Socialism in New Zealand
Some of these play a considerable role in public activism, such as the anti-war movement; other groups are strongly committed to socialist revolution.
[2] Academic Josephine F. Milburn argues that socialist theories were introduced by immigrant workers with experience in the British labour movement.
During the 1870s, James McPherson and his Canterbury Working Men's Mutual Protection Society had written to Karl Marx, requesting affiliation with the First International.
Key Red Federation leaders included the Australian–born Hickey and Paddy Webb, and fellow Australian Bob Semple.
The group met with little tangible success, but it nevertheless had considerable impact on the development of New Zealand socialism, forging close ties with the "Red Federation.
[8][9] In the years leading up to the First World War, several New Zealand and Australian socialists including Harry Holland, Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser, Harry Scott Bennett, Tom Barker, Tom Bloodworth, and Bob Semple advocated the creation of a "Cooperative Commonwealth" in which all land and means of wealth production, distribution, and management would be owned and managed collectively by the people.
Originally, the working class vote was concentrated mainly with the Liberal Party, where a number of prominent left-wing politicians (such as Frederick Pirani) emerged.
The new Labour Party was explicitly socialist, and was based around goals of redistribution of wealth, nationalization of industry, and elimination of conscription.
The First Labour Government led by Savage and Peter Fraser implemented a range of socialist policies such as nationalising industry, broadcasting, transportation, and a Keynesian welfare state.
Successive Labour governments have promoted centre-left social and economic policies while preserving a free market economy.
[23][24] The former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern identifies as a social democrat and formerly served as President of the International Union of Socialist Youth.
That year, a number of members who supported the Russian Revolution departed to form the Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ).
[30] In addition, the CPNZ also maintained close ties with the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) and supported Maori rights and the Mau movement in Western Samoa.
These attempts were largely unsuccessful and the Labour Party adopted a policy excluding all members of the CPNZ and Communist front organisations.
This set the stage for enmity and rivalry between communists and social democratic parties over control of the trade unions and unemployed workers' movements during the Great Depression.
[33] The expelled members led by Ken Douglas and George Harold (Bill) Andersen eventually established the Socialist Unity Party (SUP).
The SUP supported the CPSU and Soviet Union until the collapse of the USSR in 1991, defending the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the suppression of the 1982 Solidarity demonstrations in Poland, and the Soviet–Afghan War.
In return, Moscow funded frequent trips by SUP members to Russia, and Soviet ideologues and advisers regularly visited their SUP counterparts in New Zealand.
The League emerged from student protests against the Vietnam War and was influenced by the theories of Leon Trotsky, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevera.
[38] After Mao's death, the CPNZ under the leadership of Richard Wolf and Harold Crook rejected the reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping.
The leadership of the party believed that Hoxha was the only communist leader to keep "real" communism, but the group's determination to follow the narrowest path available alienated many of its supporters.
Those CPNZ members who remained loyal to Beijing formed the Workers' Communist League, whose newspaper was called Unity.
[39] Following the collapse of Albanian communism, the CPNZ adopted the Trotskyism it had once harshly condemned, and merged with a newer group known as the International Socialist Organization.
[41] New Left groups championed several causes included opposition to racism, the nuclear arms race, and the Vietnam War.
While New Leftists were still active in radical politics such as the Resistance bookshops, the more liberal wing of the protest movement had largely been appeased by the Third Labour Government's policies.
Boraman has characterized opposition to American imperialism and uncritical praise for Communist states and figures like Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, and Che Guevara as two key defining features of the later New Left activists and groups.
During the Great Depression, liberal-left perspectives penetrated mainstream New Zealand society through churches, women's groups, populist radio programmes, and the Labour Party.
[33][49] Several notable independent socialist magazines and newspapers in New Zealand have included the New Zealand Monthly Review (NZMR, 1960–1996), The Republican (1974–1996), Race Gender Class (1985–1992), left-wing journalist Chris Trotter's social democratic New Zealand Political Review (NZPR, 1992–2005),[50] the feminist Broadsheet (1972–1997), the Peace Movement Aotearoa's Peacelink, the queer feminist Bitches, Witches and Dykes, the anti-apartheid HART News, CARP Newsletter, Foreign Control Watchdog, and Peace Researcher.
It is often difficult to gain a clear picture of socialist parties in New Zealand - mergers, splits, and re-namings leave the situation confused.
