Jim Anderton and the Aussie Marxist-Leninists
Green Party leaders and radical unionists are not the only NZers with a past pattern of links to Ausralian Marxist-Leninists.
Progessive Party leader, Bio Security and Associate Health Minister, Jim Anderton was also involved with the Democratic Socialist Party and other Marxist-Leninists in the early '90s.
According to "Direct Action" (newspaper of the DSP, before it changed its name to Green Left Weekly) of 11.9.1990, Anderton had toured Australia in July. In Brisbane he met with "progressives" including the New Left Party, Socialist Party of Australia and the Democratic Socialist Party.
The New Left Party was the new name for the Communist Party of Australia. The Socialist Party of Australia, was a pro Soviet breakaway from the Communist Party, which confusingly, adopted the Communist Party name in 1996, after the demise of the New Left Party. The DSP (or Socialist Workers Party as it was then known) had attempted mergers with both parties in the late '80s.
In July 1991 Anderton was a keynote speaker at a "Socialist Scholars Conference" in Melbourne . The conference was organised by the DSP and featured Marxist speakers from all over the world.
Anderton shared the closing plenary with Filipino Trotskyite academic, Francisco Nemenzo and Frank Stilwell, president of the Australian, New Left Party.
According to the Christchurc Press of 23.11.1992, Anderton was preparing to go to Australia for five days to meet financiers. "Basically we have to get in front of the business community". In Melbourne, the Press reported that Anderton would also address a dinner given by the Rainbow Alliance-a coalition of minor parties including Greens and the Democratic Socialist Party.
The same month, Anderton wrote a letter to Green Left Weekly Number 80, offering condolences on death from cancer of DSP leader, Jim Percy. Writing on behalf of the National Council and members of the New Labour Party, Anderton had this to say.
"The NLP mourns the loss of Jim Percy. We have had the privilege of sharing political ideas with Jim and the DSP since our foundation. We have appreciated the support and the solidarity extended to us. Jim was committed to a world cleansed of war and oppression. we share his vision."
Progessive Party leader, Bio Security and Associate Health Minister, Jim Anderton was also involved with the Democratic Socialist Party and other Marxist-Leninists in the early '90s.
According to "Direct Action" (newspaper of the DSP, before it changed its name to Green Left Weekly) of 11.9.1990, Anderton had toured Australia in July. In Brisbane he met with "progressives" including the New Left Party, Socialist Party of Australia and the Democratic Socialist Party.
The New Left Party was the new name for the Communist Party of Australia. The Socialist Party of Australia, was a pro Soviet breakaway from the Communist Party, which confusingly, adopted the Communist Party name in 1996, after the demise of the New Left Party. The DSP (or Socialist Workers Party as it was then known) had attempted mergers with both parties in the late '80s.
In July 1991 Anderton was a keynote speaker at a "Socialist Scholars Conference" in Melbourne . The conference was organised by the DSP and featured Marxist speakers from all over the world.
Anderton shared the closing plenary with Filipino Trotskyite academic, Francisco Nemenzo and Frank Stilwell, president of the Australian, New Left Party.
According to the Christchurc Press of 23.11.1992, Anderton was preparing to go to Australia for five days to meet financiers. "Basically we have to get in front of the business community". In Melbourne, the Press reported that Anderton would also address a dinner given by the Rainbow Alliance-a coalition of minor parties including Greens and the Democratic Socialist Party.
The same month, Anderton wrote a letter to Green Left Weekly Number 80, offering condolences on death from cancer of DSP leader, Jim Percy. Writing on behalf of the National Council and members of the New Labour Party, Anderton had this to say.
"The NLP mourns the loss of Jim Percy. We have had the privilege of sharing political ideas with Jim and the DSP since our foundation. We have appreciated the support and the solidarity extended to us. Jim was committed to a world cleansed of war and oppression. we share his vision."
posted by Trevor Loudon at
2/13/2006 03:30:00 PM
5 Comments:
haha, someday Trevor Loudon Jr will set up a blog, and it will have information like
Leftie profile #21 - Russell Brown, used to be a member of the Green Party, was appointed co-leader and wrote a letter to Greenpeace. He spoke at a conference about taxing environmental pollution. The Dominion Post reported him as saying that he believed in abolishing youth rates.
2 Comments
Andrew Falloon Jr: Oh my gosh! I always knew he was a socialist at heart!
Anonymous: This just shows how you can't trust anyone because they may have a past history of being involved in a Left wing party.
Kind of makes you wonder why Jim Anderton made such an effort to exclude Marxist-Leninists when the NLP became the Alliance...
Anderton did expel the Permanent Revolution Group and the Communist Left, because they were an embarrassment. He made no moves to expel the entire Workers Communist League or the large number of ex SUPers, SALers, CPNZers etc who flocked to the NLP in the early days. How's the new Workers Party going?
I have to say Trevor you're great with your research, although of course I disagree with the conclusions you draw from it.
Labeling Jim Anderton as a far-leftist is a bit of a stretch, have your come accross the letter he wrote to CAFCA defending the winner of last years Roger Award?
Also, surly you remember when he was advocating cutting the company tax cut a while ago, (in fact if I remember correctly there was an MP who jokingly said something like 'before you know it Jim Anderton will be voting with ACT' but feel free to correct me on that.)
The Workers Party is going well, looks like this will be a busy year for us.
To Byron
To me, Jim Anderton is a socialist in the "Sutch" traditon. He wants strong local industry to fund expansive social programmes and has a deep suspicion of overseas investment that he cannot control. You guys are revolutionary socialists who want to smash capitalism, Jim wants to control and bend it to his own ends. See you on the barricades!.
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