By Adam Hanieh
ADELAIDE — It was enough to bring tears to the eyes of any True Believer. Two hundred people cram into the beer garden of the Exeter Hotel. The atmosphere is restless. Someone gets up and sings a few working-class songs. Then she arrives: Joan Kirner, ex-premier of Victoria and darling of the ALP left.
Joan (as she assured us she likes to be called), was here on October 10 to address the question, "Can you be left and in the ALP?". A bit of a stupid question, as you obviously could. The question really should have been: is it a good idea?
Recently the South Australian branch of the ALP battened down the hatches for a factional battle between Peter Duncan and Nick Bolkus. Duncan has long been portrayed as a leftie, speaking at anti-Gulf War demos and Cuba solidarity events. The cynical among you may believe that the Joan Kirner Politics in the Pub is part of this factional battle. It was organised by Nick Bolkus' office.
Joan began with her credentials. She had been a teacher, parent and community activist concerned about education. Eventually she had come to the conclusion that if she wanted to do anything, she should join the Australian Labor Party.
The rhetoric came thick and fast. She was deeply concerned about education, health and social welfare. She supported women's rights. She really didn't agree with the economic rationalism of the NSW Labor right. And Paul Keating? Well, yes, he was an economic rationalist, but he was a "visionary". He had steered Australia along the path of independent nationhood and he also supported Aboriginal rights.
To be relevant, she said, you must be in the ALP. She was very worried about the apathy of young people, who just didn't seem interested in politics. "Just think", she asked the crowd, "what would happen if you all joined an ALP branch? The present members would die from shock, and progressive policies would be brought into the ALP."
The working-class base of the ALP must have got the wrong pub. Instead she was fawned over by a group of university Labor Club members who sat at her feet. When the questions came, she answered them smoothly and slickly. Nothing too tricky, more questions about the Liberals than the ALP.
Joan didn't appreciate the question about East Timor, and especially the reference to Gough Whitlam's total support for the Indonesian invasion. After all, Gough is the hero of the Labor left.
She did seem to miss some important points, though. If she supported social welfare, why stay in the party that had done so much to increase the gap between rich and poor? If she was concerned about education, why didn't she mind being in a party that had tried to implement up-front fees for university students? And why were young people so apathetic about mainstream politics? Maybe it had something to do with the party that had been in power for the last 11 years.
It was an interesting spectacle, an obvious push by the Labor left for more support. But is the loyalty of the Labor left to the ALP or to the issues they supposedly stand for? Kirner was long on rhetoric, but interestingly there wasn't a single reference to the entire Labor Party record in government. Issues like poverty and unemployment were not mentioned. At what point would she say enough is enough? What would the ALP need to do for her to embark on a different political project?
Kirner said that she thought it was very dangerous for anyone to split to the left of the ALP, because that would make it easier for the right. It must have escaped her attention that the right is in power. It is ludicrous to dismiss building a project to the left of the ALP as divisive, especially when it comes from someone who defends privatisation, as Kirner did.
Where is the evidence that the ALP is a party of the working class? It is a party of the labour movement bureaucracy. Kelty, Ferguson and Carmichael are the people who form the social base of the ALP. It is true that workers vote for the ALP, but there are also workers who vote for Kennett, Brown and Groom.
The class nature of the ALP is demonstrated by what it does in practice. Here the evidence is overwhelmingly clear that the ALP is a party for the capitalist class.
What will it take for people in the Labor left to publicly criticise the direction of the ALP government? If Kirner really does support the rights of the East Timorese, why didn't she say something when the Australian government recently hosted a visit by General Try Sutrisno, "the butcher of Dili"?
Kirner would have us believe that the ALP left is a friend of the social movements. The star of the next ALP Politics in the Pub is Tricia Caswell. Ask any genuine activist in the environmental or labour movement what role she has played!
Joan, the people's politician, finished with a rousing verse from "I love rock and roll". "To be seen as human", she said, "is one of my proudest achievements". Maybe the only one.