Socialist unification in Australia

Bob Gould

After a considerable time of debilitating splits on the far left in Australia, which have taken place in the context of problems presented by new political developments locally and globally, the first significant socialist unification for many years has taken place.

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ISO leaves Socialist Alliance

Dear comrades,

It is with regret that we write on behalf of the International Socialist Organisation to inform you that the recent ISO national conference voted to disaffiliate from the Socialist Alliance.

The politics of the ISO and DSP

Part I. The politics of the International Socialist Organisation

Part II. The politics of the Democratic Socialist Party

The need to restore the socialist project

Restoring the validity of the socialist project is not merely academic. The events of 1989-90 have been seen as the death of communism and socialism and the final triumph of Western capitalism.

The further fragmentation of the ISO

A statement by Socialist Alternative

The resignation of 21 members from the International Socialist Organisation (ISO) on 25 May is the latest reflection of the crisis that has wracked the ISO for a decade. Since the last ISO conference in December 2002 almost 50 members have resigned either individually or in groups, leaving the ISO on a generous estimate with an active membership of less than 100. This sharp decline occurred, as the 21 former ISO members point out in their resignation letter, during a period that “saw the emergence of a massive international anti-war movement and the largest anti-war demonstrations in Australia’s history. That the ISO failed to grow out of this movement, has no greater political coherence, no larger established periphery and if anything smaller meetings is a serious indictment of the current practice of the group.” (Letter of resignation from the International Socialist Organisation)

Letter of resignation from the Australian ISO

May 25, 2003

To the International Socialist Organisation

Dear Comrades,

It is with reluctance that we have decided to resign from the International Socialist Organisation.

The downward spiral of the group over the last two years shows no sign of abating. The respite from the general atmosphere of hostility and defensiveness following our last conference in December 2002 was only temporary. The resignations of long-standing comrades since conference have been met with indifference from the ISO national leadership.

The 2002 discussion in the ISO

1. Observations on the discussion in the ISO and issues raised for the left

2. Notes on the discussion in the ISO

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1. Observations on the discussion in the ISO

Bob Gould

[This piece was directed at members of the Australian International Socialist Organisation in their internal discussion leading up to the ISO national conference in early 2002.]

The socialist left in Australia is numerically the smallest it has been for about 100 years, and proportionately even smaller, if you consider that in the early years of the 20th century, when the Marxist left was about the same numerical size as it is today, Australia had a population of about 4 million, compared with nearly 20 million now. The overthrow of Stalinism in the Soviet Union, the removal of the greatest obstacle to healthy socialist movements for most of the 20th century, has not led to the more or less automatic flowering of a better socialist movement.

What sort of socialist alliance?

What’s needed for the new millennium? A broadly based and inclusive socialist alliance and socialist discussion, or a restrictive socialist electoral and propaganda alliance that by definition excludes socialist Laborites, socialist Greens, and anarcho-syndicalists?

Bob Gould

In January 2001, the leadership of the International Socialists (ISO) took a decision to agree to a long-standing invitation from the leadership of the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), to join them in a socialist electoral alliance, directed at the upcoming federal elections. These are the two largest groups on the non-Labor socialist left. This agreement between groups known in the past for their mutual acrimony is fairly significant. Since then a number of smaller socialist groups have joined this electoral alliance.