The Only Way Is Forward – The Australian Workers Movement Staring Down the Barrel of a Gun

Dan Kelly

25/08/2021

Celebrating International Workers Day, unions and community groups marched in Parramatta to support the Green Ban on the historic Willow Grove site. This rousing display of solidarity provoked feelings of both inspiration and disappointment. Inspiration came from the militant language and open appeals for building links between different groups and sectors that comprise the working class. However, outside of speeches and the use of key radical phrases, disappointment has set in for the workers’ movement as a whole. The sad state of affairs the Australian workers’ movement faces in our time is overwhelming, and the working class finds itself staring down the barrel of a gun.

The Three Key Issues With the Modern Union Movement

A lack of militancy. Labor’s sell-out of workers with the Prices and Incomes Accord has left a weak union movement, led by bureaucrats, unwilling to take action for rank and file members.

Flawed and undemocratic processes. For example, the National Tertiary Education Union recently bypassed the requests of its rank-and-file members and cozied up with university bosses [1]. Similarly, the UWU has been found to be repeatedly collaborating with employers in recent disputes at General Mills and Smeaton Grange, undercutting the demands and rights of its members [2].

A lack of engagement with rank-and-file members. This is evident with the recent actions of HospoVoice which announced that, in spite the requests of its membership, it is implementing a tiered membership system based on financial contributions, where members have to pay $79 a month to access industrial advice [3]. The combination of these factors has led to an overall trend of declining membership in unions in Australia, dropping from a union density of 49.6 percent in 1980 to a 14.6 percent in 2016 [4].

Thus, the current state of the workers’ movement in Australia today is one in which opportunist unions have alienated their membership base.

These issues have been compounded by the wider political context and the lack of engagement with organised labour by workers. Since the late 1970s, Australia’s political system has been characterised by its reactionary, anti-union, anti-worker agenda, implemented by both Liberal and Labor governments. These governments have created a legal system that stifles any expression of dissent from the working class. We find ourselves confronted with a workers’ movement that is failing to advance the cause of the very workers they are meant to represent. The work of these reactionaries has allowed the ruling class to place shackles on working class action. Although anti-worker legislation isn’t new, the laws have become stricter, the penalties harsher and the anti-worker judgments more thoroughly enforced. Meanwhile the ability of the working class to fight back has declined.

Despite its issues, we must nevertheless recognise the importance of the union movement. Many years ago, Karl Marx wrote that if trade unions ‘have become indispensable for the guerrilla fight between Capital and Labour, they are even more important as organised bodies to promote the abolition of the very system of wage labour’ [5]. Indeed, as comrade Sharkey said when reflecting on Australia in his own time, ‘that is why we need an ever stronger labour movement, whose mass base is the trade unions, to conduct a united struggle on the industrial, political and intellectual fronts with a clearly defined goal’ [5]. The words of Marx and Sharkey are just as relevant today as they were then. In reflecting on this, we see the need for the working class to address these embedded flaws in the current union movement, and wrangle it back into a weapon in the hands of the membership.

“We must realise that the answer is not less militancy, but more militancy. The answer isn’t fewer members, but more members. The answer isn’t limiting the parameters of our struggle, but expanding them.”

The question confronting all workers is which way forward? As communists, we stand for militant, class-conscious trade unionism, independent of hostile ideological influences [6]. We believe that workers must unite and assert themselves. As Marx stated on the role of those involved in the workers’ movement, it is our duty to ‘act consciously as focal points for organising the working class in the greater interests of its complete emancipation’ [5]. This means that we must act within the existing unions and attempt to reinvigorate them to fulfil their proper role in society. If the state and the union bureaucrats refuse to allow this, then we have no choice but to operate outside of them. This lesson has been highlighted with the brutal crackdown on the Builders Labourers Federation in the 1980’s, punished by the union bureaucrats and the state for their militancy and class consciousness [7]. More recently, this has been demonstrated with the breakaway of RAFFWU from the right-wing SDA [8].

As principled Marxist-Leninists we must work within unions, rather than leave the members to suffer the misguided leadership of the bureaucrats in control. Lenin wrote we have a duty ‘to convince the backward elements, to work among them, and not to fence ourselves off from them with artificial and childishly ‘Left’ slogans’ [9]. Thus, the line is drawn in the sand. We will work in these spaces and work to repair the dilapidated house that is the current union movement. However, the roof is caving and the walls are cracking. If this house is beyond repair, we must move on and build a new one that meets the needs of workers.

Are we to let defeatists, posers and cowards, whether individuals or organisations, lead us astray without purpose? The answer is an emphatic ‘no’. We shouldn’t follow those who do not have the workers best interests in heart. They can either engage in dialogue with us and move forward, or they can remain in their ways and be left behind. Let us not forget this is a class war. And, in this war, we are waging a struggle against the labour aristocracy, in the name of the masses of the workers. As Lenin said, ‘we are waging a struggle against the opportunist and social-chauvinist leaders in order to win the working class over to our side’ [9].

We are faced with the fact that the leaders and organisations supposed to defend us have become corrupted and sold-out workers. We need new leaders and groups who will fight tooth and nail, and who will learn from the mistakes of those who came before us. We must realise that the answer is not less militancy, but more militancy. The answer isn’t fewer members, but more members. The answer isn’t limiting the parameters of our struggle, but expanding them.

The question is how are we to put this into action? For all workers, the answer is simple. Realise the issues you are facing, both on the work site and behind the scenes. Organise and talk with your mates and colleagues about where these issues are coming from and how to challenge them. Understand that in challenging them, we are confronted by limitations from the state and our unions. Finally, in doing all this, we have two choices—accept defeat, or fight for victory.

Fight for victory by joining and getting your mates to join a union. Fight for victory by questioning the actions of the leadership. Push your organisers, your delegates, your executives to listen to the voices of the rank-and-file membership. And if, in doing this they are found lacking, then we must take it upon ourselves to lead the rank-and-file in deciding their own fate.

Today, in Australia, the workers’ movement is confronted with a daunting challenge. But it is a challenge that has been won before. We must fight back, and we must fight with victory as our end goal. The bureaucrats, politicians and sellouts may not like us for how we act and what we want to achieve. But we don’t care. For we know that the workers united will never be defeated. Not by the police, not by the Liberals, not by Labor sell-outs, and not by union bureaucrats. We have a world to win. And the only way is forward. Power to the people.

The Australian Communist Party’s Trade Union policy can be viewed here:

https://www.auscp.org.au/trade-union-policy

To get active in the struggle for better working conditions, for a better union movement and a better Australia, enquire here about how to get involved with the Australian Communist Party:

https://www.auscp.org.au/joinacp

References:

[1] Fieldes, Diane, and Jordan Humphreys. 2020. "How Socialists Should Respond To Union Sell-Outs". Red Flag, , 2020. https://redflag.org.au/node/7213

[2] Grenfell, Oscar. 2021. "Australian Pseudo-Left Solidarity Group Covers Up Union Sell-Out At Coles Smeaton Grange". World Socialist Web Site, , 2021. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/03/10/soli-m10.html

[3] "Hospo Voice 2.0 – Building A Bigger, More Powerful Union". 2021. Hospo Voice. https://www.hospovoice.org.au/news/introducing-hospo-voice-2/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_4e741ea4d88609aa38d4299a9c45aa96090e4c0f-1627176279-0-gqNtZGzNAnijcnBszQgO; Espejo, Deaundre. 2021. "Hospitality Workers Petition Against Tiered Union Membership". Honi Soit, , 2021. https://honisoit.com/2021/07/hospitality-workers-petition-against-tiered-union-membership/

[4] Australian Parliament House. 2018. "Trends In Union Membership In Australia". Canberra: Australian Parliament House. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1819/UnionMembership

[5] Sharkey, L. L. 1961. The Trade Unions: Communist Theory And Practice Of Trade Unionism. 4th ed. Sydney: Communist Party of Australia

[6] "Trade Union Policy — Australian Communist Party". 2021. Australian Communist Party. https://www.auscp.org.au/publications/trade-union-policy

[7] Cottle, Drew. 1991. "Brian Boyd, Inside The BLF: A Union Self-Destructs - Australian Society For The Study Of Labour History". Australian Society For The Study Of Labour History. https://www.labourhistory.org.au/hummer/no-33/blf/

[8] "SDA Facts". 2021. Retail And Fast Food Workers Union. https://raffwu.org.au/campaigns/industry/campaigns-industry-sda-facts/

[9] Lenin, V.I. 1964. “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder. Moscow: Progress Publishers