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Contribution to the 12 ^th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties for the Communist Party of Australia – by Vinnie Molina, National President, CPA

"The deepening systemic crisis of Capitalism. The task of Communists in defence of sovereignty, deepening social alliances, strengthening the anti-imperialist front in the struggle for peace, progress and Socialism"

Dear comrades,

Our warm thanks to comrade Blade Nzimande and the South African Communist Party for hosting this important meeting of communist and workers Parties.

We talk today about the deepening systemic crisis of Capitalism which through its cyclical crises of over production and most recent global financial crisis is failing humanity and the planet on every front. Capitalism has no solutions to offer the people to economic crisis, the global food crisis, unemployment, homelessness, illiteracy, lack of access to sanitation and health services. The very future of humanity is threatened by climate change, already affecting millions around the world. The best that capitalism can come up with is more of the same “market forces” that created the crisis in the first place/ Reactionary capitalist governments have resorted to bailing out the financial sector and recovering sovereign debts accumulated in the process at the expense of the people putting the huge burden of an unpayable social debt on the backs of working people. Globalisation based on the diktat of multinational corporations and the neo-liberal policies of the IMF, World Bank and OECD have failed the people of the world Capitalism has long passed its “use-by date”, and millions more are joining the struggle for real change, for alternative policies that put people and the planet before private profit. The deep economic crisis and rise of fascist forces increases the prospects of new military confrontations, including nuclear war.

The most recent global financial crisis has shaken the very foundations of the global financial system. Now the working class is being asked to fund the massive government bailouts and stimulus packages said to be “rescuing capitalism from itself” – by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The budget-cutting austerity packages and attacks on wages and working conditions only deepen the crisis as public servants and other working people, pensioners and unemployed have even less in their pockets to spend.

In Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, the UK and elsewhere people are fighting back against the cuts to public services, the loss of employment, the ongoing privatisation, cuts to pensions and social security that are being used to fund bailouts to the financial sector and restore budget surpluses. The attacks on trade union and other democratic rights are being used to quash the struggle.

The people’s struggles for fundamental rights are manifesting differently in Europe and elsewhere but every indication is that the struggle is more effective where Communists and their parties are influential and play a leading role.

In the crisis ridden United States, the working class, already plagued by high unemployment and high rate of homelessness, faces further cuts to social security and basic services after massive bailouts of the financial sector and a number of major corporations. Military spending continues to drain the public purse and add to public debt. It is more clear than ever that President Obama will not deliver the change expected by the people. On the very same day President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize he increased the number of troops to Afghanistan proving he was a man of war, not peace. The electoral result in the mid-term elections saw Republicans take control of the House of Representatives. President Obama now has no choice but to shift even further to the right to gain the concessions he will need from the ultra right to continue to govern to the end of his term. This means the world cannot expect any change in the interests of the working class to come out of the Obama administration.

People have been encouraged by changes being consolidated in Latin America. Progressive governments in the region are having success after success in rebuilding their countries after decades of neo-liberal economic and social devastation. Challenges remain, particularly those requiring a global solution, but progress has been impressive. Movements have been brought together and a powerful alternative to neo-liberalism has been forged. Gains in the battle of ideas, the ideological struggle against capitalism, have been impressive. The achievements of the socialist countries continue to inspire.

In this role, Socialist Cuba and the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela are of strategic importance for uniting the majority of Latin American countries on an anti-imperialist front. Alliances such as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), UNASUR set a real challenge to neo-liberalism.

Those efforts are under constant threat from US imperialism that does not rest in its efforts to destroy the unity of the peoples of Latin America. We count among those attempts the recent failed coup d’état in Ecuador and the pressure to criminalise the right of dissent by any means of the world’s oppressed Communists are unifiers. We must learn from these experiences and, where we have lagged behind, resume our role of bringing together the many anti-capitalist struggles taking place around us, pointing out the real enemy of humanity and leading the way to the socialist alternative.

The role of US imperialism in the Asia-Pacific: The Australia-US alliance

The recent visit to Australia by Hillary Clinton exposed serious contradictions of the Australia-US alliance. The Australian economy is increasingly dependent on exports to socialist China. At the same time, through the enduring US alliance, the government remains committed to its military alliance with the US. It has sent troops to every US war since the Second World War, is home to key US intelligence and communications bases, participates in military exercises and looks after US interests in the region. Australia is deeply involved in the US political and military strategy that includes encircling China and undermining its rising economic power. Australia is taking a more prominent role in imposing free trade agreements and in other ways interfering in the affairs of the island nations of the Pacific. These measures are designed to secure advantages for Australian and US transnational corporations and prevent the growth of relations between these countries and China.

The agreement reached between the US and Australia in the recent AUSMIN talks will see Australia deepening this contradiction by promoting further integration of Australian military into the US military machine. The US will increase its military presence in Australia, strengthening its offensive position. This occurs when the US is immersed in a deep economic crisis and also has significant economic dependency on China. US-Australian ambitions, US global domination run contrary to the emerging multi-polar nature of the world – with groupings like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRIC (the growing economic ties between Brazil, Russia, India and China) and ALBA, as well as the economic growth of these economies on an individual basis. As US domination is weakened, it will become more desperate and the danger of war heightened.

The most recent highly provocative and threatening military exercises in the Yellow Sea have increased tensions on the Korean peninsula and pose a serious threat to the security of the People’s Republic of China and the region. Australia is firmly behind the US in its military madness on the Peninsula and in the Yellow Sea.

Australia has supported US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan with troops and organises its budget for an even more substantial military role. The government plans to massively increase its spending by $300 billion over the next ten years – $104 billion in the next four years – on so-called defence spending. At present it stands at less than $30 billion per year. This expenditure comes at great cost in the services foregone by the community to assist the US with the new reality.

The most recent events in the Korean peninsula are another example of the US interference in the area. The Korean people will not be at war today, they will be reunited according to the aspiration of the people but as long as the US interferes in the peninsula the risk of war will remain. The CPA calls on the US to end the military games, stop the interference in the area allowing the Korean people to exercise their right to self-determination.

The US cannot prevent the spread of this movement for independence from US imperialism despite its most strenuous efforts but it still remains an enormously powerful military force. The instability cause by frustrated ambitions, declining prestige and enormous firepower (including a nuclear arsenal) is clear and frightening.

While the majority of Australians support the withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan, the peace movement is extremely small and its voice hardly heard. There is nothing like the movements against French nuclear testing or the Vietnam War to put pressure on the government. The struggle for removal of US bases and an independent foreign policy likewise lacks influence despite the strenuous efforts of dedicated activists. The issues have not been taken up by the trade union movement or social democrats, and given the smallness of the CPA, these other bodies are important if critical mass is to be achieved in these struggles.

The Global Economic Crisis: The Australian perspective

In Australia, the impact of the financial and economic crises has been less severe than in other industrialised economies. This is attributed to rapid growth in exports of minerals and other resources to China. China in the space of a few years has become Australia’s major trading partner. China is also responsible for the injection of large amounts of capital investment, in the mining sector in particular. These developments have been largely responsible for Australia returning almost unbroken growth in Gross Domestic Product and high demand for labour in the mining and construction industries. At the same time, other sectors of the economy have experienced and are still completely not out of a crisis of overproduction. The industries hit hardest are tourism, education and retail. Australia’s once dominant manufacturing base was largely killed off in the 1970s and ‘80s by massive tariff reductions Agriculture, another mainstay of the Australian economy and major source of exports, has still to recover from years of drought and more recently massive floods. The financial sector has made a killing, producing record profits this year and benefiting from increased monopolisation as smaller players were forced out or taken over during the financial crisis. The government greatly contributed to their fortunes by such measures as guaranteeing deposits of up to $100,000. Bourgeois economists speak in terms of a two-stream economy -mining and the rest.

The right-wing social democrat government of the Australian Labor Party also took measures to stimulate the economy through funding infrastructure projects and cash handouts. The first handout was a payment of $1000, to every person on a pension or unemployment benefits. Most recipients, already highly indebted, used the money to repay credit card and other debts, which did not stimulate the domestic market as planned. A second handout of up to $900 to workers based on their previous tax return appears to have boosted retail sales as well see debts wound back. The government invested billions of dollars in infrastructure that included road, rail and port infrastructure, home insulation as well as monies for facility upgrades for every school in the country. The latter kept many small contractors afloat in the construction industry and helped to keep unemployment down.

The main focus of the stimulus measures, including the cash handouts, was to restore and ensure private profits. It was a profits-first strategy, with the public sector playing a temporary role in bailing out capitalism in line with IMF and rating agencies demands.

During the crisis workers made huge sacrifices, some reducing hours and wages to keep their employers afloat, others working longer hours without over time payment. The wages share of national production has fallen to record lows and the share going to profits is at a record high. The government is now determined to return the budget to a surplus within the next two to three years. Unless defeated, the return to budget surpluses and winding back government debt will be paid for by cuts to health, education, social security and community services. As in Europe, the economic crisis is being used to push ahead with the neo-liberal agenda of winding back the role of the state and further privatisation, in particular, of essential services. In doing so it will continue to shift public funds into the private hands of a powerful few.

The trade union movement has a challenge ahead to restore the basic rights that were lost, and to defend the remaining conditions and rights. Pay and conditions sacrificed during the worst of the economic downturn are issues on which workers can be mobilised.

The Australian trade union movement has been significantly weakened in both membership numbers and ideologically over the past three decades of right-wing social democrat leadership. It suffered a serious blow under the former conservative Liberal Party government with its repressive anti-union legislation named “WorkChoices” One of the main aims of WorkChoices was to replace a system of collective bargaining and long established legally binding union awards with individual contracts. Considerable headway was made enabling employers to pull back many long-held rights and massive cuts in wages. The conservative government was defeated at the end of 2007 and replaced by a right-wing social democrat government, the Australian Labour Party (ALP), on a promise to destroy WorkChoices. Labor did legislate for phasing out the individual contracts, but many other repressive features of the legislation such as the holding secret ballots before strike action and virtual outlawing of strike action remain in place. Labor also reneged on a promise to tear up the conservative government’s Australia Building and Construction Improvement Act (2005) which gives the legal framework for a secret political force, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) to operate. The ABCC monitors building sites, targeting trade unions as they go about organising safe workplaces with decent pay and conditions. It also targets rank and file union members who have lost even their right to silence under the Act and risk an automatic six months imprisonment for refusing to attend interrogation sessions or answer questions during those sessions. This legislation is drafted from anti-terrorist and organised crime legislation, but in some areas goes further. One of the key features of the election campaign that brought down the conservative government in 2007 was the establishment of “Your Rights @ Work” committees composed of unionists and members of the community. They were locality based and highly successful. Unfortunately after Labor was elected the groups were quickly shut down. The Communist Party played an active role in these committees, but was not influential enough to keep them going after the elections. However, they do provide a useful model for future struggles.

Workers continue to remain concerned about job security with the ongoing threat of “another” economic downturn. The government plays this down by using the mini boom in the resource sector as a smoke screen. Casualisation continues, homelessness grows and with interest rates on the rise again the number of foreclosures will increase. The Labor government has embarked on an “education revolution” and massive reforms to the health system that are really just sophisticated programs for the gradual privatisation of the health system and public education. There is considerable lack of awareness as to the aims of the government; individual unions in specific sectors fight lone battles as the social democrat leadership of Australia’s only national trade union centre, ACTU, has largely paralysed the movement.

A very Australian coup d’état

The power and domination of the corporate sector over right-wing social democracy and government in Australia was exposed when Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd government attempted to introduce a 40 percent Resources Super Profit Tax (RSPT) on profits over a certain rate. Initially the new tax gained some popular support but angry mining corporations began a multi-million dollar campaign against it. They announced the suspension of billions of dollars worth of new investments, used TV ads to instil fear of massive unemployment and collapse of the economy if the tax went ahead. A handful of multi billionaire mining magnates took their workers onto the streets under the slogan of ‘billionaires of the world unite’ and accused the Rudd government of being communist! Opinion polls suggested Labor was on a downward slide. With federal elections pending, this was used to oust Prime Minister Rudd from office in favour of Julia Gillard. Faceless men, among them multinational corporations, the right faction of the Labor Party and some right-wing union leaders with close links to the mining sector, were involved in the coup. One of the first acts of the Gillard government was to remove the proposal of the super profits tax and replace it with a new, smaller tax negotiated with the major mining corporations.

A major break in the two-Party System

The Federal election held in August 2010 resulted in a major blow against what is known as the “two-party system” in Australia -for over one hundred years two major parties have dominated the political scene, taking turns at government. The single seat electorates in the Lower House of Parliament make it extremely difficult for independents or smaller parties to win seats. The Greens had a breakthrough winning a Lower House seat and will now have nine members in the Upper House, which is based on a system of proportional representation. Our newspaper, The Guardian, reported outcome in this way. “ a hung parliament with neither the ALP nor the Coalition (conservative National and Liberal Parties) able to claim government in their own right. It is a fitting outcome for the major parties. Labor, the Liberals and the Nationals have become completely remote from the communities they claim they want to serve. Their “solutions” to the pressing concerns of the people are less and less convincing and trust that they will ever deliver on their commitments has nosedived. Their close ties to the corporate sector are plain for all to see. “The Greens are on a completely different trajectory. They have arrived as the third major party, have won widespread support for a progressive agenda and have opened up the prospect of an Australian political scene free of the dominance of the two old parties of capital. Once this is achieved, the field will be open for other political forces, including clearly anti-monopoly ones, to take their rightful place in the political process.”

This election was an opportunity for the CPA to present alternative policies to the Australian electorate, policies for the people. A new electoral party, the Communist Alliance, was registered. It saw the name ‘Communist’ on the ballot paper of a federal election for the first time in 20 years/ The Alliance included members of other ethnic communist parties and individuals who supported Communists standing in elections as well as CPA members. The Communist Alliance stood candidates in the Senate in New South Wales and for the lower house seat of Sydney/ The response to the Alliance’s campaign was encouraging, though the results overall were modest. “This gives us good opportunities to work for the people and to build our base in the community so that next time the word Communist on the ballot paper will attract more votes.”

The election campaign improved the Party’s visibility-it is not unusual for its existence to be denied in the mass media. We had a number of new recruits, including some younger members and gained respect in the community and sections of the trade union movement for the very active campaign in defence of people’s rights and living standards. The Party continues its campaign for electoral reform that would allow smaller and progressive parties to participate on a more democratic footing through a proportional representation system.

People united against imperialism

The CPA strives to unite left and progressive forces for the building of a new type of government, a government for the people capable of introducing legislation for the benefit of the working class and other sectors of society. A government of this type will be anti-imperialist in nature, and will pursue policies for national independence and sovereignty. Its members would also work tirelessly in various mass organisations and strives to build these movements on class basis.

Environmental dead end – tomorrow too late

The Australian people are very concerned about the quickening pace of climate change. We are very vulnerable with precarious water resources in the southern part of our country and that over 80 per cent of our people live in relatively low lying coastal areas susceptible to rises in sea levels. One of our major food-bowls – the Murray Darling river system and its irrigated farmlands – is under threat from low rainfall, overuse of water resources, diminishing flows and increasing salinity. The concern of the people is not reflected in government actions -or more correctly inaction. Rudd Labor Government was elected to reverse a number of dangerous policies of the Howard Liberal Government including the refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Labor signed the protocol but set about destroying it from within, again doing the bidding of the powerful mining sector. It has worked with the US and Japan to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a political agreement and has failed to commit to serious reductions in carbon emissions. Coal is a major export, and Australia is set to double its production of coal. Since Copenhagen Australia has continued to play an obstructive role in climate change negotiations.

Nuclear power is heavily debated in Australia with a majority concerned about the long-term dangers and costs and who oppose nuclear energy as part of the solution. They favour increased use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power for which Australia is well suited. The media, though, builds pressure to shift public towards accepting nuclear power. The government has already lifted restrictions on the number of uranium mines and a rapid expansion of mining – mostly on the traditional lands of the Aboriginal people – has begun. Off the northwest coast of Western Australia there has been a boom in oil and gas exploration that threatens marine environments and the livelihoods of fishermen in the region. A leak from the West Atlas rig spewed out the equivalent of at least 400 barrels of crude oil for several weeks before it was capped. The Australian government tries to minimise all concerns so that exploration and production continues at the same frantic pace.

Developing the political alternative

The government is determined to pursue neo-liberal policies and resists demands from the people for responsible, sustainable alternatives that preserve peace, provide jobs and a liveable environment. The CPA foresees real change will come only with the advent of a government of a new type made up of an alliance of left and progressive forces including the CPA, the Greens, trade unionists and Indigenous Australians. Despite the Party’s size, we believe we can still play an important role in giving ideological and political direction to the development of the political alternative in Australia. The alternative policies we are advocating are based on:

 Nationalisation of key industries privatised during recent decades – electricity, water, the national airline, telecommunications, public transport

 The establishment of a publicly owned People’s Bank and the creation of a national superannuation (retirement) fund. Funds invested should be used to advance socially needed projects

 An end to the massive state subsidies to wealthy private schools and private health system

 Expansion of public services

 An independent foreign policy

 Increased spending on social welfare, public education, health, housing and transport

 An immediate cut of 10 percent in military spending

 Tough limits on carbon emissions and government investment in alternative, renewable energy sources to be run by the public sector

 Real progress towards land rights for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

 The restoration of democratic rights including trade union rights, necessary to fight the struggles to achieve the above policy changes.

Many of these demands are already popular but currently expectation of their achievement is low. The Australian working class has been subjected to decades of an ideological attack against collectivism with the promotion of self-interest, “self-employment” and employee shares/ Left and progressive forces are small and fragmented. The Greens have been enjoying growing support but they see themselves as a third parliamentary force with no need to form alliances with other left or progressive forces. They do however, work with other organisations at the grass roots on community and environmental issues and have given strong support to the trade union movement. The trade union movement has been beaten down ideologically following a decline in the influence of our Party in trade union affairs. The ability to resist employer pressures has been curtailed by successive layers of restrictive legislation and the transfer of industrial matters to civil courts costing trade unions millions of dollars.

Racism towards our Aboriginal people and to refugees is fanned by the mass media. The elected national Aboriginal representative body was abolished.

For all that, hope for change among workers and other exploited people persist.

The role of Communists and the workers’ movement in Australia

Other speakers will no doubt report on similar conditions in their respective countries. I look forward to hearing of Parties’ experiences and achievements in resisting the forces oppressing the people of our countries. While the CPA is the object of increased public attention since the onset of the economic crisis and has enjoyed a modest increase in our membership, we are still a small Party. We have some influence in a narrow range of trade unions. This influence is growing but remains small. We have a weekly newspaper, which is respected and has a large number of online readers but its circulation in hard copy is still far too small. Our presence in local government is minimal and we have no parliamentary representatives.

Our most pressing task is to restore our Party to its former influence but in the course of doing that we must refine our ability to work with others and unite around the many issues confronting workers and other exploited people in the community.

Finally, I have mentioned previously the effects of the decades-long ideological struggle on the labour movement. Some of this arose from direct financial measures imposed by the government/ Workers’ compulsory retirement savings are invested in shares making Australia a country with one of the highest rates of share ownership in the world. Workers now worry about the state of the share market and this has strengthened the influence of employers’ thinking in the mind of the worker/ Workers, particularly young workers, are less interested in joining unions or working class parties in order to protect their interests. This is the practical side of the ideological challenge facing our Party and it is on these sorts of questions that we can inject a working class perspective.

Thanks,