- The Guardian
- Issue #2006
May Day, or International Workers’ Day, is one of the most important days for the working class around the world. It is a day to unite in solidarity and to celebrate the historic achievements of the working class movement. It is also a day to unite and struggle for the demands of the working class, for peace and for socialism. The past two years have seen the position of Australian workers come increasingly under attack. The COVID pandemic has hastened the rise of insecure work, while pay and conditions have been slashed at any chance possible. While companies make record profits, real wages and living conditions continue to decline. Cost of living is skyrocketing while public services are shrinking as the government forces workers to pay for the economic crisis. Capitalism has failed and continues to fail the people. It acts in the interests of bosses against workers. Trade union and civil rights continue to come under attack to try to stop us fighting back. This must change. We must fight not only against the negative effects of capitalism, but for real, systemic change. We must fight for socialism to provide a better future for all, free from exploitation.
The Communist Party of Australia Logistics and Manufacturing Branch Calls For:
- 4 day work week with no loss of pay
- The unfettered right to take industrial action
- Right of entry for union officials
- Right to bargain across an industry as well as in individual workplaces
- Right to secure well-paid jobs
- Right to a safe workplace
- Enforcement of workplace rights with heavy penalties for employer breaches
- Reduced employer surveillance of workers
- Reduced strenuousness of work
- The Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Committee to be abolished
- Make May Day a public holiday Australia wide
The Marxist-Leninist Communist Party is the most effective and successful organisation for advancing the fundamental interests of the working class and for leading the struggle for socialism. This can be seen in the strength of Marxist-Leninist parties internationally, along with the unsurpassed track records of success found in every country around the world. Numerous examples exist internationally of Communist Parties successfully adapting the universal principles of Marxism-Leninism to their local conditions and adopting forms of struggle that win the support of the people. The international Communist movement is the most successful movement for change in history.
How can we build the Party effectively?
Australia needs a strong Communist Party to turn back the intense slide towards right-wing politics and lead the struggle for socialism. The Communist Party of Australia once dominated the left and enjoyed a position of strong leadership of the working class in Australia for over 50 years. Australian militants must reject the failed counter-productive practices of other socialist parties. The CPA is orientated towards the working-class struggle. Militant Communists must be organised by industry and workplace to recruit militant workers, lead industrial struggles, build the trade union movement, and make militant unions out of weak unions.
LOGISTICS AND MANUFACTURING BRANCH
The logistics industry is one of Australia’s last remaining critical industries in which workers can wield immense power over their employers and society. Our branch aims to establish itself within the industry and contribute to increasing the level of class struggle. Communists must be more than simple “trade union militants”, they must be actively engaged in broader societal struggles as well-rounded “Tribunes of the People,” masters of Marxism-Leninism in theory and practice.
Lenin described trade unions as “schools of class struggle.” Participation in struggles for increased pay and conditions develops workers’ class consciousness and prepares them for higher forms of class struggle. But trade union consciousness is not Communist consciousness. Communists must raise the political understanding of workers to a Communist understanding of society and the consequent tasks of the labour movement. Through effective activity in the workplace that wins credibility and trust, Communists can win positions in the union movement and transform unions from bodies of simple reformism towards revolutionary bodies fighting for Socialism.
