ICOR Statement: Fight for peace, international solidarity, and against fascism!

 Written by: ICOR on 1 September 2026

 

 

The International Coordination of Revolutionary parties and Organisations (ICOR), to which we are affiliated, released a statement today calling for actions to take place today as an Anti-War Day.
We are publishing the statement in solidarity with our ICOR affiliates.
In our country, September  20 will be celebrated as an International Day of Peace, and we call on members and supporters to check for activities in their own cities and regions.

.................

 

Fight for peace, international solidarity, and against fascism!

For socialism – Strengthen the ICOR!

 

The world today stands on the brink of a terrible, nuclear Third World War. Led by the main warmonger, the USA, all NATO states are pushing ahead with massive rearmament. All imperialist countries are arming their armies, engaging in ideological preparations for war and pursuing a redistribution of spheres of power and influence by any means necessary. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is a war of aggression on both sides—by Russia and by the West. In Africa, imperialist powers are fuelling barbaric proxy wars. The South China Sea is a flashpoint of rivalry. The fascist Trump administration is laying claim to hegemony over the whole of the Americas. What it calls ‘peace policy’ through its self-appointed Peace Council amounts to imperialist interventions. The US military abducted Venezuela’s elected president and overthrew the government. US imperialism is starving Cuba through blockades and laying claim to Greenland and the Arctic. The genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza represents a new level of barbaric, fascist warfare, directed in particular against women and children. The root cause of all these wars lies in the inherent nature of the imperialist world system and the bitter inter-imperialist rivalry.

 

This imperialist policy of war means endless suffering, countless deaths, hunger, destruction and misery for the masses. It is driving the global environmental catastrophe. People all over the world are rising up against these wars and preparations for war. Dockworkers in southern Europe prevented arms shipments to Israel. Despite massive repression, there were protests against the NATO summit in Turkey. International solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle is being organised on a permanent basis in many places. Intensive work is underway to implement the ICOR solidarity pact with the Al-Awda health network in Gaza for the construction of a hospital. The vibrant ICOR maternity clinic in Kobane continues to stand as a symbol of unreserved support for the peoples’ just struggle for democracy, self-determination and women’s liberation. In many cases, young people are a particularly active force in the anti-militarist struggle. They do not want to see their future in the trenches of the powerful.

 

ICOR is holding its annual Anti-War Day on 1 September as a remembrance and warning of the start of the Second World War, which began with Hitler’s Germany’s invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. As ICOR and Marxist-Leninists, we stand for the struggle to support the working class and the broad masses, the oppressed peoples, against imperialist and fascist oppression. The international revolutionary and labour movement is fighting to ensure clarity within its own ranks, amongst the working class and the broad masses, as to who is friend and who is foe. In the face of increasingly aggressive actions – some of them carried out on the quiet – by China and Russia as well, the debate over their characterisation as imperialist countries is intensifying.

Without the revolutionary overthrow of the imperialist system and the establishment of socialism, there will be no real peace. Pacifist and social-chauvinist illusions are deliberately spread by those in power to paralyse the masses. Let us promote in our own countries the struggle of the international working class and the broad masses of the people for world peace. A Third World War can and must be prevented.

 

Long live proletarian internationalism!

Victory to the struggles of the peoples against imperialism and all reactionaries!

Strengthen the ICOR!

 

Status of the signatories 29.08.2026. Further signatures possible. Current list of signatories at www.icor.info

1. PCPCI   Parti Communiste Proletarien de Côte d'Ivoire (Proletarian Communist Party of Ivory Coast)

2. UPC-Manidem   Union des Populations du Cameroun - Manifeste National pour l’Instauration de la Démocratie (Union of Populations of Cameroon - National Manifesto for the Establishment of Democracy)

3. MMLPL   Moroccan Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Line

4. CPSA (ML)   Communist Party of South Africa (Marxist-Leninist)

5. PCT   Parti Comuniste du Togo (Communist Party of Togo)

6. PPDS   Parti Patriotique Démocratique Socialiste (Patriotic Democratic Socialist Party), Tunisia

7. SPB   Socialist Party of Bangladesh

8. SPB(M)   Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist)

9. Chinese Communists (MLM)   Chinese Communists (Marxist Leninist Maoist)

10. CPI (ML) MassLine   Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) MassLine

11. SUCI (C)   Socialist Unity Center of India (Communist)

12. NCP (Mashal)   Nepal Communist Party (Mashal)

13. NDMLP   New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party, Sri Lanka

14. CPA/ML   Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)

15. PR-ByH   Partija Rada - ByH (Party of Labor - Bosnia and Herzegovina)

16. MLPD   Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands (Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany)

17. UPML   Union Prolétarienne Marxiste-Léniniste (Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Union), France

18. KOL   Kommunistische Organisation Luxemburg (Communist Organization of Luxemburg)

19. RM   Rode Morgen (Red Dawn), Netherlands

20. UMLP   União Marxista-Leninista Portuguesa (Portuguese Marxist-Leninist Union)

21. MLGS   Marxistisch-Leninistische Gruppe Schweiz (Marxist-Leninist Group of Switzerland)

22. TKP-ML   Türkiye Komünist Partisi – Marksist-Leninist (Communist Party of Turkey – Marxist-Leninist)

23. MLKP   Marksist Leninist Komünist Parti Türkiye / Kürdistan (Marxist Leninist Communist Party Turkey / Kurdistan)

24. KSRD   Koordinazionnyj Sowjet Rabotschewo Dvizhenija (Coordination Council of the Workers Class Movement), Ukraine

25. PCP (independiente)   Partido Comunista Paraguayo (independiente) (Paraguayan  Communist Party (independent))

26. PC (ML)   Partido Comunista (Marxista Leninista) (Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist)), Dominican Republic

27.  Red Network Ireland

28.  Communist Party of China (Marxist-Leninist)

 

The Menzies debate (Part 2): Why the denial?

Written by: (Contributed) on 22 July 1026

 

(The Australian people's response to the fascist attempt by Menzies to ban the Communist Party)

The present furore by the Australian Liberal Party about criticisms of its founder, Robert Menzies, carries the hallmarks of those who continue to follow, without question, the basic legacy of a figure portrayed more in line with lower-level, chalk-and-talk, secondary school-type history lessons than with the historical reality. Their seeming inability to comprehend matters arising has been conveniently used to shield them from questionable diplomatic initiatives by Menzies and his associates, which continue to remain highly contentious and problematic.

The pre-War period was marked by a growing concern amongst the business-classes and their political associates about the Soviet Union and its increasing ability to challenge the western countries of the time. Menzies, and his associates, were no exception. The Spanish Civil War of the period provided scenarios which were impossible to ignore. Many figures inside western governments, would have preferred an alliance with Nazi Germany to challenge the Soviet Union, and organised support for such a planned diplomatic initiative. The moves presented serious questions for decision-makers of the time, who preferred to play down the problems which confronted them; political expediency was the order of the day. Present-day studies of that expediency remain an important historical process.

Some British right-wing figures, for example, were clearly colluding with Nazi Germany for that specific outcome; the secret nature of their grand plan carried all the hallmarks of a clandestine intelligence operation. During the mid-1930s, for example, agents of Alfred Rosenberg, who was a prominent Nazi figure in the Third Reich Surveillance Office, travelled to Britain to establish links with supporters and establish the Nordic League. (1) The league was used to then create the Liberty Restoration League (LRL) in 1935, to coordinate far-right, fascist groups and promote Nazism. (2) The LRL subsequently laid the basis for the Right Club which was established in 1939, and attracted secret members, including serving Conservative M.P.s and counterparts in the House of Lords. (3)

Well-placed researchers with access to sensitive documentation about the Right Club have described its role saying it was  'well known that if Britain was attacked they would do everything to encourage a general laying down of arms and the setting up of a puppet state'. (4) The Right Club were 'appeasers' of a certain type; collaborators with Nazism would provide a more apt description of their chosen political and diplomatic standpoint.

The active collusion between the fifth columnists and the Nazi leadership was revealed later, in May, 1941. A senior figure in the Nazi leadership, Rudolf Hess (1894-1987), flew to Scotland on a mission designed to formulate an alliance between Germany and Britain to launch a military assault on the Soviet Union. His flight destination was the Duke of Hamilton's estate. Hamilton had been a member of the Nordic League and had actually travelled to Germany to meet Hess in 1936. (5) Coincidental?

The 235 prominent members of the Right Club were well-placed ruling class figures who were allowed to retain their secret identities until the late 1980s, when their official cover was finally blown. Until that time they, and their descendents lived in a state of denial and challenged the allegations levelled at them as little other than a left-wing conspiracy theory.

Menzies, and his associates, however, had an official diplomatic visit to Nazi Germany in 1938, with the records from the period noting the 'principal object of his visit was to observe the political situation'. (6) It was accompanied with Menzies making the written statement that 'we have no right to dictate what sort of government Germany has'. (7) Following the diplomatic visit Menzies also wrote to his sister declaring 'a degree of admiration for Hitler'. (8) The facts are not in dispute; interpretation, nevertheless, remains contentious.

It would have been inconceivable that the fascist groups operating inside Whitehall and Westminster would not have noted the Menzies diplomatic visit to Germany as a matter of considerable interest. Intelligence and security considerations make complicity inside the corridors of power difficult to prove; the visit to Germany, nevertheless, was openly covered in the newspapers of the day. Diplomatic formalities, however, would have been used as protocol. The trail of interest would also have been noted by the Nazi leadership; they had established extensive world-wide espionage networks to serve their interests. (9)

The espionage networks also included lesser minions who were placed on payrolls for various duties and responsibilities; the aristocratic elite and fifth columnists sought to keep their hands clean, the lesser minions did the dirty work. (10) They should not be overlooked.

The fact that South Australia had a large German community made the Barossa Valley a place of interest for the Nazi leadership. (11) A branch of the Australian Nazi Party was established there in the 1930s. There is no record of Menzies ever having criticised Australian Nazis like he did Australian Communists.

(A 1939 celebration of Hitler’s 50th birthday at the German Club in Tanunda.  In 1945, as Germany was nearing defeat, local Nazis held seven separate birthday celebrations for Hitler in South Australia.)

SA Liberal MP Heine Becker, who served from 1970 to 1997, was the son of Dr. Johannes Heinrich Becker, who had emigrated from Germany in 1927. On 1 March 1932, Becker became a member of the German Nazi Party. A year later, he was appointed as the Nazi state trustee (Landesvertrauensmann) for Australia. Becker was eventually promoted to state leader (Landeskreisleiter) of the Nazi Party of Australia. However, his leadership approach did not impress the Nazi top brass in Berlin and he was removed from his post in late 1936. During World War II, Becker was interned in Tatura, Victoria and in Loveday, South Australia. In December 1947, he was deported to occupied Germany. His numerous requests to return to Australia were rejected.

Australia, furthermore, had a strategic significance for the wider interests of the British Empire. Former German colonies on Australia's doorstep in the South Pacific, continued to be regarded as highly sensitive long after their diplomatic demise at the end of the First World War.

The Australian public service of the day, for example, had direct contact inside the British corridors of power with R.G. Casey (1890-1976) who was a liaison officer with the UK, earlier in 1924. He was close to Menzies, being elected as a United Australia Party M.P. in 1931, and treasurer of the party from 1935-39. (12) Interestingly, Casey was elevated to the position of Privy Councillor in 1939; the executive committee of the House of Lords had direct access into Britain's intelligence services and defence and security provision. In that capacity Casey would have had access to MI5 reports and assessments from surveillance of those regarded as a threat to the British Realm. (13)

Baron Casey, as he later became, remained close to the nerve-centres of the Liberal Party for most of his life, holding a number of prestigious political positions. He was highly regarded, but took many of his secrets to the grave. Some may have been highly relevant for our present-day understanding of Menzies and his associates.

In those sensitive positions Casey would also have had access to information about issues arising about Thomas White, who was part of the Menzies delegation to Germany in 1938.

White, who later received a knighthood, was from a military background. Interestingly, following his visit to Germany, he was an official Australian delegate to an international conference in France where the issue of refugees was a main agenda item. White's stated response to the questions about Jewish migration followed the line that Australia had 'no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one by encouraging any scheme of large-scale foreign migration'. (14) Such people, however, regarded Aboriginals as 'non-people' and therefore did not acknowledge any discrimination against them at that time.

White was also noted, from a far-right position, to have equated the Jewish refugee problem with that of communism, in line with the stated Nazi position of a 'Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy'; he wanted all Jewish immigrants to be made to sign a declaration of non-involvement with communists, with deportation being the solution for dealing with the latter. (15)

The position throws considerable light upon the background role of the Menzies right-wing government to make the Communist Party illegal in 1940; the referendum designed to achieve the same goal a decade later, however, proved a disastrous defeat for Menzies. History had moved on; Menzies, and his associates had been left behind.
 
In conclusion, Menzies, early in his political career during the 1930s, moved in troubled and turbulent times. Making sense of the times involved studying political developments and relying upon the intelligence services for information. The fact Menzies was initially an appeaser is not a matter in question, he clearly was, as documentation has revealed, whatever the reasons and motives for his decisions.

Elsewhere, however, there remain allegations that Menzies made the statement to Liberals in Perth that, 'yes, we should oppose Nazism, but not Hitlerism. Hitler has done a lot for Germany!' The fact that he was not given a senior position in Churchill's Commonwealth War Cabinet, has also fuelled speculation about his chosen position toward fascism. The reason for the decision and question of whether he was regarded by those close to Churchill as not being completely on-side with their position, remains unanswered.

The response of present-day loyal Liberal devotees to the recent criticisms of Menzies has revealed a great deal about their chosen mindset and tenacity; it can hardly be described as straightforward. What are they really hiding behind?
 
1.     Blackshirt, Stephen Dorril, (London, 2007), page 425.
2.     Political Violence and Public Order, Robert Benewick, (London, 1969), page 289.
3.     The Right Club, Spartacus Educational, September 1997, and, Hitler's aristocratic admirers, The Daily Express (London), 12 September 2015.
4.     Wallis, Charles Higham, (London, 1989), page 332.
5.     The strange case of Hess and Hamilton, The Education Forum, 25 October 2004, and, Wikipedia.
6.     Correspondence: A.T. Stirling to W.R. Hodgson, Germany, Secretary to Department of External Affairs, Memo., H150, London, 3 August 1938, Classified: Confidential.
7.     Howard outrage at Liberal icon slur, The Weekend Australian, 4-5 July 2026.   
8.     Conroy is wrong to call Menzies an appeaser, The Weekend Australian, 4-5 July 2026.   
9.     See: Hitler's Spies, David Kahn, (London, 1980).
10.   See: Spies in Britain, Bernard Newman, (London, 1964), with specific reference to Chapters, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, and 17.
11.   Second World War Nazi agitators in the 1930s, German Australia, with reference to Dr. Johannes Becker (1898-1961) who was a migrant into South Australia in 1927. He was appointed by the incoming Nazi regime in 1933 as an official representative.
12.   See: R.G. Casey, wikipedia.
13.   How MI5 spied of Britain's wartime fifth column, The Financial Times, 28 February 2014.
14.   Sir Thomas White (1888-1957),  Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Rickard.
15.   Australian participation and performance at the Evian Conference, P.R. Bartrop, MGIMO Review of International Relations, 4 (61), September 2018, pp. 153-167.

 

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.

 

CPA (M-L) paper on fascism in Australia

 Written by: CPA (M-L) on 6 November2025

 

Our Party was recently asked to prepare a paper on how fascism has developed and adapted in the 21st century for an international theoretical conference to be held under the auspices of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

We have prepared a brief response with a focus on developments in Australia as an industrialised capitalist country.  

The conference aims to sharpen international collective understanding of fascism as a class phenomenon and strengthen the revolutionary united front to confront fascism in the 21st century.

Our paper can be downloaded from our  Booklets section here.

Unions should conduct anti-far right training

 Written by: Nick G. on 5 July 2025

 

Above:  Following a gang fight in which some, including African youths, used machetes, Nazis capitalised on the event, calling for a ban on “Niggers”, not machetes.

A group of retired unionists in South Australia, the Democracy Alliance Australia (DAA), is calling on the ACTU and State and Territory peak union bodies to conduct anti-far right training.

The growth of right-wing forces is part of global phenomenon. Although serving the interests of the most reactionary sections of imperialist finance capital, fascism appeals to white working class youths who blame immigrants and followers of so-called “woke” causes for problems endemic to capitalism. They elevate men’s aggressive identity, shaped by membership of “fight clubs” in certain gyms, to a virtue, and assemble in black-clad uniforms and face masks in order to strike an intimidatory pose.

Far-right racism and attacks on migrants, demonising of “woke” issues, and the assertion of aggressive male identity serve to divide the working class. A divided working class is a weak working class. The right had success in targeting disgruntled workers when it organised a section of the CFMEU membership to attack the Melbourne offices of the union in an anti-vaxxer demonstration during the Covid lock down.

In parallel with the street thugs are the parliamentary servants of capitalism and imperialism who pass a range of anti-democratic and anti-union legislation.
The combination of these two forms is sometimes referred to as “two-track fascism”.  There does not need to be a formal connection between them: they operate from different platforms but serve the same ends. 

Overseas, several peak union groups are conducting anti-far right training. The British Trade Union Council has anti-far right training courses. The local off-shoot of a British group, All Together Now, offers paid training to challenge far-right extremism. These are welcome developments, but they are also limited in their scope to training people to identify misinformation and disinformation spread by extreme right-wing lobby groups and largely concentrate on the street thug track of fascism, ignoring the role of the parliamentary track in creating anti-people and anti-union laws.

The DAA has written to ACTU leaders Sally McManus and Michelle O’Neill seeking to discuss anti-far right union training, but so far without a response.

We believe that the voice of rank and file workers should be raised in support of the DAA’s call. Workers through their unions should call for two-track anti-fascist and anti-far right training courses to be conducted by their own union and peak bodies of unions at the State, Territory, and federal levels.

Parliamentary rightists…birds of a feather, all flocking together

 Written by: (Contributed) on 24 June 2025

 

With the end of the era of globalisation in sight, it is important to study how it evolved from its origins. Moves to implement economic rationalism in the 1970s were accompanied by the creation of the International Democrat Union (IDU) in the early 1980s to legitimise the policies into mainstream centre-right parties: privatisation, de-regulation, liberalisation.

While the centre-right were quick to applaud economic rationalism they turned a blind-eye to what accompanied it and continue to remain in a state of denial; repression, far-right political involvement and widespread criminal activity, developing alongside the policies, which drew upon the opening of 'opportunities'. Some of the main players remain people of interest, carrying considerable baggage.

The IDU was officially established in London on 24 June 1983, and was composed of nineteen centre-right political parties. The Conservative Party of prime minister Margaret Thatcher was a founding member and major player within the organisation in conjunction with US vice-president George HW Bush, a former director of the CIA under President Ford in 1976. The Australian Liberal Party of Andrew Peacock, with deputy leader John Howard waiting in the wings, was another founding member. It was a tradecraft front-organisation.

The main task of the newly created IDU was to legitimise economic rationalist policies, which favoured the corporate sector at the expense of all other sectors of society. The aim was to increase the levels of exploitation of labour against those of capital, having direct implications for traditional industrial relations techniques and the role of trade unions.

The policies were unpopular with many economists who regarded the outdated right-wing philosophies of the Chicago School of Economics of the 1920s as a relic of inter-war failures. The policies had, however, been revamped for Cold War use in 1973 with their imposition by the Pinochet military dictatorship following the September coup of that year, with serious political implications. Seemingly 'democratic' countries do not favour coups.  

The role of the US behind Pinochet had been well publicised elsewhere; it has been noted that 'the junta – the new military leadership – killed 30,000 former Allende government supporters in the first few months of power. Most were arrested, tortured and disappeared'. (1) The repression, however, did not end there. General Pinochet was actually noted as stating his military policies for the DINA, the secret police, were:
                                        
                                        First, the aim was to stop terrorism,
                                        First, we kill all the subversives,
                                        then we will kill their collaborators;
                                        then their sympathisers;
                                        then those who are indifferent. (2)      

The main instrument of power adopted by Pinochet was Operation Condor, which was established by linking intelligence services across the southern half of the Americas, which, at that time, were controlled largely by right-wing military regimes. (3)

Other players were drawn into the military planning.

Established during the previous Cold War, the Taiwan and South Korea-based World Anti-Communist League (WACL) specialised in counter-insurgency and country-intelligence training, and was increasingly drawn into Latin American repression during the 1970s. (4) In fact, it was noted that in the early 1970s the largely Asian-based far-right organisation had 'created the entire Latin network'. (5)

The WACL has been described as an 'umbrella organisation for extreme tight-wing militants. It includes expatriate Nazis, Italian terrorists, Japanese fascists, racist Afrikaners, Latin American death squad leaders, a number of US congressmen and former CIA agents'. (6) The overlap between Operation Condor and the WACL has not been difficult to establish, with Argentina being a central player: the Triple A in the 1970s became 'an organisation of right-wing murder, terror and propaganda whose activity was co-ordinated with the military regime. It was also the Argentine branch of the WACL'. (7) Studies of the period, furthermore, found that 'the WACL … was … the primary exporter of the Argentine Dirty War'. (8)  

It also soon provided much of the organisational frameworks and networks which became the Iran-Contra conspiracy, when illegal arms trafficking merged with drug trafficking to sponsor covert operations. The US intelligence services were heavily implicated in the conspiracy with organised crime. (9)

The repressive apparatus was soon extended into Europe and Southern Africa with the notorious Third Phase which included 'the formation of special teams from member countries to travel anywhere in the world to non-member countries to carry out sanctions, including, assassinations, against terrorists or supporters of a terrorist organisation from Operation Condor member countries'. (10)  

The Third Phase would appear to have operated in conjunction with co-ordinated counter-intelligence activities conducted by US-trained personnel world-wide, against those perceived and profiled as opposing the US Defence Department, 'during peacetime and all levels of conflict'. (11) It was the age of computerisation of intelligence records and profiles.

It also included representatives of the West German, French and British intelligence services
visiting 'Argentina to discuss methods for establishment of an anti-subversive organisation similar to Condor' in September 1977. (12) Concerns had arisen that the 'terrorist/subversive threat had reached such dangerous levels in Europe that they believed it best if they pooled intelligence resources in a co-operative organisation such as Condor'. (13)

In Southern Africa the Argentine military regime, which was waging a Dirty War against the political opposition, enabled four Condor specialists attached to the Argentine Embassy in Pretoria in 1979 to train South African security police and counterparts where they 'exchanged ideas regarding methods of interrogation'. (14)

The timing of the creation of the IDU may also have been linked to developments in Argentina of the same year. Following the Malvinas/Falklands War in 1982, the military junta in Buenos Aires was forced to stand down and make way for a transition to democratic
elections. In December, 1983, Argentina had an elected government. (15) Some of the nineteen founder members of the IDU, and their associates, however, might have been just a little concerned about the implications of Argentina re-claiming democratic credentials and their possible disclosures about what had accompanied the Dirty War with their connivance.

When John Howard, Australian Liberal Party leader, took office as chair of the IDU, which he served for over a decade before stepping down in 2014, he must have known about the shadowy historical and highly questionable background of the organisation and their associates. Ignorance is no excuse; his own parliamentary security personnel must have known, or had access to those who did. The Office of National Assessments, likewise, must have known. That was their job. If they were competent.

In light of revelations emerging under his tenure, Howard's silence over the issue remains highly questionable. In 2006, for example, an Argentine judge ruled that Rodolpo Almiron, a former leader of the Triple A, previously employed by Manuel Fraga as chief of his personal security team, was to be charged with 'crimes against humanity'. (16) Fraga, and his Francoist People's Alliance, were among the original founders of the IDU. It happened on Howard's 'watch'; people at the top are expected to be kept informed by their supporters.

Secondly, Howard's attendance and active involvement with the WACL and later re-named World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD), has appeared to be conveniently overlooked by his supporters. In 1989, a total of 120 delegates representing fifty countries attended the 22nd WACL annual conference in Brisbane. (17) It seems almost unbelievable that 120 people representing such an organisation could be allowed to enter Australia. Or is it? The immigration department, presumably, looked the other way as the motley crew walked into Australia carrying suitcases. Was their baggage even checked?

When former Australian Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison joined the board of the IDU in 2022, just what did he know? His smug, complacent grin, had already become the hallmark of his political leadership as he portrayed himself as Mr Squeaky Clean.
Perhaps when his successor Peter Dutton stated 'I just don't care what their ideology is … I'm not getting into silly, stupid, petty arguments or discussions about that sort of interpretation', he revealed a reluctance to face the facts about the patronage system he was also part of. (18) To state it carried considerable baggage would be an under-statement. It remains a sad fact of life, furthermore, that many of those involved in the far-right organisations possessed other agendas and a readiness to be ruthless, if, and when, required.

A number of related matters subsequently arose: following his demise as Liberal leader in the May elections, a panel in the NSW Liberal Party 'which was parachuted in by Mr Dutton
… was collectively removed with the statement … this is a welcome transition on the way back to a reformed and democratically elected state executive'. (19) Who were the old one?

Australian Liberal Party financial members have until 1 August to provide submissions to a review of party policy and strategy setting, 'following the devastating election loss that saw Peter Dutton unseated as leader and member for Dickson'. (20) The review is likely to resemble a series of polite after-dinner chit-chats amongst those who remain part of the elite patronage system; their career pathways have already been mapped out, why would they want any serious change to the structures of which they have a vested interest in retaining? Employment in banking, the diplomatic service, academia, intelligence agencies and other occupations await them. They do not even have to formally apply; opportunities are offered. There is no unemployment in their circles. But only jobs for the 'boys and girls'.

It is doubtful, therefore, whether those concerned will be reviewing any of their party links with the IDU, which would appear a collection of questionable entities pursuing diverse agendas. But then, why would they? The review is far more likely to be a whitewash job, to cover over any incriminating evidence about an organisation responsible for co-ordinating the Australian-led implementation of globalisation. And with the IDU organisation seemingly intact, with Israel and Taiwan now as members, it will now be preparing for what will eventually replace globalisation, with the full connivance of the Australian Liberal Party as their faithful and obedient servants, like puppets on a string.

Birds of a feather, mate, they certainly do flock together!

1.     1968-1976, Chile: Killing a Democracy, A People's History of the CIA, Issue 43, December 2000, page 27.
2.     The CIA's secret global war against the left, Jacobin, Branko Marcetic, 30 November 2020.
3.     1976, South America: Operation Condor cross-border killing, People's History, op.cit., page 31.
4.     Inside the League, Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson, (New York, 1986), page 79.
5.     Ibid.
6.     1978-1992, El Salvador: Training the Death Squads, Peoples History, op.cit., page 32; and, The Beast Reawakens, Martin Lee, (London, 1997), page 189.
7.     Old Nazis, the New Right and the Republican Party, Ross Bellant, (Boston, 1988), page 85.
8.     Website: History of the WACL, Part One: 1945-85, reference Triple A/Argentina.
9.     Revealed: Pinochet drug link, The Observer (London), 10 December 2000; and,         The Iran-Contra Scandal, The Declassified History, Edited by Peter Kornbluh and Malcolm Byrne, (New York, 1993).
10.   1976, South America, Peoples History, op.cit., page 31.
11.   See: Army Foreign Intelligence Assistance Program, AR 381-20, Section 1.5, Mission and Policy, page 1, Declassified 15 November 1993.
12.   Intelligence Information Cable, 7 April 1978, filed 'Condor', page 1, Declassified.
13.   Ibid., page 2; and, European spies sought lessons, The Guardian (U.K.), 16 April 2019; and, CIA declassified info, teleSur, 20 April 2019.
14.   See: South Africa Truth Commission, Final Report, Volume 2, Chapter 3,         Sub-section 14, 126, Ref: Alfredo Asti; and, The Disappeared, Voices from a secret war,  John Simpson and Jana Bennett, (London, 1985), pp. 347-48.
15.   See: 40 years later, The Buenos Aires Herald, 9 December 2023.
16.   Ex-director of Triple A, El Mundo (Spain), 28 December 2006.
17.   Website: WACL/WLFD.
18.   Peter Dutton says distinctions between forms of extremism are 'silly, stupid and petty',
        Today News Posts (Australia), 4 December 2020.
19.   Autopsy into Libs' dead duck campaign, Australian, 18 June 2025.
20.   Ibid.

Celebrate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of fascism

 Written by: Nick G. on 9 May 2025

 

Eighty years ago, victory was achieved in the War Against Fascism.

The day is celebrated on either May 8 or 9 depending on which side of the international date line a country was situated at the time of signing.

The most significant contributor to the defeat of Nazi Germany was the Soviet Union led by Stalin.

The Battle for Stalingrad was the war’s turning point. Soviet losses were enormous. Twenty million Soviet people were killed by the invading Nazis, villages burnt to the ground and infrastructure destroyed.

Australia stood proudly by the side of the Soviet Union and its Allies. The prestige of Stalin and the Red Army was high. Lady Jessie Street was president (from 1939) of the Sydney branch of the Society for Cultural Relations with the U.S.S.R. Following Germany's attack on the Soviet Union, she mobilized and chaired the high-powered Russian Medical Aid and Comforts Committee; when war with Japan shifted priorities for medicines, she organized the 'Sheepskins for Russia' Appeal. 

Despite an initial ban on its existence, the Communist Party of Australia saw an unprecedented expansion. 

With the war’s end, imperialism regrouped and began the Cold War. It was assisted after Stalin’s death in 1953 by his revisionist successor Khrushchev who perfected the art of disinformation in his secret speech to the 20th Congress which was full of lies about Stalin. Khrushchev’s authority as head of the CPSU allowed these lies, leaked to the capitalist press, to be passed off as truths which led to a demonising of Stalin and a loss of members in Communist Parties around the globe, including here in Australia.

Today, the danger of a Third World War has intensified. There are increasing threats to use nuclear weapons, and the arms race is even reaching into Outer Space.

Accompanying the threat of war is a resurgence of fascism. It takes two forms: parliamentary legislation depriving unions and progressive peoples of their rights to take action in their workplaces and communities, and the growth of fascist street thugs who foment national and racial tensions through actions designed to intimidate and threaten opponents.

The April 25 Incident when Nazis booed the First Peoples Welcome to Country at an ANZAC Day ceremony was bad enough, but for the then Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, to effectively second their motion by adding to calls to get rid of the First People’s Welcomes, was a sign of just how closely both forms of fascism can feed off each other.

Zionism has besmirched the ancient religion of Judaism. In 1931, Stalin, alone among world leaders at that time, had denounced anti-Semitism as “the most dangerous vestige of cannibalism”, and had made its expression illegal in the USSR. The Hitlerites carried out the Holocaust, killing 6 million Jews. Now Israel, as a Zionist-created state on the occupied lands of the Palestinians, is imposing its own genocidal war on the people of Gaza and the West Bank.

The causes of the genocide in Gaza, Sudan, and Congo, and the destruction in Ukraine, no matter what are the particulars of each of these conflicts, all have the same root: intensified competition between imperialist powers for market shares and raw materials. 

If we are to remember and celebrate the victory of the War Against Fascism, we must dedicate ourselves to the contemporary fight against war and fascism.
In Italy, dockworkers supporting the Palestinians, blocked the ports under the slogan: “Let's lower the weapons, let's raise the wages! Let's block the logistics of war!”

Here we must defend our rights, not let the parliamentary fascists or the street thugs pass, and break the US stranglehold on our country.

No to AUKUS, no to the US war preparations!
For the rights of all peoples to self-determination!
For an anti-imperialist independent, peaceful and socialist Australia!