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Left Out? the Extra-Parliamentary Left in NZ

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LEFT OUT? The Extra-Parliamentary Left in Aotearoa/NZ from 1999 to 2008 Tyler West Department of Politics University of Otago February 2018 Word Count: 19,964 Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Politics Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government Abstract The Fifth Labour Government of Helen Clark entered parliament to assumptions that after the period of neoliberal restructuring from 1984 to 1999, the political left in New Zealand had recaptured not only power in parliament but a genuine widespread public support. The scholarly literature that focuses on the period of the Fifth Labour Government generally ignores political developments and events to the left of Labour. Yet social and economic struggles which occurred beyond the bounds of parliament throughout this period. Critical research, or even just documentation, on the extra-parliamentary left is scarce in New Zealand and the available sources of information remain highly fragmented. The first purpose of this study is to establish a coherent narrative of the activities of the extra-parliamentary left over the period from 1999 to 2008, to help fill a major gap in the existing literature. This is to be done in the context of an overall analysis of the socio- economic context of the period. This study examines the interactions these movements and organisations had with the parties in government; parties that were both the focus of their political campaigning and supposedly on ‘their side’ of New Zealand politics. This study also explores issues from the debate on the left over whether a reformist or revolutionary strategy should be adopted to promote progressive political change. Further, it critically evaluates the extra-parliamentary left; identifying the strengths, weaknesses, achievements, and failures of the most important groups, campaigns and movements. 1 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government Acknowledgements I’d like to thank My supervisor Brian, without whose advice and experience of the movement this study would likely not have been possible My partner Sinead, without whose support I never could have finished And my parents, whose support helped me through every step of university 2 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government To those who have fought To those who are fighting To those who will fight In the battle to create a better world 3 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government Contents Abstract 1 Acknowledgements 2 Abbreviations & Acronyms 7 Introduction 11 I. Approaches to Enacting Progressive Political Change 14 a. Theoretical debate over revolutionary or reformist praxis 15 i. Reform or Revolution: The Reformist Argument 15 ii. Reform or Revolution: The Revolutionary Critique 19 iii. Relevance to New Zealand’s Political Left 23 b. Social Movement Theory and the Extra-Parliamentary Left 25 c. Establishing and Justifying the Research Focus 29 II. Fifth Labour Government 1999-2008 31 a. Entering the First Term 1996-2002 31 i. End of the Fourth National Government 31 ii. Victory of the Labour/Alliance Coalition 32 iii. The Invasion of Afghanistan and GE-Free 34 b. Second Term 2002-2005 36 i. Election Results and the New Coalition 36 ii. The Invasion of Iraq and the Foreshore & Seabed 36 iii. Economic Conditions by 2005 38 c. Third Term and After 2005-2010 40 i. Election Results and the Final Coalition 40 ii. 2007 Terror Raids and the Great Financial Crisis 41 4 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government iii. End of the Fifth Labour Government 43 III. History and Analysis of the Extra-Parliamentary Left 45 a. Socialist Worker 45 b. International Socialist Organisation 51 c. Workers Party of New Zealand 56 i. Elections 58 d. Wellington Anarchism 60 IV. Social Movements and Unions 65 a. Social Movements 65 i. Global Justice Movement 66 ii. Anti-War Movement 70 b. The Outlook of Organised Labour 76 i. Strike levels 76 ii. Union membership & density 80 V. Retrospects and Prospects: Toward a Critical Evaluation of the Extra-Parliamentary Left 83 a. Socialism and Anarchism 83 b. Fifth Labour Government in Retrospect 84 c. Social Movement Theory and the Upturn/Downturn Thesis 87 d. Towards a History of Extra-Parliamentary Politics in New Zealand 89 Conclusion 92 Appendix 93 I. Publications of SWNZ, ISO, and WPNZ 93 a. Socialist Worker 93 b. International Socialist Organisation 93 c. Workers Party 94 II. SWO & ISO ‘Where We Stand’ 94 5 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government III. Five-Point Platform of the Workers Party 97 IV. Transcript of the WPNZ election ad for the 2008 general election 99 V. WPNZ 2008 Election Manifesto 100 VI. The Workers’ Charter 100 VII. Aotearoa Worker Solidarity Movement Aims & Principles 102 Bibliography 105 I. Primary Sources 105 a. Left-Wing Publications 105 b. Interviews 106 c. Government Statistics 106 II. Secondary Sources 107 a. Books 107 b. Journal Articles 114 c. Theses 115 d. Pamphlets 115 e. News Websites and Blogs 115 f. Other Online Sources 118 6 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government List of Figures Figure 1. Strikes & Lockouts 1970-2009 77 Figure 2. Number of Employees Involved 1970-2009 78 Figure 3. Wages and Saleries Lost ($000) 1970-2009 78 Figure 4. Person-days of Work Lost 1970-2009 79 Figure 5. Overall Union Membership 1991-2016 80 Figure 6. Union Density 1991-2016 81 7 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government Abbreviations & Acronyms ACA Anti-Capitalist Alliance ACC Accident Compensation Corporation AIM Anti-Imperialist Movement APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ARC Auckland Regional Council ART Anarchist Round Table BSB Black Star Books CAFCA Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa CC Central Committee CEC Committee for the Establishment of Civilization CPNZ Communist Party of New Zealand CTU Council of Trade Unions ECA Employment Contracts Act EPL Extra-Parliamentary Left ERA Employment Relations Act GE Genetic Engineering GFC Great Financial Crisis GPJA Global Peace and Justice Auckland 8 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government IMF International Monetary Fund IRD Inland Revenue Department ISO International Socialist Organisation IST International Socialist Tendency KoL Knights of Labour NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NOWAR Network Opposed to War And Racism OUISC Otago University International Socialist Club PAN Peace Action Network PAW Peace Action Wellington PFLP Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PGA Peoples Global Action PMA Peace Movement Aotearoa RAM Residents Action Movement RWL Revolutionary Workers League SAL Socialist Action League SHAC State Housing Action Coalition SMT Social Movements Theory SMO Social Movement Organisation 9 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany) SUP Socialist Unity Party SWNZ Socialist Worker New Zealand SWP Socialist Workers Party VAST Venezuela Aotearoa Solidarity Team WCL Workers Communist League WPNZ Workers Party of New Zealand WTO World Trade Organisation 10 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government Introduction The intention of this study is to begin filling a gap in the scholarly literature with respect to socialist political history and left-wing activism in New Zealand. To do so, this study will take a broad look at what I define the ‘extra-parliamentary left’ during the period of the Fifth Labour Government. The extra-parliamentary left (henceforth, EPL) refers to all activist groups, publications, social movements, labour organisations, political milieus and other organisations of the left which chose to operate primarily outside of parliament. These groups and individuals tended to be critical of capitalism and the capacity of the liberal democratic state to address social, economic, and political problems. This does not mean, however, that the EPL is homogenous. In fact, the wider left outside parliamentary ranged from revolutionary organisations to essentially reformist ones. The era in question also provides an interesting and underexplored period in activist history in this country. Only a very minimal amount of academic work has been done on this period, and often that work does not go into great detail about the organisations that made up the wider EPL.1 As such this thesis will seek to narrate in broad strokes the history and politics of the EPL in this period, while providing a critical analysis of the overall effect these often-disparate groups had on New Zealand society at large. In providing a coherent analysis of the EPL in New Zealand, the hope is that new avenues of academic political inquiry can be opened up to further study. The aim is to provide an interesting case study into how left-wing radicals respond to and organise themselves under nominally leftist governments. This is made even more interesting by the transition from traditional social democracy to the Third Way 1 For examples, see: Dylan Taylor, What’s Left? An exploration of social movements, the Left and activism in New Zealand Today (2008); or Matthew Stephen, The post-September 11 Anti-War Movement in New Zealand and the World (2006). 11 | P a g e Left Out? The Extra-Parliamentary Left during the Fifth Labour Government during the 1990s to 2000s, leaving open the question of how those to the left of social democracy have responded. Such research potentially provides insight into how such politics is conducted in small and stable advanced capitalist countries.2 These two considerations could themselves be the frameworks for insightful studies launched from works such as this.
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