Deep right-wing influence within Labor

 Written by: Nick G. on 9 Jully 2026

 

Ciccone (3rd left) meeting on June 29 with members of Nuclear for Australia.  Source Senator Raff Ciccone Facebook page

 

Widespread opposition to the pro-US policy orientation of the Labor Party has focussed on the leading triumvirate of Albanese, Wong and Marles. 

To them can be added the three State Premiers of WA, SA and NSW who are complicit in the AUKUS arrangements and the restrictions of civil liberties associated with the anti-war and pro-Palestinian mass movements.

Being groomed for a more prominent future role is Victorian Senator Raff Ciccone.

After graduating from university, Ciccone initially worked in financial planning before moving into industrial relations and employment law, later becoming a senior official in the right-wing Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA). Like too many other union officials, he had not come through the rank-and-file and the workplace, but was recruited from outside the membership.

Having joined the Labor Party at 16, his stint at the SDA provided a path towards employment with Senator Jacinta Collins who had herself been employed by the SDA for 15 years. When she retired in 2019 to take up the position of national executive director of the National Catholic Education Commission on the same day, Ciccone was nominated to fill the casual vacancy.

Wolverines

In 2020, Ciccone posted a sticker of claw marks outside his parliamentary office.  It was a public declaration of his acceptance of membership in the “Wolverines”, a collective of far-right politicians committed to the most hawkish pro-US and anti-China politics. Other members include former PM and current President of the Liberal Party Tony Abbott, Andrew Hastie, James Patterson, Tim Wilson and the Nationals’ Matt Canavan.

Ciccone is an advocate of Taiwanese independence and attended the Presidential inauguration of Lai Ching-te in May 2024. On July 8, he personally met and farewelled Douglas Hsu, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia, who was returning home. Ciccone is a member of the anti-China, pro-Taiwan Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international, cross-party alliance of parliamentarians from 43 countries. Andrew Hastie was a founding member, and James Patterson has been a co-Chair. Tiawan is a member, recognised as the Republic of Taiwan.

Zionist supporter

During the 2023 parliamentary winter break, Ciccone visited Israel hosted by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. On June 19, despite Zionism’s genocidal war against the Palestinians, he attended a function of the Council of Australian Jewry to celebrate the 78th anniversary of Israel’s independence. Seventy-eight years of colonisation, apartheid and genocide not a thing to celebrate, but he was happy to do it.

This was no surprise and followed his March 31 call, as chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, for US imperialism and Israeli Zionism to “finish the job” in their joint war of aggression against Iran. “It’s important that the US and Israel are able to, in some ways, finish the job and actually target the regime…” he said.

Fossil fool

Ciccone is no environmentalist. He is a strong supporter of the timber industry and criticised the Labor government in Victoria for its decision to phase out native forest harvesting by 2030. He is connected to a pro-fossil fuel grouping of some 20 Labor MPs, known as the Otis Group, and has argued against the ALP's opposition to nuclear power in Australia.

On 28 November 2025, he welcomed the give-away of Australian critical minerals and rare earths in the deal done by Labor and the US. He said “The landmark $13 billion critical minerals and rare earths framework signed last month by Australia and the United States represents a pivotal moment in our alliance…(and will) strengthen our economic and strategic partnership with the US.”

Supports the US stranglehold

Following the 2022 federal election, Ciccone became Government Deputy Whip in the Senate and was elected Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee.  He has aggressively argued the case for the US Alliance and AUKUS in articles for ASPI (otherwise known as Australians Serving Predatory Imperialism).

In August 2025, fresh from having “the privilege of attending the Australian American Leadership Dialogue in Adelaide”, he wrote in “Alliance that goes far beyond AUKUS”, that the Australia-US relationship “is one of our most valuable assets. Its strength lies not only in defence cooperation, but in the deep trust, shared values and people-to-people connections that underpin it.”

“…it’s our shared values that sustain our friendship. Our relationship is built on freedom, the rule of law, human rights and a commitment to a rules-based international order.”

He praised the commissioning of the USS Canberra in Sydney Harbour in 2023 because it “marked the first time a US Navy ship entered service in a foreign port”, and celebrated the test-firing of a Precision Strike Missile co-developed with the US during the 2025 Talisman Sabre Exercises.

He wrote that the US “treats Australia much like a domestic partner within the US defence trade system”, although it would be closer to the truth to say that the US treats Australia as a “domestic part” of its military-industrial complex.

Ciccone has been unleashed as the Labor triumvirate’s attack dog against the public inquiry into AUKUS. In a June 26, 2026 article published by ASPI titled “Nuclear submarines: bolt-cutters to ensure Australia is never wrapped in chains”, he wrote:

There are those whose foreign policy beliefs were shaped in a more benign era. Distinguished voices now animated by nostalgia are based in tragic and dramatic claims about the very purpose of AUKUS on the strategic needs of the past. With respect to these voices, the world has changed. Our region has changed and, as we speak, military modernisation across the Indo-Pacific continues at pace. Australia must respond to the world as it exists today and not as it existed in the past. Some of these voices have decided to form a so-called independent public inquiry into AUKUS. Although its contributors are certainly not lacking in experience, it is difficult to say what they expect to achieve.

Ciccone represents within the Labor Party that group of willing servants of US imperialism who continue to betray our national independence and sovereignty to a foreign state.

That state actually controls our state though a web of interlocking influence and pressure comprising its economic domination, its military presence, its control of media-shaping culture and influence over opinions and values, and its diplomatic and political ties to local politicians.

The Ciccones of this world accept that state of affairs and seek to perpetuate it. They often stand against the rank-and-file members of the ALP amongst whom there is a strong anti-war sentiment, a determination to support civil liberties and democratic rights, and a desire for a greater capacity for independence in matters of foreign policy. But control from the top ensures that right-wing influence goes deep within Labor.

For our part, we stand for genuine anti-imperialist independence and socialism.

Labor’s rank-and-file must play their part in fighting Labor’s Ciccones and working for the movement for independence and socialism in their work places and communities.

 

New booklet on China’s Imperialist Expansion

 Written by: CPA (M-L) on 8 July 2026

 

Debate continues amongst some on the Left as to whether China is socialist or capitalist, a leader of anti-hegemonic struggle or a social-imperialist rival to the US.

A young comrade has discussed the examples of Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, and Chinese mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to argue that it is both capitalist and social-imperialist (i.e. with a “Communist” government that professes commitment to socialism but actually practices imperialism, “socialism in words, but imperialism in deeds”.)

The booklet says that other examples could be produced, and this website recently looked at Chinese investments in the Peruvian port of Chancay.

We recommend this booklet to our readers.

 

Country Report of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh to the ICOR Asia Conference, Kathmandu, Nepal 04.07.2026

 Written by: SPB on 5 July 2026

 

Bangladesh has passed through a series of dramatic transformations over the last two years, beginning with the July Uprising of 2024. A 17-year-long autocratic regime led by Sheikh Hasina was overthrown in this uprising, which was primarily led by students organized under the platform “Movement Against Discrimination.” 

The movement initially began as a demand to abolish the discriminatory quota system in government jobs. The regime responded with brutal violence, killing 836 people — including 269 students and 512 working people. Women played an extraordinary and decisive role in this uprising, marching in the front lines, organizing at the grassroots, and absorbing state violence alongside their male comrades. Yet almost as soon as the uprising succeeded, women were pushed out of the frame: sidelined from the leadership structures and advisory bodies that took shape afterward, and largely erased from the public narrative of victory, as though their presence had been welcome only for the duration of the struggle itself. This was not incidental — it reflected how quickly patriarchal power reasserts itself and reclaims public space for men the moment the immediate crisis has passed. This repression triggered a mass uprising that ultimately toppled the government. Sheikh Hasina fled to India, seeking shelter under the Modi government, and an interim government was later formed in Bangladesh in 2024, led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate known for his work in microcredit and social business.

Dr. Yunus formed an advisory council composed largely of NGO figures. During his tenure, fundamentalist forces were significantly emboldened, and the law-and-order situation grew increasingly unstable. Mob violence became a recurring tool, wielded by various pro-Yunus forces to serve their own political ends. This period saw close to a hundred attacks on Sufi shrines and Baul akhras across the country — police officially logged 44 attacks on 40 shrines, while independent rights monitors placed the real number well above 100 — with devotees assaulted, shrines torched, and in one widely reported case, the exhumed body of a revered Sufi saint desecrated and burned by a mob after Friday prayers. Religious minorities, particularly Hindus, also came under sustained attack: minority rights organizations documented roughly two thousand incidents of violence against minorities within just the first sixteen days after the government’s fall, including attacks on homes, businesses, and dozens of temples. Indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts were not spared either — in September 2024, settlers burned more than a hundred homes in Khagrachari and Rangamati and killed at least four indigenous people while the CHT Regional Council office was torched with army personnel reportedly looking on, a cycle of violence and land dispossession that recurred again in 2025 following the gang-rape of an indigenous schoolgirl, when security forces opened fire on protesting communities. Alongside this, a wave of misogynistic repression was directed at women: reported cases of gender-based violence climbed sharply through 2025, hardline groups forced the cancellation of women’s football matches and blocked women from public events, while online harassment of women surged, reflecting a broader, organized effort to push women out of public life. Against these forces, our party, SPB, together with other left and progressive political parties, has been carrying out resistance to the best of our ability. The common people of Bangladesh, too, continue their struggle against this extremist, fundamentalist bloc.

Another defining feature of the Yunus government was its eagerness to strike lopsided agreements with the US and Western powers using national resources. For instance, the interim government leased out two seaport terminals — Laldia Char in Chittagong and Pangaon in Keraniganj, Dhaka — to Western companies for 22 and 48 years respectively. It also attempted to hand over the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT), Chittagong’s main terminal, to DP World, a close ally of the US Navy. That attempt was blocked only through massive protests led by port workers and left-wing political forces.
Just before stepping down following the 13th National Parliamentary Election on 12th February 2026, the Yunus government signed yet another agreement with the United States: the Reciprocal Trade Agreement (RTA). Under this agreement, Bangladesh committed to purchasing 14 Boeing aircraft, along with soybeans, cotton, LNG, and various other American goods, as binding obligations. Bangladesh further pledged not to expand trade with China, Russia, or Vietnam, and agreed to accept punitive tariffs should it act against US interests. This is not a trade agreement in any meaningful sense — it is a contract of subjugation.

With the 2026 national election, the interim regime came to an end, and a newly elected BNP-led government took power. Yet this government has continued walking the same path: rather than annulling the RTA, it has upheld its terms, signing a deal on 30th April to purchase the 14 Boeing aircraft and an MoU on energy cooperation. Mob violence at the hands of fundamentalist forces continues unabated. Amid this, the need for a progressive political alternative grows more urgent by the day. Bangladesh remains caught in the crossfire of rival imperialist powers due to its strategic geopolitical position. In response, SPB, together with 12 other left and democratic parties, has formed the “Platform Against Imperialism and War” to resist these imperialist designs. Our alliance with 9 additional left parties — the “Democratic United Front” — is also working to establish left politics as the genuine politics of the people. 

It is worth noting that South Asia witnessed a wave of popular upsurges between 2022 and 2025 — in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal alike. This shared regional moment demands that we seriously study the character of each uprising and calibrate our strategy and activity accordingly.

Call to Action 

We propose that left, democratic, and revolutionary parties and organizations across Asia — and especially South Asia — build closer and more durable ties with one another. This should not remain limited to periodic gestures of solidarity but should evolve into sustained, structured cooperation. Concretely, we propose:

• Regular communication and coordination between fraternal parties across Asia, and especially South Asia, through consistent online exchange as well as physical meetings held at least twice a year. 
• The deepening of internal, cross-border communication — not only between parties, but between the mass organizations of students, workers, women, and peasants across Asian, and especially South Asian, countries, so that our movements learn from and reinforce one another. 
• Working toward joint days of action, where student, worker, women’s, and farmers’ organizations across the region mobilize simultaneously around shared demands — turning isolated national struggles into a visible, unified front against imperialism. 
• Using this accumulated regional solidarity and coordination — built first across South Asia and then across the wider continent — as the foundation for building a broader global unity of anti-imperialist forces, one capable of confronting imperialist plunder and war on an international scale.

Through these steps, we can pool our experiences, sharpen our collective strategy, and build a resilient regional and global movement against imperialism and war, and for anti-capitalist socialist revolution.
 Long live the unity of ICOR! 
Long live Socialism! 
Long live Marxism-Leninism!

Australian rightists and the 2026 Alliance for responsible Citizenship Conference

 Written by: (Contributed) on 7 July 2026

 

(2023 ARC panel discussion with Greg Sheridan, 2nd left and Andrew Hastie, far right Source: Wikimedia Creative Commons)

 

The recent far right Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London attracted right-wing figures from the four corners of the globe. It, however, formed only part of a bigger picture of intrigue and political and diplomatic chicanery. A high-level US diplomatic statement from the Treasury Department which was issued on the final day of the London conference, likewise, detailed the position of the Trump administration, although remained hidden amongst official ARC agendas. While attendees acted out their designated roles in London, with all the pomp and ceremony of their positions, shadowy figures lurking in the corridors of power remain a matter of considerable interest.

The 23-25 June London conference of the ARC attracted about 4,000 delegates from 96 countries, including fifty from Australia; they paid 1,500 pounds for the bean-feast. (1) 

Whether the conference fees were actually paid through right-wing political organisations was also not divulged. It would appear a distinct possibility; those regarded as right-wing political figures of interest were 'invited' to attend. The Australian delegation included some conspicuous figures of yesteryear, with Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison being the most prominent as former PM's. (2) Both continue to carry considerable right-wing baggage, which, no doubt, made them very useful attendees. Murdoch “journalists” Paul Kelly and Greg Sheridan attended, as did Nationals MP Bridget McKenzie. Michael Stutchbury,
Executive Director of the right-wing Centre for Independent Studies was also there. Stutchbury’s latest piece in the Australian Financial review blames the cost-of-living squeeze on “Labor’s big government spendathon, the costly clean energy transition, over-prescriptive workplace laws and what the Productivity Commission calls “the ever-growing burden of regulation” that squashes the economy’s dynamism.”

Emphasis throughout the conference was placed upon the ability of delegates to 'facilitate networking opportunities'. (3) The conference, for example, attracted a diverse group of attendees: oil executives, anti-abortion activists and others, who were focused upon the opportunity to 'relay the foundations of our civilisation'. (4) 

The stated agenda for the three-day ARC gab-fest also had an emphasis upon British Conservatism and the 'shaping contemporary right-wing thought … amongst … influential intellectuals'. (5) The British Conservative Party has a long and notorious history of its use of shadowy patronage systems converging upon the Commonwealth; assimilation of dissent with lavish displays of patronage. Elite gentlemens’ clubs and dining houses from the Greenland of Graham Greene, accompanied by intrigue and espionage and those associated with the levers of class and state power spring to mind.

Other ARC agendas were quite clearly were in operation. The conference, for example, was held over three carefully planned agendas: day one was devoted to 'the Pathway to Deconstruction', day two was focused upon 'Mindset', while day three was grander planning and 'the Age of Reconstruction'. (6) Compartmentalisation was the order of the day.

While portraying the ARC as a polite, diplomatic and sincere right-wing political outfit, the hidden conference agendas were not particularly difficult to unravel; it was a forum for the like-minded. Commentary emphasising the influence behind the scenes of the European far-right, Trump supporters from the US and allied countries, the shadowy Heritage Foundation and a 'toxic alliance' were not difficult to find. (7)

Studies of some of the participants at the conference and their speeches reveal carefully drafted presentations, addressing controversial issues of the day from a far-right perspective. One paper, for example, criticised mass migration, threats to destroy European civilisation, legislation and regulations restricting anti-social behaviour, amongst other references to drug-dealing and usage and illegal encampments. (8) The location of the 'illegal encampments' was not divulged. Another speech, by former Liberal PM and current Liberal Party President Tony Abbott, followed much the same far-right political line with conspiracy theories about the existence of a fifth-type column, hell-bent upon destroying school textbook-type Australian history and encouraging mass migration. (9) 

A particularly sinister part of the European far-right at the conference were those associated with the AfD; the German-based outfit are no strangers to courting neo-Nazi groups. Studies of the German far-right, likewise, reveal that while it was forced underground following defeat in the Second World War, it has been allowed to re-surface following the unification of the country in 1990. (10)

The most sinister side of the German far-right remain its strong foothold inside the armed forces; a decade ago its military intelligence organisation was forced to admit it was 'investigating 275 extreme right-wing suspects'. (11) Many were openly neo-Nazi, and one investigation actually found evidence of a conspiracy to establish arms caches across the country for future use with para-military forces seizing power. (12) Another investigation revealed a German army officer suspected of plotting to assassinate left-wing politicians; the investigation also provided evidence that it formed part of a broader network of fascists and that his 'activities were known to his superiors and covered up by them'. (13)

In 2020, the German government were forced to disband their elite special forces, the KSK, who had been found to have been subject to widespread infiltration by far-right groups and 'had organised weapons and tactical training for like-minded civilians'. (14)

The US counterparts to the German far-right clearly regard Trump as their man, the targeting of immigrants by the presidential administration was chosen to serve other agendas; their attempted para-military insurrection following his defeat at the end of his first term of office would appear their chosen method of operation and seizure of power. The fact the participants received presidential pardons from serving prison sentences is evidence, in itself, of complicity at the highest levels of Washington and the Pentagon. The issue of separation of powers and democracy and terrorism was not openly discussed; it was regarded as an obstacle to the aims of the Trump entourage.

The US Heritage Foundation, moreover, remains a relic from the previous Cold War, backed solidly behind sinister right-wing forces and the intelligence services. Those associated with the previous Cold War now openly fly their flags once again, with similar political and diplomatic considerations. It was, therefore, no coincidence that the US delegation to the ARC conference included several members of the Trump administration, led by Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, following a preoccupation with oil. (15)

The significance of the Heritage Foundation and senior Washington figures also throws light upon the role of the World Anto-Communist League/WLFD; its shadowy tentacles reach deep and entrenched in Washington right-wing political circles. The right-wing think-tank which was closely allied with the previous Reagan administration, was also closely associated with international far-right groups and the WACL. (16) A declassified CIA report from the period, in fact, referred to the WACL as a 'neo-fascist umbrella organisation that assisted US intelligence operations', that had become involved in terrorist operations. (17)

Coinciding with the final day of the ARC conference a high-level US diplomatic statement from the Treasury Department provided a fully detailed plan by the Trump administration to 'write the rules of the next economy'. (18) The political discourse of the ARC conference, however, took priority over economic considerations. The grander economic planning was not, therefore, publicised at the conference. Nor is it likely to be so. Wall Street and the Pentagon are unlikely to come clean; the Trump administration, moreover, represent the most aggressive side of Wall Street and the Pentagon. They seek higher levels of exploitation for the forces of capital over that of labour, particularly with finance capital into the emerging economies. Recent developments in Venezuela already show the emphasis the US has placed upon neo-colonialism.

It is also not a coincidence that the chosen position of the Trump administration has followed recent studies of the US economy and its longer-term decline, due to being confronted with credible challenge. The US economy has, for example, shrunken to under thirteen per cent of global GDP, while the BRICs trade body has amassed between 28-30 per cent, and is still expanding with South-South financial relations and diplomacy. (19) Diplomatic links between BRICs and other trade bodies has also increased its influence.

In conclusion, progressive-minded people should be on their guard when dealing with organisations such as the ARC. Far from being a conservative political think-tank, it is much more sinister; it resembles a front-type body, where shadowy figures lurk behind the respectability of others. 

Plans are already underway for a February 16-17 2027 Aspire Conference in Sydney, “Inspired by the success of ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship), and with ARC London’s blessing” according to the Aspire website.

Speakers will include Christian rightist John Anderson, former National leader and deputy Prime Minister, and founding member of the ARC.

1.     'London Summit', The London Daily, 29 June 2026.
2.     Meeting of minds aims to plot Western liberal democracy's revival,  Australian, 25 June 2026.   
3.     'London Summit', op.cit., 29 June 2026.
4.     'Senior UK politicians', DeSmog, 18 June 2026.     
5.     'London Summit', op.cit., 29 June 2026.
6.     See: ARC Official website for 2026 conference.
7.     'Senior UK politicians', op.cit., 18 June 2026.
8.     Invented 'dream worlds' true enemy of civilisation, The Australian, 26 June 2026.
9.     Reject shame and defeatism, and share in national pride, The Australian, 26 June 2026.
10.   See: The Beast Re-Awakens, Martin Lee, (London, 1997), Chapter 8/9, pp. 237-374.
11.   Neo-Nazi network in German army exposed,
        http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/05/04pers-m04.html  
12.   Ibid.
13.   Ibid.
14.   German special forces purged after far-right infiltration, Australian, 3 July 2020.   
15.   Meeting of minds, op.cit., 25 June 2026.
16.   Old Nazis, the New Right and the Republican Party, Russ Bellant,  (Boston, 1988), page 31, page 46, page 61, page 63, page 64, page 67, page 83; and,
        Inside the League, Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson, New York, 1986), page 47, pp. 150-55.
17.   Quoted: The Beast Reawakens, Martin Lee, op.cit., page 189, from CIA Directorate of Intelligence Report, Right-Wing Terrorism in Europe: A Research Paper, April 1983.
18.   Five core principles drive US economic statecraft, Australian, 25 June 2026.
19.   US % of global GDP, World Economics Research, London and; BRICs 2026 Website.

 

Articles by Ted Hill now on our website

Written by: E.F. Hill on 7 July 2026

 

Thanks to the initiative of a young comrade, a posthumous collection of articles by founding Chairperson Ted Hill has been pdf-ed and is available for download in the Media & Archives/Booklets section of our website.

Marxism, Australian Independence and Socialism contains 12 articles and a speech covering topics that include Applying Marxism to Australia’s Specific Conditions, The Australian Labor Party and Parliament, and Communist Ideology and Organisation.

They cover the years 1975 – 1987.  

We highly recommend this small booklet.  Its content is important, but more important again is the method of analysis and the principles on which it is based. 

“Know the teachings to use the methods” is the approach that we recommended in the introduction to our Study Guide, also available on this website.

We hope that the re=appearance of this collection of Hill’s articles will serve that purpose.

International Auto Workers: Organize solidarity with the struggle against job cuts and police violence

auWritten by: International Auto Workers Coordination on 5 July 2026

 

Dear comrades in the International Automotive Workers' Coordination,

The auto industry is intensifying its attacks on auto workers. VW plans to cut 100,000 jobs worldwide. In Germany alone, four plants employing thousands of workers are set to be closed. Mercedes plans to close a plant in South Africa. Two plants in China have already been shut down. Capitalist competition is a battle of annihilation that is to be waged on the backs of us workers.

In Germany, the slogan “Co-determination through strike starting July 8” is gaining traction. The first strike took place yesterday at Mercedes. We are sending you an article from the special edition (3/26) of the newspaper “Vorwärtsgang,” written by and for colleagues at the German plants of VW, Audi, Porsche, and MAN.

It is obvious that VW’s top management is terrified of a workers’ struggle. On Monday, seven distributors of the workers’ newspaper “Vorwärtsgang” were arrested in front of the Audi plant in Heilbronn and led away in handcuffs. This is a repressive measure the likes of which Germany has not seen since World

War II.
The VW and other auto bosses are showing their true colors. They will stop at nothing to maximize profits.

At the 3rd International Automotive Workers' Conference, we resolved: No struggle should stand alone! Let’s throw a wrench in the automakers’ plans! 

Please spread this information within your organizations and organize solidarity, especially against police violence targeting workers’ solidarity.

Long live international solidarity!

“Vorwärtsgang“, special edition 3-2026 30.06.2026: 

The VW Executive Board’s plans are dead serious! Last Wednesday, VW CEO Blume rallied the Executive Board behind a plan to cut 100,000 jobs and close four plants. If the Supervisory Board meeting on 9 July does not go along with his plan, he intends to push it through against the Supervisory Board’s will at an extraordinary general meeting in August.

Illusions are bursting like soap bubbles: ‘The majority on the Supervisory Board, the VW Act or any contracts will protect us.’ The lifelong lie of ‘co-determination’ has failed spectacularly!

Now there is only one thing that will help: CO-DETERMINATION THROUGH STRIKE ACTION!

The Executive Board must feel, even before the Supervisory Board meeting, what the workforce thinks of these plans. Let’s show them that there is a high price to pay for messing with us! Not a single car, gearbox, axle or spare part will be produced or leave the factory. All workforces across the VW Group must stand together.

Other workforces in the car industry, among suppliers and in other sectors must also show solidarity. Through their attacks, the monopolies and the state are declaring war on us, the working class, across the whole of Europe. We are more united and better organised than these opponents, who can no longer solve any problems.

VW is terrified of our response! On Monday, the Audi management in Neckarsulm called the police. Seven distributors of the Vorwärtsgang and members of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD} were arrested and subjected to hours of identification procedures. What was their crime? They declared their solidarity with the workers’ struggle.

There it is: the dictatorship of the monopolies, operating through a fascistised state apparatus.

Let’s build solidarity on a broader basis! Our response: the VW Executive Board’s plans must be scrapped entirely!

FROM 8 JULY: CO-DETERMINATION THROUGH STRIKE!

Australian Bankers Association seeks to strengthen ruling class power

Written by: (Contributed) on 5 Juky 2026

 

The recent Australian Banking Association (ABA) Conference received a report from the assistant governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Brad Jones, which addressed 'challenges to international cohesion, which had re-emerged for a number of years'. (1) The peak trade association is highly influential inside the corridors of power in Canberra and other provincial cities across Australia. The report, therefore, can be taken in that light.

The assessment provided an insight into recent global developments, which were based on a comparison with the so-called New World Order of yesteryear. The immediate period following the previous Cold War, was marked by the US placing itself at the centre of the global economy with three main considerations: to enhance security by maintaining a strong defence capability and promoting co-operative security measures, to open foreign markets and spur global economic growth, and to promote US-style democracy abroad. (2)

The ABA report referred to the three main security considerations as being responsible for having 'greased the wheels of global finance and trade'. (3) It was marked by capital being flung to the four corners of the global economy from international financial institutions largely controlled by the US, with longer-term implications for hegemonic positions. A surge in the use of financial sanctions in recent years “meant that financial institutions were increasingly exposed to ‘significant legal and business risk’ if they wanted to engage in cross-border trade and investment.” Threats from technology and cyberspace were now much more common.

Over the last two decades, developments have not followed the planned projections; in fact, the US seriously miscalculated its potential global reach. It failed:                                   
                                            
Global GDP growth (annual %)
                                                             1994  - 3.4 %
                                                             2024  - 2.9 %     (4)

Recorded global economic growth has continued to drop on the annual basis, as the tide has turned, with countries once on the periphery of the world economy now grabbing centre space. Countries once regarded as onside with the US are now swinging toward trade organisations, including BRICs and the Gulf Co-operation Council, which has raised serious security considerations as shown with the recent US war with Iran.
                                                 
Economic statistics from elsewhere in the global economy, reveal the US has already been pushed away from its central position. Studies of the development have revealed that while the US still maintains 59 per cent of global foreign exchange reserves, it has been seriously challenged by the BRICs trade body, and others. (5) In fact, it has been noted that the BRICs 'has established financial institutions to bypass Western-controlled systems' (6) The
US-petro-dollar has been seriously challenged by countries using other currencies. (7)

And with the growing economic turmoil, came political and diplomatic considerations. The ABA report, for example, used terminology including reference to 'challenges to international cohesion … a … fragmenting of cross-border capital flows, increasing evasion of sophisticated sanctions and weakening the public-private coordination'. (8)

The nightmare scenario for the US, however, was initially placed onto the agenda of the World Economic Forum in Davos, nearly two decades ago. The annual global financial forum, in January 2008, for example, received a report that while the US maintained control of about a third of the world's financial assets with a US$56.1 trillion share, the emerging markets of the recently globalised world economy held US$26.3 trillion; the growth rates of the latter were twice as dynamic as the former. (9)

The report, marking the origins of a general trend, nevertheless, fell on deaf ears. Influential decision-makers in international financial institutions were more inclined to make a fast buck, rather than consider the longer-term implications of their policies, which they foisted upon allies: de-regulation, privatisation, liberalisation.

Economic statistics from the period in question reveal those on the receiving end of the vast flows of capital, thrived; they continue to do so.

Studies of various regions of the global economy have revealed that in the period 2014-24, for example, the economies of Latin America experienced a 52 per cent growth rate, their counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region expanded by 50 per cent, double that of the US and Euro-zone. (10)

Alarm in Washington about the former, and the fate of their already decrepit Monroe Doctrine, was addressed in a recent Congressional Report which found China had become a major player, not only in BRICs, but also in what the US regarded as their Latin American 'backyard'. (11) Government departments in Washington which should have been assessing the developments, remained blissfully ignorant for creating the very economic conditions for their own demise.  Arrogance, would appear a very appropriate term, for describing such negligence on their part.

A recent diplomatic statement from US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessant, has revealed the scale of the problem arising for the US; the diplomatic terminology is worthy of scrutiny. Reference to 'strategic industries migrated abroad', did not pay attention to the race-to-the-bottom mindset of globalisation, whereby constant cost-cutting pushed whole industries into emerging economies to maximise the rate of profit. (12) Reference in the statement, likewise, to 'critical supply chains concentrated in unfriendly jurisdictions', has provided a clear indication of the already changed balance of forces which has taken place due to globalisation. (13)

Much of the buffoonery accompanying the Trump presidential administration, moreover, is best assessed in the light that it reflects the most aggressive side of both Washington and the Pentagon. Policies are based upon the pretext of a last-ditch position with stormy scenarios looming on the horizon; the recent US diplomatic statement, for example, made reference to an assessment based upon the premise that 'other countries began to exploit our dependence as leverage. Now is the time to correct this'. (14)  Significant obstacles to the US diplomatic position, however, lie in their way. It is unlikely to change.

Studies conducted by the BRICs, for example, have found it has already managed to control over half of global financial assets. (15) Its National Development Bank, furthermore, has been described as a 'cornerstone for South-South co-operation, financing projects in local currencies that challenge the dominance of the US dollar in global finance'. (16)   Reliable sources have revealed BRICs has already reached a 35.6 per cent share of the global economy. (17) The US, in contrast, has continued to drop in significance:

                                                          2025 – 12.9 %
                                                          2026 – 12.8 %
                                                          2030 – 12.2 % projection  (18)

And with the slow economic demise of the US has come the inevitable political and diplomatic considerations about longer-term viability.
                           
The fact the ABA report also drew attention to the problem of Cold War spies and warnings from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network about Chinese military intelligence personnel using Western social media platforms to 'recruit Western targets', was not a coincidence. (19) It would all appear a throw-back to the previous Cold War, marked by a preoccupation of the 'enemy within' and fifth columnists hell-bent on undermining Australia. Attempts, by Canberra, to systematically strengthen class and state power are best assessed in that light; the mentality remains based in the notion of 'they have spies, we have agents'. Declassified documents from the period provide mind-boggling facts about the uses and abuses of power and intelligence-gathering techniques. They make a sobering read.                                

In conclusion, the ABA report has provided a glimpse of the dominant thinking inside the corridors of power in Canberra and Australia's provincial cities; it can be regarded as significant it has been accompanied by a similar report which revealed that only a minority of Australians now even trust decision-makers in Washington. (20) Traditional US hegemonic positions have been challenged.

The tide has turned, and keeps turning: We need an independent foreign policy!

1.     Don't repeat post-Cold War error: RBA, Australian, 18 June 2026.
2.     Report: US President Clinton to Congress, 21 July 1994.
3.     Australian., op.cit., 18 June 2026.
4.     GDP Growth (annual %), World Bank Group.
5.     BRICs and the shift away from dollar dependence, Chicago Policy Review, University of Chicago, 8 October 2025.
6.     Ibid.
7.     Two years ago, Saudi Arabia quietly cancelled the 'petro-dollar, Fortune, 7 April 2026.
8.     Australian, op.cit., 18 June 2026.
9.     Davos salutes SWFs in a celebration of global capitalism, Australian, 29 January 2008.
10.   Rethinking the rules for growth, McKinsey / Boston Consulting Group, 17 June 2025.
11.   'Pulling Latin America into China's orbit', US Congressional Report, 28 February 2026.
12.   Five core principles drive US economic statecraft, Australian, 25 June 2026.
13.   Ibid.
14.   Ibid.
15.   BRICs financial assets surpass $60 trillion, teleSur, 4 July 2025.
16.   Ibid.
17.   Expansion of BRICs, Bank of France Bulletin, Number 250, Article 2, 26 February 2024.
18.   US % of global GDP, World Economics, World Economics Research, London.
19.   Australian, op.cit., 18 June 2026.
20.   See: In an 'unsafe' world, we no longer trust US, Australian, 23 June 2026.