Bob Briton – A Life On The Left

T Johnston and Bob Briton

This interview is the first in a series for the Militant Monthly where prominent members of the ACP answer questions about their political backgrounds, what they bring to their role in the party, and their vision for the future of the country.  ACP member T Johnston checks in with Bob Briton, General Secretary of the Australian Communist Party, fresh from his shift with the Adelaide street kitchen, where ACP and CUDL members offer food, clothing, and solidarity to those most in need of it. Affable and quick to laugh, Bob’s easy-going, approachable demeanour belies his years of experience in working class struggle, hard earned in the trenches of strikes, protests, occupations, and in his decades long involvement in Australian radical politics. Touching on Bob’s upbringing, personal philosophy, political life, and even serving as a brief history in Australian and global politics, we hope this interview gives an insight into the life of an exemplary campaigner for socialism and justice, and inspires others to join the fight for a better world. For those who would like a companion piece to this interview, check out Bob’s profile on the ACP website.

MM: G’day Bob, glad you could make time after another successful street kitchen. Before we get into the personal stuff, would you like to give us a quick report on ACP Adelaide’s progress?

BB: We founded (ACP Adelaide) very soon after the founding congress of the ACP in June 2019. It was a small group of people, some former members of the CPA, some from the period immediately after that, and one of the first things we did was establish a street kitchen, which is now run every Sunday at Whitmore Square in the Adelaide CBD. It’s a good practical exercise, an opportunity for the members to spend time face-to-face, and a good way to engage with the community.

Bob Briton speaking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

MM: The Adelaide Street Kitchen has found a lot of quick success; it could be catching up to the iconic Sydney Street Kitchen soon!

BB: A good measure of socialist emulation! We’ve also done a lot of postering, a lot of educational classes, especially for the younger membership  who are all keen to learn, it’s a very enthusiastic group with a new cohort of recently inducted members on the way, which will lift our capacity even higher.
           

“2020 is looking very promising for Adelaide and the party generally”

MM: Great to hear. Let’s get stuck into the meat of the interview! Your profile on the ACP website describes your strict Catholic schooling. In what way did those experiences affect you, and did they play any part in the development of your class conscious worldview?

BB: It was a very authoritarian background, strict, religious, with corporal punishment – we would be belted over perceived misbehaviour – which really was a form of terrorism over the kids in the school. I vowed at the time to never send my children to a religious school, and it made me an atheist from a young age. The contrast between the religious message and the behaviour (of the staff) was enormous, and could not be reconciled.

That time was also the tail end of religious sectarianism in Australia – people now couldn’t understand just how strong the bias and bigotry in society was. The nuns would say “when a Catholic and a non-Catholic marry, there’s the devil between them” – and my mother was Catholic and my father was agnostic at most – so I had this terrifying image of the devil being between my mother and father! (laughs) Of course, I had friends from the area who were going to public schools, and so I very quickly developed a scepticism around the type of religious instruction I was getting. All of these things prepared me for what was to happen later on.

I do have to thank (the religious school staff) for all that though – if I hadn’t had this experience, I might never have thought about it! And in the midst of all this terror, humiliation, and abuse, I must admit I did get a fairly good generalist education (laughs)

MM: That’s very generous of you!
BB: I do try to be positive about these things, otherwise you’ll get bitter and twisted!

MM: After school, you entered the workforce at a young age, in what seems like a typical working class upbringing, but you joined the old Communist and Socialist parties early on. Were these ideas that you’d been exposed to already, or was it seeing the parties that sparked your curiosity and made you want to join?

BB: The most radicalising thing that happened to me growing up was the Vietnam War and the threat of conscription. I missed out on the ballot by 12 months, my brother went in to the ballot but his birthdate wasn’t drawn. It was a really frightening time for families all across the country, and the government really underestimated the resentment of the Australian people towards conscription and the doubt they had towards the cover story of why we were in Vietnam. So that also prepared me for what was to happen later on.

“I had this impression while I was in school that once I graduated, I could become this autonomous individual in charge of my life, doing what I want, etc – and it came as a shock to find out just how authoritarian workplaces are under capitalism – they’re not democracies! That shook me”

Straight away I was convinced to join the union, and learned about worker solidarity and trade unionism, and started to meet people who were refugees from the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. They told me about the elected, Marxist government of Allende being overthrown in a ruthless coup, and I developed a deep admiration for the struggle of the Chilean people, especially the communists, and I became curious as to what about this system would so inspire these people. So I started to look into it, I read, and read, and got in touch with the original Communist party at the time (the original CPA, 1979). I didn’t really know anything about the Communist party at the time or their shortcomings, I just knew they were somehow attached to this ideology I wanted to learn about, so I joined and went through a fairly quick period of disillusionment!

MM: Could we talk about that period of disillusionment?

BB: The CPA had a glorious history, littered with both left and right errors, but an amazing story that deserves to be celebrated. When I joined in 1979, it was the beginning of a steep decline. It was incoherent politically – proudly pluralist, multi-tendency, and confused. The branches I was involved with were disorganised, unmotivated, and even a little incompetent, I must say. 

In the early 80s the CPA started an inter-party debate called “The Prospects for Marxism in Australia” and they would circulate these documents, each one becoming more and more pessimistic about the future of Marxist ideas, and I thought “why bother?”

“Why bother committing yourself heart and soul, as I did, to something that has no optimism for its own future or the future of the country?”

I left, and joined what was then called the SPA.

It was far better, but unfortunately the former members of the CPA brought a long list of bad habits into the SPA, including a tailing attitude towards the ALP in the trade union movement, a lack of confidence in taking an independent, let alone leading role in movements – it was sort of born under a bad star. They swore when they founded the SPA that they would do their utmost to educate their members in Marxism-Leninism, but their initial efforts came to nothing, really. The SPA, which is now confusingly called the CPA (laughs), is also very confused – you’ll find wildly different attitudes from its members in different parts of the country, for example – it’s suffered from the same sort of degeneration as the original party, unfortunately.

MM: Sounds like the problems from the 70s were never really solved.

BB: The 1970s were a very active time, in the wake of the anti-Vietnam protests, the environmental movement, indigenous rights, the movements for equality for women and LGBTQI people. There were all of these different forces, and there was no acknowledgement of an underlying, class conscious belief system and guide to activity. There was also the material conditions – capital had decided to lead a full court press against socialism. It began this ramping up of confrontation with socialist countries, and started an ideological attack to convince people that market economies and so-called free enterprise and multiparty democracy were the “end of history” and that it was the only efficient way to run a society. There was a growing intolerance of Marxist ideas throughout society, including in academia. It was the beginning of a very bleak time. 

MM: Do you think the inability to unite behind these different ideas and struggles took the wind out of the sails of the socialist parties at the time? Why couldn’t they find a common ideological position to withstand the anti-socialist push?

BB: They couldn’t, because it was being deliberately obscured from them! The basic questions of class antagonisms and living in a class-exploitative system was no longer seen as the central problem from which other ones derived. So confusion was sown, and people weren’t equipped to resist it, and neither was the party. We had the decline of the Soviet Union and socialist countries, which demoralised people, even people who were critical of the Soviet Union! It had an effect on them, because whether you liked what you heard about the Soviet Union or not, it was proof that there was an alternative position when the ruling class was telling us that there was no alternative – the “end of history”, the “end of ideology” – that took a heavy toll on people.

MM: In the 90s, with the end of the USSR, Francis Fukuyama famously declared the “end of history” – that bourgeois democracy would cover the entire globe and that everyone would forget about socialism, but in the last 5 or 6 years we’ve seen a visible resurgence in interest in Marxism. What’s different now from the 90s, when it seemed like Marxism was terminal and would never again find purchase in the world?

BB: The 90s were the worst decade that I lived through, from a political-ideological perspective. It started off very badly with the winding up of many national liberation movements in Central America, the defeat of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua; it did look like there would never be a resurgence of anti-capitalist, or socialist and communist ideas.

Yet imperialism and capitalism is working full-time to earn itself enemies by being so brutal, so self-interested and so neglectful of people’s needs, eventually, it’s dawned on people that we’ve got this multi-pronged crisis in front of us, and the only ideology that makes sense in trying to mount an alternative is socialism, and Marxism-Leninism. That’s where we are now.

“I think it’s the beginning, the very early stages of a rise in that type of awareness, and it is growing, there’s no doubt about that”

We’re seeing the rise of very strong social movements. You have to avoid having an Australia-centric point of view, because what happens here isn’t representative of what’s happening around the world. You’d be forgiven for thinking that a consistent, class-conscious outlook is rare, but around the world communist parties have grown in strength. We draw inspiration as a new party from the large, effective parties in other countries and their role in giving the world a good old shake! (laughs) But we’ve still got a long way to go, and we’ve got a hard task ahead of us. I don’t mean to sound pompous, but we’ve got a low level of political awareness in Australia – we don’t see the contradictions in society between the capitalist class and the working class. That awareness is much higher in other countries in the world, and it’s our job to build that awareness to make the fight back effective.

MM: We’ve been fed this myth of a happy, egalitarian, classless society, yet lately many surveys show that we actually have a very low level of trust in our government, and our system of governance’s ability to work well for everyone – yet we don’t have the words to articulate those feelings or put them into political action.

BB: There is a great deal of scepticism for the political process – the classic “they’re all as bad as each other” line – and disinterest and cynicism towards the political process. Unless that results in some further action to make it meaningful, that’s pointless, and it actually plays into the hands of the people running the show, because they aren’t going to be interfered with by these essentially pacified people. Whereas in Latin America, there’s a deep cynicism towards institutions of capitalist society and the political process, and people know why! They know the corrupting influence of the capitalist class on the political process, and in many cases they’ve striven to create an alternative – it’s difficult, they’ve been beaten down many times, but they keep coming back! It’s this extra element that we have to inject into the political awareness of Australian workers. We need people to be actively involved in seeking change.

Some of the apathy I understand – people are worn down by their working life, all of the demands and stresses on them – when they come home, the last thing on their mind is getting to a meeting or a protest. It’s difficult, but it’s happened before. In its heyday, the Communist parties had membership who worked 6 days a week, long days, in work that was very physically tiring, and yet they built big, well-resourced organisations that worked well and had a red-hot go. It can be done!

MM: In terms of your influences in joining socialist parties and developing a Marxist worldview, who were some of your influences? Philosophers, historical figures, other party members?

BB: There were some real standouts. When I was in Canberra and first joined the movement, a mentor of mine was a super activist, Ray O’Shannassy. The clarity of his thinking, his preparedness to act, and serve it up to people who were giving homeless and unemployed people a hard time – to really take issues up to them. He engaged in tactics like occupation of offices, organisation of squats. It was a tough school. He was a tough person, in very tense circumstances. That had the biggest effect on me – the need to show, in action, what you believe.

Bob Briton in a Cu Chi Tunnels whilst on a delegation to Vietnam

“You can profess to believe all sorts of things – but they don’t mean squat if they’re not followed up with action that makes an impact in the real world”

When I met Peter Symon, the historic General Secretary of the SPA, he had a big influence on me. He was a deep thinker, who took a long view of political struggle, and the complexity of political struggles.

As far as philosophers, of course Marx and Lenin, but I have to admit, the sorts of things that influenced me most when I was becoming active were a couple of works – Stalin’s “Foundations of Leninism”, which is a very accessible and well expressed summary of Marxist-Leninist ideas and the tactics of the Bolshevik party, and the “Report to the 7th World Congress of the Communist International” by Georgi Dimitrov, the Bulgarian communist accused of burning down the Reichstag, among other things. That document was circulated amongst the communist movement, often under the title “Against Fascism and War”, and it had a great influence on me. Again, super accessible, easy to read, and so full of quotable quotes. I read those texts over and over, and it reinforced the message I was getting from Ray – the central thing is to act in the real world. Not just to study, know, and recite classical works, but to do meaningful and sensible things in the real world that will help people.

MM: It’s been around 6 months since the founding congress of the ACP. Can you tell us a little about some of the highlights and successes of the Adelaide ACP since foundation?

BB: We’re very proud of the Street Kitchens – it’s a pillar of the party in Adelaide and other cities around the country – we’ve been postering, boosting party visibility and bringing in new membership, and members have been involved in protests and actions, but we’re not satisfied! We’re going to start a national campaign, so there’s an organised series of activities for the national membership to be involved in. Giving ourselves a break, it has only been 6 months, but we’re establishing a modus operandi and building up a core. Compared to Melbourne, Adelaide is a very quiet town, where industries have shut down so there isn’t the focus of large numbers of industrial workers to recruit and organise. Those are some of the challenges, but we’re aware of them and we’re up for it.

MM: The 100 year anniversary of the founding of the original Communist Party of Australia is approaching. With this in mind, what do you think is the future of the communist movement in Australia?

BB: When I look back on that history, it really is a glorious history. The strike struggles, the organisation of the unemployed, the resistance to the Korean and Vietnam wars, participation in the Spanish Civil war- the list goes on. The party members were in the forefront of all of those, and it was a really visible threat to the system. The party was banned twice, and the second time was only defeated by a referendum, where the people said that communists have a right to organise and express their point of view in a party. There is this great history, and this year is a great opportunity to showcase that.

“The future is hard to imagine, but I think it will be bright, I think it will recover those traditions, the capacity for organisation, and will go further”

We’re not there yet, the objective conditions are not there yet, but it won’t be long, given the nature of the crises facing the system here, which people are becoming aware of – the poor handling of the bushfires, for example. The limitations of single-issue based social movements will become obvious to people as well. There’s a systemic problem – it’s not just that we have a dud Prime Minister, which we do, but they could get rid of him, go find another dud, and continue to administer the system in the same old way. We could elect a Labor government, and things would continue to run in more or less the same way. People are looking for an alternative, and the most coherent alternative is Marxism-Leninism. Scary word for a lot of people, but to me it’s common sense.

MM: What role do you see the ACP playing in the future?

BB: I think the main one in the revival of the communist movement! Others might lay claim to the name, other traditions within the Marxist movement, other parties, but I don’t think they’ve got it. They don’t have a consistent, class conscious outlook, they’re terribly distracted, they’ve lost their focus. They get diverted into all sorts of different issues and often end up taking reactionary positions, especially in the question of international relations. I think the ACP, which is consistent, and has basic ideological positions sorted, will come into its own. It doesn’t fill me with joy, but I do think that groups that don’t have those basics sorted will continue their decline.

MM: Anything else you’d like to leave readers with at the conclusion of this interview?

BB: I’d like to get across the optimism that I do feel. After the foundation of the ACP, I do feel that there is this enthusiasm within the party that I had when I first joined the movement. After a certain while in organisations I felt were defective, there sets in a sort of routine – meetings for their own sake, protests for their own sake – a type of formulaic attitude. Of course you need meetings, and you need protests – but there has to be more. In the ACP there is that recognition that there needs to be more, that there is a need for other forms of organisation, and that we need to be able to reach out to communities and not be aloof from them, to be based in communities and not only in the CBD or university campuses.

I’d like to leave people with that sense of optimism that I believe the foundation of the ACP represents.