Workers Party of New Zealand
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Workers Party of New Zealand
Hokowhitu o te Kaimahi o Aotearoa
Leader Daphna Whitmore
President None
Deputy None
Number of MPs in the House of Representatives None
Founded 2002
Headquarters None
Political Ideology Marxism, Communism, Socialism, Anti-capitalism
International Affiliation Not affiliated
Colours White and red
Website workersparty.org.nz
See also: Politics & Government
Sovereign
Governor-General
House of Representatives
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Political parties
Prime Minister
Cabinet
Elections
Mori politics
Foreign relations
The Workers Party of New Zealand (previously known as the Anti-Capitalist Alliance) is a socialist political party in New Zealand. It publishes a monthly magazine called The Spark and an academic journal called Revolution.
Its National Secretary is Daphna Whitmore.[1]Contents [hide]
1 Platform
2 History
3 Elections
4 Electoral results (2002-2008)
5 Notable members
6 References
7 External links
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Platform
According to the party's official website,“ The Workers Party of New Zealand is a socialist political party active in campaigns nationwide. We aim to build a new political movement based on the interests of workers in New Zealand and internationally. Our activities include organising in workplaces, campaigning against imperialism and fielding candidates in local and general elections.[2] ”
The five-point policy platform of the Workers Party is as follows:
Opposition to all New Zealand and Western intervention in the Third World and all Western military alliances.
Secure jobs for all with a living wage and a shorter working week.
For the unrestricted right of workers to organise and take industrial action and no limits on workers' freedom of speech and activity.
For working class unity and solidarity - equality for women, Maori and other ethnic minorities and people of all sexual orientations and identities; open borders and full rights for migrant workers.
For a working people's republic.[2]
The party's magazine The Spark states that the party wants: "A world without poverty and war, a world of material abundance where human potential can be expressed in full," adding that "While these ideas appear untenable today, they were the notions that inspired revolutions in the 20th century."[3]
[edit]
History
The party was founded in 2002. It was formed by an electoral alliance of the original Workers' Party (pro-Mao, Marxist-Leninist) and the pro-Trotsky Revolution group, with the intention of fielding candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election.[4] The party was unregistered, and so could not contest the party vote in New Zealand's Mixed Member Proportional electoral system.
In 2004, the original Workers' Party and Revolution merged to become the Revolutionary Workers' League (RWL), which describes itself as a "Marxist current".[5] Recently, publications formerly published by the RWL became Workers' Party publications.
[edit]
Elections
In the 2002 elections, the Anti-Capitalist Alliance stood four candidates, the highest number for an unregistered party that year.[6] The candidates gained a total of 336 votes between them, placing the party in fourth place amongst the unregistered parties which contested.[7]
In the 2005 election the ACA stood eight candidates,[8] again the highest number for an unregistered party. The ACA won a combined total of 582 votes, placing them first amongst the unregistered parties.[9] A nationwide recruitment campaign entitled Let’s Make Workers’ Issues Hi-Viz began in 2006 as an attempt to gain the necessary members to register and contest the party vote in the 2008 general election.[10]
In the 2007 local elections, the Workers Party stood four mayoral candidates[11] in Christchurch,[12] Dunedin,[13] Waitakere,[14] and Wellington.[15] The Workers Party received 4 705 votes nationwide, with 2 101 of those votes being for Waitakere candidate Rebecca Broad.[16][17][18][19]
In July 2008, the party announced four electorate candidates for the 2008 general election.[20]
On 3 October 2008 the party was registered by the Electoral Commission, allowing it to contest the party vote[21]. In the 2008 New Zealand election, it ultimately received 932 party votes (0.04% of the vote)[22], and 480 electorate votes [23][24][25][26].
[edit]
Electoral results (2002-2008)Election # of candidates nominated (electorate/list) # of seats won # of electorate votes # of party votes % of popular vote
2002 4 / 0 0 336 N/A N/A
2005 8 / 0 0 582 N/A N/A
2008 4 / 14 0 480 932 0.04%
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Notable members
In 2003 Paul Hopkinson, who stood as a candidate for the Anti-Capitalist Alliance in the 2005 election, became the first person to be charged under the Flags, Emblems and Names Protection Act, after burning a New Zealand flag at an anti-war demonstration.[27] In 2008 Hopkinson also became the first school teacher to be suspended without pay for challenging the provisions of the 1993 Electoral Act relating to public servants, when he refused to voluntarily take unpaid leave in order to contest the seat of Christchurch East in that year's general election as the Workers Party candidate.[28]
Nick Kelly was elected president of the Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association (VUWSA) in 2006 after holding a string of other positions in the organisation. Prior to this he was the Chair of Paul Swain's Labour Electorate Committee (LEC) in 2000, but was sacked in 2001 for opposing Labour's economic policies. He was also dragged out of a Labour conference for yelling at Prime Minister Helen Clark over Labour's support for the invasion of Afghanistan. In 2002, Kelly was expelled from the Labour Party altogether for standing against Paul Swain for the seat of Rimutaka.[29]
As of September 2008 Kelly has taken up a new role as president of the Wellington Tramways Union.[30]
Another party member, Joel Cosgrove, won the VUWSA presidency in 2008.[31] This has been followed by another Workers Party member, Jasmine Freemantle, being elected in the same position for 2009.[32][33]
Philip Ferguson, editor of the party's academic journal Revolution, was a Sinn Fein activist between 1986 and 1994, and spent several years as a full-time organiser for the party.[34] Today he is a history lecturer at the University of Canterbury.[35]
Don Franks "a great Wellington identity of the Left"[36] and author of the book Next to Gods[37] is the Workers Party candidate for the Wellington Central electorate in the 2008 election.[38] Franks is also known for his folk music, including a song about the 2007 anti-terror raids.[39]