It' my suspicion that McCarten, Socialist Worker, Global Peace and Justice Auckland and probably the Socialist Party of Aotearoa are planning something similar for 2008 .
I believe that Auckland's RAM and the Hutt Valley's VAN are using the local body elections to "test the waters", before committing to floating a new party-possibly to named the "Aotearoa Party".
Socialist Worker makes no secret that RAM is modelled on George Galloway's RESPECT, an electral coalition of Trotskyists, communists and Islamic leftists.
Another source of inspiration is Die Linke. a German party formed around the remnants of the old East German communist party (Socialiast Unity Party/Party of Democratic Socialism), those nice people who used to shoot wall-hoppers, pollute Europe and inform on their spouses.
Predictably, another is Hugo Chavez's neo-communist United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Socialist Worker will tomorrow night hold a forum in Auckland, hosted by two SW Central Committee members, Peter Hughes and Daphne Lawless and Christolph Hoffmeier formerly with Socialist Worker's German sister party Linksruck which recently joined Die Linke en masse.
From UnityBlog
Unity Forum: THE NEW LEFT PARTIES
From RESPECT in the UK to Die LINKE in Germany and the PSUV in Venezuela
Tuesday 7.30pm, October 9, 2007
UNITE House, 300 Queen Street, Auckland
Labour Parties the world over have betrayed the working class and implemented the policies of neo liberalism and imperialist war. IN many countries, New Left Parties have emerged out of the anti war and social justice movements. Socialist Worker in Auckland is joined by Christoph Hoffmeier, a militant from the Left Party (Die Linke) in Germany, which got 54 radical MPs and 10% of the national vote in the last German elections, forcing the neo liberal SPD and the Christian Democrats into coalition.
For millions of workers and students betrayed by the Social Democrats and their Green allies, the Left Party now represents "Resistance inside parliament and outside on the streets".
Peter Hughes was an activist in the militant Rail, Maritime and Transport union in London for the last seven years, and was a member of George Galloway's RESPECT Coalition. Pete talks on the opportunities and problems that RESPECT now faces, as Gordon Brown ponders taking Britain into a new election.
Daph Lawless is editor of the UNITY journal, and discusses the hope that Hugo Chavez and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela are bringing to the New Left. For those of us fighting for a Socialism of the 21st Century, the near 6 million members who have registered for the PSUV puts the reality of mass, revolutionary socialist parties back on the agenda. Daph will also talk on why Socialist Worker in Aotearoa has initiated a debate within its International sister parties on the need for socialist groups to connect with the PSUV
I don't reckon any new party would be called the "Aotearoa" party, Trev. That was some wishful thinking from McCarten 2 or 3 years ago. For a supposed Mattiavellian operator, he sure does end up moving from camp to camp- Alliance, Maori Party, Workers Charter, and now back into the arms of Labour run City Vision- see the column he wrote last weekend in the NZ Herald-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=250&objectid=10468324
The SWs seem to be forging ahead themselves alone on a new left project, attracting some new forces around RAM. This forum would be part of putting some meat on the bones of that project. Will Matt be there? Who knows. But the young student militants tired of the ageing Labour and Green leaderships might be- several of them are RAM candidates.
I wouldn't expect any grandiose statements any time soon- its all softly softly and cautious networking, rather than bombast and bluster. But are the dominoes falling? Watch this space!
Hey Trev - good research. I suggest you dig deeper around the Socialist Party of Aotearoa. Jennifer Francis has, apparently, been spotted in high-level talk with RAM bigwigs at a Manurewa cafe.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info people.
ReplyDeleteDidn't McCarten and Morgan fall out - hence the emergence of Solidarity Union.
ReplyDeleteUNITE! had planned to organise some industrial sites in South Auckland with Morgan's crew- Independent Liquor in Papakura being the first. But McCarten and Treen changed tack on their support for a USA- Unite "South Auckland" strategy, because of financial constraints. Solidarity thus went ahead as an independent initative.
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