Preamble

Capitalist society has brought human civilization to the brink of disaster. There can be no peace as long as our lives are determined by the bloody rule of capital. Capitalism sees billions dwell in poverty and misery, all the while supporting an ecocidal extraction of resources that threatens all life on earth. The vast proletariat — the striving working class that includes factory workers and baristas and farm labourers — can only be free if we organise as a class. As one we can smash the capitalist state, seize control of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and achieve a communist society.

Only in a society based on the abolition of private property, where production and consumption is organised according to a common need, can the challenges facing human civilisation be confronted and overcome. Only in a society where each contributes according to their ability, and where each receives what they need, can millennia of poverty, and exploitation be overcome. Only in a society where patriarchy, colonialism, imperialism, and racism have been overthrown can we truly move into our collective future as free people. A free people who live and love without the repressive apparatuses of borders, nations, and states. This society, the aim of our organisation and movement, is communism.

Communism is not an abstract aim to which we aspire. It is the real movement, emerging out of the struggles of the working class, to abolish the present state of things. In every battle with the capitalist class, in the real solidarity growing between workers, the fight for our future has already started to emerge. To play our part in fighting for this future, the Revolutionary Communist Organisation has formed. Our purpose is to advance communist theory and practice, to link up and organise with the diverse and diffuse masses, and to prepare ourselves for the coming struggle with capitalism. As such, the following platform has been drafted in order to describe the immediate tasks of the communist revolution, to be fought for in the lead up to and during the revolution.

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Platform

In the political sphere, the Revolutionary Communist Organisation seeks to implement the following:

1. The immediate dissolution of the standing defence forces, security services and the police force. For the universal arming of the working class and the disarming of reactionaries. The formation of a universal militia for the general protection and safeguarding of the revolution, and a people’s army in order to defend the socialist republic from threats. Both forces are to be drawn from the ranks of the working class through universal service, with elected offices and full democratic rights for its members.

2. The dissolution of all capitalist parliaments, undemocratic executive and legislative bodies, senates, and presidencies. All power must be placed in the hands of democratically elected congresses of workers representatives drawn from the mass organisations of the working class on the basis of universal suffrage. The lowering of the voting age to 15. All delegates should be subject to recall and paid no more than a school teacher. These councils should be working bodies, holding power on the central and local levels.

3. The dissolution of the powers of the monarchy, as well as all titles and offices of rank. The creations of a republican Socialist Commonwealth in the South Pacific, as a step in the creation of a global revolutionary commune.

4. The immediate withdrawal from all security and extradition treaties with capitalist powers, and the expulsion of all military and intelligence personnel of said powers. For an internationalist, anti-imperialist, proletarian foreign policy to support the extension of revolutionary struggles abroad.

5. The seizure of the capitalist press and cultural apparatus, and the placing of these institutions into the hands of the proletarian republic, workers mass organisations, and local councils.

6. The elimination of the capitalist, white supremacist court system, the replacement of the courts with revolutionary tribunals based on principles of revolutionary, restorative justice.

7. The abolition of all laws that limit the rights of workers to strike and organise, that limit the right to protest, and that surveil and curtail political participation of the working class and its allies. The exposure of all state secrets and secret treaties. For the ruthless suppression of reactionary and fascist organisations.

8. The drafting of a Treaty with First Nations, on both the central and local level. The establishment of a committee to encourage a positive relationship with indigenous mass organisations, to secure self-government and reparations for indigenous people.

 

In the economic sphere, the Revolutionary Communist Organisation will implement the following:

1. Scrap the class collaborationist accords of the ACTU bureaucracy and the Australian state. End the corporatist program of the Australian unions that welds the workers’ economic organisations to the hip of the capitalist state.

2. Support for industrial unionism against the petty divisions and limitations of the craft unions. Union officials are to be paid the wages of an average member and must be placed under the democratic discipline of membership.

3. The political independence of the unions must be guaranteed against interference from the capitalists and the state. Union representatives must have the unlimited freedom to enter workplaces to review payroll, ensure worker safety and politically organise. Freedom of association at work. For the reintroduction of closed shops. The elimination of NDAs and for freedom of speech for workers. For the formation of shop committees in every workplace.

4. For the elimination of the arbitration system. For the direct negotiation of wages between labour and capital through class struggle on a sectoral basis.

5. For a class struggle strategy in the unions — transformation of the unions into schools of communism. The capitalists must be directly confronted by the workers’ organisations utilising any means necessary to defend the interests of the working class. Unions must seek to organise internationally given the international nature of capital. For international bargaining on wages and conditions.

6. For the increase of all wages to above that of a living wage, with wages increasing above the rate of inflation. For extensive time off and annual holidays for all workers, as well as sick leave and parental leave. The elimination of casualised and precarious labour. Child labour to be banned. Convict labour to be banned.

7. For a universal basic income set at the cost of living, and the payment of generous disability supports and pensions on top of this amount. For the provision of wages for housework, paid by the state. For the provision of wages for all secondary and tertiary students, paid by the state.

8. The immediate expropriation of all housing from the landlord class. The abolition of property in land. For universal provision of housing on the basis of need through a common plan. For resident control over housing.

9. For the progressive decommodification of social life through the direct provision of food, housing, clothing, and other necessities.

10. No discrimination at work on the basis of race, ability, gender or sexuality. Migrant workers and minority workers to be safeguarded against attacks on their economic, political and social rights.

11. For the socialisation of production. For the immediate nationalisation of all utilities and infrastructure, as well as the financial, energy, agricultural, mining, and logistic sectors and the reorganisation of production toward human need rather than profit. For the progressive seizure of all large-scale firms by the proletarian republic. For the seizure by workers of all industries where the capitalists seek to evacuate their capital. For worker’s control over production at the shop and industry level. For the establishment of a common plan for industry with worker and community participation.

12. Full democracy in the workplace. Workplace committees to be tasked with carrying out the socialisation of enterprise. For self-management of workers in every workplace, the subordination of all technical and administrative workers to democratic oversight. The reduction of working hours as much as materially possible and the radical expansion of free time.

13. Encourage the development of producer’s cooperatives to gradually replace small businesses and private farms. For the long term abolition of all capitalist firms, with workers cooperatives being nurtured under an explicit understanding that they are an intermediate stage.

14. For the elimination of the division between intellectual and manual labour. For the integration of all forms of work in order to maximise human flourishing within a common plan.

15. For the reorganisation of urban spaces, the provision of free, universal public transit, the elimination of slums and unsafe housing, suburban alienation and misery, and rural decay. For the integration of production, housing, leisure, education, and agriculture within communities. To remove the automobile as the primary form of transportation in society.

16. Extensive environmental protections. End capitalist overproduction that destroys the land, pollutes the ocean, and poisons the air. Immediate transition from fossil fuel energy production towards sustainable energy sources for a negative carbon economy. Transition to sustainable agriculture from industrial agriculture and toxic factory farming. Active interventions to re-stabilize imperilled ecosystems and create new ecologies in regions that are currently barren as a result of ecological destruction. For the ecological planning of the entire economy so that human society can be reintegrated into the ecological system.

17. The institution of the cooperative commonwealth. The abolition of generalised commodity production, the wage system, and money. The cooperative organisation of industrial production and consumption within the framework of a democratically mediated social plan. For the creation of a communist internet and the development of cybernetic planning, allowing for the elimination of the division between economic units. The progressive transcendence of market operations via the maturation of social planning in the global economy. The guiding principle of such a social-economic plan shall be ‘from each according to their ability, to each according to their need’.

 

In the social sphere, the Revolutionary Communist Organisation will implement the following:

1. The formation and recognition of women’s, queer, migrant, and indigenous mass organisations and defence groups, for a general struggle to eradicate oppression on the basis of race, nation, sexuality, and gender.

2. A treaty with First Nations as the basis for the expansion of land and linguistic rights. For Indigenous Control over Indigenous Affairs, and for the provision of material support to indigenous communities as a form of reparations.

3. The extension of full democratic rights to all permanent residents, the end of exploitation and degradation of migrant workers, and the elimination of the special category of citizenship. For the closure of all refugee detention centres and for an expansion in the refugee programme, with community processing. For the progressive elimination of borders and national divisions.

4. Universal, free primary, secondary, and tertiary education. The socialisation of private and religious schools and universities. For the provision of a scientific and social education from childhood through to adulthood that breaks capitalist ideological hegemony. The abolition of sex segregation, stringent uniform policies, and repressive and arbitrary discipline of students. The democratisation of the schools and universities, as well as the education department, through student and teacher councils. The integration of education with community and social life. The recognition of student’s labour as a form of socially necessary labour with all that this entails, including pay, maximum work hours, the ability to organise for better conditions, etc.

5. Universal access to free, safe abortion, free access to contraception and reproductive healthcare, and universal, compulsory, comprehensive sex education for the youth.

6. Universal, socialised healthcare that covers mental health, trans health, dental, and preventative treatments. The democratisation of healthcare institutions and the expansion of patient rights. The abolition of asylums and other repressive medical institutions.

7. Full democratic and political rights for youth, the ability to live freely and pursue one’s own goals free from religious or familial control. Expansion of youth spaces and comprehensive support for teenagers who wish to be emancipated from their family.

8. Decriminalisation of non-violent offences, for the progressive closure of all prisons and the release of non-violent offenders from custody. For a transition to a system of restorative and rehabilitative justice.

9. Decriminalisation of all drugs, the provision of dangerous substances through the medical system, and free and accessible treatment for addiction.

10. Decriminalisation of sex work, and the elimination of laws that negatively effect the political and economic rights of sex workers. For the unionisation of all proletarian sex workers into industrial unions, and for militant struggle against their exploitation and repression. Sex workers should be afforded the same rights as any other worker, including workplace health and safety, and the capacity to refuse work without penalty. For the provision of feminist services for those wishing to exit the sex industry.

11. Withdrawal of the state from all matters of romance. The abolition of the legal status of marriage. Equality for all relationships between consenting adults.

12. For the elimination of all bureaucratic and legal harassment of sexual and gender non-conforming individuals.

13. The establishment of collectivised kitchens, laundromats, and creche and childcare facilities to begin the process of socialising domestic and reproductive labour. For the establishment of expanded domestic units. For the elimination of the gendered division of labour.

14. Universal access to the arts and culture, for the promotion of art and culture through democratic artists organisations and cooperatives. For the expansion of resources dedicated to the arts, as well as the expansion and promotion of arts education and schools in a variety of styles and traditions. For the mobilisation of artists and culture workers for revolutionary ends.