Put All Politicians Last!

PUT ALL POLITICIANS LAST! FIGHT FOR JOBS, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, HOUSING, CIVIL RIGHTS!

24-01-15 – The unpopular Liberal National Party (LNP) Government led by Premier Campbell Newman has called an early election for January 31^st, seemingly to avoid a further slide in approval ratings. The severe assaults on jobs, working conditions, public services and democratic rights by this administration has been unprecedented. Approximately 15 000 public servants have been sacked, throwing their futures and their families into precarious positions. Nurses have been retrenched, further limiting health services. The privatisation of state assets continues as far as the LNP believes it can get away with, and the anti-association laws, ostensibly aimed at bikies, have shredded what limited democratic rights were available until this time. An itemised list of public spending cuts could fill a book.

Let us not, however, believe for a minute that all of these assaults on working people and the poor, and the contempt shown for the natural environment, are a result of the work of the LNP, or the ideological predilections of the LNP – although that plays some role. The ongoing war on working people is ultimately a result of the worst capitalist economic crisis since the 1930s, which has not relented since it began in 2008. This crisis, affecting all capitalist economies around the world, has perhaps been most acute in Greece and Spain. Australia has not sunk to the depths of Greece and Spain thanks largely to trade with socialist China. China’s majority state owned economy, which despite the crisis in the capitalist economies, is still powering along at around 7.5% GDP growth, salvaging Australia and many other trading partners. Yet even the power of Red China is not enough to prevent the Australian ruling class from launching savage attacks on the living and working conditions of people here, as part of an attempt to get us to accept lower wages, high unemployment, unbearable working conditions for those still in work, the increasing militarisation and securitisation of society, permanent poverty and disdain for the environment. They want us to accept the idea that their government has no obligation to provide basic public services – such as jobs, healthcare, education and public transport.

The Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) has launched a campaign to “Put the LNP last”. No matter which way this is spun, this is an implied call for an ALP government, or perhaps an ALP/Greens government. This is the same QCU which did not organise one minute of industrial action to fight against 15 000 job cuts from the public service in 2012. The QCU barely lifted a finger to oppose the VLAD laws – laws ultimately aimed at Unions themselves. These actions, more or less working with the LNP they claim to oppose, has led to widespread demoralisation amongst workers, many of whom now mistakenly believe that “nothing” can be done to fight the loss of jobs and conditions won over a century of struggle. Little could be further from the truth – provided a spark, workers could push aside the Union misleaders, which will probably entail exposing and removing anti-working class officials concerned only with furthering their careers. The Unions and their considerable resources could then be transformed into anti-capitalist organising centres, if not at the very least centres which organise campaigns against unemployment and for the full repeal of the VLAD laws.

The LNP is only carrying out what is required by a capitalist system in dire crisis. Therefore, the election of Labor in Queensland – the second party of Australian capitalism – will not stop the attacks on workers!  Nor will it help to elect other parties committed to the capitalist system, such as the Greens, the Palmer United Party, Katter’s Australian Party, or the Family First Party. The attacks will continue no matter which party administers capitalism at this historical juncture. Capital requires still more drastic reductions in the cost of labour, in a vain attempt to restore some rate of profit – hence the assault on jobs and working conditions for those that still have jobs. They also understand this will provoke political resistance – hence the VLAD laws to stop workers organising in their own defence. The ALP understands this, which is why it worked to prevent Unions from mobilising, and why it voted for the VLAD laws. It is also why it began the privatisation of state assets.

All of social democracy, and hence the QCU, are behind the push to “put the LNP last”. Yet for workers, the result of an election is far less important than the level of class struggle. It is class struggle, the efforts of workers in their workplaces and Unions, supported by pro-working class students and others, that has the potential to win lasting gains. Voting for the parliament of the rich is ultimately a futile effort, in terms of expecting a result. However, the ruling class has decreed that workers will be fined for not voting, so to avoid fines, we at least have to have our names crossed off the role and drop a ballot in a box. For this reason, in the absence of any genuine pro-working class candidates, the MLF recommends that workers cast a blank ballot on January 31^st – but commit to building a class struggle for jobs, healthcare, education, public transport, public housing and civil rights. For it is the class struggle of workers, not voting in elections dominated by those with wealth, that has potential to reverse the damage done by both the ALP and the LNP.

Permanent gains for workers ultimately can only be gained when the workers sweep away capitalism by using newly won state power to expropriate the capital that workers have helped build over centuries. In the meantime, let all working brothers and sisters struggle together against the nefarious inroads of their crisis. Jobs for all! For workers’ power!

MARXIST-LENINIST FRONT http://googled22.wix.com/marxistleninistfront/ facebook/0421 408 692/mlf20701@gmail.com