CPA 2011-2020

 A decade of resisting war and militarism

This decade was marked by wars or preparations for war -- wars against the peoples of Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.

CPA members were active in resistance to these wars, to the Talisman Sabre US-Australian war games on our soil, to increasing military spending and to increasing Australian arms sales overseas.

The United Nations finally adopted a resolution banning nuclear weapons, following decades of commemorating Hiroshima Day and the work of the Nobel Peace Prize winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

ICAN is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in more than 100 countries promoting implementation of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017. ICAN was launched in Melbourne in 2007.

 Workers Rights and Trade Union Rights in the period 2010-2020

The war on workers in Australia continued unabated in this decade.  The Rudd-Gillard ALP Governments petered out in 2013 and were replaced by Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison LNP Governments.  While there was a minimal improvement of workers’ lives in the ALP era, the LNP locked up the workers in massive anti-union laws.  Wage growth was small or non-existent.  In NSW for example State workers such as teachers, nurses, and other frontline workers in the pandemic were given only  a 0.3% wage rise. 

The CPA continued to keep up the fight for workers rights.  Among the highlights from an industrial perspective were the strikes in the maritime Industry Port Botany against Hutchinson and Patricks. There were attacks on penalty rates and workers’ conditions.  The problems in the construction industry continued with the Australia Building and Construction Commission imposing massive fines and penalties on unions and individual unionists for so-called “misdemeanours” – actually acts to defend workers and trade union rights.

The CPA reached out to other strike struggles and gave practical support and encouragement to workers standing up for their rights.  An example of this was the support for striking workers at Coles Warehouse Smeaton Grange, close to Campbelltown. 

The CPA through its members and through its weekly paper, The Guardian, continues to advocate for the right to strike, for all workers to be in unions, for workers to have decent wages and working conditions.

 Solidarity with Latin America

While problems in Australia occupy the bulk of the Party’s focus, we do not forget international solidarity.  We have been particularly vigilant regarding South American struggles to escape US imperialism with various left and progressive governments arising, only to be forced back into US domination, often by brutal military coups, economic sanctions or other violent methods employed by the US.

Two countries which have successfully resisted US aggression are Cuba and Venezuela.  Two deaths have affected these countries deeply: the death of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela on March 5, 2013 and the death of Fidel Castro of Cuba on November 25, 2016.  Solidarity with Cuba has been a long-standing tradition with the CPA and the Sydney and Perth sections of the Party join monthly vigils calling on the US to lift its sanctions. 

 Solidarity with Cuba