by David Clarke who is also a member of the NSWTF

Let’s be clear: this isn’t an abstract debate. It’s about the price of bread, the rent due at the end of the month, the petrol pump that makes you wince, and the hospital waiting list that stretches on for years. It’s about the cost-of-living crisis that is squeezing working people across Australia.

The uncomfortable truth that our political and media class will never admit: this crisis is intimately and structurally linked to the boot of US imperialism in the Pacific, and to the Australian state’s willing servitude beneath it. 

Since its ascent as a global capitalist power, the United States has extended its imperial reach through a network of military bases, so-called “defence” alliances, and the relentless export of its war-making technology. Here in the Pacific, this manifests through AUKUS, the web of “joint facilities,” and through the billions pledged for submarines while public housing crumbles. The aim of the ruling class in Washington and their counterparts in Canberra is simple: secure markets, plunder resources, and maintain strategic dominance.

For workers in Australia, the consequences are brutally material. They appear as stagnant wages that can’t keep up with inflation driven by global supply chains and war profiteering. They appear as precarious, casualised jobs in an economy increasingly warped towards “security” contracts and arms manufacturing. They appear in every budget that prioritises naval bases over nurses, and fighter jets over TAFE funding.

The Imperial Logic: How War Abroad Robs Us at Home

Imperialism is not an arbitrary foreign policy choice driven by deranged individual actors, but rather an expression of the highest stage of capitalism – a system where monopoly capital must constantly expand, dominate, and militarise to protect its profits. The Australian state, locked into this US-led project, acts as a junior partner, safeguarding the interests of multinational corporations and the “national security” sector. The burden, as always, is dumped on the working class.

This theft happens in several interlocking ways:

1. The Great Misallocation

Every dollar funnelled into AUKUS subs, Pine Gap, or joint war games with the US Marine Corps is a dollar stolen from public schools, hospitals, housing, and transport. It is a direct transfer of wealth from social need to corporate greed and militarism.

2. The Capital Exodus

Vast streams of public and private capital are diverted into defence projects, crowding out productive investment in renewable energy, manufacturing, and the care economy. Our economy becomes a hostage to the merchants of death.

3. The Militarised Mindset

A foreign policy of imperial competition demands domestic sacrifice. It normalises austerity, justifies surveillance in the name of “security,” and seeks to suppress dissent as unpatriotic.

This isn’t about blaming one prime minister over another. It’s about the structural logic of a system that will always protect profits over people, and war-making over welfare.

Our Power: It’s in the Workplace, and it’s Relational

So, what do we do? We organise. But not in the tired, transactional way that has failed us for decades. We must embrace a kind of deep, strategic organising. This starts with a simple, radical idea – to build real power, we must build real relationships with every worker in our workplace.

This means moving beyond just talking to the usual activists. It means listening – on the shop floor, in the break room, at the bus stop – to the specific, daily grievances of our colleagues. It means identifying the organic leaders: those respected co-workers (whether or not they’re union) who others naturally turn to for advice. These are the people who can lead their section, their shift, or their department.

Our goal is to build a majority, organised force within each workplace. The issues we rally around (wages that match inflation, secure hours, safe working conditions, dignity and respect) are the gateway. Winning on these “bread-and-butter” fronts does two vital things: it materially improves lives, and it demonstrates to workers that their own collective action has the power to change their reality.

From the Shop Floor to a Political Program

But workplace power alone isn’t enough. We must channel that power into a bold political program that directly confronts the imperial machine stealing our futures. Our strategy must find a way to link the fight for a better rostering system to the fight to scrap AUKUS.

Practically, this means our movement must demand:

– Severing military ties: Scrap AUKUS. End the “joint facilities.” Dramatically cut defence spending.

– Redirecting the wealth: Take every billion saved from the war budget and pour it into a Commonwealth of public goods – fully funded public schools and TAFEs; a universal, timely healthcare system; free and frequent electrified public transport; and a massive build of high-quality, affordable public housing.

– Building international solidarity: Forge real links with workers across the Pacific (for instance, in the Philippines, in Okinawa, or in Guam) who bear the brunt of US military bases. Our struggles are interconnected. Solidarity is our shield.

The Path Ahead: Humility, Clarity, and Unshakeable Resolve

We must proceed with humility. The terrain is difficult. The state and media apparatus will push back. There will be compromises and tough tactical choices. We must be honest about that.

But we must also be steadfast in our core aim: building a living, democratic, and peaceful society where the wealth created by our labour serves people – not war profiteers.

The steps ahead are clear:

1. Organise our workplaces. Build relationships, identify organic leaders, and wage strategic campaigns on bread-and-butter issues, consciously linking them to the broader theft of the imperial war budget.

2. Build cross-union, cross-community campaigns that directly confront the misallocation of resources, thus forcing the public debate onto our terms. Subsidies or submarines? Nurses or nukes?

3. Forge a democratic, inclusive movement led by the rank-and-file. Ensure our strategy is shaped by the full breadth of our working class – women, Indigenous comrades, migrants, and workers with disabilities.

This is about the concrete conditions of our lives. It’s about recognising that the fight for a safe job and the fight against imperial war is one and the same. Our power rests in collective organisation, in solidarity, and in a disciplined resolve to defend our shared humanity.

If we build our power from the ground up, with clear eyes and unwavering solidarity, we can win more than a better pay deal. We can win a future where the wealth of this country finally serves those who create it – guaranteeing schools, health, homes, and a peaceful world for all. Let’s get to work.