Classic Reprint: New Zealand Election Message
In July this year the Labour Party took power in New Zealand with a majority of 17 seats. We reprint below the election message which was published by the Socialist Party of New Zealand when it put up a candidate for the first time, in the Tamaki constituency of Auckland, in the November 1972 General Election — which was also the last election won by the Labour fakers who replaced the outgoing Prime Minister "Mr. Marshall and his cronies" of the National Party. Now as then our message to workers is the same: Don't rely upon leaders of left or right to solve your problems but use democratic political action for your own conscious emancipation.
To The Workers of Tamaki . . .
When a political candidate stands for a moneyless world in which people take what they need when they need it, in which there is no army, navy or airforce, no police, no banks and no national boundaries, you are expected to dismiss him as a crank. Without a full examination of the Socialist case it does sound crazy.
But the Socialist means exactly what he says and what is more he is prepared to argue logically and scientifically that, not only is this possible, it is the only solution to the problems of today's world.
As cranks we have been around a long time. Our first members got together in 1904 and formed the Socialist Party of Great Britain, and in 1930 the Socialist Party of New Zealand sprung into existence. Today there are thousands of Socialists in parties with identical objects and principles in USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Canada, Jamaica, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand. More parties are in the process of starting in other countries.
Politics for us means something quite different. We maintain that the ever present problems of war, pollution, racial prejudice, crime, housing, industrial unrest and unemployment are not caused by governments or leaders, sincere or otherwise, but by the way society is organised throughout the world. This system, which we call capitalism, is a system whereby the means for producing wealth, the factories, the mines, the sources of raw material, the airlines, shipping and transport are all owned and controlled by a small minority (about 10%) of the world's population.
That society is organised on the basis of producing goods and services so that vast profits may be accrued by that small minority is the basic cause of 99% of the problems that face us.
When you grasp this rather basic fact that society is run in the interests of the profit-making machine you are very close to understanding our case. You will realise, of course, that despite what Mr. Marshall and his cronies would have us believe, profits are far more important than people in today's society. You will also realise that any political party that pays allegiance to the profit-making system can only ever run society on that basis.
The alternative, which we call socialism, does not exist anywhere in the world yet. Socialism calls for the co-operation of the peoples of the world to work together on a democratic basis to produce the needs of the people. We maintain that society today has reached that stage in production where, if we used the world's resources and our technical and scientific knowhow in a sane and sensible manner, we could produce an overwhelming amount of wealth to satisfy everyone's needs on a very minimal amount of time and effort.
Free access would be the order of the day with no need for money, buying and selling, wages and profits. This would eliminate all the problems that exist today because of the buying and selling of commodities. War, economic crises, slumps etc., on the international scene and strikes, lock-outs, unemployment and poverty on the home front. People would be engaged on a work basis of producing the best possible under the best conditions that man can create.
. . . Satisfaction and pride in our work could exist for every man and woman. WHAT ABOUT US?
The Socialist Party has no leaders. Leadership is a myth which still lingers in a so-called democratic society. We are democratic in the true sense of the word and do not regard democracy as a device for keeping people quiet while we bamboozle and rob them.
We do not seek power. Our purpose is to abolish it forever. We do not aim to benefit a working class, except by abolishing it along with all classes.
We are realists. We do not think that praying to a god and trusting a leader is going to do us any good.
We are not patriotic. As workers, we have been dispossessed of our countries and our allegiance is only to the 90% of the world's population who make up the international working class.
We do not compromise. As a working class party we are opposed to all other political parties and governments for all respect capitalism in its various stages of development. This is true of state-capitalist Russia and China as it is true of Britain or USA — National, Labour, Social Credit and so-called "Communist" or what have you.
We are workers. We sell our physical and mental energies just like 90% of the rest of the world. We know capitalism from the receiving end, not from the privileged, superior level which sees people as objects to be managed.
We are cranks because we are few against a world owned and controlled by non-cranks who murder, steal, lie, cheat and condone the possible destruction of man.
We know that as working men and women living under capitalism, leisure time is a scarce and precious commodity. But think for a minute — can you honestly say a night's television is more important than dying of cancer from adulterated food and polluted atmosphere?
Is a round of golf or an afternoon at Eden Park more important than the possibility of seeing your children die in a nuclear war? Do you value a night in the pub more than allowing your family to be subjected to the rat race that this society has to offer?
Listen to us, argue with us, doubt everything you hear from us, but remember, the onus is on you and each and every member of society. Parliamentary Committee SPNZ
IF THERE IS NO SPNZ CANDIDATE IN YOUR AREA, REGISTER YOUR PROTEST AGAINST CAPITALISM BY WRITING "SOCIALISM" ACROSS YOUR BALLOT PAPER.
1 comment:
That's the Winter 1984 issue of the World Socialist done and dusted.
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