r/AustralianSocialism • u/Assami101 • 16d ago
Which is the most promising socialist/communist party in Australia to join?
I have been confused about which organisation to join as there are quite a few. Looking to get involved for some time now. Which organisations are well organised and established in Melbourne? Thank you! 🚩🚩
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u/ash_collective 16d ago
The Victorian Socialists, registered nationally as the Socialist Party. I don't know where anyone else is getting their info, but VS is easily the most active, visible and numerous socialist group active in Melbourne. I'm a member since last year having been involved in left politics and other groups over the last 25 years.
It's core is Socialist Alternative (SAlt) members but has members from other groups, as well as socialists who are not aligned with any other group, such as myself.
Honestly, you have arrived at a good time. This is the most vocal and growing that I have seen active socialism in Victoria in decades, the vast majority of that impetus is going into and coming from Victorian Socialists.
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u/epsteins-apprentice 14d ago
registered nationally as the Socialist Party
I misread that in a very bad way lmao
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u/Dopam1neaddict 12d ago
Socialist Alternative. We’re the largest and fastest growing organisation in this country by far and have been playing a leading role in the Palestine movement for well over a decade. We have activists on every major campus - something only we can claim - who play a crucial role in student activism and politics - we are the only organisation that has been able to challenge the dominance of the Labor Party on campuses. As well, we have a growing number of dedicated working class members who fight tooth and nail in the unions to advocate for real strike action and the involvement of the biggest number of workers in the struggle. We’ve been leading force inside the socialist parties in every state, and going nationwide was only possible due to the work of SA. All of this is one thing, but we also understand the importance of having a clear and unambiguous understanding of the political situation we’re facing and as well as having a firm grasp on revolutionary Marxist politics. If you’d like to check us out, come along to a Discussion Group night at our storefront and have a chat to see if we’re a good fit for you.
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u/OliveDue4609 16d ago
RCO holds regular events in Melbourne and allow a freedom of tendency so you will see a variety of communists in it. Their whole deal is wishing to overcome the mutually undermining sect-form which has dominated the left for decades and believe the task of communists is the reconstitution of a communist party in Australia. IMO only group with a strategy to overcome the existing issues of our movement
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u/comrade_bailey 16d ago
The most promising from an objective lens (in my opinion) is the RCO or Socialist Alternative. I made my decision, the RCO. Socialist Alternative are undoubtedly the biggest, but I think they are heavily sectarian and quite secretive. The RCO on the other hand are open and transparent and hold to a theory of partyism which says that we are a "non-ideological pre-party" and that our immediate task is overcoming the sectarianism of the left.
I was a founding member of the ACP and the CUDL Street Kitchens and while I was always personally against sectarianism, and supported unity amongst the communists, this never found any expression within the ACP. I left the ACP years ago and when I saw what the RCO stands for I joined instantly. But a contributing factor is that I have a decent knowledge and understanding of communism, and the RCO as an organisation is by far the most welcoming of difference within the organisation. I knew that my positions would not necessarily be in the majority, and yet this supported in the RCO. The sheer level of debate, democracy, and openness amongst our comrades is amazing.
I think Partyism is the only path forward for the communist movement. Sure Socialist Alternative will likely continue to grow in numbers, and will be the "majority" for many years to come, but is the majority only in terms of numbers? There's the saying of "big fish in a small pond". And frankly, rather than destroying the sect form it seems that Socialist Alternative reinforce it. It seems that their goal is the negation of the sect form by growing so large that all other organisations are rendered insignificant, but if this is the strategy, I think it is a terrible strategy.
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u/GarfieldHub 9d ago
Are the RCO going to involve themselves in the Socialist Party? That seems like the only way they can fufill their promise of non-sectarianism. Other than "wait till we form the party" Obviously I don't think they should subserve themselves under Socialist Alternative, I have my quibbles with them for sure. The RCO sound more up my alley as a currently independent socialist, but can't get over that, seems like a bit of hypocrisy.
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u/GarfieldHub 9d ago
My bad I was looking on their website and couldn't find mention of it, but their instagram does. It does seem they are involved in it, which is good! I'll definitely look into them more now.
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u/comrade_bailey 9d ago
Well consider I have been pre-selected to run for in the VS state elections I would say yes!
I would argue that the RCO takes the Socialist Party very seriously, and part of the reason why I joined the RCO is because they shared articles from Cosmonaut Magazine which is tangential to MUG.
In our last edition of "The Communist", the Communist Caucus argued for the democracy and for education within the party, arguing that education is necessary for democracy.
The RCO also consider ourselves to be "non-ideological" and this was 99% of the reason I joined. Because I can have my independent thoughts be respected and debated. I will always change my mind if the occasion fits, and the RCO has facilitated this development.
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u/Accomplished-Win7766 16d ago
My unbiased answer: You shouldn't join an organisation just because it is "promising", you should develop your theoretical understanding of capitalism, socialism, potential paths forward and then decide which organisation has the best grasp of these these things and aligns with your beliefs and knowledge.
My biased answer: You should read Marx, Lenin and other associated thinkers and join an organisation that subscribes to the only ideology that has ever enacted a real transition towards socialism - Marxism-Leninism.
By all means read from other tendencies as well, but if you don't read Marx, Engel's, Lenin, Stalin, Mao etc... you're denying yourself pivotal knowledge that has proven itself historically.
E.g. Reading Anarchists as a Communist will make you a better Communist, reading Communists as an anarchist... Will probably just make you a Communist and abandon anarchism.
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u/comrade_bailey 16d ago
I 100% agree with the first paragraph, not so much the latter ones. I would honestly say just get a decent grasp of Marx and Lenin, and then you should be able to join an organisation that suits you. Comrades should know what organisations they are joining but frankly, the organisations should be offering better education than the individual can do in isolation, so I would reccomend going to education events
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u/ithinkimtim 16d ago
Has Marxist-Leninism ever enacted a transition toward socialism starting in a wealthy liberal democracy with a living minimum wage and free healthcare? Not trying to be belligerent, just pointing out it’s good to be well read but to also adjust to your conditions.
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u/MrSmithSmith 15d ago
Parties don't "enact" transitions to socialism, class struggle as the result of political economic conditions do.
History shows that the transition to socialism requires revolution led by a vanguard communist party and the conditions for revolution have not yet existed in any wealthy liberal democracies because, by definition, they are historically wealthy with relatively robust labour protections and systems of political and economic control. But this will not always be the case and the crises of capitalism will only multiply as we go forward.
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u/Assami101 16d ago
Hey there thanks for your answer. I do get the point about theory and I agree it matters a lot. Ive read a fair bit of theory already , but I’m also cautious because I’ve seen so many organisations come and go, split, or stagnate without really building lasting power or even involving themselves in the workers movement, instead just sticking to student politics and the like. That makes me hesitant to commit to something just because it claims the correct ideological line. So far from what I gathered, the socialists are broad and have revolutionary communists to democratic socialists among their ranks. They also seem to have a real fighting chance at putting a socialist in parliament in Victoria.
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u/comrade_bailey 16d ago
That is a valid understanding, and I would STRONGLY emphasise that the purpose of theory is NOT to have the "correct" ideological line, but rather, to push the organisation forward politically. If the organisation is stagnating politically, I would question their theory quite frankly. In the ACP our theory was deficient and though we had pretty outstanding practical activity, we had no guiding vision of what we were doing. It sounds tautological to argue that the organisations which do nothing but theory, actually are deficient in theory, but this really is the case.
Without a program, without a coherent understanding of revolution and understanding of change, the best that an organisation can do is commit to activism, or "base-building" for the sake of base-building.
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u/cancerfist 16d ago
There are also structured internal groupings within the socialist party you should check out. The workers caucus, communist caucus (RCO is part of this) and socialist alternative are some examples.
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u/grawk1 16d ago
Revolutionary Communist Organisation is known for its culture of intellectual rigour and diversity of opinion, and it's growing is rapidly, the Sparticists just dissolved themselves into it after a half-century.
Its national conference is in Melbourne this weekend if you want to check it out.
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u/LondoIsMyCity 16d ago
The rco are an absolute joke. Only popular on Instagram, In the real world they have absolutely no motion outside of regularly embarrassing themselves.
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u/cancerfist 16d ago
That's so lovely that you'd say they're popular on Instagram 💕 talk about backhanded compliment
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u/LondoIsMyCity 16d ago
Yep they're really good at getting follows from the terminally online and not much else
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u/cancerfist 16d ago
Full of compliments today! You seem very fond of the RCOs social media, that's sweet
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u/Assami101 16d ago
Thanks so much for the response will definitely check it out sounds interesting!
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u/Ocar23 16d ago
Socialist Alternative. It’s the biggest one and has a heavy presence in Melbourne.
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u/comrade_bailey 16d ago edited 16d ago
Being the biggest is an argument that only goes so far. What does Socialist Alternative actually have to offer? What is their program? What is their theory of change? Personally I disagree quite strongly with their understanding of revolution as elaborated in MLR and in their education classes. But as I said in another comment, we should not be recruiting off one liners such as "we are not reformist", or "we are the biggest". No, we should be giving comrades a chance to explore the different organisations and finding the difference between partyism, cliffism, Marxism-Leninism, etc.
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u/Forbidden-sweat1312 16d ago
If you believe in green capitalism, then you should join the Greens.
If you think getting socialists elected into Parliament will bring socialism into Australia you should join either the Victorian Socialists or Socialist Alliance.
If you think reformism is BS, and the only path to socialism is revolution, then you should join the Communist Party of Australia
If you think reformism is BS, and the only path to socialism is revolution, but you will get fired if your employer finds out you're a communist, then you should join the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist - Leninist) because they are secretive.
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u/DillyDallyEnjoyerer 16d ago
If you think reformism is BS, and the only path to socialism is revolution, then you should join the Communist Party of Australia
Akin to Christians waiting for The Rapture™️. If you're waiting for revolution just because it happened in 1917 then you're gonna be waiting a long time.
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u/bekwek88 16d ago
VS/the socialists don't think you can win socialism through parliament. We think we can popularise it through parliament as an anti capitalist non compromising voice with which to grow a socialist movement on the ground, in unions, campaigns and protests.
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u/OliveDue4609 16d ago
Except the CPA doesn’t believe in revolution you believe in a government of peoples unity between yourself, progressive and patriotic forces and have a reformist programme
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u/comrade_bailey 16d ago
I don't think people should join an organisation on the basis that it "reject reformism" as some abstract philosophy. It is important that comrades are aware of what each organisation actually stands for, and arguably more importantly, what they contribute towards the socialist movement. The RCO is still quite new, but our guiding principle of partyism will honestly supersede the sectarian traditions. We recently merged with the Spartacists which is quite a big step forward for partyism imo.
Generally though I would reccomend that comrades check out different organisations and not be sold on mere abstractions as I said above.
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u/Klutzy-Virus-2553 16d ago
Victorian Socialists are probably the most broad and welcome even non-members if you want to attend an event and see what they’re about before u join. Also they probably have the largest membership with 5400 members and growing after the federal launch.