May Day: 2013
Kaimahi kaha – workers’ power! May Day greetings to all our readers. Although Labour Day has had more official recognition and celebration in Aotearoa / New Zealand over the decades, May Day is the internationalist celebration of workers’ struggle and solidarity. You can read about the history of May Day here. May Day marks our […]
Fighting to Choose: the Abortion Rights Struggle in New Zealand
[Alison McCulloch is a freelance journalist and abortion rights activist based in Tauranga. Her history of the abortion rights struggle in New Zealand, Fighting to Choose, will be published by Victoria University Press next month. We spoke to Alison about her book and the campaign.] Alison, you’re an active member of ALRANZ, the pro-choice organisation. […]
Margaret Thatcher 1925 – 2013: May her legacy follow her to the grave
The death of Margaret Thatcher is an important event for anyone who stands for equality and socialism. While the event itself changes little, and Thatcher has not been in power for over 20 years, the legacy of the ‘New Right’ is still making people suffer today. Coming to power in 1979, Thatcher followed a vicious […]
Marx and the Lassalleans
The following was presented as a talk at Marxism 2013 in Melbourne Who today has even heard of Ferdinand Lassalle? Who cares about Marx’s battles with his followers? Lassalle’s writings are out of print, and his collections sit gathering dust in the stacks and back-rooms of libraries. Picking over these old quarrels seems, at first, […]
Why women need abortion rights: the socialist case
Shomi Yoon gave this talk to the Wellington branch of the International Socialist Organisation in March. “Not the Church, not the state, women must decide their fate”: this was the fighting slogan of the abortion rights campaign of the 1970s. Women’s liberation was a movement that swept across the world, growing out of and alongside […]
Celebrating the struggle against sexism
This talk was given to the Dunedin branch of the International Socialists by Miranda B to mark International Women’s Day 2013. The first International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration was held over 100 years ago in 1911. In the last few years it has been taken over by mainstream or bureaucratic bodies, in particular the United […]
Pope Francis and the Machinations of the Father of Lies
It will come as no surprise to many non-Catholics that Jorge Bergoglio, who was elected pope this week with the name “Francis”, is likely to serve more of the same stew of sexism and homophobia as his predecessor. He has been hailed as the first pope not born in Europe (although he is the son of […]
Hasta siempre Chavez! The revolution must continue
Revolutionary movements invariably produce great leaders. The name Hugo Chavez stands among these. Judging the role individuals play in historic processes is a precarious affair. But having some estimation is important to understanding the challenges that may await. The US Marxist, George Novack, observed that the “leadership, collective and individual, embodies the conscious element in […]
The making of the Mystique
FIFTY YEARS after its publication, The Feminine Mystique has been credited with everything from single-handedly sparking the women’s movement to perpetuating an outdated and long-gone stereotype of the American family. Neither is true, but many of the issues that Betty Friedan’s book raised–such as the role of women and the nuclear family–make The Feminine Mystique […]
Nothing natural about sexism
Marx’s collaborator Engels wrote that “…the first class antagonism which appears in history coincides with the development of the antagonism between man and woman in monogamous marriage, and the first class oppression with that of the female sex by the male.” So women’s oppression existed before the rise of capitalism, but has not always existed. […]
