Capitalist ideology makes a point of emphasising the inevitability of poverty, the necessity of inequality, the inevitability of suffering. It portrays the world as chaotic and beyond any measure of control, regulation or understanding; we working class, can only struggle in vain against our own conditioned nature. Only a select few are virtuous enough to be charitable.

Ray O’Shannassy (1923-1990), labourer, communist and trade unionist, was born on 1 July 1923 at Mount Pritchard, New South Wales, third surviving child of Victorian-born parents Martin O’Shannassy, carpenter, and his wife Vera Beatrix, née Calman. Having limited education, Ray worked during the 1940s as a labourer at the Sunshine Harvester Works, Melbourne. He was aggressively leftist and joined the Communist Party of Australia.

Every week they’re there. Volunteers distributing between 300 – 400 free, nutritious meals to Sydney’s homeless. Clothes and information on services are available, too. Tea, coffee, fruit and bread to take away are piled onto several trestle tables. The stall at the Macquarie Street end of Martin Place is a happy place. Music plays and the homeless and the volunteers can’t help breaking out into the occasional, impromptu dance. Chats strike up between volunteers, regular customers and the increasing number of new faces.

Around the globe, the capitalist class is on the offensive. During the past several decades, a sustained and successful campaign of ideological attack has caused trade unions and communist parties to lose their way and fall into “left” and, mainly, right errors. Fascism is returning to mainstream politics under a new disguise. Unlike the last time Fascism reared its ugly head, the working class’s own political forces are nowhere near as organised. Under these conditions of retreat, which form of opportunism among communist party members poses the greatest threat?