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Kept on Wikipedia:Australian Communist Party (2019)

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki







Australian Communist Party
General SecretaryBob Briton
PresidentAntonella Foote
Founded28 June 2019; 5 years ago (2019-06-28)..[1]
Split fromCommunist Party of Australia (1971)
HeadquartersAdelaide, South Australia
NewspaperMilitant Monthly
Youth wingYoung Communist League Australia
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism–Leninism
Political positionFar-left
Colours     Red
Website
auscp.org.au
Part of a series on
Socialism in
Australia
Active organisations

The Australian Communist Party (ACP) is a political party in Australia. It was founded in 2019 by former members of the Communist Party of Australia (1971) who resigned or were expelled from that party.

Party Objectives & Goals[edit]

The Australian Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist organization that seeks to lead the revolutionary transformation of Australian from being a capitalist society to a socialist one.[2] Some of the party objectives are:

  • Inject class consciousness into the working class of Australia and pull the working class away from social democractic forces.
  • Create Independent and Militant unions outside of the influence of social democratic parties[3].
  • Prioritise the struggles of the Australian Working class by pursuing a independent foreign policy of solidarity and mutual benefit[4].
  • Alleviate and undo injustices heaped upon Aboriginal Australians and strive to dismantle the capitalist system that would be mutually beneficial to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
  • Remove artificial divisions among workers are artificially created or exacerbated on the basis of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and other aspects of diversity among the working class[5].

Party History and the History of the Communist Movement in Australia[edit]

On June 28th, The Australian Communist Party was established after analysing the inadequacy of parties and organizations on the left, deciding to forge a new path for communist movement in Australia.

Foundation of the Australian Communist Party[edit]

The Australian Communist Party, originally founded in 1920, was inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution and the culmination of the struggles of the Australian labour movement since 1890[6][7]. While this party conducted some good campaigns in its first decade. It had fell short of its potential and fell prey to right opportunism in its party leadership.

Regardless of these shortcomings, the ruling class in Australia still felt threatened by the presence of the party and made moves to rule the party illegal, only being struck down by the courts in 1932[8]. Post-1929 there were moves inside the party leadership that had signalled the defeat of right opportunism inside the party and led the party to new heights[9]. The party membership grew fourfold and the party now led strong campaigns to organise vast sectors of the Australian working class movement giving the new sense of militancy inside of the union movement of the time. This resulted in many union leadership positions being filled by members of the communist party[10][11].

The CPA assisted in the emerging struggle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, due to this they had developed policies and campaigns on the national question in Australia[12]. The party endured a period of illegality from 1940 until 1942 but seemingly had no effect on the party, with membership numbers growing up to 20,000 after the war. Efforts to destabilize the party continued through the 1950’s but especially after the events of the 20th Congress of the CPSU and events in Hungary.

The fall to Eurocommunism and the SPA[edit]

In the 1960’s the party's leadership started to lose its way, beginning to downplay the importance of Marxist-Leninist organization and the working class as a whole. The party put democratic centralism to the side as an organizational principle and the party membership started to seriously decline. The role of the party inside the union movement declined and the party lost many positions in the union leadership. Following this turn towards Eurocommunism many members of the CPA left the party to form the Socialist Party of Australia (SPA)[13][14][15].

The SPA had an attraction for many Australian workers and trade union leaders who were once part of the CPA. The SPA had developed many policies in regards to workers rights, trade union organizing, environment, peace, democratic rights, full rights for women and argued for land rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples as national minorities. The party advanced the concept of a two-stage transition to socialism in Australia and called for the formation of a "left and progressive" alliance. In 1990 the remaining members of the CPA had voted to liquidate the remaining assets of the party to form a new party called the New Left Party[16]. This party also failed and disbanded in 1993 like the CPA before it[17]. In 1990 the SPA held a congress on the overthrow of communism in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The party declared that the ideas of Marxism-Leninism had not failed, instead it was those leaders who had failed to apply marxist-leninist policies correctly in their work.

In the SPA’s 8th National Congress in 1996 the party had voted to reclaim the name of the Communist Party of Australia. This proved to be a popular move inside the party and the wider left in Australia. However this change would seem almost fortuitous as the party had also failed to address the parties work in the trade union movement and with the Australian Labor Party resurfaced. Combined with lax recruitment practices and general ill-discipline to produce an unworkable environment for committed Communists[18].

It was under these circumstances that the founders of the Australian Communist Party was led to re-establish a communist party guided by the principles of marxism-leninism[19].

Current Activities, Publications and Organizations[edit]

Militant Monthly[edit]

The Australian Communist Party currently releases a digital publication on a monthly basis. The articles are submitted by party members/candidates and cover a wide variety of topics with a marxist analysis from LGBTQI, Indigenous, Regional, Environmental and Social.[20]

Community Union Defence League[edit]

The Australian Communist Party has a guiding hand in a community group focused on providing services to the homeless and other impoverished groups, from providing hot meals and drinks to them every week, to providing clothes and other necessities where possible. There are street kitchens in Sydney[21], Melbourne[22], Adelaide[23] and Brisbane[24].

Black Lives Matter Protests[edit]

On the 2nd of June, ACP member and indigenous organiser Keiran Stewart-Assheton and others organised a snap protest in solidarity with protests happening in the US and across the world surrounding the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police officer[25]. This protest gathered a ground of several hundred and was largely peaceful[26][27]

Antifascist Activism[edit]

On the 15th of June a rally was organised by far-right activist and leader of the Party for Freedom, Nick Folkes[28], in Newtown. A counter protest was organised by the ACP[29] and was attended by its members and other antifascist activists. During the protest, two ACP members were arrested, one for offensive language and the other for and the other for assaulting an officer while being arrested by plainclothes police officers[30]. Both were later released on bail[31]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "Our History". Australian Communist Party. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  2. ↑ "ACP Program". Australian Communist Party. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  3. ↑ "Trade Union Policy". Australian Communist Party. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  4. ↑ "Defence Policy". Australian Communist Party. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  5. ↑ "LGBTQI Rights Policy". Australian Communist Party. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  6. ↑ "Tribune (Sydney, NSW : 1939 - 1991) - 31 Oct 1951 - p7". Trove. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  7. ↑ "Tribune (Sydney, NSW : 1939 - 1991) - 31 Oct 1951 - p7". Trove. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  8. ↑ "An Outline of Party History by Lance Sharkey". www.marxists.org. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  9. ↑ "History of the Australian Labor Movement - A Marxist Interpretation by CPA". www.marxists.org. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  10. ↑ Markey, Ray; Svensen, Stuart, "Healy, James (Jim) (1898–1961)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2020-10-08
  11. ↑ Bowden, Bradley (2011). "The rise and decline of Australian unionism: a history of industrial labour from the 1820s to 2010" (PDF). Labour History: 64 – via JSTOR.
  12. ↑ Word, Acrobat PDFMaker 6 0 for (2004-10-20). "(The Workers Weekly, Friday, September 24, 1931, p". www.reasoninrevolt.net.au. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  13. ↑ Jamieson, Suzanne, "Clancy, Patrick Martin (Pat) (1919–1987)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2020-10-08
  14. ↑ "Champion of workers' rights". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2004-09-01. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  15. ↑ "Rip-roaring speaker for communist ideas". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  16. ↑ Website, About the author Luke Whitington Facebook Twitter. "OUR HISTORY". SEARCH FOUNDATION. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  17. ↑ Website, About the author Luke Whitington Facebook Twitter. "OUR HISTORY". SEARCH FOUNDATION. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  18. ↑ "Big Fish, Small Ponds". Australian Communist Party. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  19. ↑ "Our History". Australian Communist Party. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  20. ↑ "Militant Monthly". Australian Communist Party. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  21. ↑ "Community Union Defence League". Community Union Defence League. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  22. ↑ "Community Union Defence League". Community Union Defence League. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  23. ↑ "Community Union Defence League - Adelaide". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  24. ↑ "Community Union Defence League - Brisbane". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  25. ↑ Brook, Benedict (2 June 2020). "Black Lives Matter protests takes place in Sydney in wake of US demonstrations". news.com.au. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  26. ↑ Hitch, Mike (3 June 2020). "HUNDREDS ATTEND SYDNEY'S 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' PROTEST". Star Observer. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  27. ↑ "'For the better': Hundreds march in Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney CBD". The New Daily. 2020-06-02. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  28. ↑ Munro, Tim Barlass, Peter (2015-12-05). "Party for Freedom's Nick Folkes vows to ignore legal action and celebrate Cronulla riots anniversary". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  29. ↑ "Stand Against Racism And Fascism". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  30. ↑ Bianchino, Giacomo. "As abroad, so at home: NSW police cracks down on antifascist protesters". Overland literary journal. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  31. ↑ Bianchino, Giacomo. "As abroad, so at home: NSW police cracks down on antifascist protesters". Overland literary journal. Retrieved 2020-10-08.

External Links[edit]


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