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The left wing/ progressive magazine *Overland* recently published an article by Rjurik Davidson on why we don't have a Corbyn down under and do not appear to be likely to get one any day soon. The article is at< https://overland.org.au/2016/07/where-is-the-australian-corbyn/> and is definitely worth a read. I am still in the process of getting over my despair at the state of Australian politics and especially the victory of the Tories, narrow though it was, at the latest election. But here we go again- My reading of Richard Seymour's work is that there are three principal elements to the Corbyn phenomenon - 1. the erosion of the hegemony of the neoliberal project; 2. the presence of a smart independent minded Union bureaucracy; 3. a mass of young people who see their future lit by sign posts directing them to Precaria None of these three factors is fully present in Australia. In 2008-9 the Labor Government pump primed the economy to ensure we did not go into a recession. They failed to explain why they did it, so they could undermine the hegemony of neoliberal thought. Instead they spent the remainder of their term saying they were going to fix the budget which had gone into deficit because of government spending. It is true that Prime Minister Rudd did make a little effort to advance defense of Keynesian approaches but his treasurer, Wayne Swan, publicly and repeatedly accepted the metaphor that the budget needed to be fixed, that is, brought into surplus. He failed to achieve a surplus and the Tories swept into power claiming that Labor had ruined the economy. The Tories attempted austerity but were forced back by public reaction to their broken promises and their cuts to spending. They still cling to power but they have been weakened. I believe they could have been destroyed if the Labor Party had decisively broken with neoliberalism. They did not and instead campaigned around the imbecilic slogan of " Budget repair, that is Fair". Again this was to accept the neo-liberal metaphor that the budget was somehow broken. It is true though that among the intelligentsia, there is some sign of a turning away from Zombie Economics e.g.Quarterly Essay 61: Balancing Act - Australia Between Recession and Renewal by George Megalogenis. But much more needs to be done. <http://www.readings.com.au/search/results?query=George%20Megalogenis&author=1&books=1&music=1&film=1> By the second factor, I mean a union bureaucracy which is smart and opportunistic enough to back a turn to the Left such as McCluskey of Unite has done in Britain. Instead, in Australia we have a Union movement dominated by the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and they in turn dominate the Labor Party and keep it on the right. The current Labor Leader, Bill Shorten, is from the AWU and he is above all a "do deals in the corridors" man. Again, it is true that he has embraced some social issues such as marriage equality and did march in the Sydney Gay Mardi Gras. He also talked of 'trickle down economics' and a 'failed [economic] paradigm', during the election campaign but these were only asides and were not meant as a decisive turn to a Keynesian alternative. So there is no section of the union movement which is at present prepared to back a left turn. The third factor of a mass of young people is almost here in Australia. For example the spontaneous demonstrations on behalf of the refugees have given me hope. And as we slip into recession, I expect the socially progressive to begin to take up economic issues more and more. At that stage a Corbyn like figure could emerge. comradely Gary _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
