The Significance of the 1912 Waihi Strike
This year marks the centenary of the 1912 Waihi miners’ strike, one of the most important – and violently contested – strikes in New Zealand history. Frederick Evans was matyred; political ideas and organisational questions clarified; and the role and force of the state made clear. The strike offers many lessons for today. To mark the occasion, […]
Auckland bus drivers’ spirit prevails over dead hand of union bureaucrats
At a mass meeting Auckland bus drivers working for NZ Bus Ltd had thrown out a pay deal recommended to them by the First Union and the Tramways Union, and the drivers were set to strike on Monday, September 24, and every Monday thereafter. Every socialist and trade unionist should be aware of what happened […]
Issue 40: Editorial
This issue of Socialist Review takes up two key debates in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In a six page feature Andrew Tait looks at the debate raging over Māori rights over fresh water. It is argued that power companies should not be for profit but run for need by the workers who work them alongside representatives of […]
South Africa: Miners strike back
Some 4,000 striking Marikana platinum miners confronted heavily armed police and strike spread to other mines. They chanted “The white men are shaking!” and “The police who shot us are shaking!” in the face off at the mine. The strike remains solid despite an agreement reached between management and the official miners’ union the NUM. The striking […]
Frustration spreads protest around world
What started as little-seen, low budget, YouTube video in July became a trigger for demonstrations throughout the world in September. Josh Lees from Socialist Alternative was at the protest in Sydney. Hundreds of police have savagely and repeatedly attacked a Sydney demonstration opposing racist insults to Islam. Police used tasers, pepper spray, police dogs and […]
Māori money: A giant awakes?
Iwi corporates, estimated to be worth $37 billion in 2010, are changing the rules of New Zealand’s economy and politics. Māori capital has been criticised from the red-neck right as rent-seekers, from the left as an iwi aristocracy, and from within Māoridom itself. But in two major battles this year, Māoridom’s elite weighed in on […]
The Left, Imperialism, and the Syrian Revolution
Of the millions of people who have risen up in revolt across the Arab world these past 19 months, few have suffered as much for their courage as the revolutionaries fighting the Assad dictatorship in Syria. The decision of Bashar al-Assad’s regime to use the full force of his security forces against what was a […]
The class struggle today
During the whole of 2011 there were a mere 12 work stoppages and they involved barely 2,000 workers and only 4,850 person-days lost (to exploitation); so says the Department of Labour. Even worse, only 9 of the 12 stoppages were actual stoppages. The other 3 were what the DOL calls ‘partial strikes’, which are not […]
Review: The Significance of the 1912 Waihi Strike
Review: The Significance of the 1912 Waihi Strike Martin Gregory International Socialist Organisation, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-473-22214-7 $5 Reviewed by Andrew Cooper On Monday a force of thugs and scabs attacked the union hall under the gaze of the police with a hail of missiles. A plug of gelignite was thrown, exploding just outside the hall […]
Ports of Auckland signs agreement with scab union PortPro
It has been announced that the Ports of Auckland management have signed a collective agreement with the scab union PortPro that was established by 30 strikebreaking stevedores. This is a setback for the Maritime Union, which has been trying to negotiate a new collective agreement since August of 2011.
