Māori and Communism in the 1930s
The miseries of the Great Depression hit Māori workers particularly hard. Mass unemployment, poverty, slave-labour like conditions in relief works, poor housing and slumlords profiteering from renting out hovels – this was the fate of many hundreds of thousands of workers across the country. Māori workers, still concentrated in rural areas and in some of […]
Socialists gather in Sydney
Socialists from across Australia gathered in Sydney last weekend for a conference promoting Marxism and radical change in Australia and around the world. Over 360 people attended speeches and discussions on range of topics, from Marxist philosophy to fighting back against racism and the far right, and the crisis in Europe. It was the first […]
Who’s to blame for the Greek tragedy?
Unpayable debts, a catastrophic economic depression and teetering on the brink total collapse. How did Greece get into this position? The most popular answer is that public spending has been too high, and the government sector bloated. It sounds plausible when the entire story revolves around debt. After all, everyone knows that debt is the […]
Opinion: Capitalism and the Right to Die
Kevin Hodder, a member of the ISO, submitted this opinion piece to prompt reflection and debate. As I write this, Lecretia Seales, a terminally ill lawyer, waits to find out if the High Court will grant her doctor immunity from prosecution in the event that they aid Seales in committing a conscious act of suicide. […]
Nice Work if You Can Get It
Nice Work if You Can Get It; Notes from a Musician’s Diary By Don Franks (Steele Roberts, $19.99) If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be a fly on the wall of the social functions of the rich and powerful but not be tainted by that experience, then Don Frank’s Notes are […]
The Budget: State of the Nation
Bill English’s “boring budget” is full of miscommunications and misleading information, fairly typical of a right wing government that wants to hide what it really has planned. Included in this budget is the giving away of state land in Auckland, the continuation of massive changes in the public sector and of course wildly hopeful expectations […]
Budget 2015 – Normalising Poverty
Workers on welfare will get an extra $25 a week. This is the “take home message” of Budget 2015. After promising a “boring Budget”, and downplaying any expectations of help for children in poverty, Bill English has delivered a substantial increase to the money struggling families will receive. Of course, there are strings attached. The […]
The link between capitalism and racism
We live in an age of racism. In Australia, the federal and Western Australian governments’ attempt to drive Aboriginal people in remote communities from their land is only the latest episode in the war on Indigenous people. In the United States, there is an epidemic of police slayings of predominantly Black young men. In Europe, […]
Capitalism, land rights, and Aboriginal resistance
Aboriginal land rights have been articulated and fought for by generations of Aboriginal freedom fighters, activists, unionists, campaigners, community groups and their supporters for more than 200 years. Why did land become a central battleground? Why is the suppression of Aboriginal resistance still a priority for government and industry? How can the struggle win? A […]
What’s wrong with capitalism?
Josh O’Sullivan gave this talk to the Tamaki Makaurau branch of the ISO in March. Capitalism is a uniquely dynamic system, the basis for its dynamism is the complete revolution of production – how we make the world we live in. As time has marched on, our lives have changed dramatically, the creation of all […]
