Communist Party of Australia (1971)
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It was founded as the Socialist Party of Australia (SPA) in 1971, when a group of members of the Communist Party of Australia
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...
(CPA) resigned or were expelled from that party as a result of their opposition to its policies. They took the view that the CPA should not become a left social-democratic party, and should continue as a Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
party. This position put them at odds with the CPA leadership. The CPA leadership had become increasingly critical of the Soviet Union, particularly over the 1968 Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
invasion of Czechoslovakia
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
. The SPA was led by a group of veteran trade union officials such as Pat Clancy
Pat Clancy (trade unionist)
Patrick Martin "Pat" Clancy was an Australian trade unionist and communist.Clancy was born at Redfern in Sydney to grocer Denis Edward Clancy and Olive, née Kitchen. He attended St Peter's De La Salle School in Surry Hills, leaving at the age of 14 to work in a boot pattern factory...
and Peter Symon
Peter Symon
Peter Dudley Symon was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Australia between 1972 to 2008.Mr Symon was a member of the Central Committee of the original Communist Party of Australia , and was one of the hundreds who either resigned or were expelled from that party in 1971...
.
Pat Clancy resigned from the party in 1983.http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/clancy-patrick-martin-pat-12320
Peter Symon was the General Secretary of the Socialist Party (currently, the Communist Party) from its formation in 1972 until his death in December 2008, a total of 36 years. After Symon's death, the President of the Communist Party, Dr Hannah Middleton, was announced by the Party Central Committee to be the new Communist Party General Secretary. Vinicio Molina
Vinicio Molina
Vinnie Molina is a trade union official with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, WA branch.-Career:Mr Molina arrived to Australia in 1995 from his natal Guatemala, Central America. A carpenter by trade, he worked as a trade unionist and a student activist in the 80's and 90's...
succeeded Dr Middleton as the Party President. Dr Middleton was elected to the position of Communist Party General Secretary by the 11th Party National Congress in October 2009. http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2009/1397/1397peter.html
In the last 37 years of the Party's existence, the Party has been mainly a left wing political party has played a limited role in Australia's trade union movement. The Party's main policies are:
- The socialist reconstruction of the Australian society
- An end to privatisations of assets owned by the federal and state governments
- To free Australia from foreign transnationals
- Regulation of by the Federal Government of prices, profit levels and interest rates
- The abolition of the Goods and Services Tax
- Expansion of the public sector
- Increase in the national minimum wage
- Increase in pension, unemployment benefits
- Reduction of the working week
- Halt reductions in tariffs
The old CPA was dissolved in 1991. The SPA, believing itself to be the rightful successor to the original CPA formed in 1920, changed its name to Communist Party of Australia at its 8th National Congress in October 1996. Michael Perth contested the seat of Port Adelaide
Division of Port Adelaide
The Division of Port Adelaide is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of South Australia. It is located in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, covering the area around the Barker Inlet, part of the Gulf St Vincent. It stretches from St Kilda in the north down to Grange Road, and is roughly...
, in 1998 and 2001, the only lower house seats contested by the party in the recent past, but polled less than 1% of the vote in both cases.
The revived CPA remains a traditional, albeit small, Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
, proclaiming itself to be a Marxist-Leninist party whose ultimate objective is the revolutionary transformation of Australian society and the establishment of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
in Australia. It describes its objective as being to "change the direction of politics in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and eventually, to replace the capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
system with a socialist one."
At the Australian federal election, 2010 the party contested the Lower House seat of Sydney
Division of Sydney
The Division of Sydney is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located around the central city area of Sydney, and includes many inner suburbs such as Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Ultimo, Redfern, Camperdown, Glebe, Annandale, Balmain, Potts Point and the Sydney...
as part of the Communist Alliance
Communist Alliance
The Communist Alliance is an Australian political party. It was registered with the Australian Electoral Commission on 16 March 2009. It is an alliance of a number of Communist groups, individuals and ethnic based Communist Parties. The Communist Party of Australia is a member of the Alliance...
. The party received 0.83% or 656 of the 79,377 votes cast. http://results.aec.gov.au/15508/Website/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-15508-149.htm It also contested two candidates for the New South Wales division of the Federal Senate, receiving 0.17% or 6,999 of the 4,333,267 votes cast. http://results.aec.gov.au/15508/Website/SenateStateFirstPrefsByGroup-15508-NSW.htm