Re: [Fwd: [Marxism] Australian Socialist Alliance (was RE: Fowrarded from Stan Goff: "for marxmail")]

[Dave Riley <dhell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
> Alan Bradley writes:  "The Australian Socialist Alliance, which was of
> course inspired by various British projects, was a conscious and
> deliberate attempt at uniting as many groups and individuals as possible  in 
> more or less the way we are talking about. It would be most accurate  to call 
> it a limited success, or even a qualified failure."


I don't know on what basis Alan makes his assessment as he has been no where 
near the SA for yonks, & is in fact a member of the Greens and lives in a 
country town at some distance from I & where the SA does not have a  presence. 
But I think it is true that the call the SA "a limited success" for a few 
reasons:

1) The first is that ( with the the exception of the DSP) all  affiliates have 
opposed regroupment and have actively worked to sabotage all attempts in that 
direction -- ie": of consolidating  a new party formation. And some -- such as 
Greg Adler's group (of 3 or is it as much as 4 members?) have been openly 
hostile to the project despite the indulgent generosity of the SA in 
guaranteeing all affiliated orgs a seat on their NE. (This automatic 
representation of affiliate orgs was changed at the SA's June conference this 
year). In fact, there is no regroupment potential on offer from any of these 
outfits and probably never was. That's the brutal fact.

2) The second reason is that the massive wave of demoralistion that has spread 
over the Australian left --  formatted or amorphous -- in the wake of the 
re-election of the Howard government has impacted on every organised sector 
including the SA. This affect has been complicated by the determination of the 
ALP -- the official opposition party -- to adopt a "me too" line with all the 
major initiatives coming from Howard. Such that the ALP is shoulder to shoulder 
with Howard on this new bout of anti-terrorist legislation. Indeed, a major 
factor feeding this new climate post poll is the increased pace with which the 
ALP shifts rightward -- or to be more precise, the ALP is keener now to expose 
its savage side and true bourgeois nature. This has a lot of people reeling. 
Even Bob Gould has shut up(as this list may note to its delight)!

But as the massive mobilisation of workers on November 15 indicates, the 
situation has its breakouts.--and that mobilisation and especially the one 
prior to it on June 30-- have been marked by the SA's activities in the trade 
unions. I dont want to exaggerate this -- but in terms of an alternative 
current the SA has a few points scored on the board in way of a hopeful 
beginning.(The national Fighback conference organised by the SA  was an 
indication how effective the Alliance's  impetus was having within some trade 
unions. It is  a small, even very small, beginning -- but one this country has 
not seen for many years )

3) The third reason is that the impetus of the SA moving quickly into 
consolidating a formatted party  has been impinged not only by the political 
situation but also by the problems the SA involvement were creating for the 
DSP. This was made clear to the SA in  June as the DSP signalled that it had to 
go on a sharp campaign to consolidate its finances that underscore Green Left 
Weekly. That campaign was a success -- but as the Adler missive indicates, 
despite its selective quoting,  there's' a debate in the DSP leading up to its 
January congress about its future role in the SA. And since the DSP is the 
major political force investing energy into the SA project  the results of that 
debate are sure to effect the future of the SA.

We'll know in Jnauary after the membership has voted but no one can begrudge 
the DSP membrship their democratic right for to a full and open discussion.

So the process of moving the SA forward as a new party project has stalled. I 
think thats' very true. And that's  where a sense of its limitations kick in. I 
think you'll find that true of similar initiatives in France and even with 
Respect in the UK. Thats' unfortunately politics. These are not as buoyant as 
they were initially. (Although German events indicate a different dynamic)

The real question is -- and it is not one that only impacts on the SA -- is can 
there be a fiuhtback in the trade unions over the IR legislation? On that 
point, not only the future of the SA but the whole dynamic of the Australian 
left rests. So this is a BIG issue on which a lot depends

But outside these factors -- and here I want to address Alan's other option : 
that the SA is a "qualified failure" -- the SA is still a potent force albeit 
unevenly from locale to locale. It is still recruiting(it has baout 1,000 
members) and running campaigns and carrying the banner of socialism  into 
regions where it has  not existed before or for so long-- such as Geelong 
(where some 35,000 workers rallied on November 15)and on the Gold Coast - this 
is where the SA has scored its greatest successes free of the political zoos 
that seem to inhabit the inner left ghettoes of the nation's capitals. 
Similarly the SA is registering a socialist presence in such areas as Armidale, 
the Blue Mountains, Central Victoria, etc

In this sense the SA has made a decided break from the geographical myopia and 
ghetto-isation of the left. That presence has not flowed onto any signiifcant 
electoral result and thats' primarily due to the fact that the Greens occupy 
the space there, but then the Greens , as Alan knows, close up shop between 
elections. They are perhps even more electoralist than the ALP!

Whats' happening now is that many far left groups are tail ending the Geens, at 
least in NSW,   and this was the axis of the dispute in regard to the 
Marrickville election recently. But then, the groups that are outside the SA or 
who try to keep it as arms left -- such as the  ISO -- are in tough times 
indeed. I also fear that a lot of people are projecting their own 
demoralisation onto the SA as it can serve a s a handy whipping post.

Fine.Thats' life on the left I guess. But I know the SA will be around a long 
time and the gains we have all made through this project so far -- even limited 
as they may seem -- are the root for further regroupment options, especially as 
movements recover from their present malaise.

Here where I am , in Brisbane,it is primarily the SA that is initiating and 
driving the political activity that happens around town and for some, we are 
getting blamed for more than what we do as though we are the standard spectre 
haunting from the left. What that means is that the SA -- despite its problems 
or what have you -- is being identified more and the more  as the left or 
socialist left in this country as though we've inhabited a copyright.

Analagous to that is a strong impetus within the SA to make socialism popular 
and this is exemplified in the way we pitch our material and publish --such as 
with Seeing Red  -- the SA's quarterly journal. This is a qualitatively 
different project to that of  the left groupuscules and I fesar there si a 
misunderstanding of that. This is "regoupment" -- warts and all, but in 
practice.

We have also secured and maintained electoral registration both federally and 
in some states DESPITE the massive moves coming from the state to 
disenfranchise us.  So we are a player , albeit a very small one, on the 
electoral board which means we get known more and can effectively exploit 
elections to get the word out. The small affilaites may have had wishes that 
the electoral arena would give us Galloway type  successes but unfortunatelky 
thats' not feasible for the time being.

So there. Thats' the 'success" limited or otherwise so far in a few short 
paragraphs from my POV.

Dave Riley



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