Howard didn’t win it, Latham lost it
Monday, October 11 @ 06:11:05 CDT

Socialist Party National Committee statement on the Howard election victory, what it means, and what next...

(read more)   

New survey on what now after Howard reelection
Sunday, October 10 @ 04:49:39 CDT

Vote on our new survey on this page. What is your view of the Howard victory?

(read more)   

Statement on Howard victory and what next..
Sunday, October 10 @ 04:43:32 CDT

In the next few hours a Socialist Party National Committee (SP NC) statement on why the Howard government was reelected, what it means for the working class and youth, and perspectives now, will be released on this web page. The SP NC met today and discussed yesterdays election results in detail.
This Tuesday at the SP office at 7pm in Trades Hall Melbourne we host a public meeting to discuss the election and perspectives. Speaker will be Stephen Jolly. All welcome.
Tomorrow (Monday) 7.30am at Flinders St Railway Station in Melbourne, SP members will be participating with radical youth in a special anti-Howard Government mobilisation. Be there if you can! The best response to the rampant Tories is to take to the streets !

(read more)   

Federal election – a ''choice'' of Tweedledum or Tweedledee
Tuesday, September 21 @ 22:22:32 CDT

Workers need a socialist alternative
John Gowland, SP in Perth, written for the CWI web page
Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has called the Australian Federal election for 10th November. But Australians have little to choose from; Howard is the most right-wing Liberal Prime Minister ever, and the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) is also the most right-wing Labor leader ever.

(read more)   

The politics behind the Jakarta Embassy bombing
Sunday, September 12 @ 02:09:44 CDT

The horrific bomb blast in Jakarta highlights important political issues for the working class in Australia and Indonesia.

(read more)   

High Court decision a sign of new era
Friday, September 03 @ 23:54:40 CDT

Last week the High Court of Australia voted 6-1 to ban trade unions from any industrial action on issues outside immediate wages and conditions when negotiating an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. This anti-democratic decision is an attempt to shakle the organised working class from any input on the political arena.

(read more)   

Shane Maloney speech to Scotch College students
Monday, August 30 @ 00:17:45 CDT

This speech was given by Victorian crime writer (and outspoken public education activist) Shane Maloney to an assembly of boys at Melbourne's exclusive Scotch College. He had been invited to conduct some workshops on writing (which he did) and then to speak to the larger gathering (he was given no guidance on what to speak on). Needless to say his speech caused quite a stir, with some of the teachers and boys being very indignant.

(read more)   

Howard calls election for October 9th - How should workers vote?
Sunday, August 29 @ 04:05:53 CDT

HOWARD MUST GO ON OCTOBER 9
The Socialist Party welcomes the Federal election in that it gives the working class an opportunity to vote out the most reactionary government since Federation.
The Howard government has carried on the neo-liberal policies begin in the last years of the Whitlam government, the Fraser years, and the 13 years of Hawke-Keating - and added a vicious socially-reactionary twist.
We call on workers to vote for Socialist candidates. The Socialist Alliance, Progressive Labour Party, Communist Party of Australia and others do not offer a way forward for the working class but do partially challenge the neoliberal politics of the Howard government.
Should there be no socialist candidates standing workers should vote for the Greens Party. Although they are not based on the working class, we welcome their stand on the Iraq war, refugees and their industrial relations policy.
The Socialist Party is not standing in this Federal election; our entire party will be concentrating on making an electoral breakthrough for socialism in the Yarra City Council election in inner city Melbourne on November 27th.
In this municipality the Labor-Green leadership have been a disappointment to many locals and we believe SP policies and candidates offer a real alternative in this election.
The way forward for the workers movement in the aftermath of the October 9 poll is the creation of a new workers party based on trade unions, community organisations and social groups. We believe this call will increasingly be heard especially if a Latham Labor government is elected.
Above all Howard must be turfed out on October 9!

(read more)   

What are the lessons of the Craig Johnston jailing?
Saturday, August 28 @ 02:26:59 CDT

Yesterday the Victorian Court of Appeal sentenced ex-AMWU State Secretary Craig Johnston to two years and nine months jail. Nine months is to be served immediately with the remainder suspended for 2 and 1/2 years. The Court ruled the original sentence in the County Court (a wholly suspended sentence) was "manifestly inadequate".

(read more)   

Political Resolution passed at 2004 SP National Conference
Monday, August 23 @ 22:33:28 CDT

1996 marked a victory for a section of the ruling class, politically represented by the Howard Government, wanting to hitch their class interests at the US, the sole superpower since the collapse of the USSR.

(read more)   

WA's neo-nazis: A socialist analysis
Thursday, August 12 @ 22:34:10 CDT

On July 19th 2004 there were a series of racist attacks in Perth. Perth’s biggest synagogue and a Chinese restaurant were sprayed with swastikas and racist slogans. One of the Chinese restaurants was firebombed and totally gutted. A police station and a pharmacy were also sprayed with swastikas and graffiti.

(read more)   

McGuinness, Windschuttle and Quadrant
Sunday, August 08 @ 08:57:01 CDT

Aboriginal History
McGuinness, Windschuttle and Quadrant:
The attempt to revise the history of the massacre of Aborigines on the British colonial frontier in Australia
By Sydney Marxist bookseller Bob Gould


(read more)   

1969 Penal Powers General Strike
Sunday, August 08 @ 03:20:24 CDT

This year is the 35th anniversary of one of the most important and victorious strike movements in modern Australian history - the General Strike movement in response to the jailing of Tram Workers' Union leader Clarrie O'Shea in 1969.
Ruben Montero analyses the events in an article first published in 1994 in the Militant - the predecessor to The Socialist.

(read more)   

Workers need a new Party!
Friday, August 06 @ 21:51:54 CDT

Editorial from latest issue of The Socialist

(read more)   

Craig Johnston expelled from the AMWU
Friday, August 06 @ 21:46:55 CDT

By Anthony Main, AMWU (metals division) shop steward

(read more)   

Political Aerobics: A list of Latham's backflips
Friday, August 06 @ 21:45:30 CDT

By Gregory Bradshaw
Latham’s amendment to the Free Trade Agreement has slightly reinvigorated his support amongst working class people. He stumbled on this amendment by accident and if Howard hadn’t blinked first, Latham may well of done so soon after.
Because after eight years of attacks on unions, refugees, women, and the environment, few people would be able draw a hair’s breadth between the pro-big business policies of the Coalition and those pro-big business policies of the supposed Labor "opposition". It is precisely this lack of an alternative that has enabled Howard to win three consecutive terms. In response to such attacks, many are shouting for "anyone but Howard and the Libs!" to win the upcoming federal election. Some see Mark Latham as an alternative of sorts: a man who speaks his mind and sticks to his guns. But a quick look at his hitherto career as Labor leader reveals that nothing could be further from the truth. Latham’s stunning political backflips show a man more suited for the Australian Olympic gymnastics team, than one able to fix the crises in our society.

(read more)   

Howard - Time to Go!
Friday, August 06 @ 21:41:44 CDT

By Anthony Main
At some stage in the coming months or even weeks we will have our chance to kick out the Coalition government. After a legacy of attacks on working people, Howard’s time may nearly be up.

(read more)   

SP aims to win Council seat in November
Saturday, July 31 @ 03:01:05 CDT

By Stephen Jolly, SP National Secretary
The Socialist Party in Melbourne is preparing a serious campaign to win a seat in the Langridge Ward at the November 27th Yarra City Council elections. This would be a big electoral breakthrough for SP and would come after over a decade of campaigning with the local community over education, environmental and industrial issues.

(read more)   

Grocon set to take on Australia's strongest union
Tuesday, July 27 @ 18:17:10 CDT

The discovery last month of a listening devise in the shop stewards office at Grocon’s massive Eureka project in Southbank, Melbourne (it will be the tallest building in the southern hemisphere) shows that the construction giant has the Victorian CFMEU in its sights. Backed by the Federal Government, the Grollo family-run Grocon company has decided to take on the status quo in the building industry.

(read more)   

Greens: Same game plan, different brand name
Thursday, June 10 @ 20:39:07 CDT

By Andrew Calleja, Melbourne Northern branch SP
During the euphoria that swept the Victorian Greens in the aftermath of the 2002 Yarra City council elections, incumbent Green councilors were at pains to explain that their party was progressive but with a capitalist ideology.

(read more)   

Analysis of Federal budget and Mark Latham's response
Monday, June 07 @ 17:56:09 CDT

Editorial from upcoming issue of The Socialist

(read more)   

Crime and corruption in Victoria
Sunday, June 06 @ 19:13:11 CDT

A socialist analysis of the gangland wars and police corruption in Victoria

(read more)   

The lessons of the Craig Johnston trial
Friday, June 04 @ 00:07:09 CDT

On Friday the 21st of May, former Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) Victorian State Secretary, Craig Johnston was sentenced to jail for 12 months, (the sentence was suspended for three years). Whilst he will not have to serve jail time he was fined $10 000 and ordered to pay $44 560 in damages.
By Anthony Main, AMWU and Workers First member

(read more)   

New poll on our home page!
Friday, May 21 @ 23:13:21 CDT

What do you think a Latham Labor government would be like? If you are voting or preferencing Labor is it enthusiastically or just to get rid of the Coalition government? Vote now (see left hand side of this web page)
Results of last poll:
Who will win the Federal election?
Coalition by a landslide: 11.11%
Coalition narrowly: 15.94%
Labor narrowly: 34.75%
Labor by a landslide: 17.39%
Labor minority government, backed by the Greens: 20.77%
Thanks to the 207 people who voted

(read more)   

The truth of Socialist Alliance
Saturday, May 15 @ 04:56:06 CDT

Fascinating article by a disillusioned ex-ISO member on the crisis in Socialist Alliance and its domination by the DSP. Uses facts and figures to back its argument.

(read more)   

Craig Johnston on trial - Support militant unionism!
Tuesday, May 04 @ 21:06:19 CDT

The Socialist Party calls on all trade unionists and concerned members of the community to support Craig Johnston against the trumped up charges.
Attend the Mass Rally on Monday the 10th of May, 9am outside the County Court in Melbourne. Cnr.William & LaTrobe Streets.
Also be sure to visit the campaign web site at www.defendcraigjohnston.info

(read more)   

What does the US/Aus Free Trade Agreement mean for workers?
Thursday, April 22 @ 21:02:55 CDT

By Renate Cumalkovs, Socialist Party Perth
For many workers it is difficult to understand the real implications of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Both ruling classes participating in the negotiations have responded in terms of self-interest, that is, all seem interested in pursuing goals that will have the most effect in filling their own pockets.

(read more)   

Footy Rapes
Thursday, April 22 @ 20:58:35 CDT

By Stephen Jolly, Socialist Party Melbourne
Professional footballers are treated like thoroughbred race horses or gladiators of old. As the late Peter Ustinov’s gladiator trainer character said in the classic movie Spartacus: “A gladiator is like a stallion. It must be pampered. You’ll be oiled, bathed, shaved, massaged, taught to use your heads. Approximately half our graduates live for five, ten...ten years.”

(read more)   

Aboriginal Australia at a crossroads
Wednesday, April 21 @ 20:49:19 CDT

By Gary Duffy, Socialist Party Sydney
Arrests have continued after tensions between police and Aboriginal youth in Sydney’s inner city suburb of Redfern broke out into open clashes on the night of 15/2/04 following the death of a young Aboriginal boy believed to have been being chased by police.

(read more)   

NSW Labor a warning of what Latham would be like
Wednesday, April 21 @ 20:45:42 CDT

By Robyn Hohl, Socialist Party Sydney
After spending a record $11million on their successful reelection campaign last year, the Carr Labor Government in NSW is becoming increasingly on the nose as the truth about our hospitals and rail services, starved of the adequate funds, staff and capable management they so desperately need, continues to emerge.

(read more)