In the last few years, the NZ Alliance has undergone big upheaval. Green Left Weekly's Sibylle Kaczorek spoke to Mike Treen, the foreign affairs spokesperson of the NZ Alliance, when he was in Australia for the Socialist Alliance's third national conference, held in Melbourne from May 8 to 9.
The NZ Alliance had its origins in a split from the old Labour Party in 1989, which formed the NewLabour Party. This joined with the Greens, Mana Motuhake and the Democrats to form a new party in 1991 to challenge the "new-right" agenda pursued by the Labour and National parties in the 1990s.
From 1999 to 2002, the Alliance participated in a coalition government with the Labour Party. According to Treen: "A tension developed between those [Alliance members] who wanted to subordinate the Alliance and what it stood for to the policies of the government — that is the policies of the dominant partner of that government, the Labour Party — and those who wanted to keep articulating the vision that the Alliance had fought for over a number of years, which was a radical left agenda for New Zealand society."
Treen argued that the Alliance's vision had become "increasingly compromised" and was not being articulated by the Alliance's leaders in parliament. The growing conflict between the parliamentary wing of the party and the rank and file was brought to a head over the government's decision to send troops to support the US-led war on Afghanistan in 2002.
Alliance split
The Alliance's parliamentary leader, Jim Anderton, successfully insisted that the party's parliamentary caucus support the troop dispatch. This provoked a revolt inside the Alliance, which subsequently led to a split. Treen explained that the majority of the party, including its activist base, disagreed with the caucus, so that "when Anderton and his supporters left, we were able to keep the name". "We have around 500 members now", Treen explained, "with no party affiliates".
While some of the parliamentarians stayed, the party did not get enough votes in the 2002 election to keep any seats. "It was a heavy blow to the Alliance", Treen said of the less-than-2% vote, "[when we had gotten votes of] 15% or more."
"The split did a lot of damage to our credibility. It tended to be portrayed in the media as a personality battle rather than a battle over politics and principles." Despite the damage, however, Treen explained that the Alliance still had "significant credibility", which was reflected in the high votes for outgoing leader Laila Harre and former MP Willie Jackson.
Treen argued: "We are in a process of regaining our credibility at the moment. This can be done in two ways. One is that we become a party whose members and leaders are seen to be actively involved in fighting for our constituency — working people, the marginalised, the poor. A lot of the Alliance leaders have, since our removal from parliament, thrown ourselves into union organising work.
"This includes Laila Harre in the nurses union, our president Jill Ovens in the Tertiary Teachers Association, and the current leader Matt McCarten with the union Unite, a union of the low-paid and casual workers. In that process we are regaining the type of roots that the Alliance needs if it wants to be able to be a credible party of the left.
"The other thing the Alliance has been doing to rebuild is redefining and clarifying its purpose and program. We have been having an extensive discussion on a new manifesto for the Alliance, which includes an explicit socialist objective, a commitment to control of the elected representatives. [We say that] that our elected representatives should be on an income commensurate with that of a skilled worker.
Unionising the vulnerable
"After the elections, a lot of us were out of jobs and we wanted to get more heavily involved in trade union work. A small union, a general workers' union called Unite, asked McCarten, myself and some others to help organise the 90% of the private sector work force who are outside of unions. In particular, we wanted to organise the low paid, young, casual workers whom nobody has been able to successfully organise."
Treen said that he thought the Unite project had been a "stunning success", explaining that it had organised 2500 workers in four main areas: the hotel industry; call centres; the fast food industry; and English-language schools.
"In each of these areas we have had real successes", Treen explained. "One example is the picture theatres. Most of the Auckland picture theatres are owned by one major chain with eight major complexes. We signed up 300 workers — 80-90% of the cinema workers — and the majority were under 20, some of them only 15 years old. Nearly all of them were on the minimum wage, which is much lower than in Australia: NZ$9 per hour for an adult and $7.20 for 16-18 year olds — there is no minimum wage for those under 16.
"We won a significant pay rise for these workers and a range of other protections: more notice on shifts, longer minimum hours on shifts; and provided taxi fares for workers who are finishing late. More importantly, we got delegate committees in each of these theatre complexes and provisions in the contract for regular delegate meetings. This means that there is an ongoing structure to organise, and liase with, a [previously] highly unorganised young workforce. The workers are really excited and are strong participants."
Treen explained that Unite "is not an Alliance project as such", but that the Alliance's strong support for the union "is part of proving what we are. That is, Alliance people are helping some of the most marginalised, discriminated against and exploited workers in New Zealand."
Treen explained that the Alliance's work went beyond just trade union work, and included anti-war and social justice activism. Also, as part of what Treen termed "re-arming", the Alliance has begun to publish Red and Green, a journal of left alternatives which comes out in a small-book format several times a year.
"We are reaching out to others on the left to be part of this discussion and we want to assist the bringing together of as broad an activist left party as we can", Treen explained.
Another Alliance project is the proposal for a left alternatives conference. "Anyone in New Zealand who wants to see a strong political party of the left should be part of this process", Treen said, "and that will help to ensure its success. It is not by any means guaranteed".
Maori struggle
Another major area of work for the Alliance has been to support the Maori battle for justice. Six months ago, a court decision indicated that Maori people may hold customary title over parts of the seabed and foreshore. Maori people have their guardianship of parts of NZ guaranteed under the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, but until the court decision this was thought to exclude the seabed and the foreshore.
Treen explained, "Following the court's decision, there was a lot of racist hysteria whipped up, with claims that Maoris would seize control of the beaches and not let people swim or use them recreationally. This was, of course, a lie." However, the government used the furore to justify introducing legislation to assert crown ownership over these areas.
"The government said that it would ensure that some Maori customary rights were recognised in some way. But from the Maori point of view, [the bill] was one more confiscation, one more dispossession of their traditional land and property rights."
The government and media also tried to imply that Maori could sell off the land to private companies if the courts recognised their customary title. In response, Maori people explained that they were happy for guarantees to be put in to ensure that they could not sell off the land, and that public access would be maintained. But they were not going to accept the government confiscating a right.
According to Treen, the bill was seen by all Maori "as a gigantic betrayal". "A hikoi [march] was organised from the top of the North Island to the south that went through each major town. In effect, all of Maori society mobilised to oppose this legislation. By the time this march reached Wellington, it was at least 20,000 strong. This made it the biggest mobilisation Wellington had seen for decades, if ever."
New Zealand's parliament includes seven seats voted for by Maori people only. All of those seats were won by the Labour Party at the last election. Two of these parliamentarians, however, voted against the confiscation bill when it came up on May 2, forcing the government to rely on right-wing votes to get the bill passed.
One, Tariana Turia, was dismissed from her ministerial portfolio as a result. She has since resigned from the Labour Party and said she will run in a coming by-election as an independent and is supporting the formation of a new Maori party.
According to Treen, "Attempts to form Maori parties in the past have never had as widespread support as the push that is occurring at the moment. It could well be that there will be a major realignment of politics in Maori society and that an independent Maori party could be formed.
"I think it is a progressive political development and the Alliance should collaborate with these people. We would want to encourage this party to have a left-wing social program, which I think is the natural thing for a Maori party, given that most Maori are working class and have traditionally had an allegiance to Labour because of the progressive social policies that Labor has had in the past."
From Green Left Weekly, May 26, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.