Socialist Alternative (SA) is a Trotskyist political organisation in Australia formed after its founding members were expelled from the former International Socialist Organisation (ISO) in 1995. They claim to have the largest active membership on the Australian far-left. With branches across Australia, their membership is active in the trade union and student union movements. SA is most visible in street demonstrations, industrial struggles and in student politics, including their participation in campaigns such as those supporting same-sex marriage, refugee rights and Palestinian national liberation. They oppose the US and Australian military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, austerity measures implemented by governments in response to the Global Financial Crisis and they support the Arab Spring and Occupy movement.
Though one of SA's stated aims is to contribute towards building a revolutionary party that can intervene in – and lead – mass working-class struggles, they do not consider themselves a political party at their current size and influence. Originating in the political tradition of the International Socialist Tendency, SA defend the position that a socialist revolution can only come about through a genuine workers' upheaval "from below" and argue that all existing states commonly described as socialist countries are actually "state capitalist" economies.
SA host an annual far-left political conference in Melbourne each year called Marxism, which has grown to attract several hundred participants – which has featured international guest speakers such as John Pilger and Malalai Joya – becoming the largest conference of its kind in Australia. SA also host regular political meetings and events and produce political commentary and analysis through their own various publications and through other publishers in which the organisation puts forward their positions on Australian and international issues. They publish an online magazine, Socialist Alternative, which is also sold in a hard copy version and publish a biannual theoretical journal, Marxist Left Review.
Famous quotes containing the words socialist and/or alternative:
“Men conceive themselves as morally superior to those with whom they differ in opinion. A Socialist who thinks that the opinions of Mr. Gladstone on Socialism are unsound and his own sound, is within his rights; but a Socialist who thinks that his opinions are virtuous and Mr. Gladstone’s vicious, violates the first rule of morals and manners in a Democratic country; namely, that you must not treat your political opponent as a moral delinquent.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Education must, then, be not only a transmission of culture but also a provider of alternative views of the world and a strengthener of the will to explore them.”
—Jerome S. Bruner (20th century)