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Book Review
| Rick Kuhn (ed.), Class and Struggle in Australia, Pearson Longman, Sydney, 2005. pp. 226. $41.95 paper.
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| This book consists of 11 chapters, each by a different author. What they have in common are their Marxist approach and the fact that they are not simply intellectuals with an academic background but are activists in political life. They analyse with practical experience. Rick Kuhn as editor does a fine job in bringing them together to examine various aspects of capitalism and class struggle in Australia in recent decades, and this is done with remarkably little overlap of material between the authors. The chapters range over questions of the changing composition of classes in Australia, their various interests and organisations, class consciousness and ideas, the role of the state, resistance by workers to capitalist exploitation (currently and historically) and inequality. These aspects are also related to sexual, ethnic and racial differentiation — the position of women and discrimination against Aborigines and homosexuals. Students are also brought into the picture. |
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A lot of intensive research has gone into this book. The authors are hard-hitting and sharp, not disguising where their sympathies lie, but they back their arguments with appropriate facts. The presentation is succinct, and each chapter has a useful list of 'further reading' material, as well as footnotes. |
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This is a thoughtful compilation, providing scope for much discussion. It is refreshing to read crisp rejections of the populist notion that class distinctions virtually do not exist nowadays. Naturally there are some questionable propositions. One of the authors defines the working class in a negative way as being made up of 'those who do not own or control the means of production', and then adds that 'to get the full picture we would have to include retirees ... and dependents'. That's a very elastic classification! Nevertheless, the same author goes on to distinguish various components of class clearly, using statistical material; and class conflicts are alluded to in a meaningful context. |
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| The reviewer would like to see more reference to broad movements, embracing people from all classes — fighting for civil liberties, for example — but that would be beyond the purpose of the authors. |
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To sum up, this is a valuable book. It is addressed mainly to students but there are plenty of graduate readers and others who would benefit from it. It should appeal particularly to people who cheered the wharfies on in their fight against employers' brute force in 1998, as well as the people who opposed the war in Iraq in 2003, or who object to the conscienceless treatment of refugees in Australia now. |
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