What’s on

AUCKLAND • Palestine / Israel Rally for Peace. Saturday, December 7, 2pm to 3pm, Aotea Square, Queen Street. Supporting peace and justice based Stop the war on removal of Israeli occupation, eight of return DECEMBER 14 RALLIES for refugees, sharing Jerusalem and cessation of Jewish-only settlements in occupied Palestine. Contact David Wakim (09) 520 0201. ( AUCKLAND ( • Global Peace & Justice Auckland An Xmas message for George Bush, committee meeting. Sunday, December 15, 10am, 84 Paice Ave, PEACE NOT WAR FOR IRAQ! Sandringham. Open committee meeting to plan No Attack on Iraq • No NZ Support for War • Justice for Palestine • End Sanctions on Iraq action in the new year including the Peace in The 11am, QE2 Square, bottom of Queen St Park concert on February 16. Organised by Global Peace & Justice Auckland phone John 846 3173. • First Global Peace & Justice Auckland Forum for 2003. Monday, February 3, 7.30pm, Trades hall, 147 ( WELLINGTON ( Great North Rd, Grey Lynn. NO WAR ON IRAQ – NO BLOOD FOR OIL! • Peace in the Park. 12 noon, Glover Park, between Garret St and Ghuznee St, March to Midland Park on Lampton Quay. Sunday, February 16, 2003, 2-5pm, Potters Park, Organised by Peace Action Wellington, contact 382 8129. Balmoral. A festival of music to protest against war.

WELLINGTON • “Behind the News”, • Wellington Friends of Tibet event to mark Every Saturday on Wellington Access Radio (783 On the day the war International Human Rights Day AM), broadcast at 12-30pm. Brought to you by starts, join these Tuesday 10 December, 6pm to 7-45pm at the Linda Hobman (04) 380 0194 and Jim Delahunty City Gallery Auditorium. Speakers and a video (04)938 6943. emergency anti-war presentation, Contact Chris Mathieson (04) rallies. 589 1146. • “Peace Report” Every Sunday, on Wellington Access Radio (783 • Free Palestine Exhibition AM), broadcast at 11-45am, Contact Des Brough AUCKLAND From 1 December to 15 December at Wellington (04) 388 3173. 5pm, outside the US City Library, 65 Victoria St. Organised by the consulate, City Bank Wellington Palestine Group, who ask for friends NATIONAL building, corner Custom and supporters to e-mail/write /telephone to the • Waihopai Spybase protest. library to give positive feedback, since in the past Friday 24 to Sunday 26, January 2003. st and Commerce St, some people in the community have tried to have New Zealand’s most significant contribution to Downtown. our displays removed. the “war on terror” — and any other wars waged by our Western allies — is the Waihopai spybase. • 12th anniversary since the Gulf War Waihopai must be closed! WELLINGTON Thursday 16 January 2003. All day peace vigil at We invite people from around the country to 5pm at the Cenotaph. the US embassy, from 7-30am to 7-30pm; rally with join us for the weekend of anti-war protest at this speakers at 6pm. Contact PMA, (04) 382 812. spybase. Come prepared for roughing it and camping out. CHRISTCHURCH • Candle-lit vigil for peace. For more info contact the Anti-Bases 5:30pm in Cathedral Square. Every Thursday 5pm to 6pm at the Cenotaph. For Campaign, Box 2258, Christchurch, e-mail cafca@ more info contact PMA (04) 382 8129. chch.planet.org.nz.

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2 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Editorial Socialist Worker Monthly Review Another world #3 • December 2002 • ISSN 1176-0559 What’s on 2 is possible Editorial 3 They said it 4 The leader of the world’s most powerful “democracy” is about to invade yet another country. He doesn’t care that News Review 4 his last war killed thousands of civilians, or that this war will ‘The police are murderers’ kill thousands more. GE: bite back and defeat it! The corporations that back him want oil. They don’t care that their use of fossil fuels is destabilising the climate. Our government is preparing to back this war. FEATURES They want a free trade deal that will hand even more Anti-War 6 power to corporations. They don’t care that the corporate agenda has destroyed the standard of living of ordinary NZ First not welcome 8 people in Aotearoa. One politician who claims he cares about this, is blaming Women’s Liberation 9 immigrants. He’s Maori and says he’s not racist. But he backs Shut down Miss World the cop who gunned-down a young Maori man. Fight for equal pay If this was all there was to say about the world today, then there’d be no point in you reading any further. Anti-Capitalism 10 European Social Forum Happily, the crimes committed by our rulers are provoking Free trade and fair trade active resistance, as well as anger and disgust. What would a socialist society be Around the world millions have marched against war and like? hundreds of thousands have protested against corporate domination. In Aotearoa the biggest manifestation of resist- Leninism debate 13 ance has been the GE-free campaign, which has mobilised Leninism in the 21st century tens of thousands. by John Rees The fact that resistance exists — and is growing on so Workers must free themselves many fronts — shows that millions of people believe an by Chris Trotter Real socialism from below alternative is possible. by Mark Eden If it is possible for millions to shake themselves free of the Socialist Worker’s reply ideology of our rulers — which says “there is no alternative” by Grant Brookes and “resistance is futile” — and take to the streets, then it is possible for billions to one day do the same. Reviews 19 When that happens, another world will not just be pos- Music: Steve Earl’s ‘Jerusalem’ sible, it will be in the process of being born. Books: Naomi Klein’s ‘Fences and If you want to bring that time closer, read on. Windows’ and ‘On the Left — Essays on Socialism in New Zealand’ Film: ‘Store Wars — When Wal-Mart Comes to Town’ Socialist Worker news 22 This is the last Socialist Worker Monthly Review for 2002. It is and infomation also the last by our current editor, David Colyer. Industrial Action 24 Black Caps win by 100,000! The new editor will be Grant Brookes. His first issue will be When people are powerful published on February 8.

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Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 3 They said it

‘A sick society and a ruling class that are sons of bitches, all of them, including myself.’ ‘The police are L Argentinian production minister ANIBAL FERNANDEZ when asked to explain the deaths of Argentine children from malnutrition. murderers’ By GRANT BROOKES

‘There is an old saying in Keith Abbott, the police officer who Tennessee — I know it’s gunned down Steven Wallace on the streets of Waitara in April 2000, has just been in Texas, it’s probably in aquited of murder. Tennessee — that says: Fool Unlike other murder trials, this one me once... shame on... shame didn’t lead the 6 o’clock news every on you. Fool me... you can’t night. get fooled again.’ If it had, more people would know how the police murdered Steven Wallace and L GEORGE W BUSH, quoted in then lied to cover it up. the Baltimore Sun, 6 October. Abbott told the court he fired three times. But witnesses heard four shots and Steven Wallace there were four bullet wounds in Steven’s ‘No I think that — I think that body. vately, at enormous cost, after a police in- if you would read the full — I Abbott said he fired a warning shot vestigation started by a former class-mate don’t — you know — I’m sure before taking aim. But witnesses heard no and “close friend” of Abbott cleared him he said other sentences.’ warning shot. And a search of the scene of any wrong-doing. didn’t find the bullet. The police were backed by all the L GEORGE W BUSH, when Police commander Mark Lammas said authorities — the solicitor-general, police confronted by a reporter Steven was advancing on Abbott with a complaints authority, the government and quoting remarks by CIA director baseball bat. But Steven was shot in the the corporate-owned media. George Tenet seeming to warn side and in the back. He couldn’t have It is not surprising that Abbott was against a US military strike on been “advancing”. aquitted. The courts have not delivered jus- Iraq. Abbott thought he’d killed someone tice for working class Maori in the past. called David Toa, another Maori man who Although there were Maori among he’d had run-ins with before. those called for jury service, the jury ‘I know what I believe. I A witness had heard him say “We’ve selected for the trial contained not one will continue to articulate been after you for a long time, David” as Maori face. what I believe and what I he pulled the trigger. Raewyn Wallace, Steven’s grief-stricken believe — and I believe what The court hearing was a victory for the mother, told the media after his death: “He I believe is right.’ Wallace whanau and their long struggle was shot for smashing some windows.” for justice. “The police are murderers”, she said. L GEORGE W BUSH. They were forced to take the case pri- She’s right.

‘When I was in jail I was held with British-made handcuffs. In the cells next door, I could Racism and brutality hear the screams of people who were having holes Police attitudes to Maori “undoubtedly massive wealth from the majority of us at the bottom without the use of force. drilled into their bones. had a bearing” on the shooting of Steven Police provide that force. They’re al- Those drills were made in Wallace, said Helen Clark. An official briefing produced after ways on hand to break collective actions Britain.’ the shooting by Te Puni Kokiri (ministry by workers like protests, occupations or of Maori development) confirmed that picket lines. L HUSSAIN AL-SHAHRISTANI, Taranaki police are racist. And they make sure that the “crimes” former nuclear scientist, One officer talked of “generations of scum born of poverty, frustration and powerless- tortured and jailed for 11 years being produced by some Maori families”. ness don’t get out of hand and threaten the for refusing to work on Iraq’s And officers like this “were not reprimanded system’s stability. nuclear program. by their superiors for being racist”. Daily confrontations with working class Police from round the country inter- people shape police attitudes. viewed by Radio NZ had all heard racist In their eyes, we become brutes to be ‘If I couldn’t study remarks, like “let’s go out and catch some brutalised. psychopaths in Prison, I niggers”. Maori are at the bottom of the heap would go down to the stock An earlier 1998 report from Te Puni after being robbed of their land in the exchange.’ Kokiri labelled the police force as a whole 19th century. “a racist institution which perpetuates So today police clash with Maori more L ROBERT HARE, expert strong anti-Maori attitudes”. often, see them as “trouble” and become on psychopathic behaviour Racism and brutality are ingrained racist. reporting strong psychopathic in police attitudes because they’re the Workers should support every attempt tendencies amoung bosses. front-line defenders of a racist, brutal and — like the trial of Keith Abbott — to hold unjust system. our racist and brutal police to account and The rich few could never keep their restrict their power.

4 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 News Review GE, DON’T EAT IT: BITE BACK AND DEFEAT IT!

By DAVID COLYER tions of the economy. November 16 have revived the GE-free We need to build a GE-free campaign movement. They clearly demonstrated 10,000 people took to the streets of Auck- that mobilises thousands to protest outside the power of mass protests which unite land on Saturday November 16, in the every conference or hearing that promotes thousands of people in action. second major demonstration of the GE- or permits the release of GE organisms. But that does not mean that the every- free campaign. We need a movement which answers one within the movement now agrees that The protest, organised by the Auckland every attempt to grow GE crops with more mass protests are the way forward. GE-Free Coalition (AGEFC), and Madge thousands of people converging to pull The success of the march will also have (Mothers Against Genetic Engineering), them up. revived the hopes of those who see indi- had a carnival atmosphere. We need to create an anti-GE atmos- vidualised actions like consumer boycotts, A diverse range of organisations and phere that makes ordinary people feel so voting or appeals to parliament as the way individuals marched, chanted, and stood powerful, so confident, that transportation to stop GE. firm against the release of GE into our workers refuse to handle GE products and To keep the movement alive, socialists food and environment. super-market workers refuse to stock them and other activists who believe mass actions The demonstration ended with a party on the shelves. are the best way to fight GE need to organ- in Albert Park, the Topp Twins and Trinity The 10,000 people who marched on ise themselves within the movement. Roots providing entertainment. The big and boisterous march encour- aged a militant perspective. Bob Harvey, ex-Labour Party president and mayor of Waitakere City, recalled the struggle in the 1960s to overturn a ban on political demonstrations at Albert Park. He said the next GE-free march must aim to fill the whole park. Steve Able, speaking for AGEFC, said he was sure that the women of Madge would lead thousands to pull up GE crops. The Green Gloves group, with the slogan: “GE — you plant it, we pull it”, collected names on their direct action pledge. If this focus on building mass protests continues we have a real chance of winning a GE-free Aotearoa. But if the mistakes of a year ago are repeated, and no more big protests are called, then the movement will wilt once more. Looking at how to take the movement forward, we can draw inspiration from past successes. The movement against South Africa’s racist Apartheid regime mobilised tens of thousands who were prepared to take on baton-wielding police in their attempts to stop the 1981 Springbok rugby tour. At the height of the nuclear-free cam- paign waterside workers and seafarers closed ports every time a US warship came near. These strikes spread so the cost of maintaining links with America’s nuclear navy was the shut-down of important sec-

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 5 Anti-war LABOUR COMMITS TO WAR A US-led attack on Iraq is likely to result ing a signal that New Zealand is prepared in 48,000 to 260,000 deaths in the first three to countenance the use of force against months of combat. This is the conclusion Iraq.” of a study carried out by the Medical As- It is certainly a message the US admin- sociation for Prevention of War (MAPW) istration received loud and clear. in Australia. Three days after the government dis- The report is based on casualties in the patched Te Kaha to the Gulf, US Trade 1990-91 Gulf War, which were 205,000, and Representative, Robert Zoellick, an- current US combat strategies. nounced that he would consult congress Despite this horrific potential the about the inclusion of New Zealand in Labour government has moved closer to free trade talks between the US and openly supporting the US’s war on Iraq. Australia. After the UN Security Council deliv- Helen Clark, responding to the Zoel- ered its “zero tolerance” resolution on lick’s announcement, acknowledged the Iraq, Helen Clark confirmed that if the trade-off being made. She said that New Security Council approved a US-led at- Zealand has been “a good friend and tack, then “New Zealand as a conscientious strong supporter in the international cam- member of the United Nations, would look paign against terrorism... Probably this has to see if it could make a contribution.” led to some revision of the thinking about She might have added that this “contribu- New Zealand.” tion” is already well advanced. NZ military The US has been looking to gain sup- personnel have been based at the US HQ in port from other governments for its war Florida for some time, where plans are being on Iraq through a combination of threats, drawn up for the invasion of Iraq. bribes and deals. And on November 12 the government No matter what spin our government confirmed its support by announcing the tries to put on it, it is clear that Labour is deployment of the frigate Te Kaha to the prepared to make a blood for dollars deal Gulf region, with an Orion aircraft to with the US. follow. In this, they are heeding the calls of In a staggering case of “double-speak”, NZ business leaders, who are eyeing the the government claimed that both are be- profits to be had from a free trade deal ing sent as part of New Zealand’s contribu- with the US. tion to the “war on terror”, and are not part The government may continue to pub- of the military build-up against Iraq. licly call for a UN-mandated war on Iraq, But as Green MP Keith Locke rightly not a go-it-alone action by the US, but this is points out: nothing more than a cynical slight of hand. “The Pentagon has begun the biggest It is apparent that the US has bullied military build-up in a decade in precisely the UN Security Council into delivering a the part of the world where our frigate resolution that opens the way for war. and surveillance plane are to be operating. And UN mandated or not, the death toll How can this commitment be anything will be the same, and the US will, either other than backing the White House’s “big way, be realising its global ambitions. stick” policy on Iraq? Thanks to Helen Clark’s Labour gov- “Everyone will understand this as send- ernment, New Zealand will be an accom- plice to these crimes. Unions must speak out against war Historically the trade union movement in passed by the far the strongest resolution. of the CTU to take a strong stand. New Zealand has played an important role It calls on our government to refrain from To do this, “rank and file members in struggles like the nuclear free movement supporting any military action against Iraq, have to impress on their union leadership and the anti-apartheid movement. including any action mandated by the UN. how concerned they are about the war”, They added real weight to the respec- The NZ Seafarers Union passed a reso- she says. tive movements because when workers lution at an International Union Confer- “But at the same time union leaders protest or take strike action they cut off ence. While condemning the US drive to are in a position to give leadership on the flow of profits, which soon makes the war, it falls short of the Aste resolution, in this issue.” bosses and politicians take notice. that it does not categorically oppose a UN Ovens cites an anti-war rally in Mel- Unions also have an organisation approved war. Section 5 of the resolution bourne which she recently attended. structure that can mobilise and distrib- does, however, state “that military action “What struck me in Melbourne, where ute information to large sections of the is not a solution to the inadequacies of a there was 45,000 people according to the population; this is true even though New profit driven social system that increas- organisers, was that it was lead by the trade Zealand’s current union coverage is only ingly cannot look after the people of the unions. Union leaders spoke, there were 20% of the workforce. world.” union banners... it was fantastic.” Yet it is fair to say that unions have been Jill Ovens, outgoing president of Aste, This what we need to see in New Zea- slow to get involved in the current anti-war wants the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) land if we are going to put maximum pres- movement in New Zealand. to support the anti-war movement. sure on Labour for a complete withdrawal At this stage, only a handful of unions She believes resolutions, like that passed of support for America’s war on Iraq. This have passed anti-war resolutions. by affiliate unions like Aste are important has to be the goal; the powerful ranks of Aste, the union of polytech lecturers, has in getting the National Affiliates Council the working class will be essential.

6 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Anti-war Security Council IT’S STILL AN OIL WAR gives green light One way or another the US will find a pretext for invading Iraq. Bombing of sites in Iraq by US and Brit- ish planes has been intensified in recent to US war plans months. And plans for an invasion, involv- ing 200,000 troops, are well advanced. By VAUGHAN GUNSON If Iraq admits to possessing weapons of This march to war is being driven by the mass destruction the US would claim jus- combined military and economic gains that On November 9 the United Nations Se- tification for an invasion, if Iraq continues a US controlled Iraq would deliver. curity Council delivered a resolution to its denials the US will still attack. The twin goals are continued US satisfy war-planners in the Pentagon. The “zero tolerance” resolution by the military presence in the region, and the As you read this Iraq may have already Security Council also gives the US the opening up of Iraq’s oil fields — the worlds — in US eyes — breached the require- power to decide if the Iraqis have hin- second largest — to US multinationals. ments of the resolution, and war may be dered UN weapons inspectors in any way, Commenting on the policy coming from under way or imminent. providing another pretext for war. The Washington, former US ambassador to This is because there are a number of US can even attack Iraq while the Security Saudi Arabia, James E. Akins, said: “tripwires” designed to give the US the Council is still discussing breaches of the “What they have in mind is denation- excuse it wants to go to war. resolution. alisation, and then parcelling Iraqi oil out On December 8 the Iraqi regime must The conditions of the resolution, which to American oil companies.” hand over details of its weapons of mass gives no room to Iraq and gives the US At present, Iraq’s crippled industry destruction to UN weapons inspectors. free reign to unleash terror on the people produces two million barrels of oil a day. Iraq says it no longer has any weapons of Iraq, was agreed upon by all Security That productivity could easily be improved of mass destruction or a programme to Council members. with new investment; production could go build them. This claim is backed by former Permanent members, France, Russia as high as eight million barrels a day. US weapons inspector Scott Ritter. and China, gave their support once their If this was controlled by a new US pup- But the US has signalled that it is not respective oil investments in Iraq were pet regime, America’s energy needs would going to believe the Iraqis, even if weapons safeguarded under any post-war carve-up be secured for years to come; thereby inspectors turn-up no evidence disputing of the country. While Britain’s Tony Blair decreasing their reliance on oil purchased their claims. has been a gung-ho supporter of the US from Saudi Arabia. Richard Perle, chairman of the Ameri- from day one. In this way, the US would get a jump on can’s defence policy board recently told The other non-permanent members of its economic rivals. British MPs: the Security Council were simply bullied As one American oil industry executive “I cannot see how Hans Blix [head of and bribed. has put it: the UN inspection team] can state more Syria was told that if it did not back the “We don’t have a stake in Iraq now... than he can know. All he can know is the US it would be declared a “terror state” One of the frustrations that US oil compa- results of his own investigations. And that and would be next in line. nies have is that the Russians, the French does not prove Saddam does not have Mauritius, a small island off the coast and the Chinese already have existing weapons of mass destruction.” of Africa, was pressured into agreeing relations with Iraq. And the question is: It would simply mean that they were because it receives aid from the US under how much of that will be sanctified by the well hidden, according to Perle. the US African Growth and Opportunity people who succeed Saddam?” And Colin Powell, the US Secretary of Act, which says that the money stops if “the The Bush administration remains com- State, has said: recipient engages in activities contrary to mitted to “regime change”; the alternative “Should he [Saddam Hussein] again US foreign policy interests”. could only be seen as a defeat for US inter- deny that this arsenal exists, he will have The latest UN Security Council resolu- ests, intolerable to the oil industry tycoons entered his final stage with a lie, and decep- tion on Iraq is a conspiracy to justify mass and military strategists currently running tion this time will not be tolerated.” murder by the world’s most powerful state. US foreign policy.

Phil Goff and George W Bush prepare for war.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 7 Anti-racism Migrants are welcome Why we say NZ racists are not First is racist Racism is about more than prejudiced ideas in the heads of individuals, it’s about insti- tutionalised systems of division and discrimination. Immigration controls were first introduced in this country in the 1880s. They targeted Chinese and Dalmatian/Yu- goslavian immigrants. These groups didn’t fit into the vision of an “Aryan” master race held by many of this nation’s found- ing fathers. The 1880s were also a time of economic depression, mass unemployment and the rise of this country’s first militant trade unions. Scare stories about the “yel- low peril” of Chinese immigra- tion enforced the nationalistic idea that White workers and bosses must unite against the “lesser races”. This helped un- Seven members and supporters of Socialist Worker protested outside New Zealand First’s Na- dermine this new unionism and tional Convention at Auckland’s Alexandra Park Raceway on Saturday, November 9. win workers’ backing for the As our press release put it: British Empire’s colonial wars. “We want to show our opposition to NZ First’s campaign of racist scapegoating. Today, in many Western “NZ First spreads prejudice while posing as the defenders ‘ordinary New Zealanders’. countries, conservative and, in “They blame migrants for problems in schools and hospitals, but they fail to support teach- some cases, Labour politicians ers and health workers who want more funding to solve staff shortages. are again turning to the racist “The solution to these sorts of problems is for working class New Zealanders of all cultures tactics of divide and rule, in at- to unite and fight together for a better deal.” tempt to justify imperialist war Although our numbers were small we had a big impact. We were on TV3 news that night and divert anti-capitalist anger. and National Radio’s Morning Report the Monday after. New Zealand First’s rac- A friendly security guard told us NZ First leaders were worried by our presence. Several ism is not simply pandering to passing motorists tooted their support. pre-existing prejudice, they are Socialist Worker believes this sort of up-front public opposition is crucial to combating New wielding racism as an ideologi- Zealand First’s racism, and hope many more people will join us next time. cal weapon in the class war. Labour’s cave-in gives courage to racists On election night Helen Clark rightly at- tests were easily manipulated for racist and are attempting to broaden the scope tacked New Zealand First for their politics purposes.” of the scapegoating. of predjudice. According to the Herald: They are calling for restrictions on the But her government’s most recent “The Government has raised the bar number of immigrants from the Pacific, reaction to NZ First’s racism has been to to the point that applicants in the general an issue NZ First has tended to avoid. put that party’s policies into practice, by skills category will need to speak and read They have also jumped on the other racist introducing a harsher language test for English to university standard rather than bandwagon, attacking so-called “Maori migrants. the secondary school level that was suf- privileges”. As the editor of the New Zealand ficient previously.” This highlights that attacks on immi- Herald put it: Labour’s cave-in has encouraged NZ grants are an issue for all grassroots people “In reaching for a language test to stem First to step up its campaign. It is now to be concerned about. the flow it is resorting to a thoroughly returning to the old theme that Muslim As well as showing our opposition disreputable tool of racial discrimination immigrants are a “security threat”, a task to NZ First, anti-racists have to send a down through time. It is reminiscent of the made easier by the government’s support message to Labour that their hypocritical segregationist electoral qualifications of for the bogus “war on terrorism”. condemnation and copying of Winston America’s southern states where language The National Party have joined in too, Peters is not good enough.

8 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Women’s Liberation SHUT DOWN MISS WORLD By DAPHNE LAWLESS Miss World was last held in London two years ago. It was met by vibrant Miss World contestants were protest. Wellington teacher LINDA gathering in London as Social- MARTELLETTI explains why she ist Worker Monthly Review was there: [Protesting outside the went to press. Miss World competition was one The pageant, due to be held way for me to express my anger. on December 7, was shifted Miss World contestants are held from Nigeria following mass up as the “ideal” — “what young protests which left over 200 women aspire to”. This ideal is people dead. rammed down our throats daily, in The move led to crowing in magazines, TV, films, newspapers, the corporate-owned media billboards. It’s used to sell products about how “advanced” women and make women feel inadequate. are in the West. The Dominion Post edito- Protesting with a large group of rial on September 27 said: “The women and men, chanting “Our days when so-called women’s bodies, our lives, our world — Not libbers lambasted contests like for sale!”, gave me a sense of this as mere cattle-markets are strength and hope.\ waning. “Women — in the West at tunities for success and travel, Western workers have strug- The Council of Trade Unions, least — can do almost anything at the cost of marketing their gled to overcome, so the wom- the Green Party and even Helen they choose, including parade sexuality. en of poor countries must Clark had called for a boycott of lissom limbs and ample ap- Today, such contests have fight again the battles won for the pageant because of violence pendages before a judging waned in popularity and in- women’s liberation. against women in Nigeria. panel to be named the planet’s fluence with the greater ac- But that doesn’t mean the They should still oppose this loveliest.” ceptance of women in the struggle here is anywhere sexist cattle-market now it’s in This is just plain wrong. workforce. near won. London. Protests against Miss World British journalist Gaby and other beauty pageants are Wood says that now “women back. British anti-capitalist have other options, and that Miss World Capitalism group Globalise Resistance wearing a bikini for a man’s will be protesting the contest inspection is no longer seen as New Zealand women do two hours more housework than men each day. in London. the road to freedom”. Capitalists rely on the housework women do for free. And the fact an editorial The other options, though, Without it, their employees wouldn’t turn up in the morning ready for work. in a major newspaper can ap- are fewer in countries like Children wouldn’t grow up “adjusted” to the market. plaud the marketing of wom- India and Nigeria, which still Miss World teaches women to be “lovely”, aiming to please men as wives, en’s “limbs and appendages” have an industry of “producing partners and mothers. is a sure sign women are still beauty queens”. Most women don’t have millionaire parents like Miss NZ. They couldn’t con- oppressed here. In the same way that work- form to the pageant’s artificial ideas about beauty even if they wanted to. In the 1960s, beauty pag- ers in poor countries suffer This reinforces women’s feelings of inferiority, and pushes them into the eants offered women oppor- working conditions which role that capitalism demands. Fight for equal pay By GRANT BROOKES asked for responses. It also suggested new equity, parroting the report. But some laws to close the gap. unionists have better ideas. Helen Clark said that pay equity for But New Zealand passed an Equal Pay Amanda Coulston, president of the women was “not a priority” shortly after Act in 1972. It was supposed to outlaw primary teachers’ union, told the NZEI taking office three years ago. lower pay for women by 1977. conference in September that pay parity But pay equity is now back on the Employers simply found ways around between (mainly female) primary teach- agenda. the law, with the connivance of govern- ers their secondary colleagues was also a The average hourly rate for a working ments and the courts. victory for pay equity. woman in New Zealand is just 84% of a Pay equity won’t be delivered from Next Steps agrees that “an effective man’s pay. above by government legislation. The starting point” might be “the most common But because more women work part report admits that laws against discrimina- occupations in which women, and Maori time or rely on benefits, and because tion alone will “not address inequalities in and Pacific women, are concentrated”. Labour has refused to reverse National’s women’s and men’s average pay”. Parity for primary teachers was won savage benefit cuts, women’s average It also admits “there would be costs to through strikes and protests. weekly income is just 60% of what men employers, including government”, of any The Service & Food Workers Union take home. steps towards equality. And Labour won’t is currently battling for a pay rise for the Half the women in New Zealand today agree to that unless they’re forced to. mostly female caregivers in North Island are living on less than $14,500 a year and But Next Steps has also renewed discus- rest homes. the pay gap is growing. sion in the union movement. Unions led Instead of parroting the government, The ministry of women’s affairs has the fight for pay equity in the past. the CTU should fight for pay equity by released a report on women’s income. The top leaders of the CTU have supporting and spreading industrial cam- Titled Next Steps Towards Pay Equity, it responded by paying lip-service to pay paigns like this.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 9 Anti-capitalism European Social Forum: a triumph!

By CHARLIE KIMBER All of this intimidation came to nothing. There were differences over the rela- Berlusconi had to back off because of the tion between the anti-capitalist movement The European Social Forum in Florence, groundswell of support for the forum and and political parties. There were debates Italy, from November 7–9, vastly exceeded the trade unions backing for it. over whether leadership is needed, and even the most optimistic predictions. It did not The forum organised 30 rally-type what leadership means. But there was an just succeed — it was a political triumph. meetings, 160 seminars which were slightly overarching sense of unity. And every day Around 60,000 people took part in the smaller, and a further 180 workshops. the general feeling grew more radical. three days of meetings leading up to the These covered every important subject. The forum was a huge step forward anti-war demonstration on November 9. On one morning you could go to big ral- for the movement that burst into view at People came from every continent, and lies — between 500 and 5,000 strong — on the World Trade Organisation protests in from 105 countries. There were students and globalisation and the alternatives, food Seattle at the end of 1999 and developed trade unionists, unemployed people and production, “no justice, no peace”, the in Genoa in June 2001. pensioners, activists and campaigners. emergence of the far right across Europe, The pace and extent of the change is so The gathering of so many people com- in defence of people denied rights, or on great that perhaps after Florence we should mitted to building an alternative to war how to take back control of the media talk of a new movement, a new left which is and capitalism terrified the right. and culture. offering a potential that has not existed for The Italian state, headed by Silvio Ber- Of course not everyone agreed about years. The forum met with the world in the lusconi, tried to stop the forum. There were what was said or said the same things. shadow of war. It offered a cry against all threats to ban it, and then dire rumours There were sharp arguments about wheth- the horrors of capitalism, but also pointed about how vandals and anarchists were er you can work inside the present system towards the battles that will be necessary coming to burn Florence down. or have to smash it. to do away with those horrors.

One million march against war Up to a million people marched against and 90 year olds, trade unionists, debt There were thousands of anti-war ban- war through the Italian city of Florence campaigners and political parties, people ners and placards with slogans such as on November 9. from all over Italy and delegations from “Stop global war”, “Peace not war”, “Don’t All day they arrived to swell the city other countries who came after attending attack Iraq”, and “Bush, Blair, Berlusconi to two or three times its normal size. The the European Social Forum. are murderers”. But there were also wider march was a dense, colourful and energetic The start time even had to be brought slogans: “People before profit”, “For a show of total opposition to any attack on forward three hours in an effort to clear just and equal Europe”, “Anti-capitalist”, Iraq. space for the hundreds of thousands “F**k capitalism, f**k imperialism” and, Coming the day after the United Na- pouring onto the streets. By early evening, very popular, “One solution, revolution”. tions Security Council vote, it sent the hours after the first marchers had come Few marchers reached the end of the defiant message that millions will take to the end of the demonstration, great route without feeling intensely emotional action against war. swathes of trade unionists were just start- about the power of the day and the bonds The march was made up of teenagers ing off. it had created between generations of

10 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Anti-capitalism Voices Unfree and unfair The aims of fair trade face a hostile system, writes CHRIS HARMAN.

from “The gap between rich and poor is a been similarly affected. growing problem”, says a new TV advert In response, Oxfam has recently pro- for Trade Aid shops. “Fair trade is part of posed that Western governments jointly the solution.” intervene to raise profits for Third World the ESF Many in the anti-capitalist movement coffee producers. would agree. They have even advocated burning I feel angry that the war is coming and As does the Green Party in New huge amounts of coffee to remove it happy that so many people are against it. Zealand, which advocates “fair trade, not from the market. Which is no differ- We are the majority! They have no right to free trade” as a solution to Third World ent to the obscene capitalist method take us to war. Today Florence was our city poverty. of destroying stocks of goods to make and our streets, not Berlusconi’s or Bush’s. But measures like “fair trade” only their production more profitable - as scratch the surface of the problem. if the problem was not that people are N FELICITA GALIMBERTI, Fair trade coffee, for instance, involves too poor to buy them, but that too many student from Turin. companies set up by western Non-Gov- of the things they wanted were being ernment Organisations (NGOs) guar- produced. Coffee is drunk by many poor anteeing Third World coffee farmers a people in regions like the Middle East Over 400 seminars and workshops were market with fixed prices in return for and Latin America who would like more, held. Some were small — many were control over the methods and quality of not less. huge, with up to 6,000 people packed production. Things might be different for Third in one or other of the vast halls. There The coffee is then sold through shops World producers if global output and was an overwhelming consensus based like Trade Aid. Who get the usual mark- consumption were growing rapidly. In on opposition to war, anti-racism, justice up on the price. that case, workers and peasants world- for the Palestinians, and opposition to This can improve the situation of in- wide would be getting the higher privatisation and neo-liberal policies. dividual groups of farmers, but fair trade incomes needed to buy the increased As someone who became politically coffee only accounts for 1.5 percent of output of Third World goods and com- active in the 1960s, this was an affirmation world raw coffee bean sales, and comes modities. that we are at the beginning of a new at the expense of other coffee farmers But that is not happening. The three movement that runs broader and deeper who do not have links with the fair trade centres of the global economy - North than the radicalisation of the ’60s. organisations. America, Europe and Japan - are all And businesses like Trade Aid still stagnating or growing very slowly. N PETE CANNELL, Edinburgh. have to look to the bottom line in com- The overwhelming bulk of their trade petition with other retailers. This affects and investment is directed towards what price they can guarantee growers in each other, with a small portion going Our spark school student delegation was the Third World. to a handful of “newly industrialising one of the liveliest. Louder and more A too high price and they risk fewer economies” and hardly any to the rest of energetic than ever, we took inspiration sales, and therefore less profit. As Penny the world. from the million people who united against Newsman, managing director of the This is because capitalists - including the war to say, “Another world is possible.” British based Fairtrade company, ac- Third World capitalists - see the most We chanted, “A...anti, anti...capitalista! knowledges, “first and foremost we are a profitable place for investment as the Overthrow the system — revolution business”. already industrialised countries. socialista!” first in a whisper and then Such efforts, as well intentioned as For them, much of the rest of the getting louder and louder until we charged. they may be, will do little to solve the world only serves two purposes. It can be central causes of Third World poverty. squeezed for interest payments on debt. N HANNAH KUCHLER, age 16, Britain. The problem is falling commodity And it can provide a stream of profits for prices, caused by supply exceeding what western multinationals that have bought people can afford to buy. up much of its basic infrastructure under I spoke in an anti-war meeting. It was This can be seen in the crisis hitting IMF-imposed structural adjustment terrifying. There were about 3,000 people workers and peasants involved in coffee programmes. in the room. We held up our banner and growing worldwide. The pressure to export is pressure to talked about the significance of the “Out The price paid to coffee producers get the minimal sums necessary to cover Against the War” initiative for the lesbian has slumped over the last three years, these outflows of money. It can only add and gay movement. causing hundreds of thousands of people to the impoverishment of wide sections Everyone I know who attended has a to experience desperate hunger. The of people. gleam in their eyes. We can win. Things can catastrophe can be traced back to the Fair trade for a minority of produc- change. WTO/IMF/neoliberal message that trade ers is not going to change this unequal is the answer to poverty. relationship. N KATE RICHARDSON, Britain. Vietnam’s rulers, in the 1990s, accept- Focusing on rules and conditions of

ed this message and turned the country trade, however, can distract the move- into the world’s second biggest coffee ment against globalisation from seeing What struck me about the demo was the producer. where the real problems lie. reception we received from the people of But at the time most of the world was Third World poverty is a product of a Florence. They were standing at the side of suffering from stagnating or falling living global system dominated by the con- the demo, clapping and shaking people’s standards, hence world production of centrations of capital at its core and the hands. The people with tablecloths with coffee shot ahead of what people could smaller concentrations around the edges. “Peace” written on them, hanging out the afford to buy. Prices dropped and the Dealing with poverty means challenging windows, cheering us on. return to Vietnamese peasant farmers those who run these concentrations, the has been at subsistence levels. multinationals and the states that sup- N LIZ RODERS, Britain. Other coffee exporting countries have port them.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 11 Anti-capitalism

JONATHAN NEALE, longtime activist and socialist, spoke to a huge meeting organised by Globalise Resistance at the European Social Forum in Florence on...

On all of our demonstrations world. People would still die, we chant “Another world is or feel unloved. possible”. But what does this There would still be prob- mean? WHAT WOULD lems. But it would be a far, far On one of the anti-capitalist better world. marches in London last year The people we are now several people arrived with a could not create this new big home-made banner that world. In fighting for it, and in said “Overthrow capitalism A SOCIALIST winning it, we would become and replace it with something quite different people. nicer”. Think how much you have That’s where millions of changed just by this one expe- people in the worldwide move- rience of the European Social ment are at now. We know Forum, the confidence and what we’re against, but there SOCIETY hope you have. Then think is endless debate and searching of that multiplied a thousand for what we are for. Here is one times or more in far bigger view, my view, of what another struggles, and you have some world would look like. idea how we would change. First, it would be absolutely BE LIKE? We have all grown up under nothing like the old dictator- capitalism. We carry the scars ships in the Soviet Union, of much suffering, of grief, of China, Vietnam and Cuba. being made to feel small. Our alternative is not a police I smoke. I’m overweight. state. But each of us carries that suf- But nor would it be like the fering in our bodies, in the way parliamentary democracies. It’s we stand and walk. not that I’m against voting. The Look at any baby, at their problem is partly that we only great eyes drinking in the world get to vote every five years and, in wonder and excitement. And whoever we elect, they never then look at the adults. do what they promised. We would create a world But the real problem is that, where that wonder could last although we have democratic into adulthood. And those parliaments, work is a dicta- people, raised in a new way, torship. could go on to create yet an- From the moment you clock other world. on to the moment you leave, I don’t know if we’ll do this you do what you’re told. “If in families or not. It may turn you don’t like it, Jonathan,” out everybody wants a stand- they say, “you can go.” ard family with 2.4 children We spend the majority of and a white picket fence. our lives getting ready for Then they could elect reps to a working hard to bring the poor Maybe half the population work, going there, working, national meeting, and that na- countries of the world up to will turn out to be lesbian or coming home, and then slump- tional meeting could elect reps the level of the rich. Some will gay. Maybe all the lesbians and ing to recover ourselves. to international meetings. want to put all our energy into gays will want the 2.4 children So the dictatorship at work Every week we could re- the environment. and the picket fence. means our fundamental expe- place our reps if we wanted, at There will be endless de- But I do know we will be rience of life is not democratic. every level. bates, and we will settle them able to make these decisions And the corporations and the Of course some people by consensus when we can, by democratically, with the right to employers run the political don’t work. Retired people votes when we must. choose what we really want. world anyway. could elect reps at clubs, and so Some of our decisions will We are now at the beginning It starts long before we’re could children at school. turn out wrong. The key is that of the anti-capitalist movement. old enough to work. School In capitalism every com- they will be really democratic. Before us is a long hard road, and university are dictatorships pany must compete, and profit One of the glories of our with many ups and downs. too, preparing and disciplining is the criterion. movement, and one of the We will win victories we us for the world of work. In our new world we could surprising things, is that we all cannot now imagine, and live So we would start another make decisions based on what seem to be agreed on the cen- through shattering defeats. world with democracy at work. we need, not on profit. tral importance of democracy. In the process, we will grow We would elect the managers There would be endless I don’t know exactly what in numbers, and all of us will from among ourselves, replac- debates in those meetings. those meetings will decide. I change profoundly. ing them whenever we want. Some people will want to put think we’ll want equality, with I’m 54 years old, and have The representatives from a lot more work into looking everyone earning the same. been a revolutionary all my every workplace could meet after old people. Others will I think we’ll want to share adult life. Until a year ago I together in each city every want a lot more musicians and out jobs, so everyone spends didn’t think I’d see another week to make decisions about artists. part of every year doing the world in my lifetime. what to do with the economy. Some will want to work only really good jobs, and everyone Ever since the great dem- In most towns the only four days, and abolish Monday takes a turn at the boring, hard, onstration in Genoa last year place big enough to hold them straight off. difficult jobs. I have known that it is now would be the football stadium. Others will want to keep It wouldn’t be a perfect possible.

12 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Leninism debate

What is the best way for activists who want to change the world to organise themselves? Socialist Worker answers this question by drawing on the ideas of Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party, who took the lead in the 1917 Russian revolution. British socialist John Rees has written a short article on Lenin’s relevance today. We liked it so we decided to re-print it. We also invited left-wing commentator Chris Trotter and anarchist activist Mark Eden to outline their criticisms and alternatives to Leninism. The debate is rounded off with our reply to a few of the points raised by Chris and Mark. Leninism in the 21st century

By JOHN REES

Lenin’s theory of the party is one of the most disputed questions on the left, cer- tainly since the Bolshevik Revolution, and it is one of the most important in terms of how the left is organising around current anti-capitalist and industrial struggles. It is also a central issue in the political debates about creating a socialist alternative to Labourism. One of the most common misapprehen- sions about the revolutionary party is that it is something imposed on the working class from the outside. The picture is that a group of ideologues get together, form a party and, using the most undemocratic means, impose their will on the rest of the working class movement. In fact, properly understood, Lenin’s theory of the party Leninism in the 21st century. British socialists at the European Social Forum in Florence implies exactly the opposite. Its necessity last month. emerges out of the very nature of working class struggle. There is a central feature of of battle. There are the discontinuities of inist or not — with a particular problem: working class resistance to the capitalist time — periods of intense class conflict are how is it that we can develop organisations system which demands that we understand followed by periods of quietude. There are within the working class that can relate to how some of us can organise to strengthen discontinuities in the type of struggle that this fundamental fact about working class the organisation and consciousness of the takes place — some are economic, others struggle? whole class. political and still others ideological. Then There is of course a traditional response The fundamental issue here, and an there are the discontinuities between dif- within the working class movement, a issue that Lenin confronted very early on, ferent sections of the working class—dif- response which has as long a tradition as, is the way in which the struggle against ferent traditions, conflicting working class if not longer than, Leninism: the Labour the system is inherently uneven. Different ideologies, varying levels of consciousness, Party in Britain and reformist parties groups of workers, at different times, with confidence and combativity and so on. The internationally. The notion here was that different sets of ideas, move into struggle battles are many and diverse. Workers have the party represents the class in its totality against the system. This is the problem of varying strengths and weaknesses, can win — that every strand of opinion within the uneven consciousness in the working class or be defeated, can generalise in different working class should be represented within movement. If life were simpler, if the rul- directions and come to different conclu- the organisation. The goal of such organisa- ing class lined up their forces on one side sions. Finally, there are the discontinuities tions is to alter the condition of the working and workers lined up on the other side, between the working class and other sec- class using the institutions provided by the perhaps no further discussion of political tions of society that may find themselves system — the parliamentary system, local organisation would be necessary. But this opposed to the capitalist system — for councils, etc. The fundamental difficulty is not how the class struggle works. Eve- instance peasants, sections of the petty with such an approach (and we can review rywhere we look we see, instead of neat bourgeoisie, oppressed nationalities. the history of Labour governments in office regimentation, a hugely differentiated field All this presents any socialist — Len- to justify this claim) is that, so long as the

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 13 Leninism debate

Revolution in Serbia in 2000 system continues to dominate the lives and its salt is about learning from people in each struggle before the revolution which the ideas of workers, the organisation itself struggle and generalising what it learns makes the revolutionary principle active in will end up reflecting the ideology of the throughout the class. The party learns from every struggle on the way to the complete system. It will turn from an organisation of the class, but it is also the mechanism by transformation of society. resistance to an organisation of incorpora- which every section of the class learns from Only an organisation that believes in tion. Moreover, the political institutions of the best experiences of struggle. this end of the day goal will raise this same the capitalist system are incapable of effec- This form of organisation is absolutely prospect in each struggle as we go along. tively countering the political and economic necessary in the situation in which we now When it comes to strikes it will be people power of the capitalist class. find ourselves. The principle that we stand coming from this tradition who will most We need an alternative view of how in opposition to the capitalist system, that consistently raise the idea of picketing, party organisation relates to the broader we will fight its market logic and the state asking for solidarity from other workers, struggle of the working class. It is this idea repression that it entails, is still vital. We of strikers relying on their own strength more than any other with which Lenin’s need no other argument than the shooting and not relying on the trade union lead- name is associated. The basic conception of Carlo Giuliani on the great anti-capital- ers, the local MP or the local paper to do is that there emerges from the working ist demonstration in Genoa in July 2001 to the fighting for them. The key question class struggle a militant minority that is remind us that we still have a state machine within the anti-capitalist movement is convinced by its experience that the system that will use deadly force when threatened. that of mass working class mobilisation as has to be transformed as a whole, that the But that is only part of it. The real core of opposed to, on the one hand, compromis- direct methods of struggle employed by this idea of opposition to the system is that ing with the IMF or WTO or, on the other the working class are the most efficacious it determines how we act in each and every hand, allowing a small elite of activists to methods of doing so. struggle. If you believe, as every Leninist substitute for mass action. When it comes The key question then becomes, how do believes, that ordinary working people to building an alternative to Labourism, we organise a minority so that they become have the capacity to completely transform the debate is about how we recompose an the lever which can raise the combativity the system by democratic organisations, alternative to Labour’s corporate agenda of the entire class? We don’t seek to simply workers’ councils, built from the rank and from the rank and file up. “represent” the class, but to represent the file up, it affects how you treat every day In all of these cases what is required traditions of struggle, the high points of to day struggle. is one militant, helped by his comrades, class struggle, and bring that experience In every struggle, every strike meeting supported by his press, to stand up and together with the activity of the minority or campaign meeting, there will always be say, “No, we all need to do it together.” In into the current struggles. more than one argument put in the room. that famous scene in the film Spartacus, The idea of an organised minority is not There will always be people who will say, someone stands up first and says, “I am that it cuts itself off from the rest of the “We don’t want to rock the boat. We don’t Spartacus,” not because they could do it working class or imposes its will on them, want too big a protest. We should just write on their own — if no one else had stood up but that through interaction in struggle to our MP, use the established channels,” after them and said, “I am Spartacus,” they with the rest of the working class it seeks and so on. There will be other people, would have been isolated and victimised to spread its ideas and to win a majority revolutionaries who in principle believe that — but somebody said it first, and them say- within the movement. Georg Lukács put it working people have the capacity to change ing it first allowed everybody else to say it very well: we separate in order to unite. We the system from below, who will argue after them. The act of a minority triggers separate in an organisation that is, in prin- differently. They will say, “No matter how the act of resistance of the majority, and ciple, opposed to the system, but at every small the struggle in which we are engaged, that is what guarantees us the greatest opportunity we seek to unite in particular it is mass organisation, it is the involvement chance of victory. struggles with the majority of the class in of people in demonstrations, it is the abil- order to advance the whole class struggle. ity of people to elect strike committees so L This article is a cut down version of The interaction between party and class that they don’t get told what to do by the one that apeared in issue 95 of Interna- is vital here. officials, that can give us the best chance of tional Socialism, the quarterly journal of Any revolutionary party that is worth winning.” It is that principle embodied in the Socialist Workers Party (Britain).

14 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Leninism debate Workers must free themselves

By CHRIS TROTTER

Freiderich Engels was quite correct when he broke down the elements of revolution- ary struggle into three broad categories: the economic, the political and the ideo- logical. At different times and in different places one or the other of these categories will assume a salience which dictates the general contours of the revolutionist’s mis- sion. The point that I will attempt to make in this brief article is that in 21st Century New Zealand the only viable focus for revolutionary activity is ideological. Under these circumstances, the greatest need is for free and open debate involving as many layers of the working class as possible. The Marxist-Leninist mode of organisa- tion, dedicated as it is to injecting a single “party line” into all forms of struggle, would appear to be singularly ill-adapted Lenin addresses a crowd during the Russian Revolution to operating successfully in current New Zealand conditions. and race have proved, contrary to the ex- tain a “revolutionary consciousness”, and So great has been the devastation pectations of their founders, to be highly that this can only be supplied from “out- wrought by the hegemony of neo-liberal integrative. What began as challenges to a side” by “professional revolutionaries”, is ideology in the 1980s and ’90s, that the racist and sexist capitalist order have been echoed in the lesbian separatist feminist vast majority of the population finds it subtly transformed into powerful weapons view that heterosexual women cannot be extremely difficult to think about alterna- for disrupting and diverting any struggle trusted to construct the matriarchal future tive political, social and economic ideas from below. because they live with and love the male with any degree of intellectual clarity. This The vulnerability of the Marxist-Len- oppressor. In both cases the contempt of is particularly true of the working class, inist organisational model was revealed in the middle-class intellectual for the pref- whose key organs of class defence — the the early 1980s as the intensity of identity erences and insights of the unenlightened trade unions and the New Zealand Labour politics reached critical mass. Unwilling or majority is readily apparent. Party — long ago abandoned anything ap- unable to preserve the primacy of class In this respect both Leninism and the proaching robust ideological debate. analyses in the face of the challenge of new social movements reveal their debt to What passes for “left-wing” ideological separatist ideologies, the Marxist-Leninist the liberal ideologues of the 19th Century. struggle in contemporary New Zealand is Workers Communist League effectively Liberalism has always been willing to pat- located — almost exclusively — in the New abandoned the class struggle in favour ronise the people, but it could never quite Social Movements. University courses of organising against the “patriarchy”, bring itself to trust them. Indeed, the idea offering “Women’s Studies” and “Maori or in support of tino rangatiratanga. of a “red republic” filled the bourgeoisie Studies” transmit the basic tenets of This new party line, thrust forward with with horror. In June 1848, when the poor identity politics to small groups of mostly the dogmatic certainty so characteristic of Paris rose up against the “revolutionary” middle-class university students, who then of democratic centralist organisations, liberal regime’s refusal to give them bread proceed to entrench them in state and served only to further intensify the ideo- and work, they were cut down in their corporate bureaucracies, the education logical confusion among working-class thousands by the middle-class National system, and iwi authorities. women and Maori — who were much Guard. The parallels with the Bolsheviks’ That such intense ideological work is more concerned about the intentions of assault on Kronstadt are obvious. permitted to occur alongside the more their bosses than they were with the dep- One-hundred-and-thirty-seven years traditional ideological functions of the redations of the patriarchy or the racist later, New Zealand feminists were equally university (ie training the next genera- settler state. aghast at the rank ingratitude of the masses tion of capitalist managers) indicates the At a deeper — almost psychological - when a series of “women’s forums”, organ- essential compatibility of identity politics level, however, the purveyors of separatist ised by Labour’s new women’s ministry, with the broader needs of mature capital- ideology and the Marxist-Leninists have a ended up espousing “right-wing” (ie tradi- ist societies. The ideological systems that great deal in common. Lenin’s conviction tional) values. Rather than press forward have grown up around the issues of gender that the working class, alone, can never at- with this excellent democratic experiment,

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 15 Leninism debate the women’s ministry shut it down. Un- ability, decide to set its sights on winning expression, which enriches and emboldens certain as to whether they could carry the parliamentary representation should the mind. And the challenge of defending progressive positions in open debate, the in no way diminish its centrality to the their own policies, which forces every party feminists opted instead to impose their needs of the present struggle. Outside of to winnow out the wheat of truth from the “revolution” from above. the extremities of war and famine, work- chaff of error. But if both the liberals and the left are ing people evince little desire to utterly So often “militant” leftists turn to the unwilling to put their faith in the generosity destroy the society in which they have experiences of trade union struggle for and wisdom of working-class people, then grown up, paired off, and begun to raise their inspiration. They speak blithely of their professed faith in the perfectibility a family. Most people are by inclination the “solidarity of the picket-line” — as if of the human species is a complete sham. reformists — not revolutionaries — and it standing in the rain for hours on end, being Like the Christians, they stand revealed seems to them both more natural and more roughed up by the police, and then, after as believers in “original sin”. And like intelligent to turn the institutions of the all that pain, seeing the scabs sweep by the conservatives, they indicate their true state to their advantage than to repudiate you onto the site, is somehow an inspiring preference for a government of the wise them entirely. event. It is not. What is inspiring is the fact few — rather than the ignorant many. The great virtue of such a party would that people will endure all of those things In New Zealand at present the urgent be its diversity. The very fact that so many for the principle of solidarity — and for need is for a form of political organisa- different occupations, so may levels of the hope of a better future at the end of tion that sets out to do what the editor of remuneration, and so many experiences the conflict. International Socialism Journal, John Rees, of both exploitation and empowerment That is what I mean when I say that declares to be impossible. A party that were forced to take thought for the good the type of struggle New Zealand needs embraces the working class in its totality of the whole working class, would teach the right now is neither economic nor po- — from the ditch-digger and truck-driver, members of such a party how to search for litical — but ideological. In 2002, the to the nurse and teacher, and from the common ground. It would encourage the dinkum Kiwi socialist’s mission is to shop assistant and clerical worker to the formulation of universal — rather than make it possible for working people to fire-fighter and radiographer — would separatist — values, and reward those dream their own dreams and see their provide the desperately needed forum whose skills lay in the building of unity own visions. wherein working people could freely (and rather than division. They have been burdened with the without the fear of being branded “politi- This is the experience that has been so dreams of others for long enough. cally incorrect”) discuss the challenges and long denied to working people by their triumphs of their daily existence. middle-class “superiors” and their Marx- L Chris Trotter is the editor of the New That such a party would, in all prob- ist-Leninist “vanguards”. The joy of free Zealand Political Review. Real socialism from below

By MARK EDEN most basic civil liberties for most people freedom must be realised but not at the in the world. But the choices, even for expense of others. It may seem obvious but it is impossible relatively “affluent consumers” in first Freedom is central to anarchism. It is to go anywhere without first knowing world countries, are pitiful and banal not an optional extra, it is basic to our where you are headed for. Without a — Adidas versus Nike, Spice girls versus conception of socialism. The only real clear view of the objective and the forces Oasis, Coke vs Pepsi. guarantee of personal freedom is a non-ex- impeding or aiding your advance towards What people are lacking, more than ploitative, non hierarchical and collectively it one can become “all movement and no anything else in this capitalist world is run system. The only way to create this is to direction.” One question which a socialist freedom. Anarchists aim to build a world hard wire it in to the struggle for socialism must always have on the tip of his or her where this problem can be solved. The an- from the very start. tongue is where am I going and how can I archist version of socialism is a proposal If the end is socialism and freedom then get there? If you are heading for socialism for a free society. The task is to recreate the means (of fighting for it) must justify then you must have a clear idea of what, society so that people can realise their that end. Freedom requires a particular exactly, it is. full potential as free individuals. This is social environment in which to blossom The capitalist system causes wars, the most basic premise of anarchism. That and grow. This must be based on direct disease, famine and misery and is slowly said, there is no such thing as absolute democracy and direct management of pro- killing our planet. But more than this it liberty and we would always hold that duction by ordinary people for the good sells an illusion of freedom and individ- my right to swing a frying pan ends where of all. Direct management of production ual choice while in fact, limiting even the your nose begins. Maximum personal means that workers must take over their

16 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Leninism debate

Anarchist fighters in the Russian Civil War workplaces, decide what is produced, how We do not believe that the bosses will the handing over of that power to a few it is produced and why it is produced. concede this easily or lightly. It will have party leaders at the top of a centralised This self-management must be not just on to be fought for but again the means must structure. the level of the individual workplace but justify the end. The tools which are needed The Bolsheviks organised as a vanguard covering the entire economy. and which, we think, should be built into party, which intended to lead the revolu- In many revolutionary struggles work- every campaign against capitalism from tion. This structure lead to particular out- ers have thrown up different organisations the start is freedom and real democracy. comes and a look at the “hidden” history of workers’ control or management to do This means that within unions, community of the Russian revolution illustrates this. just this. The Russian revolutions of 1905 groups and campaigns people must organ- Lenin in State and Revolution talks of a and 1917, Spain in 1936, Hungary 1956 and ise in a democratic way and always set their society where every cook shall govern. But Portugal in 1974 all saw the emergence of agenda. They must decide what they are in reality the party in its capacity of leader workers’ committees or councils. fighting for and how they want to get there. of the revolution was governing. All of these workers’ formations were This is the only way they can empower Lenin in March 1918 wrote that the democratic but the democracy used was themselves and eliminate the dependence party relates to workers by leading direct. Direct democracy is the democracy on leaders so essential to the functioning that anarchists advocate. It is different to of capitalism. As Rudolf Rocker argued in ... them along the true path of labour dis- parliamentary democracy and Leninist his book Anarcho-Syndicalism, “Socialism cipline, along the task of coordinating the dictatorship in a number of ways: will be free or it will not be at all”. task of arguing at mass meetings about the 1. Direct democracy is as much about Which brings us to Leninism. conditions of work with the task of un- coming up with new ideas as about giving The ideas of Lenin and his Bolshevik questioningly obeying the will of the soviet the nod to proposals already worked out party dominated the revolutionary left for leader, of the dictator during the work. by some set of leaders. It means people most of the last century, mainly because originating ideas themselves. of the apparent success of the Russian So much for every cook governing. 2. It is about delegation. People are revolution. But the Russian revolution These are not just isolated incidents. The elected by assemblies to carry out par- failed to bring about freedom and social- party soon began to institutionalise its ticular tasks or mandates — if they fail ism. Instead, as we all know, it ended up dominance, for instance factory commit- to do this then someone else is elected in as Stalinist dictatorship. So, what went tees instead of being allowed to form their place. Power is in the hands of the wrong? federations had to report to undemocratic assemblies not the delegates. For anarchists, the failure of Bolshe- bodies which were hand picked by the 3. It is about extending democracy to vism came as no surprise. We have, from party. the workplace and therefore to the com- the beginning, argued that Marx made a Leninists pay lip-service to working plete running of society so that we can grave mistake confusing workers’ power class self-activity and self-organisation as decide what to produce and how. Only in with the state. This is because the state is well as workers’ councils (soviets), factory this manner can socialism become what the means by which the management of committees, workers’ control, revocable the Russian anarchist Michael Bakunin people’s affairs is taken from them and and mandated delegates. They do so in described it as: “the government of placed into the hands of a few. It signifies order to ensure the election of their party industry administered on behalf of the delegated power. As such, the so-called into positions of power (ie into govern- whole community”. This would really be “workers’ state” is a contradiction in ment). Faced with a conflict between work- “government” by the people, of the peo- terms. Instead of signifying the power ers’ power and party power they will crush ple and for the people but not on behalf of the working class to manage society the former to ensure the latter — as the of the people. it, in fact, signifies the opposite, namely Russian revolution showed repeatedly.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 17 Leninism debate

Leninists justify this in terms of the “uneven” political development within SOCIALIST WORKER’S REPLY the working class. In contrast, anarchists argue that precisely because of political differences we need the fullest possible de- mocracy and freedom to discuss issues and reach agreements. Only by discussion and Practice will show self-activity can the political perspectives of those in struggle develop and change. In other words, the fact Bolshevism uses to justify its support for party power is the who’s right strongest argument against it. For anarchists, the idea of a revolution- ary government is a contradiction. As Ital- By GRANT BROOKES “every cook”, who was governing. ian anarchist Malatesta put it: But Lenin agonised over the “The capitalist system”, says Mark creeping failure of the revolution If you consider these worthy electors as Eden, “causes wars, diseases, famine and fought daily to stop it. unable to look after their own interests and misery and is slowly killing our “We threw out the old bureau- themselves, how is it that they will know planet.” crats”, he said in 1919, “but they how to choose for themselves the shepherds Another world is surely possible. have come back. We must fight this who must guide them? And how will they be How do we win it? scum again and again and if the able to solve this problem of social alchemy, For Socialist Worker, like Mark, scum has come back we must again of producing a genius from the votes of a another world will only be possible and again clean it up.” mass of fools? through a revolution that places What’s missing from Mark’s power in the hands of the masses explanation are other factors, apart Anarchists think that power should themselves. from the Bolshevik’s party structure, be in the hands of the masses themselves. Chris Trotter, of course, is ab- that might explain the failure. Only freedom or the struggle for freedom solutely right that the majority of He doesn’t mention that 13 can be the school of freedom. That means people today are reformist, not capitalist nations banded together that, to quote Bakunin: revolutionary, by inclination. to invade Russia a year after the But because capitalism will never revolution. Two years of war killed Since it is the people which must make the be free of the extremities of war and over half the workers of Russia and revolution everywhere... the ultimate direc- famine — or stock market crashes ruined vast swathes of the country. tion of it must at all times be vested in the and mass unemployment — those It was in these conditions that the people organised into a free federation of who are reformist today can be radi- Bolshevik party came to substitute agricultural and industrial organisations... calised by experience and support itself for the rule of a decimated, organised from the bottom up through revolution tomorrow. exhausted working class. War, not revolutionary delegation. The lessons of past revolutions Leninism, destroyed workers’ power will be important in guiding the in Russia. The difference between anarchists and struggles to come. Socialist Worker believes that Marxists on the issue of the state is that The articles from Chris and Mark Lenin’s ideas about the revolution- we recognise that the state bureaucracy both touch on the Russian revolu- ary party are still the best start- has interests of its own due to its hierarchi- tion of 1917 and Lenin’s role in it. ing point for opposing the system cal nature. This means that any state-like The key question, as Mark points today. organisation will develop a bureaucracy out, is “What went wrong?” We organise as a militant with interests separate and opposed to the For Chris, Lenin’s inability to trust minority in one body in order people it claims to represent. Kropotkin the people led to dictatorship. to argue with one voice for the explained that anarchists But the “Lenin” Chris attacks is a maximum unity of workers in cardboard cut-out. struggle. ... maintain that the State organisation, Early in his career, as Chris Socialist Worker is known in the having been the force to which minorities mentions, Lenin believed that the anti-war movement as an organi- resorted for establishing and organising their working class could never attain sation that fights for “free and power over the masses, cannot be the force revolutionary consciousness with- open debate involving as many which will serve to destroy these privileges. out outside help from professional layers of the working class as pos- revolutionaries. sible”, as Chris puts it. That is our The so-called “workers’ state” is no But by 1905, Lenin had learned “party line”. exception to this as it is based on the same that “the working class feels an We argued for the anti-war principles of delegation of power into the instinctive urge for open revolution- movement to embrace the unions, hands of the few every state is based on. ary action”. and went out and invited trade The problem with the Socialist Worker’s For the rest of his life Lenin unionists to organising meetings “Socialism from below” is that it is based downplayed his earlier views and ourselves. on Leninism, a doctrine in theory and clung to the faith that Chris pro- We had to argue at various points practise that is “Socialism from above”. fesses, in the wisdom of working that Greens, Alliance and — yes It’s time that Leninism was consigned to class people. — Labour Party members should be the rubbish-bin of history where it belongs. “The elementary instinct of the welcome on the protests. We can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of working class movement”, he wrote, It’s only when the mass of work- the past again. “is able to correct the conceptions of ers, holding diverse political views, the greatest minds”. unite in struggle that another world L Mark Eden is a member of the For Mark, it was the centralised will be possible. So we celebrate Wildcat Anarchist Group in Wellington. structure of the Bolshevik party that unity with anarchists like Mark and Wildcat can be reached at PO Box 6387, led to Stalin’s dictatorship. reformists like Chris. Wellington. Not long after the revolution, it’s But we also debate, in the knowl- Large parts of this article were based true, it was an increasingly bureau- edge that practice will show who’s on an article at

18 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Review They can’t fence in the movement Fences and Windows fied organisms, violence against particular model of globalisa- Naomi Klein protesters, and in praise of the tion, the neo-liberal model Flamingo Zapatistas in Mexico and Italy’s which globalises privatisation social centres. and deregulation, and boosts Reviewed by SAM ASHMAN She is particularly effective corporations’ profits. when sticking the knife into the But this is not the book Naomi Klein worked on her supposed benefits of free trade. for those who want in-depth first book, No Logo, in the four She writes: analysis of either the system years before the great anti- “Whenever I hear the phrase or where the movement goes capitalist protests in Seattle. ‘free trade’, I can’t help pictur- next. It was published just after and ing the caged factories I visited The articles repeat her ar- — according to the Guardian in the Philippines and Indone- gument that the diversity and — sold 180,000 copies in Brit- sia that are all surrounded by dynamism of the movement ain last year alone. gates, watchtowers and soldiers are alone creating an alterna- Now she has a new book to keep the highly subsidised tive economic model. Naomi Klein — out. It is a collection of the products from leaking out and This is not enough. The various pieces of journalism the union organisers from get- movement faces powerful ob- she has written since No Logo Arranged chronologically, they ting in.” stacles, not least a world system propelled her to the forefront contain Klein’s reflections on She is also good when dis- of states whose top dog, the of the movement against capi- the protests at Seattle, Wash- cussing whether the movement US, is about to use its military talist globalisation. ington DC, Los Angeles and is really “anti” globalisation might to decimate Iraq. For those who read about Prague. at all. Fences and Windows is and participate in the move- There are also pieces against Instead Klein says the pro- more of a good introduction. ment, many of the pieces in the North American Free Trade testers and activists are inter- It’d make a great Christmas this collection will be familiar. Agreement, genetically modi- nationalists who are fighting a present. Unrepentant rebel confronts war fever

Jerusalem He already has been in the from recent US history in the Steve Earle reactionary wail of objection to present tense gives it a chilling Artemis Records “John Walker’s Blues”, a stun- cautionary tone — the prophet ning cut on Jerusalem which looks at the past and sees a Review by BILL NEVINS slips inside the imagined mind possible future. of the idealistic, religiously Clearly, Earle intends Steve Earle is unrepentant, devout American youth who Jerusalem as a warning, and as one of his toughest songs went to fight a failed war far just as clearly sees himself as declares. He makes no apolo- from home: a defiant patriot, clear-eyed gies for his past dissent and enough to see the Patriot Act rebellion, and he does not back As death filled the air we all as the dire threat to the US down from saying what he sees mare of a “rough beast slouch- offered up prayers constitution that it is. Just as in America now. It’s no pretty ing towards Bethlehem to be And prepared for our martyr- Oliver Stone was labelled picture. born” than of a stricken nation dom... “Hollywood’s house para- While Bruce Springsteen’s rallying together to make a Now they’re draggin’ me back noid”, so Earle is sure to be latest album, The Rising, teases noble stand against evil. with my head in a sack accused of wild-eyed delu- shimmering, half-comforting In his liner notes to Je- To the land of the infidel sions or worse. pieties from his vision of the rusalem, Earle confides that After all, this is a time when fallen World Trade Center tow- the US flag stickers now plas- Earle has always sketched smug, rich, Stetson-crowned ers, Earle in the opening song tered all over this land fill him bitter warriors well: mercenar- country stars have revived of his new album, Jerusalem, with chilling memories of the ies, Confederate grunts, Irish Merle Haggard’s corny chest- chants “Ashes to ashes, dust to years when the US flag was Fenians and the gun-toting nut, “Fightin’ Side of Me” as dust” and reminds us: wielded as a threat by Vietnam pot-farming Vietnam vet in his a singalong anthem for the War “hawks” who demanded signature song, “Copperhead new US war fever. And when That every tower ever built “unity” in a time of national Road”. His Jerusalem portrait sincere, skilled songsters like tumbles crisis — “America, love it or of young John Walker Lindh is Neal Young and Springsteen No matter how strong no mat- leave it” — and how the US counterposed to another band can do little more than offer ter how tall... then descended into bitter, of fighting brothers, the Ameri- wan prayers for peace. And every idol ever raised violent internal strife. Earle’s cans killed in Vietnam: Steve Earle, on the other falls American “dream” is less of hand, continues to show his shining towers of light than Half a million soldiers fly fighting side. He’s picked a Earle lets loose a jeremiad of the places of imprisonment across the water fight worth fighting. A battle in this CD, propelled by an as- and execution he has so often One in 10 are never comin’ for the soul of his country, tute rocker’s fury at the greed, visited. back again and perhaps the future of the ineptitude and murderous chi- It is a bleak prophecy Earle 50,000 sons who never grew to world. Jerusalem is a rousing canery he sees as constituting puts forward (though set in fathers opening salvo. the true rising tide in the USA some of his most lovely music, Don’t you ever wonder who today. Earle’s vision of what is augmented by Emmy Lou they might have been L From Green Left Weekly, coming into being is closer to Harris) and he surely will be September 4, 2002. Yeats’ “Second Coming” night- criticised for it. Earle’s setting of this lesson www.greenleft.org.au

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 19 Reviews Bringing socialism back into view

The publication of this book is On the Left — Essays on siders in the 1940s advanced an exciting event. Socialism in New Zealand pay equity for women. It’s both a sign of the reawak- Edited by Pat Moloney Ultimately, only working ening interest in socialism in & Kerry Taylor class unity has the power to New Zealand and a spur to de- Otago University Press, $39.95 sweep aside the capitalist sys- bates that are likely to grow. tem that sustains sexism and In their introduction, editors Reviewed by GRANT BROOKES racism. Kerry Taylor and Pat Moloney In places, the book pro- explain why it’s time to “‘bring vides a wealth of detail, but the left back in’ to our histori- doesn’t show how the details cal consciousness”: fit into the bigger picture. This “The political and economic can make the history hard to certainties of the post-war understand. period, and the myths wo- The final chapter, “Writing ven around them”, they say, N Socialist Worker Monthly Review the Left Into the Picture: An “have been shattered by global welcomes responses and alternative Interview With Erik Olssen”, changes and the successful neo- reviews of this major new book. touches on this problem. liberal challenge to the welfare Olssen talks about how state in the closing decades of Marxist historians like E P the twentieth century.” Thompson influenced him to What’s more, “the end “State socialism and William This claim comes after the look at “the intersection of of the Cold War in the early Pember Reeves: A Reassess- chapter which describes the human life, ideas and material 1990s liberated those inter- ment” looks back at the de- Communist Party’s involve- constraint”. ested in the left from the bates over the role of the state ment in the campaign to boy- The spectacular disintegra- orthodoxies enforced by that from the 1880s to the First cott the 1937 Springbok Tour. tion of the women’s liberation ideological divide”. World War. Another inaccuracy is the movement in the late 1970s, for Curiously, perhaps, the It shows that Reeves’ “state description of the struggle example, is described in detail spread of global anti-capitalist socialism” fitted with anti- inside the 1988 March Against in two chapters. and anti-war movements to Asian racism — a nasty combi- Unemployment from Te Hapua our shores and the grassroots nation later seen in the Labour to Wellington. Marxism revival of the left in Aotearoa Party from its earliest years. This is described as a con- are not among their reasons for And a chapter on “Govern- flict “between the autocratic Showing how this was re-examining socialism. ments, the Police and the Left, methods of the CPNZ [Com- linked to the defeat of the 1912-1951” shows how a core munist Party] and the partici- workers’ movement and the Debate organ of the state, the police, tar- patory democracy of Te Roopu left as a whole, as the “material geted socialists and trade union- Rawakore”, the organisation constraint” of economic crisis But the aim of the editors ists “to reinforce conservatism in of unemployed workers’ rights spurred government attacks to include a range of socialist New Zealand politics”. groups led by Sue Bradford. would have helped to explain perspectives will help spark de- Another question running But the conflict was not why the different women’s bate on the question repeated especially through the latter over “method”. It was a disa- groups were suddenly at each through the book — “What is part of the book is the role of greement over what the March others’ throats. socialism in New Zealand?” “Leninist parties” in broader should do once it reached the The editors acknowledge On the Left — Essays on So- movements since the 1960s. capital. that it’s not “a definitive cialism in New Zealand is made Today this question is being Some in Te Roopu Rawa- treatment of the left in New up of 11 chapters. Each chapter raised again in the anti-capi- kore favoured offers of “con- Zealand”. But despite some spans a few decades, starting in talist movement. It was a key structive engagement” with the shortcomings, On the Left is a the 1880s, and deals with particu- debate at the European Social government. marvellous book. lar issues and organisations. Forum in Florence last month. A series of hui along the The history of New Zea- Although the 11 authors The chapters on “The New route, however, had agreed land taught in schools and are academics, most chapters Left in New Zealand” and “Or- with the CPNZ that the March portrayed in the media is one are written in fairly accessible ganising the Unemployed”, should oppose the Labour prescribed by our rulers. language. in particular, reject Leninism government and not get sucked The momentous struggles There are a number of ques- in favour of “informal group- into small-group meetings with by ordinary people against tions, besides those raised in the ings that were non-sectarian, ministers behind closed doors. capitalism and oppression are introduction, running through anti-bureaucratic and decen- A final question running caricatured or left out alto- the book — questions that are tralised” or “a collective, non- through the book is how useful gether. This book fills in some crucial for the left today. hierarchical model of organ- social class is in understanding of the gaps. For example, can state con- ising” drawn from women’s capitalism and resisting it. “For over a hundred years”, trol and government interven- liberation groups. Most of the authors see a say the editors, “socialism has tion alleviate the horrors of These chapters contain focus on class as inadequate for been an important element in capitalism, or do we have to some inaccuracies in places. fighting racism and sexism. New Zealand politics”. mobilise independently from The chapter on the New Left, Socialists must be dedicated “At certain moments in below against the state? for instance, dismisses older to fighting racism and sexism. New Zealand’s history, social- Today the Alliance cham- “Leninist parties”. It says they But this isn’t separate from the ists have been contenders for pions state-owned Kiwibank had “focused almost exclu- class struggle? political power and socialist as a brake on corporate greed sively on issues of class exploi- Especially since the 1970s, ideas have been embraced and left-wing academic Jane tation”. some Pakeha workers have by significant sections of the Kelsey advocates stronger na- The New Left of the sixties, fought their bosses to support community.” tion states to buttress against supposedly by contrast, took up Maori rights. If you didn’t know that, globalisation. wider issues like sporting ties And though not mentioned, you’re not alone. But this book An interesting chapter on with apartheid South Africa. all-male unions like the water- can help you find out more.

20 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Review When Store Wars comes to town Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town Directed by Micha Peled

Reviewed by DAVID COLYER

Micha Peled spent a year in Ashland, Virginia documenting the campaign to stop a Wal-Mart store being built on the out-skirts of this small town. The great strength of the film is that we get to see the characters on both sides of the debate over a long period of time, in a wide range of situations. The people really come alive because we see them change and grow. Information about Wal-Mart and why people are campaigning against it is woven into the narrative. In some instances the audience finds things out as the charac- ters do. Most of the arguments — for and against — are given by the local people. Wal-Mart spokespeople are only filmed when they show up in the town. Those who were used to running Ash- land are clearly uncomfortable with the anti-Wal-Mart campaigners disturbing the Fighting back against “Wal-Mart’s war on workers” in Lynn, Massachusetts. established order. November 21 was a national “Wal-Mart Day of Action” in the US. This combined a un- My favourite moment was when one ionisation drive with protests against the company’s use of sweatshop labour to make its of these men suggests that the small street products and the other issues raised in the Store Wars film. protests against Wal-Mart are the kind of You can find more info about the campaign at these websites: events that led to the French Revolution. www.walmartwatch.com I guess he was not aware that the French www.walmartswaronworkers.com were inspired by the revolution Ameri- www.walmartdayofaction.com cans like him celebrate every year on the Fourth of July. made. books”, he said, by choosing not to shop FROM FILM TO CAMPAIGN Snow explained how big boxes link a at the Warehouse and other undesirable The film tour, which covered towns number of seemingly separate issues to retailers. from Invercargill to Auckland during town planning: But this approach leaves us trapped September and October, aimed to build • Low wages and lack of rights of retail within a market-driven world where the opposition to “big box” retailers. and manufacturing workers in both West- dollar is king. And those whose “pocket In Napier, Store Wars has already been ern and Third World countries. books” have been left empty by the shown again as part of a campaign against • Lack of democracy as corporate policies pushed by the corporates remain a big box development. developers over-ride the wishes of local powerless. Director Micha Peled says: people. The idea that the way to fight the • The privatisation of public spaces. corporates is to “hit them where it hurts” I want to bring the film to towns where • The domination of our lives by big — their profit margin — is dead right. But they are facing big controversies around business. the greatest economic power most people sprawl. The impact is massive. The social Behind all these problems is capital- have is not as consumers, but as produc- heart of the town stops beating and the ism’s profit motive. ers of wealth. public space gets privatised as the centre “These companies are not capable of Working at a Warehouse or Wal-Mart or of the community shifts to the out-of- putting limits on themselves, because of the slaving away in a sweatshop, is a position town shopping mall. responsibilities of directors to make a re- of exploitation, but it’s also a position of turn for shareholders,” Snow explained. potential strength. When workers strike the At the Auckland screening which I at- Snow attacked the idea that important profits stop. That gives the working class tended, a woman speaking from the floor decisions about human society should be the power to make a better world. linked the privatisation of public space to left up to the “free market” and profit Strikes and demands for better working the toll roads planned by the Labour gov- driven corporations. conditions can also hit small employers. ernment and Auckland mayor John Banks. “The market has proven it won’t protect This causes a conflict between workers Summing up the implications of this the rainforest or the bottlenose dolphin.” and the small business people that Warren privatisation, she said: “You cannot hold He asked: “Do we need to create new Snow are focussing on. a demonstration in a mall.” rules[to govern society]?” The relationship between working Warren Snow, who organised the tour, class socialism and middle class radicalism used to work for The Warehouse and says it WHAT CAN WE DO? needs to be discussed in greater depth. operates in a similar way to Wal-Mart. The actions Snow suggested people For him the campaign is about more can take fell short of the big problems L Warren Snow is setting up a webpage and than the kinds of places we go shopping. he identified. e-mail list and can be contacted via e-mail: It’s about the kind of world we live in Snow advocated consumer boycotts. [email protected], or through and how decisions about this world are “We can change the world with our pocket Sarah on (09) 489 2129.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 21 Socialist Worker news Standing up against war and police brutality By GRANT BROOKES among rail workers. earlier joined the longshore- A small amount of money Socialist Worker members men’s picket lines in Los Angeles was collected on the street for Building the upcoming anti-war were also invited to speak to as a show of solidarity. the Steven Wallace Fund for march on December 14 has the monthly stopwork meet- The meeting agreed to Justice, and we hope that the been the main focus for Social- ing of the Seafarers Union on send a delegation on the hundreds of leaflets given out ist Worker members in Welling- November 11. anti-war march with the union to commuters and to factory ton over the last month. We argued that a war in banner and decided to donate workers in Lower Hutt will At our street stalls in Cuba Iraq would also see George $500 to the Socialist Worker result in more phone calls (to Mall (Saturday morning), Wel- Bush step up his war on the Printing Press Appeal. make a $20 donation) to 0900 lington railway station (Friday unions. He had already threat- Besides anti-war activity, JUSTICE (0900 58784). rush hour) and Petone (Thurs- ened the longshoremen (wa- Socialist Worker members Wellington readers who day lunch-time), we’ve helped tersiders) on the West Coast have also been raising sup- want to get involved in this to spread the word by giving with the use of troops to break port for the family of Steven activity can call the contact out leaflets and talking to their union, in the name of Wallace, who were taking a number on the next page. shoppers and commuters. A “national security”, if they murder prosecution against With more helpers, socialist supporter at Tranz Metro dis- went on strike. constable Keith Abbott in the ideas for resistance can reach tributed our anti-war leaflets Wellington seafarers had Wellington high court. an even wider audience. Takin’ it to the street By KANE FORBES Evil Axis” banner at our stall leaflet and said she had been the Middle East, members of which drew a lot of people. learning a lot on her way the Greens, the Alliance and November was a busy month One person asked if we had home from work on Fridays. Socialist Worker, trade union- for socialists in Auckland. any “Capitalism’s Evil Axis” The Steven Wallace leaflet ists and others. We’ve been out with our t-shirts, not a bad idea. got some negative responses, When Michael Franti, a two leaflets, Justice for Ste- After the rally, we updated but, overall, I was surprised prominent anti-war musician, ven Wallace and Capitalism’s the leaflet and included an ad at the huge amount of public played in town we leafleted Evil Axis — War, GE and Free for the anti-war protest on sympathy. Almost every young the concert. Michael read out Trade. December 14. Maori or Pacific person will the details of the December We got a great response at Once a week we leaflet take these leaflets, many want 14 rally off our leaflet, gave the 10,000-strong GE-free rally the Auckland Central Hospi- to take some away for friends a massive shout out to the to our Evil Axis leaflet. Heaps tal, Sky City casino and Kiwi and whanau. anti- war movement and de- of people were already draw- Packaging. We also have a A Palestinian Symposium clared that he was proud to ing the links between these stall on Saturdays at Aotea held on November 26 was be a part of it. Then he played issues and were stoked with Square. an exciting event. There was “You can bomb the world to our contribution. Recently a hospital worker a huge range of speakers; pieces but you can’t bomb it We had a “Capitalism’s thanked me warmly for a Palestinians and others from into peace”.

Socialist books STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ The case against Bush and Blair

George Bush and Tony Blair Our leaders talk about L We argue that war flows are intent on waging a bloody democracy, but in reality from the logic of a system war on Iraq. their war is about oil, and based on exploitation and They talk of “weapons US military and economic profit the world over. of mass destruction” and a dominance. L And we show that we will “war against terror” even as This pamphlet argues that need a challenge to that they aim their deadly “smart we should not fall for Bush whole system if we are to win bombs” and cruise missiles and Blair’s lies, and that peo- a world free forever from the on the ordinary people of ple everywhere should unite horror of war. Iraq. They do not care that to stop this war. L We also reprint extracts the Iraqi people are already L We answer the lies of from articles by anti-war suffering from the effects of George Bush and Tony Blair. writers John Pilger, Robert war and a decade of sanc- L We explain what their real Fisk and Noam Chomsky. tions that has killed a million motives for war are, and how Read this pamphlet, sell it children. they can be stopped. and pass it on. Send $4 to PO Box 13-685 Auckland

22 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 Socialist Worker info Contact the socialists near you Socialist Worker

( NORTHLAND WHERE WE STAND Phone: Vaughan (09) 433 8897 Email: [email protected] SOCIALISM We are internationalists because &DSLWDOLVPLVDV\VWHPRIH[SORLWD- socialism depends on spreading work- ( AUCKLAND WLRQZKLFKJHQHUDWHVLQHTXDOLW\FULVLV ing class revolutions around the world. Meets 7.30pm every Tuesday at the and war. Although workers create Trade Union Centre, 147 Great North VRFLHW\ҋVZHDOWKLWLVFRQWUROOHGE\WKH LIBERATION FROM Rd, Grey Lynn. Transport available. UXOLQJFODVVIRULWVRZQVHOÀVKHQGV OPPRESSION Socialism can only be built when :HÀJKWIRUGHPRFUDWLFULJKWV:H WKHZRUNLQJFODVVWDNHVFRQWURORI RSSRVHWKHRSSUHVVLRQRIZRPHQ Phone: Len 634 3984 social wealth and democratically plans Email: [email protected] 0DRUL3DFLÀF,VODQGHUVOHVELDQVDQG its production and distribution to meet gays. KXPDQQHHGVQRWSULYDWHSURÀWV7KLV $OOIRUPVRIRSSUHVVLRQDUHXVHGWR ( TAURANGA will eliminate all class divisions in divide the working class. society. :HVXSSRUWWKHULJKWRIDOORS- Phone: Tony 544 1859 Stalinist countries such as China Email: [email protected] SUHVVHGJURXSVWRRUJDQLVHIRUWKHLU DQG&XEDMXVWOLNHWKHIRUPHU6RYLHW RZQGHIHQFH7KHLUOLEHUDWLRQLVHVVHQ- 8QLRQDQGWKH(DVWHUQEORFKDYH tial to socialist revolution and impos- ( ROTORUA nothing to do with socialism. They are sible without it. state capitalist. We support the strug- Phone: Bernie 345 9853 JOHVRIZRUNHUVDJDLQVWHYHU\GLFWDWR- TINO RANGATIRATANGA Email: [email protected] rial stalinist ruling class. :HVXSSRUWWKHVWUXJJOHIRU0DRUL VHOIGHWHUPLQDWLRQ ( NEW PLYMOUTH REVOLUTION NOT The government’s approach to Email: [email protected] REFORMISM 7UHDW\FODLPVKDVEHQHÀWHGD0DRUL The present system cannot be re- HOLWHZKLOHGRLQJOLWWOHIRUZRUNLQJFODVV ( IRUPHGWRHQGH[SORLWDWLRQDQGRSSUHV- Maori. WELLINGTON VLRQFRQWUDU\WRZKDW$OOLDQFH/DERXU Tino rangatiratanga cannot be Meets 7.30pm every Monday at and union leaders claim. It must be achieved within capitalism. It will only Room 2, Crossways (back entrance), overthrown by the working class. become a reality with the establish- Elizabeth St, Mt Victoria. &DSLWDOLVPҋVSDUOLDPHQWDUP\SROLFH PHQWRIDZRUNHUVҋVWDWH DQGMXGLFLDU\SURWHFWWKHUXOLQJFODVV These institutions cannot be taken over Phone: Grant 566 8538 REVOLUTIONARY PARTY and used by the working class. To achieve socialism the most Fax: (04) 566 8532 To pave the way to socialism the Email: [email protected] PLOLWDQWVHFWLRQVRIWKHZRUNLQJFODVV ZRUNLQJFODVVQHHGVDQHZNLQGRI have to be organised into a mass state—a democratic workers state revolutionary socialist party. ( CHRISTCHURCH based on workers councils and work- :HDUHLQWKHHDUO\VWDJHVRIEXLOG- ers militia. Phone: Don 385 5268 ing such a party through involvement LQWKHGD\WRGD\VWUXJJOHVRIZRUNHUV Email: [email protected] INTERNATIONALISM and the oppressed. Workers in every country are The Socialist Workers Organisa- ( TIMARU H[SORLWHGE\FDSLWDOLVPVRWKHVWUXJJOH WLRQPXVWJURZLQVL]HDQGLQÁXHQFHWR SURYLGHOHDGHUVKLSLQWKHVWUXJJOHIRU Phone: Vaughan 686 6498 IRUVRFLDOLVPLVJOREDO :HFDPSDLJQIRUVROLGDULW\ZLWK ZRUNLQJFODVVVHOIHPDQFLSDWLRQ ZRUNHUVLQRWKHUFRXQWULHV:HÀJKW We need to revitalise the unions ( NATIONAL OFFICE racism and imperialism. We oppose all ZLWKDUDQNDQGÀOHPRYHPHQW ,I\RXOLNHRXULGHDVDQGZDQWWR Socialist Worker members immigration controls. We support all ÀJKWIRUVRFLDOLVPWKHQMRLQXV elsewhere in Aotearoa and our genuine national liberation struggles. sister organisations overseas can be contacted through Socialist Worker’s national office.

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Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002 23 Industrial Action By DON FRANKS Black Caps win by 100,000! Now the jockeys are striking, well I’m ask- following the letter of the government’s Council of Trade Unions President Ross ing you, since there are no races, what can Employment Relations Act. How pathetic. Wilson backed the Cricketers Association a man do... Andrew Little’s slavish compliance with and called on the CTU’s 300,000 members the ERA in his union’s recent dispute and their families to stand behind it. A rare sporting strike inspired that old at Kinleith has netted 100% less for his At the strike’s end, Linda Clark in- Slim Dusty song; another should be sung members than the cricketers’ direct action terviewed captain Stephen Fleming on today in celebration of the cricketers’ achieved. National radio. This was right after Clark’s industrial win. Other officials showed some solidarity. polite chat to the prime minister about NZ Because the game of cricket is now backing the US invasion of Iraq. When primarily a multimillion dollar entertain- Stephen Fleming came on, Clark’s polite- ment business, strikes by its skilled workers ness was replaced with relentless hos- are top news. tility. Fleming countered by patiently Every hour of the six-week stoppage insisting that his aim was to form a generated thousands of angry words; “partnership” with NZ cricket. Flem- mostly in condemnation of the striking ing repeated that mantra frequently players. Editorials raged at the cricket- and woodenly, like a line he was learning ers’ defiant action. Talkback radio voiced for a play. But he suddenly came to life sports fans fearful of losing their ration of towards the end of the interview, blurting summer excitement. out how pleased he’d been with his mem- Now the strike’s over and “things are ber’s solidarity and “strength” during the back to normal”, what are we left with? dispute. Fleming tried to recover his “slip” First off, the workers won. hastily adding “strength wasn’t quite what Players won an average 15% pay rise. he’d meant”. Too late. The excitement of a The final package was $100,000 more than real united workers’ win had irrepressibly the cricket bosses’ previous “final offer”. bubbled up through all the bullshit one Secondly, the workers won through in more time. very difficult circumstances. All strikers get stick, the cricketers got heaps. The cricket bosses spent much time and money trying to split the players’ unity. ORGANISED LABOUR Establishment commentators supported the bosses. ON THE MOVE Many strike opponents should have known better, like Listener writer Joseph Join the WORKERS SHOULD BE Romanos who used most of his November RUNNING THE COUNTRY team 9 column slamming the strikers. (Romanos which will enter the January 19 also raised one fair question: “Why is the City of Wellington full & half cricketers’ union not batting for women marathon. players as well?” ) For accommodation and T-shirt, Engineers Union Secretary Andrew call Don (04) 9723298. Little publicly attacked the strikers, for not When people are powerful People Power. Put together, those two most powerful. working on a big site is in the best position words call up the image of active demo- People are most powerful when they to be an effective anti-capitalist. cratic resistance to oppression. People are workers, not consumers. These days, employment choices are Power has become a favourite expression A group of bus drivers wanting a wage limited, but even so, committed anti-capi- in the anti-capitalist movement. rise, like Wellington trammies do right talists should consider making a political How does People Power work best? now, could try pressuring the company by decision to work on a big site. People are many things all at once. encouraging their friends to walk or drive On big worksites you can spread infor- People may be lovers, caregivers, athletes, instead of getting the bus. The drivers are mation and ideas and, more importantly, musicians, travellers, protesters, invalids, unlikely to try that tactic, and much more test those ideas in practice. You can also drunks, home renovators and a thousand likely to strike in pursuit of their aims, be- learn stuff that isn’t in the books. My other things at different times of their cause that works best. In less than an hour first meeting as a union delegate I rushed week. But the thing most of us have in the effect of striking drivers is powerfully through as fast as I could, so we’d be back common is that we are workers. expressed right across the city. to work before the end of smoko whistle. Well over 80% of people in Aotearoa Mass strike action recently got an in- I remember the workers trudging slowly live by selling their ability to work. crease for secondary teachers; use of “the away at the end; one woman hurling back And, although most of the time it proper channels” by The Engineers Union at me: “You were the only one at that meet- doesn’t look that way, its when we identify at Kinleith failed to deliver. ing! We needed time to discuss the issue and act as workers, that we’re potentially An activist advocate of direct action properly. Bugger the whistle!”

24 Socialist Worker Monthly Review December 2002