Perth Socialism a success
Socialism is in vogue, and the word has become hotly debated. The Socialism Conference’s positive reception in Perth reflects this, with more than 160 people attending the day-long event on 18 August.
Radicals, unionists and student activists gathered at the University of Western Australia to discuss the world since the 2008 financial crisis, the collapse of the political centre and how to resist racism, among other topics.
The introductory “Marxism 101” stream was popular, with the session “Why you should be socialist today” attracting one of the highest attendances.
Historian Chris Owen’s session, “Colonisation’s Bitter Legacy”, was another highlight. Seventy people filled the room to hear Owen discuss his recent book, Every Mother’s Son Is Guilty, which details the colonisation process in the Kimberly region of Western Australia.
From the 1880s onwards, the police facilitated the expansion of pastoralists’ economic and political power, including through massacres of the Indigenous population. The police continue to be crucial pillars of racial oppression today, reflected in the disproportionately high incarceration rates for Indigenous people. Owen’s history is crucial to understanding the origins of anti-indigenous racism, and how best to fight it today.
A running theme throughout the conference was radicalism in Western Australia. The rebels and troublemakers in the state’s history are often erased or have their legacies sanitised. One panel session rediscovered the radical legacies of Monty Miller, Paddy Troy and Katharine Susannah Prichard.
Similarly, the session “From Union Power to FIFO” discussed the Pilbara, a former stronghold of militant unionism. Participants in both sessions grappled with how to revive the same radicalism in today’s labour movement; relevant, given the recent offensive by aluminium giant Alcoa against its workforce. Conference attendees extended their solidarity by raising funds for Alcoa workers fighting to maintain their pay and conditions.
The closing plenary addressed the rise of the far right and proposed strategies to resist. The fascistic comments of Fraser Anning were put in the context of years of mainstream racist policy by the major parties.
The mood of the session and the day was summed up by visiting socialist and anti-fascist activist Vashti Kenway in her closing remarks:
“To challenge this state of affairs we need action. We need protest. We need to build a self-confident anti-fascist movement not cowed and intimidated by claims that we ‘went too far’. We need radical anti-capitalist defiance. Defiance with politics with clarity about who we are fighting and why.”
