Bernardi and the revival of anti-Communism

Nick G.

The leader of the new Australian Conservatives Party, ex-Liberal Senator Corey Bernardi, has won support for a notice of motion on an annual commemoration of “victims of Communism”.

Bernardi has distinguished himself by moving a raft of notices of motion, many on obscure matters such as his call to “eat a croissant” to celebrate a medieval French defeat of a Muslim army.  When he first raised his “victims” notice of motion on November 14, he also moved motions about governmental standards, the Crossroads program in NSW schools, White Ribbon Australia’s advocacy of abortion, and GetUp! -  all of which were opposed by a majority of Senators. So too was his “victims” notice, on that day at least.

Two days later, the Manager of Opposition Business on the Senate, the ACT’s Senator Gallagher agreed to the notice of motion proceeding, although she did say that “our position remains that this simple motion is the wrong way to deal with this topic, and we will be opposing it.”

Bernardi’s slavish following of Trump

What is Bernardi’s motion?
He has moved that the Senate—

(a) notes the Trump administration in the United States of America has declared 7 November to be the National Day for Victims of Communism;
(b) further notes the Senate motion passed on 18 October 2017 rejecting any assertion that the teachings of Lenin or Marx should be celebrated in a liberal democracy;
(c) recalls the number of refugees who came to Australia fleeing communist regimes; and
(d) calls upon the Government to organise a similar annual commemoration remembering the victims of communism from 7 November 2018 onwards.

Trump’s declaration about November 7, the day on our Western calendar when the Bolsheviks took power from the Provisional Government and placed power in the hands of the Soviets, has been driven by an organisation in the US called “Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation”.  For the last two years it has conducted online polls about the attitudes of US citizens to Communism, socialism, fascism and capitalism.  It breaks responses down demographically – by gender, age group, “race” and educational level.

To its concern, it has found “disturbing trends” amongst the Millennials – that group in their late teens and early twenties (most demographers equate Millennials and Gen Ys over a slightly wider age range, but this group reports both categories separately). What concerns the organisation is that this year, more Millennials would prefer to live in a socialist country (44%) than in a capitalist one (42%). Some even said they would prefer to live in a communist country (7%). The percentage of Millennials who would prefer socialism to capitalism is a full ten points higher than that of the general population.

This is the age group that almost succeeded in having Bernie Sanders, the US social democrat, elevated to the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate ahead of Hillary Clinton.

“It seems that the majority of America’s largest generation,” the organisation continues, “would prefer to live in a socialist or communism (sic) society than in a free enterprise system that respects the rule of law, private property, and limited government. This is even more disconcerting when coupled with the fact that, despite Millennials’ enthusiasm for socialism and communism, they do not, in fact, know what those terms mean.”

It is the last observation – probably true in some respects – that has prompted the organisation to lobby Trump for the observance on November 7 each year of a commemoration for “victims of Communism”.

“Communism isn’t back: It never left,” concludes the summary of this year’s poll.

Bernardi, well-known for his right-wing conservative beliefs, would have needed no pushing in the direction of anti-Communism.  He no doubt shares the concern of his US counter-parts about the growing popularity of Marxism amongst Millennials.

However, one of his own Millenials, Richard Zheng, an IT project manager at Wesfarmers, is probably more in need of some education about Communism than any of those who worry the US “Victims of Communism” pollsters.

Posting on Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives Facebook page, Zheng endorsed Bernardi’s notice of motion with this comment: “Unfortunately Australia is a communist country because of welfare, universal healthcare, too much government ownership and high taxes. We need to stop all that in order to stop the levels of communism.”  So much for the intelligence of a Bernardi groupie! And Zheng is not alone: others post similar comments on the Conservatives Facebook page.

Understanding “victimhood” and the question of class

Communists must prepare for another round of anti-Communism if Bernardi’s motion gets any traction.  Already the LNP Senators are supporting it.  Labor senators like Gallagher may well try and strike an “even-handed” pose, appealing to small-l liberals and the petty-bourgeoisie generally by copying the European Parliament’s equation of Communism with Fascism and its “equal” condemnation of both.

We don’t deny that there have been victims of Communist parties in power that have failed to correctly handle contradictions among the people.  It is not as if a piece of litmus paper can be dipped into a social and political dispute in a socialist country and pulled out a few seconds later to reveal whether it is a contradiction between the people and their enemies or a contradiction among the people themselves.  Different methods must be used in each case, but it can take a fairly long time to ascertain the nature of the contradiction and the methods to be employed.

We do not include hostile class forces, supporters of an overthrown bourgeois class, supporters of imperialist intervention and “socialist” pretenders who are active counter-revolutionaries and restorationists as “victims” of Communism.  Here the question of victimhood is a class question: those from the ranks of the people who are wrongly treated are victims of wrong approaches to the handling of contradictions; those from the ranks of the enemies of socialism who are subjected to coercion and repression are not “victims” of anything other than their blind loyalty to the overthrown classes whose interests they continue to serve.

If there is to be any commemoration of victims, then let us commemorate all those victims of oppressive class forces determined to prevent the liberation of the people.

We condemn Bernardi for slavishly falling in behind Trump and US imperialism with no mention of the crimes committed by the US and other imperialist powers.

Millions have perished at the hands of the US alone.  If we add the killings done by British, French and other capitalist and imperialist ruling classes, the millions killed and enslaved in the period of European colonialism, and the millions killed by semi-feudal and landlord class regimes backed by imperialism, then the victims run to the tens, if not hundreds, of millions. If we add to the millions of the dead the horrific numbers still in slavery, the masses of children being exploited in various countries backed by the imperialists, and the living hell of starvation and misery in famine-ridden regions, then we get some idea of the scope of the victims of the pre-socialist minority ruling classes of the world.

We should certainly arm ourselves ideologically and politically to contest any new wave of anti-Communism.

History in the early hours

Nick G.

Overnight radio is perhaps one of the last places you might expect to hear a discussion of the centenary of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the role of the Communist Party of Australia,. ABC Radio’s Rod Quinn devoted an hour to the topic at 4am this morning.

The content was typically anti-Communist and not worth detailing here.  However, at about 30 seconds before the 5am news slot, a woman called to say that her uncle and another man had been gaoled by Menzies for printing an illegal Communist paper, and that a campaign to free the men had been instrumental in Menzies being voted out.

 

Quinn, to give him the benefit of the doubt, had just been talking about the attempt by Menzies,  after the war, to ban the Communist Party. With the news approaching, he quickly closed down the conversation saying “Oh that never happened – Menzies wasn’t voted out”. The caller had no opportunity for further comment.

In fact, she was right and Quinn was wrong.  Menzies lost government in 1941 and the campaign to free two interned Communists was a major factor.

 

The period prior to WW2 was one of struggle between supporters and appeasers of Hitlerite fascism on one hand, and opponents of war and fascism on the other hand. Menzies had visited Germany and professed his support for Hitler and his methods. That was why he found it such a “melancholy duty” to announce, as Prime Minister of the United Australia Party, that Germany had attacked Poland and that as a consequence of Britain declaring war on Germany, Australia too was at war.

 

The Communist Party had initially declared the war to be an imperialist war and they opposed proposals for conscription.  Their track record of opposition to fascism could not be faulted and the first stage of the war, from September 1939 to May 1940, was widely regarded as a “phoney war” with Britain and France still hoping that Hitler would strike east against the Soviet Union. To their surprise, he turned on France after invading Poland and did not attack the USSR until 22 June 1941, nearly two years after the start of the war.

 

With the attack on the USSR, the Communist Party devoted all its efforts to building unity against the Axis and in support of the war effort.
During and immediately after the “phoney war” period, Menzies and his Cabinet were unrelenting in their attacks on the Communist Party, seeing their anti-conscription campaign and any Communist-led industrial action as sabotage of the war effort. He adopted anti-democratic fascist measures to suppress the Party.

 

On February 7 1940, “Guardian”, the newspaper of the Victorian branch of the CPA was placed under censorship. In April, special censorship was applied to all Communist publications. Censored articles were sometimes replaced with Biblical tracts or left blank as a protest. “Soviets Today” was banned. On May 24, censorship was replaced with a total ban on all Communist publications.
On June 15, at 9.30 on a Saturday night, the Menzies Government declared the Communist Party an illegal body. The police, secretly mobilised beforehand, were sent out in swift cars to carry out raids on the homes of reputed Communists.  Books, papers, documents were seized, Communist offices and printing plants were occupied.

 

E.F. Hill, founding Chairperson of our Party, was active in the leadership of the Victorian branch at the time.  He later wrote: “Illegality is a hazard that all Communist parties face. This has been historical experience. Illegality of the Communist Party follows from the logic of capitalism, with its state machine used as it is for the suppression of opponents of capitalism.”  The lessons of this period helped shape the organisational form that the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) took at its inception in 1964.

 

From July 1940, Communist papers appeared illegally. Arthur James was sent to gaol for 6 months in Brisbane on September 24, 1940 for having been found with a Party leaflet on the night of June 15.  On June 21, a 23-year old woman, Phyllis Johnson, was arrested for making a speech against conscription and for having in her possession documents alleged to have been published by the Workers’ Educational association that did not have the required name and address of the printer. She denied being a member of the Communist Party (it was illegal), but said she believed in Communism and was speaking for the Central No-Conscription Committee established by the NSW Trades and Labour Council and the ALP. The police evidence against her included her having said “Mr Menzies admires Hitler, he is doing the very same things Hitler is doing in Germany.” When the magistrate asked whether she remembered saying this, she replied “Yes, and I believe it. I believe Mr Menzies is afraid of the anti-Fascists. I am sincerely anti-Fascist”.  She was fined £30 for her speech and £5 for possession of the leaflets. When she refused to enter into a bond to comply with the National Security Regulations, she was gaoled for one month. Johnson had one prior conviction for taking part in a raid on a bookshop run by Nazis. When the Party’s legality was restored, Johnson declared her membership and by 1943 was touring the country as a member of the Central Committee, urging support for the war effort.

 

Others to be persecuted during the Party’s illegality included Tom Garland, of Adelaide, fined £50 on October 21, 1940 for comparing Menzies to Petain, Chief of State of the German collaborative Vichy French Government; Horace Ratcliff and Max Thomas, caught printing Communist papers; A.F. Cant, President of the Perth branch of the Australian Society of Engineers, sent to gaol for one month for having a copy of the “Workers’ Star” in his possession; and Edward Crowe, a 65-year old man caught on the Melbourne waterfront with a copy of the “Guardian” and “Communist Review” and gaoled for six months.

 

Rod Quinn’s caller was the niece of either Ratcliff or Thomas. Both were union members.  On December 17, 1940, they were convicted and fined for having in their possession papers which did not show the printer’s name and address. A few days later they were charged at the same court with possession of illegal literature under the National Security Regulations and sentenced to 6 month’s imprisonment. They served their sentences.  Then some days before a broadcast speech by Menzies on June 17, threatening to intern offending trade union officials and others, Ratcliff and Thomas were secretly arrested and interned on the same charges.  The authority for the arrests was signed by the Minister for the Army, Mr Percy Spender.

 

Ratcliffe, 46, had served for four years during WW1 and had been at Gallipoli. He told the court that he had no apology to make for his opposition to imperialist war. Recalling the slaughter of his battalion at Gallipoli, he stated that he had spent all his time since fighting for socialism and against war. Thomas, 29, was gaoled with Ratcliff. Both men then began a hunger strike. After the first four days of their refusal to take food, Hughes, the Attorney-General, said that as far as he was concerned, they would not get out of goal one day earlier because of their hunger strike.  “A man who goes without food in a country like Australia, is a fool”, he said. “These tactics make no difference to me”.

 

Menzies had by this time established a War Council consisting of Government and Opposition politicians.  Dr H.V. Evatt (ALP) was a member. Both men lived in his electorate.  On July 10, he said that he would raise their case with the War Council and seek their release. Representations were also made by the Sydney Trades and Labour Council. Hughes and Ratcliff issued a statement declaring that they would continue their hunger strike until an appeal was heard by a committee under the National Security Regulations. Demands for their release grew.  A mass meeting of engineers at Leichardt Stadium demanded their release, as did the management committee of the Waterside Workers Federation, the Australian Railways Union, and their own union, the Printing Industry Employees Union.

 

On August 14, South Coast NSW unionists held a two-hour rally.  They sang “Solidarity Forever” and the “Internationale”.  Thomas’s brother said that although the men were weak, having lost about a stone (6.5 kilos), they were aware of the support and determined to stay on hunger strike. However, the following day, Ratcliff was taken to hospital in view of his worsening condition.

 

On July 17 it was announced that the War Council had refused to take any action over the internment despite strong representations that Australian citizens had a right to a public trial, and should not be punished twice for the same offence.  Menzies declared their hunger strike “irrelevant”. Now that Russia was in the fight against the Nazis there was no reason to release them, he said. “It is wrong to assume that subversive activities and propaganda have ceased to matter just because Russia is in the war,” he declared.

 

On 18 July the Ironworkers Union said that 10,000 South Coast workers would stop work for a day to secure the release of the two men and to “compel the Government to cease fire against the working class people of the country.”

 

That day, a 3-person tribunal began hearing the men’s appeal.  Both were now in hospital in the 16th day of their hunger strike and were carried in their beds to the hearing.  Protests now spread interstate with mass meetings on the Yarra Bank in Melbourne, while Newcastle miners called for a NSW-wide one-day strike. Wonthaggi miners called for a one-day strike on July 28, followed by a national general strike by all affiliated unions.  When Menzies refused to release the men on a bond, more unions decided to join the strike. 

 

The campaign against Menzies for the release of the two men, together with unpopularity within and without his own party fuelled by his support for appeasement, his admiration of Hitler and the ridicule he endured as “Pig Iron Bob” due to the actions he took against Pt Kembla wharfies in the Dalfram Dispute of 1938 made his political leadership of the country untenable. He resigned on 27 August 1941.

 

Ratcliff and Thomas were released, but not until October 21, 1941 and then on conditions that continued their deprival of elementary rights. The ban on the Communist Party was finally lifted on December 18, 1942.  Even then, the reactionaries of the UAP were unreconciled to their defeat.  On Sunday August 8, 1943, Opposition leader Arthur Fadden gave a foretaste of what was to come under the second, post-war Menzies government when he told a crowded meeting at Parkes that the Opposition parties would reimpose the ban on the Communist Party. At an earlier meeting that day at West Wyalong he said, “We put Thomas and Ratcliff in an internment camp, and the Curtin Government took them out. We imposed a ban on the Communist Party and the Curtin Government lifted it.”

 

Of course, Curtin acted because the Communist Party by now had hundreds of thousands of supporters, and Communists were playing an important part in the total war effort on both the home front and the front lines.

 

Phyllis Johnson’s brother Corporal Don Mather was pictured in the Party’s paper “Tribune” on 23 September 1943 in action in the jungle of New Guinea. He was depicted as a “Communist Hero” having joined the CPA in 1937 and the army in 1939.  He had fought in Libya and been mentioned in dispatches for bravery.

 

He was a far cry from Menzies who had resigned his commission during WW1 to avoid an overseas posting.

 

We should never forget this moment in the history of our movement in Australia.  It reflects the wisdom of the founders of our Party in modelling it on the iceberg principle – letting a little bit be seen above the class line but keeping the rest hidden from the Titanic of reaction, crisis and war.

Flames of Fear

(Contributed by a retired construction worker)

 

The fear……...Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
The outcome……....  Hundreds of thousands dead
The truth…….... Lies
The damage…….... The truth
CAN THEY EVER BE TRUSTED?

 

Two events of note occurred within a week of each other in London England recently. The outcomes of these events are as relevant to Australia and other similar countries as to England.

 

The first involved horrific acts of murder on the famous London Bridge by 3 frenzied knife wielding men now declared terrorists. Eight innocent victims died needlessly and dozens of others were injured for whatever misguided right-wing religious rationale drove these three culprits.

 

As a result of this and other similar declared terrorist attacks over the past decade or so, the British Government immediately went into a frenzy with Prime Minister May declaring, “enough is enough” while assuring the public her government was in control of the situation and will introduce even more legislation, more police, the armed forces and all other types of security measures required to stop this terror. Clearly, the vast amounts of money to pay for all this was not an issue so far as the government was concerned. The protection of the public against terrorism, in her view, was the first priority.

 

The second event of note and even more horrific than the occurrence on London Bridge, was the burning of the 25 stories ‘Grenfell Tower’ apartment building. Reports suggest the fire commenced on the lower floors and climbed its way to the top 25th level at unprecedented speed. Within this building, in the early hours of the morning, lived hundreds of innocent sleeping family members.

 

At the time of writing this article 80 people are assumed dead with 100s injured. It has also been confirmed by authorities that there was no act of terrorism involvement in this tragedy what-so-ever.

 

The cause of the fire (at the time of writing) has not been declared, but the evidence is mounting that none of the fire alarms had been working and no sprinkler system was even in place. Complaints about a fire risk of newly renovated outside wall cladding, costing millions of dollars and many other safety concerns, had not only been ignored by government officials and politicians, but the cladding was condoned. It was also reported that fire fighters were seriously hampered by the inability of their ladders and fire truck snorkels to reach the upper levels. Quite clearly the fire was a result of neglect, corruption, profiteering and abuse of power.

 

The initial response from the government was full of platitudes and wringing of hands and a belated declaration by Prime Minister May of a government inquiry to look into the facts surrounding the fire. Of course, we all know what happens when a government “inquiry” is put in place, people could wait years for a watered-down report but very little else except, justification for all the above suggested causes.

 

By any stretch of the imagination and as a matter of fact, ‘Grenfell Towers’ seriously outweighed the London Bridge attack as “tragic” just on the numbers of dead alone. But the initial reactions from the Government to each of these events would have us think otherwise.

 

No need of any such inquiry for the London Bridge attack, just straight into it based on one of these events being a terrorist attack and “priority” and the other not. “Enough is enough”, more police, use the armed forces, new legislation etc etc.

 

The ruling class wants us to be afraid

 

The promotion of fear of terrorism has become so invasive that the slightest suggestion of the word, “terrorist” results in hundreds of millions of dollars being thrown around like confetti by governments of the world, while at the same time we lose hard fought for rights at unprecedented speed without hardly a murmur from a panicked public.

 

It is understandable that terrorism must be taken seriously and combated, but equally, the day to day safety of the public must not be minimised to a level that any declared act of terror is deemed top priority by default and common right laws reduced to the level of lip service.

 

People throughout the world face greater dangers every day from avoidable disasters like ‘Grenfell Towers.’ Regardless of the public reporting and laying of complaints to government bodies of the potential for disaster, governments and private industry continually ignore them, especially when these bodies can refer to “risk management” to justify non-resolution of any potential disasters which could otherwise eat into any profit.

 

To make matters worse the pressure to reduce costs is so overwhelming governments now accept too much ‘red tape’ is a needless impost on business. It used to be called “good governance” and was accepted as a reasonable cost to protect the public from unsafe practices, shysters, corruption and other types of undesirable practices found in the community of profit seekers.
 

Of course, when you dig deep enough as to who is advising governments re risk management, you will always find the profit seekers and those who will profit the most from reduction of “red tape” regardless of the industry under discussion.

 

The point is, many more people are killed and injured from government inaction at the very best - or at the very worst, collusion - with the profit makers. Whichever option taken it is the people being ignored and their rights being removed who are ultimately the victims. Yet the concentration on the most minor of incidents re “terrorism” is blown way out of proportion compared to the calculated preventable injuries and deaths observed every day for the sake of maximising profits.

 

The use of fear is a great weapon to create confusion and distraction to control popular dissent against the terrors of capitalism in all its guises. 

 

Our rights and liberties under attack

 

In Australia, we now see governments introducing even more restrictions on peoples’ rights. The legal assumption that we are “innocent until proven guilty” has been under attack for some time.

 

Construction industry workers are now treated as guilty of breaching industrial relations laws if charged. Compelled under the threat of jail to give evidence against themselves and others if called as a witness. Now many other workers and the public, through an expanded interpretation of the Act covering the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), will be facing the same treatment if that interpretation is upheld by the courts.

 

We have all been brought up to believe fundamental tenets of western democracy like, ‘innocent until proved guilty”, define us as more civilised than others. But now the balance between peoples’ rights and public security has become more and more skewed towards the latter because the main government advisers, relating to security, are the security forces.

 

By definition the job of the security forces is to ensure security is primary, even at the expense of individual rights. The counter balance should be progressive social forces bringing enough pressure on leading lights in society and politicians to ensure individual rights are not removed by those intent on destroying the limited rights people already have. 

 

Following some recent declared terrorists’ attacks in Australia, some State Governments are proposing changes to state terrorist laws intent to reverse the presumption of “innocence” to ensure the security forces are given every right to arrest, detain and jail anyone suspected of being a terrorist threat to the community. These changes do not only affect the actual or suspected terrorists, but all of us lose our rights.

 

The divide expected in a “democracy” between civil forces and military forces is becoming blurred almost beyond recognition with the militarisation of police, security/emergency services etc. due to the fear of terrorism. The legal divide between these forces is seen as fundamental to protecting the integrity of a democratic system. Each force is specifically trained, one to deal with the public in criminal and civil matters, the other to deal with enemies of the State and war. Police officers and soldiers are not the same and never should be.

 

We now hear the Australian Prime Minister, Turnbull, explain why it is necessary to change laws, or re-interpret laws originally introduced to separate the roles of civil and military forces. Rules governing military forces operate in accordance with a chain of command hierarchy and totally differ from what’s considered the natural rule of law. It has been reported (New Daily 17-07-17) that,

 

“Similar laws in France and the UK have allowed the military to harass individuals, shut down peaceful protests and perform house arrests without a warrant, all in the name of fighting terror.”

 

This is a serious concern, especially considering the suggested reduction of peoples’ rights now appears to be limitless. The proposed changes by Turnbull also have no time limits or restrictions but appear to be forever.

 

During war, emergency measures for the protection of the public etc is not new in Australia or elsewhere, but emergency measures without time limits is unusual and raises serious questions as to why it is required when already 70 pieces of anti-terrorist legislation has already been introduced in Australia since the 9/11 attack in the USA.

 

A new super ministry has also just been announced combining Australian Federal Police, ASIO and the Australian Border Force under the control of Minister Peter Dutton. Minister Dutton, a former police officer is considered to be a very conservative right-wing member of parliament with many of his decisions lacking empathy for victims and going against the general public’s views on a “fair go”.  He is also well known for his views on security being priority.

 

Just another concern for those who believe their rights are being smashed day in and day out because the flames of terrorist fear are constantly fanned throughout society, diverting the public’s attention away from other resolvable causes of unnecessary deaths, injuries and destruction.

 

If it is really about protecting the public against terror, why not start with capitalism and the most dangerous accepted “terror” which goes on all over the world, day after day, unspoken, unabated and unpunished, like “Grenfell Tower”.

Indefinite Incarceration: Habeus Corpus

Pat F. 

Some years ago, the French armed forces infiltrated a bomb squad into New Zealand and blew up a Greenpeace boat, killing the Greenpeace activist on the boat. The perpetrators were caught and convicted. They had killed a man, destroyed a valuable boat, violated New Zealand’s immigration laws, attempted to escape, and failed to express remorse for their crimes. 

They were convicted of some lesser crime, and sentenced to a few years in prison. Quite soon the New Zealand Prime Minister allowed the criminals to be repatriated to France to complete their sentences. After a very short time the criminals were released from prison in France and faded from view.

These people were terrorists. They attacked civilian targets with deadly force. They were not acting in a conventional war situation. There was no consideration of whether they were involved in a “just” war; no consideration of the “proportionality” of the French response. They did not deliver a ‘smart’ bomb using a ‘stealth’ bomber. They launched a deadly attack on a civilian target, careless of the lives of civilians. But not at the time, nor since, have they been called “Terrorists”.

Why? Because the word “terrorist” is a word used to describe only the enemy, usually irregular forces, who are to be depicted in a negative way. They are given a name which causes people to fear and despise them as crazy, blood-thirsty killers of innocent people. 

Every people’s movement contains people with widely divergent ideas, values, and agendas. A recent very useful article in Vanguard spoke of the people’s movement in Northern Ireland. The author spoke of the role of the Catholic Church, and the lack of a mature M/L leadership, leading to mistakes, inappropriate objectives, and ultimately to the defeat of the movement after the achievement of only minor and temporary gains, (but gains nevertheless). The Irish freedom fighters were called ‘terrorists’, or ‘ters’, by the Brits.

It is a concern that the ‘war on terror’, being waged on the military and ideological fronts primarily by US imperialism, is obscuring the fact that although the people’s movements in the Arab world do contain fanatical religious bigots, they also contain working people and others who have learned to hate and oppose the US and British imperialists who have plundered and destroyed the lands, families and cultures of Arabic people and have imposed on them puppet monarchies like the Saudis in Saudi Arabia and other monarchies in UAE, Jordan, etc.

It is particularly concerning that parliament, police, and courts in Australia are referring to people convicted of crimes in Australia, as ‘terrorists’, and considering ‘indefinite incarceration’ of people convicted, who do not recant, or reform, or abandon the beliefs which support their activism. It is worrying that these laws seem clearly to violate “Habeus Corpus”, which is the old and revered principle of bourgeois democracy asserting that a person may not be imprisoned unless convicted by a court of a crime.

 In recent times draconian laws have been passed in Australia to suppress drug dealers, motor cycle gangs, trade unions and ‘terrorists’. These are laws which limit free association, self and family protection, privacy of communications, public assembly. They are laws which accept guilt by association, incarceration without conviction, and which limit and diminish freedom of speech.

The Communist Party is not yet one of the proscribed organisations which bring these laws into operation. Possibly the reactionaries still remember the failed attempt to proscribe the CP in the fifties. But now the laws required by fascism are in place, and ready to be applied when the state judges it is opportune.

Opposition to such fascist laws can form the basis for a broad opposition involving progressive liberals, workers, and students. As a Lutheran minister in Nazi Germany might have said; “When they incarcerated the Jews, workers’ leaders, and liberals, I said nothing. However when I realised the laws could be applied to me, I squealed like a pig.”

Let the collective and diverse squealing be heard around Australia! 

Three cities report on anti-Reclaim Australia rallies

Reports from three cities (Melbourne, Perth  and Adelaide) show that working class activists will not allow the unity of their forces to be divided along racial, religious or ethnic lines.  In these three cities, and others around the nation, the so-called Reclaim Australia rallies were challenged by anti-racist forces determined to nip fascism in the bud.  The reports follow:

………………

Anti-racist rally Melbourne

The appearance of neo-Nazis, fascists and racists around the world is no coincidence as the economic system of capitalism and imperialism plunges into a deeper crisis.

The anti-racist rally in Melbourne on 18^th July was called to oppose the hysterical anti-Muslim and anti-multiculturalism ravings of the Reclaim Australia mob and their fascist off-shoot, the United Patriots Front.

Between them, the far right racists, fascists and Nazi-worshippers scraped together 100 or so people, huddled under their Union Jacks and Australian flags listening to Danny Nalliah spewing his vile mixture of religion and race hatred under the protection of 400 police

Separated from the racists by hundreds of cops was an angry crowd of about 2000 people, with another 400 plus standing on the sidelines a bit unsure of what could happen.

They were right to be wary, as the police suddenly and aggressively inserted a line of police horses across the front of the anti-fascist rally. Other cops pushed into the crowd to clear the footpath for late-coming fascists to join their mates. The police then, without warning, resorted to indiscriminate pepper spraying of anti-racist protesters, hitting dozens of people, even the clearly identified street medics giving assistance.

None of the racists and fascists was treated in this way, although one thug was apparently arrested for fighting with a bloke from the other right-wing group! Meanwhile a cop was filmed high-fiving a passing fascist, no doubt for a job well done! 

There was a good spirit among the anti-racist demonstrators, who were courageous and determined to stand up against racism and fascism. Nevertheless, this tiny handful of neo-Nazis and fascist provocateurs is only the tip of the iceberg. They have been emboldened by the Abbott government whipping up and spreading fear of Muslims and refugees.

More effective and more dangerous fascists lurk within the reactionary government, corporate boardrooms, law courts and royal commissions, inside the police forces and armed services – these are the people who will implement austerity laws and sweep away any democratic rights whenever the imperialist/capitalist system suffers recession or crisis. They will make use of these openly fascists ratbags to pave the way for further attacks on the people and to distract and discredit progressive and revolutionary activists. Indeed, on this occasion, some characters within the anti-racist rally acted in an unnecessarily provocative manner which played into the hands of the police, government and monopoly media.      

A beat-up campaign by the monopoly media had its effect in deterring many people from attending – the “violence” from two previous rallies, threats of knives and other weapons carried by the UPF, association with “anarchists” and “socialists” etc. It was used to reinforce Abbott’s message of fear.

This left the progressive left forces somewhat isolated. There were no organised unions, no representative ethnic groups, no sympathetic politicians and no Muslim organisations, all of whom were collectively advised by the police not to attend. The progressive left will need to take the initiative in organising an inclusive broad movement that builds greater unity in defence of multiculturalism and democratic rights with unions and broader community. 

The positive sign at this rally was the absence of racist neo-nazis carrying Eureka flags contaminated with their bigoted filth. Instead a large banner with Raffaello Carboni’s words “…Irrespective of nationality, religion or colour the Southern Cross is the refuge of all oppressed from all corners on earth” was carried high by the anti-racist protestors.

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Adelaide rallies against racism

Nick G.

Reclaim Australia supporters were outnumbered by anti-racists at the Adelaide rally on July 18.

The RA crowd eventually grew to around 150 people, while the anti-racists numbered around 800.

The anti-Muslim mob were wrapped in Australian flags and carried banners covering everything from opposition to female genital mutilation and support for “Australian values” to calls to ban the burqa and close all mosques. 

Embedded in this group were members of the Adelaide chapter of the Patriots Defence League and a couple of Nazis who gave Sieg Heil salutes and shouted out “White Power”.  Ironically, a photo of one of these idiots is featured on the RA Facebook page under the heading: “We are not racists guys, we are just concerned patriots”. 

The anti-racists were well-represented by an Aboriginal activist who got on the loudspeaker and poured scorn on the idea of white racists purporting to “reclaim” Australia.

Although things got heated at times, the only violence occurred when a RA thug broke through police lines and punched an anti-racist.  Probably because media were there to capture the incident, the cops arrested him.

As was the case at other rallies around the country, some of the RA mob carried Eureka flags and sported Eureka flag clothing.  But there were more Eureka flags on our side of the cop lines together with the Spirit of Eureka banner which featured Rafaello Carboni’s successful call to a mass meeting of the diggers: “Irrespective of nationality, religion or colour to salute the Southern Cross as a refuge of all the oppressed from all countries on Earth”.

It is obvious, nevertheless, that more work needs to be done in the community to associate the Eureka flag with anti-racism, and to prevent its use by racists and fascists.

Mass work needs to be done too to make it clear that opposition to racism and Islamophobia is not an endorsement of various practices which are remnants of patriarchal and obscurantist beliefs advocated by some Muslims.  We should respect religious belief while popularising philosophical materialism and the unity of all working people.

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Perth rally opposes racists

Today members from the Bolshevik Club of WA attended the Anti-Fascist Rally, organised by Socialist Alliance, against Reclaim Australia at Solidarity Park, Perth.

When we arrived, the Fascists Forces opportunistically occupied the hill above the Park, flying the National flag, the Boxing Kangaroo and the Israeli flag amongst others, while the "Left Forces" congregated in the car park below with their mish-mash of slogans, chants and banners.

For the first couple of hours the right wing were outnumbered 2 to 1, but as the day progressed, their numbers grew to outnumber "the left" 3 to 1, which is a worrying trend.

However what was more worrying was the disorganisation of the 'left forces' and their lack of class content in analysis of the situation and lack of discipline.

These left forces moved from their area of protest, into a confrontational position with the opposition, without the numbers or the correct leaders to do so.

This caused some minor incidents which divided the "left" into two groups and made the "left" look like fools, while the right wing fascists blamed Marxism, socialists and communists for the woes of capitalist production.

What we witnessed today was an embarrassment for the Left forces in Western Australia which clearly demonstrated a lack of working class leadership and organisation which is instrumental in fighting fascism and racism.

It is now our duty as representatives of the working class to lead this very important struggle. Our first step will be to revisit Dimitrov's "Against War and Fascism" and formulate tactics to prevent disorganisation of the working class and to promote the unity and strength of the working class when faced by reactionary forces in the future.