For most people, the word “politics” brings to mind the workings of the state: who will win the next election, what laws politicians are debating, how well or badly the government is delivering public services. The mainstream media and political commentators are also fixated on it. They pay far more attention to the latest opinion polls or a squabble in parliament than they do to working conditions in a factory or the investment decisions made by merchant bankers, which are generally not considered political at all, but simply the natural workings of a market economy.

The prospect of Australia joining a war between the United States and China is truly terrifying. Such a war could cost millions of lives and even escalate into nuclear conflict. But this is precisely the path the Australian ruling class is preparing to go down.