[Marxism] 100, 000 progressive Australians provide the push to sink the Howard government

[Ozleft]

By Bob Gould

My calculation is that on election day, on the booths, the Labor Party
and trade unions mobilised its usual 50,000-60,000 nationally. The
Greens mobilised perhaps 20,000-30,000 nationally. And probably
nationally 20,000 or so were mobilised by YRAW, and some thousands by
GetUp.

It adds up to a mass movement of 100,000 people Australia-wide, the
biggest electoral mobilisation in several generations, by the
proverbial country mile.

The conservatives didn't know what hit them, and were left scratching
their heads, spluttering and grieving, as were the right-wing
commentariat who dominate the newspapers. A lot of those people
actually believe their own bullshit when they pontificate about their
self-interested opinions coinciding with the national interest.

The 100,000 who mobilised on the left side of Australian society had
other ideas, which proved considerably more in tune with the mood of
the population, and the Tories were swept from power electorally.

The wall to wall Labor government in every state, territory and
federally, with a significant Green component everywhere, with which
the Tories tried to scare the population, is now the reality. That's
why an increasing number of the political rodents are swimming away
vigorously from their shipwreck, led by former deputy prime minister
Peter Costello and former National Party leader Mark Vaile.

It must be stressed that the enormous scale of the swing to Labor and
the increase in the Greens vote, combined with the shattering defeat
of the conservatives, is an enormous victory for the working class and
the whole left side of society.

This fact is considerably more important than the relatively
right-wing nature of the Labor government that has been elected.
There's a crazy streak of "the worse the better" underlying the
political outlook of many isolated socialist groups.

For instance, Tom O'Lincoln ends a contribution on Marxmail the day
after the defeat of the Tories with: "It was delightful watching the
conservatives crash and burn last night, but today we have a new set
of conservatives in power." There's an element of truth in that, but
the strategic outlook, or more correctly the lack of one, that it so
succinctly captures, is an absolute blind alley for any perspective of
mobilising the working class and the progressive side of society in
the struggles to come.sive side of society in the struggles to come.

Full article: http://www.gouldsbooks.com.au/ozleft/election2007.html