Don’t Discount Democratic Rights
By: Bill Posters
In the face of an international wave of anti-democratic laws and legal enforcement, Communists must remember the value of democratic rights to our struggle without forgetting the inherent limitations of rights under capitalism. Democratic rights to speech, association and to withdraw our labour are powerful tools for the working class to apply in the fight to end exploitation and achieve a new society free of the suffering capitalism has forced on humanity.
The media of countries like Australia report on the growth of autocratic rule abroad such as with Victor Orbán’s steady crackdown on opposition in Hungary and usurping of dictatorial powers [1]. The Chinese Government’s imposition of a new National Security Law on Hong Kong also helps maintain a system of oligarchic capitalist rule by stamping out citizen’s ability to protest, strike and otherwise oppose the pro-capitalist exercise of power in the city. Even in countries praised as democratic, such as India, parliamentary procedures were overridden to introduce wildly unpopular legislation that threatens the livelihoods of the country’s rural population [2].
Australia is not exempt from creeping authoritarianism. Workers coming of age and joining the workforce grew up under the shadow of pervasive surveillance and draconian “anti-terror” laws, justified by the so-called “War on Terror”. These include “provisions for warrantless searches, the banning of organisations, preventive detention, and the secret detention and interrogation of non-suspect citizens by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)” [3]. There has been “legislative creep” of these powers to disrupt the activities of motorcycle clubs and other groups.
Alongside these big-ticket attacks, the government has also reduced the ability of working people to fight back by suffocating them with bureaucratic requirements. Changes to state and federal electoral laws have made it harder for working class or community interest parties to organise and use election campaigns as platforms for public outreach. Electoral commission have increased required deposits, upped registration fees and raised their requirements for the number of registered party members that need to be submitted in order for a Party to appear on a ballot. This last requirement is particularly insidious for members of Communist parties as it provides an easily checklist of who to arrest when the party starts doing too well. Australia has a long and sordid history of officially sanctioned and conducted anti-Communist persecution, so Communists with long memories are hesitant to have their details officially registered, hampering efforts to join elections.
Unions too are suffocated by pedantic and arcane bureaucratic requirements that hamper activity. Instead of being able to fight for single, industry-wide awards, unions are forced to compile mountains of paperwork in EBA claims for each employer in the industry they cover. Union officials are often trapped in their offices, submitting forms and cross-checking documents instead of out among the members raising class consciousness and readying for their next sortie against capitalism. Even when they climb out from under this mountain, officials are still tied up in red tape, required to give notice and submit forms before acting in their members interests and restricted to only taking action at times convenient to employers. Those who refuse to be bound are subject to monstrous fines, both against their unions and them personally.
The Limitations of Rights Under Capitalism
Rights under capitalism are naturally transitory and limited by the nature of the system itself. A major limitation is that rights for the working class are always extracted from the ruling class through struggle, never gifted, and that the state will inevitably attempt to claw these rights back as soon as opposition weakens. The imposition of penal powers by the Menzies government in the 1950’s hampered labour organising in Australia and cost workers and their unions hefty sums in the values of the time [4]. Through arduous struggle, mostly under Communist leadership, the penal powers were eventually defeated. However, as unions weakened during the Accord years and the era of enterprise bargaining, the state was able to reintroduce many penalty provisions and many new ones that are still with us today.
Rights under capitalism are naturally transitory and limited by the nature of the system itself. A major limitation is that rights for the working class are always extracted from the ruling class through struggle, never gifted, and that the state will inevitably attempt to claw these rights back as soon as opposition weakens. The imposition of penal powers by the Menzies government in the 1950’s hampered labour organising in Australia and cost workers and their unions hefty sums in the values of the time [4]. Through arduous struggle, mostly under Communist leadership, the penal powers were eventually defeated. However, as unions weakened during the Accord years and the era of enterprise bargaining, the state was able to reintroduce many penalty provisions and many new ones that are still with us today.
Communists have had to constantly fight for the right to spread our message and to associate as a Party. They braved police truncheons on many occasions in the 1930s in what became known as the “free speech struggles”. Their party was banned twice and the general secretary, Lance Sharkey, was slammed into prison for saying Australians would welcome the arrival of the Soviet Union’s Red Army if they came to drive out a fascist invader. Union leaders were gaoled for refusing to call off strikes or pay fines. Today, the right to protest has been curtailed by COVID-19 restrictions and denial of the right to gather for other reasons, including the blocking of major works.
Even where rights are formally recognised and formally protected, the reality of capitalist societies undermines their equal implementation. Free speech in a system where means of dissemination are overwhelmingly dominated by a handful of media moguls with similar, elite attitudes makes a mockery of the “marketplace of ideas”. Although the internet promised a golden age of free expression, major tech companies have monopolised the platforms people use to express themselves and are free to block content that runs counter to their and their advertiser’s interests. This can be seen in how Facebook disproportionately shut down or blocked access to left-wing pages and links while allowing conspiracy theorists to run riot. The Facebook page of the ACP was given a shadow ban for expressing support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Actions like these greatly limit the social media outreach of those expressing political dissent. With greater monopolization and efforts to undermine “net neutrality”, the logic of capital has turned the internet, like everything under capitalism, into a profit-maximisation engine that will serve both the financial and ideological interests of capital.
Any Marxist worth their salt knows that rights are limited under capitalism. An important point of distinction between reformists and revolutionaries, is the understanding that rights under capitalism are inherently limited and transitory. While reformists believe that a steady accumulation of rights by struggling within capitalism can ultimately reform capitalism either into socialism or capitalism with a “human face”, revolutionaries understand that only a fundamental change of the relations of production can achieve socialism and that the capitalist class will not roll over and let this happen.
Democratic Rights, Worth Fighting For
Yet despite all this, democratic rights are still worth fighting for. Rights to vote, of association and to political speech can all contribute to the revolutionary activity of Communist parties.
Democratic rights make it easier for Communist parties to spread their message to the working class. Experience in Australia has shown that taking part in electoral campaigns is a good way to force mainstream media to cover the activities of Communist parties. It punctures the media blackout normally enforced on Anglophone Communist parties and tells the public overall that we are here and we are active. It is easier to be seen when you can legally carry a banner, hold a flag, wear a party t-shirt, hand out pamphlets, put up posters or any number of other simple activities.
Having the legal right to association and to speak about our views also makes it easier to work among the masses. We can be open about our message and engage in activities that engage broader sections of the working class. Despite the occasional attempts at official disruption, we can hold street kitchens openly displaying our symbols and telling participants about the possibility to defeat capitalism. Though the number of accessible spaces and opportunities have diminished, we can still distribute leaflets and hold information and fundraising events.
Legality helps to maintain the cadre force of Communist parties. Experienced, reliable members with developed practical skills can use democratic rights of association and speech to spend their time actively campaigning for our cause, growing the party, winning battles for the working class and bringing us every day closer to Socialism. Without those rights, many cadres will become victims of state violence. Brave fighters will languish in horrid dungeons and endure terrible abuse. Meanwhile, their comrades on the outside will be forced to work underground, spending their time avoiding detection and working at vastly reduced capacity. It is not impossible to win the struggle for socialism under conditions of illegality. In fact, almost all successful revolutions were achieved and consolidated this way. However, none of the leaders of these struggles made a virtue out of necessity or dismissed the value of open, legal work when it was available to them.
Communists should fight for the preservation and extension of democratic rights as part of their struggle against capitalism. Democratic rights are not the end goal, but a means to achieving our goal of abolishing class society and exploitation. It is only under socialism that the working class will achieve lasting and meaningful rights.
References:
[1] https://www.lawfareblog.com/understanding-hungarys-authoritarian-response-pandemic
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54233080
[3] https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1586987/382Ananian-WelshandWilliams2.pdf
[4] https://auscp.org.au/history/penal-powers-jack-mcphillips/