Socialist Worker Monthly Review #2 • November 2002 • $2 How do we change the world?

From above or from below?

NZ in the PacificWorkers of the world Metiria Turei What’s on

WHANGAREI Contact the Auckland GE-Free Coalition (Karyn, • Left-wing Film Initiative presents: 3584105) or MAdGE (mothers against GE, New Zealand Eksperimentet. A Danish look at the • Peace & Justice Network meeting, 3093838) if you can help with distributing impact of the “reforms” of the ’80s and ’90s on November 7, Anglican Church Hall Lounge, cnr leaflets, posters, stalls, marshalling, fundraising, New Zealand workers. And, An Evergreen Island. Kamo Rd and Deveron St, Regent, 5pm. and the multitude of other tasks vital before and Bougainville’s resistance. Monday 11 November on the day. www.madge.net.nz 7:30 pm, Wellington People’s Centre, Lukes Lane, AUCKLAND Wellington. E-mail: [email protected] • The WTO, Gats and Privatisation. • Symposium on Palestine. Left Wing Film Initiative — supported by the Global Peace & Justice Auckland forum. Monday, Sunday, November 24, 1pm to 8pm, at Waipapa Alliance. November 4, 7:30 pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great Marae (Auckland University Marae), behind St North Rd, Grey Lynn. Hear Jane Kelsey (ARENA), Andrews Church, diagonally opposite the High • Anti-war mobilisation, Penny Bright (Water Pressure Group) and others. Court. Speakers, documentary films, and action December 14, details to be confirmed. What’s wrong with these plans and what can be workshops, concludes with Palestinian dinner and Contact 382 8129. done to stop it? See The Last Frontier: Explaining traditional dance. There will be a focus on NZ Gats by Claude Barlow. links to Israel and ways to highlight NZ wide the • Candle lit vigil for peace. struggles of the Palestinian people. Koha Every Thursday 5pm to 6pm at the Cenotaph. For • Protest at 3rd International Pacific Rim appreciated. Hosted by Auckland University more info contact PMA (04) 382 8129. Biotechnology Conference. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), supported Monday, November 18, 8am-11am, Sheraton by Palestine Human Rights Campaign (PHRC). • “Behind the News”, Hotel, Symonds St, Auckland. Demand our food Contact: Zaeem Baksh [email protected] Every Saturday on Wellington Access Radio (783 and environment remain free of GE, and free or Suzy 520 0201. AM), broadcast at 12-30pm. Brought to you by from the corporate agenda of the biotech Linda Hobman (04) 380 0194 and Jim Delahunty industry to own the food supply, and our bodies. WELLINGTON (04)938 6943. The last frontier of colonisation! • Organising meeting for December 14 anti-war protest. • “Peace Report” • Coalition Building Skills for Social 7pm, Monday 4 November, Athena College, 203 Every Sunday, on Wellington Access Radio (783 Change Activists. Willis St. Called by Peace Action Wellington. AM), broadcast at 11-45am, Contact Des Brough Friday, November 22, 6pm to Sunday November Contact 382 8129. (04) 388 3173. 24, 3pm, Kotare Education Centre, 510 Wayby Station Rd, Wellsford. A workshop for key • Aotearoa People’s Global Action networkers in different activist groups such as Convergence! peace and justice, Te Tiriti, women’s liberation, Friday 8 to Sunday 10 November, Student Union anti corporate globalisation or GE free Aotearoa. Building, Victoria University, Kelburn Parade, We invite groups to send a person who is a good Wellington. Peoples Global Action is a worldwide networker, plays a facilitator role and network that works towards a durable, peaceful, understands both coalitions and the central social, borderless and directly democratic values of your group. A fundamentalist view of alternative to capitalism and all systems of struggle or methods is not relevant. Enrol early, as oppression — the PGA Convergence in numbers are limited to 15. Facilitators Catherine Wellington will include strategic sessions on: Delahunty and Tim Howard will lead the process. E-mail [email protected] opposing militarism; tino rangatiratanga; strategising against privatisation; constructing • GE-free march. alternative models to the capitalist system; Demand a GE-Free Aotearoa, in food and indymedia. The Convergence is for everyone who environment. Saturday, November 16, 12 noon, has an affinity with the PGA hallmarks and the Aotea Sq, Queen St, City. The government is PGA Organisational Principles. ignoring majority public opinion. Show them that For more info check out: http:// the GE-Free movement is more powerful than aotearoa.wellington.net.nz/mayday/ ever. This march has been endorsed by GE-Free converge.htm; e-mail Teanau Tuiono coalitions and groups nation-wide, there will be [email protected]; or write to PO Box people converging on Auckland from all over NZ. 6387, Wellington.

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2 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 Editorial Socialist Worker From above or Monthly Review from below? What’s on 2 In Aotearoa and around the world a new left is emerging. From the GE-free and anti-war movements, to the teachers’ strikes and school students’ rebellion, more people are becoming Editorial 3 involved in the fight for a better world. Many who were active in, or inspired by these events are coming to the conclusion that changes around one issue — like News Review 4 more funding for education, or going GE-free — are not enough. US watersiders They want a world where meeting peoples’ needs and caring Anti-war protests for our environment is not sacrificed for the sake of corporate Steven Wallace campaign profit. The “there is no alternative” syndrome of the 1980s and ’90s is fading away. But, if another kind of world is possible, how can They said it 7 we bring it about? Answers to this question fall into two main groups: from above, or from below. These answers relate to another question: can FEATURES change come through gradual reform, or do we need a revolution? We live in a society where those at the bottom seem to be powerless. So it makes sense to think that change can only come New Zealand in 8 from above, from those in positions of power. the Pacific Looking to the legal system and the judges who run it is one version of this. Amnesty International believes that an International Criminal Court will advance global peace and Workers of the World 11 justice. And, recently, the Engineers Union attempted to use a legal challenge to stop Carter Holt Harvey from laying off workers from the Kinlieth mill. Interview with 15 Another version of change from above is looking to a left- wing government. Tetiria Turei So, Green MP Metiria Turei (interviewed on page 15) sees the election of more Green MPs as the first step in building a different system. Socialism and 16 In both cases, it is the actions of a small group that is important. Terrorism People at the grassroots play no active part. The opposite of these top-down approaches is for change to come from below, from the collective actions of grassroots people. The ultimate form of change from below is a socialist revolution. In such an event, workers take collective control of Reviews 16 their workplaces and neighbourhoods, providing the foundation Nickel and Dimed for truly democratic economy and state. Prono But the principle of change from below is not limited to revolutionary situations. Collective mass actions — such as strikes and big protests — Socialist Worker news 17 have revolutionary implications, because they rely on lots of people working together. Strikes are powerful because they stop the flow of profits. Mass Industrial Action 18 protests raise the threat of a growing movement that could lead to political strikes, mass civil disobedience and even revolution. A new column by Don Franks These two forms of struggle not only force our rulers to respond, they teach us that we have the power to change the

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Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 3 News Review Bush out to crush dock workers “The most egregious attack on ion of Australia and the Liver- workers rights in 50 years.” pool dockers, boycotting South This was the response from African ships during apartheid US union leaders following in- and striking for a day in soli- tervention by president darity with death-row prisoner George W Bush against West Mumia Abu-Jamal. Coast wharfies, locked out for In 1999 ILWU members two weeks by their bosses. closed the ports and marched Bush is the first president in against the World Trade Or- US history to invoke the dra- ganisation in Seattle. conian anti-union “Taft- Here, the Seafarers and Hartley Act” to end a lockout. Watersiders Unions and the It is the first time the legis- Council of Trade unions have lation has been used in any dis- declared their support for the pute since 1978. ILWU joining an alliance of While the Taft-Hartley Act unions from Japan, Australia, binds both employers and un- and South Africa. ions to return to work for an A delegation of New Zea- 80 day “cooling off period”, it land unionists visited ILWU does so with provisions for picket lines in the US. fines and jail sentences aimed Mike Williams, Wellington squarely at the union. secretary of the Seafarers Un- Wharfies and their officials ion said New Zealand’s unions face fines or imprisonment if were, “part of a global cam- productivity is not seen to be paign involving dock workers at normal levels — even ILWU members march in Los Angeles and seafarers around the though this is physically impos- world. This is the start of un- sible given the backlog created ion busting on the US water- by the bosses’ lockout. ever talks about is how many intimately his war on American front. We’re not going to be ILWU President James containers get moved how fast, workers in linked to his blood- standing back if scab-loaded Spinosa has warned that for the you never hear him cite the hu- thirsty designs for a war on cargoes arrive here.” next 80 days “the employers will man toll of his profits”. Iraq. Trevor Hansen, general sec- be dragging us to court daily, High level collusion be- “These ports load the ships retary of the Waterfront Work- trying to bankrupt our union tween the PMA and the Bush that carry supplies to our men ers Union, told reporters that: and throw our leaders in jail”. administration has been evi- and women in uniform”, he “Any ships turning up in New The bosses’ Pacific Mari- dent throughout the dispute. said. Zealand which were loaded by time Association (PMA) had Throughout negotiations Unfortunately union lead- military or scab labour in the initiated the lockout after com- the PMA rejected conciliatory ers have not stood against this States will be blacked by our plaining the ILWU members efforts by the ILWU, changing logic. people.” were operating a “go-slow”. its terms and provoking the use Instead, the union agreed to Blacking goods is illegal But the union was simply of the Taft-Hartley Act. load military supplies without under Labour’s Employment adhering to safety procedures In mid June the Depart- pay throughout the dispute and Relations Act, it’s good to see after the busiest movement of ment of Labor threatened to officials have defended their unions taking such a strong cargo in West Coast history break the union by using mili- role in “National Security”. stand. created horror conditions. tary personnel to load cargo. This stance is in contrast to With the dispute set to con- In the past six months alone As one US union leader has the union’s own history of in- tinue, it is precisely this inter- five workers have been killed. said “No president has ever ternationalism. national solidarity which can “We’re tired of burying our been on the side of manage- The ILWU has a proud his- help defeat the attacks on the people,” said James Spinosa. “All ment so overtly”. tory of political action, lending American wharfies and their PMA President Joe Miniace Bush has also betrayed how solidarity to the Maritime Un- union. Socialist Worker Australia Amnesty protests US war crime immunity

Dressed in black legal robes tional justice — by pressur- Margaret Taylor from about a dozen people ing all countries to sign Amnesty International said protested outside the Auck- agreements not to send any the movement had recently land consulate of the United US nationals to the Interna- broadened its constitution to States from 7:30 am to 9:30 tional Criminal Court if they include things like the right to am on Thursday October 10. are indicted by the Court. AI food and shelter as “human A similar demonstration took [Amnesty International] rights”, along side things like place outside the US embassy believes that such agree- the right to free speech. in Wellington. ments are illegal under She also said Amnesty They handed out leaflets international law. The US is wanted to work more closely explaining the reason for the trying to obtain pre-arranged with other groups around this protest: impunity for any US citizen and other human rights “The government of the accused of genocide, war issues. United States of America is crimes or crimes against For information: campaigning against interna- humanity.” www.amnesty.org.nz

4 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 News Review International anti-war action

October 26 was an international day of action against war, called by activists in the United States. Protests in the US were notable for their size and the increased involvement of trade unions. The two main protests, in Washington DC and San Francisco were both 100,000-strong. Other protests took place in Germany, Britain, Belgium and Spain.

San Francisco Auckland ‘1,2,3,4, we don’t want your oil war’

By DAVID COLYER Unitarian church, himself “Foreign minister Phil Goff “If we are talking about originally from the US said: now says we need an option for dangers to peace in the Middle 1,000 people marched in Auck- “Let me tell you that you the UN to use force against East, let’s look at the oppres- land on October 26 demanding are being heard today.” Iraq. sion of Palestine.” “Stop the war against Iraq; End “There was a story today in “This is hypocritical. The Mike Treen, a leading activ- economic sanctions; Justice for the press, Bush is now saying NZ government doesn’t talk of ist in Global Peace and Justice the Palestinian people; No NZ ‘we can disarm this man ‘option for force’ against Auckland, spoke for the Alli- support for the war.” [Saddam Hussein] peace- Sharon’s government in Israel, ance. He said that we must con- Many had been on a similar fully’.” which has nuclear weapons tinue to build the anti-war sized peace march a month be- “This is a shift in policy. It is and has broken countless UN movement with more and big- fore. Both protests were organ- because of you and people like resolutions.” ger protests. ised by the Global Peace & Jus- you all over the world who tice Auckland (GPJA) network. have raised their voices against There was a strong sense this war.” among marchers that they “Support for the war in the Biggest anti-war march so far were part of a movement that US is now down to 60%. A few is growing here and overseas. months ago it was as high as By DON ARCHER There was also a strong 80%.” anti-capitalist mood. The offi- “At this stage in the Viet- With 400 people, the peace march on Sunday October 27 was cial slogan for the march was nam war, there was not so Chirstchurch’s biggest protest against the “war on terrorism”. “no blood for oil” and the many people saying no.” There were many new, young faces, including a big contingent GPJA leaflet says that behind Green MP Keith Locke said of Green Party supporters. America’s support for Israel that the world is threatened by When the march passed by, people stopped what they were and planned invasion of Iraq a “rogue government” — doing and started clapping in support. is “the greed of an economic headed by George W Bush. Green Party MP Rod Donald said it was a great march and that system driven by profit and “The New Zealand govern- the movement to stop the war couldn’t end here. The way forward the consumption and control ment is playing a Neville he said, was to go home and write letters to parliament. of natural resources all around Chamberlain role” (appeasing I agree that we need to keep things going, but I think we’d be the globe.” Bush as Chamberlain, British better off writing to friends to tell them to get along to the next Speaking at the end of the prime minister before World anti-war protest. Building a mass anti-war movement is what it march, a minister from the War Two appeased Hitler). will take to stop this war.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 5 News Review One year to re-build GE free movement

By DAVID COLYER has called a march (details on page 2) and is going all-out to The end of October means build it. that there is just one year left The impact a big protest can of the moratorium on the have was seen on 1 September commercial release of last year, when 20,000 people genetically engineered (GE) marched up Auckland’s Queen plants and animals. Street. The moratorium was This huge demonstration extended a year ago, as the forced a u-turn from the Labour-led government tried Labour-led government, to contain the GE free shifted public opinion against movement. The ruse worked. GE and bolstered support for Many people felt GE was no the Green Party. longer an immediate threat, Five weeks before the and the leaders of the march, prime minister Helen movement turned away from Clark had praised the report of trying to build mass protest. the Royal Commission on GE Meanwhile, the government as “thorough, balanced and and biotech big business measured”. continued to press ahead with The Royal Commission did their plans. not recommend a moratorium. Now there has been a But on 6 September, five welcome return to protest days after the march, Helen within the GE free movement. Clark announced that the Over Labour weekend, GE government would consider a free awareness activities were moratorium on the commercial held in 30 locations around the or conditional release of country. These included genetically engineered crops or releasing helium balloons, to animals. demonstrate the risk of The NBR-Compaq opinion contamination from wind- poll showed that public borne pollen of GE crops. opposition to genetic Balloons, carrying GE free messages are released from the If you find a balloon with modification also rose in summit of Auckland’s Mt Eden on October 28. PHOTO Chloe Heffernan. an anti-GE message, you can September to 42%, up from report it to the webpage: 34% in mid-August. 6% to a record high of over 8%. enough to keep GE out of the . with this mass movement and will help revive the GE free moratorium ends, then we will Then, on November 16, the its poll ratings, as measured by movement. If we are going to need more big protests over Auckland GE-Free Coalition UMR Research, jumped from build a movement strong the next year.

Justice for Steven Wallace By GRANT BROOKES after the police decided consta- changes to give police immu- of meetings on marae around ble Abbott, one of their own, nity from murder cases like this the North Island to build ur- Keith Abbott, the police officer was innocent and refused to lay one. gent moral and financial sup- who shot and killed Steven charges. And Clark publicly de- port before the court case Wallace on the streets of The murder prosecution fended the decision to deny le- opens. Waitara, appears in the Wel- will be heard by a jury, but with gal aid to the Wallace family. lington high court on Novem- a judge presiding. But courts are also mindful • Make a $20 donation to the ber 18. He faces a charge of High court judges, drawn of public opinion. A rally out- Steven Wallace Trust Fund for murder. from the top of society and side the courtroom could help Justice by calling 0900 JUS- The hearing is a victory for earning up to $305,000 a year, bring justice for Steven TICE (0900 58784), or send the Wallace family. The police can’t be relied on to deliver jus- Wallace. cheques made out to “Steven and the solicitor general had tice for ordinary people. The Wallace family have Wallace Trust Fund” to PO earlier blocked attempts to For one thing, judges are been advised by their lawyer Box 22, Waitara. (Receipts take the matter to court. supposed take into account a not to speak to the mainstream available on request. All dona- Now the Wallace family will government’s intentions in media about the case. tions confidential). have a public opportunity to making the law. And Helen But Steven’s mum, tell how in April 2000 the po- Clark’s government is backing Raewyn Wallace, did tell So- • The Wallace family are con- lice gunned down their son the police. cialist Worker Monthly Re- sidering proposals for a rally without reason and then lied to They are paying constable view that they’re taking this outside the Wellington high cover it up. Abbott’s legal costs – $130,000 case not for themselves, but court on November 18. For The case has been taken by and rising. for the people. details of any protest, contact the Wallace family themselves They’re even looking at law They are planning a series 566 8538.

6 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 They said it

‘In the days of slavery there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and those that lived in the house. You Tertiary get the privilege of living in the house if you served the master exactly the way the master intended to have you.’ workers • Singer HARRY BELAFONTE on US Secretary of State Colin Powell. ‘Blitzkrieg was an enormous success.’

• US defence secretary DONALD RUMSFELD admires Hitler’s against war fighting techniques.

By VAUGHAN GUNSON ‘The answer is an unconditional yes.’

The Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (Aste) held • GUNNAR BERGE, head of the Nobel Prize committee, when asked its annual conference in Wellington from October 1-3. I was if the award to Jimmy Carter was a criticism of George Bush. able to attend as an observer from the Northland Polytech- nic branch in Whangarei. It was my first time at a national union conference, so I ‘It’s just discrimination. We are human beings just like had little to compare the conference against; never-the-less those other ones, but they just see us as Africans.’ what struck me was the sense of quiet confidence amongst delegates. • PIUS MAINA, victim of the US embassy bombing in 1998, The feeling was that the worst days of the ’90s were complains about lack of compensation. behind us. There was now potential for growth in member- ship and for a stronger voice on campus. This confidence was apparent in the debate and resolu- ‘At first the Indonesians had to lie on the floor while the tion on the US war on Iraq. foreigners got the beds and the most attention.’ That such an issue — outside the normal bread and butter concerns of pay and workload — should be debated • JAWHAR NAFA, hospital worker in Bali, supports claims that within the democratic structures of a union is a sign of foreign victims got the best treatment. vitality within the union movement. The remit put to conference on the last day called on our ‘Most of the polls show that support for war against Iraq government not to support any war on Iraq by the US, is very, very soft.’ including one approved by the United Nations. From the remit a number of issues quickly emerged: the •CHARLES PEN, defence policy expert at the Cato Institute in the US. “war on terrorism”; the Labour government’s push for a free trade deal with the US; and Iraq’s oil reserves. Many delegates got up to express their opposition to any war on ‘It is unhealthy ... when opinion polls become devices of Iraq. policy construction not tools of retailing decisions However, some spoke in favour of the United Nations reached.’ (UN) being left to decide. Given an opportunity to speak, I responded by saying • MIKE MOORE, former Labour prime minister and director-general that it was the UN Security Council which would make the of the World Trade Organisation, hopes the NZ government will decision as to whether the US should be “allowed” to drop ignore polls showing majority opposition to war with Iraq. bombs on the Iraqi people. The Security Council is dominated by the five permanent members: France, Russia, Britain, China and the US itself. ‘Capital markets are the beating heart of the capitalist The basis of these countries support, or not, was driven by system and they are not functioning at the moment.’ economic and military interests, not by any concern for the Iraqi people. • MICHAEL HARTNETT, director at Merrill Lynch investment bank. In reply to arguments made that this was a political issue and should not be raised within the union, I argued that an Iraq war was in the forefront of members minds and the ‘Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a recipe for crony union needed to have a position on it. And that taking a capitalism.’ clear stance in opposition to war was actually a way of encouraging more people to join and become active within • National Business Review editorial, October 24. the union — one of the themes of the conference. Being involved in anti-war struggles should be seen as going hand-in-hand with building the union, which in turn ‘Radiation technologists are part of an ageing, mainly gives us that extra power to win better pay and conditions female, workforce. As women in a caring profession, our in the workplace. male executive bosses wish we would not ask for male After a period of debate — the most passionate of the salaries.’ entire conference — the remit was passed by a good majority. This was a satisfying outcome, but for the resolution to • C JONES and N KENNELLY, radiographers at Starship Hospital. have any weight, it now needs to be put into practice. It would be wonderful to see Aste branches, carrying anti-war placards alongside Aste banners, joining marches ‘You’ll have to have a lot more people if you want to run and building the current anti-war movement. Likewise, me out of town.’ other unions should be encouraged to pass similar resolu- tions and get involved at branch level. • Auckland Mayor JOHN BANKS gives advice on how to fight his The black carry-bag I got for attending the Aste confer- right-wing policies to a 12-strong Wake Up Auckland activists. ence has the words “Educate, Unionise, Organise” printed on the side. That sounds like good advice.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 7 New Zealand in the Pacific How NZ betrayed East Timor

In September, East Timorese The bomb attack in Bali on October 13 has focused attention on In 1987, Ramos-Horta of- president Xanana Gusmao and the Indonesian region. fered in return “a firm guaran- foreign minister Jose Ramos- No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing. tee that an independent East Horta visited New Zealand. But many have reason to hate Western governments and cor- Timor would not fall under the Our foreign minister, Phil porations and could misdirect that anger at tourists. influence of any power hostile Goff, used the occasion to ex- Acclaimed journalist John Pilger’s response to the bombing to Western interests.” press regret about New Zea- was: “One of the sacred taboos for western journalists and broad- Today, the country’s new land’s “failure” to act over In- casters is the terrorism of their own governments”. constitution enshrines “free donesia’s invasion of the former “Only when they recognise this and its pivotal role in the fate enterprise and business man- Portuguese colony in 1975. of much of humanity will they be able to report honestly the agement” and dictates that fu- In the brutal, 24-year occu- lesser terrorism of non-state groups.” ture governments must “estab- pation that followed, a third of “For 40 years”, he said, “Australian governments have colluded lish conditions to attract for- East Timor’s population were with state terrorism in Indonesia.” eign investment”. killed. As GRANT BROOKES reports, New Zealand’s record in the re- Wages have been capped at For decades, New Zealand gion is no better. US$3 a day. The UN reports governments have cried croco- that half the population live dile tears for the Timorese on less than US$0.55 a day. while secretly betraying them. Life expectancy is just 57 years Expressions of regret from and 59% of the population is the current Labour-led govern- illiterate. ment are more of the same. Real freedom for the poor Recently declassified docu- majority of East Timor is still ments (see opposite) show how to be won. the Labour government of Bill It will only come when their Rowling undermined Fretilin, struggle is linked to the strug- East Timor’s independence gle of workers in New Zealand, movement. Australia and other countries Fretilin was a coalition of against our common enslave- trade unionists, socialists and ment to Western corporations. Christian liberals. It was elected to form a government in 1975 as East Timor moved towards independence from Portugal. Echoing Indonesian views, the New Zealand defence at- Is West tache advised the government that “an independent East Papua next? Timor with Fretilin at the In the 1980s and 1990s, New The first major business of helm, [would be] at best an en- Zealand businesses made a “independent” East Timor was couragement to separatist mint exporting to Indonesia’s to sign a new oil treaty with Aus- Green MP Keith Locke movements within Indonesia booming “tiger” economy. tralia giving Australian oil com- welcomed Phil Goff’s and as a safe haven for dissi- New Zealand capitalists Fay panies up to $6.9 billion by 2024. apology for New Zea- dent elements... and, at worst, Richwhite got their hands on When East Timor disputed land’s support of the 1975 as a communist-supported part of the Jabiru oil field, the parts of the deal in March of invasion of East Timor. base for subversion”. super-rich Todd family ac- this year and threatened go to But, he warned, “Mr At stake was access for quired a stake in “Area AC96- the World Court, Australia an- Goff is repeating the error Western companies to vast oil 3” and Fletcher Challenge nounced it would refuse to rec- over West Papua.” reserves beneath the Timor bought into the Bayu-Undan ognise World Court rulings. Indonesian forces in- Sea. gas field. The court was expected to vaded mineral-rich West And as the Australian am- In 1999, New Zealand and rule that the $30 billion Greater Papua in 1963. They have bassador to Indonesia wrote: Australian troops spear- Sunrise gas field should be re- killed over 100,000 people. “This could be much more headed a UN “peace keeping” turned to East Timor. And just like in East readily negotiated with Indo- force to the island, supposedly President Gusmao down- Timor, an independence nesia... than with Portugal or to defend East Timor’s right to played the need for a New Zea- movement (OPM) is fight- Portuguese [East] Timor.” independence. land apology during his Septem- ing for freedom and New In October 1976, after turn- But as journalist John Pilger ber visit. “The past is the past”, Zealand has betrayed ing a blind eye to the bloody pointed out: “The real agenda he said. them. invasion, Australia opened ne- for the UN ‘peacekeeping Sadly, Gusmao and other The Indonesian Human gotiations with Indonesia to di- force’ is to ensure that East Fretilin leaders long ago gave Rights Committee has vide East Timor’s oil riches. Timor, while nominally inde- up fighting for real liberation called on the New Zealand New Zealand companies pendent, remains under the for the poor majority of East government to mediate. profited too from our govern- sway of Jakarta and Western Timor. But left to the govern- ment’s ongoing betrayal. business interests.” That would have meant ment, they’d only promote In 1984, Labour prime min- With thousands of troops challenging Western corpora- the interests of New Zea- ister David Lange said the In- on the island, coupled with tions and their governments. land business at the ex- donesian occupation was “irre- control of aid to the ravaged Instead, Fretilin’s leaders in- pense of the West Papuan versible”. He refused requests economy, Australia was in the creasingly looked to Welling- people. to meet with Ramos-Horta, box seat in fresh negotiations ton, Canberra and Washington OPM needs solidarity then Fretilin’s envoy to the UN. over Timor’s oil. for backing. from below to win.

8 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 New Zealand in the Pacific Secrets and lies

Classified government documents on East Timor dating from 1975-76 were released in early September, a full 27 years after Indonesia’s bloody invasion. They show that New Zealand governments – both Labour and National – knew what Indonesia was doing and supported it. And they reveal the shocking lies they were prepared to tell the New Zealand public to cover it up.

Two excerpts (above and below) from a report by colonel Armstrong, NZ defence Two pieces of advice (above and below) from Frank Corner, secretary of foreign attache to Indonesia – 8 October 1975. affairs, to Labour prime minister Bill Rowling, on how to answer questions from the media – 20 October, 1975. (Rowling marked the advice with a “tick”. Other advice on similar lines was marked “approved” and “agreed”)

▲ The NZ government was prepared to lie to discredit Fretilin, the East Timorese independence movement.

▲ They told the NZ public they supported self- determination, but in reality they supported “integration”. Telegram from Frank Corner, secretary of foreign affairs, to NZ embassy in Australia, So they hushed up incursions by Indonesian troops and explaining the NZ government’s “position” – 26 November 1975. the terror campaign by Indonesian-backed militias (UDT and Apodeti, mentioned below) to seize control of larger areas. When enough area was subdued, then Indonesia could ▼ ▼ The full scale invasion of East Timor began on 4 December claim control of a “transitional governing mechanism”. 1975. A UN resolution condemning Indonesia was passed, with 82 countries voting in favour and none against. 10 countries abstained. New Zealand was one, following America’s lead. US secretary of state Henry Kissinger visited Indonesia days before the invasion (below) and gave the go ahead. NZ refused to condemn despite knowing of atrocities (below). In the 24-year occupation that followed, 200,000 died. Successive Labour and National governments denied all knowledge.

Cable from NZ embassy in Indonesia to Wellington, explaining Indonesia’s strategy – 12 November 1975.

Instructions from Frank Corner to NZ ambassador to the UN – 9 December 1975.

Cable from NZ embassy in Indonesia to Wellington – 11 December 1975.

Telegram from NZ embassy in Indonesia to Wellington – 5 December 1975. ▲ Every movement for national liberation involves a struggle. Colonial regimes don’t hand over power freely. Cable from NZ embassy in Indonesia to Wellington – 22 December 1975. This telegram notes the “irony” – Indonesia itself won independence from the Dutch after a bitter fight. The hypocrisy of the New Zealand Labour government is also laid bare.

Reply from Brian Talboys, foreign minister in Robert Muldoon’s incoming National government, to a letter protesting NZ’s lack of action – 19 December 1975. ▲ ▲ Talboys keeps up the pretence of “self-determination” for East Telegram from NZ embassy in Indonesia to Wellington – 13 December 1975. Timor, after the “pre-determined outcome” of “integration” is known.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 9 New Zealand in the Pacific Can NZ Bougainville... promote peace

DAVID COLYER ties, is something that stays within the and justice? spoke with hands of tribes for evermore, since time MOSES HAVINI, immemorial. The Green Party opposes war in Af- international Rio Tinto, supported by Australia and ghanistan and Iraq, but supports representative of PNG, came into Bougainville and they sending “peace keeping” troops. Government MP Matt Robson the Bougainville took about 100,000 square kilometres of land to prospect – can you imagine the admits that aid to the Pacific used to Peoples Congress, number of tribes and clans who have lost come with “strings attached”. It was during his visit to that land forever? used to push globalisation, just like New Zealand in And if you take that away from the IMF loans. October. people, it is nothing short of a But now, he says, aid is aimed at disempowerment of the people, or worse, poverty reduction. What’s the situation in Bougainville now? stealing of one of their most valuable pos- Further afield, Helen Clark says We’ve just come out of a horrible ten sessions. that government sanctions on Zim- year war with Papua New Guinea (PNG). babwe promote democracy. After ten years we have managed to ne- When capitalism — the globalisation All agree that the New Zealand gotiate a successful agreement with the system — spreads, it tries to turn state can promote global justice from PNG government. everything into a commodity. above. We will now establish an autonomous That is correct. I think globalisation is And all, at times, draw on the idea government with provisions for a refer- one big, dangerous tsunami that is affect- that New Zealand “led the world” in endum on independence in ten years ing the whole world, not excluding the nuclear disarmament and opposing time. Pacific region. apartheid in South Africa. The whole Pacific is already suffering But which “New Zealand” led What did you learn about PNG, Australia from the onslaught of globalisation. In- these past struggles? It wasn’t gov- and the mining corporation during the stitutions like the World Bank and IMF go ernments or their business backers. war? as far as dictating to Pacific governments. According to former US ambas- What the people of Bougainville were In PNG it is a case of privatising every sador H. Monroe Brown, prime min- basically fighting for was their inalienable government body, starting from telecom, ister David Lange told him in 1984 human rights – their right to self deter- electricity and these are assets supposedly that he’d convince the Labour Party mination, their right to their own re- belonging to the people. of the need for nuclear warship visits sources, which in this instance was whole- This takes away not only the sover- and ditch the anti-nuclear law. sale taken over and exploited by a multi- eignty of those governments, but also the In 1981, the National government national corporation called Rio Tinto Zinc. sovereignty of the people. ordered New Zealand’s biggest ever And Rio Tinto Zinc was of course fully Governments now feel obliged to look police operation – backed up by the supported by Australia and PNG, basically after the interests of transnational corpo- army – against the anti-apartheid for their own economic benefit. rations, instead of the interests of their movement. The other issue which is of course very own people. In both cases, it was strikes and important for Pacific people is land. Land Globalisation is being resisted world- mass protests that made the is not a commodity as in Australia or New wide, including the Pacific region. progress towards peace and justice. Zealand, where you can sell and buy. What is the solution or the way for- They fought the New Zealand state Land, within Pacific Island communi- ward? I’m afraid I have no answer for that. to do it. The New Zealand “peace keep- ing” troops deployed to Bougainville and Timor in the late 1990s were serving Western mining and oil companies. But workers fought for Timorese ... a NZ con job freedom. In 1975, while New Zea- land was stabbing East Timor in the The New Zealand military deployment in Bougainville.” back, trade unions around the Pacific Bougainville is hailed as a model of “peace Colonel Bob Breen, an Australian mili- were refusing to handle Indonesian keeping”. tary expert, says Australia let New Zealand cargo, picketing Indonesian embas- But the soldiers weren’t sent to the island take the lead in Bougainville because “it sies, even stopping Garuda Airlines to serve the interests of peace and justice. would serve Australian national interests”. flights. New Zealand troops arrived in Five months after New Zealand troops One of the secret documents de- Bougainville in 1997 to oversee a ceasefire arrived, the Australian army was called in classified in September reveals that agreement between Papua New Guinea and took over the operation. Indonesia was very worried about (PNG) and the Bougainville Revolution- The Australian commander said they the union action in Australia. ary Army (BRA). were there “to protect PNG sovereignty”. In 1999, as Indonesian-backed The BRA would not accept Australians Since PNG was unable to win on the militias stepped up their violence monitoring the ceasefire. battlefield, Australia now hopes to secure ahead of East Timor’s independence, As Moses Havini points out above, Aus- the return of the mine by negotiation. waterfront workers in Wellington tralia had backed PNG in the war, hoping it The New Zealand “peace-keepers” in walked off the job to discuss similar could re-take the giant copper mine – the Bougainville were the stalking horse for industrial action. biggest in the world – and return it to Aus- Australasian capitalists. The New Zealand state is tied to tralian multinational Rio Tinto Zinc. The Australian and New Zealand gov- big business. Peace and justice will “We don’t want Australia”, said BRA ernments are the main agents of globalisa- only come through solidarity from leader Francis Ona, “because they are the tion in the Pacific. Their armies are the lo- below. ones responsible for the colonisation of cal “sheriffs” of the World Bank and IMF.

10 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 The working class The workers of the world

By CHRIS HARMAN* with about a third in “industry”and the rest in “services”. The eruption of the anti-capitalist move- But the total size of the working class ment worldwide over the last two and a is considerably greater than this. The class half years has thrown up lots of old ques- also includes those who are dependent on tions in new forms. The most central is the income that comes from the waged labour question of agency — of what forces exist of relatives or savings and pensions result- that are capable of taking on the system ing from past wage labour — that is, non- and transforming the world. employed spouses, children and retired For classical Marxism, the answer was elderly people. If these categories are simple. The growth of capitalism was nec- added in, the worldwide total figure for the essarily accompanied by the growth of the working class comes to between 1.5 and 2 class it exploited, the working class, and this billion. Anyone who believes we have said would be at the centre of the revolt against “farewell” to this class is not living in the the system. But today this view is being real world. challenged from a number of directions, not merely from the “Third Way” social The myth of deindustrialisation democrat right [represented by Labour in The argument that the working class New Zealand], but also from some of the Christchurch nurses on strike has disappeared usually rests on superfi- best known spokespeople of the anti-capi- cial impressions about what is happening talist movement. In particular the notion participated in the global non-domestic to the old industrial working class, at least of the “multitude”, developed by Michael labour force in the mid-1990s. Of these in the advanced economies. So there is Hardt and Antonio Negri,1 is widely seen around a fifth, 379 million people, worked much talk about “deindustrialisation”, the as a more relevant category than that of in industry,5 800 million in services,6 and “post-industrial society”, or the “weight- the “working class”. 1,074 million in agriculture.7 less economy”. In Naomi Klein’s No Logo the working Each sector of the labour force includes Restructuring of industry through suc- class is presented as decisively weakened people who employ others (big capitalists cessive economic crises has certainly by the spread of globalisation, “a system of / bourgeoisie and the small businesspeople caused some formerly central features of footloose factories employing footloose / petty bourgeoisie), people who are self the industrial scene in any locality to dis- workers”, with a “failure to live up to their employed, and people who do waged (or appear. At the same time there has been traditional role as mass employers”.2 salaried) labour for others. an increased insecurity of employment and Certain changes in capitalism in the last The majority of people worldwide in a rise in the proportion of jobs which are quarter of a century seem to give credence the industrial and service sectors do get part time, temporary or on short contracts. to such views. The restructuring of produc- wages or salaries — 58 percent of those in But this does not justify the claim that the tion internationally has led to the contrac- the industrial workforce and 65 percent of working class has disappeared. tion of certain industries and the shift in the services workforce. But this still leaves Take, for instance, the number of indus- the locus of others. a very big proportion who are self em- trial workers in the world’s biggest single But the outcome is very different to that ployed or involved in family labour. economy, that of the US. At the end of the put forward by Hardt, Negri and the rest. Filmer concluded that the overall 1980s there was much panic in the US about Far from the working class internationally number of employed people worldwide “deindustrialisation” in the face of chal- contracting, it has continued to grow. And was about 880 million, compared with lenges to US industrial pre-eminence in the distinctions between this enlarged around 1,000 million people working fields like auto production and computers. working class and other oppressed groups, mainly for their own account on the land But in 1998 the number of workers in in- far from becoming marginal, are as cen- (overwhelmingly peasants), and 480 mil- dustry was nearly 20 percent higher than in tral as ever. lion working for their own account in in- 1971, roughly 50 percent higher than in 1950 dustry and services. and nearly three times the level of 1900: The worldwide picture The figure for “employed people” in- “The working class [exists] as never cludes some non-workers’ groups as well WORKERS IN INDUSTRY, US9 before as a class in itself…with a core of as workers. There is a section of the bour- perhaps 2 billion people”, around which geoisie in receipt of enormous corporate 1900 10,920,000 there are another 2 billion or so people salaries, and below that the new middle 1950 20,698,000 with lives which are “subject in important class who get paid more value than they 1971 26,092,000 ways to the same logic as this core”. So I create in return for helping to control the 1998 31,071,000 wrote three years ago.3 A detailed study mass of workers. These groups probably of the world’s workforce by Deon Filmer amount to 10 percent of the population.8 The number of manufacturing jobs in shows my figures to be roughly correct.4 That reduces the size of the employed the US today is as high as ever before in He calculated that 2,474 million people world working class to around 700 million, history. “Old” industries have by no means

Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 11 The working class

Nike factory, Vienam

disappeared, or moved abroad. As cent a year in industry, only a little less than Baldoz, Koeber and Kraft have noted, the 3.1 percent growth of service output. Manufacturing creates a large chunk “More Americans are now employed in But productivity growth in industry was 2.8 of service industry through making cars, buses and parts of them than percent a year, in services only 0.8 per- outsourcing of areas such as at any time since the Vietnam War”.10 cent.13 The industrial workers are as im- maintenance, catering and legal This is a completely different picture to portant for the capitalist economy today work… Manufacturing could make that painted by Hardt and Negri when they as in the early 1970s. up as much as 35 percent of the write of the trend towards “a service But that is not all. The usual distinction economy — rather than the generally economy model…led by the United States, between “industry” and “services” ob- accepted 20 percent — if it were the United Kingdom and Canada. This scures more than it reveals. measured using appropriate statistical model involves a rapid decline in indus- The category “services” includes things definitions.14 trial jobs and a corresponding rise in serv- which are of no intrinsic importance to the ice sector jobs”.11 capitalist production (for instance, the Rowthorn has undertaken a statistical The Japanese figures are even more hordes of servants who provide individual breakdown of the total “service” category astounding. The industrial workforce more capitalist parasites with their leisure). But for the OECD as a whole. His figures show than doubled between 1950 and 1971 and it has always included things which are that goods-related services accounted for was another 13 percent higher in 1998. absolutely central to it (like the transpor- 25 percent of total employment in 1970 and Industrial employment has fallen sharply tation of goods and the provision of com- 32 percent in 1990. There is a small fall in in a number of countries over the last three puter software). “total goods and goods-related services” decades — in Britain and Belgium by a What is more, some of the shift from — from 76 percent of all employment to third, and in France by more than a quar- “industry” to the “service sector” amounts 69 percent.15 But this is certainly not a ter. But these do not represent a to no more than a change in the name revolutionary transformation in the world deindustrialisation of the whole of the ad- given to essentially similar jobs. Someone of work. He points out that in 1990, “free vanced industrial world, but rather a re- (usually a man) who worked a typesetting standing services” only accounted for 31 structuring of industry within it. The number machine for a newspaper publisher 30 percent of all employment,16 and con- of industrial jobs in the advanced industrial years ago would have been classified as a cludes, “Goods-related production is still countries as a whole was 112 million in 1998 particular sort of industrial worker (a generating directly or indirectly about two — 25 million more than in 1951 and only “print worker”); someone (usually a thirds of all employment in the typical ad- 7.4 million less than in 1971. woman) working a word processing termi- vanced economy, despite all the talk about nal for a newspaper publisher today will a post-industrial economy”.17 Industry and services be classified as a “service worker”. But the These figures for industrial employ- work performed remains essentially the The non-marketed services sector ment, it should be added, underestimate same, and the final product more or less But even Rowthorn’s figures consider- the economic importance of industry in identical. Someone who works in a factory ably underestimate the size of the work- general and manufacturing in particular. putting food into a tin so that people can ing class — that class whose labour is es- As Bob Rowthorn has rightly noted, “Al- warm it up to eat at home is a “manufac- sential for the accumulation of capital. most every conceivable economic activity turing worker”; someone who toils in a fast Many of Rowthorn’s “free standing serv- in modern society makes use of manufac- food shop to provide near-identical food ices” are essential to such accumulation in tured goods… Many of the expanding to people who do not have time to warm it the modern world. Two in particular are service industries make use of large up at home is a “service worker”. Some- absolutely indispensable for capitalist ac- amounts of equipment”.12 one who processes bits of metal to make a cumulation today — health provision and The small decline in the total industrial computer is a “manufacturing worker”; the education service. workforce is not because industry has be- someone who processes software for it on The core of the health system of any come less important, but because produc- a keyboard is a “service worker”. modern capitalist country is concerned tivity per employee in industry has risen The trend in recent years has been to- with ensuring that the labour force is fit more quickly than in “services”. Slightly wards firms “contracting out” certain op- and able to work. It is there to make sure fewer manufacturing workers are produc- erations that used to be carried out “in the next generation of labour power is fit ing many more goods than three decades house” — for instance, catering and secu- and well, and to patch up the members of ago. Their overall importance for the rity. The result is that jobs once included the present generation if they suffer some economy has not changed. Between 1973 in the “industry” figure now appear under ailment that removes them from the labour and 1990, output in the advanced OECD services. The Engineering Employers’ Fed- market temporarily. Even where this countries grew by an average of 2.5 per- eration in Britain has pointed out: health provision takes place through the

12 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 The working class

British Telecom call centre, England

state, and so is not bought and sold, it is workers come from manual working class porting goods to markets, and therefore still an indispensable accompaniment to backgrounds, a third from a clerical back- closeness to markets is an advantage. capitalist production. ground and only a third from the so called The result is that most of the restruc- This is, if anything, even truer of the “professional-managerial service class”.20 turing of industry over the last three dec- education service. It grew up in the 19th Whereas their grandmothers most probably ades has usually been within the world’s century as capitalism found it had to train stayed at home after marriage, toiling to existing industrial regions. As Rowthorn up its workforce to certain basic levels of bring up the next working class generation, explains: literacy and numeracy (as well as disci- they expect to work all their adult life, com- pline) if they were to be productive. It ex- bining the toil of paid employment with the The developed world is now mostly panded through the 20th century to en- added burden of childcare and housework. divided into three blocs, comprising compass longer and longer years of school- What is happening is a feminisation of a North America, Western Europe and ing, as the average levels of skills needed huge area of waged labour. Japan. These blocs are largely self by the system rose. In nearly all countries contained in sophisticated the main sections of the education system The myth of instant mobility manufactured goods.23 remain in state hands. It does not sell com- The claim that the “permanent” worker modities. Nevertheless, it too is indispen- is a thing of the past is often connected with There has, of course, been a shift in cer- sable for production. Those who are work- the claim that employers can move produc- tain manufacturing industries to states ing within it are working for capital accu- tion — and jobs — at a moment’s notice. which were not industrialised 40 years ago mulation, even when they do not produce So Hardt and Negri write: — otherwise the phenomenon of the Newly anything that is sold.18 Industrialising Countries (NICs) and of cer- The bulk of the health and education The informatisation of production tain expanding industries in “underdevel- workforce is subject to continual pressure and the increasing importance of oped” countries would be inexplicable. to work at a capitalist tempo for a level of immaterial production have tended to Rowthorn estimates that the total job remuneration determined by the labour free capital from the constraints of loss from all the advanced countries market. They are for this reason part of the territory, and capital can withdraw through this shift has only been about 6 global working class, even though many from negotiation with a given local million jobs, or 2 percent of total employ- continue to regard themselves as superior population by moving its site to ment (compared with total unemployment to the manual working class. another point in the global network… of around 35 million in these countries). Entire labouring populations, which Baldoz, Koeber and Kraft point out that The nature of the service workforce had enjoyed a certain stability and the restructuring of industry in the US has There is a widespread myth that the contractual power, have thus found not involved a net flow of jobs abroad: “service” workforce consists of well paid themselves in increasingly precarious “The US now has a larger percentage of people with control over their own work- employment situations.21 the workforce working for wages than at ing situation who never need to get their any time since the 1950s — and for aston- hands dirty. This vastly exaggerates the movement ishingly long hours”.24 In fact, however, any proper breakdown of capital, and the ease with which firms Some industries find it easier to move of the figures for “service” employment can move their operations from one place than others. So, for instance, clothing is a provides a very different picture to this. to another. particularly mobile line of production. The Some of the most important “services in- As I have explained elsewhere,22 capi- basic equipment — shears for cutting, sew- dustries” employ overwhelmingly “manual tal as money (ie finance) can move at the ing machines, presses — is light, cheap, and workers” of the “traditional” sort. Refuse touch of a computer key from one loca- the products are relatively easy to fly from workers, hospital ancillary workers, dock- tion to another (although determined gov- one part of the world to another.25 Not ers, lorry drivers, bus and train drivers, ernments can still impede its movement). surprisingly, many of the stories about postal workers are all part of the “service” But capital as means of production finds firms shutting down and moving when workforce. And a very big part. In Britain, it much more difficult to do so. Physical faced with rising labour and other costs are in September 2001 “distribution, hotels, equipment has to be uninstalled and rein- about this industry. But even here there and restaurants” accounted for 6.7 million stalled, transport has to be arranged for are limitations to mobility. Production of jobs and “transport and communication” goods produced, a reliable workforce with high quality goods can still be based in for 1.79 million.19 the requisite skills found, and so on. It is a advanced countries. So there were 112,190 The great majority of white collar work- process that is usually expensive, taking workers in the garment industry in New ers are in fact women from working class years rather than seconds. What is more, York city in 1990. And they certainly were backgrounds. In Britain, a third of clerical physical production depends upon trans- not all “informational” workers — 64,476

Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 13 The working class

were production workers (mostly for- anti-capitalist demonstrations in Genoa about “post-industrial society” then be- eign born) and only 13,522 were “profes- and Barcelona was the beginning of the come an excuse for a narrowness of vision sionals and managers”.26 At the time, the involvement of organised workers in the and action that ignores the great majority total number of garment workers in the protests. It fails to locate the most impor- of the working class. US was around 300,000. tant deficiency of the movement in Argen- What has been wonderful about the last tina to date — the ability of trade union two and a half years since the anti-World Conclusion bureaucracies to build a wall between Trade Organisation protests in Seattle is The overall picture is not one of a dis- employed workers on the one hand and the way in which a new generation of ac- integrating or declining working class. It is the neighbourhood and unemployed tivists has arisen to challenge the system. one of a working class that on a world scale workers’ movements on the other. But what increasingly matters now is for has grown bigger than ever. The mistake is to see movements of dis- this generation to find ways to connect The majority of the world’s population parate social groups as “social subjects” with the great mass of ordinary workers does still belong to other subordinate capable of bringing about a transformation who as well as suffering under the system classes. In China, the Indian subcontinent of society. They are not. Because their base have the collective strength to fight it. That and much of Africa the peasantry outnum- is not centred in collective organisation is the lesson of Genoa. That is the lesson ber the workers. There are cases in Africa rooted in production, they cannot chal- of Buenos Aires. That is the lesson ignored and parts of Latin America of those un- lenge the control over that production by those who provide a distorted account able to find work in the cities attempting which is central to ruling class power. They of the realities of production under present to re-establish themselves as small farm- can create problems for particular govern- day capitalism, writing off the class whose ers. In some of the world’s biggest cities, ments. But they cannot begin the process exploitation keeps the system going. the permanent workers are outnumbered of rebuilding society from the bottom up. by the floating population of the self em- And in practice, the workers who could * Chris Harman is the editor of Socialist ployed, the unemployed and those with begin to do this only play a marginal role Worker newspaper in Britain. occasional casual jobs. In the advanced in them. Talk about “rainbow coalitions” This article is a cut-down version of an industrial countries there still exists the old or “multitudes” conceals that relative lack article from International Socialism, the theo- petty bourgeoisie of small shop keepers, of involvement in the movement of those retical journal of the British Socialist Work- publicans, small businessmen and profes- working long hours at manual or routine ers Party. The full version, which is five times sionals, and alongside it is the new middle white collar jobs — and with extra hours longer, contains much more detail about on class of middle managers. of unpaid labour bringing up children. It the issues covered here, and about workers in Workers often live, work and have fam- underplays the degree to which the move- ‘Third World’ countries. ily ties with members of these other classes. ments remain dominated by those whose Copies of the full article are available from They can be influenced by the mood of occupations leave them most time and Socialist Worker, box 13-685 Auckland, for $4, these other classes — but they can also energy to be active. Fashionable theories including postage. exert a decisive influence on their mood. Certain issues encourage such different groupings to fight together. Community struggles erupt which unite all those who live in a certain lower class locality, regard- less of the way in which they make their livelihood. They can share the experience of taking to the streets and of confronting those at the top of society together. It is in these struggles that notions of “the masses”, “the people” the “multitude” or the rainbow coalition seem to fit better than the notion of class. The most recent examples of such mass, multi-class up- surges were the wave of cacerolazo dem- onstrations from the inner city neighbour- hoods of Buenos Aires that swept the De la Rua and Rodriguez Sáa governments Teachers and students from Northcote Collage on Auckland’s North Shore rally during from power in Argentina at the turn of the a wildcat strike. year — and the neighbourhood asemblea organisations that grew out of them.27 Notes M Hodgson et al (eds), Capitalism in Evolution (Cheltenham, The anti-capitalist movement itself has 2001), p127. some of the same characteristics. Its initial 13 Ibid. 1 M Hardt and A Negri, Empire (Harvard, 2001). 14 Report in Financial Times, 12 February 2002. base, like that of the first movement of the 2 N Klein, No Logo (London, 2000), p223. 15 R E Rowthorn, op cit. late 1960s, has been among people not 3 C Harman, A People’s History of the World (London, 1999), p615. 16 Ibid. 4 D Filmer, “Estimating the World at Work”, background report for 17 Ibid, p131. firmly rooted in the productive process — World Bank, World Development Report 1995 (Washington DC, 18 I spelt out some of the arguments here in greater depth in C students, school students, young people not 1995). Available on World Bank website, http:// Harman, Explaining the Crisis: A Marxist Reassessment (London, yet trapped into permanent jobs, workers monarch.worldbank.org/pub/decweb/WorkingPapers/ 1984), pp105-108. WPS1400Series/wps1488 19 Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey (London, 2001). who take part in its activities as individu- 5 That is, “Mining and quarrying, manufacturing, gas, electricity and 20 Ibid, p20. als without any clear sense of class iden- water, and construction.” 21 M Hardt and A Negri, op cit. 6 That is, “Trade, transport, banking, commercial services, not 22 See C Harman, “The State and Capitalism Today”, International tity, lower professionals. As a descriptive adequately defined or described.” Socialism 51 (Summer 1991), and C Harman, “Globalisation: A term for such movements, “multitude” is 7 There are another 1,200 million people of working age whose Critique of a New Orthodoxy”, op cit. not completely misplaced. A disparate coa- labour is for their own households, and so is not counted, even 23 R E Rowthorn, op cit, p136. though many of them, especially in the countryside, would also 24 R Baldoz et al, op cit, p9. lition of forces has come together to pro- have been involved in assisting in other sorts of work. 25 Although, I personally was quite surprised at the sophistication of vide a new and massively important focus 8 See, for example, my calculation for the size of the new middle class the equipment, with computer terminals attached to sewing in Britain, in C Harman, “The Working Class After the machines, in the Bruckman factory in Buenos Aires, which had for the struggle against the system after Recession”, International Socialism 33 (Autumn 1986). been occupied by its workforce. two decades of defeat and demoralisation. 9 Figures given by C H Feinstein, “Structural Change in the Developed 26 F Palpacuer, “Development of Core-Periphery Forms of But the glorification of disparateness Countries in the 20th Century”, Oxford Review of Economic Organisation: Some Lessons from the New York Garment Policy, vol 15, no 4 (Winter 1999), table A1. Industry”, International Labour Organisation, http:// embodied in the term prevents people see- 10 “Introduction”, in R Baldoz et al, The Critical Study of Work: www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/papers/1997/dp95/ ing what needs to be done next to build Labor, Technology and Global Production (Philadelphia, 2001), appndx.htm p7. 27 For a longer description of these, see C Harman, “Argentina: the movement. It does not recognise that 11 M Hardt and A Negri, op cit, p286. Rebellion at the Sharp End of the World Crisis”, International what was so important about the massive 12 R E Rowthorn, “Where are the Advanced Economies Going?”, in G Socialism 94 (Spring 2002).

14 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 Interview ‘We need to look at new models’

METIRIA TUREI, the newly elected Green Party list MP is known for her involvement in the anarchist, cannabis law reform and tino rangatiratanga movements. DAVID COLYER talked with her about her views on political change.

In your maiden speech you talk about What about some of the immediate trade agreement, and its relationship the importance of having a political steps, in terms of implementing the to our genetic engineering stance, is a presence “on the streets and in the ‘big treaty and tino rangatiratanga? good example of how the community house’”. How do you see these We can make some changes to legis- is being put at risk because of the needs interacting? lation that give Maori more control of corporate globalisation and corpo- There’s a lot of change that you can’t over things: Resource Management Act, rate greed. make happen without being certain that Local Government Act, education, even there is a lot of grassroots support for it. in health. Who do you see as making those Me and the Green MPs, we don’t have There’s a whole lot of areas where choices? the kind of political power we might have we can say: Politicians, the government, or the had if we had been in coalition, so we “We will step back. We [the govern- executive [cabinet ministers]. have freedom to generate activity and ment] will provide the resources, but They’ve got the power to decided challenge things. other than that the decisions about not to enter into any more free trade Often it’s difficult for grassroots how you manage it is yours.” agreements, or to refuse to allow the movements if they don’t have political Kura and Kohanga and Wananga are growing of genetic engineered crops. allies who have some kind of influence a good example of a parallel process on the political agenda, issues get that works very well. Do you think a Green-majority marginalised very quickly, you don’t get government could stand up to the the media attention. You talked about the Treaty as a power of the corporations? So it’s very much a tied-in relationship. potential protection against Yes, absolutely. We keep getting All the power is not in the politicians’ globalisation. That would require a trapped in the notion that the way hands. It’s potentially in the people’s full implementation of the Treaty. things are going now is the way things hands if you can work together. There’s lots of different ideas of how have always been and that’s the way a government could work under the they will stay for ever. And it’s com- You use the an analogy of the cage Treaty. pletely untrue. [representing the state] and wanting to I’m not a big fan of government. We have huge changes of economic get rid of the cage, how do you see that And I’m not convinced that a Maori and political philosophy, the last one is coming about? government as such is the answer, be- only fifteen years old. Huge, huge It’s an evolutionary process. Although, cause that’s essentially the same system. changes in everything and then five I’m not sure if there is the capacity for We need to step away and look at new years later it becomes the norm and revolutionary process inside that. I don’t models. nobody thinks it could be different. But think there’s [an existing] recipe for it. Cooption becomes a real threat. of course it could be different. I don’t know how long it will take. It What you could end up with is people In some countries the lives of Green depends on what kind of transformation that are committed to the corporate politicians are in danger, because of we are talking about. process and not to tikanga Maori. their anti-globalisation, anti-corporate If we are talking about the actual dis- You have to find ways for everyone power approach. mantling of the state, so that we have to be involved, rather than it being That sort of thing is more hidden community decision making, I think we another elite process. here, but not necessarily beyond the are talking about a very long time, I don’t Maybe the Treaty could provide a possibility. Maybe it’s a risk we’d have think we’re talking in my lifetime or my different model. to take. daughters lifetime, maybe in her child’s A whole different system — a whole lifetime. different concept about the way you What do you see as being the key But I don’t think that kind of social govern, about the way you manage re- questions, ideas and debates that the change should happen dramatically, be- sources or the way that people are in- left needs to address at the moment? cause the capacity of people to take back volved in decision making. Divisive politics internally. We need control over their lives is a long, hard- to think more clearly about the goals fought one, and people need to come to Do you see the state as being separate we are trying to achieve and make sure that slowly. But if you don’t start mov- from the private power of the we work together as much as possible ing you’ll never get there. corporations? Then, trying to find solutions to But if we are talking about things like It probably was designed to be. practical problems, like poverty. the implementation of the Treaty, using Could you say that about it now? I don’t I spent this whole interview only a state structure, that could happen in think so. talking about generalisations, so I di- my lifetime. I think I said that in my speech, “if it rect that comment at myself, We could have bi-cultural structures chooses” it can protect us, but it [We need to] look for solutions and and systems where Maori values are part doesn’t. be able to put them forward as cred- of the fabric of everything that we are Free trade agreements are a really ible ones, even though they are not doing. good example. The proposed US free part of the dominant paradigm.

Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 15 Comment Review Why socialists oppose terrorism THE

The bombing of the Bali nightclub and the hostage crisis in Moscow have raised the issue of terrorism once again. KANE FORBES gives a socialist perspective. FORGOTTEN Socialists dislike violence and oppose indiscriminate bombings of civilians. The world’s big powers, however, have a different position. In the last decade the US has bombed hospitals, facto- ries and schools in Afghanistan, Iraq, Serbia, Somalia and elsewhere, killing thousands of innocent civilians. PEOPLE Because the powerful keep their wealth and privilege through such state force, those at the bottom have the Nickel and Dimed right to use counter-force. Barbara Ehrenreich One response to capitalist oppression is terrorism. Granta This involves a desperate attempt by a minority to sub- stitute themselves for mass action, which undermines the Anti-war activists are fre- organisation of a mass challenge to the system. That’s why quently accused of anti-Ameri- terrorism is doomed to fail. can bias, of blaming all Ameri- Capitalism is built on economic relations between so- cans for their government’s cial classes. actions. This is very far from Since it doesn’t rely solely on the power of politicians, the truth. Anti-capitalists have or on buildings used to administer government or eco- long been aware of the extent nomic activities, it cannot simply be eliminated with them. to which the US, like the rest Workers weren’t just sidelined by the terrorist attacks of the world, is divided be- on September 11 last year, thousands of them were killed tween a tiny minority who and injured. benefit from global capitalism In these conditions, the government has an excuse to and the overwhelming mass of take even more power under the guise of “fighting ter- people who produce the rorism”. Racists have more room to scapegoat refugees wealth but, in the race for the as potential terrorists. Corporates look to make a killing bottom, are denied even a liv- from another US war on a “rogue state”. ing wage. services now control 20 to 25 Socialists want a classless society run in everyone’s in- Barbara Ehrenreich’s new percent of the housecleaning terests, not just those of the rich and powerful. This will book, Nickel and Dimed, ex- business and claim to be grow- happen through the united actions of workers and other plores what it’s like to live on ing by about 20 percent a year. grassroots people. low wages in the US. It should Ehrenreich worked as a On the streets of Seattle in late 1999, anti-capitalist be required reading for any- cleaner and a nursing home sentiment crystallised into a movement uniting workers, one given to spouting on aide (at the same time) and environmentalists, students and others. about the US being the land was able to feed and house Since then, massive protests have greeted summits of of freedom and democracy. herself while doing both jobs. the world’s rulers. 300,000 anti-capitalists were at Genoa Ehrenreich took almost a year As a waitress and an “associ- last July demanding a new world. out of her “real” life as a ate” with giant department These mass mobilisations have been inspired by, and writer to see whether the 4 store Wal-Mart, she would in turn inspire, upturns in struggle by workers in the West million or so women who have ended up homeless since and the poor in the Third World. were thrown onto the labour neither paid well enough to A similar mood is building here in Aotearoa. From the market by Clinton’s welfare cover the rent on even the GE-free and anti-war movements, to the teachers’ strikes “reforms” could actually live nastiest bedsit. and school students’ rebellion, more people are getting on US$6 or US$7 an hour A footnote tells us that the involved in the fight for a better world. which most unskilled jobs in last few years have seen a These broad movements are an antidote to both the the US offer. The result is a steady decline in the number oppression of capitalism and the feeling of powerlessness wonderful book that exposes of affordable apartments na- that fuels terrorism. the realities of life for low-in- tionwide. In 1991 there were come workers in the US, but 47 affordable rental units does it in the can’t put down, available to every 100 low-in- page-turning way normally as- come families — by 1997 there sociated with thrillers or de- were only 36 such units for tective novels. You’ll find your- every 100 families. self wanting to get back to the While working for US$7 an book to see whether she’ll be hour in Minneapolis, she able to make this month’s learned that in 1997 the Jobs rent! And most of the time it Now Coalition there estimated is the rent that causes most that a “living wage” for a sin- trouble. gle parent supporting a single Nickel and Dimed is full of child in the area was US$11.77 facts and figures (mostly in an hour, but no one had up- footnotes). We discover, for dated this “living wage” to example, that 7.8 million peo- take account of accelerating Aftermath of the Bali bombing ple in the US had two or more rent inflation in the years 1999 jobs in 1996, that cleaning and 2000. To be considered

16 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 Review

“affordable”, rents are sup- 37 percent. As Ehrenreich The “unskilled” workers vation so that inflation will be posed to take less than 30 per- points out, economists explain who are paid least under glo- low and stock prices high.” cent of one’s income. But this by pointing to the law of bal capitalism, Ehrenreich re- Like all anti-capitalists, she housing analysts report that supply and demand. When she minds us, are “the major phi- looks forward to the day when almost two thirds of poor ten- was working for US$6 or US$7 lanthropists of our society. they tire of getting so little in ants, amounting to a total of an hour, there was supposed They neglect their own chil- return and demand to be paid 4.4 million households, spend to be a labour shortage. Yet dren so that the children of what they’re worth. This book more than half their income this did not lead to an increase others will be cared for; they is a great contribution to the on shelter. She was unable to in wages. Indeed, Alan live in substandard housing so anti-capitalist movement. discover how many people in Greenspan of the Federal Re- that other homes will be shiny the US live in cars and vans, serve has gone so far as to sug- and perfect; they endure pri- GORETTI HORGAN but many of her workmates gest that the economic laws lived in their cars. Quite a few linking low unemployment to lived in trailer parks where a wage increases may no longer tiny trailer [caravan] cost from operate. US$400 to US$700 a month de- While much of this sounds pending on location. Others harrowing — and it is, Return ticket had moved back to their par- Ehrenreich manages to make ents’ home with their children. you laugh out loud quite a lot. Others shared motel rooms The “personality tests” that with two or three others, of- have become a routine part of from Welsh ten with people who were nei- hiring in the US are hilarious ther relatives nor friends. They — the “right” answers to the Porno were living in motel rooms questions are obvious to any- Irvine Welsh because they could not get the one: “Do I work well with oth- Jonathan Cape deposit together for a trailer ers? You bet, but never to the or the cheapest bedsit. Sounds point where I would hesitate Ten years on, the characters from Trainspotting have returned, familiar? to inform on them for the this time to make a porn movie. Just as house prices are ex- slightest infraction. Am I capa- Irvine Welsh sets up a series of neatly timed coincidences to cluded here from the figures ble of independent decision bring them back to Edinburgh along with a new character, the that determine inflation lev- making? Oh yes, but I know beautiful but bulimic student Nikki Fuller-Smith. els, so in the US the official better than to let this capac- Renton, the one who ran off with the money in Trainspotting, poverty rate, which has re- ity interfere with a slavish obe- is using the proceeds to run a successful dance club in Amsterdam. mained at about 13 percent dience to orders.” Spud, still struggling to stay off heroin, learns about working class for years, excludes the cost of Every socialist who has ever history. Meanwhile, Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson thinks a porn housing. The official poverty gone for a job interview will movie with “a great script and really sound production values” is level is calculated using the recognise this: “The effort to the way to make money. cost of food. But food is rela- look both perky and compli- Nikki is to be the star and her enthusiasm for the role is tively inflation-proof. In the ant at the same time, for half matched by the disgust of her feminist flatmate Lauren. The two early 1960s, for example, food an hour or more at a stretch discuss women and pornography as the movie is made. Although accounted for 24 percent of [is draining], because while the general conclusion is that porn is degrading, Lauren’s the average family budget you need to evince “initia- arguments are weak and moralistic. and housing 29 percent. In tive”, you don’t want to come Porno is clever and engaging. The overall impression of the 1999 food took up only 16 across as someone who might book is that humanity is both brutal and unchanging. percent of the family budget, initiate something like a union while housing had soared to organising drive.” JULES BROWN

Letter

TAKE THE WEALTH the food is there, rotting on supermar- except in mans’ own mind. ket shelves. We cannot say we do not Now I see the power imbalance as hu- AND DISTRIBUTE have the technology to help these peo- man. People have the wealth and people ple we see on our TV screens. Why don’t must realise that the wealth is there to I was raised religious, suburban, with a the people of this world simply take the take and distribute evenly. The only prob- clear idea of a “system” keeping the wealth and distribute? lem is we have to make that world our- world in place. In my childhood I have Why are we so pre-occupied with pro- selves, we can’t just wait for God or poli- experienced poverty, without a car, ducing more and more bullshit extrava- tics to do it for us. television set, or anything beyond the gances that “force” us to have to spend Thank you for the magazine, it’s a nice simplest and sparsest meals. more and more money? Why do people change from mainstream media. I have seen the madness of religion; the feel the need to keep up with the high- desperate need to believe in something spending, fast-paced lifestyles they see IVAN that will save us from this oppression, this displayed to them through the media? I Wellington humiliation, this poverty in a land of know, from personal experience, how lit- plenty, this futile existence. I have wit- tle money is needed to keep a family alive. nessed the imbalance in this world, the So why do some people have all the pretence of justice; justice for those who power in the world, yet do nothing to Socialist Worker Monthly Review can afford it. help resolve the huge problems seen welcomes letters. I saw the starving billions, and to my around the world? innocent mind, the only problem was These are questions that have plagued Post: Box 13-685 Auckland deciding how we should feed and me throughout my childhood. I answered Fax: (09) 634 3936 clothe the masses. The wealth is there, them first through religion, but then I re- E-mail: [email protected] in this world, sitting in bank accounts; alised that God has never spoken to man

Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 17 Socialist Worker news Wellington: taking socialist ideas out to workers

Socialist Worker members and A supporter working for Tranz Metro petition for “No NZ support for the ‘war supporters in Wellington were busy last helped us get leaflets out to rail workers on terrorism’”, currently being promoted month taking socialist ideas out to about the recent rise in strikes and the nationwide by a coalition of peace workers. lack of support from union officials. groups. Our efforts to reach out through mass “They disappeared from the quiet We found the petition a great way to leafleting to the growing numbers room onto trains as people took them to strike up a discussion with people about looking for alternatives to capitalism and read”, he said. getting more involved in the anti-war war got results. The leaflets sparked discussion. movement. Over 300 signatures were On October 2, we set up an anti-war “People were interested in what you had collected. stall at the annual conference of the to say about the officials.” Around 170 copies of Socialist Worker polytech lecturers’ union, Aste. A supporter at Massey University Monthly Review were sold in October as According to one union activist, helped us get a Socialist Worker anti-war well, and 22 more people gave their Socialist Worker leaflets helped win the stall back up and running on the campus contact details to stay in touch with vote that Aste should oppose America’s after months in recess. Socialist Worker and get involved with war on Iraq. These efforts came on top of our anti-war activities. We also took the anti-war message to regular weekly stalls in Cuba Mall Next month, our efforts will be the union conferences of secondary (Saturday) and Petone (Thursday) and directed at building for the anti-war teachers and primary teachers and to at Wellington railway station during protest planned for December 14. workers coming off shift at the Griffins Friday rush hour. factory in Lower Hutt. Our regular stalls also featured the • GRANT BROOKES

Socialist books

Women and the Struggle for Socialism

In Women and the Struggle for Socialism, Norah Carlin draws on the experiences of the British Socialist Workers Party in the 1984–5 miners’ strike. The strike drew large numbers of women into struggle in support of the coal miners, a male-dominated workforce under attack from Margaret Thatcher, Brit- ain’s first woman prime minister. The 1980s were a time of demoralisation on the left. Like many other radical movements that arose in the 1960s and ’70s, the women’s liberation movement was in decline. The ’80s were also a time when socialists in Britain worked to update their theoretical understanding of the world in light of the dramatic changes of the previous decades. This booklet benefits from these intense ideological debates between and within the different currents of the women’s liberation movement. As a result, although it was written nearly 20 years ago for a British audience, this booklet remains one of the best short accounts of the Marxist analysis of how women are oppressed, and how women’s liberation can be won.

The Prophet and the Proletariat

Islamic fundamentalism has emerged as the ideology that Western politicians and media pundits most like to hate. The kind of abuse once reserved for ‘com- munism’ is now diredcted at the Islamic movements which threaten to destabilise key areas of Western influence in the Middle East and beyond. But the campaign against Islamism has found allies on the left among those fearful that it threatens an irrationalist, even fascist, backlash. Chris Harman charts a careful course through the contradictions of Islamism, revealing its class roots and arguing that when the Islamists are in opposition the socialist attitude should be ‘with the state never, with the Islamists sometimes’. He goes on to show in which circumstances Islamism plays a reactionary role and in which circumstances the Islamic challenge the establishment.

Both books are available for $4 each (including postage) from Box 13-685 Auckland

18 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 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 socialism depends on spreading ★ AUCKLAND Capitalism is a system of exploita- tion which generates inequality, crisis working class revolutions around the Meets 7.30pm every Tuesday at the and war. Although workers create world. Trade Union Centre, 147 Great North society’s wealth, it is controlled by the Rd, Grey Lynn. Transport available. ruling class for its own selfish ends. LIBERATION FROM Socialism can only be built when OPPRESSION the working class takes control of Phone: Len 634 3984 We fight for democratic rights. We social wealth and democratically plans Email: [email protected] oppose the oppression of women, its production and distribution to meet Maori, Pacific Islanders, lesbians and human needs, not private profits. This gays. ★ TAURANGA will eliminate all class divisions in All forms of oppression are used to society. divide the working class. Phone: Tony 544 1859 Stalinist countries such as China We support the right of all op- Email: [email protected] and Cuba, just like the former Soviet pressed groups to organise for their Union and the Eastern bloc, have own defence. Their liberation is ★ ROTORUA nothing to do with socialism. They are essential to socialist revolution and state capitalist. We support the impossible without it. Phone: Bernie 345 9853 struggles of workers against every Email: [email protected] dictatorial stalinist ruling class. TINO RANGATIRATANGA We support the struggle for Maori ★ NEW PLYMOUTH REVOLUTION NOT self determination. REFORMISM The government’s approach to Email: [email protected] The present system cannot be Treaty claims has benefited a Maori reformed to end exploitation and elite while doing little for working class ★ WELLINGTON oppression, contrary to what Alliance, Maori. Labour and union leaders claim. It Tino rangatiratanga cannot be Meets 7.30pm every Monday at Room must be overthrown by the working achieved within capitalism. It will only 2, Crossways (back entrance), class. become a reality with the establish- Elizabeth St, Mt Victoria. Capitalism’s parliament, army, police ment of a workers’ state. and judiciary protect the ruling class. Phone: Grant 566 8538 These institutions cannot be taken over REVOLUTIONARY PARTY Fax: (04) 566 8532 and used by the working class. To achieve socialism the most Email: [email protected] To pave the way to socialism the militant sections of the working class working class needs a new kind of have to be organised into a mass ★ CHRISTCHURCH state—a democratic workers state revolutionary socialist party. based on workers councils and We are in the early stages of Phone: Don 385 5268 workers militia. building such a party through involve- Email: [email protected] ment in the day-to-day struggles of INTERNATIONALISM workers and the oppressed. The Socialist Workers Organisation ★ TIMARU Workers in every country are exploited by capitalism, so the struggle must grow in size and influence to Phone: Vaughan 686 6498 for socialism is global. provide leadership in the struggle for We campaign for solidarity with working class self-emancipation. We need to revitalise the unions ★ NATIONAL OFFICE workers in other countries. We fight racism and imperialism. We oppose all with a rank-and-file movement. Socialist Worker members elsewhere immigration controls. We support all If you like our ideas and want to fight for socialism, then join us. in Aotearoa and our sister genuine national liberation struggles. organisations overseas can be contacted through Socialist Worker’s national office.

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Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002 19 Industrial Action A new column by DON FRANKS Stuck on an island with Ross “If you were stuck on a desert island and women’ s choirs — are only good for a self, it’ s had one good review. The Auck- only allowed to take one book, which laugh. land Herald praised it as a “positive step”, would you choose?” Although generations of workers all which makes the CTU “look modern and Council of Trade Union President Ross over the world have fought and died for moderate”. The Herald, top champion of Wilson says: the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, big business , probably likes the book’ s “Tough to choose from the essential and the tradition continues today, revolu- comment that the CTU: “has much in classics I always keep close by — works tion isn’ t the only tradition in the workers common with business representatives by Trotsky, Engels, Marx (the fifth brother, movement. and other stake holders who want to see who inspired puppet theatres around the So, if Ross Wilson thinks socialist books New Zealand lift its sustainable growth world). I’ d probably plump for an edition are just a joke — what favourite volume rate.” of Das Kapital with bright red covers and would he really take to that island if he (Any unionist really wanting to read the a centrefold popout of the Kremlin…” had to get on the boat tomorrow? whole 28 page argument that workers For more of this stuff from Ross look The latest CTU publication: Unions, should cooperate with bosses can get a up the September 28th issue of the Domin- Innovation & Sustainable development copy of Ross’ s book at the central CTU ion. You’ ll see that, to Ross Wilson, anti- might be the one. office. A huge cardboard carton of unread capitalism, revolution — and even union Not only did Ross help write it him- copies is sitting behind the reception desk.) How to get economic justice Unions, Innovation & Sustainable develop- union, and, just a couple of minutes ago ment is against “ an economic strategy the following appeal for support flashed which increases income disparities”. It sug- up on my computer screen: gests workers can get economic justice by “Please bring to the attention of all “adopting a modern social partnership movers and shakers… 42 Service Workers model of unionism… ready and willing to and Nurses union members walk off rest work with government and business”. home job in protest at lack of political will Apparently, “the new Employment and bosses’ reluctance after last minute Relations Act provides an excellent frame- negotiations. This is a more-than-12- work” for this, because (as well as banning month-old dispute that is tip of the iceberg most kinds of strikes) it “encourages co- of oppression of a skilled and caring operation, mediation and goodfaith rela- workforce of more than 25,000 women tionships.” nationally. They earn frequently less than Since the formation of the CTU its lead- $10 an hour and have fluctuating hours and ers have made partnership with business terms and conditions… this strike is symp- and government their central strategy. tomatic of more strife that will occur while That strategy has failed. employers and the government continue Union membership now stands at only to ignore the health sector… After more 17% of the workforce. than a year of negotiations we are at the A visibly worried CTU Secretary Paul point where staff have no choice but to Goulter recently admitted to activists: take action… further strikes proposed “The fact is, we’ ve made no headway early November.” at all in building the union movement since CTU leaders may be “ready and the Employment Relations Act came in. willing to work with government and We’ve been standing still and getting business”. smaller.” The e-mail above from the striking Income disparity has also worsened. nurses is a reminder that rank and file The minimum wage was 83% of the workers are otherwise preoccupied, tak- average wage in 1947 — today its just 44%. Auckland Hospital kitchen workers, ing direct action to defend themselves Today’ s income disparity sees union- members of the SFWU, on strike. against capitalist abuse. ised junior staff at Wellington’s top store, Kirkcaldies getting $7.00 an hour to serve those who can afford over five thousand bucks for a chair or a rug or a clock. The CTU’ s partnership solution won’t help those young workers. WATCH THIS SPACE If anything, it makes things worse, by At the recent SFWU conference Labour MP Winnie Laban concluded her speech by disarming some unionists with false hopes encouraging Labour voting unionists to “keep kicking our butt”. of a soft option. One delegate immediately obliged, demanding to know what the government Everyday reality makes nonsense of the was going to do for the thousands of very low paid workers who were “slipping partnership dream. behind the middle class.” A very common complaint among del- Winnie said that Labour MPs who had previously been union officials were egates at the recent Service and Food very worried about this and had decided to “address the issue” by talking to Workers Union conference was of bosses Labour minister Margret Wilson about it. paying workers extra to stay out of the “Industrial Action” will investigate what results from this and report back.

20 Socialist Worker Monthly Review November 2002