Party Profiles: The New Zealand Greens – A Marxist Critique
This piece is one in a series of profiles of electoral parties in the lead up to the 2026 General Election. The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is currently the most left-wing it has ever been. It is the largest pole of attraction for radicals and even socialists in the New Zealand political landscape. […]
Class and Struggle in Aotearoa Today
Are you a “blue-collar hard-working Kiwi” or a “weirdo with purple hair?” New Zealand First, Winston Peters claimed in his March State of the Nation speech, is the only party that “understands what a worker is.” Colour, of collar and of fringe, has a lot to do with it in Peters’ claimed dichotomy. Heaven knows […]
An Introduction to Class Society
Today, people commonly talk about “classes” in society through the notion of a spectrum of wealth: those with very little money are “lower class,” while the filthy rich belong to the “upper class.” Those of the ambiguous “middle class” aspire to climb this class ladder, while they fear sinking into the lower classes. Clearly, the […]
Keyword: Security
When the US and Israel began airstrikes on Iran in February, our government’s cookie-cutter response was to applaud the aggressors for protecting “international peace and security” – copying the exact words used by Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese in their statements. This language of security captures almost every part […]
N for Nationalism
What is Nationalism, and why do socialists oppose it? While often presented as timeless, the nation-state is a relatively new phenomenon. The evolution of modern nation-states in Europe in the 19th century is tied to the rise of capitalism. Nation-builders instituted new forms of governance and territoriality to fit the changing dynamics of capitalist society, […]
Mutually Assured Destruction
War, and consequent death of both soldiers and non-combatants, has been a miserable feature of much of human history. It’s only relatively late in our history, however, that we have faced the possibility of such conflicts bringing about our complete demise as a species. And even if anyone were to survive global war, regardless, we […]
How to Turn Antiwar Sentiment to Action
The United States’ and Israel’s war against Iran continues the devastation of the Middle East. Thousands have been killed – including 254 children – and millions displaced. After the years of genocide in Palestine we are now witnessing another catastrophic war in the Middle East. Understanding how to stop such wars requires more than outrage. […]
M for Materialism
Historical Materialism is a theory of history, a way of understanding the world. It is the fundamental underpinning of Marxist analysis. As the name suggests, this is a “materialist” framework: it starts with the assumption that we live in a material world, and that human social structures can be understood as part of that material […]
Imperialism – What It Is and How to Fight It
The world is on fire. Bombs are falling, drones are buzzing, and missiles are exploding from Palestine to Iran, from Lebanon to Venezuela, Sudan and Ukraine. So it’s little wonder that discourse on “imperialism” has surged worldwide in 2026. Here’s an indicator: Google searches including the word “imperialism” have been on the rise again.
But while there’s currently a lot of talk about imperialism in the media, there’s not a lot of clarity about what the word means. And without knowing what imperialism is, we can’t know how to fight it.
Who Were The Luddites?
The Luddites currently occupy an almost mythological presence in the cultural imagination. Now a derogatory term, to be a Luddite, we’re told, is a shameful thing: to be backwards-looking, hateful of technology and opposed to new ways of working. To be, essentially, opposed to any kind of “progress” that capitalists deem necessary, inevitable, and always, […]
