Australian Left Review
Article Title
Comment - Australian Election Results
Abstract
The December 10 election result poses several problems which must be squarely faced by the left. Some o f them are: * To anlayse the reasons for Fraser’s victory * T o d e v e l o p a m u ch d e e p e r understanding of Australian society, in particular the ideology and aspirations of the workers, so as to both understand the vote for Fraser and assist the left to develop the concrete long-term strategy for an ‘Australian road to socialism’. * To devise policies, strategy and tactics to meet the inevitable increase in antiworker, authoritarian and repressive initiatives The election merely confirmed in its own way a long-observed fact about the working class, in Australia and all capitalist societies: not all the working class, or even a majority of it, will always act in its own best short-term or long-term interests. The working class condition under capitalism can lead it to believe and follow the political representatives o f the class which exploits it; to be taken in by the system and its myths and to reject the real solutions to its problems. This often has been, and is, true of some of the most oppressed and exploited workers. All the more, then, can it be true of a working class which, on average, enjoys living standards and conditions better than virtually any other subordinate class in history, with the possible exception of the contemporary north American working class.