BY SUE BOLAND
Capital isn't the only thing globalising. The revolutionary left is also, on the basic premise that if capitalist ruling classes play off working people in one country against working people in another, then the solution is international collaboration and solidarity between working-class movements and revolutionary parties.
For more than a decade, the Democratic Socialist Party has been part of a growing international network of socialist and left parties, particularly in the Asian region, which has sought to share experiences with, learn from and work with each other in the struggle against global capitalism.
Many of these parties came together for the first time at the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference organised by the DSP in Sydney in April 1998, and then again at the Marxism 2000 conference in January 2000, also organised by the DSP.
The next Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference is being organised by the People's Democratic Party in Jakarta, Indonesia, in June. The January 3-7 congress of the DSP resolved to host the following international solidarity conference, in Sydney at Easter 2002.
The impact of the growing collaboration within this network of left parties has been immediate, the party's national secretary, John Percy, pointed out in a report to the congress on the DSP's international relations.
For example, increased left collaboration helped internationalise solidarity with the East Timorese people in 1999 when Indonesian-backed militia began its genocidal massacres in a vain attempt to end hopes of Timorese independence.
The collaboration between revolutionary parties has also helped form a counterweight to efforts by reformist and pro-capitalist forces, like the Australian Labor Party, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the US trade union federation the AFL-CIO, to isolate the militant wing of the trade union movements of Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines by backing and funding union conservatives in those countries.
Increasing collaboration between revolutionaries, Percy pointed out, will also strengthen the radical current within the global movement against neo-liberal globalisation. Successive waves of demonstrations, from Seattle to Melbourne to Prague, have shown an increasingly clear division between the reformists, particularly the big non-government organisations and trade unions which seek little more than a "seat at the table", and the radicals, who favour the abolition of the institutions of globalisation and have adopted militant, mass mobilisation tactics.
The participation of different revolutionary parties from around the world in the January DSP congress helped take the process of international collaboration another step forward.
For the first time, a representative of the Communist Party of Cuba came from Havana to participate in the congress. Abelardo Cueto Sosa, the head of the Asia-Oceania bureau of the international department of the central committee, was present throughout the congress and participated directly in several sessions.
Cueto's presence was significant for many reasons. The congress was dominated by discussion about the new movement against neo-liberal globalisation. As Cueto pointed out, Cuba has played a significant role in this movement already by seeking to build an alliance of underdeveloped countries which refuse to abide by the unjust rules of imperialist financial institutions and Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been one of the most trenchant opponents of global capitalism.
Cueto's participation also proved invaluable to the congress's discussion on a new party resolution on Cuba, which both underlines the DSP's backing of the revolution but also attempts to come to grips with the many challenges now facing it.
His presence also underlined the possibility of a humane, democratic and socialist alternative to capitalism, the idea which motivates the DSP's members. The survival and success of the Cuban Revolution is an antidote to claims that there is no alternative to neo-liberalism. If Cuba can strike out on a different path, why can't others?
Also present at the congress were representatives from South Korea's Power of the Working Class, the Worker Communist Party of Iraq, the Worker Communist Party of Iran, the US socialist group Solidarity, the People's Democratic Party of Indonesia, the Acehnese radical group Student Solidarity for the People, the Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labourers' Federation, the Dutch Indonesia and East Timor solidarity group SOLITIN, the Socialist Youth League of Norway and the Chilean Popular and Indigenous Network.
There were also dozens of messages of solidarity and greetings sent by parties, organisations and individuals who were unable to attend: Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist (Liberation), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Party of Labour (Philippines), Socialist Party of Timor, Scottish Socialist Party, Lalit (Mauritius), Revolutionary Communist Group (Britain), Resource Centre for People's Development (Philippines), South African Municipal Workers Union, Afghanistan Labour Revolutionary Organisation, OSPAAAL (Cuba), Alternative Information and Development Centre (South Africa), Communist Workers Party (Finland), Communist Party of Bangladesh, Left Alternative (Hungary), James Petras (US), Dale McKinley (South Africa), Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR - Chile) and the Irish Republican Socialist Party
Interviews with some of the international guests will be featured in future issues of 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly.