Editorial:

Australian Election Roundup:
Black Saturday

Last Saturday's federal election can only be regarded as a 
savage blow to all democratic minded and peace loving people, to 
workers and their trade unions, to other sections of the labour 
movement, to Indigenous Australians, and to many others, 
including Australia's neighbours. It was a defeat for the 
environment.

It was a significant victory for conservatism and extreme right-
wing politics, for the Christian right and for the US 
corporations that stand to gain from their dominant trade 
relations with Australia. It was an outright victory for the 
stream of lies that have poured from Liberal and National Party 
leaders on so many issues.

It was a victory for the fear inculcated in wide sections of the 
community including in the ranks of the working class — fear 
about jobs, fear about higher interest rates, fear about the 
outside world.

In the previous election, Liberal Party Prime Minister John 
Howard succeeded in stampeding the electorate with fear about 
refugees and of those people "over-there" who were alleged to be 
threatening Australia's security.

Millions of workers have been taken in by the propaganda and lies 
of the conservatives. They have been persuaded that home-
ownership is a panacea for individual achievement and even 
liberation, and have bought homes on inflated property markets. 
They live in constant insecurity, fearing a rise in interest 
rates that would break them financially and see the banks throw 
them onto the streets. Many swallowed Prime Minister Howard's 
threats of higher interest rates should a Labor Government be 
elected, although this charge was not backed by a single 
Australian economist.

Fear and lies

The fear of job losses by "blue-collar" workers was highlighted 
by the incredible sight of a mass meeting of loggers cheering 
Howard on the eve of the election. It must be one of the most 
shameful episodes in the whole history of the trade union 
movement of Australia.

It proves the adage of the Nazi propagandist, Goebels, that if 
you tell a lie often enough it comes to be believed. The Liberals 
implement this strategy to perfection.

The re-election of the Howard Government, with an increased 
majority and with the conservative Liberal-National Party 
Coalition now poised to gain a majority in the Senate (with the 
support of the Family First Party), creates a dangerous 
situation. The Howard Government will have absolute power to 
intensify its attacks on every democratic right, progressive gain 
and economic benefit won in the past.

The final unleashing of this vicious attack will see a further 
destruction of democratic rights. Howard's intended industrial 
legislation is meant to shackle the Australian trade union 
movement.

The Australian state is now entering a period which can only be 
described as neo-fascist, the obvious next step as the crisis-
ridden Australian ruling class, facing many difficulties at home 
and overseas, attempts to secure its domination over society into 
the decades ahead.

The Liberal Party-promoted Family First Party is an extreme 
right-wing organisation based on the thinking, the physical 
support and the money of Christian fundamentalists. (See page 3.) 
It has links with the Assemblies of God Church. It is similar to 
the powerful religious right in the United States which strongly 
backs the Bush administration and the war against Iraq. Behind 
its purported concern for "family values" is a narrow-minded and 
conservative agenda. Its "family values" are fundamentally anti-
women and are being posed against the wider interests of the 
community as a whole.

Those Australians who voted for Howard despite his conservative 
policies and his stream of lies must also be held responsible for 
the consequences that are certain to follow.

Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party (ALP), with just over 38 percent of 
the primary vote (counting is incomplete), received one of its 
lowest returns in modern times. This was not any particular fault 
of the leadership of Mark Latham who has simply followed the 
right-wing policies and ideology of current ALP leaders.

There is a many-years' long failure of the Labor Party and the 
trade union movement to answer the propaganda of the Liberals and 
to take the fight to the capitalist class — not simply in terms 
of somewhat better economic policies and more grandiose promises, 
but in terms of the conservative philosophy of Howard in 
particular.

The ALP failed to offer a genuine alternative; it failed to win 
the trust of the electorate.

Howard does not hesitate to talk about his philosophy — even 
using the word "philosophy". He poses, once again dishonestly, as 
the champion of "choice" and even as the champion of the workers. 
In reality he champions "individualism" which is behind the 
disastrous "individual work contracts" which seek to turn every 
worker into unorganised and isolated individuals to face the 
united power of employers. Employers do not fall for this 
individualism nonsense which is being incessantly pushed down the 
throats of workers. Howard also champions "family values".

For its part the Labor Party and the trade union movement adopt 
one compromise after another. They have, so far, proved to be 
incapable of answering Howard on the more basic ideological 
issues.

Trade unions

The real rot started when the trade union movement — left, right 
and centre — adopted the theories of economic rationalism 
advanced by former Labor Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul 
Keating and by the leadership of the Australian Council of Trade 
Unions (ACTU).

These theories have led the labour and trade union movements to 
the present-day disasters, and they have still not been analysed 
or repudiated, much less overcome, by the labour movement. There 
has been no return to any semblance of class politics and 
struggle. During the recent election campaign the trade union 
movement simply tagged along behind the Labor Party. It did not 
stridently and boldly fight for the cause of the working people. 
Its voice was largely unheard and its influence was obviously 
minimal.

The trade union movement will not buy any sort of thanks or truce 
from the corporations or the government as a result of these 
policies. What is certain is that the Howard Government will 
intensify its attacks. It is equally certain that the trade union 
movement will sink further into insignificance unless there is an 
honest and forthright return to the policies and willingness to 
struggle that built the trade union movement to its glory days. 
Those days came to an end when the Accord (a social partnership 
between the ALP Government and the ACTU) was adopted in the early 
1980s.

The Greens

The Greens put forward strong progressive policies and campaigned 
openly for them without perpetually looking for compromises with 
the conservatives. For this, they were (and will be in the 
future) strongly attacked by Howard and others.

Their strong vote over-all and their over 20 percent vote in some 
electorates is a living indication that there is a sizable voting 
electorate that is willing to support principled left and 
progressive policies.

We need to take heart that the combined ALP, Green and Democrat 
vote means that half the electorate did not fall for the lies. 
This must encourage us to organise and resist.Furthermore, the 
actual voting figures, rather than the number of seats won, shows 
that the Coalition gains had more to do with the return of One 
Nation voters to the Liberal and National Parties and the 
decimation of the Australian Democrats than to any mass swing to 
the political right. (See adjacent article for voting figures.)

The Left

The Communist Party of Australia did not stand candidates in this 
election but leafleted and helped other left and progressive 
forces.

Some left groups supported the Labor Party as some sort of 
propagandist helper and ginger group. They put forward worthwhile 
policies but remain within the context of the social democratic 
Labor Party. Surely the shortcomings and limits of labour parties 
in many countries have been demonstrated time and time again.

For a number of years the left has allowed itself to be fractured 
on the basis of policies and personalities. It is a chronic 
illness which prevents the participants from acting in the 
interests of the whole. There remains a lot of potentiality on 
the left but it is futile to keep calling for change and 
protesting against the vile conservatism of the Howards and 
Costellos unless the left — as a whole — is prepared to take 
steps to overcome the present fractured reality.

Above all we must work to build a strong united front force with 
advanced social, political and economic policies that can take on 
the conservative philosophy of the Howards and expose it for the 
fraud that it is. A stronger and more influential Communist Party 
is fundamental in the development of such an effective 
opposition.

We must fight now for the day when we have broken the two-party 
stranglehold and Australia has a new type of government, one that 
really represents and looks after the working people of this 
country, an honest government committed to jobs, to peace and to 
democratic rights. The Communist Party is committed to help build 
this united front force, but to do so we must greatly expand the 
size and influence of our Party.