Labor's carbon tax plan. In a factsheet about the carbon tax package released in August, "The truth about the carbon tax", Solidarity argues "the carbon tax package will not cut emissions" and has "given Tony Abbott an enormous free kick" and that there is an "alternative approach taxing the polluters to fund government investment in renewable energy.". Solidarity has come under some criticism for its arguments against the carbon tax, and their argument that production, rather than lifestyle change, should be the focus of the movement. They initiated and signed a letter in response to comments by Australian Labor Party Member of Parliament Kelvin Thomson that population was responsible for climate change, arguing that "the planning and environmental disasters of our cities are due to government neglect, not population." They have critiqued the Climate Camp protests' focus on coal exports and the model of consensus decision-making used at the camps. Politics International socialism Solidarity is part of the international socialist tradition and the International Socialist Tendency. The tendency originated with the ideas of Tony Cliff, who split from orthodox Trotskyism by developing a state capitalist critique of the Soviet union. Cliff also developed an analysis of the post war boom called the permanent arms economy and the theory of deflected permanent revolution which took some issue with Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution in relation the revolutions in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959, which Cliff argued were not socialist revolutions. Cliff formed what was to become the British Socialist Workers Party and similar organisations spread throughout the world. United front as strategy Solidarity believes that socialists should unite with broader forces beyond the far left in campaigns for social change and subscribe to an interpretation of Leon Trotsky's idea of the "united front". They hold that the united front is a strategy informing basic assumptions about relating to reformist forces, not an organisational tactic that can be selectively applied. The late Bob Gould, described the "common orientation as ... electoral support for the Greens and then Labor under the preferential system and a broader united front tactic towards the ranks of the Greens, the trade unions and the Labor Party," in an article describing the formation of Solidarity. Oppression Solidarity opposes nationalism, racism and all forms of homophobia and sexism. They stand for self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Solidarity claims to stand up for Muslims and Middle