Differences Between the Parties of the Australian Left

[Battlecat]

Well, I was down at Occupy Melbourne last week, before the police rudely decided to kick us out, arrest us, and punch some good comrades in the fucking face, and I was getting into conversations with the different parties there.

Two that sparked my interest, and who's politics I agreed with the most, were the Socialist Alternative and Solidarity. From what I could tell, they both have the exact same ideology.

So, I was wondering if any Australian comrades knew exactly what the difference is between them, the pros and cons of their policies, and exactly which party is the one I should join (or at least follow more actively)

[ModelHomeInvasion]

Socialist Alternative is a Trotskyist party (they are also firmly against any other Socialist party that does not subscribe to this "tendency"). I hung out with them for a day, earlier this year, to see what they were all about. We ended up arguing over Cuba, the USSR, Burkina Faso, and a lot of other countries that had/have Socialist governments (shame on me for bothering at all). If you consider yourself to be a Trotskyist and/or "Left-Communist", and you are currently opposed to Cuba's government, you will probably like what SA has to offer. If not, you should probably look elsewhere.

I know nothing about Solidarity.

[Battlecat]

I know nothing about Solidarity.
Anyone know about Solidarity, and the difference between them?

[Lenina Rosenweg]

My understanding is that the Australian Socialist Alternative (no connection w/the US organization of the same name) are part of the International Tendency connected with the British SWP. They are 'Cliffites" and believe the former socialist states were "state capitalist" instead of "deformed worker's states". I don't know anything about their activism.

Louis Proyect has an interesting run down on groups of the Australian left. Proyect has an "anti-Leninist" bias, make of this what you will.

http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/category/australia/


Steve Jolly, a CWI member has run for city council for Ybarra

http://www.socialistpartyaustralia.org/archives/1519

[Battlecat]

My understanding is that the Australian Socialist Alternative (no connection w/the US organization of the same name) are part of the International Tendency connected with the British SWP. They are 'Cliffites" and believe the former socialist states were "state capitalist" instead of "deformed worker's states". I don't know anything about their activism.
Thank you, but I get their politics. SA aren't connected to the IST, however Solidarity are. Both parties are "Cliffites", and have the same views on "state capitalism" and other Tony Cliff ideas. Basically - I get what they stand for. I just want to know WHY they feel then need to have two different parties, and what both of those parties stand for that sets them apart from the other

[Iraultzaile Ezkerreko]

SA split form Solidarity when it was still the International Socialist Organization. This was part of a larger split within the IST which saw the entire American ISO expelled from the IST and the people who agreed with them in other IST groups being expelled from their organizations. The disagreement was over the party's positioning in the 1990's and the fact that the British SWP was pushing the idea that the 1990's were the 1930's in slow motion (which SA disagreed with and were kicked out for). Solidarity is the merger of the old ISO in Australia and a group which split off from them before. SA has approached them about merging citing the fact that their disagreements are tactical and thus can be debated within one organization. Solidarity has flatly rejected all of their offers of merger and the ISO and Solidarity (the two organizations which created the current Solidarity) didn't invite SA to the initial talks when forming the new Solidarity. Essentially, it's the same reason that the American ISO hasn't become part of the IST again, the people who expelled us and the SA are too proud to admit they were wrong or that they over-reacted. Also, as far as I know, Solidarity has this weird fetish about Chavez and Venezuela which, to my knowledge, SA does not share.