The Socialist Equality Party is calling for the mobilization of the working class and international socialism as part of their campaign. Danielle Bevins-Sundvall reports.

SEP is running candidates in NSW, WA and VIC this 2010 federal election. Image: http://www.sep.org.au

Calls for international socialism and the mobilization of the working class may sound like slogans better suited to a high school history book than for a 2010 election campaign.

But one party at this election believes these are the only logical responses to the Global Financial Crisis.

Nick Beams, Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and NSW Senate candidate, says it’s time for a radical shift in Australian politics.

“Humanity really faces a very sharp turning point. We’ll be plunged into a catastrophe unless the profit system is completely overturned and the world’s economy is reconstructed to meet human need, not the interests of banks and private interests.”

The SEP is campaigning on universal public health care, free education and a large public works program.

But its election statement also contains a more controversial promise: to nationalise the banks and other major companies.

This fundamental opposition to the model of a democratic, capitalist society sets the SEP apart from the mainstream major and minor parties.

It also leads to contradictions. The SEP claims that its program: “cannot be carried out through parliament,” but it’s a registered political party that has contested almost every Federal election since 1977.

And while its views may be radical, they’re not new.

The SEP traces its roots the International Committee of the Fourth International, established by one Leon Trotsky, and has operated in Australia in various forms since the 1950’s.

Beams says the recent economic turmoil proves that the party’s long-held views are in fact a logical alternative.

“The 1990’s was a sort of decade of triumphalism for the ruling class. Socialism was finished, Marxism was over…Marxism was refuted. Well the refutation now has been refuted.”

And voters disillusioned with the capitalist system will have the chance to make their own refutation.

This year, as in 2007, the SEP is fielding candidates in selected lower house seats in New South Wales, Victoria and West Australia. It’s also running candidates for New South Wales and Victorian Senate spots.

Beams is not overly optimistic about its chances: “Electoral politics is not our primary focus…the purpose for us in standing in election campaigns is to get our program and perspective and our party and our analysis out to the wider sections of the working class.”

Voter sentiment has mirrored this approach, and the SEP’s best result in 2007 saw it capture just 1.26 per cent of the vote in the inner metropolitan Sydney seat of Kingsford-Smith. In most of its contests, the SEP was the lowest polling group.

But the party could have an influence on the balance of power. Unlike other minor parties like the Greens or Australian Democrats who run a ‘split ticket,’ dividing their preferences 50:50 between Labor and the Coalition, the SEP allocates its Senate preferences equally between the major parties and the Greens.

This refusal to cut preference deals is reflected in the party’s policy of refusing donations from business or organizations or public electoral funding.

Instead, Beams says the party is funded through individual donations, ticket sales from events and the sale of merchandise.

And he’s optimistic about its future, saying the party has experienced a resurgence in popularity amongst youth.

“There’s certainly a much keener interest among young people as to the political issues that we’re raising.”