The DSP and the elections
MUCH to people's surprise the Labor Party was returned to power in
Federal elections in March. The Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), although small, ran the only substantial socialist campaign. At the beginning of
May, Roland Wood spoke to John Percy, National Secretary of the DSP, about their election campaign and the projects in which they have been
International Viewpoint #246 June 1993 involved. INTERVIEW — May 7, 1993
W HAT was the
motivation for the DSP standing its own candidates? What kind of alliances was the Party hoping to build from the election campaign?
This wasn't a new step for us. We haven't run in every election but we first ran back in 1975.! We would have preferred a broader, united campaign that was able to bring together different forces and parties to the left of Labor.
Unfortunately, this wasn't possible at this election despite the fact that some steps in this direction have been made in recent years. So the DSP helped organise the Democratic Socialist Electoral League campaign. Some of our members also stood as candidates for the Green Alliance and local green parties. There was a range of Green parties standing, varying from state to state.
We would have liked to have found a way of uniting the different green parties, the Democrats,2 our own Democratic Socialist campaign and other socialist groups in a 'non-aggression' pact in certain areas. In some campaigns in the past we have had a broader alliance. For example, in a Brisbane local government election campaign we were part of a campaign that united the Democrats, green parties, the Socialist Party of Australia, and the DSP.3
Last year in the State elections in Victoria there was a attempt to get an alliance going. This was on the initiative of a part of the leadership of the State Public Services Federation, Senator Janet Powell, who had split from the Democrats and ourselves.4 Unfortunately this alliance didn't hold together. But these examples give an idea of the kind of alliance that we would have liked to have seen in the Federal election. 22
### AUSTRALIA
Are the electoral alliances you have described and attempted to pursue a reflection of alliances that are being made on a day-to- day basis, away from electoral politics?
No. There is not a united struggle in the labor movement. This is a real contrast to what has happened in New Zealand with the development of the NewLabour Party. They split from the traditional Labour Party in opposition to the monetarist policies that were being pursued by the Labour government. They have formed an Alliance with the Green Party, the Maori Party, the Democrats and Liberals. This Alliance receives between 25-40% in the polls.
There is no development in Australia of a similar nature, based on real struggles in the trade unions or the Labor Party. There are united actions on single issues but at the moment there is no ground swell towards a united electoral campaign. Nevertheless, when we've been able to put alliances together people have responded and generally the votes are higher for a united campaign than for parties running in their own right.
What is the DSP's balance sheet of the election and its own campaign?
Our balance sheet is this. Firstly, on the overall political level it was positive for the working class and other sectors of Australian society that the Liberals weren't victorious, that is that Labor got in. We should point out though, that the policies of the Liberals, although a little more extreme were not fundamentally different from Labor.
The Labor Party's victory was not the result of great enthusiasm- - it was more a vote against the Liberals, specifically their promised Goods and Services Tax, and threatened attacks on the rights of unions and the health care system. Voters saw Labor as a lesser evil and nothing more than that.
Secondly, in terms of our own campaign. It was useful for putting forward our alternative platform. We were able to distribute large quantities of material and we were able to mobilise larger numbers of people in support of our campaign than previously. From a purely propaganda view it was an extremely successful campaign for us, and people have been joining the party as a result.
The DSP was central to the launch of Green Left Weekly
(GLW). The paper has made some impact, not only in
Australia but internationally.
What was the motivation behind the project?
In Australia GLW is now seen as the alternative, progressive newspaper on the left. It has earned the respect of activists from a wide range social movements and campaigns.
It began in 1991. In a small way it is a regroupment of individuals even though the DSP and Resistance are the organisations that guarantee its circulation and its success.S There are large number of sponsors, contributors and shareholders coming from different political currents.
During the course of the 1980s the DSP attempted to regroup with other forces; to build an alternative. In 1984 the Nuclear Disarmament Party was a potential break from the Labor Party that unfortunately didn't carry on. We also made attempts to unite broader forces through a social rights campaign with most of the left parties and left union
1. In 1975 the DSP was called the Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
2. The Democrats split from the Liberals, the main bourgeois party, in the 1970s. During the course of the 1980s, the Democrats have moved to the left of Labor, taking progressive positions on most social justice and labor movement issues.
3. The Socialist Party of Australia was formed in 1971 by people who left the Communist Party in opposition to the CP's criticism of Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
4. State Public Services Federation is the union for public sector workers at the state level.
5. Resistance is the youth organisation in solidarity with the DSP.
International Viewpoint #246 June 1993 activists. We also attempted to unite with the euro-communist Communist Party of Australia in 1986-87. They pulled back from that and have now dissolved themselves and are no longer a factor on the scene.
Again, in 1988-89 we discussed unity with the pro-Moscow Socialist Party of Australia. We were able to reach agreement on many Australian questions but not on international issues. Everything came apart under the impact of Tiananmen Square. The campaign for a united Green Party has also, so far, been unsuccessful.
GLW came after these discussions and in a small way has managed to do what the potential regroupments should have been able to do, that is unite left forces, the different movements. Since GLW began it has played a role in providing a forum for other forces. For example, each year the different International Women's Day collectives in each city use GLW to put out a supplement.
Similarly, the campaigns in solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean use GLW for distribution of their magazine, Venceremos and there have been supplements on Indonesian solidarity and Cuban solidarity. The Environmental Youth Alliance has also had supplements in GLW. Just recently a new paper, Solidarity, uniting trade union activists has appeared as a supplement in GLW. The paper has managed to pull people together at a difficult time for the left internationally.
Although its circulation is still limited in relation to what is needed, it has been able to expand, even to small towns where there are no DSP or Resistance branches. So it has been a bright spot on the left horizon in Australia.
The DSP has over the last few years been extending its international contacts. Is this just a practical way of helping to improve international coverage in GLW or is their a specific project in mind? What kind of international movement would you like to see? Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the regimes in Eastern Europe its been both a difficult time for the left and a time when there are possibilities for regrouping different elements of the left, in a sense refounding the socialist movement. At this stage we have got no organisational schemas. But we have
ROSE been trying to do a little bit, from far away in Australia, to get these different elements of the left in touch with other and collaborating around specific pro-
Obviously, GLW has been very useful in helping people to understand the new period and what is happening around the world. From the beginning we have had correspondents permanently based in Moscow, Prague and Western Europe. But a broader network of correspondents has developed around the
Some readers of International Viewpoint will be aware of the background of the DSP; that as the SWP we were members of the Fourth International up until 1985. We left the FI with the hope of broadening out our international contacts. We still wanted to retain comradely relations with the FI and with sections of the FI but we saw the need to develop contacts with many other people who we saw as revolutionaries and people moving in a leftward direction.
GLW has helped that to some extent and we've developed close relations with people in the NewLabour Party in New Zealand, also with socialists in South East Asia, in the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
We also pay close attention to events in South Africa where the class struggle is accelerating. We have tried to improve relations between Australian socialists and the movements in South Africa, the ANC, the SACP and COSATU.
One of the ways we have helped build links between the Australian left and movements overseas has been to organise conferences in Australia and bring out speakers and representatives of parties and currents of thought. In 1990 and 1991 we organised two very successful Socialist Scholars Conferences. Each of them was attended by about 1,000 people and had an impressive range of international speakers.
This broadened out the intellectual horizons of the Australian left, which certainly needs to be done. We are planning another conference for April 1-4, 1994. It will be billed as an International Green Left conference. We expect a similar attendance from Australia but an even greater attendance internationally, especially from the Asian and Pacific region.
We would like to have representatives from the Brazilian Workers Party, from the South African Communist Party, the left of the green parties in Europe, people from the Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC) in Italy, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) in Germany and the Committees of Correspondence in the USA, people from the Fourth International and representatives from the New Zealand NewLabour Party.
Our aim is to bring people together from different trends and socialists from different origins so that we can have a real discussion and exchange of views. It will be a forum in which participants can discuss the next stage forward for the socialist movement in Australia, and internationally.*
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