SYDNEY — “The capitalist rulers have no solution to their unfolding world crisis except to place the burden onto working people, as they prepare for more wars over markets and resources,” Robert Aiken, the Communist League candidate for Australia’s Senate, told a Militant Labor Forum here March 22. The election is set for May.
Australia’s rulers have been unsettled by the course of the new U.S. administration of Donald Trump, fearing it may weaken their military alliance with Washington. Liberal commentators claim a multibillion-dollar deal to buy nuclear-powered submarines from Washington — an important part of Canberra’s plans to expand its military power versus Beijing — may be called into question.
Earlier this month the U.S. government imposed a 25% tariff on Australian steel and aluminum exports, drawing condemnation from the Labor Party government. While it ruled out retaliatory tariffs for the moment, it is promoting a reactionary “Buy Australia” campaign.
“Workers should reject the nationalism of the Australian rulers,” Aiken said. “We have the same interests with workers in other countries, whether it’s the U.S. or China.” In answer to the rulers’ war drive, “workers should champion our own foreign policy based on international working-class solidarity, and not one penny for the government’s military spending.”
Sharpening competition among capitalist powers is fueling government and boss attacks on working people and our unions, he said. Last year the federal government took over the construction division of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, placing it under the control of a government administrator. At the same time, working people are being squeezed by big hikes in food prices, electricity and rents.
The CL candidate pointed to the social crisis in Lismore, a town on the east coast that was almost destroyed by floods three years ago, wiping away most of the less expensive rental houses and hitting working people the hardest. Some residents are still squatting in houses slated for demolition.
In the face of these social catastrophes, Aiken said, “the Communist League explains the need for workers to act independently of the bosses’ parties and fight for our own class interests. We need to fight to change which class rules, to take power into our own hands and to end the exploitation and oppression inherent in capitalism.”
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas pogrom in Israel, there has been a rise in antisemitic attacks across Australia, Aiken said.
Cops in Sydney recently dismissed attacks on synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses, claiming they were carried out by criminals for monetary gain and not to target Jews.
The liberal media has seized on this to claim that initial accusations of antisemitism were false. But the attacks were aimed at Jews, and the alleged perpetrator touts his hatred of Jews and admiration for Adolf Hitler online.
“This shows that the cops can’t be relied on,” Aiken said. “Workers and our unions must organize to defend against Jew-hating violence and to champion and lead the fight against Jew-hatred.”
The rising attacks on Jews are a reflection of the deepening crisis of world capitalism, as imperialism marches towards fascism and a third world war. But the most important thing to register is that the working class can prevent this, Aiken said. “The future of humanity depends on the tens of millions in the working class worldwide who, with a communist leadership, are capable of changing the world.”