Bill F.
During early March, Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan tried to re-capture some moral high ground and vision for the embattled Labor government.
The Monthly magazine published his essay, The 0.01 Percent: The Rising Influence of Vested Interests in Australia, in which he strongly attacked the vocal handful of local super-rich mining magnates over their public media campaigns against the Mineral Resource Rent Tax and the coming Carbon Tax. These campaigns target the Gillard Labor government and openly support the election of the reactionary Abbott-led Coalition.
He is correct to point to the greed and arrogance of people like Clive Palmer, Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart (below), but he neglects to blame the economic and political system that allows these creatures to flourish. Most pointedly, he fails to even mention the really big and really powerful multinational mineral and mining corporations, such as BHP-Billiton and Rio Tinto that are happy to gobble up Australia’s mineral wealth and let the local gang beat up the government, while they keep their own powder dry.
What equality?
Swan has expressed great concern that “the rising power of vested interests is undermining our equality and threatening our democracy.” His real concern is that the efforts of this small gang of super-rich mining magnates will draw undue attention to the already well established inequality between the privileged class of very rich and the great majority of working class people struggling to have a decent standard of living.
The things that Swan lists as great achievements for Australians – “a living wage, a welfare system, public health care, mass home ownership, and accessible technical and higher education” – these things were won by the working class in the heat of class struggle, but have been out of the reach for the past decade for millions of Australians. They are not suddenly threatened by a few super-rich mining barons; they have already been trampled by modern imperialism and the policies of ‘globalisation’ so enthusiastically embraced by both Labor and the Coalition.
What democracy?
As for democracy, Swan is acutely aware of the power of the monopoly media to manipulate and inflame sentiment for and against government policies. It is not just a few extreme right-wing journalists like Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones and Ray Hadley who are hired to do the dirty work; it is the day in, day out, ceaseless parade of lies, distortions and trivia that is peddled by the newspapers and TV. His real concern is the survival of the Labor government, and the fear that the media campaign of the mining magnates will boost the Coalition’s chances of winning the next federal election.
It has always been democracy for the rich and powerful, with parliamentary elections periodically swapping Labor and the Coalition, with no change to the fundamental rule of imperialism and corporate monopoly capitalism. It is a hollow democracy, with the really big decisions being made by unelected corporate owners and shareholders, many in other countries, while the parliamentary politicians only tinker with the details.
The spectre haunting Swan
On several occasions, Swan expressed concern that capitalism itself was coming into question. This reflects the more advanced debates among the ruling classes of Europe and the United States
For instance, he noted, “Prior to its Davos meeting earlier this year, the World Economic Forum put severe income disparity at the top of its list of global risks over the next ten years. According to the WEF, risks posed by income disparities or major systemic financial collapse have this year eclipsed climate change ...a Pew Research Centre survey found that friction between rich and poor in the US is now a greater source of social tension than the issues of race and immigration.”
After quoting further examples, Swan went on to add, “This is worrying because, despite its faults, the market system is still the best mechanism for generating prosperity for more people. We can’t afford to let it be undermined by the excessive greed of a wildly irresponsible few.”
Swan is like King Canute, trying to hold back the tide of history. The imperialist/capitalist system he defends is groaning under the weight of its contradictions and the intensification of class struggle in all continents. As these contradictions and struggles become more acute in Australia, more working people will inevitably be drawn to the revolutionary alternative of anti-imperialist national independence and socialism.
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