Comments welcome. Ozleft Bob Gould
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Norm Dixon's demagogic demands for a detailed description of left-wingers' activity in the Labor PartyBy Bob GouldOn the Green Left Weekly discussion list Norm Dixon accuses me of advocating that all socialist activists should enter the Labor Party, "counterposing that activity to that of building the Socialist Alliance and a genuine left alternative". My argument with the DSP is not directed at suggesting that the DSP should enter the Labor Party wholesale, or the Greens for that matter. The DSP has obviously chosen for the moment to engage in independent activity. My argument is directed at trying to persuade the members of the DSP to adopt a more realistic united front attitude towards members of the Labor Party and the Greens, rather than bombarding them with offensive ultimatums about what they should do, particularly when these ultimatums are linked to an exposition by the DSP of the unscientific and inaccurate two-equal-parties-of-capitalism theory on which they base their approach, both to the Labor Party and to individual Labor Party members. Much the same principle ought to apply to the DSP's approach to socialist activists in the Greens. In my experience, socialist activity in the Labor Party, or in the Greens for that matter, isn't something that can be turned on and off like a tap on the basis of some insulting, slightly demagogic, ultimatum from the DSP leadership. We are just coming out of a period of quiescence for socialist activity in the Labor Party, and in society at large. If past upsurges of socialist militancy in the Labor Party are any guide, and they are, initiatives for renewed socialist activity in the Labor Party must be based on something real. As it happens, I have a few bright ideas for renewed socialist and leftist activity in the Labor Party that may have some reality in the current conditions, but it's not much use for Bob Gould to belt out a few bright ideas, no matter how smart they may be, as an isolated initiative. All around the country there are socialists and militants who hold Labor Party tickets, including most of the militant trade union current to which the DSP orients. I put to you very seriously, Norm, that perhaps Green Left Weekly could open up a serious discussion on what socialists who are in the Labor Party, or in the Greens for that matter, might do in the immediate future. You might interview, in this context, people such as Hughie Williams of the Transport Workers Union, the young leaders of Labor for Refugees in Queensland, the assistant secretary of the Maritime Union in WA, and perhaps even Kevin Reynolds in WA, maybe the young leaders of the Labor left and Labor for Refugees in the ACT, maybe a representative group of Labor for Refugees activists in NSW, and maybe people like Michele O'Neil, Martin Kingham, Kevin Bracken (Maritime Union, Victoria) and Robyn Rothfield and Lev Lafayette from Labor for Refugees in Victoria. In the context of a serious discussion like that about immediate perspectives for the Labor left, I'd be more than willing to toss in my views. In the absence of a serious initiative like that, I'll continue to ignore the slightly self-interested sniping from the DSP leadership. I generally make it a practice not to respond in politics to the "when did you stop beating your wife" kind of question. |
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