Across the West people vote conservatively, that is, they choose governments who they believe are most likely to continue the big government / modest taxing regimes that we live in. Even the French have chosen this version of paternalisic conservatism!

The recent shift from Howard is because the punters feel threatened by the excesses of WorkChoices and the prospect of having no water to drink or climate to enjoy. Howard may or may not persuade the toiling masses that he can still be trusted by ducking and diving on these issues and making people feel like he cares.

Tristan, the bottom line is the punters won't buy what you are selling because you will not get a majority to agree the problems are as acute as you seem to suggest.

I suggested in another post that economic democracy was the way forward for the left. I think the underlying principle should be to promote broader and more engaged democracy. I agree with another post that citizen referenda may be one form of that, Tristan mentions some others worth pursuing.

For example, if unions are dying (and I am not saying that they are) then it is important that we embrace works councils in some form to rebuild worker democracy. Shareholders and pension fund members also deserve more democratic representation and an opportunity to influence the way capital is formed and invested.

My point is that reconsidering economic democracy is the only option open to the left in the West and the one option that supports future class convulsions (I am not so Fukuyama'd to think we have seen the last of them!)

I think the more Marxist stuff reminds me of many happy hours spent debating such lofty matters at Uni. I am not being sarcastic just nostalgic for the days in my sheltered workshop for the intellectually gifted!

DEMOS, Forget the Citizen Initiated Referendums to solve the problem. There's something even better: change the culture. If enough ordinary Australians changed the way they behaved and what they tolerated, they would effect a change from the bottom up. Those 'in power' would then have no choice but to follow.

Are all the posters in this thread male?

Changing track, what struck me about this article were the comments ‘what is missing here is any sense of class consciousness’

and

‘…regardless, those workers on average and higher incomes often forsake solidarity with the marginalised, including pensioners, single parents, the elderly, the disabled, and many Indigenous Australians’

Interjecting this thread from a dastardly feminist POV, I wonder where the support from average to high income single mothers are?

There’s many women out there who should be contributing to the plight of single mothers …. Ita Buttrose, Nicole Kidman, Antonia Kidman, Sally Carey, not to mention the not-so-well known, who could speak up for single mothers, and tell it as it is … that men leave their families, and often at a time when their wives are pregnant. Frequently after many years of marriage.

Pregnancy, small children, and single parenthood are a sure combination for welfare dependency, unless there is reasonable marital wealth and a house for the family to reside in. If women are denied access to a home and income, with dependent children in their care … and if those women have no recent employment experience, then they are subject to tremendous hardship, even if they are eligible for welfare.

So I ask, where are these privileged women who could speak up for other single mothers less privileged?

With their support other women would not be experiencing this outrageous discrimination in society that they are experiencing at present times, particularly from the Liberal government.

Tristan,

You belong to the Left of the ALP. I expect that you think it is progressive. I do not belong to the Left of the ALP. I do not think it is progressive at all. Yet, I oppose the privatisation mantra and the private profit partnerships that have creamed the public revenue recently. I believe in a much higher public investment in education. I am totally opposed to the Howard Government’s IR laws. Had I been a delegate at the ALP’s conference, unlike those from the Left, I would have voted against requiring secret ballots for industrial action by workers but nor by employers. But I am pro-American and, in the light of the tens of millions slaughtered by communism and my own experience of the violent hypocrisy of the Left at university, strongly anti-communist. I regard the S11 demonstrators and the like as ineffective, childish and undemocratic.

We all know what would happen to a new party of the Left, particularly in any system that has single-member electorates. When negotiations were going on in the 1960s to re-unite the two Labor parties, there was an opinion poll done asking voters to choose between an ALP-DLP led by Gough Whitlam and a Left party led by Jim Cairns. The former unsurprisingly won.

Rather than grand schemes, you would be better to approach issues one by one and seek support from those on the Right.

The biggest change the forces behind Kennett Government made was to the language. The IPA and their allies changed the meaning of words so that people more or less had to think differently. I am still amazed at how successful they were. Think of the most misused word in the language – reform. If you want to undo the madness that his government enacted and the madness of the Howard Government, you too have to change the language – back to what words used to mean.

The Labor Party was formed as a Socialist Party.

The Left, they have failed to progress and still remain committed to Marxism. As a result the Bloody Right has turn us into another wing of the Liberal Party.

Recent actions by the Unions, has legitimatize the actions taken by the Right to turn the Left into Whimpering Dogs.

As a result of the Unions attitude, lets bleed the bosses for everything, we have been given “Work Choices”, In other words the Workers right, a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay are all but gone.

It is time the Unions realised that they must work with the bosses in order to produce a win for the company, a win for the nation and more importantly a win for the workers. A win for the workers means working with the company to produce greater profits, security in the job, better pay and working conditions. For example. Instead of pushing for a 9% increease over 3yrs, in the case of EBA, how about 4 ½% pay increase with 4 ½% Bonus been paid each year. In other words, 4 ½% of net profits are paid to the workers as a Bonus. The better the company profits the bigger the Bonus for each worker.

As for the Left, it is time to form a single faction. Because there are so many factions, we spend more time fighting amongst ourselves. In other words we are handing control of the Party to the Right to do as it pleases.

The Left would do well to remember we are a Party with Social Conscience not another Conserative Party who is happy to bend down to the Big End of Town and to go all way wirh America without doing what is best for Australia.

I have one dream, to see a Prime Minister from the Left and a Union Movement with a thriving membership, working to make a better life for all Australians.

The man who is our social conscience should be our leader

Two comments:

"The lesser of two evils" - this is very much at the heart of our political problem. In effect, there's room for only 2 players in Australian politics. That means that there's no room for nuances and both parties define themselves only in regard to the other. Tristan talks of starting a new party, to the left of Labour, but that party already exists, and has existed for years: it's the Green party (which is way more political than most people care to know). Yet when, or how, will the Greens ever have an effective role in government?!?

Regarding 'class struggle', I agree that the concept has become pretty antiquated. A concept that will never disappear however is that of solidarity. Solidarity with fellow humans, and fellow countrymen. How can we tolerate that some of our neighbours be hungry or sick and not receive food or treatment, when so many of us are so wealthy? How can we tolerate that some of our neighbours have to rely on charity for bare subsistence? Charity! As if these were the middle ages! What a disgrace. I don't want to be charitable. I want my government to provide for the poor and I want to be taxed accordingly.

I long for a labor party that would place solidarity and justice as its core values. Rudd's isn't it.