No one in charge. When I was a teenager, I stayed in the Victorian goldfields town of Castlemaine. Even then, it was obvious to me that something was wrong in the way people dealt with the natural world. The ecosystem was so stressed that you could see the box forest disappearing. In that case, unregulated… Read more »
Posts in: socialism
Union Eyes
Teacher activists demand ongoing employment Grassroots education activists are campaigning to demand that their elected union officials make the fight to secure ongoing employment a union priority. Red Bingham, a veteran educator and Australian Education Union (AEU) member, takes a look at the history. It’s summer. In my industry, education, a huge number of teachers… Read more »
How Marxists think
Cast your mind back to the days following September 11, 2001. George W Bush issued an ultimatum to the peoples of the world: “You’re either with us or with the terrorists.” Politicians are particularly good at simplifying an issue beyond the point of absurdity. However, this spin doctoring is useful, because it shows the limitations… Read more »
Permanent Revolution for the 21st Century
Murry Weiss’ pamphlet, titled Women’s emancipation and the future of the Fourth International, is a collection of three short essays written between 1978 and 1982. It also includes an obituary that introduces the reader to Weiss who is described as “a quintessential revolutionary.” Of what interest are the seemingly dated essays to students of the… Read more »
Good planets are hard to find: Only planet-wide socialism can repair our damaged home
On December 27, 2004, a work colleague was holidaying at Robe, on the south coast of South Australia. About mid-morning the tide suddenly rushed out, then in, then out again. After a while, the sea returned to normal. My co-worker didn’t know it at the time, but he had seen the Indian Ocean tsunami passing…. Read more »
The future of Socialist Alliance
In the last issue of the Freedom Socialist Bulletin (Number 34), we published an article, “Rescue Plan Needed for Socialist Alliance.” The piece contained our analysis of the problems which beset the Socialist Alliance and criticised decisions taken by the Democratic Socialist Perspective, which we believe damaged Socialist Alliance. We ended this piece with a… Read more »
The role of socialists in the union movement today
This article is an edited and updated version of a talk given by Alison Thorne at a Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) meeting on 31 August 2005. Thorne is a workplace delegate in the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and an activist in the rank and file caucus, Members First. With the Howard Government gearing… Read more »
Rescue plan needed for Socialist Alliance
In February 2001 the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) attended a meeting of socialists in Sydney, which reached an historic agreement to establish the Socialist Alliance (SA). The FSP was jubilant about this historic breakthrough. In the next edition of the Freedom Socialist Bulletin (#25), we argued, “the time has never been more urgent or more… Read more »
What history tells us about the revolutionary potential of Marxism versus anarchism
The explosive protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle in 1999 raised the profile of anarchism. Anarchists were very involved in that profound upsurge, and the media cameras particularly focused on those with a penchant for breaking corporate windows. Anarchism is positive in the sense that it is an enraged, eruptive reaction to oppression…. Read more »
Exposing the Spartacist school of falsification
For those who have not had the pleasure of an introduction, the Spartacist League (SL) is a self-described “propaganda group” which specialises in sectarian attacks on what it calls “opponent groups” in the socialist movement. A correct view of history is important, because it informs how we organise today and how we form political policy… Read more »
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