| Socialist Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Collective leadership (National Committee) |
| Founded | 1985 (as Militant) |
| Headquarters | Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne, Australia |
| Ideology | Marxism, Trotskyism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| International affiliation | Committee for a Workers International |
| Website | |
| www.socialistpartyaustralia.org | |
| Politics of Australia Political parties Elections |
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The Socialist Party (SP) is a small Trotskyist political party in Australia affiliated with the Committee for a Workers International. The SP has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth.[1] It publishes a monthly newspaper called The Socialist which contains a socialist perspective on news and current issues.[2] The SP is not connected to the party which was known as the Socialist Party of Australia from 1971 to 1996, which is currently called the Communist Party of Australia.
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The SP began in 1985 as a small faction within the Australian Labor Party (ALP) but left in the early 1990s when the ALP and most social democratic parties internationally moved to the right. The group was originally known as Militant and then the Militant Socialist Organisation before becoming the Socialist Party.
The group has been involved in several campaigns including an occupation of Richmond Secondary College (as Militant)[3] and heroin reform. It has also been involved in the campaign for the rights of refugees including the Woomera Detention Centre protests.[4] In 2003 it initiated a campaign for young casual workers' rights called Unite Union.[5] It has also been involved in the anti-globalisation and anti-war movements.[6] Unlike much of the Australian far-left, the SP does not endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel as they argue it is "unlikely to have a significant economic impact, not least because it will attract only partial participation... (and it would) alienate Israeli workers, who are the only force capable of removing the brutal Israeli regime".[7] Similarly, they support a socialist solution in the conflict as opposed to a capitalist one-state solution which is supported by the majority of the Liberal left.[8]
In November 2004 the SP was successful in getting one of its members, Stephen Jolly, elected to the City of Yarra.[9] Jolly was elected to the Langridge Ward at the 2004 council elections with a first preference count of 12.34%. Jolly was re-elected to Yarra council in 2008 with a first preference count of 29.18%, out-polling the Greens candidate in his ward who received 26.29% and the ALP who received 16.12% in 2008, down from 28.14% in 2004.
After the 2010 Victorian State election, the Melbourne Leader reported that the SP was likely to pick up a second seat from retiring ALP Mayor Jane Garrett who had been elected to the seat of Brunswick. The vacancy was filled by Anthony Main, secretary of Unite Union,[10] who was elected into that seat on 23 January 2011.[11]
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