Attitude to the Labor Party

Extract from pp 7-8 of the Joint Statement of the Socialist Party of Australia and the Socialist Workers Party, April 1984

Introduction

In 1984, when the Socialist Party of Australia (now the Communist Party of Australia) and the Socialist Workers Party (now the Democratic Socialist Perspective) were discussing possibilities for unity in a single party, the two parties produced a joint statement, which included a section on the Labor Party.

The Fourth International and the circle spirit

This extract from The Struggle for Socialism in the Imperialist Epoch, a 1984 resolution of the Australian Socialist Workers Party (later the DSP) is of interest because its view of the “aristocracy of labour” differs somewhat from the present view of the DSP leadership.

The observations on the labour aristocracy question are obviously influenced by the Australian SWP’s rather negative experiences during what was called “the turn to industry”, which lasted from about 1978 to 1983 in Australia.

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