Since our National Council meeting adopted the draft Socialist Alliance Perspectives resolutions, a few developments have taken place.
These include discussions to explore the prospects for greater collaboration or unity other left groups, including the Communist Party of Australia and Socialist Alternative, and the election victory of Socialist Alliance candidate in Sue Bolton in the Moreland City Council elections in Victoria. Also an ambiguity in one of them has been identified.
Below are proposals (in bold) to address some of these in the section “A united left can set a lead for a real fightback”:
A united left can set a lead for a real fightback
- A more united socialist left is needed to build a stronger pole of leadership for the desperately needed fight back against the new wave of austerity and to win more of the working class and other oppressed sectors to the struggle to end the class dictatorship of capital.
- Socialist Alliance will continue to seek broad unity of the left and for greater political agreement within its own ranks. Left unity is a necessary step to building the largest progressive alternative possible and is crucial to convincing the mass of working people to break with the ALP. Our ongoing discussions with Socialist Alternative are an application of this approach and agreement has been reached for Socialist Alliance to endorse and participate in the Marxism 2013 conference organised by Socialist Alternative.
- The Socialist Alliance notes the success of the recent electoral alliance in Sydney between our party, the Communist Party of Australia and independent left activists as part of the Housing Action ticket for the City of Sydney Council election. The Socialist Alliance congratulates the CPA and Tony Oldfield on his election to the Auburn City Council in the September 2012 Council election. Socialist Alliance will continue to support and encourage such alliances, including those regional progressive alliances such as Community Voice in Wollongong and Left Unity in Adelaide. The Socialist Alliance sees no contradiction between seeking broader left unity on the one hand and the need to continue to win new members to our party.
- The Socialist Alliance welcomes the election of Socialist Alliance candidate in Sue Bolton in the 2012 Moreland City Council elections in Victoria and will continue to support the work of Sam Wainwright in his role on Fremantle City Council. Sam, in conjunction with Anthony Main and Steve Jolly in Melbourne, have consistently championed the interests of the working class and other oppressed groups and helped empower and mobilise progressive movements. Socialist Alliance congratulates Steve Jolly on his re-election with a stronger vote and regrets the narrow loss of Anthony Main's seat.
- The Socialist Alliance continues to encourage and organise its members to be active in a wide range of social movements. Socialist Alliance members play important roles in building these movements, in championing the need for democracy and arguing for strategies that mobilise the largest numbers of people in campaigns for progressive change.