Australian foreign minister rebuked in Beijing over US military deal

By Patrick O’Connor, May 17, 2012

The terse diplomatic discussions have underscored the tensions in East Asia that are being generated by the Obama administration’s provocative “pivot” to the region.

New Zealand “Not for Sale” campaign promotes anti-Chinese sentiment

By John Braddock, May 17, 2012

The campaign is designed to divert popular opposition to the government’s privatisation and austerity agenda behind the Labour Party and Greens as well as the aggressive US stance against China.

SEP/ISSE public meeting:

Defend Quebec’s striking students! Education should be a social right!

May 16, 2012

The International Students for Social Equality and the SEP (Canada) are holding a public meeting in Kingston, Ontario on the afternoon of Saturday, May 19 as part of the fight to mobilize the working class in defence of Quebec’s striking students.

Australian state governments prepare sweeping spending cuts

By Patrick O’Connor, May 16, 2012

Every state government, Labor and Liberal alike, has stressed its determination to do whatever is necessary to avoid a credit rating downgrade.

Australia: TAFE teachers and students protest Victorian budget cuts

By Margaret Rees, May 15, 2012

Entire courses will soon be eliminated, and some students will face a quadrupling of fees, making vocational education unaffordable for many working class youth.

Australian car component plant reopens after union-imposed layoffs

By Margaret Rees, May 12, 2012

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union last month orchestrated the restructuring of the bankrupt APV Automotive Components plant in Melbourne.

Australian opposition leader condemns Labor budget’s “class warfare”

By Patrick O’Connor, May 11, 2012

Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s budget reply further highlighted the ongoing crisis wracking Australia’s official political establishment.

Quebec students reject union-promoted sellout of their fight for accessible education

By a WSWS reporting team, May 11, 2012

Striking students have overwhelmingly rejected the agreement reached last Saturday between the Quebec Liberal government and leaders of the three province-wide student associations to end their three-month strike.

New Zealand: Land sale to Chinese company provokes opposition

By Tom Peters, May 11, 2012

The controversy reflects conflicts over where to line up amid growing geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific between the US and China.

Socialist Equality Party Public Meetings

Oppose the US-Australia war preparations against China

Through the military agreements with the Obama administration, the Gillard Labor government has unconditionally aligned itself with US war preparations against China. The SEP meetings in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Wellington, New Zealand, will advance the urgent need for the development of a genuine anti-war movement, based on a revolutionary socialist program.

SEP first national congress

SEP holds first national congress

8 May 2012

The Socialist Equality Party, the Australian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), held its first national congress from April 6 to 9, 2012 in Sydney. Meeting under conditions of deepening economic crisis, and a turn by the ruling elites worldwide to austerity, repression and preparations for war, the congress marked an important step forward in the fight to resolve the crisis of revolutionary leadership and perspective in the working class. During four days of intensive discussion and debate, the congress unanimously adopted seven resolutions.

Resolution 1: The world capitalist crisis and the tasks of the SEP
Resolution 2: Against imperialist war
Resolution 3: Oppose the US war drive against China
Resolution 4: Oppose the US-Australia military agreement
Resolution 5: The 2010 coup and the crisis of bourgeois rule
Resolution 6: Defend Julian Assange
Resolution 7: Build the SEP!

Featured Analysis

Oppose the BlueScope sackings! Fight for a socialist strategy to defend steel and manufacturing jobs

Statement of the Socialist Equality Party, 24 August 2011

The fight against the mass sackings at BlueScope must be taken up not only by steelworkers but by every section of the working class now facing devastating attacks on jobs, wages and working conditions.

The Australian Workers Union, steel sackings and anti-China chauvinism

Patrick O’Connor, 25 August 2011

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is stepping up its reactionary nationalist campaign to scapegoat China for the destruction of about 1,400 jobs at BlueScope steel.

WikiLeaks cables expose US hostility to Rudd’s Asia Pacific Community plan

By Peter Symonds, 31 December 2010

Washington’s concern was that Rudd’s foreign policy was cutting across the US agenda.

The political significance of the WikiLeaks revelations

By Nick Beams, 23 December 2010

The following report was delivered by Nick Beams, SEP (Australia) national secretary to SEP public meetings in Melbourne and Sydney on December 20 and 21.

NSW State Election

Australian Labor Party suffers devastating election defeat

Across the state, the most populous in the country, Labor received only 25.5 percent of the vote—its lowest result since 1904.

SEP analysis of the June 23-24 political coup

The Australian Labor Party coup: a warning to the working class

Julia Gillard’s installation as prime minister last Thursday through an unprecedented coup initiated within the Labor apparatus by a tiny handful of unknown factional warlords and trade union bureaucrats is a clear warning to the working class.

The international significance of the political coup in Australia

The sudden ousting of Kevin Rudd has punctured the myth, promoted around the world and at home, of Australia as a land of social stability and political quiescence.

Mining executive’s speech points to key role in Australian coup

A speech by Tom Albanese, chief executive of the giant mining transnational Rio Tinto, underscores the key role played by the major mining companies in the June 24 coup.

 

See more analysis of the June 23-24 coup...

Documents of the SEP Founding Congress

The Historical and International Foundations of the SEP (Australia)

Adopted in January by the founding congress of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia reviews and examines essential historical events and political experiences of the Australian working class throughout the twentieth century, within the context of global economic, political and social processes.

SEP (Australia) Statement of Principles

The SEP Statement of Principles outlines the basic conceptions of the SEP and the foundation for membership in the party. The document was adopted unanimously at the party’s founding congress in Sydney on January 21–25.

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