Australia at a crossroads

Our last issue of Red Battler, representing a programmatic refounding of the SL/A, rooted Australia in the context of a US-led world order. In it, we showed how in spite of the ruling class’s rhetoric about being able to avoid the trouble overseas, Australian capitalism is tied to the fortunes of a now-declining US hegemony and thus is heading towards the same essential crisis as the rest of the world. We posed the question: will the ruling class succeed in dragging the proletariat down with the American Empire, or will the proletariat resolve the coming crisis in its favour? The latter path is completely contingent on breaking the workers movement from its current pro-capitalist leadership who have delivered defeat after defeat.

The past few months have made this all the more acute. Working-class anger is real, but at each juncture it has been held back by a leadership incapable of taking on the ruling class and their Labor government. Instead, the position of the working class to launch a fightback has taken serious blows. The CFMEU being put into administration is one of the most significant attacks on the workers movement in generations. The pro-Palestine movement, which once mobilised tens of thousands, has lost momentum. As for most of the left, in these increasingly uncertain times they have shown themselves increasingly impotent and sidelined from the ongoing struggles. The workers movement has continued to be tied to the Labor government, discrediting itself as an independent force capable of challenging the status quo—including in the eyes of substantial sections of the working class itself. As a result, instead of moving in a progressive direction, discontent at a decaying social order has increasingly drifted rightwards. The re-election of Donald Trump in the US has both confirmed and compounded these trends.

That being said, this course is not inevitable. In spite of the deteriorating position of Australian capitalism, the Labor government has been able to continue to contain social unrest. As a result Labor, although quite weak, has clung onto power. But this hold is tenuous. Today, Australia stands at a crossroads. Either the working class will enter the scene as an independent force and strike a blow against the government or the workers movement will continue to be strangled under Albanese’s Labor, ensuring a strengthening of right-wing reaction. For the former course to succeed, what is necessary is a break from today’s union leadership, which at each step betrays the struggle. It is this last point, the question of leadership itself, which is central to each article in this issue of Red Battler.

Tightening vice: Australia and the death of liberalism

To borrow the phrase used in a bizarre statement by the CFMEU Victoria administrators, “What the f**k is going on?” In Red Battler’s last issue, we explained how the “lucky country” was managing to hold on to their luck for just that bit longer. Australia’s much lauded stability has been contingent on two forces: the success of Australia’s US big brother and the growth of China. But the mineral trade with China that Australian capitalism has been dependent on for so long is now threatened by the Chinese economy slowing down, and promises to have a sharp termination as the US increasingly targets Australia’s largest trading partner. Nevertheless, while the US and its Australian lackey are on a collision course with China, this collision is yet to occur.

Thus, Australian capitalism has been able to subsist in its crevice between a rock and a hard place. The economy remains gloomy but not spiralling downwards, working-class discontent festers but is not yet bursting to the surface. For the time being, the ruling class deludes itself that with just the right amount of policy tinkering Australia can be an oasis exempt from world crisis. This delusion was captured by Labor treasurer Jim Chalmers, who penned a piece in July proclaiming that while “we” can’t be complacent, “Australia can be an island of decency and opportunity in a violent and divided world.”

The bosses and their Labor government have certainly not been complacent. The strategy of the ruling class over the past period has been defined by its attempts to cling on to post-Soviet stability as it deteriorates. This task has become increasingly fruitless, with even the most optimistic bourgeois economists finding it hard to deny coming economic troubles for the lucky country. Australia’s tenuous hold on social discontent threatens to be torn asunder. Tony Shepherd, former president of the Business Council of Australia, recently spoke to the anxiety of his class, bemoaning the fact that “We are a one-trick pony relying heavily on mining and resources, with our two largest customers (China and Japan) both in recession. In a volatile geopolitical environment what could go wrong?” Quite a lot!

The ruling class’s economic anxiety has merged with a social one. Today, “social cohesion” have become its watchwords, with the capitalists struggling to contain the frustrations that threaten to tear apart Australia’s “social fabric” in a way that does not provoke those frustrations further. This has put them in the most precarious of positions. Already at the time of last year’s defeat of the Voice referendum, it was clear that in the context of plummeting living conditions liberal tokenism would be more tarnish than varnish for the Labor government. Since then, Albanese has dumped much of the liberal moralising that has only bought him flack and tried to present his government as less moralising, more “cost-of-living focused.” But the government is incapable of even maintaining the current paltry standards of living for working people. In this context of social decay, Albanese’s “focus” has amounted to little more than nothing burger schemes. Albanese tackles “hidden card surcharges”…by making laws to stop them from being hidden. He “wipes out millions in university debt”…by adjusting the metric HECS uses to adjust for inflation. He “tackles shrinkflation”…through “unit pricing.” Bourgeois economist Steven Hamilton summed up Albo’s conundrum when he compared the government’s measures to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic with no regard for the iceberg ahead.

As these trends have continued, defending the “social fabric” from the “consequences of social marginalisation” has become less carrot and more stick—a tightening vice over the workers movement. The Labor government has been eager but careful in clamping down on the burgeoning social opposition. After subduing ructions within the workers movement over Palestine, it quickly moved to increase repression against protesters on the streets. This is also the context for the attack on the CFMEU, a pre-emptive strike against a union that had continued to stick their heads up against the trends of “fair go” social decay. This attack sent a clear message to the workers movement to “sit down and shut up—or else.”

While such attacks were necessary for the ruling class’s interests, their success was not inevitable. Conditions were primed to not just rally the class to defend itself from these attacks, but to turn the tables and strike a blow against Albanese. But throughout the country, the workers movement is led by pro-capitalist leaders subordinate to the Labor government, betraying the fight at each critical moment.

The takeover of the CFMEU without a shot fired is the clearest example of this. As for the pro-Palestine movement, saddled with a program of impotent liberal outrage and attached to left-talking union leaders, it has been unable to effect any change to stop the genocide. It is these “Friends of Palestine” union bureaucrats (and their friends leading the pro-Palestine protests) that are chiefly responsible for disarming working-class sentiment for action in defence of Palestine, transforming it into harmless speechifying and empty motions. Working-class opposition has dissipated, protests have dwindled and the rump of the movement is tearing itself apart. This has emboldened the Labor government to increase attacks and ramp up repression without fear of backlash.

With each outburst of resistance contained within Labor’s orbit, nowhere in this country has the working class been able to enter the fray as an independent factor. As a result, working-class frustrations have not led to the workers movement standing as a force capable of challenging the status quo and shaping the situation in its interests. Instead, the political terrain has shifted rightwards. Opposition leader Dutton is more and more assured in his program, looking increasingly likely to win government at the next election.

The election of Trump has further accelerated these trends. His comeback, a reflection of US hegemony slipping away, has dealt a death blow to liberalism as the dominant ideology of the Western ruling classes (see “Death of liberalism,”). Across the West, yesterday’s liberal darlings, such as Justin Trudeau, Nicola Sturgeon and Jacinda Ardern, are being thrown out one after another, with right-wing reaction becoming ascendant. Australia is no different.

Today Dutton openly opines about Australia’s “eerie parallels” with America, situating himself presumably as Australia’s Trump. To avoid the fate of New Zealand ex-PM Ardern, Albanese has increasingly taken the road of British prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer. In the place of liberal moralising both Albanese and Dutton proclaim their commitment to “prioritising cost-of-living” while testing the waters for more. In the lead-up to the next election a race to the bottom has begun as they both try to prove that they are the toughest on immigrants, on protesters, on “youth delinquency.”

Today, the Liberal Party brags about running Labor’s immigration policy. While the LNP in Queensland proclaims “Adult Crime, Adult Time” in their “youth crime” crackdown, the Labor government is on their own “social cohesion” binge, spearheading a crackdown on youth and more—from the ban on youth accessing social media to draconian anti-protest laws. On each point the liberal tokenism is being dumped while its remaining reactionary kernel flourishes.

In the international arena, Trump’s victory signals a changing strategy of American imperialism to reverse its ever declining position. The newly inaugurated president has not hidden his desire to cut a deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, which would free up the imperialists to focus on targeting China. This has left the Australian ruling class in a hopeless balancing act: trying to maximise the good times of yesterday’s engagement while aiding the US’ bid to renew the good times through today’s confrontation.

Albanese spent his tenure mending relations with Australia’s biggest trading partner (for which he received hearty congratulations from Beijing), but with Trump’s ascension it is clear that the American imperialists, with their Australian tail wagging behind, need to tear this all down in the war drive against China. When this happens, this act of economic kamikaze by the Australian bourgeoisie is sure to bring the country to its knees. While today there still remains a fatuous optimism that Australia can be the global exception in maintaining the stability of the days of yore, the ruling class is in for a rude awakening. The CPC may praise Albanese and his supposed “strategic autonomy” as the statesman for Trump’s allies to emulate, but it is already clear where Australian ruling-class loyalties lie. The “one-trick pony” is in for a wild ride.

Potential trade wars and a ramped up war drive against China coupled with a global economy facing serious trouble will pose point blank the realities of the coming period for Australian capitalism. When it does, the Australian ruling class will be happy to drop whatever liberal baggage not already jettisoned as it becomes increasingly too expensive and too ineffective. The findings of the recent inquiry into the lockdowns (which acknowledged that the ruling class would be unable to repeat the “success” of lockdowns again) is itself an open admission by the bourgeoisie that yesterday’s liberalism will be non-viable the next time the ruling class resorts to crisis measures. When crisis reaches Australia’s shores again, the gloves will be off (as if “gloves on” wasn’t bad enough!) and the ruling class will make sure that workers will foot the increasingly pricey bill to maintaining Australia’s “social fabric.” The question is: will the working class fight this course, or be dragged down with it?

As we have argued, this question is far from settled. The proletariat is far from having its final word. Following the pandemic, unlike other countries such as the US, Britain and France, Australia did not see any strike waves explode and subsequently recede. While the CFMEU takeover has dealt a serious blow, it is clear that as of yet the working class has neither seriously flexed its muscles nor been dealt a decisive defeat. The past months have already seen clear signs of proletarian unrest from Woolworths warehouse workers to rail workers in Sydney and more. Much of what has been Labor’s base has reacted in outrage to the government’s union-busting moves. The reverberations of the attack on the CFMEU, felt by some of the most advanced layers of the working class, and the percolating resistance among the organised working class more generally, are more than capable of being a catalyst for the proletariat to enter as a serious, independent force.

The precariousness of the situation has not been lost on the bourgeoisie. The attack on the CFMEU speaks to the increasing necessity for the ruling class to take drastic action to stave off a feared explosion of the working class. But even here, Albo has painted this attack in pro-worker colours, with newly appointed administrators entering with union-studded cred and cynical declarations to “stand up and fight back.” It is only thanks to the yeoman’s service of ex-and-current “left” bureaucrats that class anger has been so far kept under control.

The Labor government is hated and weak. Strong working-class action, with a leadership willing and able to confront and strike a blow against the ruling class could further weaken, if not bring down, Albanese and blow open the door for the working class to march forwards. But this requires a strategy fundamentally counterposed to the current leadership of the workers movement who anchor the proletariat to the sinking ship of Australian capitalism.

The recent strike at Woolworths warehouses is indicative of both the capacity of the working class, as well as the incapacity of its “leaders.” The desire for a fight was there. Workers picketed all five warehouses. For 17 days nothing moved in or out. Trucks were turned around and scabs were deterred. The strike had broad support from workers across the country already furious at Woolies’ blatant price-gouging during a cost-of-living crisis. With the strike giving Woolies a $140 million dollar hole in its pocket, it had the potential to not only land a real blow against the company but to spark broader struggles throughout the country. What was needed was a real class battle with mass pickets that no one could cross and a broadening of the strike.

But the bureaucrats leading the strike, attached at the hip to the Labor government, refused to take up such a fight against the bosses that the government administers for. Instead, the union leadership immediately capitulated to the bosses’ “Fair Work” Commission accepting its diktats to take down the pickets and let scabs in. As a result, the strike was abruptly ended with the union accepting Woolies’ paltry offer far short of any of the workers’ demands.

In the coming period, communists must fight to leverage every ruction within the labour movement, every burgeoning expression of proletarian unrest, towards the working class imposing itself as an independent political force that can fight in its interests against the bosses and their Labor government. This requires nothing less than a ruthless struggle to break the proletariat from its current leadership as it leads the class to even greater defeats. It is this that has defined the SL/A’s ongoing interventions over the past months and our perspective for the period to come. It is this that represents the central difference between our organisation and all others in Australia.

What way forwards? The left and the tasks ahead

Unfortunately, much of the left have continued to repeat the mistakes of the previous decades, remaining at best liberal critics of the Laborite bureaucracy. Unable to explain or effect the class dynamics of the country in ever more uncertain times, much of the left stands exposed and isolated.

Many groups continue to peddle false hopes and illusions, while continuing to repeat the mistakes of years gone by. In this sense they reflect some of the fatuous optimism of the ruling class itself. Pro-Palestine movement dwindling? No it isn’t—it has been success after success! CFMEU being put under administration? Union leaders will sound the alarm when the administrators cross the line in the sand…eventually. Varying in how deep their heads are stuck in the sand, all of them share in their apologia for the leadership responsible for such failures. Groups like Socialist Alternative, Solidarity and Socialist Alliance fall into this trend.

Otherwise there are those who proclaim loudly their opposition to the union bureaucracy and their steadfast commitment to revolution, but are unable to put forward a counterposed strategy for victory. Rather, they attempt to replace it with nice-sounding slogans and formulas divorced from the class struggle. On this count are groups such as the Socialist Equality Party and other sectarian groups in the peanut gallery, who are thus irrelevant to ongoing political developments.

The Revolutionary Communist Organisation manage to have their feet in both camps. For all their revolutionary rhetoric, they have repeatedly shown themselves unable to forge a path forwards in the struggles against the pro-capitalist leadership. In fact, when push comes to shove they have repeatedly tailed this leadership! (see “Abolish the Monarchy,” and “What the f**k happened?”). Ultimately this is the result of their “broad church” party building strategy to “refound the Communist Party” through “unity, unity, unity”! Not through the “unity of Marxists” but by seeking “unity between Marxists, and opponents and distorters of Marxism” (to quote Lenin). This offers no way to forge the revolutionary party they correctly proclaim the necessity of. In fact, it subordinates their organisation to the opportunists who repeat the mistakes that have plagued the left over the past decades.

What all of these groups share is a rejection of what the ICL reasserted in its reorientation. That the task for Marxists is to put forward, at every juncture, a revolutionary strategy to guide the struggles of the working class and oppressed against their rotten pro-imperialist leadership and conciliators who betray the fight. It is this question that is central to our interventions and articles, and represents our central difference with other left organisations.

At each step we have sought to put forward a revolutionary strategy to promote a split between the working class and its leaders who cripple their struggles. In the pro-Palestine movement we have continually sought to expose the so-called “Friends of Palestine” who are beholden to the Labor government, which in turn follows the lead of the US in backing genocide in Gaza. Earlier this year we fought for united-front contingents calling to break the US connection, and since, we have fought to defend TU4P from the attacks of the Victorian Trades Hall Council bureaucrats who are in a bloc with Labor’s cops (see “Cops out of the workers movement,” and “Palestine Movement Impasse,”).

Similarly, through our recent interventions in defence of the CFMEU, we fought to expose the CFMEU tops’ role in paving the way for administration (see “What the f**k happened,” and “Workers need class-struggle leadership,”). The betrayal of the misnamed Labor government and the ACTU leadership, has thoroughly discredited them in the eyes of many militant workers. This is the context of our call to chuck the bosses’ lackeys out of the ALP/ACTU, which aims to direct working-class anger in a positive direction against the union busters and their left-talking conciliators (see “Bust the union busters!”).

Communists must continue to look for avenues to break from the current impasse and smash Albanese’s much guarded “social cohesion.” Our participation in and fight for anti-Monarchy demonstrations upon the King’s arrival was a modest but concrete example of this. Especially in the context of the tightening vice on the workers and the Palestinian movement, it is imperative to prepare for concrete united-front defence actions. The demonstrations initiated by the Partisan Defence Committee in defence of Michael Pröbsting and Nigerian activists on trial are small contributions to this. Statements of solidarity are not enough! We have been fighting for united-front actions to draw together the broadest possible forces for class-struggle defence of activists facing charges. This is of special importance in regards to the fractured Palestinian movement as it faces demoralisation, defeat and repression.

Through these united-front actions, we have sought to break down sectarian barriers within the left. Crucially, this entails debate and struggle inside the left, looking for programmatic clarity for the necessary tasks ahead and drawing the correct lessons of the previous period. It was for this purpose that we debated the International Bolshevik Tendency and continue to engage with others on the left on the most pressing questions of the day. Important strides have also been made in this issue in assimilating the lessons of the Hawke/Keating government, a government which was able to dismantle a once-powerful union movement and lay down the basis for the modern liberal order (see “How Hawke and Keating beat the left,”).

As we put it in the editorial of Spartacist No. 69, “Of course, we are a small organization, and we know that this work is of modest proportions. However, it is not modest in its aims.” Crisis is approaching Australian capitalism. If left groups do not change course, when the reality of the coming period imposes itself on Australian capitalism, it will do the same to them. For those who are not content with vapid declarations of “onwards and upwards,” for those who are looking to assimilate the lessons of the defeats of yesterday to fight for the victory of tomorrow, we encourage you to study this issue of Red Battler, which is our contribution towards this fight.