Max Boddy (Socialist Equality Party)
Apr. 28th, 2025 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
b_auspolMax Boddy (Socialist Equality Party)
Website: https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/sep/australia/home.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SEP_Australia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialistEqualityPartyAustralia
(My review for the 2022 Federal Election)
The Socialist Equality Party have been deregistered since the introduction of the 1,500 member requirement prior to the 2022 federal election. They have not bothered to attempt to re-register, which is a statement about the size of their party.
They’re a long term socialist party in Australia who are notorious for their inability to play well with other parties, holding even other socialist parties in the Australian ecosystem in suspicion and disdain.
Party Analysis
The SEP do not actually have a specific policy platform for the 2025 federal election (that would be too bougie of them), but they have put out a longwinded statement of their values. Even their how to votes are sparse on details, listing the following: “Fight against war! Defend democratic rights! Fight for the social rights of the working class! Workers need a new party!”
As is fairly obvious from those lines, the SEP has a tendency to frame everything through the frame of classism and the working class struggle. Any other issues a group or community might face are subordinate to whether or not it’s a class issue.
In terms of warfare, the SEP are deeply suspicious of American imperialism. They side with Palestine over Israel in respect of Gaza, but believe the war in Ukraine is a ‘US-NATO proxy war against Russia’ and side with Russia against Ukraine, calling the country a fascistic regime. The SEP are also convinced that the US and Australia are preparing for war with China. They are convinced the government are preparing to be in a wartime setting and that “All elements of civil society, from the schools and universities to the economy, are to be subordinated to the military build-up”.
Their rhetoric around increasing antisemitism v Islamophobia in Australia due to the polisation of Gaza comes down heavily on the “Israel and Zionism are bad” side with heavy implications that antisemitism doesn’t actually exist, and all hate speech and vilification legislation recently has purely been so people can point and call “antisemitism!” without needing to provide reasons.
The SEP hate unions, who they think do not actually care about the working class, and instead want to establish ‘rank and file committees’ inside workplaces instead. (Or you could talk to the existing union organisers, folks? No?)
In terms of their few actual policies, the SEP make a handful of motherhood statements with not actual detail. They want a 30% pay rise for workers, more public housing, rent caps, “Trillions for public education, healthcare and welfare!”, and for banks and corporations to be placed under control of their workers and the proletariat.
You know. Lines that sound straight out of the early 20th century.
The SEP are also still mad at the AEC for deregistering them, at every other left and centre left party for existing and being sellouts (they refer to them as the ‘pseudo left’ and call the Greens supporters of dictatorship). The funniest complaint is actually that other left parties like the Greens, Socialist Alliance and Victorian Socialists dare to use modern intellectual language when communicating as they’re tied into the affluent upper middle class (which would be a shock to some of their members, I’m sure), rather than the good old fashioned revolutionary language of the SEP.
They are not serious people.
Is this party trying to kill me?
The SEP are anti-war, though reading their website does make me worried they’re about to put me up against the wall for the crime of being too bourgeoisie.
Is this party trying to harm me?
Certainly their website is trying to give me a splitting headache.
Conclusion:
The SEP are unserious ideological hacks who have proven themselves over many years of not really being interested in participating in the electoral system in a meaningful way. When I checked their social media, they are still whining about the AEC deregistering them unfairly, even though they have never actually made a good faith attempt to submit their 1,500 members list to restore their registration.
A party who do not bother actually presenting policies or following straightforward bureaucratic requests to access basic things like party registration is not a party worth voting for. On top of that, if they were elected, their virulent dislike of every other politician and party does not provide any useful approach to shared decisionmaking and the role of review in the Senate.
Website: https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/sep/australia/home.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SEP_Australia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialistEqualityPartyAustralia
(My review for the 2022 Federal Election)
The Socialist Equality Party have been deregistered since the introduction of the 1,500 member requirement prior to the 2022 federal election. They have not bothered to attempt to re-register, which is a statement about the size of their party.
They’re a long term socialist party in Australia who are notorious for their inability to play well with other parties, holding even other socialist parties in the Australian ecosystem in suspicion and disdain.
Party Analysis
The SEP do not actually have a specific policy platform for the 2025 federal election (that would be too bougie of them), but they have put out a longwinded statement of their values. Even their how to votes are sparse on details, listing the following: “Fight against war! Defend democratic rights! Fight for the social rights of the working class! Workers need a new party!”
As is fairly obvious from those lines, the SEP has a tendency to frame everything through the frame of classism and the working class struggle. Any other issues a group or community might face are subordinate to whether or not it’s a class issue.
In terms of warfare, the SEP are deeply suspicious of American imperialism. They side with Palestine over Israel in respect of Gaza, but believe the war in Ukraine is a ‘US-NATO proxy war against Russia’ and side with Russia against Ukraine, calling the country a fascistic regime. The SEP are also convinced that the US and Australia are preparing for war with China. They are convinced the government are preparing to be in a wartime setting and that “All elements of civil society, from the schools and universities to the economy, are to be subordinated to the military build-up”.
Their rhetoric around increasing antisemitism v Islamophobia in Australia due to the polisation of Gaza comes down heavily on the “Israel and Zionism are bad” side with heavy implications that antisemitism doesn’t actually exist, and all hate speech and vilification legislation recently has purely been so people can point and call “antisemitism!” without needing to provide reasons.
The SEP hate unions, who they think do not actually care about the working class, and instead want to establish ‘rank and file committees’ inside workplaces instead. (Or you could talk to the existing union organisers, folks? No?)
In terms of their few actual policies, the SEP make a handful of motherhood statements with not actual detail. They want a 30% pay rise for workers, more public housing, rent caps, “Trillions for public education, healthcare and welfare!”, and for banks and corporations to be placed under control of their workers and the proletariat.
You know. Lines that sound straight out of the early 20th century.
The SEP are also still mad at the AEC for deregistering them, at every other left and centre left party for existing and being sellouts (they refer to them as the ‘pseudo left’ and call the Greens supporters of dictatorship). The funniest complaint is actually that other left parties like the Greens, Socialist Alliance and Victorian Socialists dare to use modern intellectual language when communicating as they’re tied into the affluent upper middle class (which would be a shock to some of their members, I’m sure), rather than the good old fashioned revolutionary language of the SEP.
They are not serious people.
Is this party trying to kill me?
The SEP are anti-war, though reading their website does make me worried they’re about to put me up against the wall for the crime of being too bourgeoisie.
Is this party trying to harm me?
Certainly their website is trying to give me a splitting headache.
Conclusion:
The SEP are unserious ideological hacks who have proven themselves over many years of not really being interested in participating in the electoral system in a meaningful way. When I checked their social media, they are still whining about the AEC deregistering them unfairly, even though they have never actually made a good faith attempt to submit their 1,500 members list to restore their registration.
A party who do not bother actually presenting policies or following straightforward bureaucratic requests to access basic things like party registration is not a party worth voting for. On top of that, if they were elected, their virulent dislike of every other politician and party does not provide any useful approach to shared decisionmaking and the role of review in the Senate.
