New Zealand general election: socialist policies needed

[OI OI OI]

Prime Minister Helen Clark has called the general election for November 8th hoping to win a fourth term. The general election date was of no real surprise as it was the much predicted date being the penultimate date with which the government could go to the country. The problem for the Labour Party is that it is well behind in the various opinion polls which give the National Party between an 8% and 18% lead over the Labour Party. With such a lead in the opinion polls the Labour Party is most likely to be defeated.




This election will be fought in a rapidly declining economy, unlike the three previous ones which the Labour Party won, the last election very narrowly indeed. The reformist and pro-capitalist leadership of the Labour Party won previous general elections on the basis that the capitalist economy was going forward and that their stewardship of the economy enabled the government to grant minor reforms to workers.
Fundamentally, the past boom was at the expense of New Zealand workers which led to disillusionment with Labour at the last election. Labour's narrow victory at the 2005 general election was significantly helped by the National Party's manifesto of open privatisation, attacks on workers’ rights, and undermining of the public service. Hence enough workers turned out to vote to stop a National government being formed which would have seen a return to the 1990's




Quite clearly the New Zealand economy is in recession and the economic news gets bleaker by the day. As I write $1.3 billion has been wiped of the NSX: the stock market’s biggest one-day loss in 6 years. The soft landing and the robustness of the economy, which the finance minister and the Reserve Bank were predicting earlier this year, have turned into an economic nightmare for them. The Reserve Bank dropping of the Official Cash Rate (OCR) in the last two months from 8.25% to 7.5%, with more reductions in the OCR predicted, is an attempt to kick start the economy. This is a panic measure. Quite clearly the Reserve Bank seems to have forgotten its monetarist mantra of 'sound finance and low inflation'!
With this in mind the Labour Party manifesto will not be able to safeguard one job in New Zealand as the capitalists will demand that the workers pay the ultimate price of their economic downturn. Not even the promised tax cuts in early October or increases in superannuation and working families tax credits will save the Labour Party from defeat if it adopts a manifesto based on capitalist measures. Let us be quite clear about this: if Labour miraculously wins the next election on a pro-capitalist manifesto it will very quickly have to introduce severe counter-reforms against workers. The only way forward for Labour is to adopt bold socialist policies in the interest of the working class.




The likely return of a National government in November is directly due to the bankruptcy of the Labour leadership. The right-wing media as well as the National Party itself go on about the desire for change after 9 years of Labour government and that there will be no fundamental change of policy if National is elected. This is quite clearly a smokescreen as the National party has relearned the fact that it cannot tell the electorate the truth of what it will do once in power, but only what the electorate wishes to hear. Clearly the former employee of Merrill Lynch, and leader of the National Party, John Key as prime minister of New Zealand will have no qualms about carrying out vicious attacks on workers, as the leaked 'secret' policy strongly suggests.




Helen Clark and the Labour Party are going to the country on the principle of trust. They argue that they have delivered their meagre manifestos in the past and can be trusted to get the country through the bad times. The Labour Party can only win this election by trusting and having confidence in the working class and adopting socialist policies that enthuse workers to go out and vote Labour. Such policies would encourage workers to fight for socialism and change society for the better here in New Zealand and internationally. Anything less than this will simply not do.

[Saorsa]

Who wrote this idealistic, opportunist rubbish? Was it the one guy in NZ who belongs to Socialist Appeal, the IMT lot? Who incidentally happens to be Xiao Banfa?

[Wanted Man]

Who wrote this idealistic, opportunist rubbish? Was it the one guy in NZ who belongs to Socialist Appeal, the IMT lot? Who incidentally happens to be Xiao Banfa?

Looking at their website, it is indeed from 'Socialist Appeal'. Funny thing is, all the articles on that site, with 2 or 3 exceptions, are written by the same person. :laugh:

[Yehuda Stern]

No, come on, the IMT is huge - 10,000 people worldwide! You're probably mistaking them with the other anti-Chavez sectarians.

[Saorsa]

Looking at their website, it is indeed from 'Socialist Appeal'. Funny thing is, all the articles on that site, with 2 or 3 exceptions, are written by the same person. http://www.revleft.com/vb/../revleft/smilies2/lol.gif

They're probably bloody pseudonyms. When we finally sort out the videos from our last WP conferencew, you'll be able to see Xiao Banfa getting schooled in an argument about supporting Labour (we're sane and oppose this bullshit line).


No, come on, the IMT is huge - 10,000 people worldwide! You're probably mistaking them with the other anti-Chavez sectarians.

:lol:

[OI OI OI]

The article is by Graham Day....


And care to explain how it is opportunistic ?

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

The article is by Graham Day....


And care to explain how it is opportunistic ?

Because that's what participating in bourgeouis elections is?

[Saorsa]

The article is by Graham Day....

And who the hell is he? The NZ far left is pretty small and everyone knows each other, yet I've never heard that name until now.


And care to explain how it is opportunistic ?

It's a lot easier to go to workers who still have illusions in Labour (even after it destroyed the working-class in the 80s and has continued to put forward anti-worker policies now) and say "despite all this, they're better than the other lot, so we'll vote for them!" than it is to tell them the truth - namely, that Labour is a liberal capitalist party that is 100% in the bosses pocket, and in no way representds their interests. Labour should be condemned, not endorsed in order to win over people a wee bit more easily.

And before you ask, it's idealist because it calls on the liberal capitalist "Labour" Party to adopt "socialist policies". That is not going to happen. Labour abandoned all references to the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange back in the late 1930s!

You shouldn't post articles by idiots on a country that you obviously know nothing about.

[OI OI OI]

Because that's what participating in bourgeouis elections is?

We are not anarchists.
We are Leninists .

posted by Lenin
that participation in parliamentary elections and in the struggle on the parliamentary rostrum is obligatory on the party of the revolutionary proletariat specifically for the purpose of educating the backward strata of its own class, and for the purpose of awakening and enlightening the undeveloped, downtrodden and ignorant rural masses

[OI OI OI]

It's a lot easier to go to workers who still have illusions in Labour (even after it destroyed the working-class in the 80s and has continued to put forward anti-worker policies now) and say "despite all this, they're better than the other lot, so we'll vote for them!" than it is to tell them the truth - namely, that Labour is a liberal capitalist party that is 100% in the bosses pocket, and in no way representds their interests. Labour should be condemned, not endorsed in order to win over people a wee bit more easily.

But no one knows your party and you ll probably get 0.1% , no seats in parliament and nothing is going to change. As Lenin said elections are for agitation.

Who do you agitate ? Yourselves:lol:?

While by exposing the labour leadership such as there


Article
The reformist and pro-capitalist leadership of the Labour Party won previous general elections on the basis that the capitalist economy was going forward and that their stewardship of the economy enabled the government to grant minor reforms to workers.

We take peoples conciousness one step forward and we make them realize that they have to push for socialist policies.

So it is not at all opportunistic.




And before you ask, it's idealist because it calls on the liberal capitalist "Labour" Party to adopt "socialist policies". That is not going to happen. Labour abandoned all references to the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange back in the late 1930s!

Ah you re such a fool!

That is a classic Leninist tactic. You cannot take it literaly. We know that the bureaucracy will not take socialist policies, but we call them to take them in order to expose them to the people when they won't take those policies.

With the same concept Lenin called all power to the soviets!, when the mensheviks controlled the soviets.

In that way he exposed the mensheviks when they did not take power .

[Saorsa]

We are Leninists .

Lenin called on the British CP to support Labour like a rope supports a hanged man, so that the LP would be elected and would reveal it's pro-capitalist nature, resulting in the disillusionment of the proletariat in Labour and the end of Labour being the political wing of the advanced section of the working-class. When this happened, when Labour revealed it's true colours and attacked the working-class, the contradiction between the proletarian aspect and the bourgeois aspect of the party would be resolved - Labour would be a bourgeois party through and through.

Even back then Lenin had no illusions about Labour;


The Labour Party is not a political worker’s party but a thoroughly bourgeois party, because, although it consists of workers, it is led by reactionaries, and the worst reactionaries at that, who lead it in the spirit of the bourgeoisie and with the aid of the British Noskes and Scheidemanns, they systematically deceive the workers - "Left-Wing Communism"

[Saorsa]

But no one knows your party and you ll probably get 0.1% , no seats in parliament and nothing is going to change. As Lenin said elections are for agitation.

The WP is the largest Marxist group in NZ by far. In real terms, Socialist Appeal does not exist.

http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/76002/index.php


Wellington Tramways Union rejects Go Wellington Pay offer and elects union exec

Author



Anonymous (http://indymedia.org.nz/mod/accounts/display/0/index.php)

Date Created



05 Sep 2008



More details... (http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/76002/index.php#)

Date Edited



05 Sep 2008 02:47:01 PM

License

http://indymedia.org.nz/images/licenses/norights.gif (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain)This work is in the public domain.



At Wednesday’s stopwork meeting The Wellington Tramways Union rejected Go Wellington’s latest inadequate pay offer and elected the a new union executive.
According to company figures drivers in Wellington had their annual income reduced by 19% in 2007 as a result of shift changes desired to restrict access to penal rates. The companies current pay offer stands at only 6.2% and in addition the company wish to introduce a draconian complaints procedure for drivers. This offer was rejected by 208 votes to 23 and drivers also voted to take limited industrial action if the company didn’t come up with an improved offer.

The stopwork meeting also elected a new executive for the Wellington Tramways who represent drivers at Go Wellington, Valley Flyer in the Hutt Valley and Mana Newlands buses out in Porirua and the Kapiti Coast.

Kevin O’Sullivan was elected the new Wellington Tramways Secretary. The former secretary Phil Griffiths passed away suddenly in June of this year. Kevin worked alongside Phil for 15 years as the Wellington Tramways President.

“Wellington bus drivers have held onto conditions such as double time on Sundays which most other drivers lost after the employment contracts act and deregulation of the bus industry in the late 1980’s”, said Kevin. “I hope to continue to good work of the Wellington Tramways Union that happened under Phil’s leadership”.

Former Victoria University Student Association President and Workers Party member Nick Kelly was elected as the Wellington Tramways President. This position was held by Engineers Union official Paul Tolich in the 1980’s.

“Its important that drivers stand together and fight for better pay and conditions for themselves and all other workers. Previous attempts to divide Wellington drivers by employers have failed such as the attempt to introduce a flat rate contract at Go Wellington in 2007” said Nick. “I am optimistic that this unity will continue in the future”.

Long serving driver and Tramways Delegate Chris Morley was elected as the Vice – President.

Also at the stopwork union delegates at Go Wellington were elected.

2008 is the 100th anniversary of the Wellington Tramways Union. The new executive team intend to fighting for a better life for drivers in Wellington as the union has done for the last century.

Ends

Contact:

KevinO’Sullivan Wellington Tramways Union Secretary Ph: 04 384 5403
E-mail: tramwaysunion (at) tradeshall.org.nz (http://www.revleft.com/vb/this.href.replace(reg,'@');")

Nick Kelly
Wellington Tramways Union President
Ph: 021 584294
E-mail: socialist42 (at) hotmail.com (http://www.revleft.com/vb/this.href.replace(reg,'@');")



Workers Party mayoral campaign reviewed

The Workers Party stood 4 mayoral candidates in this year's local body elections. Nationally we received 4,705 votes. Below is a breakdown of the results for each candidate:

Waitakere City: Rebecca Broad 2,101 votes (4.46%)

Wellington: Nick Kelly 988 votes (1.43%)

Christchurch: Byron Clark 720 votes (0.69%)

Dunedin: Tim Bowron 896 votes (2.23%)

The decision of the Auckland branch to only stand in Waitakere City was opposed by some people within the Workers Party who argued that the Auckland City mayoral race would have got more media publicity. However the decision of the branch to concentrate on Waitakere bore considerable results. Rebecca Broad's 2101 vote count was by far the most impressive number of votes a Workers' Party candidate has received in an election. The campaign has also had other positive results, such as Rebecca being offered a regular column in the local paper. Generally this campaign helped put forward socialist politics and drew a number of people, including organised workers, closer to the Workers' Party.

In Wellington Nick Kelly received 988 votes in the 2007 mayoral election. This is slightly down on the vote that WP's forerunner the Anti Capitalist Alliance received in 2004. This was because of lower voter turnout, a bigger selection of candidates and because the party put forward a harder left message than it did in the 2004 election in Wellington City. The result also reflects that the fact that the Wellington left including the WP is weaker than in 2004 (some key WP members in Wellington have moved to other branches for example). Another consequence of this weakened position was that the WP did not stand in Upper Hutt or Porirua as it did in 2004. However, despite this, the 2007 campaign was successful, in terms of party building and gaining public presence.

In Christchurch Byron Clark ran a strong campaign and slightly increased the vote number achieved by our party at the last election, gaining 720 votes. The Workers Party also managed to get more votes than Kyle Chapman, who is the former far-right National Front leader. In 2004 Chapman got more than double the vote count of the WP.

In Dunedin Tim Bowron stood as the joint Workers' Party and International Socialist Organisation candidate. This was the first time that either organisation had contested the mayoralty in Dunedin. This campaign was part of ongoing cooperative work between the two socialist organisations in Dunedin. Tim's vote was also a good result for Dunedin and an encouraging sign for building of the socialist left in that city.

Nationally, Workers Party votes totaled 4,705. This is about the same vote the party achieved in 2004 when we got 4,700 votes. In 2004 we stood in Auckland City, Manakau, Upper Hutt, Porirua, Wellington and Christchurch. So in 2007 we got about the same vote count from a smaller number of voters.

The Workers' Party doesn't stand in elections just to catch votes, and during a downturn in class struggle a strong left vote is usually unlikely. The campaign's main goal was to put working class politics onto the agenda and argue that to really stop local government serving business at the expense of workers what is needed is a working class party in power. This was raised at all candidates meetings that the Workers Party attended, as well as at union meetings and to workers at Spark sales and campaign stalls throughout the country. The campaign helped get some twenty people signed up as part of the WP campaign to get over 500 members so we can stand as a party in the 2008 general election.

The key message the Workers Party has put forward in this campaign is that to bring about real change in local body politics what's needed isn't just a change of mayor or councilors, but rather a fundamental change to the way in which society is run. Currently local government serves the interests of the capitalist class at the expense of working people. What is needed is a workers movement and workers party capable of fundamentally changing this injustice.

Incidentally, the bus drivers union that our comrade is President of has just been locked out for the first time in over 100 years (http://indymedia.org.nz/feature/display/71951/index.php). The WP is leading one of the biggest class struggles in NZ for the past few years.

As you can see by the election results, we're far from being a mass party with major support, but we managed to get a pretty solid result for our candidates, who stood on an openly revolutionary platform. The WP is active in the union movement and the student movement, and we've got comrades in leadership positions in both. The IMT does not exist here and their line is shit.


That is a classic Leninist tactic. You cannot take it literaly. We know that the bureaucracy will not take socialist policies, but we call them to take them in order to expose them to the people when they won't take those policies.

It's a tactic Lenin advocated before Labour had been in power, and before they'd attacked the working class. In both NZ and the UK, Labour has been in power several times and has revealed it's anti-worker nature every time. How many times do we need to expose them before we start telling workers how it actually is?!?


With the same concept Lenin called all power to the soviets!, when the mensheviks controlled the soviets.

*facepalm*

That has absolutely no relevance to the concept of supporting Labour like a rope supports a hanged man Oi. Lenin didn't call for a vote for the Mensheviks in order to expose their anti-socialist nature! It's totally irrelevant, as New Zealand is unfortunately not quite at the stage where the workers are forming Soviets and shooting their bosses. When they are we can apply similar tactics to those used by Lenin in 1917.