BY PETER BOYLE 
Following the January 25 call by the Democratic Socialist Party for a socialist electoral alliance to contest the coming federal elections, a formation meeting on February 17 has been convened jointly by the DSP and the International Socialist Organisation (ISO), the two largest socialist parties in Australia. These groups will propose Socialist Alliance launches in a round of large public meetings in all major cities.
A joint discussion paper put forward by the DSP and ISO states that it is urgent that a Socialist Alliance should stand candidates "to offer an alternative that Labor is not".
"On a range of issues such as the GST, education and health, Labor is offering far less than what traditional Labor voters want", the paper states.
The DSP and the ISO support an electoral alliance of socialist parties and unaffiliated socialists supporting a common action platform. This platform should not seek to be a summary of the commonly agreed upon policies of all the left groups and individuals in the alliance but rather "a platform of campaigning slogans" around which extra-parliamentary mass movements can be build "in opposition to the neo-liberal offensive by the capitalist ruling class".
In their joint proposal, the ISO and the DSP agree that the Socialist Alliance should not be neutral on the choice between a Liberal or a Labor government in the coming election.
"The primary thrust of the campaign must be anti-Liberal, with the aim of mobilising opposition to the Howard government's main attacks on the working class and other oppressed groups while making a positive case for a socialist alternative."
They also agree that the Socialist Alliance should preference Labor Party candidates over Liberal and National party candidates where the alliance stands candidates and will call for supporters to "vote Labor" where there is not a socialist, Greens or progressive candidate. Where the Socialist Alliance calls for a first preference for a Greens or progressive candidate it should urge that second preferences go to the ALP.
Membership organisation
The DSP and ISO also agree that the Socialist Alliance should be a membership organisation that seeks to reach out beyond the membership of participating parties. Any individual who broadly agrees with the aims and objectives of the alliance and agrees to participate in the non-sectarian, co-operative spirit of the alliance should be eligible to join.The two initiating parties are agreed that the Socialist Alliance should operate on the basis of democratic decision-making, accountability of representatives and leading bodies but should also promote a constructive atmosphere at all its meetings and be mindful of the consensus around which unity is possible.
"We can confidently predict that we will have hundreds of activists queuing up to join a Socialist Alliance supported by the main active left groups", said John Percy, national secretary of the DSP. "The public meetings to launch the Socialist Alliance could be very big. They will be historic meetings that few activists will want to miss."
Radical constituency
Underlying this broad agreement between the DSP and the ISO is a common recognition that there is a significant, radical minority actively fighting the prevailing neo-liberal or economic rationalist political orthodoxy. Even larger numbers of people, while still passive, are sick of the big business-first shared agenda of the major parties.This has been shown quite dramatically in the thousands who turned out for the three-day S11 blockade of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne last year. It is also demonstrated in numerous community campaigns against the corporate-first agenda.
These developments have given the left in Australia a new confidence and the Socialist Alliance proposal is just one of the initiatives taken after S11.
Another major initiative was the launching of M1 alliances, focussed on a plan for mass blockades of the stock exchanges and other corporate targets on May 1 in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Perth. Organisation for this ambitious mobilisation is already well underway.
But isn't the radical constituency that braved a massive police presence at S11 totally disdainful of parliamentary politics?
It probably is to a significant extent, and that is a good thing. Both the DSP and ISO believe that radical change will not come about through parliament. The kind of electoral intervention they support is one which seeks to use parliamentary elections to promote the mass extra-parliamentary mobilisation against the corporate tyranny that hides behind so-called parliamentary democracy.
The Socialist Alliance should stand on a platform of total opposition to the corporate profit-driven neo-liberal/economic rationalist agenda of social austerity, privatisation and deregulation. If its candidates get elected to parliament they would use their position to promote the mass campaigns that can defeat the attacks.
A sustained mass campaign of total opposition to the ruling-class offensive can bring together the forces to replace capitalism with a socialist society, based on co-operation, democracy and ecological sustainability.
Percy, a veteran of the anti-Vietnam War movement, explained: "Within parliament socialists should strive to block any measures that advance the corporate-first agenda. The Australian Democrats are proud of their responsible' role but the Socialist Alliance should promise the opposite: maximum obstruction to the capitalists' agenda.
"But fundamentally we want to be part of an anti-parliamentary election campaign. One which does not say, vote for us and we will fix things for you through parliament' but exactly the opposite. Some of yesterday's radicals may think that this is far too extreme for the Australian public but they are increasing out of touch.
"There is a sea of angry discontent with the corrupt, corporate-profit driven political system. It's got the major parties worried. But if the left is not prepared to act decisively and in unity, then more of this discontent is going to be manipulated by the populist right."
S11 indicated a new opening for the radical left, but to take advantage of this serious left activists recognise that they have to be able to work better together. We don't have to hide the fact that there are still some important differences within the radical left but we have to learn to better deal with these differences in a constructive manner.
"We are committed to an anti-sectarian, co-operative way of working, looking to build unity rather than discord, seeking to work positively, encouraging the notion of alliances and ensuring that any debates are conducted in a positive manner without personal attacks", says the joint DSP-ISO position paper.
While common election leaflets, posters, and how-to-votes could be produced by the Socialist Alliance, the two groups agree that all alliance partners should be free to publish their own material, outside of Socialist Alliance propaganda.
The establishment of a broad, inclusive and united Socialist Alliance will mean members having to exercise self-discipline in promoting their distinctive political positions and identities within the Socialist Alliance. Only by putting what unites us in the Socialist Alliance first will we attract candidates and active supporters well beyond the existing membership of the organised left.
[Peter Boyle is a member of the DSP national executive. Visit the DSP web site at <http://www.dsp.org.au>.]