Communist Party of Australia (1971)

The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) is a minor political

party in Australia which was founded in 1971 as the Socialist
Communist Party of
Australia
Party of Australia (SPA) by former members of the Communist
Party of Australia who resigned or were expelled from that party
as a result of their opposition to policy changes.

Contents
Party objectives
History
Political activity
See also
References General-Secretary Andrew Irving
External links President Vinicio Molina
Founders Pat Clancy,
Peter Symon
Party objectives Founded 1971

The current Communist Party remains a traditional, albeit tiny, Split from Communist
Party of
Communist Party, proclaiming itself to be a Marxist–Leninist
Australia
party whose ultimate objective is the revolutionary
Headquarters 74
transformation of Australian society and the establishment of Buckingham
socialism in Australia. It describes its objective as being to Street, Surry
"change the direction of politics in Australia and eventually, to Hills, New
replace the capitalist system with a socialist one."[2] South Wales,
Australia
In the last 37 years of the party's existence, the party has been Membership (2016) 1,000[1]
mainly a far-left wing political party and has played a limited role Ideology Communism
in Australia's trade union movement. The party's main policies Marxism–
are: Leninism
Political position Far-left
The socialist reconstruction of the Australian society International IMCWP
An end to privatisations of assets owned by the federal affiliation
and state governments
Colours Red
To free Australia from foreign transnationals
Website
Regulation by the Federal Government of prices, profit cpa.org.au (http://cpa.org.au)
levels, and interest rates
The abolition of the Goods and Services Tax Politics of Australia
Expansion of the public sector Political parties
Increase in the national minimum wage Elections
 Increase in pension, unemployment benefits
Reduction of the working week
Halt reductions in tariffs
Reduction of military spending

History
In the late 1960s, the CPA, under the leadership of National
Secretary Laurie Aarons, became a strong supporter of
"Eurocommunism", of abandoning Leninism and democratic
centralism, and trying to form a "united front" of the various left-
wing forces thrown up by the movement of opposition to the A Communist Party of Australia stall
Vietnam War. The CPA leadership had become increasingly at Labour Day 2007 in Queensland
critical of the Soviet Union, particularly over the 1968 Warsaw
Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Dissidents took the view that
the CPA should not become a left social-democratic party, and should continue as a Marxist–Leninist
party. The group was described as pro-Soviet hardliners. Their position put them at odds with the CPA
leadership.

The SPA was led by a group of veteran trade union officials such as Pat Clancy and Peter Symon. Clancy
resigned from the SPA in 1983,[3] and Symon was the general secretary from its formation until his death
in December 2008, a total of 36 years.

The old CPA was dissolved in 1991. The SPA, believing itself to be the rightful successor to the original
CPA formed in 1920, changed its name to Communist Party of Australia at its 8th Party National
Congress in October 1996.

After Symon's death, party president, Hannah Middleton, was elected general secretary by the 11th Party
National Congress in October 2009. Vinicio Molina succeeded Middleton as party president.[4] Bob
Briton was elected general secretary at the 12th Party Congress in 2013.

Bob Briton resigned as general secretary of the CPA in March 2019. Briton came into conflict with the
central committee (CC) and was accused of taking a defeatist position. This accusation was made after
Briton attempted to work with the youth outside restrictive party structures. Briton deleted most of the
party's social media outlets in response.[5] Briton split the party and formed the Australian Communist
Party alongside other former members.[6]

On 13–14 April 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Australia, elected a new
leadership led by General Secretary Andrew Irving and National President Vinnie Molina.[7]

Political activity
Michael Perth contested the seat of Port Adelaide in the 1998 and in the 2001 federal elections, but
polled less than 1% of the vote in both cases. Bob Briton contested the SA state seat of Lee in 2010 and
polled 2.9% of the votes.

At the 2010 federal election the party endorsed a candidate for the House of Representatives seat of
Sydney as part of the Communist Alliance. The party received 0.83% or 656 of the 79,377 votes cast.[8]
It also endorsed two candidates for the Senate in New South Wales, receiving 0.17% or 6,999 of the
4,333,267 votes cast.[9] The Australian Electoral Commission deregistered Communist Alliance
successor name The Communists on 22 May 2012.[10]

The Communist Party of Australia received its first electoral win with the election of Tony Oldfield in
local government elections on 8 September 2012 to Auburn City Council, New South Wales.[11]

The Communist Party of Australia planned to run candidates in the 2016 federal election,[12] but their
attempt at registration was rejected.

See also
Socialism in Australia

References
1. Butler, Josh (17 February 2016). "Australian Communist Party To Run Candidates In Every
State At Upcoming Election" (https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/02/17/communist-aus
tralia-election_n_9240388.html). HuffPost. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
2. "CPA - About Us - An Introduction" (http://www.cpa.org.au/about-us/02-an-introduction-to-th
e-cpa.html). www.cpa.org.au. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
3. Australian Dictionary of Biography – Clancy, Patrick Martin (Pat) (1919–1987) (http://adb.an
u.edu.au/biography/clancy-patrick-martin-pat-12320)
4. "Celebration of a life dedicated to peace and socialism" (http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/20
09/1397/1397peter.html). The Guardian. 4 February 2009 – via Communist Party of
Australia.
5. Secretariat, CPA (27 March 2019). "Secretariat Statement 27th March 2019" (http://www.soli
dnet.org/.galleries/documents/Secretariat-Statement-27th-March-2019.pdf) (PDF). Solidnet.
Retrieved 22 April 2019.
6. "Our History" (https://www.auscp.org.au/about-us-our-history). Australian Communist Party.
Retrieved 29 June 2019.
7. "CPA – Central Committee Statement" (http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2019/1865/06-centr
al.html). www.cpa.org.au. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
8. Virtual Tally Room – Division of Sydney (http://results.aec.gov.au/15508/Website/HouseDivi
sionFirstPrefs-15508-149.htm)
9. "Senate State First Preferences By Group" (http://results.aec.gov.au/15508/Website/Senate
StateFirstPrefsByGroup-15508-NSW.htm). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved
29 June 2019.
10. "The Communists" (http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/Party_Registratio
n/Deregistered_parties/the-communists.htm). Australian Electoral Commission. 30 May
2012.
11. Boyle, Peter. "Fourth socialist elected to a local council in Australia" (https://www.greenleft.o
rg.au/content/fourth-socialist-elected-local-council-australia). Green Left Weekly. Retrieved
29 June 2019.
12. "Communists gear up for federal election" (http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2016/1716/03-co
mmunist-gear-up.html). Communist Party of Australia. Retrieved 29 June 2019.

External links
Communist Party of Australia website (http://www.cpa.org.au)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Communist_Party_of_Australia_(1971)&oldid=931014779"

This page was last edited on 16 December 2019, at 11:40 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.