonesia; and continuing to build the women's liberation movement.

An important vehicle for helping build this resistance movement will be through this newspaper, Green Left Weekly, the party also resolved. Hinman proposed a campaign in 2001 to expand the distribution of the paper, both with increased street sales and an increase in the number of subscribers.

If the DSP can achieve the goals it has set itself and if militant activist currents independent of the ALP can develop in the trade union and student movements, then the future for working class resistance is bright indeed.