MELBOURNE — Three months after Socialist Alliance's second national conference, which decided that the alliance should move toward becoming a multitendency socialist party, 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly's GRAHAM MATTHEWS, a Victorian co-convenor of the alliance, spoke with a panel of four leading activists from Melbourne.
The activists, Socialist Alliance Victorian co-convenors Phil Andrews and Michael Reidie, National Tertiary Education Union activist Louise Walker and Victorian Socialist Alliance state executive member Lalitha Chelliah, explained what they believed were the alliance's achievements, its potential and their plans for its further development. They also offered suggestions for what both affiliates and non-aligned activists should do to take the alliance forward.
Andrews is a member of the International Socialist Organisation. The other three are not aligned to any of the Socialist Alliance's affiliate organisations. Matthews is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party.
"There's no doubt that the Socialist Alliance has been a significant step forward. Nothing like it existed before", Walker told GLW.
"It's looking like its going to be a good force on the left, for a change", echoed Chelliah.
"I think it has marked a watershed in bringing the far left groups together. It has finally created a significant pole of attraction for those moving away from Labor and for those coming to socialist politics for the first time", argued Andrews.
All the interviewees realised that the Socialist Alliance had a long way to go, but a significant start had been made. "The alliance seems to be developing on an uneven basis. This is in the nature of the project, because there's a massive radical reorientation that's happening", Reidie told GLW. "I think the project is in its infancy. We have a lot of work in front of us", agreed Walker.
'Right direction'
"It is going in the right direction", argued Chelliah. "I think [its] development is reflected in the fact that we are doing certain campaigns as a left group. The trade union work is a particular example, although the anti-war movement was also particularly impressive. But I still feel there is quite a lot more work that we can do together. It's been slow, but the fact that we've been able to achieve so much in terms of trade union work is a testimony to the success of the alliance."
"I am in favour of the position that I argued for at the [May Socialist Alliance] national conference — the alliance becoming a multi-tendency socialist party", Walker argued. "I think there are enough socialists and potential socialists out there to make that a viable proposition. So [the conference adopting that decision was] a really positive and constructive step forward."
Andrews was also positive about the alliance's development. "The alliance has created a medium where both social reformists and revolutionaries can find a home and work together and hopefully re-establish a significant socialist movement in Australia", he said.
"The potential for the Socialist Alliance is to provide an alternative to the left for people who hate the system", Reidie argued.
Potential
The activists believed there was huge potential for the growth of the alliance as a unified political force in Australian politics. " [T]here is a large gap, a lot of space in the left, in terms of the politics we have been talking about", argued Chelliah. "I think we have to make a larger impact. I think we certainly have the ability, providing that we coalesce as a very strong force, especially the affiliates."
"I still think it is underperforming and it is not yet making the impact it should be", argued Andrews. "But this takes time and organisation and the alliance project is not a short-term one. We are already making real inroads in the union movement — an area where we should be able to consolidate and grow. However, we do need to be more visible on social and political issues, which are our natural battleground, such as public funding of education and health, rolling back privatisation and challenging the 'permanent' war agenda."
Chelliah agreed the alliance needed to take on more campaigns. "We've got enormous opportunity here. We've made some inroads, but I think nowhere near enough. [T]here's no real political leadership that is responding to the needs of the people. The Medicare issue, for example, is a huge one and there's no real leadership from anywhere except for the Socialist Alliance.
"We need to take up such a huge campaign because it's having an impact on so many people, so many families and children and the aged, for example."
Campaigning
Everyone agreed the Socialist Alliance needed to recruit many more members. "The fact that the right-wing has made so many mistakes, and that the Labor Party is certainly not attracting members, but that we are — the Melbourne North East branch for instance is recruiting one a week — tells us that there is a huge need out in the community that needs to be tapped", Chelliah argued.
"[Many people] look to the Greens, and the Greens are good, but don't offer much hope [for] on the ground [struggles]", offered Reidie. "This is where the Socialist Alliance can come in and offer an alternative."
Walker agreed with the need to focus the alliance on the "immediate struggles", particularly defending attacks on the living conditions of working people. "The message that's coming through [from the federal government] is that there is not much for those who don't have much", she argued. "We know that's not the reality: if only the resources of the world are freed-up, [they could] meet the needs of the people.
"[These struggles] are where I think the Socialist Alliance is going to attract a vital part of its base. I think socialism has much to offer, and it captured my imagination a long time ago."
Walker also argued that the Socialist Alliance should articulate an alternative vision for society. "These are the kinds of things that the alliance can provide — imagining and struggling towards creating a real alternative."
Future
The activists diverged most on discussing the future of the alliance: how it should develop, what form it should take and what the role of the affiliates should be.
"I think the main task for the alliance is to orient itself in the old social democratic tradition of demanding major social and economic reforms. This makes our presence in elections important, while encouraging workers' self activity as the main way such reforms are won and defended", Andrews argued.
He continued: "I do not believe that in its current structure the alliance will be the ultimate vehicle for a socialist transformation of society. This will need organisations committed to revolutionary politics and a belief in workers taking control of their own lives through their own activity — and that is why the affiliate organisations need to continue to exist and grow."
"I think the Socialist Alliance is going to present the affiliates with a lot of questions", Reidie argued. "Is the Socialist Alliance project the way forward? The affiliates themselves have to answer the question — do they want to continue building an organisation which is tiny, or do they want to be part of a much larger project, which is the challenge of the Socialist Alliance?
"If the Socialist Alliance succeeds, gets more unionists involved and becomes a much bigger player, then I think the affiliates will have to choose whether they want to dissolve within the multitendency party, as discussed at the national conference, or whether they want to continually stay on the outside like Socialist Alternative or the Spartacist [League]."
"We've all got to be out there promoting the alliance," argued Walker. "To say you're a socialist, and to attract new people who are willing for the first time to say that they're socialist, is no mean feat. We all need to be presenting the Socialist Alliance to people who want to be a part of it, and [that] will help re-energise those of us who have been around for a while."
"The hesitancy on the part of affiliates in coalescing, getting out there and really making a fist [of it] is holding back the alliance", argued Chelliah. "There's opportunity there, but we're not really taking [it]. We need to march forward, and for that we need absolute cohesion and commitment to ... campaigning as a single force — not trying to split our energies into little groups, and taking away energy from the Socialist Alliance campaigns as a whole."
Unaligned members
Reidie was unequivocal about the role of non-aligned activists within the alliance. "The role of the non-aligned now is to take more of the leadership, and to be more active within the alliance, because that's where I think Socialist Alliance will succeed or fail. Non-aligned people need to stand up and push the way forward, because we need to recruit more non-aligned people. We also have an obligation to do that after the national conference: [because we are] a majority of the national executive we have to stand up and be counted."
Chelliah also believed there was huge potential for the Socialist Alliance to draw non-aligned activists in. She noted the role of affiliates in this process. "There are a number of the [non-aligned members] who are not coming around because they see the affiliates not quite coming together", she argued.
"There is a certain pessimism among some of the [non-aligned members]. I think we have a lot of opportunity to turn that around. If the affiliates actually coalesce, that cohesion will attract more of the non-affiliates to become more active."
Andrews also sees a key role for non-aligned activists within the Socialist Alliance "This will mean the non-aligned members taking greater control of building branches, and of what they do, as well as facilitating a rich political life in and around the alliance, whether it's organising meetings, producing publications or simply staging social events."
Everyone agreed that the formation and consolidation of the Socialist Alliance over the last two-and-a-half years has been a major advance for the left. While it has had its difficulties and frustrations, Walker summarised the feeling of the panel, in saying: "There's no going back. For all of the difficulties and challenges, things are nowhere near as drastic as even a few years ago before the Socialist Alliance was developed."
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, August 20, 2003.
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