Communist Party of New Zealand
Encyclopedia
The Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ) was a Communist
political party
in New Zealand
from the 1920s to the early 1990s. It never achieved significant political success, and no longer exists as an independent group, although the Socialist Worker
organisation is considered organisationally continuous with the CPNZ.
, and it consisted mainly of some dozens of former members of the New Zealand Marxian Association (established in 1918) and the old Socialist Party. The men who established the Communist Party were supporters of the Russia
n Bolshevik
s, and remained independent from those who did not echo this support.
The new CPNZ attempted to establish itself in the 1920s as a militant force in the industrial sector, mainly in the mining towns of the West Coast of the South Island, and it gained some modest successes; a few hundred supporters were recruited. In line with the United Front
policy of the Comintern
, an attempt was made to join the Labour Party but this failed, and the two parties became fierce competitors. A Communist attempt to seize control over the main leftwing newspaper, the Maoriland Worker
also failed. The New Zealand Communists were frequently persecuted and arrested for sedition, their printing press (used to print The Vanguard newspaper) was seized, and in addition the party sustained considerable sectarian in-fighting. By the end of the 1920s, there were few party members left, and most of them were unemployed. These remnants started an unemployed workers' movement, which grew quite large, but it was eclipsed by its Labour Party rival.
In the 1935 general election, the Communists remained hostile towards the Labour Party (which won, and went on to form the first Labour Government with mass working class support). This policy was contrary to the Popular Front
policy adopted by the Comintern
in 1934, but the New Zealand representative in Moscow did not return home in time to communicate the new political line to the party leadership. In the later 1930s, the Communists regained considerable influence through various front organizations and trade unions, and gained an able leader in George Watson, who however was conscripted for military service, and died in action during World War II.
In the immediate post-wars years, the CPNZ became a strong influence in the Auckland
Region's Trade Council and for some time had probably over a thousand supporters nationwide. Throughout this period, the party remained resolutely Stalinist
in its policy, and closely followed the political line adopted by Moscow.
After the invasion of Hungary
in 1956, most of the intellectuals the CPNZ had attracted in the meantime left the party; some erstwhile supporters founded new journals such as New Zealand Monthly Review, Comment, Socialist Forum and Here & Now.
Next, in the early 1960s, the party experienced more internal strife due to the Sino-Soviet split
. The party was divided between supporters of the Soviet Union
under Nikita Khrushchev
and those who claimed Khrushchev was a "revisionist" and chose instead to follow China
under Mao Zedong
. Eventually, uniquely among the official communist parties of First World nations, the majority of the party and its newspaper The People's Voice chose to adopt Maoism. The supporters of Khrushchev's Soviet Union
(mainly Auckland trade unionists) departed to form the Socialist Unity Party
.
Later, when Mao died and Deng Xiaoping
began to reform the Chinese system, the Communist Party of New Zealand began to follow the lead of Enver Hoxha
's Albania
, which they considered to be the last truly Communist country in the world. Members of the CPNZ national leadership who continued to uphold the line of the post-Mao Chinese Communist Party, including Vic Wilcox, Alec Ostler and Don Ross were expelled and formed the Preparatory Committee for the Formation of the Communist Party of New Zealand (Marxist-Leninist)
.
Meanwhile other former members of the CPNZ in Wellington, where the party branch had been expelled en masse in 1970, founded the Wellington Marxist Leninist Organisation, which in 1980 merged with the Northern Communist Organisation to form the Workers Communist League (WCL).
After the collapse of Communism in Albania, the Communist Party of New Zealand gradually changed its views, renouncing its former support of Stalinism
, Maoism
, and Hoxhaism
. Instead, under the leadership of its last General Secretary, Grant Morgan
, it developed a State Capitalist analysis of the Stalinist states, the first CP in the world to do so . Opponents of this change departed, and established the Communist Party of Aotearoa
(a Maoist group) and the Marxist-Leninst Collective (a pro-Hoxha group). The Communist Party of New Zealand eventually merged with the International Socialist Organization
in 1994. The resultant party, known as the Socialist Workers Organization
, has evolved into the small but highly active Socialist Worker (Aotearoa)
.
The CPNZ never had mass influence or real political power, but it did politically influence several generations of radicals and stimulated several important social movements, including Halt All Racist Tours
(HART) and the Progressive Youth Movement (PYM).
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
from the 1920s to the early 1990s. It never achieved significant political success, and no longer exists as an independent group, although the Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker (Aotearoa)
Socialist Worker is a socialist organisation based in Aotearoa/New Zealand.SW evolved out of the group known as the Socialist Workers Organization, the successor organisation of the Communist Party of New Zealand...
organisation is considered organisationally continuous with the CPNZ.
History
The CPNZ was founded in March 1921, five years after the New Zealand Labour PartyNew Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
, and it consisted mainly of some dozens of former members of the New Zealand Marxian Association (established in 1918) and the old Socialist Party. The men who established the Communist Party were supporters of the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s, and remained independent from those who did not echo this support.
The new CPNZ attempted to establish itself in the 1920s as a militant force in the industrial sector, mainly in the mining towns of the West Coast of the South Island, and it gained some modest successes; a few hundred supporters were recruited. In line with the United Front
United front
The united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
policy of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, an attempt was made to join the Labour Party but this failed, and the two parties became fierce competitors. A Communist attempt to seize control over the main leftwing newspaper, the Maoriland Worker
Maoriland Worker
The Maoriland Worker was a leading New Zealand labour journal of the early 20th century. It was initially published monthly.It was launched in 1910 by the Shearers Union, and was soon taken over by the New Zealand Federation of Labour and became the official organ of the federation.The journal...
also failed. The New Zealand Communists were frequently persecuted and arrested for sedition, their printing press (used to print The Vanguard newspaper) was seized, and in addition the party sustained considerable sectarian in-fighting. By the end of the 1920s, there were few party members left, and most of them were unemployed. These remnants started an unemployed workers' movement, which grew quite large, but it was eclipsed by its Labour Party rival.
In the 1935 general election, the Communists remained hostile towards the Labour Party (which won, and went on to form the first Labour Government with mass working class support). This policy was contrary to the Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
policy adopted by the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
in 1934, but the New Zealand representative in Moscow did not return home in time to communicate the new political line to the party leadership. In the later 1930s, the Communists regained considerable influence through various front organizations and trade unions, and gained an able leader in George Watson, who however was conscripted for military service, and died in action during World War II.
In the immediate post-wars years, the CPNZ became a strong influence in the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
Region's Trade Council and for some time had probably over a thousand supporters nationwide. Throughout this period, the party remained resolutely Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
in its policy, and closely followed the political line adopted by Moscow.
After the invasion of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
in 1956, most of the intellectuals the CPNZ had attracted in the meantime left the party; some erstwhile supporters founded new journals such as New Zealand Monthly Review, Comment, Socialist Forum and Here & Now.
Next, in the early 1960s, the party experienced more internal strife due to the Sino-Soviet split
Sino-Soviet split
In political science, the term Sino–Soviet split denotes the worsening of political and ideologic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War...
. The party was divided between supporters of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
under Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
and those who claimed Khrushchev was a "revisionist" and chose instead to follow China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
under Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
. Eventually, uniquely among the official communist parties of First World nations, the majority of the party and its newspaper The People's Voice chose to adopt Maoism. The supporters of Khrushchev's Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(mainly Auckland trade unionists) departed to form the Socialist Unity Party
Socialist Unity Party (New Zealand)
The Socialist Unity Party was one of the better-known communist parties in New Zealand. It had a certain amount of influence in the trade union movement, but never won seats in Parliament....
.
Later, when Mao died and Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
began to reform the Chinese system, the Communist Party of New Zealand began to follow the lead of Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
's Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, which they considered to be the last truly Communist country in the world. Members of the CPNZ national leadership who continued to uphold the line of the post-Mao Chinese Communist Party, including Vic Wilcox, Alec Ostler and Don Ross were expelled and formed the Preparatory Committee for the Formation of the Communist Party of New Zealand (Marxist-Leninist)
Organisation for Marxist Unity - New Zealand
The Organisation for Marxist Unity was founded in the 1975 as the Preparatory Committee for the Formation of the Communist Party of New Zealand , by former members of the CPNZ including Don Ross, Alec Ostler and Peter Manson...
.
Meanwhile other former members of the CPNZ in Wellington, where the party branch had been expelled en masse in 1970, founded the Wellington Marxist Leninist Organisation, which in 1980 merged with the Northern Communist Organisation to form the Workers Communist League (WCL).
After the collapse of Communism in Albania, the Communist Party of New Zealand gradually changed its views, renouncing its former support of Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
, Maoism
Maoism
Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...
, and Hoxhaism
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
. Instead, under the leadership of its last General Secretary, Grant Morgan
Grant Morgan
Grant Morgan is a political activist from Auckland, New Zealand.Morgan is a leading member of Socialist Worker, and the chairperson of the Residents Action Movement. He was also the first Secretary of the Solidarity Union, and the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of New Zealand.-...
, it developed a State Capitalist analysis of the Stalinist states, the first CP in the world to do so . Opponents of this change departed, and established the Communist Party of Aotearoa
Communist Party of Aotearoa
The Communist Party of Aotearoa is a Maoist political party which formed in 1993 as a split from the Communist Party of New Zealand, which had formerly been Maoist, but was then drifting towards Trotskyism....
(a Maoist group) and the Marxist-Leninst Collective (a pro-Hoxha group). The Communist Party of New Zealand eventually merged with the International Socialist Organization
International Socialist Organization (New Zealand)
The International Socialist Organisation is a Trotskyist organisation in New Zealand. It is based in Dunedin.The founders of the ISO in New Zealand, notably Brian Roper, had developed sympathies with the International Socialism current of Trotskyism while living overseas...
in 1994. The resultant party, known as the Socialist Workers Organization
Socialist Workers Organization (New Zealand)
The Socialist Workers Organization was a Trotskyist organisation based in New Zealand. It was part of the International Socialist Tendency, the Socialist Workers Party's international tendency....
, has evolved into the small but highly active Socialist Worker (Aotearoa)
Socialist Worker (Aotearoa)
Socialist Worker is a socialist organisation based in Aotearoa/New Zealand.SW evolved out of the group known as the Socialist Workers Organization, the successor organisation of the Communist Party of New Zealand...
.
The CPNZ never had mass influence or real political power, but it did politically influence several generations of radicals and stimulated several important social movements, including Halt All Racist Tours
Halt All Racist Tours
Halt All Racist Tours was a protest group set up in New Zealand in 1969 to protest against rugby union tours to and from South Africa.-Chronology:...
(HART) and the Progressive Youth Movement (PYM).