BY Barry Healy, Perth Hills branch
On the eastern fringe of Perth is Midland, once the home of a thriving railway workshop that was the industrial base for one of the highest votes for a socialist candidate in decades (12% for Bill Deller of the Socialist Labour League in the mid-‘70s).
That centre of employment is long gone. Now, Midland is characterised by the burnt-out hulks of heritage buildings that developers buy and torch, ready to construct yet another concrete extravaganza of a shopping mall.
The suburbs around Midland have some of the highest concentrations of poverty in WA. There is a toughness to life and an obvious need for a socialist voice.
Just drive up the Great Northern Highway and you come to wide open farming lands that boast some great vineyards. The parents of the two youngest members of Hills Socialist Alliance branch operate one of the best - bought out of a redundancy pay-out. The branch invited our friends and supporters there on November 23 for our official launch.
Twenty-six people gathered and sampled the socialist fruit of the vine, listened to charming folk music from the Rambling Bilbies and applauded some passionate oratory. Branch members shared the speaking tasks, rather than leaving it to just one person to represent us. We each spoke for a couple of minutes.
Angie, a teachers’ union activist, told us about the issues behind the recent strikes. Colleen, a nursing home worker, spoke about the terrible working conditions and poor pay of many of the staff. Paul, an agriculture student at the University of WA, talked about sustainable farming. Annolies talked about how the anti-war movement at the beginning of this year made her realise that change is possible and that we can achieve socialism. I rounded it off by saying that if people liked what they were hearing they should know that it would be an ordinary person just like that who would be standing for SA in the elections.
Maritime Union activist Ian Jamison from Fremantle SA branch spoke about what an SA election campaign would look like. SA wasn’t about just putting someone into parliament for a career, he explained. SA sees elections and parliamentary politics as extensions of the people’s struggles in workplaces and communities, and for ending war.
We raised some funds for the branch out of the event, which is good. But more importantly, a number of people who attended chose to join SA. In fact, everyone who came who wasn’t already a member chose to join and/or volunteered for future activity.
Perhaps the long-suffering people on the eastern fringe of Perth are finding their socialist voice at last.