A brief overview of the ideas and history of our party and the rights and
obligations of membership.

By reading a copy of this pamphlet on-line you are either: a new Socialist
Party (SP) member, an interested person, or a member who wants a reminder of
what the Socialist Party is.
Most people join the SP after seeing us in action in one or another
campaign. Only later do they begin to get an introduction to Marxist ideas,
and the history and tradition of our party and International. Therefore if
you feel you have a lot to learn you are certainly not alone and this
pamphlet is aimed directly at you. However this pamphlet is neither a
substitute for a thorough study of socialist ideas or a full explanation of
our programme.

The SP is Socialist. That is:
1) We oppose the system we live under- capitalism.
Capitalism is not eternal but a historic stage of humanity that followed
feudalism and proceeds socialism.
Capitalism was established on the blood of the displaced peasants,
exploitation of the working class and the attempted annihilation of
indigenous peoples that couldn¹t or wouldn¹t be incorporated into capitalist
relations. However, initially it played a historically progressive role,
breaking down the stagnation of feudal relations and, though revolutionizing
the means of production, took society forward in leaps and bounds in terms
of science, technology and technique. Today in its final stage of
imperialism, capitalism no longer takes society forward. The working class
is only paid a proportion of the wealth it creates, so it cannot buy back
all the goods and services it creates. Regular crises of over-production and
recession ensue. The advanced capitalist countries consciously keep the
under-developed world in economic chains- through the terms of trade scam,
hypocrisy on free trade, structural adjustment programmes rammed down their
throats y the IMF and World Bank etc. Capitalism today means millions of
people dying of preventable diseases while obesity mushrooms in many rich
countries. In Australia the working poor are driven to stress and
demoralization by long hours, casual work, low pay and an underfunded public
health and education system.
2) The SP supports the fight for reforms under capitalism, but opposes
reformism- the idea that the system can be changed to permanently benefit
the working class. 99% of our work is fighting around day-to-day struggles
like wages and conditions, freedom for refugees, against education cuts and
the like. In the struggle for these reforms, workers and young people learn
valuable lessons about the class nature of society: the role of the state,
the media, the ALP etc.
Most revolutionaries started their political path in a campaign for a very
concrete reform or against a cut to services.
Therefore the SP programme not only has a maximum demand for socialism, but
a detailed list of policies on everyday issues. We link the day-to-day
demands to the need to change society through transitional demands. They are
demands that go beyond the day-to-day or minimum demands, and necessitate a
big struggle to achieve, a struggle that would begin to challenge the entire
capitalist system. Examples of transitional demands are a 35-week for all.
Nationalization of the top 150 companies, and free education for all from
childcare to university.
3) The SP sees the working class as the main agent for social change.
Because of its concentration in workplaces- white and blue-collar workers
develop a collective consciousness and develop collective organizations like
trade unions and workers¹ parties. The working class has the social weight
to stop capitalism in its tracks. The marrying of socialist ideas with
workers¹ power is our goal. The SP also mobilizes other classes and sections
of society oppressed by capitalism eg. students, small businesses, and the
unemployed. The students and young people in general play a key role in
every revolution. They are the lightening rod often to the heavy battalions
of the working class. Today in Australia the mainly young and often middle
class youth that dominate the anti-globalisation and pro-refugee movement
are the most politically advanced layer of society. The SP orientates this
key layer of society to the bulk of workers yet to be politicized. In that
sense we aim to get our ideas to the Œmainstream¹ of society, while active
and part of the advanced layers of youth and the most militant sections of
trade unionists.
4) The SP opposes individualism and supports democratically-decided
collective struggle. For example we oppose individual terrorism, which is
the act of a secret few allegedly on behalf of the majority. Socialism must
come through the mobilization of the mass of the working class and their
allies, the students, poor farmers, small businesses etc. Terrorism gives
the government an excuse to repress the left and unions and it creates
sympathy for the enemy.
5) Socialism would be organized through elected democratic assemblies in
every area and every workplace eg. workers¹ democracy. Such assemblies would
elect representatives at a regional and national level to co-ordinate
production and all decision-making. In Australia we have representative
democracy where we vote every three years for the representative usually one
or another major party to look after us. The SP stands for participatory
democracy. All MPs and union officials must be on the average wage of the
workers they represent.
6) The SP opposed the Stalinism of the old Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe. We come from a tradition influenced by Marx, Engels, Lenin and also
Trotsky who led the fight-back against the betrayal of the Russian
Revolution and international socialism by Joseph Stalin. We are untainted by
the crimes of Stalinism, and in fact our forerunners were its first victims,
including Trotsky himself and his family. For example, SP members
participated in the Tiananmen Square uprising in June 1989 supporting the
students and embryonic independent trade unions against the Butchers of
Beijing.
7) The SP aims at winning the majority support of the working class.
Therefore we go wherever the workers go, wherever the youth go, to fight for
our ideas. That is, into right wing trade unions, using the capitalist
media, and standing in elections. In this way we try and get a bigger
audience for socialist ideas. This is despite the fact that no important
decisions are made in Parliament under modern capitalism.
8) Flowing from the previous point, we support the establishment of a new
mass socialist party in Australia, backed by unions and community groups.
The ALP is no longer a workers¹ party in any real way. We need a political
party to unite the workers and their allies and all the trends of opinion in
the labour and trade union movement. If the left unions broke with Labor and
established such a party we would affiliate to it and build it, at the same
time as fighting within it and outside it for socialist ideas and militant
action. Such a new party would electrify the workers¹ movement and be a
massive step forward even if it initially had a reformist programme.
9) The SP works in a United Front way. That is we will work together on
campaign ideas with anyone or any organization that shares the common goal
eg. closing down the detention centers, saving a school from closure etc.
whole maintaining our right to constructively raise our views on the
campaign and continue to build our organization. The opposite approach to
United Front work is a Popular Front method where an organization waters
down its ideas to attract more moderate groups. This dangerous method can
paralyse a socialist party.
8) The SP is internationalist. A socialist future cannot be based inside the
boundaries of any one country however big. We stand for a socialist
federation of Australia, New Zealand, PNG and the South Pacific as part of
world socialist federation. We believe a victory for workers and oppressed
peoples internationally is a victory for us and vice versa.

SP is a Party. Why a Party?
Under feudalism the soon-to-be revolutionary bourgeois class was not the
bottom of the pile but had access to money and social status. They had s
strong class consciousness and were relatively united form the start of
their revolutions against feudalism.
Under capitalism, the would-be revolutionary working class is a far bigger
class and is far more carried in consciousness - ranging form the militant
union delegate to the backward worker with all sorts of prejudices. Having
nothing they own except their labour power to sell, workers are subjected to
the distortions of the mass media, the capitalist education system and so
on. History tells us time and time again that workers need a strong
socialist/ Marxist party to effect social change. The role of the party is
to be a memory of the working class learning the lessons of the past,
uniting the best and most conscious layers of workers and youth, training
them, coordinating their efforts, standing strong against the lies and
repression of the system, and linking up woth similar parties
internationally.
It is an iron law of working class history that without a strong Marxist
party even the most massive revolutionary movements have been ground into
dust.
A US Marxist James Cannon put it: ³For the proletarian revolutionist the
party is the concentrated expression of their life purpose, and he/she is
bound to it for lide and death. He preaches and practices party patriotism,
because he knows that his socialist ideal cannot be realized without
irresponsibility toward the partyŠ(on the other hand)Šthe petty-bourgeois
intellectual, who wants to teach and guide the labour movement without
participating in it, feels only loose ties to the party and is always full
of ³grievances² against it. The moment his toes are stepped on, or he is
rebuffed, he forget all about the interest of the movement and remembers
only that his feelings have been hurt; the revolution may be important, but
that wounded vanity of a petty-bourgeois intellectual is more important. He
is all for discipline when he is laying down the law to others, but as soon
as he finds himself in a minority, he begins to deliver ultimatums and
threats of split to the party majority.²

SP structure
International links
The SP is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers
International, which unites similar socialist parties in every continent of
the world. Each section elects delegates to the CWI World Congress every
four years, the highest body of the SP and CWI. Here delegates discuss the
international situation and elect an International Executive Committee (IEC)
of about 30 members that meets at least once a year in Belgium. Australia
has one representative on this body. The IEC in turn elects an International
Secretariat (IS) that consists of about ten fulltime members, based in
Britain that service the sections, produces material on key events, and
leads the CWI on a daily basis. They are under the control of the IEC and
are subject to the right of immediate recall.

National structure
In Australia, the SP¹s highest body is the annual National Conference. Here
all members can attend and (if financial, that is not less than three months
behind in subs) vote on political resolutions and organisational resolutions
and the election of a National Committee (NC). The NC in turn elects an
Executive Committee (EC) that is a small body of about 3 or 4 members who
meet weekly via a telephone hook-up (because of the difficulty of distance).

Local structure
Branches meet weekly and discuss political developments and the building of
the branch in their area. They elect a Branch Committee (BC) to coordinate
the party work on a daily basis. Again, BC members are subject to the right
of immediate recall. The BC comrades are the most committed and respected
members of the branch, but usually include at least one newer member with
talent to train up. The branch meeting can overturn a decision of the BC,
but the BC can act between meetings.

Fulltimers
The National Committee has the right to elect fulltimers for the party
either on specific tasks like paper production or as regional or national
organisers.
For further information on our rules see our Constitution on- line.

Democratic Centralism
The SP like all CWI sections and Marxist parties in the past and healthy
trade unions, operates on the organising principal of Democratic Centralism.
That is, the right of all members to discuss programme, policies, strategies
and tactics inside the party, while agreeing to a united approach outside
around the majority decision. In the same way, a union expects all members
to observe a strike if members vote that way- even those minority of members
who voted against strike action.
Members have the right to access email lists internal bulletins, speak at
branch meetings, National Conference etc. to put their point of view.
No member can be disciplined or expelled for having an opposing point of
view on tactics or strategy or even political line (with the obvious
exception of blatantly fascist, racist, or homophobic views). The best
decisions often come after a frank and healthy debate.
However the SP is not a debating club or debating circle. At some stage
decisions must be made through a democratic vote. All members must respect
the majority position of the party within the broader movement otherwise
chaos and party disintegration can ensue. Once a majority decision is made,
comrades in a minority position can still argue their point of view within
the party and seek to gain majority support for their position.

History of the SP/CWI
The best way to study the history of the CWI is to read our book on exactly
this issue- available for $2 from our bookshop or borrow a copy from our
library. Also available on line on this web page [Read More]
The SP began in Australia in 1985 when four Australians and one other
arrived in Sydney to build a section. At that time we were a Marxist
tendency or faction inside the ALP. With the shift to the Right of that
party and similar social democratic parties internationally the CWI sections
began open work in the early 1990. We were called Militant, then Militant
Socialist Organisation, and finally Socialist Party.
Our branch in Perth began in 1990 and in Melbourne n 1993.
Our key campaign successes have been fighting for a socialist alternative in
NSW Young Labor in the 1980s, the massive school student strikes in Sydney
in 1988 which we organized, long consistent work in the construction
workers¹ unions in NSW and Victoria, the saving of Richmond Secondary
College, the anti-fascist work, the massive campaigning against Pauline
Hanson¹s One Nation, many school student strikes in Melbourne in the 1990s
and new century, the campaign we led for drug reform, our role at s11 and
Woomera, our election work where we have gained the highest socialist vote
for decades and many moreŠ

Rights of Members
All financial members have the right to vote and nominate themselves or
others for positions within the party. Members have the right to be heard
respectfully and put a point of view without prejudice. All members have the
right to be protected from verbal abuse, slander etc. All members have the
right to full involvement in the party. This is a party not a club or circle
and professional behaviour between members is expected.

Discipline
Members with complaints about fellow members should first approach the BC if
personal discussion gets nowhere. If that fails, the member (or the BC) can
take the issue to the branch meeting itself or the NC.
In the case of serious allegations the Control Commission of at least three
respected members elected in advance at the National Conference can be
activated to investigate the issues and report back to the entire
membership. Serious allegations must be made in writing and the accused has
the right of natural justice that is to see the allegation in good time,
have full opportunity to defend themselves etc.
Disciplinary measures which are normally available in the event the accused
is found guilty are, in increasing order of severity: censure, suspension,
and expulsion.
Expelled members have the right to appeal to the National Conference, the
IEC and the World Congress.