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By Lisa Macdonald
The 75th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Australia in October will be marked by a range of events being organised by socialists around the country. One of the features of these commemoration activities will be the Democratic Socialist Party's 1995 Jim Percy Memorial Lectures, to be held in all capital cities, plus Newcastle and Wollongong. The Jim Percy Memorial Lectures are held annually. The 1995 lecture series, titled "75 Years of Communism in Australia: Lessons for socialists today" will commemorate the struggles of the CPA, as well as the contributions of Jim Percy, founder and long-time leader of the DSP, who died on October 12, 1992.
The history of the CPA has been a rich one which needs to be remembered as an essential part of Australian working-class history. There were many heroic episodes and many self-sacrificing struggles by dedicated women and men. But it is also a history of many mistakes and dead ends. Following Lenin's death, the bureaucratisation of the Soviet Union and the Stalinist degeneration of the CPSU impacted heavily in Australia.
The CPA dissolved in 1991. Nevertheless, there are many lessons, both positive and negative, to be learned from this history which will help today's socialists to build a stronger movement for democratic socialism.
The Democratic Socialist Party aims to carry forward the tradition begun 75 years ago — to build on past struggles and absorb the lessons from both the successful fights and the tragic mistakes. The 1995 Jim Percy Memorial Lectures will contribute to that process.