The following statement of aims was adopted at the Victorian Socialists Conference in January 2024, as part of our new Constitution.
We are socialists meeting on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and we agree that the Commonwealth of Australia was formed as the result of British colonisation and the introduction of capitalism, which together caused the dispossession and genocide of this land’s Aboriginal peoples.
Capitalism
Capitalism subjugates and exploits both nature and the majority of people to generate profits for a minority capitalist class, and this requires a state whose legal and political structures uphold and extend the power of the capitalist class, locally and abroad. Consequently, so long as Australia is a capitalist nation, inequality, oppression, injustice, and ecological destruction are inevitable.
Therefore, our goal is to contribute to abolishing capitalism in Australia. To this end, we agree that
- Because of their illegitimate origin and present-day function, the Australian economy and state cannot be reformed or managed to overcome capitalism or its consequences, but instead must be fundamentally transformed;
- This can only be achieved by a working-class movement that leads the majority against capitalism and its defenders;
- This movement must expropriate those whose wealth and power are dependent on exploitation and oppression, and abolish the economic, political, and juridical structures that preserve their hegemony.
Socialism
In place of capitalism, we are committed to creating a socialist republic in Australia. We believe that a socialist society should uphold the following principles:
Cooperation and economic democracy.
To ensure a classless society free of exploitation and coercion, socialism must:
a) Abolish all exploitative forms of property ownership and control, including private ownership of and control over the means of production, distribution, and exchange, as well as other exploitative property relations, like rent, speculation, etc.;
b) Institute social or collective ownership over the means of production, distribution, and exchange, to be managed on a democratic basis. Far from jeopardising personal property, this will enrich members of society, both collectively and as individuals;
c) End gross inequalities in wealth through progressive taxation and other redistributive measures, including the expansion of the public sector and the universal provision of goods including housing, welfare, healthcare, and education.
Freedom, democracy, and justice.
Socialism upholds the free development of each as the condition for the free development of all. Therefore,
a) Socialists uphold universal freedom and human rights, including freedom of speech, freedom to organise, freedom of conscience and religion, and freedom from fear, persecution, oppression, or discrimination enacted on the basis of economic status, ability, religious or political beliefs, racial, national or ethnic identity, migratory status, gender or sexual identity or any other personal criteria.
b) A socialist society ensures all political and civic institutions are subject to democratic control. A socialist democracy guarantees the right to recall elected representatives and gives elected representatives no special privileges. Socialists uphold political pluralism and the right to form new political parties in a socialist democracy.
c) Socialism guarantees genuinely universal justice by ensuring access to justice is completely independent of wealth or status. This is to be achieved by abolishing private court or legal fees, by prioritizing welfare and rehabilitation over harsh or retributive punishment, and by ensuring all law enforcement agencies are democratically controlled by the communities they serve.
Against oppression, for solidarity.
Socialists recognize that capitalism both relies on and reproduces specific forms of oppression including women’s oppression, racism, and the oppression of LGBTIQ people. As a result:
a) We stand in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples against the violence and racism of the Australian state and the businesses that exploit their lands for profit,
b) We stand in solidarity with refugees against Australia’s barbaric border-protection regime and with migrants, who are often denied rights, marginalised, hyper-exploited, and subjected to prejudice, abuse, and violence,
c) We fight against misogyny, which means ending the gender pay gap and ending gendered abuse and violence. A socialist society will redefine the family without reference to gender or sexuality as a free and voluntary private association, and will ensure that the burden of domestic labour does not fall on women by providing free and universal childcare and other measures,
d) We stand in solidarity with LGBTIQ people who endure oppression as a result of their gender or sexual identity
Anti-imperialism, self-determination, and internationalism.
Socialists are internationalists — we recognize the right to self-determination and oppose imperialism. We also recognise that our fate is tied up with the fate of human societies across the world. Consequently,
a) We oppose militarism, nationalism, and imperialism. Australian socialists oppose Australia’s participation in an international order predicated on the hegemony of the United States of America, or any other imperialist power, and affirm our opposition to all imperialist and colonial wars,
b) Socialists recognize the right of oppressed nationalities to national self-determination. We recognize Australia’s First Nations and affirm that a socialist society should not unilaterally impose its laws or sovereignty over Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Rather, a socialist society should recognize Aboriginal land rights and the right to self-determination for First Nations.
c) We support the fight for socialism and for the rights of workers and oppressed people in every country and consider that our struggle is bound up with every struggle against injustice.
Positive freedom, recognition, and a flourishing life for all.
Socialism should guarantee to all its members the means required to live a good life, in a flourishing society with a sustainable relationship with a thriving natural environment.
a) In addition to basic human needs, society must guarantee to all the means required for an active personal, civic, political, and cultural life. Socialists respect whatever needs, values and lifestyles individuals and groups define for themselves, insofar as these don’t conflict with others or entail exploitation or oppression.
b) Socialists recognise that human life depends on non-human life and the natural environment. A socialist society will regard the long-term sustainability of our relationship with the natural environment - on a local, national and global level - as more valuable than short-term profit or resource extraction. It will devote society's resources to achieving full sustainability and a thriving natural environment.
c) Instead of subordinating life to economics, socialism subordinates economics to life — this means a socialist society will support all significant human pursuits, including leisure, science, culture, art, and intellectual or spiritual development.
Means
To these ends, we affirm the following means:
Workplace organisation and workers’ struggle.
We stand in unconditional solidarity with workers against employers and we defend trade unions,
Community organisation.
We participate in and support progressive community campaigns and work alongside other left-wing activists regardless of their party affiliation or worldview,
Political organisation.
We have formed a political party — Victorian Socialists — for the purposes of developing our understanding of the tasks that flow from these aims, of communicating socialist ideas, of contributing to and leading progressive campaigns, and of contesting elections,
Party democracy.
We understand that it will take a party of committed and responsible members to achieve these aims, and that this requires a commitment to party democracy, freedom of debate and the principle of “one member one vote.”