‘Left’ critics of the Labour Party after 1919
Harry Holland’s general political course, from the time of the 1913 defeat on the waterfront, was one of ‘bending to the right’ to accommodate the Liberal politics of the […]
Category Archives: class struggle
Brass-band jingoism at the opening of the Great War
The Great War did not arrive unannounced; far from it. Since at least 1907 the socialist movement had been urgently warning of the dangers of a war between the great […]
“Farmers’ sons with whom we have no quarrel” – workers reflect on the 1913 defeat
Last of three articles on workers and farmers in 1913 in New Zealand The day after the call for a general strike went out, five leaders of the fighting unions […]
When the countryside marched on the town: Massey’s Cossacks in 1913
[Second of three articles on workers and farmers in 1913] Both the Red Fed leadership and the IWW in Auckland proved unable to recognise the significance of the coming to […]
The other exploited producers – origins of the class of working farmers in New Zealand
(First of three articles on workers and farmers in 1913 New Zealand. Long-time readers of this blog may notice that this article overlaps substantially with a post from 2015 entitled […]
Industrial unity and a party of labour – the Red Feds’ 1913 ‘turn to political action’
At first glance, the discussion at the Unity conference in January 1913 seems to be about an uninteresting question of organisational forms. The leaders of the United Labor Party (ULP) […]
The mixed blessing of IWW influence in the New Zealand labour movement
The stirring Preamble adopted by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Chicago in 1905, proclaiming the class struggle and the goal of overthrowing the capitalists, became the rallying […]
A book that changed the course of the class struggle
After a six-month strike, the struggle at Waihi came to a head in early November 1912, shortly after the arrival in Waihi of the Commissioner of Police John Cullen, a […]
The ‘white hope’ and the first alliance between Māori and the working class
Second of two parts. The first part, “Half-caste Maori” strikebreakers at Waihi and Huntly, is here. After the mine re-opened on October 2, the number of police, strikebreakers and thugs brought […]
“Half-caste Maori” strikebreakers at Waihi and Huntly (First of two parts)
(Note: In quoting historic documents, I have not attempted to modernise their Anglicised spelling and usage of Māori words, offensive as some of these things may seem today. The English […]
