Monday, February 9, 2015

Hannah's speech at 96th Anniversary of the Founding of the Palestinians Peoples Party (PPP)

Speech delivered at Lakemba 9th Feb 2015
Dear Comrades
I am delighted to bring greetings and congratulations from the Communist Party of Australia to this celebration of the anniversary of the re-establishment in 1982 of the Palestinian Communist Party, later renamed the Palestinian Peoples Party
I do not wish to speak of the history of the PPP or the struggle for the liberation of Palestine tonight. Other speakers are doing that.
I want to ask an important question: Why are we all here? Why should we bother to celebrate this anniversary?
I answer because communist parties are essential, because communists have the historically unprecedented “great mission” of changing the world.

In the constant struggle for peace and social justice in our world, many organisations and many social forces are involved. They all have something to contribute and their unity creates a force which in the end is irresistible.
But there is a greater vision: not just a better society but a society transformed, a socialist world in which working people take power and build a truly civilised and sustainable society.
English poet Alice Maynall wrote this about our vision of socialism:


Socialism, comrade
Is like the red, red rose
Day by day it opens
And day by day it grows
Its roots are ever spreading
And its sweetness never goes,
And soon I think its petals
Will the whole wide world enclose.

It is only through the leadership of an active, organized, cohesive and disciplined party that we are going to be able to implement the magnificent aim of a world free of exploitation, injustice, oppression and war.
To win peace, justice, democracy, bread and land there must be a party of the working class, a Marxist-Leninist party, a communist party.
British poet CD Lewis wrote this about the influence of communists:






Why do we all, seeing a Marxist, feel small?
That small catspaw ruffles our calm.
That touch of storm brewing, shivers
The torches even in this vault.
And the shame unsettles a high esteem.
It is the future walking to meet us all.
Mark him. He is only what we are, mortal.
Yet from the night of history, where
We lie dreaming still, he is wide awake.

Weak, liable to ill-luck — yet rock

Where we are slight eddies.
Mark him, workers and all who wish
The world aright — he is what
Your sons will be, the road these
Times must take.




Communist parties have proved in a number of countries that they are capable of conducting the struggle to win political power from the capitalist ruling class and end the rule of the exploiters.
But this victory is only possible if communists are closely connected with the people and always concern themselves with the daily as well as the long-term needs of the workers and other exploited social groups in society.
Communist parties seek to establish their political leadership by winning support for their policies and by earning respect for their members by their commitment, organisation and activities in the struggles of the working people.
This in turn depends on our ability to work democratically side by side with others, arguing our position while respecting the views of others and, at each stage, helping to unify the politically progressive and socialist forces.

Vic Williams, an Australian worker, communist and poet, wrote:






Hold to your course, my Party, weapon of workers,
Give us your sight and your arms as we go to battle.
Their towers upon towers are falling, we build from
                   the rubble.
Can those who killed our millions be ever repentant?
Take guns from the hands of the killers, the spoils
                   from the robbers,
For the sacked, the evicted, the prisoned to make
                   world of the future.
Hold to your course, my Party, our world will prevail!

Communist parties are parties of struggle and activism and they are the driving force for change, in alliance with other social forces.
The great Bulgarian communist Georgi Dimitrov said:
We Communists are people of action. Ours is the problem of practical struggle against the offensive of capital, against fascism and the threat of imperialist war, the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism. It is precisely this practical task that obliges Communist cadres to equip themselves with revolutionary theory, for theory gives those engaged in practical work the power of orientation, clarity of vision, assurance in work, belief in the triumph of our cause.”

For all these reasons and more it is right and important that we are here tonight to celebrate the existence and the achievements of the Palestinian Peoples Party — for without a communist party it will not be possible to liberate the Palestinian people.
And the Palestinian people will be liberated.
The world Communist movement continues to grow and gain in influence. Today 40% of the world’s people live in countries where a Communist Party is in power or participates in the government
We salute the courageous past and express our confidence in the future work of the Palestinian Peoples Party.
Let me finish with the poem by the great Pablo Neruda about his party, about my Communist Party of Australia, about the Palestinian Peoples Party:



You have joined the strength of all the living.
You have given me the country again as in a birth
You have given me the freedom that the loner cannot
                    have.
You taught me to kindle kindness, like fire.
You have given me the rectitude that the tree
                    requires.
You taught me to see the unity and the difference
                    among mankind.
You showed me how one being's pain has perished in
                     the  victory of all.
You taught me to sleep in beds hard as my brothers.
You made me build on reality as on a rock.
You made me adversary of the evil doer and wall of
                    the frantic.
You have made me see the world's clarity and the
                    possibility of happiness.
You have made me indestructible because with you
                    I do not end in myself


Thursday, February 5, 2015

Poem about Joe Hockey from 2006 during the workchoices debate

Joe Hockey shrugs his shoulders mostly





We went to Joe Hockey
Representing the down-trodden teachers
He was looking smug and well fed
And why not?  I am a father to be!
He giggled, laughed and shrugged his shoulders

Schools can’t run the way you mob plan it?
For heavens sake why not?
Competition’s the name of game
You teachers should compete more
Then you’d be better paid!

He giggled, laughed and shrugged his shoulders

I know where you’re coming from
And we aren’t from there
We’re from the land of individual competition.
We’re from the great liberal party.
We compete

He giggled laughed and shrugged

In fact I should be paid more than my colleagues
I work harder than they do.
Why can’t I get paid like they do in the private sector?
You mean like cleaners?
No the directors on millions!

He giggled laughed and shrugged

The church is not happy
I know
The Parish Priest has had a ‘go’ at me.

He giggled laughed and shrugged

I’ve seen fear in the eyes of the teachers
They know when I say ‘let go’
I mean sacked!
I’d like to do something about it
Take heart individual competition
And let the kids go to hell.

He giggled laughed and shrugged

You can sack us at the end of our term
We are really going through with this IR stuff
The population and the nation will thank us in the long run
We were voted in after Tampa because the world loved us and loves us still

He giggled, laughed and shrugged

I’m off to paternity leave for some time
That was won by unions!
Oh that is so 20th Century!
It is a new century now
And I’m off to enjoy it
So I bid you a cheery farewell

He said with a giggle laugh and shrug.



By Denis Doherty
August 29, 2005