Demoralisation or disorientation? Causes of the Split in the WP

January 23, 2012 by

This is part of an ongoing discussion among Workers Party comrades and doesn’t necessarily reflect an agreed position.

“Of course, even among the workers who had at one time risen to the first ranks, there are not a few tired and disillusioned ones. They will remain, at least for the next period as bystanders. When a program or an organisation wears out, the generation which carried it on its shoulders wears out with it. The movement is revitalised by the youth who are free of responsibility for the past.”

-Trotsky, The Transitional Program

The resignation of four senior WP comrades on the eve of our January 2011 Retreat probably came as a shock to most of the Party. Those comrades announced that they would abandon any claim to the Party in favour of setting up a theoretical and international solidarity focused blog. Ian Anderson’s discussion bulletin “On the Party Question” did a good job of analysing their collective statement of resignation. In this bulletin, I intend to further probe the reasons behind the split.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fightback News

Occupy Christcurch open university

January 23, 2012 by

A day of free workshops on Sunday, February 12th in South Hagley Park.

An initiative of Occupy Christchurch

10am: Occupy Movement and Local Issues

How can we develop the Occupy Movement to be an effective political and social force in Christchurch and Canterbury?

11am: Situationism & post situationism

The Situationist International, having been cited as an inspiration for  OWS, deserve a second look. While aspects of the SIs’ pre-68 analysis and even modified lessons from the May-June ’68 “evenements” themselves have been seamlessly integrated into OWSs’ processes, as the general assembly, strictly mandated “working group” sub committees and so on, using information readily available on the web, I think there are lessons in the underreported years ’69 to 2010 that haven’t been looked at yet.

12pm: Cooking with Bartman

A cooking lesson from one of Occupy Corners resident chefs

1pm:Breakforlunch.

2pm:FacilitatingConsensus.

A workshop to develop skills and understanding of the role of facilitation in consensus based groups. Discussion will cover decision-making tools, active listening skills, hierarchy, participation, and working together. Facilitator – Joanna Wildish.

3pm:Feminism

The issue of the oppression of women in our society is one that every social movement should be engaging with. This workshop will be a space for discussion of feminist issues.

4pm: Mental Health

With mental illness effecting one in five people, mental health is a topic we need to engage with. Discussions on the relationship between capitalism, activism and mental health, and sharing of information to challenge stigma and discrimination onsite will be the basis of this workshop.

5pm: The Mechanics of Capitalism

How does capitalism work? Topics covered will be the class nature of society, exploitation, hegemony and more.

Filed Under: Events, Social Movements

Auckland event tonight: Victory To The Wharfies

January 19, 2012 by

Public meeting: How can we support the Auckland port workers?

Tonight 7:30pm

Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn, Auckland

Filed Under: Events

On the party question

January 18, 2012 by

Goodbye Lenin?

This article was first written for internal circulation. We publish it now in light of public discussions among Socialist Worker comrades, partly regarding the party question (Goodbye Lenin? and Towards Ecosocialism.)

On February the 4th 2011, in the lead-up to our partys’ first internal conference of the year, a cross-section of leading comrades posted a statement resigning from the Workers Party. This statement argued that communist ‘party-building’ is impossible in the present conditions. As this statement raises important questions of political line that confront many communist and radical groups, it is necessary to engage with it; ultimately, to justify the very existence of communist organisations.

As the statement asserts that our comrades’ resignations are driven by “bigger and deeper” problems, we will not go into the sordid details of the lead-up to this development. Rather, we will engage directly with the content of their statement, available here.

In short, our comrades assert that given the lack of a mass workers’ movement in New Zealand today, communist party-building is futile. In particular, this affects recruitment:
“Those conditions meant that recruiting workers and progressives into the organisation has been very difficult.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fightback News, Revolutionary Regroupment

Elections: why bother?

November 18, 2011 by

The Workers Party is supporting Mana this election, after standing down from national elections. But why do 1 in 4 young people choose not to vote? Isn’t that a rational choice given the options? Can a capitalist Westminster system really represent the majority?

A socialist perspective on why we participate in elections, followed by kai & korero.

Tonight (Friday) 7pm

Newtown Hall (opposite Mediterranean Food Warehouse)

Filed Under: Events
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