Statistics would be hard to find, but it is safe to say most people believe that all hope for a proletarian revolution has been lost. By revolution, Marxists mean the seizure of state power by the workers and their collective ownership and control of the means of production. Most people are convinced the movement for such radical change has been defeated; that revolution is a thing of the past and that the current economic system is the final stage in history for Australia and other capitalist societies.

We should be sceptical of reforms effected by parties who are interested in extending exploitation. We should also be realistic about the limits of legislative change which remain within the status quo of Australian labour relations. Lasting solutions do not come from handshakes between governing officials and employers; they are always prised from the hand of the bourgeoisie by popular movements.

Recently there has been a large and justified public outcry against the Federal Government over their refusal to make rapid antigen test kits free for all Australians [1]. This comes after multiple COVID-19 PCR testing sites in New South Wales and Victoria closed in order to process a backlog of testing, in the face of overwhelming demand during the rapid spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant [2]. Rapid antigen test kits have quickly become highly sought after and difficult to source, and some businesses have been all too happy to take advantage of this by implementing price hikes on testing kits [3].