[Marxism] RE: About socialist alliance

[Dave Riley <dhell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom O'Lincoln writes: "a. do you agree that the Alliance is largely dead (apart 
from maybe Perth and Geelong), as many people say (and a former leader of the 
Independents' caucus said so to me so just the other day)?"

But the problem is that this isn't true. You can believe it if you like but it 
will be  news to a lot of SA members around the country.

On the SA NE we now and then collect statistics about SA activity and such so 
we know what the state of play is. -- and we'll be doing the same as this year 
kicks on. I agree that the SA phenomenon is a hard one to get your head around 
especially if you are outside it. This isn't helped by the fact that it is a 
national outfit with uneven implantation locality by locality,and its branches 
are autonomous units in the main.  So it isn't easy to generalise as you have 
chosen to do.

For instance the Alliance is running a major campaign to get the ACTU to call a 
national stoppage over Howard's IR legislation  and the feedback on this has 
been good,

 [ seea n interview I recorded here:
http://ratbagradio.blogspot.com/2005/12/blather-6.html
on this topic ]

even though it is being done over the difficult period of the Xmas/summer 
break. Nothing about this campaign is publicly obvious but the fact is that the 
union membership and networks that the SA can now access is broader than 
anything outside the ALP (and is beginning to match that of the old Arronite 
CPA before its decline.)

Personally I'd find it hard to dismiss  reach out like that especially when it 
concerns the number one political issue in the country. Wouldn't you agree?

So the conundrum the Australian socialist left has to deal with is this: what 
if the SA  is alive and in the context of the difficult year before us, 
prospers?

Stay tuned.

dave riley







_________________________________________
Life of Riley Blog:
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Ratbag Radio:
http://ratbagradio.blogspot.com/

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