INDEX

 

1. Climate change – ACT NOW!
2. EDITORIAL – “Raise the age” bill not recommended by Qld committee
3. ON DEFENCE: ALP and Coalition of little difference
4. Morrison government decisions have left the average worker $800 poorer
5. UWU welcomes Vic govt sick pay guarantee
6. TWU wins enforceable rates for couriers & Amazon flex drivers in landmark decision
7. Samoan workers pressured to quit union, told unions are for “white people”
8. The Menzies years
9. Fraternal greetings for the 14th Congress of the CPA
10. Putin’s mistake: Russia, Ukraine, and the national question

 

 

 

*************************************************

 

1. Climate change

ACT NOW!

Anna Pha

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the floods along the east coast of Australia as a “one-in-a-100-year event"; NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet called them a “one-in-1000-year event;” Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce went even further calling it a “one-in-3500-year event.

If they took the trouble to read the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest report or even the summary for policymakers, they would know such floods or worse are the new normal.

To give the impression that there won’t be another such extreme weather event for 500, 1000, or 3500 years is dangerous and without scientific foundation. Such claims may appear to be based on ignorance and stupidity, but they are politically designed to divert attention from their failure to phase out fossil fuels or put in place transformative climate change adaptation measures.

The interval between floods is becoming shorter and the floods are becoming more severe. In the NSW town of Lismore they reached an incredible 14.4 metres, the highest flooding by far on record. During a Morrison visit angry residents who have lost all their possessions, have been left homeless, many without a source of income were in no mood for the “Scomo” stage-managed photo op there. They were demanding action and planning – two themes central to the IPCC report.

The report is the second of three parts of the IPCC’s sixth assessment. The first part was released on the 9th of August 2021. (See Guardians #1974 “No time to waste,” #1975 Australia’s role,” #1976 “Australia fails Pacific Islands.”) More than 40,000 experts from around the world including Australia took part in the drafting process.

“Today’s IPCC report is an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the report’s launch, pointing his finger at the G20 countries in particular. Australia is notoriously one of the worst offenders.

“The facts are undeniable,” Guterres said.

“This abdication of leadership is criminal.”

STRONGER COMMITMENTS REQUIRED

The report finds that based on current country commitments, global emissions are set to rise by almost fourteen per cent over the next decade. Whereas the science tells us they must fall by forty-five per cent by 2030.

“That spells catastrophe,” Guterres warned. “It will destroy any chance of keeping 1.5°C alive.”

Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC, stated: “This report recognises the interdependence of climate, biodiversity and people and integrates natural, social and economic sciences more strongly than earlier IPCC assessments. It emphasises the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address climate risks. Half measures are no longer an option.”

The report highlights how climate change interacts with global trends such as unsustainable use of natural resources, growing urbanisation, social inequalities, and losses and damages from extreme events, thus jeopardising future development.

“Our assessment clearly shows that tackling all these different challenges involves everyone – governments, the private sector, civil society – working together to prioritise risk reduction, as well as equity and justice, in decision-making and investment,” said IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Debra Roberts.

“In this way, different interests, values and world views can be reconciled. By bringing together scientific and technological know-how as well as Indigenous and local knowledge, solutions will be more effective. Failure to achieve climate resilient and sustainable development will result in a sub-optimal future for people and nature,” Roberts warned.

“To avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, ambitious, accelerated action is required to adapt to climate change, at the same time as making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. So far, progress on adaptation is uneven and there are increasing gaps between action taken and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks, the new report finds. These gaps are largest among lower-income populations.”

The report warns; “Further climate change is inevitable, with the rate and magnitude largely dependent on the emission pathway.”

AUSTRALIA

Chapter 11 of the report deals with the Australasian region. The picture for Australia is bleak if rapid and decisive action is not taken. The report recognises that this requires the political will and funding as well as the collective effort of all sectors of society, including the involvement of Indigenous Australians who have an important role to play.

In Australia, the earth has already warmed an alarming 1.4°C. Extreme events noted in the report include Australia’s hottest and driest year in 2019 with a record-breaking number of days over 39°C; major floods in eastern Australia (that was prior to most recent floods); three major marine heatwaves during 2016-2020; and catastrophic bushfires in southeast and eastern Australia in 2019- 2020. The most recent floods could be added to that list.

The 2019-2020 south-eastern Australia bushfires (during which Morrison went on holiday in Hawai’i) burned between 5.8 and 8.1 million acres, 114 listed threatened species lost at least half of their habitat and forty-nine lost over eighty per cent.

The impact of the bushfires on humans was costly with thirty-three people killed directly, a further 429 deaths and 3230 hospitalisations due to cardiovascular or respiratory conditions. Three thousand houses were destroyed. In dollar terms, the health bill was $1.95 billion and insured losses cost $2.3 billion. The economy took a $3.6 billion hit because of the impact on tourism, hospitality, agriculture, and forestry.

Now, following the floods, hundreds of thousands of people and small businesses face rebuilding their lives. Some are uninsured because the insurance companies refused them cover or they could not afford the high premiums. The costs will run into billions of dollars. Worse is to come!

Telling flood victims that the floods are a “natural disaster” blurs the fact that they are a result of human induced climate change.

Climate change has had an impact on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, with for example the sea-level rise and storm surges in the Torres Strait resulting in the extinction of the Bramble Cay melomys, an endemic mammal species. Ocean warming and acidification are resulting in extensive coral bleaching events and loss of temperate kelp forests. Some marine species have been forced southwards.

ADAPTATION

The report states: “Key enablers for effective adaptation include shifting from reactive to anticipative planning, integration and coordination across levels of government and sectors, inclusive and collaborative institutional arrangements, government leadership, policy alignment, nationally consistent and accessible information, decision support tools, along with adaptation funding and finance and robust consistent and strategic policy commitment.”

This strong message to the governments must be heeded if Australia is to implement strong mitigation and adaptation measures, practice climate resilient development, and the authorities be able to respond rapidly and appropriately to major events such as the recent bushfires and floods.

Otherwise, many more lives will be lost, many thousands more people subjected to trauma, and ecosystems destroyed.

The Morrison government, which has ignored the IPCC report treats the extreme weather events as inevitable; continues to promote fossil fuels; blames the states for the under-funded emergency services that despite the Herculian efforts of their personnel were unable to cope with the emergency.

Morrison attempted to deflect his government’s tardiness to act and failings by saying, “No amount of support is going to measure up to what people need in a desperate situation like this”, adding, “I’m just being honest with you.” He also suggested that volunteers should be first on the scene and government intervention be complementary if required! Talk about abdication!

Adaptation measures suggested by the report for policy makers include:

• no build zones
• clean-up responses
• elevated buildings
• insurance premium incentives
• changes to storm water systems
• engineering options such as tidal barrages to address sea-level rise.

The report also pointed to some limitations to adaptation in human systems including the impact of high temperatures, lack of safe fresh water, and the inability of some low-lying coastal communities to adapt in-place.

In Australia the question of lack of safe fresh water was starkly evident during the recent drought and bushfires. The floods raise the question of whether coastal communities can or should rebuild in the same place and if and what adaptation measures would be required. Apart from misleadingly claiming the next big floods are hundreds or thousands of years away, there is deadly silence from governments on such pressing questions.

INCREASE COMMITMENTS

Adaptation alone will not be enough. Rapid reduction of greenhouse gases in the next ten years to keep climate change below 1.5°C is required. Even temporary overruns above 1.5°C could result in irreversible harm to humans and ecosystems, according to the report.

These are questions that can only be addressed by governments in consultation with communities and not left to market forces, corrupt planning authorities or money-grubbing developers.

As long as private profit dictates development, the necessary urgent action will not be taken.

The 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) that took place in Glasgow last year decided to reconvene in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from 7th-18th November 2022. The expectation – and necessity – is for participants to increase their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Australia has been heavily criticised internationally for its inadequate commitment of a 26–28 per cent reduction below 2005 levels by 2030.

Every country must honour its Glasgow commitments and strengthen their climate action plans every year until they are on the path to 1.5°C.

Australia is one of the best placed countries with its vast land mass and oceans to reduce net emissions and should have the target of net zero by 2030.

Next Week: equity, social justice, and the most vulnerable.

********

 

KEY RISKS FOR AUSTRALIA

Nine key risks were identified with a level of very high or high probability:

1. Loss and degradation of coral reefs and associated biodiversity and ecosystem service values in Australia due to ocean warming and marine heatwaves.
2. Loss of alpine biodiversity in Australia due to less snow.
3. Transition or collapse of alpine ash, snowgum woodland, pencil pine, and northern jarrah forests in southern Australia due to hotter and drier conditions with more fires.
4. Loss of kelp forests in southern Australia due to ocean warming, marine heatwaves and overgrazing by climate-driven range extensions of herbivore fish and urchins.
5. Loss of natural and human systems in low-lying coastal areas due to sea-level rise.
6. Disruption and decline in agricultural production and increased stress in rural communities in south-western, southern and eastern mainland Australia due to hotter and drier conditions.
7. Increase in heat-related mortality and morbidity for people and wildlife in Australia due to heatwaves.
8. Cascading, compounding and aggregate impacts on cities, settlements, infrastructure, supply-chains and services due to wildfires, floods, droughts, heatwaves, storms and sea-level rise.
9. Inability of institutions and governance systems to manage climate risks.

 

*************************************************

 

2. EDITORIAL – “Raise the age” bill not recommended by Qld committee

Last week, the Community Support and Services Committee recommended the Parliament of Queensland not pass Greens MP Michael Berkman’s private Members’ bill, which attempted to raise the age of criminal responsibility from ten to fourteen. Instead, it supported a national approach of increasing the age to twelve.

The committee’s report followed a comprehensive public submission and hearing program that heard from over seventy stakeholders.

Supporting the bill was Common Grace CEO Brooke Prentis who stated that “many non-Indigenous Australians and Queenslanders are shocked when I tell them the age of criminal responsibility is ten years of age. […] Some don’t even know what age of criminal responsibility means. I tell them Australia and Queensland sends ten-year-old children to prison. Often they don’t believe me.”

Indeed, Australia’s age of criminal responsibility has been roundly criticised globally. Last year, at a United Nations meeting, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, and thirty-one other UN member states called on Australia to raise the age, with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommending fourteen years as the minimum age. In August 2019, the ACT became the first jurisdiction to raise the age from ten to fourteen.

Speaking against the bill, Queensland Police Union President Ian Leavers, in a report, stated that “It is well documented in the media that organised criminals are using gangs to recruit young people into their organisations to groom them into a life of crime.” However, as noted by Berkman, the citation – a news.com.au article from fourteen years ago – doesn’t “mention […] any children below the age of fourteen being recruited” nor is there “mention of children other than one reference to sixteen year-olds.” Leavers responded that “there is not a lot which is publicly available.” Berkman asked whether Leavers would then retract the statement in his report that this finding was “well documented,” however Leavers never directly answered.

In a dissenting report, Berkman stated that “Locking up children doesn’t stop offending behaviour. It damages young people and makes everyone less safe […]. Ultimately, the clearest pathway to improving community safety is keeping children away from the criminal legal system, creating alternatives to criminal justice responses and addressing the disadvantage these children face.”

 In socialist countries like Cuba, the age of criminal responsibility is sixteen – the same age that a Cuban citizen is considered an adult. At sixteen, Cubans can drink, vote and fully participate in their society.

Even at fourteen, the age of criminal responsibility is too low, especially when factoring in that such a person is considered a minor in other aspects of our society. However, it would be a step up from the age of ten, where many are still learning to read and write correctly. We must not only campaign to raise the age but also to build and develop infrastructure for at-risk youth.

 

*************************************************

 

3. ON DEFENCE: ALP and Coalition of little difference

Hannah Middleton

There is little more powerful evidence of how far the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has moved from traditional social democracy than its current policies on national security and Ukraine.

Social democracy, as it developed in the 19th-century, advocated a peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism. Today, the ALP is firmly locked into imperialism and defence of the capitalist system at any cost.

Speaking at the Lowy Institute on 11th March this year, ALP leader Anthony Albanese insisted that Australia’s “national security interests should transcend the partisan divide” and that “Labor offered bipartisan support for […] the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines.”

He said, “Labor will ensure that Defence has the resources it needs to defend Australia and deter potential aggressors” and added that “We recognise this will mean defence budgets beyond the two per cent benchmark.”

It is clear Albanese was working hard to neutralise the Coalition’s political attack on Labor over national security and to present the ALP as a small target in what the Liberals would like to be a khaki election.

Labor backs the AUKUS partnership with the US and the UK. Albanese pledged to consider other ways to boost defence capabilities in the decades before the nuclear-powered submarines were ready.

A Labor government would “explore whether our naval power could be bolstered through upgraded weapons on the Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels or through additional Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyers” and “whether tomahawk missiles can be fitted to the Collins-class submarines.”

Albanese said Labor is committed to a Defence Force Posture Review that would “provide a more reliable basis for decisions on the final location of a new submarine base” – a project already facing growing local opposition in Wollongong and Newcastle.

CHINA

Using the Ukraine crisis as an excuse to attack China, Albanese could have been Dutton or Biden when he claimed that China “has failed in its special responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council while offering Russia relief from sanctions.”

He said that the “search for false distinctions between the government and opposition on China is not in Australia’s national interest” and that both “have the same position on the South China Sea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and human rights abuses against Uighurs and Tibetans.”

Albanese also said, “We will deepen our regional defence co-operation with close partners – including Japan, India, Singapore and others – to bolster our joint capabilities, shape our strategic environment and uphold the rules of the road.” This is imperialist spin for encircle, constrain, and defeat socialist China.

Some military strategists believe the US is working with Australia and the UK to goad China into what they hope will be a limited war over Taiwan, aiming to force China to fire first and then use that to paint China as the protagonist, the bully that the rest of the world must unite against.

With Asia now the centre of global economic power, imperialism is working to retain its economic and political primacy and to dismiss China as an “autocracy” or “authoritarian” and “totalitarian” regime.

UKRAINE

Albanese stated that “our longstanding alliance with the United States is a central pillar of our foreign policy” and that a “Labor government will be an energetic and trusted alliance partner.”

He claimed that Russia’s “unprovoked attack on Ukraine” is “an attack on the values free nations hold dear: representative democracy, the rule of law, the right to live in peace.”

This is a false, biased picture being sold – extremely effectively – by Western governments and media.

The recent CPA 14th Congress stated that: “The war between Russia and Ukraine is part of a wider conflict between capitalist powers, between Russia on one side and Ukraine and the expansionist NATO powers on the other.

“Neither side in this war stands for the real interests of the peoples of Russia and the Ukraine, which include living in peace and determining the future of their own society free from outside domination.”

The Russian invasion followed decades of US determination to continue the aggressive expansion of NATO towards the Russian borders.

The Cuban Government has commented that “It was a mistake to ignore for decades the well-founded demands for security guarantees by the Russian Federation and to assume that the country would remain defenceless in the face of a direct threat to its national security. Russia has the right to defend itself. It is not possible to achieve peace by encircling or cornering States.”

The US has been arming Ukraine and training its troops since 2015 and provided it US$1.5 billion in military support before the war. On 11th March, the Senate approved a further US$3.5 billion in military aid for Ukraine. By early March, the US had sent 17,000 anti-tank missiles to Ukraine.

The Communist Party of Turkey stressed: “It is of course absurd to equalise the sides in this confrontation; despite all their internal contradictions, the US, NATO, and the European Union bloc are the primary threat to humanity. But the critically important point is that almost all of Europe, including Turkey, is under the yoke of a pro-NATO class domination.”

Lenin wrote in Socialism and War that “The Socialists have always condemned wars between peoples as barbarous and bestial […]. We understand the inseparable connection between wars on the one hand and class struggles inside of a country on the other, we understand the impossibility of eliminating wars without eliminating classes and creating Socialism […].”

“Whoever wishes a durable and democratic peace must be for civil war against the governments and the bourgeoisie.”

The Communist Party of Australia calls for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a halt to all military operations, and negotiations to bring about a constructive and realistic diplomatic solution, by peaceful means, which guarantees the security and sovereignty of all, as well as regional and international peace, stability and security.

*********

ALP and Liberal policies on defence and security are essentially the same but this is not true in other areas. In coming weeks the Guardian will publish articles on the differences between the two parties on issues including the environment.

 

*************************************************

 

4. Morrison government decisions have left the average worker $800 poorer

Australian Unions

If you were left flabbergasted by the numbers at the supermarket checkout last week, you weren’t the only one.

The cost of living has rocketed past wage growth, effectively leaving the average worker $832 poorer in 2021.

This loss is calculated for the average income of $68 000 but is even worse for those who have been keeping this country afloat for the past two years.

If you were a frontline worker in healthcare or social support, the amount would be more than $900.

Flowery promises aside, the federal government has repeatedly been wrong in their budget forecasts on wage increases.

But this hardly surprising considering they’re the ones who have made precarious work and casualisation the norm.

And remember those loaves of bread Morrison didn’t know the price of?

When the shelves have been stripped and you’re only left with the fancy loaves, that’s still around 200 Helga’s or Abbott’s white loaves you could have carted home with that $800.

With basic necessities increasingly out of reach, wage setbacks are the last thing anyone needs.

WORKERS LEFT IN LIMBO AS MORRISON INTENDED

Wage stagnation is a direct product of the Liberal government’s economic design. They have embedded casualisation and precarious work into our national labour force.

Last year, the Morrison Government stripped back the little security casual workers did have, making it even more difficult to convert to permanent work.

This is why fixing the insecure work crisis is crucial to solving our wage crisis.

The Centre for Future Work policy director Greg Jericho pointed out the teetering position of precarious workers when trying to make a living.

“Workers struggle with the dilemma of, ‘Do I push hard for wages growth, or do I take the hours?,” he said.

Insecure work affects more than just casuals and also includes gig workers or those employed by labour hire companies.

ACTU President Michele O’Neil explained unemployment figures don’t provide us the full picture of economic hardship. Many of the new jobs recently created have been taken up by people who are already employed:

“A record number of Australians – 867,000 – are now forced to work more than one job just to make ends meet.

“If you are one of these people, bargaining for a pay increase is difficult, when your boss can so easily cut your hours or conditions.”

While our political leaders are happy to talk about workers’ lives as if they were merely numbers on a spreadsheet, these statistics have human impact.

“All of these workers are in a situation where they can’t predict or have certainty about what they’re going to earn week to week or month to month,” O’Neil said.

Such financial instability hinders our ability to survive. If you don’t know when the next paycheque is, you can’t take out a rental agreement or fill up your car.

The Morrison government implemented the economic policies that have led to this point. In other words, they have planned our poverty.

MORRISON IS MISSING WHEN IT COMES TO WORKING WOMEN. AGAIN

How much extra time or money would you have if childcare were free?

The Morrison government has done little to facilitate women’s engagement in the workforce, which is why women’s workforce participation rate is at only sixty-two per cent, lagging eight percentage points behind men. Free universal early childhood education would take away the burden many women bear, allowing more women to do paid work if they so chose.

“This measure alone is a tremendous boost to national productivity – an estimated $11 billion per year,” O’Neil said.

“It also gives our youngest the best possible start in life.”

Australia is home to one of the most expensive childhood caring and education systems in the developed world.

But Nordic countries have shown us that free childcare can be done – and with impressive results.

Research from The Australia Institute has demonstrated that not only do Nordic countries have higher female participation rates than Australia – “They also have a larger proportion of the female workforce in full-time employment.”

Morrison had no excuse. He could have reduced insecure work and bolstered the economy. But he has been missing once again when it comes to improving the lives of everyday workers.

But unlike Morrison, union members have been actively working to improve working conditions for women and end insecure work.

Already members earn, on average, $250 more per week than non-union members.

From community and aged care workers to technicians and trades, workers in Australian unions continue to negotiate higher pay for all members.

 

*************************************************

 

5. UWU welcomes Vic govt sick pay guarantee

United Workers’ Union Statement

This morning’s launch of the Sick Pay Guarantee scheme in Victoria has been warmly welcomed by the United Workers’ Union (UWU).

The scheme which guarantees five days’ leave paid at minimum wage will go a long way to bolstering the financial security for casual workers and preventing workplace transmission of COVID-19 and other transmissible diseases.

UWU represents many insecure workers across a host of industries, including hospitality, security, and cleaning, that will be covered by the pilot.

Hospitality, for instance, currently has a casualised workforce of around 80 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

UWU National Secretary Tim Kennedy said he was certain that the scheme would be a success and called on other jurisdictions to follow suit.

“If the COVID pandemic has shown us anything, it is that casual, precarious and insecure work has ramifications for the health of the whole community,” Mr Kennedy said.

“I commend the Andrews government for listening to the concerns put to them by workers and the union and call on the federal government and other state governments to consider a similar program.

“Scott Morrison, for example, could amend Australia’s National Employment Standards to ensure ten days’ universal paid sick leave for every worker.

“Victoria may be emerging out of the current COVID wave, but new cases are still tracking in the thousands and who knows what’s next?

“Let’s not squander the opportunity to make practical and positive change to ensure a better and more resilient Australia that looks after the very workers who turned up at risk to themselves and their families over the last two years.”

 

*************************************************

 

6. TWU wins enforceable rates for couriers and Amazon flex drivers in landmark decision

Transport Workers’ Union Statement

The Transport Workers’ Union has won a landmark determination that means couriers will receive significant improvements to their enforceable rates of pay – including world-first enforceable rates and protections for gig-style Amazon Flex drivers.

The NSW Industrial Relations Commission determination – the result of industry-wide consultation led by the TWU and involving industry groups ARTIO, Ai Group and the NSW Business Chamber, and major transport companies such as FedEx, Global Express and Toll – will see owner-drivers of vans with a carrying capacity between 1.5 and 3 tonnes entitled to an enforceable rate of $43.74 an hour, phased in over three years from 1st March.

The new determination also captures Amazon Flex drivers, who will for the first time be entitled to an enforceable rate of $37.80 to be phased in over the next three years. Amazon has previously noted its drivers are covered by the General Carriers Contract Determination. Under the regulatory instrument, Flex drivers will be the first in the world to enjoy enforceable rates of pay along with rights to dispute resolution, union representation, and collective bargaining.

TWU NSW/QLD Secretary Richard Olsen said that the decision was a long-time coming, and would see significant pay rises for couriers who had gone 15 years without.

“The minimum pay rate for a courier using their own van was set at $28 almost fifteen years ago. Since then, their operating costs have skyrocketed but their pay hasn’t changed, leaving some drivers earning below minimum wage after costs,” Olsen said.

“Today’s decision will be welcome relief to those drivers – an increase of more than forty per cent over the next three years, to finally catch them up to where they should be after fifteen years of stagnant pay.”

“This decision is a massive victory for the thousands of couriers who have been part of the TWU’s Fight for 40 campaign over many years”, Olsen said.

TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said NSW was the first jurisdiction in the world to mandate enforceable rates for Amazon Flex drivers.

“The impact of this decision will be felt around the world. Gig behemoths are on notice: this is what happens when workers call out these dangerous bottom feeders and fight together for a fair day’s pay.”

“For too long, the likes of Amazon have been able to exploit independent contractor loopholes to sidestep rights and rip workers off fair rates of pay. Today’s win confirms that it’s entirely possible for all workers to have access to enforceable rights and protections, regardless of their employment status.

“While this outcome is incredible for drivers in parts of New South Wales, only Federal regulation will end a national crisis. The Federal Government’s sat on its hands for too long as Amazon executives live the high life on profits made by exploiting hopelessly out of date industrial laws.

“Scott Morrison must immediately put in place an independent body to establish binding standards in transport to stamp out this deadly exploitation of workers, and end the decimation of traditional transport companies which comply with Australia’s industrial and taxation laws”.

NOTES

Rates of pay for contracted owner-drivers in NSW are generally governed by the General Carriers Contract Determination, which previously did not set enforceable rates for vehicles with a carrying capacity of less than two tonnes.

While some drivers of these smaller vehicle owner-drivers were covered by the enforceable rates in the Courier and Taxi Truck Determination, this instrument has much narrower coverage and its minimum rates have not changed for almost fifteen years.

This determination harmonises enforceable rates across both determinations, ensures all classes of vehicles are covered by both determinations, and significantly improves rates of pay for owner-drivers of smaller vehicles covered by each instrument.

NSW’s owner-driver laws have had considerable success reducing deadly pressures on drivers. According to analysis by leading experts like Griffith University academic Professor David Peetz, fatal truck accidents in NSW declined by five per cent a year between 1989 and 2020 – more than double the rate of decline in States without similar laws.

The TWU last year settled fair agreements with Australia’s largest transport companies to guard against the “Amazon Effect” smashing road transport.

Amazon’s exploitative Flex model has exploded across Australia – highlighting the need for enforceable Federal regulation – with the company operating distribution centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The company recently called the police on TWU officials investigating serious suspected safety breaches at a Western Sydney depot.

TWU campaigns against the “Amazon Effect” follow similar actions across cities and countries around the globe, coordinated by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). The TWU is an ITF affiliate, with Australian officials holding key leadership positions within the Federation’s Gig Economy Advisory Group.

 

*************************************************

 

7. Samoan workers pressured to quit union, told unions are for “white people”

It emerged last month that Samoan workers have been pressured by a senior official of their government not to join trade unions in Australia. Aufa’i Fulisiailagitele Saleuesile, Samoa’s labor attache to Australia said that unions were institutions for “white people” who do not have Samoan workers’ best interests at heart.

He told workers on the Pacific seasonal workers program:

“The white people, who are in these unions, there are some unions that their performance are not good on the job, there are some unions who just came to ruin, come to look for destruction, seeking the bad […]. Leave the union you joined [...] leave immediately. If the union asked why you are leaving, tell them the government of Samoa said to leave.”

The United Workers Union (UWU), who represent workers in seasonal agricultural work, including many Samoan workers, strongly dispute the claim that they are not acting in workers’ best interests. One Samoan worker, a member of UWU, stated:

“The union is for everyone, not just for white people […]. I would suggest to the government to look for a solution before we lose this opportunity for our people.”

Other Samoan workers have reported being threatened with deportation and told not to join unions in Australia.

UWU National Secretary Tim Kennedy says that the union is “appalled” by the coercion of Samoan workers and that the union will do whatever it takes to enforce their workers’ rights. Under the Fair Work Act, it is illegal to coerce workers not to join a union. The right to organise is also protected at international law by an ILO Convention on the freedom of association, which Samoa has ratified. 

This campaign of intimidation is an attempt to prevent workers from raising concerns about low wages and poor conditions in the industry, something UWU has been fighting for a long time (see Guardian #1987: “A Win For Farmworkers As FWC Rules On Minimum Wage”). The motivations of the government become more suspect due to the setting in which these threats were made: a meeting arranged by a labour-hire firm.

Identity politics are used by reactionary forces to obscure from workers where their class interests truly lie by pitting workers against other workers based on their race, gender, religion, or nationality.

The truth is, poor Samoan agricultural workers have more in common with other Australian agricultural workers than their government or the labour-hire companies want them to believe. All workers in Australia deserve to be paid a living wage in safe working conditions. This is not just an issue for “white people”.

When workers recognise their class interests, they are equipped with the tools to organise and fight back against the interests of capital. Hence, governments and big businesses will fight unionisation tooth and nail. We have seen this in the United States with the attempts of Amazon to unionise. Trade unions are vital to building this class consciousness. The freedom to associate should be protected at all costs.

 

*************************************************

 

8. The Menzies years: Personal memories of Australian poverty in the 1950s

Graham Holton

The Liberal Party has created an image of 1950s Australia as a golden age of order and prosperity under the government of Robert Menzies (1949–1966). The truth is that, besides the rich, the Menzies period was a time of great struggle for the working class. This imagined prosperity became a successful sales tool in spreading the myth that the LNP would recreate this lost time again. The problem is that it is a false memory implanted into minds unwilling to comprehend the struggles faced daily by the working class. It was a time of class struggle successes in which the Communist Party played a major part in the unions and in the streets. The people saw that the Party was fighting for them. Despite the attempt to ban the Communist Party in Australia by the Menzies government, the number of members continued to remain high, and the support for the Communist Party remained high in the federal elections. An outstanding achievement for the class struggle in this country.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivered his speech for the Sir Robert Menzies Lecture on the 12th of March 2019. He told his audience that Sir Robert Gordon Menzies was “one of our greatest, if not our greatest giant when it comes to the history of modern Australia.” Menzies spent thirty years on the front bench, with eighteen and a half years as Prime Minister of Australia. In that time, Menzies built a Party based on “enduring truths; the truths of liberalism and liberal democracy that outlive any one individual or the fashion of any one time, truths that unite a rich breadth of thought across our community.” In reality, these “truths” are completely false, for the Menzies years were filled with political strife and upheaval. He tried to ban the Communist Party in Australia and sent Australian Defence forces into Malaya to support the British Empire’s fight against the independence movement. On the 17th of September 1950, the Australian Contingent landed in South Korea at the beginning of the Korean War to prop up the US-puppet and brutal dictator, Dr Syngman Rhee.

The mythical greatness of the Menzies years claimed by Morrison had been echoed by another stalwart of the Liberal Party,  former Prime Minister John Howard, who credits Menzies as a driving force behind the creation of the Liberal Party. He redefined “politics as a fight for the hearts of ordinary Australians, rather than a battle to win over unions and those at the top end of town.” Menzies created the middle class and fought for “freedom,” which was an imagined past of a White Australia dominated by men and strong cultural ties to the mother country, Great Britain. It was seen as a period of nation-building and industrialisation, such as the Snowy River Scheme, making headlines. Rather than peace and prosperity, Menzies attempted to ban the Communist Party, refused to give the Indigenous peoples the right to vote, and women were expected to not work after the wedding day. As “New Australian” immigrants poured in from war-torn Europe, Menzies attacked the right to strike, thereby lowering wages further. The ignorance of the LNP was challenged by the ALP.

Julia Gillard, in her speech for the Australian Fabians, “John Howard: 10 Years On” (March 2006), had a different view of John Howard’s Menzies. His is a ‘two-dimensional vision, as simplistically coloured as a child’s picture book, of the white knights of benevolent businessmen battling Howard’s childhood bogeymen – unions and organised labour.” John Howard harmed Australian workers as he fought the same ideological battles that occupied the toy soldiers of his childhood. Howard “hankers for the mono-cultural world he remembers, of white picket fences shielding white families.” However, he understood the political potency of his “stylised representation of security and simplicity, for change weary, anxious Australians.”

Other Labor Prime Ministers had similar memories of Menzies’ Australia. Paul Keating told parliament that Robert Menzies’ 1950s Australia was a country in neutral. Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, said that the Menzies years were “basically, they were too long.” Menzies overplayed his anti-Communist platform and that committing Australia to Vietnam was a “massive mistake.” On the 22nd of September 1951, the Menzies referendum to ban the then-named Australian Communist Party was defeated by the Australian people.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) fought for and won a number of leave provisions for the workers. In 1941 it was one-week annual leave and sick leave. Five years later, it was two weeks annual leave, and 1953 was the beginning of long service leave. Even so, life was tough for most people in this country. In 1953 the basic wage was £11/16/-, which was barely enough for people to live on. In real terms, the buying power of wages remained unchanged since the Great Depression. Consumption of basic foods, including meat, butter, fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, and sugar, had fallen, even from the dark days of the 1930s. This meant that the annual per capital food consumption fell from 337 kg in 1936 to only 316 kg in 1957. The public was well aware of the failure of the capitalist system and voted for a better political system, socialism. In the 1955 election, the Communist Party received 161,869 votes, 3.64 per cent of the total vote in Australia. The number of members had fallen since its peak in 1945 with 23,000 members, after years of attack from the Menzies government, the press and the police. The class struggle continued under the leadership of the Party.

I was born in 1953, and life for the working class had changed little from when my parents were born in the 1920s or even my grandparents who were born in 1901, the beginning of federation. There were no fridges, we had an ice chest, and my father collected the ice from the ice factory. We used kerosene lamps, as a lot of people still had no electricity. We had outside toilets, and the “dunny man” came to replace the pan every week. There was no phone unless you went to the local phone both. TV in Australia did not begin until the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956, and then it was the ABC as the only broadcaster. the family “watched” the radio for news and entertainment, such as dramas and comedies.

In state schools in Queensland, at the start of every day students had to stand to attention and take the allegiance to the Queen and the flag. Passports were stamped “Subject of Britain.” In picture theatres, at the beginning of the film, the Queen on her horse was shown, and everyone stood and took allegiance to the flag. Those who didn’t were thrown out, and this was common up to the early 1970s.

Most men drank beer, and if you were a factory worker, this meant having beers most evenings after work. Women drank shandies  (lemonade with beer). Many people smoked, even doctors. The bar was open all hours for politicians who drank heavily during the sitting of parliament, meaning drunks were leading the country. What questions journalists could ask politicians and the Prime Minister were strictly controlled. Crossing that line meant the sack from the news company, and this practice continued up to Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.

Many people, especially women, only had a primary school education. My grandfather left school after grade three to earn money for his parents. His brother died working on the wharfs carrying sacks of wheat. Most women could not drive. My mother never learnt to drive until the 1970s.

My grandmother never learnt to drive, and she died in 1984. It was expected that women would stop working and start raising children once they were married. This was common up to the 1980s. A woman could not get a bank loan unless they had the husband or father act as guarantor. Women could not become a boss; their job was to assist their husbands in his business ventures. In the late 1970s, Bob Hawke, as head of the ACTU, was interviewed, and he said that unions would not support women as unions supported men, who were the breadwinners of families. Women took jobs away from men. A young woman who became pregnant out of wedlock was a family scandal. Some were placed in special homes for wayward women. The one in Redcliffe had bars on all the windows. I remember the sad teenage girls peering out to a world they were shut out from. Violence against women was commonplace, with the man having the right to beat his wife as long as he did not kill her. Then the police would step in. At court, he could use the excuse that he had been provoked and let off. That violence against women is still common in Australia and must be remembered at each  International Women’s Day on the 8th of March.

Most of all, people were poor, and it was a daily struggle to survive. People ate offal — brains, tripe, liver and kidneys – because it was the cheapest cut of meat. On special occasions, there would be a roast chicken. When the spending money ran out, people had bread and dripping (lard) or bread and sugar. Poverty was so widespread that free milk was available at all schools to alleviate child malnutrition. My sister spent months at an institution due to malnutrition. Public transport was available to those who had money otherwise workers walked for miles to get to work, as few owned cars.

Some 120,000, mainly men, were registered as unemployed. They could not get unemployment benefits, the dole if there was any land in the property that could be used to grow food. The workers, therefore, cemented their yards to prove they could not grow food.

There was no Medicare, and if one could not pay for a doctor, there was the hospital. Most working-class men read little other than newspapers. Most would never read a book after leaving school. The men collected in pubs, where women were forbidden entrance. All shops were closed on Sunday except those with Jewish owners, whose shops closed on Saturday, their Sabbath. Men joined the Freemasons and other lodges in which women would not be allowed. My grandfather was the Worshipful Master in the Adelaide Freemasons.

Australia was an extremely Patriarchal society, where everyone had their place. It was very conservative with allegiance to the Monarchy, and the White Australia policy was strictly enforced, and Indigenous people were not allowed the rights of citizenship. Society was very hierarchical by class, religion, gender, and race. It was a violent society where parents, police, school teachers and the elite used violence to enforce their will.

Politics was extremely conservative. Censorship was strictly enforced in all publications, the theatre and cinema, covering not only language and nudity but also politics and race. My mother voted for the Liberal Party, as did her mother. Her father voted DLP (Democratic Labor Party) and supported Bob Santamaria, who established the Catholic Social Studies Movement in 1941, which became the National Civic Council in 1957. He was a major factor behind the split from the ALP, into the DLP, which kept Labor out of federal office for 23 years. My father supported Labor as did his family. There was no such thing as free speech, as we would know it today. This was long before the Vietnam War.

What achievements had been made for the working class were by the unions and the Communist Party. Both were hated by the Liberal Party. Most people accepted the government’s word that “Communists” were to blame for the world’s problems. The Petrov Affair, the defection of the Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov in Canberra in 1954, was in the news for years as support of the Liberal Party’s Anti-Communist policies. Right-wing politics in Australia attempted to crush the Class Struggle for decades and is still doing so today.

After thirty years, the system of quarterly adjustments of the Federal Basic Wage was abolished in 1953 and followed by the states. The freezing of the basic wage led to a massive loss in income for workers of over £144 million by 1959. New taxes amounted to a class tax, as the top bracket of income taxpayers earned over fifty per cent of the national income but paid only forty-six per cent of taxes. Taxation of working-class “luxuries” such as beer and tobacco amounted to fifty per cent. The tax burden was greatest on the working class. On top of this, banks rarely gave loans to the working class, who were forced to buy goods on higher purchase charging thirty-three per cent interest. My father bought his house from a higher purchase company at a huge cost.

Far from an idyllic time for Australians, such appalling conditions led to 13,127 industrial disputes, between 1948 and 1957, resulting in a loss of more than 11.8 million working days. Even with the extensive penal powers of Arbitration Acts, this period was marked by a 600 per cent increase in total disputes. This struggle was fought not only for increased wages but safer conditions. At the 1959 National Industrial Safety Convention in Brisbane, it was revealed that in Australia industrial accidents killed around 600 people every year, maimed 3,500, and caused 350,000 to loss at least one day’s work. As well, over one million people were existing on inadequate pensions. The working-class struggle had reached a level unheard of before the Menzies government.

As Karl Marx writes in Volume 1 of Capital:

“In proportion as capital accumulates, the lot of the labourer, be his payment high or low, must grow worse […]. Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation at the opposite pole.”

This is the true world which Menzies had created, and not the sweet image pushed by the LNP.

 

*************************************************

 

9. Fraternal greetings for the 14th Congress of the CPA

Below are further greetings from our fraternal parties from around the globe, sending us messages of well wishes and solidarity. More will be published in the following issue.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE (KKE)

On behalf of the Greek communists, we would like to wish you success in the works of your 14th Congress. Our Parties share the historical link of the thousands of Greek immigrants living and working in your country, contributing to the workers’-people’s struggle and the Communist Movement of Australia for many years, in the context of their class duties and the principle of proletarian internationalism.

Allow us to note that the complex conditions that we are facing have set very important tasks for the communists. The analysis of developments based on a class criterion and our world view is the irreplaceable asset that can enhance the role and struggle of the Communist Parties for the interests and historical mission of the working class, in conflict with the bourgeoisie, its parties, and opportunism.

It is a fact that despite today’s enormous scientific and technological achievements, the rapid development of productive forces creating the possibility for peoples to live better based on contemporary needs, the working class and the peoples of the world are constantly facing new suffering. The reason is that in the capitalist mode of production, the achievements of human labour become tools for the profitability of business groups. In practice, it has been demonstrated that the bourgeois governments, of neoliberal, social democratic, or “left” nuances, regardless of individual differences, serve this very purpose. In the current phase, capital is promoting the so-called “green growth” that funds renewable energy and digital technology business groups. People know from experience that capitalist development is not for everyone. Irrespective of its character, it brings poverty and misery for the many while shielding the profits of the few.

The confrontation between powerful imperialist alliances and bourgeois classes is sharpening on this basis. The theatre of war operations now is transferred to Asia-Pacific. Imperialist alliances are realigning, new ones are created such as AUKUS, the risk even of generalised imperialist wars that target the peoples increases. We express our particular concern about the escalation of the US-NATO-EU confrontation with Russia on the Ukrainian front. We unequivocally condemn the international EU-NATO expansion and their aggressive plans, opposing any attempt to bring the working class under the flag of the bourgeoisie and its parties, under one or another imperialist centre or alliance. […]

Everything points to the need to overthrow capitalism, to replace it with a superior socio–economic system, socialism-communism. The experience of counter-revolution and capitalist restoration teaches communists the necessity to strictly observe the principles. Because, as we know, socialism has principles for its building and objective laws incompatible with the private ownership of the means of production, capitalist profit, the involvement of the capitalist market, the treatment of labour-power as a commodity. The existence of a robust Communist Party in all countries, with a contemporary elaborated revolutionary programme, emerges as a necessity of our time. A Marxist-Leninist party which, by its independent activity in ideological-political conflict with the bourgeois forces, will play a leading role in the organisation of the struggle of the working class, in the formation of its alliance with the urban and rural popular strata, with the aim of overthrowing capitalist exploitation, for socialism.

With comradely greetings,

International Relations Section

CC of the KK

********

PHILIPPINE COMMUNIST PARTY (PKP-1930)

Through you, the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP-1930, the Philippine Communist Party) sends warmest comradely greetings to all the delegates to the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) which was held on February 25 to 27, 2022, as well as to all the members and supporters of the CPA.

With over 101 years of accumulated experience in the struggle for socialism, the CPA indeed leads the Australian working class in the fight-back against imperialism and the crisis-ridden capitalist system. The PKP-1930 wishes every success to the activities to be charted by the CPA’s 14th National Congress in the struggle for peace, against AUKUS and a new cold war, for trade union rights, for Aboriginal land rights, and for the preservation of the environment.

Finally, we are hoping for closer comradely relations between our two parties, in the context of our common struggle against imperialism and reaction, for peace and socialism.

With communist greetings,

Antonio E. Paris

General Secretary

********

LAO PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY

On the occasion of the opening of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Australia on 25-27 February 2022, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, we would like to extend our warmest congratulations and best wishes to all the delegates of the Congress and through the Congress to all party members and friendly Australian people.

We are confident that the resolutions and slogan “Build the Party for a Socialist Future” adopted by the Congress will serve as the guidelines for the party’s activities in the coming years, contributing to the party’s development and strength as well as enhancing the party’s role in the political arena of the country, thus contributing to peace, friendship, cooperation and social progress in the region and the world at large.

On this glorious occasion, we would like to wish the 14th Congress of the Communist Party of Australia a brilliant success. May the friendly relations and solidarity between the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and the Communist Party of Australia be further strengthened for the benefit of the two peoples of Lao and Australian.

With comradely greetings,

Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party

********

COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA

We send you warm fraternal greetings on the auspicious occasion of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Australia, in the 101st year since the founding of the Party.

In many ways our Parties are similar: small – but growing – Communist parties in advanced capitalist countries which are parties to NATO wars and aggression; which are part of imperialism’s Five Eyes intelligence gathering and sharing against the world’s peoples; which are fighting for a people’s recovery from capitalist crisis, for peace, environmental justice, the equality rights of women and Indigenous Peoples, the rights of immigrants and refugees, the needs and rights of the working class and the unemployed, and most important the unity of the working class and its allies to fight to win fundamental economic and social change leading to socialism.

We know the long and exemplary history of the Communist Party of Australia, which is characterised by its fidelity to Marxism Leninism, to working-class internationalism, and to the goal of working-class political power in Australia, and which, despite challenges, has made significant contributions to the struggle of working people in Australia for their rights and living standards, and for peace, democracy and socialism.

Today, we live and struggle in a very complicated and challenging world. The AUKUS agreement escalates provocations against China, Vietnam and DPRK, and increases the danger of a regional or global military confrontation. Likewise US imperialism and NATO’s drive to war in Ukraine, which includes US nuclear weapons, threatens the whole world. There is no such thing as tactical nuclear war.

The growth of reaction and fascism in countries around the world, including Canada, threatens the working class, the labour and democratic movements, and the progressive forces everywhere. Fascism is the spawn of capitalism in deep crisis, and a reflection of the increasingly limited social base that capitalism in crisis has.

The CPA’s focus on growth, cadre development, work in the labour and people’s movements, and for peace and solidarity, match the work that we in Canada are also doing, in response to a rapidly changing situation and rapid growth of our Party and YCL. We also share a common commitment to the unity and common actions of the International Communist and Workers’ Parties.

We wish you every success in your important work at this 14th National Convention.

Long live the friendship between our two parties! Long live proletarian internationalism!

Long live Marxism Leninism!

We have a world to win!

Yours in the Struggle,

Elizabeth Rowley, Leader

Central Executive Committee

********

LEBANESE COMMUNIST PARTY/IRAQI COMMUNIST PARTY ORGANISATION (AUSTRALIA)

We would like to take the opportunity to convey our support of convening your 14th National Congress and affirm our cooperation with your Party’s struggle to defend the rights of the Australian working class, the rights of Australian people and the safety and progress of our homeland Australia.

We consider this 14th Congress as an important stage to correct the policy of the ruling parties in putting Australia’s political and military alliance with the pacific region, not with American and other western countries.

We are looking forward to working with you and other progressive forces to rebuild the left unity in order to curb what is not in the interests of Australians.

We wish you all success in achieving your 14th Congress goals and objectives and strengthening our parties’ political relations.

Long live the Communist Party of Australia

Long live progressive, democratic and independent Australia.

Lebanese Communist Party branch – Australia

Iraqi Communist Party Organisation – Australia

********

STATE OF PALESTINE

On behalf of the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific and the Palestinian leadership and people, let me congratulate you on conducting the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Australia.

I am sure that with the Party’s wise leadership, the congress will come out with concrete and tangible outcomes that will enrich its experience and contribute to strengthening social and economic democracy in Australia.

Also, I would like to seize this opportunity to recognise and appreciate the principled positions of the Communist Party of Australia towards global justice, equality and freedom, and to recognise its position towards the basic rights of workers, women, and marginalised groups.

Moreover, I would like to seize this opportunity to recognise and appreciate the Communist party of Australia’s principled and systematic position against racism, discrimination, xenophobia and colonialism.

In this context, I would like to acknowledge and thank the support and solidarity of the Communist Party of Australia towards the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, liberation and self-determination.

Recently, two human rights organisations have described Israel as apartheid regime because of its continuous occupation of the Palestinian territories and its systematic violations of the Palestinian human rights including the continuous of settler colonial enterprise which is considered illegal by International Law, house demolition policy, families’ evictions and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem.

In addition to the continuous siege of Gaza, settlers’ violence against the Palestinian people, among others.

One of the urgent responses to these violations is to lobby the Australian government to recognise the state of Palestine and to advocate for the Palestinian political rights within the wider Australian public and we need your support and solidarity to achieve these objectives.

Thank you again and wish you all the success.

*********

 

*************************************************

 

10. Putin’s mistake: Russia, Ukraine, and the national question

Roland Boer

On a number of occasions, Vladimir Putin has said that Russia and Ukraine are a “single nation.” This statement has been completely misunderstood in the small number of former colonisers known as “the West.” They assume that Putin means a “single country,” indeed that Ukraine is not “a country” and will be absorbed by Russia. Once again, the West has failed to understand and so misrepresented another part of the world. So let us put aside an increasingly irrelevant West and see what Putin actually means.

To begin with, we need to consider a very important historical document: a speech by Putin from the 21st of February, 2022. Two points should be noted. First, Putin states that Ukraine “is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space,” a people “bound by blood” and the religion of Orthodox Christianity. Second, he states that Ukraine is a creation of the Bolsheviks’ policy on nationalities and that – in his opinion – this was a mistake. For the Bolsheviks, Ukrainians were a distinct nationality, along with many other nationalities in the Soviet Union. And since they lived in a distinct area, this should become an autonomous republic.

By now, we need some background. Putin’s first point alludes to the history of Kievan Rus’, from the 9th to the 13th century CE, which turned to Orthodox Christianity in 988. This is the origin of what we know today as Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. After the superior Mongol forces destroyed the old Kievan Rus’, the centre of gravity shifted to Moscow. Political and religious power gradually established itself and the world’s largest country gradually emerged, spanning a vast area of the Eurasian landmass, from the Pacific Ocean to Belarus-Ukraine.

So Putin is correct in terms of this history: the regions of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine were all part of one state. But were they one nation or nationality? Note carefully: Putin speaks of a nation, not of a country or a state. There is a difference.

This is where the Bolsheviks come in. At the turn of the twentieth century, there were immense debates among socialists in Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Caucusus. The key question: what is a “nation”? Some argued for a historically common culture, or “specific spiritual complexion” as the key, but as the debate progressed the Bolsheviks developed a more comprehensive position. Lenin made major contributions, but it was Stalin’s long essay from 1913, “Marxism and the National Question,” that really laid out the full position.

After rebutting the arguments of the Austrian Marxists, the Jewish Bund, and the Caucasian Social-Democrats, Stalin offers the following well-known definition: “A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.” Note carefully: ethnicity is not part of the definition, so the English term “ethnic group” is inaccurate. Stalin’s careful elaboration of the definition would come to form the foundation of the Russian Social-Democratic platform. It would also determine the preferential policies for minority nationalities in the Soviet Union, as well as all socialist countries up to the present day – of course, with much further development.

The result: the Soviet Union developed the world’s first comprehensive approach to minority nationalities. Many were the measures introduced, fostering language, education, culture, economies, and autonomy. In parts of the Soviet Union where a nationality had a clear historical continuity, autonomous republics were established: Ukraine and Belarus in the west, the central Asian republics, and many more. The protections for minority nationalities were rigorous: even racial slurs were punishable with a heavy fine or prison sentence. In fact, the very structure of the Soviet state was shaped by this policy, with the second legislative body known as the Soviet of Nationalities. For legislation to be approved, it had to pass this body as well as the Soviet of the Union.

Two questions arise from this history. First, is Putin correct in asserting that Russians and Ukrainians are a single nation? He is not correct. But note carefully: he frames his assertion in the same terms used by the Bolsheviks. He assumes the definition of a nation outlined above but then uses this definition to argue that Russians and Ukrainians are not separate nationalities, but one and the same since they share the same history, culture, and spiritual space. However, if we include language, stable community, and territory – as with Stalin’s definition – then they are two nationalities.

Second, are Lenin, Stalin, and the Bolsheviks to blame – as Putin asserts – for tearing up the Soviet Union and so historical Russia? They are not to blame. The autonomous republics did not have their identities forced upon them, as Putin asserts. Instead, there were long debates and discussions over this issue, and the policy was instituted with many early revisions in light of problems and developments. The minority nationalities were – in many cases for the first time – able to claim a distinct identity in what may be called a “multi-national state.”

Indeed, the success of the approach in the Soviet Union led other socialist countries to adopt similar policies. In Yugoslavia, the preferential policies for nationalities were most obvious. But also in East Germany, where the Sorbian minority was for the first time recognised as a distinct nationality and given significant support. Today, we find a more fully developed minority nationalities policy in countries such as China and Vietnam.

Why do I write “more fully developed”? A comprehensive policy such as the one concerning minority nationalities is not set in stone; it needs constant revision in light of changing circumstances. There was one feature of the Soviet Union’s approach that was not revised: the right to secession by autonomous republics and regions. On this matter too Putin has sought to blame Lenin and Stalin for the break-up of the Soviet Union, so we need to set the record straight.

In the early days of the Soviet Union, which emerged from immense struggle, the right to secession made sense. They wanted all of the regions to join the new union willingly, and that included – they believed – the right to leave willingly. Later, it would become obvious that the right to secession was no longer applicable. A region can have significant and even enhanced autonomy without the need to secede from the union. In fact, autonomy and secession are not necessarily related. As we all know, during a period of the loss of unity and direction by Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks), when anti-communist opportunists and counter-revolutionaries rose to leadership positions, the right to secession was claimed by the autonomous regions – with cynical support from the West – and the Soviet Union fell apart.

The lesson has been learned: it is worth noting that socialist countries today do not include the right to secession by autonomous regions. Instead, they have enhanced the autonomy of such regions as a way of increasing the unity of the country as a whole.

 

*************************************************

The following articles were published by The Guardian, newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia, in its issue #1999 21st March, 2022.

 

Reproduction of articles, together with acknowledgement if appropriate, is welcome.

 

The Guardian, Editorial, 74 Buckingham Street, Surry Hills, Sydney NSW 2010, Australia

Communist Party of Australia, 74 Buckingham Street, Surry Hills, Sydney NSW 2010, Australia

 

The Guardian editor@cpa.org.au

 

CPA General Secretary: Andrew Irving gensec@cpa.org.au

 

Phone (02) 9699 8844    Fax: (02) 9699 9833    Email CPA cpa@cpa.org.au

 

Subscription rates are available on request.