Re: NZ Alliance

[Scott Hamilton <s_h_hamilton@xxxxxxxxx>]

Phil wrote:

> The Trotskyist and Maoist far left grouplets will
> likely call for a vote
> for Labour and/or the Alliance.  One or two Trots
> might call for a vote for
> the ACA where we are standing, but not give
> practical support.  The various
> anarchist strands won't vote.  And that's about it.

I know that the Socialist Party of Aotearoa (small
group of old Stalinists, probably similar to the CPA
in Aussie) is calling for a vote for
Labour-Greens-Alliance (how you're supposed to choose
I'm not sure), and that the Communist Workers Group
(orthodox Trotskyist group, small though very active
in Auckland) is not supporting anyone. As for the
others, I haven't heard.

I don't think that the way that the ACA was set up
encouraged other groups to get involved. Basically,
revo and WPNZ decided on a platform of six points and
made agreement on them the citeria for membership. I
think, too, that there were quite a few groups which
revolution and WPNZ did not at all want to be
involved. All in all, then, it's not surprising that
other groups have not rallied to the banner.

More importantly, it needs to be understood that the
majority of people involved in far left politics in NZ
do not belong to any political mini-party, but rather
take part only in loose coalitions around single-issue
campaigns.

In the Anti-Imperialist Coalition, the United Front
which has been running in Auckland since S 11, there
are two members of WPNZ and four or five members of
the Communist Workers Group who come regularly to
meetings, and everybody else - around 12 to 15 people,
perhaps - is 'groupless'.
I think it will be difficult to build a large far left
electoral alliance until a mechanism is created by
which people who do not belong to any group are able
to influence the content of the platform of such an
alliance. History suggests the conference as the best
mechanism for such a purpose.

The Anti Imperialist Coalition will definitely be
intervening in the election - we will, at the very
least, be picketing campaign meetings and
distributing literature on the relation between the
various parties and such issues as the War of Terror,
Palestine, and immigration. Last week we distributed
around 1,000 copies of a leaflet linking the war with
teachers' struggles in New Zealand and Pakistan to
teachers in Auckland. Earlier this year we distributed
perhaps 1,000 copies of an open letter to the Prime
Minister which demanded that a referendum on NZ
participation in any invasion of Iraq be put up at the
same time as the parliamentary elections.

I will be arguing that the AIC endorse the ACA's
people in Auckland as anti-war, anti-imperialist
candidates in our election prop. I also want to see us
target Clark - I've got a couple of juicy posters in
mind - and the ACA's candidacy in her electorate
should help with that.

Cheers
Scott

PS AIC has a slightly-out-of-date site at
http://www.antiimperialist.org.nz/ where you can read
some of the above-mentioned material






=====
"Revolution is not like cricket, not even one day cricket"

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