The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the
Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, December 3rd, 2003.
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LABOR'S AGONY
The election of Mark Latham as Labor Party parliamentary leader may win
a few extra percentage points in public opinion polls compared to the
dismal showing of Simon Crean. But it is not going to make a fundamental
difference to the policy direction of the Party. Nor is it going to
resolve the deep and long-term problems facing the Labor Party.
The Australian working people, including many Labor Party members, are
looking for strong, alternative leadership. That means putting up a real
fight for public health, public education, democratic rights, peace
policies, Australian independence, an end to privatisation and much else.
Instead, it leaves the ALP tightly in the grip of the right wing over
the Party's policies.
The real issues are ones of policy, not personalities as the media would
have us believe. On this score, the dividing line between the Liberal
and Labor Parties has become less and less in recent years.
There is no reason to believe that Mark Latham will provide an
alternative despite the hype about "generational change" and the need
"to take the fight to Howard".
Privatisation
Labor Prime Ministers Hawke and Keating, set the stage for the sell off
of the publicly owned Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Australia Post and
Qantas. State Labor Governments are continuing to sell off or contract
out everything they can - hospitals, public transport, schools, water
supplies, port facilities, energy suppliers and land, into the grubby
hands of the transnational corporations.
All Labor Governments have adopted the economic rationalist ideology of
privatisation, deregulation and "small government", giving corporations
a free hand while cutting back welfare payments and providing more and
more handouts to the big end of town.
All Labor Party leaders accept the US alliance and although Mark Latham
has made some critical remarks about the US leaders it remains to be
seen whether this represents anything more than rhetoric. There is no
reason to believe that this change of leadership signals the
introduction of a more independent foreign policy.
Both Beazley and Latham are members of the right-wing faction and the
fact that they were the only candidates was facilitated in part by the
pathetic and dubious role played by some of the so-called Labor Party
left. Some from this group played a part in the overthrow of Simon Crean.
The Labor Party left has for years failed to take a firm stand on policy
issues or offer a candidate for election to top office. It meekly
accepts the domination of the right wing.
The slogan of unity and consensus often means no more than unity under
the tawdry banners of the right who have never provided significant
alternative policies.
In its early years, the Labor Party talked about the "public ownership
of the means of production, distribution and exchange" and the first
Labor Party Governments established many publicly-owned enterprises.
None-the-less, the ALP's program has always been limited to reform of
the capitalist system, that is, to knock off some of the rough edges of
capitalism but not to change the system.
Mark Latham's statements regarding economic issues do not suggest that
he is prepared to buck the ideas of the "economic rationalist" although
he often talks of "new Labor policies", "new public philosophies", "new
economy", "new ideas", "new constituencies", "new growth theories". He
has taken his stand by declaring that "A future Labor Government will
not socialise the means of production, distribution and exchange".
This fundamental declaration separates Latham from the founders of the
Labor Party who declared for exactly that.
Latham also claimed that "Old constituencies based on blue-collar work
and organised labour are fading away". He went on to say that "Old ways
of thinking might produce a nice sense of nostalgia, but they are
insufficient to win national elections and form national Labor governments".
It is on this basis that he has recently spoken about "aspirational
voters" - a new class of those working from home and obviously not part
of the Australian trade union movement. It is on these "free agents
doing it for themselves" that Mark Latham hopes will sweep the Labor
Party into office under his leadership.
But the Australian people are looking for very real and concrete
alternative policies, not for rhetoric and "new ideas" which, on
examination, are nothing more than corporate interests wrapped up in
Christmas paper.
What the Australian people are looking for includes:
.A clear and decisive commitment to restore bulk billing by increasing
the rebate paid to doctors to cover all patients, the cancellation of
the handouts paid to private health insurance companies and the
substantial additional funding for public hospitals;
.Clear support for the public education system. This means the drastic
scaling down of the scandalous subsidies paid to private and church
schools. It also means a substantial increase in the funding of
universities and the cancellation of HECS fees;
.A commitment to repeal the anti-trade union sections of industrial
legislation re-establishing the right of workers to strike.
Re-establishment of the legally binding award system;
.A commitment to end the privatisation and contracting out of welfare
and other services such as public transport, public hospitals, water and
electricity supplies, etc;
.The re-nationalisation of the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas and other
essential services;
.The adoption of a humane and non-racist policy towards refugees and an
immediate closure of refugee detention centres;
.A clear stand to uphold Australia's independence with a foreign policy
based on friendly and peaceful relations with all countries.
Many Labor Party members support some or all of these policies but the
top leadership of the Labor Party does not because they have become
deeply committed to the interests of the corporations rather than to the
needs of the working people.
Reality
This is the reality that has led the ALP leaders to be seen as little
different to those of the Liberal Party. The only way by which this
reality can be changed is by adopting real alternative policies.
Asked by The Guardian to comment on the election of Mark Latham, Peter
Symon, General Secretary of the Communist Party said: "The election of
Mark Latham in the absence of any left or even more progressive
candidate, indicates that there will not be any significant change in
the policies of the Labor Party although Mr Latham is likely to make
much use of his favourite word, 'new'.
"It is because of this that many people are looking for other Parties to
join, support and vote for. The Communist Party supports this trend.
"We remain convinced that the emergence of a strong left and progressive
alternative in Australian politics is certain to emerge. It will offer a
new policy direction and will eventually become strong enough to form a
new type of government for Australia, committed to the interests of the
working people who remain the overwhelming majority in our society.
"Until this happens we will continue to wallow in right-wing,
conservative politics while the dominant corporations knock down living
standards even further, attack democratic rights and land us in more
overseas wars clinging to the coat-tails of the United States.
"Many will hope for something really 'new' but there are no grounds for
expecting this hope to be fulfilled."
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