Xu Ke and Zheng Yifan: The Century-Long Development, Propositions, and Challenges of the Communist Party of Australia
In recent years, the international political and economic landscape has undergone accelerated transformation. The world is facing great changes unseen in a century, and the trend of "the East rising and the West declining" in international power dynamics has developed further. Consequently, anxiety toward China and anti-China sentiments in Western countries have intensified. Against the backdrop of surging anti-China sentiment within Australia, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) has remained steadfast in its friendship toward China. It has offered sharp critiques of the Australian authorities' anti-China actions and made significant contributions to guiding the Australian public toward a correct understanding and perspective on the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In 2022, the CPA convened its 14th National Congress under the slogan "Building the Party for a Socialist Future." This congress was the first national representative meeting held as the CPA embarked on its new centenary journey. Taking this as an opportunity, studying the CPA’s century-long developmental trajectory, its theoretical and policy positions, and the practical challenges it faces helps us understand the party’s search for a socialist path amidst fluctuating historical circumstances. It allows us to grasp the current state of the world socialist movement more comprehensively and assists us in further uniting progressive forces within Western countries to promote the construction of a Chinese-characteristic discourse system that leads era-defining change.
I. Institutional Evolution and New Developments of the CPA over a Century
The October Revolution ushered in a new era of world proletarian revolution and catalyzed the birth of the CPA. As a century-old party, the CPA has endured a series of arduous trials, including splits, reorganizations, dissolution, and reconstruction. In recent years, the CPA has conducted new explorations based on its own developmental status and national realities, and the declining trend of the party’s strength has been somewhat arrested.
(1) 1920–1945: Growing Stronger Through Arduous and Tortuous Struggles The CPA was founded on October 30, 1920, with 26 founding members. These primarily included trade union activists disillusioned with the Australian Labor Party, members of socialist organizations (including the Australian Socialist Party and the Victorian Socialist Party), and some members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Following its establishment, the CPA actively participated in mass demonstrations and workers' strikes. Against the broad background of the burgeoning international communist movement, it gradually entered a phase of rapid development. In June 1921, the Third Congress of the Comintern was held in Moscow, and the CPA sent representatives to attend. In 1922, the CPA officially became a section of the Comintern. In 1925, the CPA established its first industrial branch at a steelworks and railway station in Lithgow, after which such branches grew rapidly. That same year, the CPA participated in the New South Wales state elections with little success; Jock Garden, the political secretary of the CPA Central Executive Committee, received only 300 votes. This electoral setback, combined with the onset of a brief period of capitalist prosperity, led to the emergence of liquidationist and reformist tendencies within the party, intensifying internal strife. In 1930, the Comintern dispatched Herbert Moore (a pseudonym for Harry Wicks), a founding member of the Communist Party USA and a Comintern representative, to help the CPA resolve internal issues, thereby pushing forward the "Bolshevization" of the CPA. This primarily involved deep organizational reform and supporting members in internal struggles to purge leadership and members guilty of serious right-wing opportunist errors and deviations from Marxism-Leninism. As a result, a new leadership collective emerged, with Jack Miles as General Secretary and Lance Sharkey as President.
Under the leadership of the new Central Committee, the CPA’s various work programs made fresh progress. In the New South Wales state elections held in October 1930, the party received approximately 19,000 votes. In April 1931, the CPA held its 10th Congress, dividing the party’s state-level organizations into eight districts and establishing a large number of primary-level party organizations [1] based on factories and streets; a ninth district, North Queensland, was added in 1933. Between 1929 and 1940, the most enduring and severe economic crisis in capitalist history dealt a heavy blow to the Australian economy. The CPA seized this momentum, promoting the establishment of numerous trade unions in the struggle to defend the economic rights of the working class. It built many primary-level party organizations in coal mining areas, led several large-scale strikes, and raised anti-war and anti-fascist slogans, thereby enhancing its influence and appeal among the working class and progressive individuals. Simultaneously, the number of CPA members grew rapidly, increasing from about 300 to over 5,000 in 1932 and 10,000 by 1940. In June 1940, the Robert Menzies government declared the CPA an illegal organization, subjecting it to political persecution and even arresting members without cause. The CPA persisted in its struggle through these tribulations, tempering its ranks. In October 1941, John Curtin of the left-wing Australian Labor Party took office and lifted the ban on the CPA. In 1943, the CPA and the State Labor Party (NSW) reached a united front agreement and officially merged in January 1944. CPA membership reached its historical peak of 23,000. That same year, CPA candidate Fred Paterson was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly, becoming the first party member to serve as a state legislator since the party's founding.
(2) 1946–1990: Marginalization and Dissolution under Interwoven Internal and External Factors After World War II, the contest between two systems and two ideologies intensified. Right-wing forces rose within Australia, and left-wing forces were gradually suppressed. Influenced by events such as the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the CPA frequently fell into organizational splits and trended toward marginalization. In 1949, Robert Menzies, leader of the right-wing Liberal Party, returned to power and continued reactionary policies of persecuting the CPA. On April 27, 1950, Menzies introduced the Communist Party Dissolution Bill to the House of Representatives; it passed the Senate on October 19. However, through the fierce struggle and tireless efforts of communists and the working class, the High Court finally struck down the bill on March 9, 1951. Thereafter, the CPA’s influence rose, and its performance in various national elections saw breakthroughs. The CPA’s vote in New South Wales state elections climbed rapidly from 14,213 (0.88%) in 1950 to 35,779 (2.11%) in 1956. Its Senate vote also grew from 93,561 (2.11%) in 1951 to 161,869 (3.64%) in 1955.
During the 1950s and 60s, a series of events—the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the incidents in Poland and Hungary, and the Sino-Soviet Polemic—dealt heavy blows to the international communist movement and had a near-catastrophic impact on the CPA. In February 1956, at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Khrushchev delivered his "Secret Speech" titled On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences. This was followed by the Poznań protests and the Hungarian Uprising. Serious divisions emerged within the CPA over these issues, leading many members to leave the party. In the 1960s, a Great Polemic [2] broke out between China and the Soviet Union; the Sino-Soviet split directly led to a division in the world socialist camp, and acute opposition of views emerged within the CPA as well. The CPA leadership adopted a position supporting the CPSU and severed relations with the Communist Party of China in 1963. On November 11 of that year, a group of members led by Ted Hill issued a statement supporting the CPC’s position and established the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) on March 15, 1964. In June 1965, Laurie Aarons, Secretary of the CPA Central Secretariat and Vice-President, became General Secretary. In 1966, the CPA began to criticize the Soviet Union. Following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, these criticisms intensified. The pro-Soviet faction within the party expressed strong dissatisfaction, leading to further internal friction and the eventual purging of the pro-Soviet faction. During this period, coinciding with these splits, CPA membership plummeted to around 5,000, and its Senate vote fell from 161,869 (3.64%) in 1955 to a mere 20,648 (0.37%) by 1967.
In the 1970s and 80s, erroneous ideological trends proliferated within the CPA, further deepening divisions and making the decline irreversible. In 1970, the CPA held its 22nd Congress, which removed the guiding status of Marxism-Leninism in the ideological sphere. In 1971, the party split again, resulting in the establishment of the Socialist Party of Australia (SPA) with Peter Symon as General Secretary. By 1972, CPA membership had fallen to just 2,500. In the early 1980s, severe internal disagreements arose regarding the party's name, its relationship with the Labor Party, and the direction of party reform, triggering a mass exodus of members in April 1984. In November 1984, the CPA held its 28th National Congress in Sydney and proposed the idea of forming a "New Left Party." After the impact of the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe spread rapidly through the socialist camp, the CPA held its 30th Special Congress in December of that year, deciding to gradually cease political activities and accelerate the formation of the New Left Party. In July 1990, the New Left Party was founded, and the CPA moved toward dissolution.
(3) 1991–2019: Reconstitution and New Explorations As the world socialist movement entered a low ebb, the Socialist Party of Australia (which had split from the CPA) remained unshaken in its adherence to the guiding status of Marxism-Leninism. It resolved to learn from historical lessons and continue the struggle for socialism. In October 1996, the SPA held its 8th National Congress and passed a resolution to change the party's name back to the Communist Party of Australia, thus reconstituting the CPA. The reconstituted CPA insists on putting the people first, advocates for a broad popular movement centered on the working class, and is committed to eliminating social ills inherent in the capitalist system, such as unemployment, poverty, and injustice. The reconstituted CPA has actively participated in elections. In 1998 and 2001, CPA candidate Michael Perth contested the seat of Port Adelaide, receiving about 1% of the vote. In 2010, Bob Briton contested the single-member South Australian seat of Lee, receiving 2.9%. In the same year, the CPA participated in federal elections, receiving 0.83% of the House of Representatives vote and 0.17% in the Senate. In 2012, the CPA won a seat on the Auburn City Council in the New South Wales local elections. Meanwhile, the CPA has actively engaged in inter-party exchanges with fraternal parties, including the CPC, and participated in international conferences and joint actions, significantly raising its influence and visibility. In 2019, a split occurred when General Secretary Bob Briton suddenly resigned and, on June 28, formed the "Australian Communist Party" (ACP) with some members. Following his resignation, Bob Briton's new ACP gradually deviated from the principles of proletarian internationalism, negating and slandering socialism with Chinese characteristics and misleading the Australian working class's perception of China. The 2019 split represented perhaps the greatest difficulty the CPA had faced since its reconstitution. With the COVID-19 pandemic following immediately after, the new CPA General Secretary Andrew Irving and President Vinnie Molina faced unprecedented opportunities and challenges.
(4) 2020 to Present: New Developments Since the Outbreak of COVID-19 Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the new CPA central leadership collective has learned from the lessons of the split. They have begun to emphasize party building and have seized opportunities to adjust their struggle strategies in a timely manner, achieving new developments.
On the one hand, based on the rights and interests of the masses, the CPA has used newspapers and social media to call on the government to ensure the safety and well-being of workers by providing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), guaranteeing normal income during periods of illness, abolishing the waiting period for unemployment benefits, and advocating for the government takeover of private hospitals for public use. At the same time, in response to the existential hardships faced by the working class, the CPA has called upon and mobilized the working masses to petition the government, demanding that companies providing essential services such as energy, water, and communications provide support for people affected by the pandemic. On the other hand, taking the opportunity of COVID-19's impact on the lives of the Australian people, the CPA mobilized its entire membership to promote on social media that socialism is the only alternative, while calling on all members, workers, and left-wing progressives to participate in May Day rallies and protests to fight for the health and rights of workers. Additionally, the CPA organized rallies in New South Wales against the AUKUS [3] trilateral security partnership and rallies in Perth to fight for the rights of aged care workers. The CPA has also actively participated in international joint actions, issuing a series of joint statements with foreign Communist organizations on issues such as the abolition of vaccine patents, the provision of free health services, and the cessation of the blockade against Cuba. The CPA's propositions and actions won the support of the working masses; many workers participated in the 2020 online celebrations and a car convoy in Fremantle, and the strength of the CPA's organization was further fortified.
The 14th National Congress of the CPA was originally scheduled for October 2021 but, due to the pandemic, was finally held online from February 25 to 27, 2022. This congress was convened against the backdrop of the pandemic’s continued battering of Australian society and the Australian government's frantic pursuit of anti-China policies. The slogan of the congress was "Build the Party for a Socialist Future," and Party building formally became the "top priority for the next period" for the CPA. The congress adopted a political resolution that analyzed the bushfires, COVID-19 pandemic, and floods that occurred since the 13th National Congress, as well as the AUKUS trilateral security partnership and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) [4]. It argued that these events demonstrate the failure of capitalism and the necessity of socialism, while noting that environmental destruction and climate change have become urgent tasks that the masses, and Communists in particular, need to address. The congress also passed several special resolutions and specific resolutions guiding Party work, including the Resolution on Establishing the CPA Central Media Committee, the Resolution on Convening a National Organizational Meeting, the Resolution on Building a National Standardized Education Enterprise, the Resolution Calling for an End to the Great Australian Lockout, the Resolution on the Situation in Ukraine, the Resolution on the AUKUS Trilateral Security Partnership, and the Resolution on Cuba. These resolutions reflect the CPA's determination to strengthen Party building and reshape the working-class party, while also embodying the CPA's internationalist spirit of opposing US imperialism and supporting fraternal parties. Upon the convening of the 14th National Congress, the CPA also led the establishment of logistics and manufacturing branches, further expanding its organizational strength. As of now, the CPA has branches in six states and two territories, including New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. New South Wales is home to both the CPA Central Committee and the highest density of branches, with eight branches including the Port Jackson Branch. Regarding the number of party members, since the CPA implements a "Party Security" system, the number of members is a party secret and current specific figures are unavailable. Vinnie Molina, President of the CPA, stated during the 14th National Congress that the number of members had increased significantly compared to the 13th National Congress. This indicates that the CPA has made considerable progress in organizational building in recent years.
II. The CPA's Theoretical Explorations and Policy Propositions
Since its reconstitution, the CPA has developed new theoretical understandings and policy propositions regarding how a small Marxist-Leninist party can carry out class struggle and strive for socialism in a developed capitalist country. It must be clarified that the various policy propositions put forward by the CPA do not serve bourgeois rule; their fundamental aim is to seek liberation for the working class and to create favorable conditions for promoting the worldwide "transition from capitalism to socialism."
(1) Perspectives on Party Building Based on the Reality of CPA Development
Before its reconstitution, the former CPA had gradually detached itself from the working class, abandoned democratic centralism, renounced the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, and eventually moved toward dissolution. The CPA recognizes that it must draw lessons from this history and focus on strengthening Party building. In recent years, the CPA has further deepened its theoretical understanding of Party building. The CPA believes that a Marxist-Leninist party is, quite simply, a "party that adheres to Marxism-Leninism in theory, organizational methods, and political practice." Only by building a strong Marxist-Leninist party can Australia be led onto the socialist road. In 2022, the 14th National Congress of the CPA elevated the comprehensive strengthening of Party building to a "priority task" for the coming period.
First, the CPA emphasizes that Party building must be closely linked to the working masses. The CPA explicitly stipulates its nature as a working-class party in its Constitution, but in recent years it has also clearly recognized that it has, to some extent, become detached from the working class; it therefore advocates taking immediate corrective measures to solve this problem. The CPA proposes to "call on radical workers to join the party ranks, organize and consolidate the trade union movement, promote the radicalization of trade unions, and shape the role of the working-class vanguard." The CPA believes that deep involvement in the social life of the working class is the only way to build a strong Communist Party. Consequently, the 13th National Congress of the CPA put forward the slogan "The Party to the People," advocating for the construction of the Party into a vanguard of the working class through organizational reform, clarifying priorities, and fully uniting the working class. Second, the 14th National Congress of the CPA clearly emphasized the building of a Marxist-Leninist party according to the principles of democratic centralism. Drawing bitter lessons from the sectarianism that appeared in its history, the CPA emphasizes the fundamental role of democratic centralism in Party building and advocates for strict operation according to democratic centralist principles in specific matters, including the editing of the party newspaper. "Collective leadership" is the concrete expression of democratic centralism in Party activities. At the 14th National Congress, the CPA reaffirmed the principle of collective leadership as stipulated in Article 10 of the Party Constitution through a special resolution, highlighting the need to "strengthen the collectivized management of all key areas within the Party" and requiring the establishment of "mechanisms for regular review and progress assessment." Finally, the CPA proposes to strengthen the building of a learning-oriented political party. In recent years, the CPA has continuously emphasized the important role of ideological and theoretical education in party building, persisting in applying dialectical materialism, historical materialism, and Marxist political economy to practice. It advocates for the effective use of media such as newspapers, journals, websites, and social platforms to strengthen member education, improving their ideological and political level through the establishment of educational courses. The 14th National Congress of the CPA further promoted the standardization and normalization of member education through resolutions, putting forward specific plans and a core reading list for member education. At the same time, the CPA deeply recognizes from historical experience the negative effects of dogmatism on party development. In the specific work of building a learning-oriented party, the CPA emphasizes that it "cannot deviate from the Party Program and Marxist-Leninist principles," while also encouraging members to "share new ideas and perspectives."
(2) Revolutionary Political Propositions Rooted in Trends of Capitalist Development
Based on new changes in contemporary capitalism, the CPA has generated the following theoretical understandings and political propositions regarding the reliant forces and specific strategies for carrying out social revolution in Australia.
First, the CPA believes that the reliant force of the current social revolution remains the working class. In the process of Australia's "de-industrialization," the number of traditional blue-collar workers has decreased, replaced by an emerging middle class; however, there has been no significant change in the class identity of the Australian public as a result. Data shows that in 1987, 44% of Australians identified as middle class and 47% as working class; by 2015, these figures changed to 51.5% and 40.3% respectively—a relatively small shift. Meanwhile, although the proportion of the Australian working class defined by objective criteria such as income and total assets should be 24%, and the wealthy class 25%, only 2% of Australians identify as belonging to the wealthy class. This means the proportion of people identifying as working class is much higher than the actual objective proportion. This class identity directly affects people's political attitudes: of those who consider themselves working class, 45% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the direction of national development. There are two main reasons for this phenomenon: first, the connotation of the working class has changed—while the proportion of the working class mainly engaged in manual labor has declined, the proportion of new-type laborers mainly engaged in mental labor has risen and gradually formed a class identity with the working class. Second, since the 2008 international financial crisis, the gap between rich and poor in developed Western countries, including the United States and Australia, has intensified. Income and wealth have become more concentrated at the top, while the share of income and wealth for the working and middle classes has continued to decline. this widening gap between rich and poor has caused the lower-middle class to gradually develop a sense of belonging to the working class.
Based on this, the CPA believes that class struggle is far from extinct, but remains active and is tending toward intensification on a global scale. At its 14th National Congress, the CPA further proposed: "The growing contradictions within Australian society are breaking the old social contract that bound the people to capitalism. These contradictions make a new working-class movement, with the Communist Party at its core, increasingly possible." Therefore, the CPA attaches great importance to the subjective role of the working class in the process of overthrowing the capitalist system, forming a theory of social revolution with the working class as the main force. The CPA firmly believes that socialism is the best alternative to thoroughly solve existing social problems, and that "socialist reconstruction is only possible when the working class becomes the class that rules society." At the same time, the CPA positions itself as a working-class party and emphasizes that "providing coordinated and coherent leadership to fight back against attacks from the class enemy" is an important task for the Party. The CPA believes that the working class has accumulated valuable experience through class struggle, and that this experience, combined with the ideological and political work of the Communist Party, contributes to the elevation of class and political consciousness.
Second, regarding the choice of strategy for social revolution, the CPA advocates combining parliamentary struggle with extra-parliamentary class struggle. The 14th National Congress of the CPA explicitly stated that in a capitalist society, participation in elections is only one form of struggle for the Communist Party; it must not undermine work in other areas, as a revolution cannot be won at the ballot box. On the one hand, the CPA does not reject participating in elections; on the contrary, it believes that Communists running for office will help promote socialist ideas to more people, thereby filling the current vacuum of alternatives to capitalism in Australia. However, in 2021, Australia amended its electoral laws, raising the minimum number of party members required to participate in elections from 500 to 1,500. Therefore, the CPA's vision of conducting propaganda and agitation through participation in national elections is difficult to realize in the short term. Facing these new changes, the 14th National Congress of the CPA proposed that since the threshold for participating in local council elections is lower, the Party should actively participate in local elections. At the same time, it should avoid dispersion and adopt an electoral strategy of concentrating the Party's limited resources in one area to successfully elect representatives, thereby using local councils to fight for the interests of the working class, broadly mobilize the working masses, and create conditions for social change.
On the other hand, the CPA has always believed that class struggle is the starting point for understanding social revolution and the driving force behind it. Having worked deeply in the trade union movement for a long time, a large proportion of CPA members are activists and leaders in trade unions. Therefore, carrying out class struggle with trade unions as a foundation occupies an important position in its theory of social revolution. The 14th National Congress of the CPA clearly pointed out:
“Party members must also be activists in non-party organizations, the most important of which is the trade union.” The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) believes that trade unions are the schools of struggle for the working class. As collectives of the working class, unions constitute the organizational foundation for conducting class struggle. All Party members must actively participate in union work, using it to continuously expand the Party's influence within the unions. The CPA also maintains that the industrial and economic struggles waged by workers through unions are ultimately linked to the question of socio-political power; the working class’s struggle for political power and the building of socialism is the only way to end exploitation and meet the needs of the Australian people. In recent years, due to shifts in industrial structure, union membership and density in specific sectors such as manufacturing and textiles have declined. However, membership in service industries like nursing and education has seen significant growth. Consequently, the CPA has begun to launch targeted struggle activities centered on protecting the rights of aged-care workers, achieving notable results.
(3) Economic policy positions based on a critique of the capitalist economy
The CPA integrates the basic principles of Marxism with Australia’s national conditions, launching a severe critique of capitalism directed at issues such as Australia’s neoliberalization, its deformed economic development, and the widening gap between rich and poor exacerbated by the pandemic. The CPA believes that the world has entered the era of international financial monopoly capitalism, where an increasing share of social wealth is seized by financial capital giants, and the exploitation and control of labor by monopoly capital has become increasingly profound. This trend of bipolarization between rich and poor and social stratification has become more evident in developed countries like the United States and Australia. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CPA has further strengthened its critique of the neoliberal market economy, arguing that under special circumstances like a pandemic, the government should ensure rational distribution and sufficient supply. Thus, focusing on solving various practical problems derived from neoliberalism, the CPA has proposed a series of economic policy positions, the core concept of which is "putting the wealth created by the people into the hands of the people."
Due to successive Australian governments following neoliberal policies, combined with increasing global economic integration, the contribution of manufacturing to the Australian economy and employment has gradually weakened, with the proportion of the manufacturing labor force dropping from 35% to less than 10% today. The CPA opposes policies that promote the "mutation of the economy from the real to the virtual" [5] and believes that manufacturing is crucial for Australia's future economic development and the creation of high-quality, sustainable jobs for workers. Based on this, it proposes economic policies such as free education for workers, reform of industrial relations, and increased investment in research and development in the public sector. Simultaneously, the CPA believes that the capitalist economic system of private monopoly is the source of inequality, exploitation, and oppression, whereas "the foundation of socialism is the public ownership of the means of production." Therefore, the CPA advocates for the nationalization of key sectors—such as public health, energy, and transport—to be held by the people, promoting the socialization of key economic fields and related social assets to eventually establish a socialist society without exploitation.
(4) Social policy positions based on a critique of capitalist society
On the social level, social fragmentation and antagonism within Australia have intensified in recent years. The CPA explicitly points out in its party program that imperialism uses race, nationality, and religion to fuel division and weaken the struggle of the working class and the people. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the CPA has intensified its critique of social issues such as the wealth gap, class exploitation, and racial discrimination under the capitalist system. For example, the spread of COVID-19 in Australia caused social unrest, leading to waves of panic buying and violent brawls; the CPA criticized the capitalist system in this regard, arguing that class antagonism is a feature of the capitalist system that will always protect the rich while the poor suffer. Furthermore, the CPA points out: "To overcome the exploitative nature of capitalism, a socialist society must liberate all working classes oppressed by capitalism." In terms of social policy, the CPA inherits the essence of Marxist thought on the all-round and free development of the individual, taking the promotion of social fairness and justice as its basic philosophy and focusing on strengthening concern and support for various vulnerable social groups.
First, it focuses on Indigenous rights. The CPA was the first political party in Australia to advocate for Indigenous rights, emphasizing the protection of the inalienable land rights of Indigenous communities. It calls for the government to immediately repeal the Northern Territory Emergency Response Act and its discriminatory clauses against Indigenous people, restore the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory, and strengthen financial support to improve Indigenous standards of health, employment, housing, and education. Second, it advocates for gender equality. The CPA believes that in capitalist society, mass media, religion, and political parties "portray women in roles subordinate to men," and capitalists use every means to exploit women, making them the most exploited group in society. Consequently, the CPA asserts that "only socialism can promote the dignity and worth of all workers, including women," and on the level of specific policies, it advocates for equal pay for equal work, advancement of anti-discrimination and affirmative action legislation, the legalization of abortion rights, and the implementation of anti-sexual harassment laws. Third, it pays attention to the rights and equality of migrant workers [6] and other vulnerable groups. As an important developed country in the Asia-Pacific, Australia attracts a large number of immigrants; however, capitalists use temporary worker visas to turn many immigrants into "modern slaves" with almost no rights. Meanwhile, temporary visa workers are used by interest groups to create fear and division, fueling racism and xenophobia. The CPA maintains that "temporary visa workers are not the enemy of the Australian working class. They are part of the international working class and should be welcomed." Labor organizations must ensure that temporary visa workers enjoy the same working conditions and other rights as local workers to end all forms of racial discrimination. Additionally, the CPA supports the protection of equal rights for groups such as the LGBT community, emphasizing that "a socialist society is one that aspires to the equality of all citizens."
(5) Foreign policy positions based on a critique of the capitalist world system
On the international level, the CPA believes that capitalism is a globalized system of exploitation and oppression, and that "upholding proletarian internationalism in the era of capitalist globalization is a key link in the struggle against global capital"; only the united action of the world's workers can fundamentally transform this system. After the pandemic broke out, Western countries led by the United States used the virus as an excuse to attack China, attempting to politicize the pandemic to incite panic within capitalist countries, shift crises, and mask their own failures, thereby serving their anti-China and anti-communist strategic designs. The CPA has issued a stern rebuttal, arguing that Western countries, including Australia, did not take the lead in providing aid or expressing sympathy, but instead turned a global crisis into a political weapon to hammer China. They used this sudden crisis to incite racism and xenophobia, which not only divided the working class but also favored their anti-China and anti-communist political and military agendas. Based on this, the CPA takes the promotion of international solidarity as its duty, practices the principles of proletarian internationalism, and holds foreign policy positions starkly different from those of the current government.
On one hand, the CPA focuses on exposing the reactionary nature of capitalist countries like the United States and strongly opposes Australia following the U.S. into military adventures. Against the backdrop of U.S. economic recession, slow global recovery, and China’s sustained economic growth, the U.S. has gradually deployed its military forces in the Asia-Pacific region, relying on Australia as a strategic frontier. In the view of the CPA, the U.S. is the primary instigator of imperialist wars, aiming to control global resources and markets to pave the way for monopoly capital profits. Australia’s military integration into the U.S. imperialist war machine is effectively "assisting the tyrant in his oppressions" [7], only serving to facilitate U.S. predatory wars against the people of the world and other nations. Therefore, the CPA advocates for the removal of U.S. military and intelligence bases from Australia and the Asia-Pacific, the promotion of an independent Australian foreign policy, and respect for the independence and sovereignty of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
On the other hand, the CPA consistently adheres to internationalist principles and advocates for strengthening dialogue, exchange, and cooperation with China. In recent years, friction between China and the U.S. has been constant, and the great power competition has intensified, while Australia has adopted a foreign policy of leaning entirely toward the United States. The CPA is very concerned about this: "These moves are a throwback to the Cold War era and will bring the same oppression of trade unions and the Communist Party as in the Menzies era. They have resulted in a sharp loss of Australian sovereignty and the right to choose freely, imposing an economic burden on the Australian people while making Australia an accomplice in creating regional tensions and exacerbating conflict." In the eyes of the CPA, China is a powerful promoter of world peace, and China's win-win diplomacy and the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity are better suited to an increasingly multipolar world. Therefore, it publicly demands that the Australian government abandon its erroneous anti-China policy and stand on the right side of history. To this end, the CPA has published numerous articles clarifying its positions in its publications, sternly refuting the slandering of China by anti-China politicians such as Andrew Hastie. The CPA emphasizes that Hastie’s anti-China rhetoric is a joke. Relying on socialist governance and the progress achieved over seventy years, China has become a bright star in the international communist movement, worthy of the world’s admiration. The CPA also believes that the current ruling class in Australia is still divided on the China issue, and the CPA will "continue to exploit the divisions within the Australian ruling class to fight for peace" in the future.
III. Problems and Challenges Facing the CPA
The CPA’s status as a marginalized small party has not fundamentally changed, and there are currently many urgent problems and challenges that require focused responses.
(1) Deteriorating conditions for development and immense difficulties for a Left wing coalition
In recent years, profound changes have occurred in Australia's internal and external environments. The conditions for the CPA's development have continuously deteriorated, and the creation of a Left-wing coalition faces numerous practical difficulties.
On one hand, Australia's manufacturing sector continues to shrink, the economy is shifting from the real to the virtual, and the number of the working class is relatively decreasing. Additionally, the rise of right-wing populist parties in Australia, represented by One Nation and the United Australia Party, has snatched working-class votes, continuously eroding the CPA’s organizational base. Simultaneously, the existence of other Left-wing parties, such as the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Australian Greens, has also indirectly affected the CPA’s development. Australia is a capitalist country where two major parties alternate in power. The ALP, as a center-left party "committed to promoting the development of the international democratic socialist movement," has held power 12 times since 1940. It has close ties with trade unions and a strong popular base. Its relatively moderate policy positions are also more easily accepted by the public, which indirectly weakens the CPA's appeal. Furthermore, as the global ecological crisis has intensified in recent years, environmental protection has gradually become a major political concern for parties in all countries; the existence and development of the Australian Greens have made the CPA's environmental positions appear unremarkable. On the other hand, provoked by U.S. and Australian politicians and fueled by new internet media controlled by monopoly capital, anti-communist sentiment and anti-China rhetoric are surging both internationally and domestically. Data from the Pew Research Center and the Lowy Institute show that negative views toward China among the Australian public have reached an all-time high, with a negative rating as high as 81%, and 75% of Australians believing China poses a military threat to Australia. This places the CPA, which insists on defending China, in a dilemma between adhering to the truth and catering to public opinion in its propaganda work, affecting its image-building and organizational development.
Moreover, there are a large number of Left-wing parties in Australia with fragmented and scattered forces. The CPA’s own organizational strength is weak and its social influence low, adding to the difficulty of forming a Left-wing coalition—a political reality the CPA must face today. To this day, Left-wing parties such as the communist parties (represented by the CPA), Trotskyist parties (represented by the Socialist Equality Party and Socialist Alternative), and democratic socialist parties (represented by the Socialist Alliance) coexist. Many of these parties still have unbridgeable differences and rifts regarding their lines of struggle and guiding ideologies, and mutual sniping remains the norm. For example, in May 2022...
During the general election held in May, the Socialist Equality Party even published an open article accusing the Socialist Alliance and the Victorian Socialists of being fake left-wing groups that have nothing to do with socialism and instead represent the interests of the upper-middle class. At present, although effective left-wing alliances have emerged on a global scale and the CPA recognizes that it cannot advance its development strategy without emphasizing the issue of the united front, the task remains arduous for a weakened CPA to mend rifts, eliminate differences, truly integrate the numerous left-wing organizations, and achieve a domestic left-wing coalition.
(2) Risks of division persist, and Party building urgently needs strengthening
The CPA has undergone multiple splits in its history. These divisions led to a sharp decline from an important left-wing party with tens of thousands of members to a highly marginalized minor party, reflecting, from one perspective, numerous problems in the CPA's Party building [8].
On one hand, ideological and theoretical education plays a foundational role in the Party's political life and the process of Party building. If the theory is correct, the Party will be strong, policies will be sound, and thinking will be unified. The several splits in the CPA occurred precisely because the ideals and convictions of Party members and cadres were shaken, theoretical arming was absent, and ideological understanding deviated from Marxism. Although the 14th Congress of the CPA passed a specific resolution aimed at strengthening ideological and theoretical education for members, reversing the situation in a short period remains extremely difficult. On the other hand, disciplinary development is the strategy for addressing root causes. although the "Political Resolution" of the 13th Congress of the CPA emphasized issues of discipline and unity, its focus remained on a struggle-oriented mobilization of workers and outward-looking expansionary demands; its attention to Party building was limited, which ultimately led, to a certain extent, to the party split in 2019. In the face of serious internal problems, the 14th Congress of the CPA emphatically stressed that "Party building is the top priority" and recognized that "if our members are not firm in their thinking and strict in their discipline, we cannot push the Party forward." However, establishing ironclad discipline in a short time is very difficult. Furthermore, institutional development is a fundamental, overall, and long-term issue for a proletarian party. Throughout its century-long development, the CPA focused too heavily on organizing and launching labor movements and underinvested in the Party's institutional development; its abandonment of democratic centralism led to continuous factional strife and frequent splits. Currently, the CPA's implementation of the maintenance and execution of internal Party systems is relatively limited. As the rigid constraints of these systems trend toward failure, the authority of the CPA Central Committee will inevitably be greatly diminished, sowing the seeds for uncoordinated internal actions, factional disputes, and party fragmentation. In view of this, the relevant concepts proposed around institutional development at the 14th Congress need to be implemented as soon as possible.
(3) Publicity work awaits modernization and standardization
Publicity work [9] is an important component of the overall work of a Marxist party. Against the backdrop of a harsh propaganda environment, the CPA still faces many problems in its publicity efforts.
On the one hand, in the digital age, organizational life and online publicity activities carried out via the internet have become the basic form and strategy for relatively weak Marxist parties seeking development. However, the CPA currently lacks a sufficient understanding of the importance of networking its publicity work, believing that the instability of social media makes it easy for broad political discussions to lose focus and effectiveness, while the Party newspaper remains the "central organ" of publicity. At the same time, the CPA's publicity work faces problems such as an aging membership, a lack of technical talent, and insufficient funding. Taking the technical applications of various Australian left-wing party websites as an example, the CPA website uses 26 technologies, while the Victorian Socialists, the Australian Greens, and the Australian Labor Party use 32, 40, and 44 respectively. Constrained by such practical factors, the CPA is still unable to flexibly utilize low-cost, high-efficiency, and wide-reaching online publicity methods like social media when mobilizing the working masses through trade unions for offline labor movements and protests. The online publicity channels of various branches are not yet sound, and the coverage and effectiveness of publicity are very limited. As evidenced by the total visits to party websites in July, August, and September 2022, the CPA website had only 49,100 visits, while the Victorian Socialists, the Australian Greens, and the Australian Labor Party had 86,400, 369,000, and 323,200 visits respectively. On the other hand, the level of institutionalization and standardization of the CPA's publicity work is low. Former CPA General Secretary Bob Briton, while splitting the Party, also deleted some of the Party's social media accounts, which brought considerable negative impact to the CPA's publicity. It can be said that problems such as chaotic order in publicity work, lax publicity discipline, and poor maintenance of social media account security are prominent. The 14th Congress proposed in its resolution to establish a Central Media Committee and provide suitable venues for producing conference slogans and other materials to avoid ineffective communication, reduce redundant work at branches, and improve the level of publicity work across the whole Party. This resolution awaits further study and implementation, and the level of organization and standardization in news and publicity work urgently needs to be elevated.
(4) The problem of a lack of successors is prominent
The healthy and sustainable development of a proletarian party cannot be sustained without the fundamental factor of people. The question of cultivating successors is both a major issue for the world socialist movement and a practical task that the CPA must strive to address. Generally speaking, the CPA's lack of successors is mainly reflected in the fact that Marxist ideals and convictions have not been firmly established within the Party, and the membership structure is severely aging.
On the one hand, although today's CPA has clearly defined the guiding position of Marxism-Leninism, throughout its century-old development, there have been frequent instances of deviating from Marxist-Leninist guidance, leading to ideological degeneration, the blurring of revolutionary will, and the daily waning of the Party's strength. After the 2019 split, the CPA emphasized in a statement that "during his tenure as General Secretary, Bob Briton refused to cooperate with the youth in the Party," and that he "had developed a mistaken understanding of the role of the working class in leading the social revolution, became disillusioned with the struggle to overthrow capitalism, and adopted a defeatist position." This fully demonstrates the relatively serious problem of blurred ideals and convictions within the CPA. At the same time, because Australia raised the threshold for registered political parties from 500 to 1,500 people in 2021, the CPA—to meet the basic requirements for participation in elections—advocated for admitting individuals even while acknowledging many "might not be Marxist-Leninists." This will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the education of members' ideals and convictions and the cultivation of the Party's political ecosystem. On the other hand, like the communist parties in many developed capitalist countries, the CPA's youth work lags behind and the problem of an aging membership structure is prominent. At its inception, the CPA attached great importance to youth work, leading the establishment of the Young Communist League (YCL) and the Young Comrades Club (YCC) in 1923 and 1927 respectively, and publishing the newspaper Young Voice. In 1941, the CPA led the establishment of the Eureka Youth League (EYL), whose membership grew to over 1,000 within just one year. However, as the CPA gradually entered a period of split and chaos after the war, youth work was seriously disrupted, and youth organizations under CPA leadership gradually declined. Currently, a large proportion of the delegates at the 14th Congress were veteran comrades over the age of 70, with a small number of young members. although the "Political Resolution" noted that "the increase in the number of young members has created favorable conditions for the further development of the Party," delegates still expressed that the CPA currently faces an aging membership structure, unbalanced development among party branches, and uneven operational capabilities.
Conclusion
Currently, the CPA has developed into a Marxist-Leninist party composed of diverse groups such as activists in trade unions, peace and environmental organizations, and various other community movements. 85% of its members are the working class and their families, professional and technical personnel, farmers, retirees, the unemployed, and students. The 2019 split was a major setback in the CPA's development in the new century, but just like the split between the Guesdists and the "Possibilists" in the French Workers' Party in the 1880s, this split was not entirely a bad thing. Engels once pointed out: "Any workers' party of a large country can only develop through internal struggle, which is in accordance with the general laws of dialectical development." Under the leadership of the new General Secretary Andrew Irving and President Vinnie Molina, the CPA has achieved significant results in various areas. Since the pandemic, the CPA has established new branches in Canberra and elsewhere, as well as industrial branches in logistics and manufacturing, with membership numbers experiencing "huge growth nationwide." According to President Vinnie Molina, the number of members at the 14th Congress was higher than at the 13th, showing that the post-split CPA is more consolidated organizationally and has enhanced its combat effectiveness. A single spark can start a prairie fire [10]. Although the CPA is currently marginalized in party politics and has limited influence, it consistently adheres to the correct guidance of Marxism-Leninism and persists in the unremitting struggle against capitalism. As one of the promoters of the world socialist movement, it possesses infinite possibilities to ignite a raging fire when new political and economic crises erupt.
At the same time, the world socialist movement is an interconnected and mutually supporting whole. As the world enters a period of turbulence and transformation, China remains in an important period of strategic opportunity for development. Facing the general trend of world development, on the one hand, we must closely monitor and study the development dynamics of left-wing parties in various countries, profoundly grasp this important period of strategic opportunity where much can be achieved, unite progressive forces, and broadly gather left-wing consensus. We must promote the understanding and acceptance of scientific concepts and practical solutions such as Chinese-path modernization and the new form of human civilization [11] by more people around the world, construct a discourse system representing the direction of human development, and strive to fulfill the proletarian mission of seizing international discourse power. On the other hand, by virtue of the outstanding achievements and powerful influence of socialist construction, China has already become the high ground of the world socialist movement, and the CPC has become a benchmark and a mainstay for revitalizing world socialism in the hearts of many foreign left-wing parties. It stands to reason that we should continue to hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, remain firm and confident, lead by example, and lead the socialist movements of all countries, including Australia, toward rejuvenation through exchange and cooperation.