On Thursday, the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) held an online public meeting, titled “After the Australian election: The socialist alternative to Labor’s government of war and austerity.” In the meeting, which can be viewed below, speakers Oscar Grenfell and Cheryl Crisp, as well as chair Max Boddy, presented a Marxist analysis of the May 3 federal election.

The election result, they explained, must be understood within the context of the escalating crisis of world capitalism and the resultant headlong slide into fascism and global conflict. While the vote was a clear repudiation of the brutal agenda associated with US President Donald Trump, it has resulted in the re-election of a Labor government that is totally committed to implementing that program. This underscores that the only alternative to war, austerity and authoritarianism is the fight to build a revolutionary socialist movement of the working class, in Australia and globally.