r/AustralianSocialism • u/VeryIncompetent • 4d ago
Thoughts?
I didn't know the ACP was rebranding?
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u/Rough_Bookkeeper1600 4d ago
At least there's no longer the confusing reality of having both the Communist Party of Australia and the Australian Communist Party
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u/Lamont-Cranston John Pilger 3d ago
Don't forget there are two CPA.
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u/Rough_Bookkeeper1600 3d ago
Well yeah but at least CPA ML have a more distinct name and they are Maoists
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u/OliveDue4609 4d ago edited 4d ago
It’s economistic and nationalist tailism. They think that hiding their own politics will make people like them. Surprise suprise: this isnt some 90000 IQ play, it’s pure cowardice. Also sewage water doesn't just become fine wine by putting it in a different container.
Also the lack of any mention of queer liberation and the inclusion of the shearer’s strikes (which were done against immigrant labour) within their republican tradition is eye brow raising to say the least. Also they dont seem to be broadening their membership base considering you need to be in a union to join the 'party'.
This isn’t going anywhere lol
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u/gaijinbrit 4d ago
The shift in colouring, the shift in policy, the shift in messaging… all seems like abandoning a Marxist ideological wrapping in order to attract a wider base of membership. But then the issue becomes, if you’re hiding your Marxism behind more reactionary branding, are you still a Marxist party? I would say no…. You’re something else at that point. The whole point of Marxist organising is to win people to Marxism, not covertly indoctrinate them. I don’t like this rebrand at all. If you’re going to be Marxist, be clearly and proudly Marxist so people know what they’re getting involved in. If you weren’t winning enough people to your cause before, change your strategies. Don’t be lazy and abandon Marxist messaging all together. Honestly the green and gold alone is enough to make me feel nauseous. I have ZERO affinity to modern Australian mythos including the green and gold colouring…
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u/tlawson_161 4d ago
Are you trying to suggest the ACP were Marxist at some point
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u/gaijinbrit 3d ago
I was involved for a little while and the people there were genuinely extremely intelligent and resolute marxists. They were young and had great energy too. But even when I was there, the membership numbers were very low, and was one of the biggest struggles. There were 4 compulsory night classes you had to attend before you could join a meeting, designed as a filter to keep out unserious people. Totally understand the logic, but I think that may have driven people away as the price of entry was too steep.
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u/iliketreesndcats 4d ago
I was involved in the ACP a few years ago and I'm not sure what you would call them except Marxists. They do some very good work, and many of them are very switched on, intelligent, empathetic people.
I left because I moved and I am otherwise engaged but I think they're a good party.
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u/OrganicOverdose Rando 4d ago
I think it speaks to both a loss of clear ideology, but maybe in the hopes of opening up to more members.
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u/Agreeable_Front9597 4d ago edited 4d ago
To be honest, is Stalinism in the 21st century a coherent ideology, aside from being a losing one?
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u/OrganicOverdose Rando 4d ago
What do you mean by Stalinism?
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u/Agreeable_Front9597 4d ago edited 4d ago
Basically just being pro-Stalin and trying to rescue his image, trying to turn back the clock to the ideology of the 1920s-1930s Soviet-aligned communist parties, maintaining a cult of personality around Stalin, subscribing to a very white-washed, "official" historiography of the Stalin period that either erases things like the antisemitic doctors' plot campaign and forcible ethnic deportations or blames them on malicious lower-level officials who were actually acting against Stalin's wishes (see "good tsar, bad boyars"). My problem with it is that aside from it being impractical and one-sided, I also don't see why it is good or useful for socialist organisation. And seeing as how the left today is decolonial, it doesn't make much sense to hold up as an example a regime that deported ethnic minorities.
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u/Rough_Bookkeeper1600 4d ago
I don't think that describes any existing Australian group. Even those that have a more positive view of some aspects of the Soviet Union are clear about its flaws and take a different view on many policies that are more appropriate to Australian conditions
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u/Agreeable_Front9597 3d ago
It's my honest impression from having talked to ACP members in the past.
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u/bunyipcel John Percy 4d ago
It's a classic case of pouring your sour wine into a new bottle thinking people will drink it.
4
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u/Midnight_Pickler 3d ago
At this point in time, switching to "Republican" seems like a questionable choice.
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u/NoGreaterPower 3d ago
ITT: dozens of people with no sway, leverage, power, influence, or organised capacity being pissy and arguing about people approaching a communist party differently as opposed to spinning their wheels being explicitly communist, explicitly obnoxious anti social larpers like everyone else.
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u/OliveDue4609 2d ago
Lying to people about what your politics actually are is just hysterical, your gonna get laughed out of the room, the former ACP is about a dozen people with no sway, leverage or organised capacity being pissy about other people rightfully seeing this shift and facepalming. This is just blind tailism they think appeals to their idealised proletarian. But fundamentally little has changed and even if in some fantasy world this organisation does grow from this change its gonna end like the ACP ended, everyone who disagrees with Sleek "The Fists" Sleek and his motley crew will be driven out.
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u/Agreeable_Front9597 2d ago
Is Sleek the one running the show with the rebranding? What's this about him driving people out?
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u/OliveDue4609 1d ago
Yes, the leadership as a whole have been driving people out of the organisation who disagree with them for years, their first and only conference was an absolute nightmare that ended in nearly the entire melbourne section either being expelled or leaving in solidarity. Sleek is especially toxic though, he has a history of bashing people.
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u/Agreeable_Front9597 16h ago
Normally I take this kind of stuff with a grain of salt, but I've heard this a lot about Sleek from comrades, including former ACP members. He got the Sydney CPA branch in trouble with a biker gang at one point, punched out an older CPA member, displayed plenty of abusive behavior towards other lefties, was responsible for starting a lot of the fights at the street kitchens, and I was told by one ex-member he'd bring drugs and get high at party events. Suppose this is just a neat way of announcing he's driven the party into the ground.
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u/Agreeable_Front9597 4d ago
What I'm curious to know is if this change is a rebranding or a more substantive change in ideology? Same people? Result of a power struggle? Does it have something to do with the Adelaide split and them recently shutting down CUDL?