DOCSLIB.ORG

A Stirring Parade of Political Villains

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Stirring Parade of Political Villains MEDIA AND DIGITAL DEMOCRACY WAYNE HOPE is an associate profes- sor in the School of Communication Studies, AUT University. A stirring parade of political villains No Left Turn: The distortion of New Zealand’s history by greed, bigotry and right-wing politics, by Chris Trotter. Auck- land: Random House, 2007. 384pp. ISBN 9781869418090 HE mid-1980s was a turning Tpoint in New Zealand’s eco- corporatised and, subsequently, sold nomic and political history. Under to private corporations. the fourth Labour government the The magnitude of these changes corporate sector was convulsed by enabled business leaders, governing finance driven takeover activity. elites and compliant journalists to Finance Minister Roger Douglas, rewrite history. New Zealand had other senior cabinet ministers, Treas- been, apparently, a decrepit, over- ury and the Reserve Bank unleashed regulated economy; a Polish shipyard a far reaching new right policy agen- with insufficient restaurants and da favourable to corporate and finan- poor coffee. This stark recollection, cial interests. Banking and finance tempered by a condescending wistful- were deregulated, the New Zealand ness for ‘old’ New Zealand, became dollar was floated and a goods and embedded within popular culture. services tax introduced. Meanwhile From Te Papa Museum to the state energy, telecommunications Holmes Show modern history was and railway infrastructures were mulched into nostalgia for the ‘golden PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 13 (2) 2007 211 PJRSept07.indd 211 10/4/07 4:03:38 AM MEDIA AND DIGITAL DEMOCRACY years’ and the ‘way we were’. The traders and small farmers combined net result has been amnesia. Beyond to elect a succession of Liberal academia, public debate about New Reform governments. Their long Zealand’s history has been intermit- term achievements were the introduc- tent at best. tion of a modern pastoral economy Against this background, Chris and the inauguration of a full, citizen- Trotter’s No Left Turn is a passionate based franchise. attempt to stir up historical argument Consequently, previously exclud- and cause political trouble. Accord- ed economic and social perspectives ingly, the book’s frontpiece subtitle, began to inform government policy. ‘the distortion of New Zealand’s his- A raft of labour and social reform tory by greed, bigotry and right wing legislation signified the beginnings of politics’ is superimposed upon a long, a welfare state and industrial relations blood red droplet. Underneath, is a system. Trotter outlines these deve- cover photo of a 1950s street confron- lopments and traces the subsequent tation between protesting workers and emergence of class-based unionism baton wielding police. in New Zealand. Over subsequent chapters, During the early 1900s as real Trotter explains how key phases of wages declined, worker militancy New Zealand history were shaped rose, especially among miners and by institutionalised power and po- watersiders. With characteristic litical struggle. Along the way major verve, Trotter recounts the rise of villains are identified, paraded and the Red Federation led and/or sup- held to account. During the colonisa- ported by the likes of Paddy Webb, tion phase we observe how Edward Pat Hickey, Peter Fraser, Bob Semple Wakefield’s land speculation schemes and Harry Holland (eventual founding overruled the customary rights of leader of the New Zealand Labour Maori and exploited the aspirations Party). The class interests at stake of lowly settlers. Similarly, Thomas in the Waihi miner strike of 1912 Russell, commercial lawyer and and the great strike of 1913 are well founder of the Bank of New Zealand described, as are the confrontations is vilified for on-selling confiscated involving protesting workers, police Maori land to settlers and legalising and vigilante farmers. the process. From here, Trotter lays out an During the late 1880s and 1890s oppositional version of early to mid- urban workers, manufacturers, small 20th century New Zealand politics. In 212 PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 13 (2) 2007 PJRSept07.indd 212 10/4/07 4:03:38 AM MEDIA AND DIGITAL DEMOCRACY his chronology of tales we learn how government, the mainstream media World War One turned New Zealand and the Federation of Labour ex-com- soldiers into Imperial cannon folder, municated dissident union leaders. At despite local resistance to the draft, this point one could argue, from a left how conservative politicians closed perspective, that New Zealand was down popular, dissenting voices indeed a state-regulated society; anti- during the great depression and how strike legislation allowed the govern- the first Labour government founded ment to arrest citizens and search a modern social democratic political property without warrant, prohibit economy upon agriculture, import public meetings, censor publications protected manufacturing, credit crea- and prosecute anybody offering food tion, infrastructural development, full to strikers. employment and welfare provision. Meanwhile, better off New In emphasising the progressive Zealanders entered a safe world of nature of these latter accomplish- suburbanising materialism centred ments, Trotter undercuts the familiar around private property, motorways New Right retrospective of burgeon- and the automobile. In a fascinat- ing regulation and declining eco- ing chapter entitled ‘The Auckland nomic freedom. Although this critical that never was’, Trotter argues that task has already been performed by another future was possible. left political economists and histori- Drawing upon the urban his- ans it needs repeating for a popular tory research of Chris Harris Trotter readership. The same can be said of reveals how a small group of émigre the 1950s, a decade much rebuked for visionaries in the Ministry of Works its Cold War hysteria. and the Department of Housing fash- At the time of writing, one re- ioned a detailed blueprint for greater actionary New Zealand journalist Auckland premised upon the devel- has labelled a certain long-deceased opment of public housing and public scholar-diplomat along with a former, transport corridors. Their vision prominent civil servant as Soviet was extinguished by a right-leaning spies without supporting evidence. Labour government from 1946 to Nowadays, McCarthyism is a retro 1949 and by the McCarthyite National curiosity. However, as Trotter reminds government of 1951. Thus, New us, it was once official doctrine. Zealand’s largest city became what During the 1951 waterfront lock- it is today; a low density, suburban out, Sydney Holland’s National dystopia of traffic jams, shopping PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 13 (2) 2007 213 PJRSept07.indd 213 10/4/07 4:03:38 AM MEDIA AND DIGITAL DEMOCRACY malls and real estate speculation. political elites. This case could have The following chapter, ‘Savage’s been strengthened further with refer- children’ has less analytical focus. ence to Jane Kelsey`s work on state Capitalist restructuring, party politics restructuring, globalisation and ‘third and union struggle are intermingled way’ politics. with the emergence of new social Trotter’s epilogue contains a movements focused upon the environ- summary tirade against the purveyors ment, nuclear proliferation, apartheid of ‘economic exploitation and social South Africa and United States impe- injustice’. In effect, New Zealand rialism. Trotter recalls these tumultu- villains of the 19th and early to ous times without asking the central mid-20th century are lined up with question; were labour-left ideals their New Right descendants. Thus, reconciliable with those of the new Edward Wakefield stands alongside social movements? Ruth Richardson (New Zealand’s In this respect the growing Maori Far Right finance minister 1990- struggle for the reparation of land, 91). Contemporary problems of language and culture deserved special political agency and coalition build- consideration.Under a new generation ing within a branch economy are left of leadership tribal, urban-based and unaddressed. nationwide forums rejected the ‘col- Then again, with the parade of ony to nation’ story as a distortion of villains on display, a more enjoyable history. Here, one should ask: to what task presents itself. Let’s all give them extent is this perspective compatible a good kicking. with a left-labour reconstruction of the national past? Over the final two chapters the causes and consequences of the new right policy agenda are well consid- ered. Trotter knows this territory well, as a former political activist with the breakaway New Labour Party and as a partisan journalist. He also draws skilfully from the writings of Hugh Oliver, Brian Roper and Bruce Jesson to illustrate the collusions of interest among corporate, public servant and 21 PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 13 (2) 2007 PJRSept07.indd 214 10/4/07 4:03:39 AM.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Bromley Cemetery Guide
    Bromley Cemetery Tour Compiled by Richard L. N. Greenaway June 2007 Block 1A Row C No. 33 Hurd Born at Hinton, England, Frank James Hurd emigrated with his parents. He worked as a contractor and, in 1896, in Wellington, married Lizzie Coker. The bride, 70, claimed to be 51 while the groom, 40, gave his age as 47. Lizzie had emigrated on the Regina in 1859 with her cousin, James Gapes (later Mayor of Christchurch) and his family and had already been twice-wed. Indeed, the property she had inherited from her first husband, George Allen, had enabled her second spouse, John Etherden Coker, to build the Manchester Street hotel which bears his name. Lizzie and Frank were able to make trips to England and to Canada where there dwelt Lizzie’s brother, once a member of the Horse Guards. Lizzie died in 1910 and, two years later, Hurd married again. He and his wife lived at 630 Barbadoes Street. Hurd was a big man who, in old age he had a white moustache, cap and walking stick. He died, at 85, on 1 April 1942. Provisions of Lizzie’s will meant that a sum of money now came to the descendants of James Gapes. They were now so numerous that the women of the tribe could spend their inheritance on a new hat and have nothing left over. Block 2 Row B No. 406 Brodrick Thomas Noel Brodrick – known as Noel - was born in London on 25 December 1855. In 1860 the Brodricks emigrated on the Nimrod. As assistant to Canterbury’s chief surveyor, J.
    [Show full text]
  • Life Stories of Robert Semple
    Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. From Coal Pit to Leather Pit: Life Stories of Robert Semple A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of a PhD in History at Massey University Carina Hickey 2010 ii Abstract In the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography Len Richardson described Robert Semple as one of the most colourful leaders of the New Zealand labour movement in the first half of the twentieth century. Semple was a national figure in his time and, although historians had outlined some aspects of his public career, there has been no full-length biography written on him. In New Zealand history his characterisation is dominated by two public personas. Firstly, he is remembered as the radical organiser for the New Zealand Federation of Labour (colloquially known as the Red Feds), during 1910-1913. Semple’s second image is as the flamboyant Minister of Public Works in the first New Zealand Labour government from 1935-49. This thesis is not organised in a chronological structure as may be expected of a biography but is centred on a series of themes which have appeared most prominently and which reflect the patterns most prevalent in Semple’s life. The themes were based on activities which were of perceived value to Semple. Thus, the thematic selection was a complex interaction between an author’s role shaping and forming Semple’s life and perceived real patterns visible in the sources.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Zealand Great Strike and Trans-Tasman Biography
    Personalizing Class Conflict Across the Tasman: the New Zealand Great Strike and Trans-Tasman Biography MELANIE NOLAN H is Harry Holland’s nibs fighting Billy Hughes, Harry lashes “Labor” fibs in the red “Reviews!” Holland’s pen is like a lance tipped with boiling gall! He is making Billy’s chance very black and small! With determination, grim, Holland’s fought for years! Prison cannot silence him, nor can bribes or fears. Josiah Cocking on Harry Holland and Billy Hughes, 1910.1 Abstract This is a revisionist account of the New Zealand 1913 Great Strike, placing it in a trans-Tasman framework rather than, as is more usual, local and international contexts. It uses the bitter relationship between Harry Holland and Billy Hughes to personalize and dramatize the wider dynamic between the New Zealand and Australian labour movements around 1913. It contests the view that that the Tasman world was dying or that New Zealanders’ resented ‘Australian intervention’ in the strike. Affective bonds which did not always match trading partnerships indicate the closeness of New Zealand and Australia peoples as indicated by a range of measures such as population exchange, the exchange of parcels in the mail and the strong push for trans- Tasman union and socialist federation. The effect of the 1913 Great Strike followed closely by the war was, however, to destroy the dream of a trans- Tasman ‘One Big Union’. Introduction: Trans-Tasman Revisionism The 1913 Great Strike was one of the most turbulent and violent industrial disputes in New Zealand’s history: there were extraordinary scenes on Wellington’s streets with the military facing strikers and their supporters with naked bayonets and machine guns.
    [Show full text]
  • W. T. Mills, E. J. B. Allen, J. A. Lee and Socialism in New Zealand
    W. T. Mills, E. J. B. Allen, J. A. Lee and Socialism in New Zealand IT is now some years since Professor W. H. Oliver asked whether 'left' could be considered a direction in New Zealand politics. Although Professor Oliver's main concern was to illustrate a point about New Zealand society I have often thought, since reading that provocative essay, that much of what historians have considered the history of socialism in New Zealand could fruitfully be viewed from this sceptical perspective.1 The somewhat improbable trinity of W. T. Mills, E. J. B. Allen and J. A. Lee tried, at different times, to grapple with the meaning of socialism within the context of New Zealand. They also attempted to work out the ways in which the context not only defined the meaning but the possibility of achieving socialism. Mills and Lee, of course, were active politicians and what they said and thought was usually subordinate to the tactical imperatives of the political situation. Allen, on the other hand, was an activist-intellectual. Each man was articulate, each played out some role within these islands, and together they allow us to take account of the wider context within which the socialist tradition had emerged; for Mills was an American; Allen was English; while Lee was born in Dunedin.2 It may occasion some surprise that the focus should be on these three men to the exclusion of others with some claim to be considered the ideologues of socialism in New Zealand. Men like Harry Holland, Rod Ross, or Sid Scott of the Communist Party, committed to a simple version of class warfare and faith in nationalization, epitomize what many New Zealanders have thought to be socialism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Industrial Workers of the World in Early Twentieth Century New Zealand
    Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. A World To Win, A Hell To Lose The Industrial Workers of the World In Early Twentieth Century New Zealand A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Politics at Massey University New Zealand Stuart Moriarty-Patten 2012 Abstract In the early twentieth century the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were influential in a series of disputes between labour and employers in New Zealand, culminating in what has become to be known as the Great strike of 1913. Although influential, little has been written about the ideology of the IWW in New Zealand and how it was adapted for New Zealand. An appraisal of their organisation, and the impact they had on their members and followers, and other organisations has also not been explored greatly in existing research. This research begins with a brief illustration of the rise of IWW ideas in New Zealand, the formation of a number of branches of the IWW, and the groupʼs relationship with the existing organisations in the New Zealand labour movement at the time. The next section discusses the use of existing social movement theories to study an organisation such as the IWW, and highlights the need to use a specially devised framework, such as that drawn up by Fitzgerald and Rodgers (2000), to analyse a Radical Social Movement Organisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Holland Speech Vangelis Vitalis.Doc
    Speech for the Harry Holland Sign Unveiling Vangelis Vitalis Acting High Commissioner New Zealand High Commission, Canberra 2 February 2011 Let me begin by thanking the Chief Minister for his attendance here today I’d like to acknowledge too Dr Abjorensen, the President of the Canberra Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History and Mr Ellett for bringing the story of Ginninderra-born Harry Holland - to our attention and ensuring that we worked together to make this happen. Thank you also to Dr Pearson, the Chair of the ACT Heritage Council and to Ms Roberts as well as Mr Wain of the National Trust for all of their work too in bringing us together today. I should also acknowledge here the contribution made by my High Commissioner, Dr John Larkindale who retired last week and is well known to you. More than most on our side, he helped ensure that this unveiling could happen today and I know he was particularly disappointed that he could not be here with you today. Let me acknowledge also as a visitor to this country, the traditional custodians of the land we are meeting on here today, the Ngunnawal people. Nau mai haere mai. Holland Speech Vangelis Vitalis.doc 2 The outpouring of sympathy and the open handed generosity of New Zealanders and Australians following the recent flooding across Australia, the Christchurch earthquake and the Pike River Mining disaster are moving reminders of the closeness of our relationship. In each case, our countries were the first to provide one another with messages of support and, most importantly, immediate practical and unstinting assistance.
    [Show full text]
  • Crimes of Torture Amendment Bill
    A shifting balance: Parliament, the executive and the evolution of politics in New Zealand John E. Martin This paper is reproduced with permission as published in the Australasian Parliamentary Review, vol 21, no 2, Spring 2006 Abstract: The reforms to the New Zealand Parliament of the 1980s and 1990s shifted the balance between executive and legislature away from the former. Through much of the twentieth century the executive had dominated. This article looks at an earlier period when the balance between the executive and legislature was strikingly different. It describes the shift towards greater executive dominance in three respects important to the functioning of Parliament — parliamentary expenditure, the impact of political parties and electoral politics, and increased government control over business in the House of Representatives. Introduction In a modern society in which government assumes a central place it is easy to take it for granted that Parliament provides the jousting ground for ‘continuous election campaigns’ that allow governments to demonstrate their prowess and Oppositions to put forward an alternative and to examine and criticise current policy. The recent adoption of mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) as New Zealand’s electoral system has broadened this combative atmosphere between contending groups so that a range of parties touts their wares, but it has not deflected the long-term trend towards the electorate and away from the arena of the chamber in which the country’s representatives are gathered. Instead, the continuous election campaign orientation has spread beyond the chamber and into select committees. MMP has undermined the sense of assurance of governments that an unproblematic majority would emerge out of elections and that this would be sustained through a full parliamentary term.
    [Show full text]
  • The Post-Leadership Activities of New Zealand Premiers
    LIFE AFTER POLITICS? THE POST-LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES OF NEW ZEALAND PREMIERS AND PRIME MINISTERS, 1856-2008. BY JESS BOOKER A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Science Victoria University of Wellington 2013 2 Acknowledgements Much of this thesis has been written from Pipitea Street, Thorndon. Working from this setting has brought the area to life, particularly as I have worked through New Zealand’s early colonial history. Each morning as I walked to my office, I passed through the centre of New Zealand’s political system, knowing how rich in history it was. I therefore want to say thanks in particular to the bronzed Keith Holyoake on Molesworth Street, now the unexpected bastion of the New Zealand Rugby building. Keith’s friendly demeanour as I headed to work on my thesis reminded me of the important contribution that each political leader has made to New Zealand. I must also thank Jon Johansson for his incredible support in writing this thesis. I am forever indebted for the valuable knowledge and insights that Jon contributed to this work. At times I struggled to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and his words of encouragement have helped me greatly to get to this point. I would like to also thank my friends, family and colleagues for the various offers of wine, proof-reading and encouragement. They have enriched this thesis in ways they probably never thought possible. I thank Colin for his love and support, without it I would have never have finished this thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • NEW FREE RAD LAYOUT E.Indd
    OR F F R S E E W D O O L M B 7171 NZ $8.50 July-August 2006 By the time this magazine is published, proceedings will have been issued in the High Court in Wellington against Helen Clark and the other members of the Labour Party who were in Parliament in the run-up to the last election. They are charged with breaching the Constitution Act and the Bill of Rights – the very laws that mark the difference between a dictatorship and a liberal democracy. Bernard Darnton, pg, 10 It emerged after the last election that Helen Clark’s party had over- spent by $418,000 their limit of $2,300,000 as laid down in the Electoral Act. The Police were asked to investigate by the electoral authorities, and in a decision which stunned many they decided not to prosecute. In this article written for The Free Radical, David Farrar analyses how Labour got away with what some are calling a stolen election. David Farrar, pg. 11 How LabourAnd What One Man Is Doing About It!The Election Wastemaster General’s great gobs of cash, and To steal from one person is TFR Special Reports: asks: Does it stack up? Does it make sense? And theft. will it achieve what’s really needed, or just produce even more waste? And Janet Albrechtsen asks To steal from many is taxation. How Labour Stole The Election, And why this bloody budget obsession anyway – it’s the - Jeff Daiell What One Man Is Doing About It result, she says, of the “what can you do for me?” addiction to big government.
    [Show full text]
  • Waimairi Cemetery Tour Guide
    WAIMAIRI CEMETERY October 2002 Richard L.N. Greenaway The Waimairi Cemetery on Grahams Road was established by the Waimairi County Council. When that council was absorbed into the Christchurch City Council in the great amalgamation of 1989, the cemetery came under the control of the city council’s Parks Unit. In the early summer of 1985 Denis Hampton and Nancy McLaughlin visited the Waimairi Cemetery and transcribed information from the gravestones in the two large blocks at the eastern end of the burial ground. Their work became the Transcript of the monumental inscriptions of the older part of the Waimairi cemetery. Hampton and McLaughlin commented: The earliest burial recorded was in 1911 and the latest in 1985. The plots covered by this transcript were mostly sold by the mid 1950s. Since then large areas to the left and rear of the older part have been opened up. It is expected that all available plots will be sold by mid 1986. The plots have now, indeed, been sold although some are not yet occupied. In the ‘Public notices’ section of the Press, in 1997, there was an advertisement: Grave plot to sell in vandal-proof area of Waimairi Cemetery. Owner moving. - 1 – Waimairi Cemetery October 2002 AREA 1: ROW A: No. 2 LAMBIE George LAMBIE was born in 1843 and died on 9 December 1917. He was manager of the Christchurch office of the Union Steam Ship Company. In middle age he married a much younger woman. This was quite common in Victorian times. Margaret Sidey LAMBIE was born in 1863 and died on 2 October 1914.
    [Show full text]
  • John A. Lee, 1891 – 1982
    John A. Lee, 1891 – 1982 James Smithies John A. Lee stood squarely at the intersection between literature and politics, although it is clear that he owed his strongest allegiance to the latter. For Lee, literature was the most efficient means by which he could connect with a broad cross-section of the New Zealand public and press his social vision to both the working-classes and the middle-class supporters of the Labour party who were demanding a less radical version of the welfare state than he entertained. A producer of voluminous quantities of prose, and a noted orator, Lee came to intellectual maturity between 1914 and 1945, when New Zealand culture was confronted with the harsh realities of global conflict and political unrest, and although it would be inaccurate to suggest that he gained mastery over either of his chosen fields, he remains one of the most important literary and political figures of early twentieth-century New Zealand. Lee is chiefly remembered for his effectiveness as a public speaker, his physical appearance (he lost an arm during World War One), his role in the election of the First Labour government under Michael Joseph Savage in 1935, and his subsequent expulsion from the party during World War Two. But his contribution to New Zealand culture and literature was much broader than this. Lee was the face of radical New Zealand politics for several decades and a rare example of a New Zealand intellectual willing to import global trends like Syndicalism, Fabianism and Socialism into his frequently repressive provincial culture. Although never particularly gifted or original as a writer, his efforts as a pamphleteer, orator and novelist and his ability to tap into the values and desires of working-class New Zealand made him something of a folk hero in his own time.
    [Show full text]
  • Reforming the Law of Sedition
    E3196 March 2007, Wellington, New Zealand | R E P O R T 9 6 REFORMING THE LAW OF SEDITION The Law Commission is an independent, publicly funded, central advisory body established by statute to undertake the systematic review, reform and development of the law of New Zealand. Its purpose is to help achieve law that is just, principled, and accessible, and that reflects the heritage and aspirations of the peoples of New Zealand. The Commissioners are: Right Honourable Sir Geoffrey Palmer – President Dr Warren Young – Deputy President Helen Aikman QC Professor John Burrows QC The General Manager of the Law Commission is Brigid Corcoran The office of the Law Commission is at 89 The Terrace, Wellington Postal address: PO Box 2590, Wellington 6001, New Zealand Document Exchange Number: SP 23534 Telephone: (04) 473-3453, Facsimile: (04) 914-4760 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.lawcom.govt.nz National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data New Zealand. Law Commission. Reforming the law of sedition. (Report, 0113-2334 ; 96) ISBN 978-1-877316-31-9 1. New Zealand. Crimes Act 1961. 2. Sedition—New Zealand. I. Title. II. Series: New Zealand. Law Commission. Report. 345.930231—dc 22 Report/Law Commission, Wellington, 2007 ISSN 0113-2334 ISBN 978-1-877316-31-9 This report may be cited as: NZLC R96 This report is also available on the Internet at the Law Commission’s website: www.lawcom.govt.nz Reforming the Law of Sedition ConTenTs Letter of Transmittal ........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]