Socialist Alliance (Australia)
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Alliance was founded in 2001 as an alliance of socialist
organisations and individuals in Australia
, initiated by the Democratic Socialist Perspective
and the International Socialist Organisation
along with 6 other founding socialist organisations, to create greater left unity in the aftermath of the protest of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne on 11–13 September 2000. With branches in all states and territories, and electoral registration federally and in a number of states, it is the largest group on the Australian far Left
.
In late 2003, the Democratic Socialist Party resolved to become a "a Marxist tendency in the Socialist Alliance", renaming itself the "Democratic Socialist Perspective" as a step towards turning the Socialist Alliance into a "Multi-Tendency Socialist Party". This move was supported by some 75% of conference delegates at the SA's national conference that year, " although other affiliates remained opposed.
At the 2005 National Conference particularly sharp political differences were expressed. These centred on: the extent to which the Socialist Alliance should criticise the Australian Labor Party
; whether the organisation should have a formal relationship with the newspaper associated with the Democratic Socialist Perspective, Green Left Weekly
, as a step towards Socialist Alliance itself having its own newspaper; and whether non-aligned members should have an automatic majority on the organisation's national executive. Following this conference three of the leading members of a "Non-Aligned Caucus" and most of the active affiliate organisations gradually withdrew. The "Non Aligned Caucus" was an ad hoc grouping of SA members who weren't aligned to any affiliated organisation which formed in the lead up to the 2003 conference of the Alliance.
In January 2010, the Democratic Socialist Perspective voted to merge into the Socialist Alliance, in effect ceasing to exist as an affiliate organisation.
, Melbourne
, Brisbane
, Perth
, Hobart
and Adelaide
, the Socialist Alliance also maintains branches in and around a number of regional centres, including in Wollongong, Newcastle
, Armidale, Geelong, Ballarat, Lismore
, Cairns, Townsville and on the Gold Coast
.
It also has individual members spread across rural and regional Australia, and has plans to form a branch in Gladstone, Queensland.
The Socialist Alliance is a registered party on a federal level, and annually maintains electoral registration in New South Wales and in Victoria.
This gives some indication of the size of the organisation, suggesting that the Socialist Alliance has the largest membership of any socialist organisation in Australia. Federal registration requires 500 members, Victorian registration also requires 500 members in Victoria, and 750 members are needed for NSW registration. These figures only reflect paper (rather than active) members, however.
- which stands in political solidarity with the Socialist Alliance - runs a weekly Socialist Alliance column called Our Common Cause, and the Socialist Alliance has a close working relationship with Resistance Books and Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal.
For around one year the Socialist Alliance published a quarterly journal, Seeing Red, the last issue of which came out in March 2006.
The Socialist Alliance internal discussion bulletin Alliance Voices is published online and as a downloadable file on an ad hoc basis.
The Brisbane local newspaper The Westender has also run a column written by the Socialist Alliance, and members are frequently published on sites such as ABC's The Drum and Online Opinion.
on the ballot
as its application for electoral registration was suspended when the election was called early. Despite this, it received over 25,000 votes in the federal election.
The Socialist Alliance has continued to run candidates in federal, state and council elections.
Federal
At the 2004 federal election the Socialist Alliance received 0.12% (14,155 votes) in the House of Representatives, and 0.11% (13,305 votes) in the Senate, failing to reach 2% of the vote in individual seats.
In the 2007 federal election the party's vote declined to the background level of "independent" candidates, with only 9,525 votes in the Senate, the Australian federal election, 2010 saw the Socialist Alliance receive 32,580 (0.26%) Senate votes, while remaining steady on 0.08% of votes cast for the House of Representatives.
State
In the 2007 NSW election, the Socialist Alliance received 0.4% of the primary (15,142 votes), almost triple what it received in 2003, which declined to just over 10,000 votes in 2011.
Council
In the 2004 Moreland City Council elections, two candidates exceeded 4%. In a council election in the Melbourne suburb of Boroondara, a Socialist Alliance candidate won over 12% of the vote (in the absence of an Australian Labor Party-endorsed candidate) in Cotham ward.
The 2008 Victorian local government election results were also positive. The Socialist Alliance polled almost 19% in the Stoney Creek ward of the Melbourne municipality of Maribyrnong, and polled over 10% in all wards bar one that it contested across the state.
In October 2009 the Socialist Alliance won its first election when Sam Wainwright was elected for the Hilton Ward of the Fremantle City Council.
Some of the main political campaigns in which the Socialist Alliance is involved include:
campaign against Israel
.
Socialist Alliance is also active in its opposition to the "war on terror", to the racism against the Muslim
community it claims this causes, and to government policy on civil liberties
. Socialist Alliance members helped to organise the protests in Sydney against APEC in 2007, and the visit of Pope Benedict XVI
in 2008, in the face of increased police powers that were heavily criticised for violating civil liberties.
The Socialist Alliance conducts this work alongside other groups and individual activists in local community peace groups and in broader coalitions like the Stop the War Coalition
), and the Gaza Defence Committee.
In 2005 and 2006, the Socialist Alliance initiated and helped organise trade union "fight-back" conferences, in response to the Federal Government's "WorkChoices
" legislation, attracting hundreds of union militants and members of other socialist groups. The Socialist Alliance was involved in the campaign against WorkChoices, including as part of the Your Rights At Work movement, and against the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
The Socialist Alliance is highly critical of the ALP's industrial policy for not returning enough rights to workers and for retaining the ABCC, referring to the new system (Fair Work Australia) as "WorkChoices-lite".
Notable Socialist Alliance trade union leaders have included Chris Cain, Western Australian State Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia
; Tim Gooden, secretary of the Geelong Trades and Labour Council; and Craig Johnston, former Victorian State Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
, who was jailed for 9 months in 2004 after an industrial dispute at Johnson Tiles in 2001.
Socialist Alliance members also helped to organise the Climate Action Summit in Canberra on 31 January - 1 February 2009, and is involved in building the new national Climate Action Network that grew out of that summit.
The Socialist Alliance argues that no solution to the crisis caused by global warming is possible without overthrowing capitalism, and criticises "market mechanisms" such as carbon trading
as being unworkable, profit-driven and reinforcing the capitalist relations that caused the pollution to begin with.
in Redfern and Mulrunji Doomadgee
on Palm Island. In the case of Mulrunji, leading indigenous activist, academic and Socialist Alliance member Sam Watson played a key role in organising the protests that led to the re-opening of the inquiry.
The Socialist Alliance also opposes the Federal Government's Northern Territory intervention, and helped to organise the 12 February 2008 protests outside Parliament House in Canberra.
in Venezuela
and is affiliated to the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network.
Socialist Alliance members have also been involved in the struggle for refugee rights, opposing mandatory detention of illegal immigrants, and calling for Australia to pursue a more humane policy on refugees.
the Middle East,
Western Sahara,
Zimbabwe,
South East Asia, and elsewhere.
, for example, contest that a sustained mass radicalisation had been born out of the anti-capitalist movement or that a significant layer of disillusioned ALP
voters are willing to join a socialist electoral program. Socialist Alternative also criticises the Socialist Alliance for what it perceives to be an over-emphasis on electoral work.
Upon its resignation from the Alliance, the former International Socialist Organisation
accused the Democratic Socialist Perspective
of what it deemed "disastrous decisions" such as declaring the Alliance a multi-tendency socialist party and adopting Green Left Weekly
as the official paper, which the ISO saw as alienating other Alliance members and affiliates.
The Revolutionary Socialist Party
(who formed in 2008 as a split from the DSP over debates about the Socialist Alliance) accused the Alliance project of remaining "heavily dependent on the DSP’s political and organising efforts and fundraising." The RSP also (incorrectly) claimed that only the DSP remained an affiliate of the Alliance by 2008.
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,...
organisations and individuals 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...
, initiated by the Democratic Socialist Perspective
Democratic Socialist Perspective
The Democratic Socialist Perspective was an Australian Marxist political group, which operated as the largest component of a broad-left socialist formation, the Socialist Alliance...
and the International Socialist Organisation
International Socialist Organisation (Australia)
The International Socialist Organisation was an Australian Trotskyist political organisation, founded in 1971, originally as the Marxist Workers' Group until it dissolved to form Solidarity in 2008 with two other socialist organisations...
along with 6 other founding socialist organisations, to create greater left unity in the aftermath of the protest of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne on 11–13 September 2000. With branches in all states and territories, and electoral registration federally and in a number of states, it is the largest group on the Australian far Left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
.
History
Soon after its formation, the Socialist Alliance grew to a point where most of its members were not members of any of the affiliate organisations. In response to this, the Democratic Socialist Perspective and many non-aligned members argued successfully at successive national conferences for measures to take the Socialist Alliance in the direction of becoming a united socialist party. Other affiliates, particularly the International Socialist Organisation, preferred to adhere to the alliance's original direction: a broad left-wing electoral front.In late 2003, the Democratic Socialist Party resolved to become a "a Marxist tendency in the Socialist Alliance", renaming itself the "Democratic Socialist Perspective" as a step towards turning the Socialist Alliance into a "Multi-Tendency Socialist Party". This move was supported by some 75% of conference delegates at the SA's national conference that year, " although other affiliates remained opposed.
At the 2005 National Conference particularly sharp political differences were expressed. These centred on: the extent to which the Socialist Alliance should criticise the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
; whether the organisation should have a formal relationship with the newspaper associated with the Democratic Socialist Perspective, Green Left Weekly
Green Left Weekly
Green Left Weekly is an Australian radical left-wing newspaper, written by progressive activists to "present the views excluded by the big business media". It was published by the Democratic Socialist Perspective from its inception in 1990 until January 2010, when the DSP merged into the Socialist...
, as a step towards Socialist Alliance itself having its own newspaper; and whether non-aligned members should have an automatic majority on the organisation's national executive. Following this conference three of the leading members of a "Non-Aligned Caucus" and most of the active affiliate organisations gradually withdrew. The "Non Aligned Caucus" was an ad hoc grouping of SA members who weren't aligned to any affiliated organisation which formed in the lead up to the 2003 conference of the Alliance.
In January 2010, the Democratic Socialist Perspective voted to merge into the Socialist Alliance, in effect ceasing to exist as an affiliate organisation.
Branches and Members
In addition to its branches in the major capital cities SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
and Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, the Socialist Alliance also maintains branches in and around a number of regional centres, including in Wollongong, Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
, Armidale, Geelong, Ballarat, Lismore
Lismore, New South Wales
Lismore is a subtropical town in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Lismore is the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area. Lismore is a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State.-History:...
, Cairns, Townsville and on the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
.
It also has individual members spread across rural and regional Australia, and has plans to form a branch in Gladstone, Queensland.
The Socialist Alliance is a registered party on a federal level, and annually maintains electoral registration in New South Wales and in Victoria.
This gives some indication of the size of the organisation, suggesting that the Socialist Alliance has the largest membership of any socialist organisation in Australia. Federal registration requires 500 members, Victorian registration also requires 500 members in Victoria, and 750 members are needed for NSW registration. These figures only reflect paper (rather than active) members, however.
Publications
The newspaper Green Left WeeklyGreen Left Weekly
Green Left Weekly is an Australian radical left-wing newspaper, written by progressive activists to "present the views excluded by the big business media". It was published by the Democratic Socialist Perspective from its inception in 1990 until January 2010, when the DSP merged into the Socialist...
- which stands in political solidarity with the Socialist Alliance - runs a weekly Socialist Alliance column called Our Common Cause, and the Socialist Alliance has a close working relationship with Resistance Books and Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal.
For around one year the Socialist Alliance published a quarterly journal, Seeing Red, the last issue of which came out in March 2006.
The Socialist Alliance internal discussion bulletin Alliance Voices is published online and as a downloadable file on an ad hoc basis.
The Brisbane local newspaper The Westender has also run a column written by the Socialist Alliance, and members are frequently published on sites such as ABC's The Drum and Online Opinion.
Election results
The Socialist Alliance first campaigned in the 2001 federal election, however candidates were listed as independentsIndependent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
on the ballot
Ballot
A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...
as its application for electoral registration was suspended when the election was called early. Despite this, it received over 25,000 votes in the federal election.
The Socialist Alliance has continued to run candidates in federal, state and council elections.
Federal
At the 2004 federal election the Socialist Alliance received 0.12% (14,155 votes) in the House of Representatives, and 0.11% (13,305 votes) in the Senate, failing to reach 2% of the vote in individual seats.
In the 2007 federal election the party's vote declined to the background level of "independent" candidates, with only 9,525 votes in the Senate, the Australian federal election, 2010 saw the Socialist Alliance receive 32,580 (0.26%) Senate votes, while remaining steady on 0.08% of votes cast for the House of Representatives.
State
In the 2007 NSW election, the Socialist Alliance received 0.4% of the primary (15,142 votes), almost triple what it received in 2003, which declined to just over 10,000 votes in 2011.
Council
In the 2004 Moreland City Council elections, two candidates exceeded 4%. In a council election in the Melbourne suburb of Boroondara, a Socialist Alliance candidate won over 12% of the vote (in the absence of an Australian Labor Party-endorsed candidate) in Cotham ward.
The 2008 Victorian local government election results were also positive. The Socialist Alliance polled almost 19% in the Stoney Creek ward of the Melbourne municipality of Maribyrnong, and polled over 10% in all wards bar one that it contested across the state.
In October 2009 the Socialist Alliance won its first election when Sam Wainwright was elected for the Hilton Ward of the Fremantle City Council.
Political Campaigns
Due to its unusual structure (as a broad alliance, rather than a politically homogeneous socialist organisation) the Socialist Alliance places more emphasis on campaigning activity than on expounding one particular "form" of socialism as do many other socialist groups, although affiliates and non-aligned members continue to put forward and argue for their own politics.Some of the main political campaigns in which the Socialist Alliance is involved include:
Anti-War & Civil Liberties
The Socialist Alliance, its affiliates and members played a central role in the campaign to stop the attacks on Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, and remains active in the campaigns against these, and other, wars. Socialist Alliance members are also active in promoting the Boycott, Divestment and SanctionsBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
campaign against Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Socialist Alliance is also active in its opposition to the "war on terror", to the racism against the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
community it claims this causes, and to government policy on civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
. Socialist Alliance members helped to organise the protests in Sydney against APEC in 2007, and the visit of Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
in 2008, in the face of increased police powers that were heavily criticised for violating civil liberties.
The Socialist Alliance conducts this work alongside other groups and individual activists in local community peace groups and in broader coalitions like the Stop the War Coalition
Stop the War Coalition (Australia)
Stop the War Coalition is an Australian anti-war group initially formed in Sydney in 2003 and later in Melbourne in 2004 mainly in response to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the general "War on Terror" of which the Australian Government has been a strong ally...
), and the Gaza Defence Committee.
Workers' Rights
The Socialist Alliance orients towards struggles in the union movement. In line with its criticism that the ALP is holding back and bureaucratising the union movement, the Socialist Alliance encourages workers and unions to break with Labor and to set up a "new workers' party".In 2005 and 2006, the Socialist Alliance initiated and helped organise trade union "fight-back" conferences, in response to the Federal Government's "WorkChoices
WorkChoices
The Workplace Relations Act 1996, as amended by the Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, popularly known as Work Choices, was a Legislative Act of the Australian Parliament that came into effect in March 2006 which involved many controversial amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996, the...
" legislation, attracting hundreds of union militants and members of other socialist groups. The Socialist Alliance was involved in the campaign against WorkChoices, including as part of the Your Rights At Work movement, and against the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
The Socialist Alliance is highly critical of the ALP's industrial policy for not returning enough rights to workers and for retaining the ABCC, referring to the new system (Fair Work Australia) as "WorkChoices-lite".
Notable Socialist Alliance trade union leaders have included Chris Cain, Western Australian State Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia
Maritime Union of Australia
The Maritime Union of Australia covers waterside workers, seafarers, port workers, professional divers, and office workers associated with Australian ports. As of 2011 the union has about 13,000 members. It is an affiliate of the International Transport Workers' Federation and represents the...
; Tim Gooden, secretary of the Geelong Trades and Labour Council; and Craig Johnston, former Victorian State Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, or more fully, the Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union is an Australian trade union that is registered with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade...
, who was jailed for 9 months in 2004 after an industrial dispute at Johnson Tiles in 2001.
The Environment
The Socialist Alliance also campaigns around environmental issues, most notably climate change, helping to organise the 2006 Walk Against Warming rallies in some cities, and producing detailed policies on combating climate change which have been created through an open wiki process with broad membership input. Since the 2007 Federal Election, the environmental website VoteClimate has rated Socialist Alliance environmental policy #1 (ahead of the Greens).Socialist Alliance members also helped to organise the Climate Action Summit in Canberra on 31 January - 1 February 2009, and is involved in building the new national Climate Action Network that grew out of that summit.
The Socialist Alliance argues that no solution to the crisis caused by global warming is possible without overthrowing capitalism, and criticises "market mechanisms" such as carbon trading
Carbon emission trading
Carbon emissions trading is a form of emissions trading that specifically targets carbon dioxide and it currently constitutes the bulk of emissions trading....
as being unworkable, profit-driven and reinforcing the capitalist relations that caused the pollution to begin with.
Indigenous Rights
The Socialist Alliance has played a role in recent campaigns for justice for indigenous Australia, particularly around the inquiries into the deaths-in-custody of TJ Hickey2004 Redfern riots
The Redfern Riots on the evening of Saturday 14 February 2004 was an event in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern sparked by the death of Thomas 'TJ' Hickey, a 17 year old Indigenous Australian....
in Redfern and Mulrunji Doomadgee
2004 Palm Island death in custody
The 2004 Palm Island death in custody incident relates to the death of Palm Island, Queensland resident, Mulrunji on Friday, 19 November 2004 in a police cell. The death of Mulrunji led to civic disturbances on the island and a legal, political and media sensation that continued for three years...
on Palm Island. In the case of Mulrunji, leading indigenous activist, academic and Socialist Alliance member Sam Watson played a key role in organising the protests that led to the re-opening of the inquiry.
The Socialist Alliance also opposes the Federal Government's Northern Territory intervention, and helped to organise the 12 February 2008 protests outside Parliament House in Canberra.
Anti-racism and Immigrants Rights
The Socialist Alliance has been able to build growing support among some ethnic community sectors in urban Australia such as among Somali youth, the Tamil community and from within the Latin American community. In the latter case, the Socialist Alliance has been an active supporter of the Bolivarian RevolutionBolivarian Revolution
The “Bolivarian Revolution” refers to a leftist social movement and political process in Venezuela led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement...
in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and is affiliated to the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network.
Socialist Alliance members have also been involved in the struggle for refugee rights, opposing mandatory detention of illegal immigrants, and calling for Australia to pursue a more humane policy on refugees.
Public Services
The Socialist Alliance is an advocate of quality public services, calling for increased funding for public education, healthcare, housing and transport. In NSW, Socialist Alliance is involved in the campaigns against privatisation planned by the State government (for example electricity and prisons), alongside the Greens, unions, ALP members and community groups.Social Justice
The Socialist Alliance is also active in a number of other social justice campaigns, including LGBTI rights, women's liberation, welfare rights, and prison reform, as well as around local issues.International Solidarity
The Socialist Alliance also actively campaigns in solidarity with international pro-democracy struggles as far ranging as Latin America,the Middle East,
Western Sahara,
Zimbabwe,
South East Asia, and elsewhere.
Criticism
Other political organisations on the Australian far left have criticised the Socialist Alliance project. Socialist AlternativeSocialist Alternative (Australia)
Socialist Alternative is a Trotskyist political organisation in Australia formed by an expulsion from the former International Socialist Organisation in 1995. It is one of the largest groups of the Australian far Left, claiming to have the largest active membership. With branches across...
, for example, contest that a sustained mass radicalisation had been born out of the anti-capitalist movement or that a significant layer of disillusioned ALP
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
voters are willing to join a socialist electoral program. Socialist Alternative also criticises the Socialist Alliance for what it perceives to be an over-emphasis on electoral work.
Upon its resignation from the Alliance, the former International Socialist Organisation
International Socialist Organisation (Australia)
The International Socialist Organisation was an Australian Trotskyist political organisation, founded in 1971, originally as the Marxist Workers' Group until it dissolved to form Solidarity in 2008 with two other socialist organisations...
accused the Democratic Socialist Perspective
Democratic Socialist Perspective
The Democratic Socialist Perspective was an Australian Marxist political group, which operated as the largest component of a broad-left socialist formation, the Socialist Alliance...
of what it deemed "disastrous decisions" such as declaring the Alliance a multi-tendency socialist party and adopting Green Left Weekly
Green Left Weekly
Green Left Weekly is an Australian radical left-wing newspaper, written by progressive activists to "present the views excluded by the big business media". It was published by the Democratic Socialist Perspective from its inception in 1990 until January 2010, when the DSP merged into the Socialist...
as the official paper, which the ISO saw as alienating other Alliance members and affiliates.
The Revolutionary Socialist Party
Revolutionary Socialist Party (Australia)
The Revolutionary Socialist Party is a small socialist organisation in Australia, formed in 2008 by a split from the former Democratic Socialist Perspective . Members of the split were expelled from the DSP over debates about the organisation's participation in the Socialist Alliance...
(who formed in 2008 as a split from the DSP over debates about the Socialist Alliance) accused the Alliance project of remaining "heavily dependent on the DSP’s political and organising efforts and fundraising." The RSP also (incorrectly) claimed that only the DSP remained an affiliate of the Alliance by 2008.
Active affiliate organisations
- ResistanceResistance (socialist youth organisation)Resistance is a Revolutionary Socialist youth organisation with its national headquarters in Sydney. Resistance is an independent affiliate of the Socialist Alliance with a strong historical relationship with the Democratic Socialist Perspective, which dissolved into the Socialist Alliance in...
(affiliated in 2003) - Sudanese-Australian Human Rights Association (affiliated in 2008)
Inactive affiliate organisations, and organisations which have not formally disaffiliated
- Worker-Communist Party of Iraq in AustraliaWorker-Communist Party of IraqThe Worker-Communist Party of Iraq is a Marxist political party in Iraq and amongst Iraqi exiles. Rebwar Ahmed is the current leader of this party. It was Established in July 1993 through a merger of communist groups....
- Workers League
- Workers LibertyWorkers Liberty AustraliaWorkers' Liberty is a small Trotskyist group in Australia founded in 1980. Closely aligned with the Alliance for Workers' Liberty in Britain, it publishes a paper, also called Workers' Liberty.-External links:*...
- Chilean Popular and Indigenous Network (affiliated in 2004)
Former affiliates
- Socialist AlternativeSocialist Alternative (Australia)Socialist Alternative is a Trotskyist political organisation in Australia formed by an expulsion from the former International Socialist Organisation in 1995. It is one of the largest groups of the Australian far Left, claiming to have the largest active membership. With branches across...
(withdrew in the initial stages) - Socialist DemocracySocialist Democracy (Australia)Socialist Democracy was a network of Trotskyist activists in Australia who were in sympathy with the reunified Fourth International....
(disbanded in December 2005) - Workers Power (left in April 2006)
- International Socialist OrganisationInternational Socialist Organisation (Australia)The International Socialist Organisation was an Australian Trotskyist political organisation, founded in 1971, originally as the Marxist Workers' Group until it dissolved to form Solidarity in 2008 with two other socialist organisations...
(left in January 2007) - Freedom Socialist Party (left in March 2007)
- Democratic Socialist PerspectiveDemocratic Socialist PerspectiveThe Democratic Socialist Perspective was an Australian Marxist political group, which operated as the largest component of a broad-left socialist formation, the Socialist Alliance...
(merged into Socialist Alliance in January 2010)
Current
- Secretary of Geelong Trades and Labour Council, Tim Gooden
- Novelist, playwright and indigenous activist, Sam Watson
- Councillor on Fremantle City Council, Sam Wainwright
- Former Victorian State Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers UnionAustralian Manufacturing Workers UnionThe Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, or more fully, the Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union is an Australian trade union that is registered with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade...
, Craig Johnston - Former Union Solidarity coordinator, and CFMEU organiser, Dave Kerin
- Aboriginal activist and secretary of the first Aboriginal Tent EmbassyAboriginal Tent EmbassyThe Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a controversial semi-permanent assemblage claiming to represent the political rights of Australian Aborigines. It is made of a large group of activists, signs, and tents that reside on the lawn of Old Parliament House in Canberra, the Australian capital...
, Pat Eatock. - Physician, cousin of former Sri Lankan president Chandrika KumaratungaChandrika KumaratungaChandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga born June 29, 1945) was the 4th Executive president of Sri Lanka, serving from November 12, 1994 to November 19, 2005. The daughter of two former Prime Ministers, she was also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until end of 2005...
and outspoken supporter of Sri Lankan Tamil rights, Brian Senewiratne - On Line OpinionOn Line OpinionOn Line Opinion is an electronic opinion journal, founded in 1999 by political commentator and strategist Graham Edward Young, a former president of the Queensland branch of the Liberal Party of Australia, and edited by Susan Prior...
author, and co-editor of Green Left Weeklly, Stuart Munckton. - Queensland AMWUAustralian Manufacturing Workers UnionThe Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, or more fully, the Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union is an Australian trade union that is registered with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade...
state organiser, former president of the Port Curtis and Hinterland ALP branch, and former president of the GladstoneGladstone, Queensland- Education :Gladstone has several primary schools, three high schools, and one university campus, Central Queensland University. It is also home to CQIT Gladstone Campus.- Recreation :...
branch of the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU), Phil Golby - 2006 Wollongong Undergraduate Students' Association President and 2011 Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales "Rising Star" award winner, Jess MooreJess MooreJess Moore is a well-known community activist and part-time worker and a leading climate and renewable energy campaigner in Wollongong. She is a member of the Socialist Alliance and is active in the struggle for marriage equality and helped found the Illawarra Aboriginal Rights Group, set up in...
Former
- Marxist author and historian, Humphrey McQueenHumphrey McQueenHumphrey McQueen is an Australian author, historian, and cultural commentator. He has written many books on a wide range of subjects covering history, the media, politics and the visual arts...
- Maritime Union of AustraliaMaritime Union of AustraliaThe Maritime Union of Australia covers waterside workers, seafarers, port workers, professional divers, and office workers associated with Australian ports. As of 2011 the union has about 13,000 members. It is an affiliate of the International Transport Workers' Federation and represents the...
Western Australia State Secretary, Chris Cain
Deceased
- Minister for Labour in the Whitlam government 1972-75, and leading figure in the Australian labour movementAustralian labour movementThe Australian labour movement has its origins in the early 19th century and includes both trade unions and political activity. At its broadest, the movement can be defined as encompassing the industrial wing, the unions in Australia, and the political wing, the Australian Labor Party and minor...
, Clyde CameronClyde CameronClyde Robert Cameron, AO , Australian politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 31 years from 1949 to 1980, a Cabinet minister in the Whitlam government and a leading figure in the Australian labour movement for forty years.-Biography:Cameron was born in Murray Bridge,... - Aboriginal activist and NyoongahNoongarThe Noongar are an indigenous Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast...
elder, Yaluritja (Clarrie) IssacsClarrie IsaacsClarence Frederick "Clarrie" Isaacs also known as Yaluritja and Ishak Mohamad Haj was an Australian Aboriginal activist.-Life and career:...