eureka

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/30022453

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/30019338

In the 1940s, the Communist Party of Australia was approaching the peak of its power as the largest and most influential left-wing organisation in Australian history.

The Communist Party of Australia demanded far more of its members than an average political organisation. To be a communist, you were expected not just to become an activist and an organiser, but to read and study deeply, and to understand often complex theoretical texts. And so with thousands of new members flocking to it, the Communist Party established one of the most ambitious systems of adult education ever seen in Australia – the Marx Schools.

Based in several capital cities, the Marx Schools ran from 10am to 10pm every day of the week, and offered CPA members and sympathisers extensive, in-depth courses in socialist and Marxist theory, in the practicalities of union organising, in how to chair meetings and give public speeches, in anti-fascism and women’s rights, and in art, economics, philosophy and literature. With a pedagogy far more advanced and participatory than most universities, and in an era when most Australians had no formal education beyond age 13 or 14, the Marx Schools taught thousands of workers how to both understand the world and how to change it.

To discuss this remarkable experiment in Australian adult education, we’re joined in this episode by Bob Boughton, a former academic and social worker who’s done extensive research on the Marx Schools.

Boughton’s PhD thesis about adult education in the Communist Party of Australia:

https://www.academia.edu/19259023/Educating_the_Educators_The_Communist_Party_of_Australia_and_Its_Influence_on_Australian_Adult_Education

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/30019338

In the 1940s, the Communist Party of Australia was approaching the peak of its power as the largest and most influential left-wing organisation in Australian history.

The Communist Party of Australia demanded far more of its members than an average political organisation. To be a communist, you were expected not just to become an activist and an organiser, but to read and study deeply, and to understand often complex theoretical texts. And so with thousands of new members flocking to it, the Communist Party established one of the most ambitious systems of adult education ever seen in Australia – the Marx Schools.

Based in several capital cities, the Marx Schools ran from 10am to 10pm every day of the week, and offered CPA members and sympathisers extensive, in-depth courses in socialist and Marxist theory, in the practicalities of union organising, in how to chair meetings and give public speeches, in anti-fascism and women’s rights, and in art, economics, philosophy and literature. With a pedagogy far more advanced and participatory than most universities, and in an era when most Australians had no formal education beyond age 13 or 14, the Marx Schools taught thousands of workers how to both understand the world and how to change it.

To discuss this remarkable experiment in Australian adult education, we’re joined in this episode by Bob Boughton, a former academic and social worker who’s done extensive research on the Marx Schools.

Boughton’s PhD thesis about adult education in the Communist Party of Australia:

https://www.academia.edu/19259023/Educating_the_Educators_The_Communist_Party_of_Australia_and_Its_Influence_on_Australian_Adult_Education

One notable difference in Australia's economic conditions is our near-compulsory superannuation retirement saving funds, and a few people I've talked to consider it to be one of the bigger unique challenges socialist movements will face in Australia.

An important aspect of it is that, assuming one will eventually retire, it attaches millions of working people directly to the stock market, and threats to stock prices can easily agitate workers against a government. In some ways, it systemically blurs class lines in a way which most other countries don't have to deal with.

I've heard one comrade suggest that, so long as super exists, funds could be set up to encourage financial investment in socialist-aligned causes such as worker cooperatives, however I don't know enough to judge how this could play out.

Do you believe superannuation is a notable hurdle to our country's socialist movement? And if so, how should we try approaching it?

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/29889862

I can't reupload the images from Instagram for now: the list of speakers includes Lidia Thorpe, a CPSU-SPSF state secretary, members of the Greens and Labor, and more, plus a great big list of org endorsements. 6:30pm @ Trades Hall

With some luck a Vic comrade on aussie.zone can tell us how it goes.

I can't reupload the images from Instagram for now: the list of speakers includes Lidia Thorpe, a CPSU-SPSF state secretary, members of the Greens and Labor, and more, plus a great big list of org endorsements. 6:30pm @ Trades Hall

With some luck a Vic comrade on aussie.zone can tell us how it goes.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/29749532

(15-02-2026)

ALP members must support these rebel MPs and force a repeal of these anti-democratic protest laws. The South Coast Labour Council posted a call by the President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Timothy Roberts:

“We call on the Labor caucus to either bring this Premier to heel or turf him out.”

How the NSW Left will square this circle remains to be seen, but ALP activists must make it increasingly difficult for the NSW Government to carry on like this. An open rebellion is required.

The article also has a section critisising the Palestine Action Group's organisation of protests, as well as some socialist groups seeking to fill the gap:

The high political stakes of this demonstration demanded discipline, democratic transparency and collective planning; instead, the rally drifted.

(15-02-2026)

ALP members must support these rebel MPs and force a repeal of these anti-democratic protest laws. The South Coast Labour Council posted a call by the President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Timothy Roberts:

“We call on the Labor caucus to either bring this Premier to heel or turf him out.”

How the NSW Left will square this circle remains to be seen, but ALP activists must make it increasingly difficult for the NSW Government to carry on like this. An open rebellion is required.

The article also has a section critisising the Palestine Action Group's organisation of protests, as well as some socialist groups seeking to fill the gap:

The high political stakes of this demonstration demanded discipline, democratic transparency and collective planning; instead, the rally drifted.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/29657761

Some selected quotes from the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Theatre,_Sydney

The New Theatre in Sydney is the oldest theatre company in continuous production in New South Wales.

Themes explored in the productions were mostly related to exploitation of the working class, sexism, racism in Australia, and against war.

[In 1936, both Sydney's New Theatre League and Melbourne's New Theatre] staged first Clifford Odets' play Waiting for Lefty, with the purpose of raising money for strikers, to great acclaim. With the rise of Nazism in Germany, then prepared to stage his play Till the Day I Die. After the German Consul General complained to the Commonwealth Government, the play was banned by Frank Chaffey, then Chief Secretary, but the theatre defied the ban and staged the play in private premises.

The Introduction page of their own wiki site gives a history of their various locations, as well as other cities which started similar projects, and their historical affiliations:

Sydney New Theatre is the sole survivor of similar groups which operated in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle and Lithgow. At Easter 1939 Sydney played host to the first New Theatre League Conference (attended by Melbourne and Newcastle).

In the 1930s the organisation was affiliated with New Theatre USA, the British Drama League (BDL), the Workers' Educational Association (WEA), the Australian Youth Council, the Central Cultural Council of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), and 15 trade unions.

Some selected quotes from the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Theatre,_Sydney

The New Theatre in Sydney is the oldest theatre company in continuous production in New South Wales.

Themes explored in the productions were mostly related to exploitation of the working class, sexism, racism in Australia, and against war.

[In 1936, both Sydney's New Theatre League and Melbourne's New Theatre] staged first Clifford Odets' play Waiting for Lefty, with the purpose of raising money for strikers, to great acclaim. With the rise of Nazism in Germany, then prepared to stage his play Till the Day I Die. After the German Consul General complained to the Commonwealth Government, the play was banned by Frank Chaffey, then Chief Secretary, but the theatre defied the ban and staged the play in private premises.

The Introduction page of their own wiki site gives a history of their various locations, as well as other cities which started similar projects, and their historical affiliations:

Sydney New Theatre is the sole survivor of similar groups which operated in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle and Lithgow. At Easter 1939 Sydney played host to the first New Theatre League Conference (attended by Melbourne and Newcastle).

In the 1930s the organisation was affiliated with New Theatre USA, the British Drama League (BDL), the Workers' Educational Association (WEA), the Australian Youth Council, the Central Cultural Council of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), and 15 trade unions.

I think it's worth having a small conversation about setting up this place properly. I've been in a few socialist chat rooms, forums, and more, many turning out great, but a lot of the ones that failed or devolved into drama did so because there was just an impulsive decision it should exist, and then reacting to problems after they've arisen.

Now obviously aussie.zone is casual and light, don't even bother writing a manifesto no visitors will read before posting. This is about the basics. In fact, even this OP might be too long.

Because this community is still small, we can have a go at discussing and reaching a consensus on fundamental ideas, like:

• Why we should exist: what usefulness this community serves for aussie.zone and other Aussie Lemmy users (who already have access to general socialist comms on other instances, and who doesn't want political drama pushed upon this lovely place)
• What kind of content and discussion we want to see here, and what we don't want to see
• Community rules to push us in that direction
• Other mechanical and cultural elements to promote these, like avatar and banner choice, choice of pinned threads (perhaps a reading list?), automoderation ideas.
• Other?

I also encourage discussion on what you don't want to see from moderators. The bottom line is, on everywhere from Lemmy, reddit, Discord and any other place with staff, most are there to fill a position and aren't given any training or briefing on expectations. I've seen some communities wait until they get a flood of unexpected attention, bring on new moderators without any instruction, then the new moderators start micromanaging discussion, banning people for flimsy or unclear reasons, or adding personal insults in bans, and other negligent or abusive behaviour. For that reason, I would like for us to also consider setting up some basic expectations for moderators. (Honestly I think all the volunteers so far seem chill, and moderation will be pretty minimal, but this is so much easier to figure out before any drama hits.)

Footage on the left: Channel 9 News - https://youtu.be/JM8Ts8y1ISA

Footage on the right: Senator David Shoebridge - https://bsky.app/profile/davidshoebridge.bsky.social/post/3meg3imbuys2g (Channel 9 also used this clip, but shortened)

Edited together to juxtapose.

This should be no surprise to anyone.

The MFA was strongly connected to known White Nationalists from day 1. They've only gotten more comfortable and let the mask slip. Luckily their second event was far smaller than the first, but we must all prepare for and counter their attempted revival next week, especially now that they can falsely claim that the Nazis are gone.

Some quick snippets outlining the breadth of this; the article goes into stronger evidence for each case:

Perth MFA event organiser Baylie Bergroth, who ABC NEWS Verify unmasked in August last year after he shared pro-Hitler and antisemitic posts on social media, has since publicly encouraged people to join White Australia [ - the political arm of the Neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network].

An administrator for the official March for Australia Facebook group, who goes by the name Dylan D'Villain, posted a link to the now-defunct White Australia website to the group on December 15 in response to the Bondi attack. "There is only one organisation that directly tackles this issue head-on, with the only sane and workable solution there is," he said.

After the NSN announced it would disband, MFA's national organiser Bec Walker [who is also the Sydney organiser] reposted a video of convicted racist Blair Cottrell on X. In the video, Mr Cottrell, who has regularly been photographed and filmed with Neo-Nazis, accused the government of "moving the goalposts" when the NSN was "about to win". [...] In October, ABC NEWS Verify also revealed footage that appeared to show the rally's national organiser, Bec Walker, coordinating with the NSN over who should hold the Sydney event's main banner.

ABC NEWS Verify has uncovered that Matt Trihey, who organised MFA's October 19 event in Melbourne last year, attended and gave a speech at the NSN's national conference in August last year. [...] Excerpts of his speech were posted to the Facebook account of the National Workers Alliance, an ethno-nationalist organisation that Mr Trihey leads.

ABC NEWS Verify can reveal another marshal at a previous MFA event took part in a Neo-Nazi protest outside NSW parliament in November. Zachery Hook was a marshal at the MFA Canberra event on August 31. Alongside Oscar Tuckfield, he is the second marshal to be positively identified in photographs taken from the NSW parliament protest.

Dr McSwiney said that some members of the NSN had a more covert presence at the first marches in August, alongside its members marching in uniform and giving speeches. "Many of them attended in plain clothes … the idea was to sort of blend in and connect with people," he said. [Tom Tanuki made a video shortly after the first rally documenting this in detail]

Dr McSwiney said that while the NSN was gone, we had not seen the back of its leaders or its members.

"There's still plenty of spaces for these people to involve themselves in organised racist activism outside of their own formal organisation. So their attendance at past and future March for Australia rallies would be one of those," he said.

"I'm sure at some point in the future they will launch a new organisation, and they'll tone down the national socialism of it and focus on something that is perhaps more palatable or certainly less likely to fall foul of various hate legislation."