Preparing for elections

The September meeting of the Socialist Alliance national executive will be discussing preparations for the Alliance’s campaign in next federal election. Even if an election is not called early (which it may well be), we need to move quickly to ensure that we do justice in our electoral work to the big strides forward the Alliance has taken over the last year in public profile, the formation of new branches across the country, and through our leading role in the anti-war and trade union movements.

In NSW and Queensland, we also want to be able to use local government elections scheduled for early next year to lay the groundwork for a stronger federal campaign.

There are no indications that left alternatives will not get a serious hearing during the next election campaign. The Coalition is performing well in the polls, but not because the million who marched in February against Australian support for the Iraq war, or the hundreds of thousands who will be hit by the government’s budget attacks on Medicare, education and the trade unions have forgotten and forgiven Howard. Rather, it is because Labor can’t measure up as a genuine opposition.

So, Socialist Alliance members need to start thinking seriously about what sort of election campaign we should run, who our audience is, how best to link our anti-imperialist and our anti-privatisation politics, where socialist candidates could have the maximum impact, and what sort of resources we need to conduct the best possible campaign.

From this general framework flow local branches’ decisions about which electorates to contest and with which candidates, and what sort of upper house tickets we want – decisions we need to start making as soon as possible.

There will be a fuller report in the next issue of Socialist Campaigner but, in the meantime, please raise your ideas in your local branch (if you live in an outlying area, contact the national conveners) and/or write up your thoughts for publication in the discussion bulletin, Alliance Voices.

Branches may find it useful to start the local discussion by making a detailed assessment of the last election campaign run by your branch – did we involve members and supporters effectively, which polling booths got the best results, how did our election materials measure up, what could we do better, and so on.

The next election may be the best chance yet to not only knock off the Howard government, but also for us to take another significant step forward in strengthening the Socialist Alliance, and broader left alliances with all those who want to transform parliament house into the people’s house.

As a contribution to the discussion, Alan Woodcraft from Fremantle Branch and a WA co-convener, makes the case for why Socialist Alliance branches should start pre-selecting candidates now:

  • It takes at least 28 days (ie: the notice that we are required to give all members for the pre-selection meeting) and, in the current political climate, the Liberals could call an early federal election.
  • We can begin to profile the candidate early through, for example, media releases, writing letters and articles in the candidate’s name to local papers, and producing a leaflet introducing the candidate and highlighting key policy points. We might even decide to do doorknocking with the candidate - and that can take months to do properly.
  • It focuses branches on the need to raise money. A basic campaign costs about $2000 for the nomination fee, leaflets (including for letterboxing) and how-to-votes. The more money we can raise, the more impact we’ll have.
  • It focuses branches on what they want to say to potential supporters, and how we want to say it.
  • It encourages branches to get back in touch with less active members who may want to get more involved around an election campaign - come to fundraisers, do some early letterboxing, etc.