by Davey Heller, 12th October 2023

On October 14th, “The “Voice” referendum is being held in Australia. The question being voted on reads  “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

As a Communist I did not vote “Yes for the Voice ” but abstained. I wanted to stand in solidarity with the left-wing of the Aboriginal political movement: the Black Sovereignty movement like Senator Lidia Thorpe and the Black Peoples Union.

A vote for “Constitutional Recognition” of Indigenous Australians was worse than tokenism as it seeks to assimilate Aboriginal Australians under the racist constitution of 1901. This is the Constitution that was written by the emerging capitalist bourgeoisie to devise a system of Government that protected their property rights and ability to make profits. Australian capitalism was built on the dispossession of First Nations people in order for the resources above and below the ground to be utilised for profit.

From day one this led to a genocidal war against Indigenous Australians.  The following two undeniable facts flow from this historical fact. Firstly that Indigenous Australians did indeed have their own collective system of property ownership and had lived on this land for at least 60,000 years. Secondly, a war was fought to dispossess them of their land. For a war to end the warring parties must make a Treaty, if they haven’t, then the war is unfinished.

This has not happened in this country. Instead, the Australian capitalist ruling class wishes to use the vague notion of “Constitutional recognition” to put a full stop on this war without making a treaty. A “Yes” vote is not compatible with the principle that sovereignty was “never ceded”.

Black bureaucrat capitalists like Marcia Langton and Noel Pearson have joined with the vast majority of corporate Australia to back the ALP’s referendum and to finish the business of incorporating Indigenous Australia into the capitalist framework. Pearson has long made a name for himself backing reactionary policies like calling for Indigenous people to be kicked off welfare. Langton has long ago left the socialism of her youth and has declared “Indigenous Australia is open for business”.

The second element of the referendum, “The Voice”, or advisory body is explicitly designed to be a toothless tiger. All proponents of the body make it absolutely clear that the advisory body will be just that, a body whose advice can be ignored by the Parliament of Australia. Such advisory bodies have existed before in Australia over the last five decades and done nothing to reverse the terrible social conditions that so many Indigenous Australians experience in the form of racism, poverty, violence, incarceration, self-harm, addiction, poor housing and health outcomes. There are also no details on how the membership of such a body would be chosen and no guarantees it would be democratic or representative of anything more than a thin layer of privileged Indigenous bureaucrats and business people.

However, even if one supports such a body as being “better than nothing”, such a body could be brought in with a simple vote of Parliament. The Albanese Labor Government could have done so using the mandate it received in the last election.

No real attempt has been made to explain why such a body needs to be set up through a referendum and tied to the idea of “Constitutional recognition” and all the accompanying implications for sovereignty. The only reason the Albanese chose this path was he wanted to use the referendum for the Labor Party’s own political ends.

Albanese leads a right wing government completely subservient to the needs of corporate Australia and imperialism. It has made it clear it will do nothing to tackle the cost of living crisis, the ongoing Covid19 pandemic and climate change. It is also “all the way” with US imperialism’s war plans against China and the current wars in the Middle East and the proxy war against Russia. It has committed this country essentially to fight alongside US in a potential new world war.

Given this, it was hoped that a successful referendum would put a progressive spin on both its own government and more broadly Australian imperialism internationally.

However, the vote now seems very likely to fail and has turned into not just a political disaster for the Labor Government but for Indigenous Australia and the working class more broadly. The ALP and the proponents of “The Voice” have tried the impossible task of selling the “The Voice” as essential to addressing indigenous disadvantage whilst reiterating constantly that it will have no real power. This has meant that it has not and could not mobilise with any energy the progressive layers of the working class and youth.

In contrast, the referendum has been a total gift to the far right of Australian politics. Everyone from literal Nazi’s pushing conspiracy theories, the Murdoch press to Peter Dutton’s Liberal Party have been able to use the referendum to whip up a disgusting climate of racism and reaction. Racism against Indigenous Australians and Asians have long been a crucial tool for Australian capitalism to divide the working class and it has lost none of its potency as a tactic.

Reactionary Indigenous politicians like Warren Mundine and Jacinta Price have dutifully played their role serving the ugliest sector of the political landscape by being the Indigenous face of the racist “Vote No” campaign.  The Referendum gave the far right a new plaything after they no longer had the bogeyman of public health measures against Covid to target. Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party, who were decimated at the last election, have been allowed to project strength and confidence in contrast to the weak Albanese.

Like Gay Marriage, an indigenous advisory body could have been passed with a simple vote of Parliament. Instead Australia and its LGBTQI community had to live through a divisive campaign by the far right. Whilst the referendum in that case succeeded it does not change the fact it gave a platform for the most bigoted forces in this country to whip up support and was wholly unnecessary

The racism of this referendum has led to the vicious targeting of figures like Lidia Thorpe resulting in her having to flee her own home and with public threats made against her by literal Nazis. Lidia who refused to bow to the immense pressure to stay silent, has been a figure of hate beyond the far right. The small “l” liberal progressives of this country have by and large turned on her and refused to offer her any solidarity in the face of her harassment by fascists and racist police. Albanese is totally complicit in the racist campaign against her. The treatment of Lidia Thorpe shows that the question of “Black Sovereignty” strikes real fear into the hearts and bank balances of our ruling class.

Many Communist or Socialist Party’s also adopted positions calling for a “critical Yes” vote. Groups such as Solidarity and Socialist Alternative at the last minute pushed for a Yes Vote with the stated justification that a “No” Vote would strengthen the Right. Others like the Bolshevik Leninists and Spartacists called for a “Communist Yes”  which sought too appeal for progressive elements of “both camps” to come together in a fight for indigenous justice. A Yes Vote was also supported by the Communist Party of Australia.

I think any position which called for a Yes Vote failed the test of standing in solidarity with the Black Sovereign Movement and also whatever their intentions ultimately served the agenda of the ALP government and the trade union bureaucracies.  

Other parties did offer criticism. The World Socialist Website argued for a boycott but offered no support for the Black Sovereign Movement who they condemn as just another reactionary faction to divide the working class. The Australian Communist Party was also very critical of the “The Voice”.

The Trotskyist Platform argued strongly for a Progressive No campaign, making a convincing case as to why a “No” Vote was in the interests of both Indigenous Australia and the broader working class through standing with the Black Sovereign Movement.

As a Communist, I would argue strongly that even if Indigenous Australia could extract a treaty of some form from the capitalist ruling class the gains that could be made would be limited. Liberation for Indigenous Australians lies ultimately with a socialist future that allows the wealth and resources of this land not be hoarded and squandered by a small elite. As we see also in the vandalism and destruction of mining companies in the Burrup Hub of West Australia and elsewhere, the profit motive is not compatible with protecting the environment and cultural landscapes of Indigenous Australia. Ultimately of course Indigenous Australia cannot survive catastrophes like pandemics, wars and climate change that capitalism inevitably brings anymore than anyone else on earth. A future socialist republic of Australia could recognise Sovereignty and also provide the resources and space for First Nations people to live as they wish continuing the world oldest continuing culture.

Many ordinary Australians, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous will be voting Yes in this Referendum out of a sincere desire to see the lives of Indigenous Australians improve. Some indeed are voting out of an almost sense of desperation that after two hundred years of capitalism so much suffering for First Nations people in this country is almost unbearable. No-one should be condemned for such a vote.

However the positions that Marxists must not adapt to the immediate winds of bourgeois politics or out of emotion but adopted after considering what will ultimately strengthen the movement to take down capitalism once and for all. A united movement of the broader working class, youth and indigenous Australia fighting against the profit system is a nightmare for the capitalist class. Standing with the Black Sovereign Movement in solidarity with attempts to bury their movement with a tokenistic gesture whilst continuing to argue for the need for Socialism was I believe the best way to work towards this aim.