E F Hill’s analysis of the Labor Party still valid

Vanguard June 2010 p. 6
Duncan B.

Ted Hill’s book The Labor Party? Dr Evatt – The Petrov Affair – The Whitlam Government was published 35 years ago. The Whitlam Labor Government was seemingly under siege. The events of November 1975, culminating in the dismissal of Whitlam by Governor-General Kerr were but days away. A lot has happened in Australian politics since 1975. Is the analysis of the Labor Party that Ted Hill made in his book still valid? We believe it is.

Hill pointed out that political parties arise to serve the interests of classes in society. He also pointed out that “the name of a political party does not necessarily throw any light on the real character of that party. The real character of a political party can only be gathered by an examination of which class interests that party serves and the historical conditions of Australia.”

Under capitalism in Australia, class stratifications centre on the division between capitalists and workers, with some intermediate sections. In this country the monopoly capitalists are mainly foreign, predominantly US, British and Japanese. They dominate the key sectors of the Australian economy and effectively disguise this dominance behind the façade of parliament.

The Liberal Party, the Labor Party and smaller parties such as the Nationals and the Greens, all participate in this parliamentary system. Every three or four years Australians are “free” to elect representatives of one or another party to parliament. Whichever political party (Liberal or Labor) gets a majority of seats forms the government and administers the country until the next election.

It is essential to remember that the bourgeoisie uses both deception and violence to maintain its rule. It uses “democratic” forms of rule such as parliamentary government in periods when the working class is not in a revolutionary mood. Violent means, such as fascism, are used when the workers start to rebel against capitalism. The ruling class would prefer to use peaceful, deceptive means to maintain its rule rather than having recourse to violence. It is the least costly and safest alternative. Hence, the parliamentary system is held up as the pinnacle of political development.

Importance of the Labor Party
The Labor Party is a particularly important part of the deception that is parliamentarism; important, because the Labor Party has, since its inception, been seen as a workers’ party. The circumstances of the Labor Party’s formation in the 1890s by the trade union movement, the inclusion of the “Socialisation” plank in its programme in 1921 and the working class origins of Labor leaders such as Curtin and Chifley help to feed these illusions.

Ted Hill discusses the illusions about the Labor Party held by many, including Communists, such as the Labor Party being a “two-class” party, the united front from “on top”, meaning formal agreement with the Labor leaders, together with the united front “from below”, meaning agreement with the rank and file of the Labor Party.

There was also the proposition about “healing the breach in the working class movement.” Some Communists believed that the breach in the working class movement was between the Communist Party on one hand and the Labor Party on the other. As Ted pointed out, “the very foundation of such an idea was wrong because the Labor Party is not a party of the working class.”

Despite these illusions, the reality is that the Labor Party is a party that accepts the capitalist system and works entirely within the capitalist system. It exists to attain reforms through parliament, without posing any challenge whatsoever to the capitalist system. It is true that many workers are members or supporters of the Labor Party, but this does not alter the true character of the Labor Party.
This is proved by the fact that at various times in Australia’s history, there have been Labor governments at Federal and State levels. Far from using this control to redress the ill-effects of capitalism, the Labor Party in office has strengthened capitalism in Australia.

Communist attitude to the Labor Party
Ted Hill discussed the Communist attitude to the Labor Party in his book. He wrote, “Australian Communists must always correctly identify the Labor Party as a party of capitalism. They must draw a clear distinction between themselves and the Labor Party. That does not mean wanton and irresponsible abuse of the Labor Party but clear, consistent and appropriate explanation of its character as a party of capitalism. So far as the social democratic aspect of its character is concerned, the communist attitude and the social democratic attitude differ profoundly on ‘the basic question of the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat’. This question dominates all other political questions. The parliamentarism of the Labor Party is clear; it is fundamental to the existence of the Labor Party. It has no conception or aim of socialism and it repudiates revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Its spreading of parliamentarism and reformism in the working class must indeed be combated.”

What is meant by the expression, “dictatorship of the proletariat”? In essence, it mean mass participation under the leadership of the working class in the making of political demands and putting them into practice, plus the prevention of the former ruling class from re-asserting its rule.

Distinguish between leaders and members
We must always distinguish between the leadership of the bourgeois political parties and the ordinary membership. It is possible for Communists to unite in struggle with the members of other political parties in community and workplace campaigns. Examples of the successful coming together of Communists and members of other political parties have occurred in campaigns over health, education, and transport workers’ rights and in many struggles over the environment. The struggle led by Ted Hill against the Communist Party Dissolution Act in 1951 is an excellent example of a united front campaign involving people from many different organisations including the Labor Party. (Refer to the April edition of Vanguard for more details of this struggle.)

Certainly, Labor Governments have made many reforms and improvements in areas such as health and education; however the continued existence of the capitalist system is a constant of the Labor party in or out of office. So too is subservience to US imperialism. Experience of almost three years of Rudd’s Government has done nothing to alter the fact that the Labor Party is a party which accepts the capitalist system and works entirely within that system.

EF Hill’s The Labor Party? Dr Evatt-The Petrov Affair—The Whitlam Government should be read or re-read by all those seeking a Marxist analysis of the Labor Party and the personalities and events that played an important role in post-war working class history in Australia.