Image from the excellent AUT Journalism students newspaper, Te Waha Nui
People on the New Zealand Left, myself included, should be disappointed with ourselves. Since 2002, we have been disorganized and without Parliamentary representation. We have buckled beneath the behemoth juggernaut of the LabNats’ duopoly, ignoring the fact that each year less people are persuaded to even vote. Indeed, the by-election results in Mount Albert show that many continue to turn away from the polling booth, unsatisfied with the choices they are being given on their ballot papers.
So why should we be disappointed in ourselves? We have normalised a culture of failure. We have accepted poor performances in elections, a fixation on the success of overseas left-wing movements and, worst of all, fragmentation between groups and parties. I admit to having engaged in these sins at various points in my half-decade of political activism, both in Labour and now in RAM.Most pathetically, we humiliate ourselves every time we talk of 'educating the electorate'. The electorate does not need to be educated. They can see for themselves how disastrous extreme neo-liberalism is. Radical ideologies do not sit well with Kiwis, not matter how well they are 'educated'. What New Zealanders want is a pragmatic, sensible socialism that is phrased in a Kiwi lexicon and sculpted by Kiwis, not by political economists of the past two centuries or ivory tower academics in foreign lands.
As capitalism faces it's greatest crisis since the Great Depression, it seems like there is a unique opportunity for left-wing unity in New Zealand. Labour too is continuing to open up a vacum to it's left, which the Greens can't hope to fully fill. The valedictory speech of Michael Cullen, which mentioned that he considered Labour a 'fiscal conservative' party is a startling shift from the previous modus operandi of "talk centre-left, act centre-right". Socialists, social democrats, national conservatives, environmentalists, and even pragmatists should be angered by the commitment to neo-liberalism by the LabNats since 1984.
There is the possibility for a movement of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders from all walks of life. Not only the much vaunted (and fetishised) 'working class', but also the 'middle class' and even people in the 'upper class'. Shock horror, maybe one or two very wealthy people in New Zealand actually are further left than Labour and the Greens!
But where is the party that can effectively capitalise upon the failure of Labour to continue it’s historical social democratic course? There is no single organisation that can extend a hand to ordinary New Zealanders who feel frustrated by the continued free market dogma. People on my right and left, frustrated with the free market policies of the LabNats, are offered a confused smorgasbord of parties: RAM, the Alliance, the Greens, Social Credit, and others. Just like the capitalism we criticize, we are wasting useful energies with wasteful competition and ineffective allocation of labour and political capital!
Unfortunately, New Zealand is plagued by sectarianism between left parties, personalities and such like. Last election, we scrapped over a few thousand votes. It is an indictment upon us all on the left, myself included, that we have not fought harder for unity. While the Greens should be respected, they simply are not that attractive to a vast constituency of economically progressive New Zealanders.
These people want a clear message that we need to put people before profit, democratic ownership of strategic infrastructure, and more say for ordinary people in our national decision-making. Even a conservative social democratic program would be radical in today's neo-liberal political climate, and with a powerful nation-wide activist network, could seize upon the mass of people who remain unmoved by the current political offerings.
Self-criticism is something we need to use to learn from our mistakes, not blindly pursuing untested (or tried-and-failed) courses of action. We need to work out what was best in movements like the early Labour Party, Values, Social Credit, the NewLabour Party, the Alliance, and even New Zealand First. Self-criticism is something we need to use to learn from our mistakes, not blindly pursuing untested (or tried-and-failed) courses of action. We need to start working on strategies to be successful, not to continue to mire ourselves in archaic ideological battles or petty personal squabbles.
Let me make this clear: one thing I am sick of is trite clichés about left unity. We can’t engage in the twisted double-speak used by groups like the Socialist Worker Party in the United Kingdom, who make loud calls for 'broad coalitions' whilst in reality undermining such a goal. The SWP a few days ago sent out an 'open letter' calling for ‘left unity’ and a new ‘broad’ party following the EU elections. These are the same extremist idiots who ruined the RESPECT coalition, the UK's strongest performing broad left coalition. In other words, the SWP are hypocrites of the highest order. Sadly, such sectarian behaviour is endemic amongst left-wing groups in the English-speaking world.
We need to develop our own indigenous way of building a new party, not obsess with how things are being done overseas. Talk needs to be followed by action. Not that progressive parties in Latin America, Asia and Europe don’t offer some very good ideas, but we have got to get real about New Zealand conditions. There isn’t an army of ideologically committed socialists out on the streets. There is not, and never should be, a class war in our country. We’ve got to analyse the awful situation we have put ourselves in, and work out a way out of it with a broad left party that unifies the disparate elements of our movement.
Time is running out. I believe that at a national level, unless there is a unified left-wing party in the next 12 months time, we could potentially lose our shot as Labour rebuilds its legitimacy and takes advantage of the mistakes of National.
We have failed for nearly a decade since the Alliance lost parliamentary representation, and I fear that without immediate action, we are going to continue to be marginalised by parties who use better strategies, and focus on success rather than failure. In the words of Karl Marx, an above average left-wing political economist with his fair share of failings, "the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."
I am happy to go on record saying “Enough!” Time is up for our failed strategies. They're not working. We don't even have local political representation, let alone anything in Parliament. Our only successes are based around temporal campaigns. So why the hell aren't we getting together to pool what limited resources we still have? I get the feeling that many enthusiastic activists, myself included, may not stick around in politics a hell of a lot longer if our political milieu doesn't change.
