The following articles were published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, March 14th, 2001. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** CPA 9th Congress: Years of struggle and achievement Thousands of members and supporters of the Communist Party have played an enormous part in the progressive reforms that have been achieved in Australian society since the Party was first formed just over 80 years ago. by Peter Symon The Party has always been on the side of the working people and some of its earliest members were trade union leaders who struggled hard to improve workers' conditions and wages which at that time, in the 1920s, were very poor. Australia has always been a capitalist country with the employers out for maximum profits. The first big spurt of growth in Party membership occurred during the Depression years of the 1930s. Up to 30 per cent of the workforce was unemployed. Workers were forced to roam the country in search of work. Many were evicted from their homes when they could not pay the rent and the Party led many anti-eviction fights and helped the families in whatever way they could. The scene of families barricading themselves in their homes while supporters gathered in the street and taunted the bailiffs and the police carrying out the evictions were repeated many times over. Generally, however, it was the owners of property, backed up by the state, that won out over the justified anger of the families and their supporters. Unemployed Workers' Movement It was in this period that the Unemployed Workers' Movement came into existence. Initially there was no dole payment and no food handouts either. It was the bitter struggles of the organised unemployed that eventually forced governments to make a handout of rations to stave off starvation. The Unemployed Workers' Movement also campaigned for a rent allowance, work at full award wages and no evictions. One of the delegates to the Party's Congress -- to take place over the Easter weekend -- is Jim Mitchell, who took part in the unemployed movement of those years. There was also a growing militancy in the workforce in the face of a concerted employer offensive. It was as a result of the work of Party activists among the workers that the Party gained respect and provided leadership. This was particularly so on the coalfields where communists were elected to the leadership of the Miners' Federation. Rank and file committees began to be established in some workplaces. In an effort to unite militant workers in the trade union movement, the Militant Minority Movement was formed. Jack McPhillips, who was an active member of the Militant Minority Movement, is another delegate to the Party's coming Congress. The response of the capitalist class to the collapse of the economy in the years of the Great Depression was to step up their suppression of the working class. The trade unions and all progressive organisations were violently attacked. Extreme rightwing, fascist elements set up the New Guard which attacked workers' meetings and the demonstrations of the unemployed. The CPA was in the forefront of the struggle against this suppression. As Australia moves into economic crisis once again, the ruling class is already promoting extreme rightwing organisations. One Nation is only the first of these to emerge. In addition there are many indications that the Federal government is putting in place a wide range of anti-democratic measures because they know that opposition to the consequences of their policies is growing. (See this week's Editorial - page 2). In Australia in the late 1930s and the 1940s tens of thousands of people joined in the worldwide movement against war and fascism. Nazi goon squads When Hitler and his Nazi party came to power in Germany it became clear that Nazism was the "terrorist dictatorship" of the big monopoly companies and that they intended to violently suppress every progressive organisation. The Nazi goon squads roamed the country attacking meetings of workers, breaking strikes and smashing up the offices of progressive organisations. Nazism was virulently racist, not only directed against the Jews but all other non-Aryan races. Nazism also meant war and Hitler declared his aim to be world domination. It was the time of the Spanish civil war and the mobilisation of the International Brigade, made up of volunteers from many countries around the world. Australian communists were among those who enlisted in the International Brigade to fight fascism with arms in hand. During the course of the War about 4,000 members of the Communist Party were in the armed forces. One of those was Vic Williams from WA, who will also attend the Party's coming Congress. Vic is a working class poet and a chronicler of the struggles of farmers. Both literature and the plight of small farmers were important areas of activity of Party members. The smashing of fascism created a new situation in the world. The Soviet Union, which played the foremost part in the military defeat of fascism, emerged as a great world power with enormous prestige. New socialist countries came into existence following the war and in 1949, the Chinese people's revolution was crowned with victory. This panicked the leaders of the western imperialist countries and they launched a political, propaganda, economic and military crusade against the socialist states. It became known as the Cold War. An economic blockade was imposed on all the socialist countries and billions of dollars were spent to undermine them. Ban the bomb Opposition to the Cold War and the build up of nuclear weapons became a main issue in this period. The "Ban the Bomb" movement - to stop the testing of nuclear weapons and to eliminate all stocks of nuclear weapons -- was supported by millions of people around the world. Members of the Communist Party played a leading role in the various peace organisations. It was a period of intense anti-communism. In Australia every strike struggle was portrayed as a "communist plot", communists were alleged to be spies for the Soviet Union, communists were said to stand for dictatorship as against the "democratic" system of the western countries. As a part of this anti-Communist campaign the western governments and their agencies worked hard to undermine and split the communist parties from within. A whole range of ideas were propagated. Sometimes these ideas appeared as being "super-militant" and "super-revolutionary". Others claimed that capitalism had changed and now had a "human face" and that existing democratic institutions cleared the way for easy change in the future to a socialist society. These ideas became quite widespread and were behind the various splits that took place in the communist movement of Australia. To this extent our opponents succeeded. These same false ideas and illusions played a major role in the breakup of the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries of Eastern Europe. However, the anti-Communists were never able to kill off the Marxist-Leninist philosophy which is the guide to action of Communist Parties - the same ideas that are embodied in the "Political Resolution" which will be finalised by the Party Congress next month. During all these periods the activity of Party members continued. Socialism better We have continued to maintain that socialism is a better economic, political and social system than capitalism. It is a system that is committed to meet the needs of the working people and not the selfish interests of exploiters. It means jobs, more democracy and public ownership, more for education and health, more for young people and real economic and social equality for women. Instead of the individualism propagated by capitalism, socialism brings a cooperative society into existence. The CPA opposed the introduction of the GST that has caused such havoc for small businesses and has cut the living standards of hundreds of thousands of families across Australia. We do not believe that it can be "reformed" and improved, because a GST is, by its very nature, unfair. We opposed the program of privatisation of publicly owned enterprises and government services that has been implemented by both Labor and Liberal governments. The CPA opposes the sale of Australian resources to foreign corporations. More and more of the economy is being placed under the control of the big transnational corporations. It is on this background of years of struggle and achievement that the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of Australia is being held. *************************************************************** -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: CPA Congress. Years of struggle and achievement
Communist Party of Australia Tue, 13 Mar 2001 21:51:19 -0800
