Ned K.
A few years ago Rudd
wrote a paper in which he saw himself as a warrior to “save capitalism from
itself”.
With Gillard as Labor leader, the opinion
polls forecast a wipe-out for Labor, with an Abbott-led government likely to
control both upper and lower houses.
A gutted Labor has advantages for big
business, but also a danger in that people look for other alternatives if they
perceive that Labor has lost any of its pretence or electoral capacity to be a
party representing the interests of working people.
Hence the mass media of Murdoch and
Fairfax both applaud that with Rudd there is again ‘a contest’, which they hope
will steer people back to satisfaction with the two party parliamentary road.
If this occurs, the big business rulers can continue to rule in the ‘old way’
of the parliamentary two party circus.
Opinion polls in the very early days of
Rudd’s return as Prime Minister and leader of the ALP indicate that the illusion
of the Labor Party as a party for the people is far from dead, and the old trick of just blaming the leader (in
this case Gillard) is working again.
Given this scenario, what is the best option
for the progressive movement in Australia in the coming federal election?
It is clear that that the 2007 to 2013
experience of Labor ‘in government’ demonstrates the primacy of building a
broad social movement led by the working class, with an independent political
and economic agenda and independent organisational capacity in workplaces and
the community.
A secondary need is further exposure of
Labor ‘in government’ so that even more people learn through experience that
the problem with Labor is not who the leader is, but that it is one of the main political props of ‘free market’ multinational
dominated capitalism in Australia.
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