What Resistance Stands For

WRSF intro

We live in a world dominated by environmental destruction, war, racism, poverty and oppression. We are told that these disasters are inevitable: that they are part of "human nature", and there is nothing we can do about them. But there is no human gene that causes misery. It is a product of the system we live under: capitalism.  

Under capitalism, a tiny minority own and control the economy. They run it, not to meet the needs of people or to maintain the environment on which we depend, but to maximise their profits. The drive for bigger and bigger profits is the direct cause of the widening gulf between the rich and the poor. It is why a majority of the world’s people live in dire poverty, while a tiny minority squander unprecedented wealth. 

Climate change is the direct result of a system under which everything can be bought and sold. The drive for profits has been relentless and has been pursued regardless of any impact on the environment. The very survival of the human race has now been called into question, yet the thirst for profits means that pro-capitalist governments are not responding rationally to the climate crisis — despite the immense scale of the threat. 

Democracy under this system remains severely curtailed. Where is the democracy when powerful oil and coal companies think they own the right to destroy our environment and threaten the survival of humanity to make a buck? Where is the democracy when our government wages a war, against the wishes of the majority of the people? Under capitalism, "democracy" means, at most, voting every three years or so. 

Using racism, nationalism, sexism and homophobia, the capitalist system aims to divide us. Resistance is about uniting people in collective action against our common enemy, capitalism. Resistance fights for socialism: a society based on real democracy. Under socialism, the means of producing wealth will be owned and controlled by society. The economy will be run democratically, according to the needs of people as they decide them, not by corporations’ profit margins. 

We’re taught that we’re powerless, but this is far from the truth. Through collective action, we can change the world. It’s the majority whose work keeps the factories, farms, schools, hospitals and public transport working. The majority make society and the economy function. If workers don’t work, there are no profits. The overwhelming numbers and economic power of the working class give it the power to overthrow capitalism and replace it with socialism. 

Resistance is taking action today, because tomorrow is too late. The threat to the survival of humanity posed by climate change, war and poverty create an urgency that can’t be ignored. The ability of leaders of the "free world" to wage their permanent global war, on the environment and people, relies on pacifying and demoralising our generation.  

The corporations and the pro-capitalist politicians know that young people were the main force in the anti-Vietnam War movement. Every time pro-capitalist governments have been forced to back down from attacks on working people’s rights, every time major reforms have been won and every time a repressive regime has been overthrown, young people have been at the forefront of achieving these victories. 

Resistance is building a socialist movement to unite radical young people. Society tells us we have no power. Resistance is about young people using the power that we have together to fight for revolution, for a just world. Resistance activists are on high schools, TAFEs and universities, in communities, on the streets and in workplaces. We have branches across the country, in every capital city and in some regional centres.  

As individuals, we can change some things some of the time, but by joining together and taking action with others, we can change the world! This pamphlet aims to provide an introduction to the ideas of socialism and what Resistance stands for. 

Pull-out: Resistance has helped to organise and lead:

• The student movement against the war in Vietnam
• Campaigns for the defence of the environment and against climate change
• Campaigns for women’s rights, to end sexual violence, for the right to choose and for a world free from oppression based on sex
• The student movement for publicly owned, free and universal higher education
• Nationwide high-school walkouts against Pauline Hanson and racism in 1998
• The movement to free the refugees: let them land, let them stay!
• International solidarity campaigns with progressive struggles and struggles for self-determination in Indonesia, East Timor, Aceh, Palestine, Tamil Eelam and many other places
• Campaigns in solidarity with the revolutions in Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia
• The massive 2003 protests against the invasion of Iraq and the Books Not Bombs student strikes against the invasion and occupation of Iraq
• Nationwide high-school walkouts against George Bush, the “war on terror”, attacks on workers’ rights and the destruction of the environment in 2007
• <!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[endif]-->The campaign for same-sex marriage rights
• <!--[if !supportLists]--> <!--[endif]-->The campaign against the racist NT emergency intervention into Aboriginal communities.