Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 15:40:01 +1000 (EST)
From: Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan-AT-qut.edu.au>
Subject: M-I: Re:Oz update


Comrades, what folows is a piece I wrote for the local anarchist throwaway.
the Democrats are a left-liberal bourgoeios bunch that split  away from the
ruling Tories.  They had of recent years gained a lot of support among the
progressive middle class. Of course they were always going to stick the
knife into the working class.


regards

Gary


The Democrats fly their true colours

Cheryl Kernot has just made a deal with the Howard Coalition Govt. in the
area of industrial relations. The Democrats and the Tories have agreed that
the unfair dismissal laws will be changed so that employers will be more
powerful.  The Democrats and the Tories have agreed workers cannot act out
of solidarity with other workers.  The Democrats and the Tories have agreed
that unionism will no longer be compulsory. 

The  way is now open for the destruction of unions. What Labor dare not do,
what the Tories could not do by themselves, Cheryl Kernot and the Democrats
have helped bring about.

Kernot has tried to disguise the extent to which she has come to the aid of
the Coalition govt.  She claims that she has reserved a role for the
Industrial Relations Commission, that women will be protected and that
workers will be told about their right to join a union.  But this is mere
window dressing.  What is going down here is that Kernot and her Democrats
have joined the push to turn Australia into a low wage economy. 

Kernot has professed herself to be a follower of the British Keynesian
economist Will Hutton.  The latter has proved that low wage economies
produce massive profits for the few and massive social misery for the many.
Poverty, disease and racism will now spread throughout Australia.  We will
have many, very many,  Pauline Hansons.  

The Govt. has claimed that their polices will bring down unemployment.
Kernot it would seem has bought this line.  But her favorite guru, Will
Hutton has clearly demonstrated that a low wage policy does not reduce
unemployment.  Low wages merely cause the existing work force to be made to
work harder and harder and harder.

Why did Kernot do it?  After all many had actually believed that the
Democrats were a progressive even a radical force in our society and one
that would restrain the Howard govt. The problem here is that many were
fooled by the Democrats' commitment to a liberal agenda. It is true that on
the environment and social issues the Democrats have policies which are
progressive.  But at the heart of our society lies the exploitation of
labour by the capitalist class and the Democrats have never opposed this
exploitation.

We have now come to a point in our history where you either oppose the
capitalist class in its drive for ever greater profits and in its campaign
to drive down wages or you join sides with the powerful and prattle on about
the "national interest" while you help the rich get richer.    Kernot and
people like her are fond of saying that their actions were "realistic" and
that "there was no alternative".  This is mere hypocritical humbug. Theirs
is the realism of the rich and the alternatives of the powerful.

The great truth at work here is that there are no neutrals in the class
struggle.  You may try and refuse to acknowledge the reality of class
exploitation.  You may even dismiss "class" as an old fashioned notion, the
stuff that dinosaurs are made of. But ultimately all that is mere rhetoric
designed to hide which side you are on.

Kernot will do all in her power now to conceal the fact that she is in a de
facto coalition with the Govt.  We will hear much of the "bullying manner"
of the Coalition. But nothing will disguise the reality that we will soon be
faced with a vicious range of attacks on the working class.

Cheryl Kernot has made her choices.  She is now on the team of the rich and
powerful.  The Press are pleased with her.  She is no longer
"obstructionist" it seems. Business groups are delighted with her.  She is
now the flavour of the month at the big end of town.  Well done Cheryl.

What though of her earnest protestations that "she is absolutely sure that
no worker will be worse of"?  It is unlikely that she believes this herself
any more than Bob Hawke believed his own pledge that "no child will live in
poverty."  In any case time will show that she is wrong, very wrong.  We are
on our way to a low wage economy even though that will bring wide spread
misery and social disruption.

What of Democrats like John Woodley?  The latter is a decent man and a
supporter of many worthy causes.  Woodley has the choice now of the "option
for the poor" or the "option for the rich".  Kernot has made her choice
doubtless without a great deal of angst.  If Woodley follows his leader he
will, we can be sure,  have an unhappy conscience.  He will suffer
considerable anguish.  That is personally sad for him but even worse for the
millions who will be driven into poverty.

Nevertheless,although we should rightly condemn Kernot and her party, we
need to be absolutely clear that the defection of the Democrats to the side
of the Tories has been brought about above all by the treachery and
cowardice of the ACTU Leadership and the Labor Party.  

The most recent example of this occurred when the workers stormed
parliament.  The Labor Movement had an opportunity to build on this anger
and to press home the attack against the Howard Govt.  It chose however to
retreat and even worse it joined the chorus of hypocritical outrage.  The
militants who led the demonstration were isolated and their supporters were
demoralised. Since that time we have had a distinct shift in the balance of
power towards the Coalition government and their big business masters.

To reverse this situation what is required is a radical politics which
rejects all compromises with the powerful: that scorns the cant of the
"national interest" and instead is firmly committed to the cause of the
oppressed and exploited.  Cheryl Kernot's action in signing the deal with
the Tories is a sharp reminder that we need not look to the Democrats for
any such politics.



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