When Freedom isn’t Free
For centuries, capitalists have claimed that the working class need capitalism because it guarantees our freedom from tyranny and from encroachment into our personal liberties. The capitalist free market is promoted as being our sole means of attaining political and economic freedom because of the way it channels individual workers into consensual relationships of exchange […]
Striking: The Basics
This article was originally published 4 August 2025 in Salient under the title “It’s Right to Strike!”. It has since been edited and updated. On 30 June more than 36,000 nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora went on strike for 24 hours after an insulting offer from the government. That offer for their […]
Dire Emergency: Solidarity with the Firefighters! Shame on FENZ!
The following article was written after the 9 January Firefighters’ strike. The Ōtepoti Dunedin strike was attended by ISO members, including ISO editor Oscar Bartle, who conducted an interview with the local NZPFU branch secretary, Mike Taylor. Firefighters with the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union (NZPFU) have, as part of their “Dire Emergency” campaign, been […]
Strike Wave 2025: Reflections From a Unionist
The 23 October public sector strike was the largest industrial action taken in Aotearoa since the one-day General strike in 1979. On 28 October Te Whanganui-a-Tara branch of the International Socialist Organisation hosted a panel discussion on this historic action. Nurse and unionist Grant Brookes was among the speakers, giving his perspective on the struggle. […]
Working Class History: The 1959 Oil Workers Strike in Fiji
In the late 1950s in Fiji, the cost of living was rising. Indigenous Fijian workers, along with the formerly indentured Indo-Fijian workforce, chafed under the exploitation of the colonial, capitalist system. Some workers, like unionist Apisai Tora, had been radicalised by the experience of fighting in WWII and returning to continued hardship at home. It […]
The Revival of the Radical Left and Working-Class Politics
The below is a reprint from redflag.com.au Most of us have lived most of our lives under a one-sided class war. The billionaires have built fortunes while the poor have been screwed. Governments the world over have bent over backwards to facilitate this. The result has been a world in which the rich stomp over […]
Public Sector Strikes: Fighting Against Privatisation
Primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, nurses, and firefighters are all fighting for livable employment conditions and sufficient resources to do their work effectively. These are all workers employed in the “public sector”, providing services to the general public. This article will consider the value of this “sector” of New Zealand society, put forward an […]
Defend free speech! No to fascists! Reinstate Professor Tom Alter Now!
Free Speech in universities is under attack in Trump’s America, as exemplified by the summary sacking of Tom Alter by Texas State University on 10 September. Below we reproduce a statement by Socialist Horizon, the group Tom Alter is a member of. Since this statement was made the fight for Tom’s rights has proceeded. A […]
Open Letter to the Working People of Aotearoa
To the patients, students and whānau of those affected by the government’s dismantling of public services, We condemn the suffering that has been inflicted on you by systematic neglect of the public services that you need. From patients dying in waiting rooms, to fire trucks breaking down on the way to emergencies, to children left […]
Gaslighting and Grinding Down: the Government’s Strategy Against Striking Workers
Nurses supporting teachers out on strike. Photo credit: kaitiaki.org.nz The coalition of chaos has, under urgency, passed legislation and prescribed policy that has brutalised the public service. There have been outright lies from government ministers intervening into the negotiations by releasing public statements, and within the negotiations, we have a government that refuses to talk […]
