The existence of these three factions in the NLP created, from the beginning, a hybrid party. There was a great deal of flux, debate and conflict about the party’s policies and direction and the constituency to which it should orientate itself. The balance of power was often in question, due to alliances between the different factions and the way in which different kinds of issues — from abortion to economic policy — brought about particular alignments. If it was to survive and be able to present itself to the public as a credible political party, the NLP could not remain in such a state of flux. Given this, the early conflicts were crucial in determining the direction the party would take. For instance the expulsion of far-left groups, such as the Communist Left and Permanent Revolution Group, helped ensure that anti-capitalist politics were no longer a matter of debate within the party.
By 1991 the struggles over crucial questions — principles, strategies — had been resolved in favour of the Anderton wing of the party. After this the NLP/Alliance consolidated organisationally around the essentially Keynesian programme of the Anderton group, a programme fundamentally similar to that of Labour and National before 1984. The NLP’s resolution of the ‘big questions’ was, interestingly, described in Brown’s 1962 comments on the Labour Party:
Having won the internal battle, the Anderton group were able to concentrate on the external, public sphere — namely, winning votes and removing obstacles to their electability. An important aspect of this involved reassuring business sectors about the moderate nature of an Alliance government in order to ensure these powerful forces do not make people too scared to vote Alliance.
The significance of the Alliance
The creation of the Alliance was significant in terms of New Zealand history as well. It is the first time that minor parties joined forces to create a serious challenge to the existing political establishment. [It should be noted that following the election of the First Labour Government, the constituent elements of the devastated United Government created the National Party – however Reform and the Liberals were not ‘minor parties’ in the same sense as the Alliance constituents, since both had formed a series of earlier governments.]
Undoubtedly the arrival of the mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system provided the NLP and Alliance with greatly improved electoral success. The dramatic increase of Alliance MPs in 1996 and the corresponding increase in parliamentary resources apportioned to the organisation was a shot in the arm for their capacity to improve their political standing. Parliamentary financial resources allowed for more Alliance staff to be hired, and for more money to be spent on the party organisation and election campaigning. Likewise, the increase in parliamentary representation greatly multiplied the amount of voices that spoke for the Alliance, both in Parliament and the public media —increasing the credibility of the party in the eyes of many who still saw the Alliance as a ‘third party’ or the ‘Jim Anderton Party’.
However, a dramatic increase in the NLP and Alliance’s parliamentary representation provided for a potential further widening of the gap between leadership and members, and in general provided for an increase in the oligarchic tendencies of the leadership. Up until then, the majority of the leadership of the NLP and Alliance were not professional politicians. There was not therefore such a clear divide between leadership and membership or between the ‘parliamentary party’ and ‘extra-parliamentary party’ as in Labour and National. Furthermore, the financial and political resources of parliamentary representation decreased even further the need for the Alliance to be a mass party, or to be involved in grass-roots activism.
This increase in representation also had an effect on the organisation’s politics. The closer that the Alliance got to power, the more the party came under the pressure of public and business influences. Therefore, further moderation of policy occurred as the party felt the need to become more ‘responsible’. As the story has already been told, the NLP and Alliance have displayed a certain ‘realism’ towards the economic system. Given the Alliance’s pre-1996 record, it was not surprising that it adapted itself fairly quickly to the demands of an economic situation in which government austerity rather than government largesse is the order of the day. [According to Cowan: ‘The NLP Left accepts there will be a flight of capital from New Zealand if an Alliance election looks likely. It is possible that this pressure will be enough to tame Alliance leaders, since Anderton rushed in to soothe the money markets when last November’s poll delivered a hung parliament’ (Cowan, 1994: p.3).] In effect this would involve a lowering of expectations about what it can offer. It became apparent that in the rather unlikely event that an Alliance Government ignored the demands of the market and adopted a radical nationalisation and wealth redistribution plan, New Zealand could expect to face not only economic turmoil, but political and social instability. In any case, the very nature of the forces involved made it unlikely that an Alliance or Alliance-led government would challenge the existing socio-economic order.
Maintaining and strengthening the coalition was clearly a priority for all five parties. The Alliance held together for quite some time, despite the pundits, and while National and Labour were haemorrhaging MPs and members. This success was based not only on an understanding that they rise or fall together but also on an increasingly common political approach. When it is also considered that in many areas the Alliance replaced the individual parties as the framework through which members are organised, a formal merger became inevitable.
The dominant discourses on the formation and evolution of the Alliance have regarded it as an NLP creation that was subsequently coopted to a narrowly NLP agenda. The headline of one article on the Alliance declared, for instance, ‘NLP’s Scheming Socialists at the vanguard of the Alliance’ (Trotter, 1992b). By contrast, the version of the NLP-Alliance story contained in this project has been an attempt to provide an alternative tale about a ‘selling of our soul’ process. The intention of this paper has been to outline this process as one occurring over the NLP’s first few years of existence. The crucial point made is that to understand the formation, nature, and likely future of the Alliance, the past history of the NLP has to be understood.
This history has involved processes of recruitment, political debate and conflict, manoeuvring and exclusion. Forms of organisation have changed — for instance the leadership quickly came to monopolise decision-making, the Alliance structure has to a large extent superseded local NLP branches.
The NLP and Alliance history also reflects the disintegrative trends within present-day politics, such as the fracturing of previously stable major parties. At the same time it also shows the way in which mainstream politics recreates itself. Thus, out of diverse fragments, relatively insignificant in themselves, a major force emerged yet ultimately fell apart.
The NLP/Alliance history reflects too the shift away from class-based thinking, politics and parties in the late twentieth century. It also shows the decline of clear principles and ‘big ideas’, and the way they have been replaced with pragmatism, personalities and clever marketing. Further, it illustrates the pace of change and transformation in modern society. While the Labour Party took three quarters of a century to achieve its rightward deradicalisation, epitomised by the Fourth Labour Government’s rejection of traditional social democratic policy, the NLP saw ‘a speedy transition from birth to maturity’ (Oxenham, 1991: p.22).
The transformation of the NLP, although having its own specific elements which I have outlined, can also be seen as an example of the process described by Barry Gustafson:
External factors
In looking at the history and evolution of the NLP in this series of blog posts, I have concentrated on internal factors and processes that have led to the moderation of the NLP’s overall policy. I have done this because much previous analysis has ignored or downplayed these dynamics. But I am not suggesting that external factors have not been important. The rightward shift of the NLP can also be related to broad changes in society. The protracted economic problems of the 1970s and 1980s, which resulted in the restructuring of much of New Zealand’s economy, wiped out sizeable sections of industry and manufacturing. Seventy thousand manufacturing jobs were lost between 1984 and 1990. An important section of the traditional working class very quickly ceased to exist. This phenomenon is apparent in much of the ‘first world’, as major companies relocated to countries where production costs, especially labour costs, are lower.
These changes in countries such as New Zealand are reflected ideologically in ideas about the outmodedness of the concept of ‘working class’. The working class is suddently said to no longer exist as a meaningful sociological category. This was reinforced by the decline in trade union membership and the marginalisation of the trade union movement. Moreover, by the 1980s much of the union leadership promoted unions as little more than ‘friendly societies’.
The collapse of the Soviet bloc also had an important effect. Although most Marxists in New Zealand would hold the view that the Soviet bloc was the antithesis of Marxism, this was not how it was perceived by the public. Its implosion reinforced ideas that socialism, class politics, collective solutions and so on have failed.
At the same time, the triumph of capitalism has been less than inspiring. Most of the leading capitalist countries have suffered a series of major recessions, beginning in the early 1970s. While there have also been booms, these have tended to be short-lived. So whereas the long postwar boom enabled the expansion of the welfare state and a significant degree of social reform, the present condition of the New Zealand economy is clearly not conducive to such policies.
The effect of all these developments — the long slump, the collapse of the Soviet bloc and traditional social democracy in both its party and trade union forms, the economic restructuring and changes in class structure — was to significantly lower the horizons of all parties. By the time of the NLP’s formation no party stood for any great principles. The vision — or lack of vision — was dictated by harsh economic realities. Given that the NLP leadership started from the same fundamental premise as all of the other present and aspiring parliamentary parties — the acceptance that capitalism/the market economy are here to stay — it inevitably had to modify its earlier plans for fundamental social reform.
These external factors combined with the internal factors, upon which this series of blog posts has largely concentrated on. But the external factors have worked, in the main, to reinforce the more moderate faction in the NLP and help explain the Anderton group’s complete triumph over their leftist opponents.
More than anything else, the NLP story has been about dissent and compromise. On the dissent side have been Anderton in the Labour Party, the establishment of the NLP as a dissident voice in New Zealand politics, and the fight by left elements in the NLP against the moderation of policy and focus. On the compromise side have been the record of much of the old Labour left, such as Helen Clark, in reconciling themselves to the rightward evolution of the party, the acceptance of the same reality by many leftwing individuals within the NLP, and the overall moderation of NLP policy and focus.
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tony Allen, Gareth Evans, Mike Freeman, Kate Marshall
(1978) ‘The Recession: Capitalist Offensive and the Working Class’, Revolutionary Communist Papers 3, London: Junius.
Alliance
(1993) Alliance Manifesto 1993.
(1994) Alliance Selwyn By-Election Manifesto 1994.
(1995) A Plan for All New Zealanders: The Alliance 1995 Alternative Budget.
Phil Amos
(1991) Party Name. Paper written for the National Council meeting of February 1991.
Douglas Anderson
(1992) ‘Jim Anderton: Politicianspeak’, Critic, 29 June, p.12.
Jim Anderton
(1989) Letter of Resignation from the New Zealand Labour Party, 18 April.
(1991a) Matter for Consideration on the Issue of a Change in Party Name, Paper prepared at the request of the National Council.
(1992a) Letter to Party Members, 22 January.
(1991b) ‘Third-Party Alliance’, NLP Report, Vol.1 No.2, p.2.
(1992c) ‘Fighting Back’, Political Review, August, pp.31-35.
Joe Atkinson
(1993) ‘The New Mood: Auckland and the Rise of the Alliance’, Metro, March, pp.54-61.
David Barnes
(1989) ‘The Very Nice Mister Anderton’, Salient, 14 July, pp.8, 9.
Peter M. Blau and Marshal W. Mayer
(1971) Bureaucracy in Modern Society, Second Edition, New York: Random House.
Fred Block
(1987) Revistiting State Theory: Essays in Politics and Postindustrialism, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Bolshevik Club (BC)
(1990) Bolshevik Newsletter, No. 6, 2 May.
Nigel Bolye
(1989) ‘Expulsions Seen as a Mistake’, Christchurch Star, 4 July 1989.
Sue Bradford
(1990) Letter of Resignation from the NewLabour Party, 9 April.
Bruce Brown
(1962) The Rise of New Zealand Labour: A History of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1916 to 1940, Wellington: Price Milburn.
Gordon Campbell
(1988) ‘The Politics of Dissent’, Listener, September 10, pp.16-18.
(1989) ‘Party Time’, Listener, May 27, pp.14-16.
(1991) ‘Change Partners’, Listener, December 9, pp.22-26.
Francis G. Castles
(1985) The Working Class and Welfare, Wellington: Allen & Unwin/Port Nicholson.
Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ)
(1989) ‘Where is New Labour Going?’, Peoples Voice, 27 November, pp.12-15.
(1990a) ‘McCarten: “Go Out on a Picket Line” ‘, Peoples Voice, 11 June, pp.6, 7.
(1990b) ‘Pulled in Two Directions’, Peoples Voice, 11 June, p.8.
(1990c) ‘NLP Expels Permanent Revolution Group’, Peoples Voice, 30 September, p.14.
(1990d) ‘Political Vacuum to be Filled’, Peoples Voice, 30 September, pp.15-18.
(1991a) ‘Monetary Reform Central to Joining Alliance’, Peoples Voice, 9 September, pp.35-38.
(1991b) ‘ “Senior Partner” in Alliance’, Workers Voice, 4 November, p.23-25.
(1991c) ‘Who’s Who in NLP’, Workers Voice, 4 November, p.27.
(1991d) ‘Publications, Premises and Professionals’, Workers Voice, 4 November, p.27.
(1992a) ‘Green Party Conference’, Workers Voice, 1 June, pp.11-19.
(1992b) ‘Workers Move Towards Left’, Workers Voice, 21 September, pp.26-31.
(1992c) ‘Element of Truth’, Workers Voice, 6 October, p.17.
(1993a) ‘NewLabour: Where to Now?’, Workers Voice, 1 February, pp.28-30.
(1993b) ‘Socialism Impossible Inside the Alliance’, Workers Voice, 1 February, pp.31-36.
(1993c) ‘Decline of NewLabour’, Workers Voice, 1 February, p.37.
(1994a) ‘NewLabour’s Conference: Behind the Scenes’, Workers Voice, 11 April, pp.4, 5.
(1994b) ‘Alliance Man Resigns Under Pressure’, Workers Voice, 29 August, p.2.
Steven Cowan
(1988) ‘Faith in History’, New Zealand Monthly Review, September, No.312, pp.8, 9.
(1989a) ‘A New Vision’, New Zealand Monthly Review, April, No.317, p.5.
(1989b) ‘Expulsion of the Communist Left’, New Zealand Monthly Review, August/September, No.320, p.7).
(1990) ‘The NLP: Where to from Here?’, New Zealand Monthly Review, April/May, No.324, pp.4, 5.
(1992) ‘Fighting On’, New Zealand Monthly Review, August/September, No.335, p.14.
(1994) ‘A Step to the Right’, New Zealand Monthly Review, September/October, No.346, p.3.
Bruce Curtis
(1989a) ‘The Development of the Labour Party: They’re Not as Red as You Might Think’, New Zealand Monthly Review, No.316, March, pp.14-16.
(1989b) ‘The Development of the Labour Party: From Socialism to Opportunism’, New Zealand Monthly Review, No.317, April, pp.13-18.
Geoffrey Debnam
(1994) ‘Overcoming the Iron Law? The Role of the Policy Committees of the New Zealand Labour Party’, in Kay Lawson (ed) How Political Parties Work: Perspectives from Within, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
David Denemark
(1990) ‘Social Democracy and the Politics of Crisis in New Zealand, Britain, and Sweden’, in Martin Holland and Johathon Boston (eds) The Fourth Labour Government, Second Edition, Auckland: Oxford University Press.
Anthony Downs
(1957) An Economic Theory of Democracy, New York: Harper and Row.
Robert E. Dowse and John A. Hughes
(1972) Political Sociology, London: John Wiley & Sons.
Leon D. Epstein
(1967) Political Parties in Western Democracies, London: Pall Mall Press.
Jim Flynn
(1991) ‘Labour’s Trickery and Deception — What Makes the NLP Different’, NLP Report, July 10, Vol.1 No.1, pp.12, 13.
Barry Gribben
(1991) ‘Election Result Lessons — Start Working Towards 1993’, New Times, December, p.2.
Barry S. Gustafson
(1976) Social Change and Party Organistion: The New Zealand Labour Party Since 1945, London: Sage Publications.
(1980) Labour’s Path to Political Independence, Auckland: Auckland University Press/Oxford University Press.
(1989) ‘The Labour Party’, in Hyam Gold (ed.) New Zealand Politics in Perspective, second edition, Auckland: Longman Paul.
(1992) ‘Coming Home?’, in Margaret Clark (ed.) The Labour Party After 75 Years, Wellington: Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington.
Shane Hanley
(1988) ‘We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying?’, New Zealand Monthly Review, September, No.312, pp.10-?.
James Keir Hardie
(1907) From Seftdom to Socialism, London: George Allen.
Martin Harrop and William L. Miller
(1987) Elections and Voters: A Comparative Introduction, London: MacMillan.
Patricia Herbert
(1988) ‘Anderton and Dyson run to the finishing line’, National Business Review, September 2, p.7.
Albert Hirschman
(1970) Exit, Voice and Loyalty, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Francesca Holloway
(1990) Letter of Resignation from the NLP.
Anthony Hubbard
(1989) ‘Saviour of the Purity of the Left’, Dominion, 30 April, p.11.
Tom Hyde
(1994) ‘The Exile Returns to Main Street’, Metro, May, pp.78-85.
Keith Jackson
(1973) New Zealand: Politics of Change, Wellington: Reed Education.
Colin James
(1991) ‘Third Party Alliance Potentially Major Force to be Reckoned with’, National Business Review, November 1, p.9.
(1993) ‘The Workers’ Flag’, in Colin James and Alan McRobie (eds) Turning Point, Wellington: Bridget Williams Books.
(1994) ‘The Future’, in Jack Vowles and Peter Aimer (eds.) Double Decision: The 1993 Election and Referendum in New Zealand, Wellington: Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington.
Colin James and Alan McRobie
(1990) Changes? The 1990 Election, Wellington: Allen & Unwin.
(1993) Turning Point, Wellington: Bridget Williams Books.
Bruce Jesson
(1989a) Fragments of Labour: The Story Behind the Labour Government, Auckland: Penguin Books.
(1989b) ‘Are We Republicans?’, New Times, November/December, p.11.
(1990) ‘The Wearing of the Green’, Metro, March, pp.138, 139.
(1991a) ‘No Easy Answers’, Metro, January, pp.158, 159.
(1991b) ‘The Birth of the Alliance’, The Republican, December, No.73, p.1.
(1992a) ‘The Disintegration of a Labour Tradition: New Zealand Politics in the 1980s’, New Left Review, March/April, No.192, pp.37-54.
(1992b) ‘Are the Greens Worth the Effort?’, The Republican, April, No.74, p.3.
(1992c) ‘Unreasonable Expectations’, The Republican, June/July, No.75, pp.15-17.
(1992d) ‘A Profile of the NLP’, The Republican, August/September, No.76, pp.15, 16.
(1992e) ‘A Vision Postponed’, The Republican, December, No.78, pp.12, 13.
(1993) ‘Winnie of Our Discontent’, The Republican, July/August, No.80, pp.1-6.
(1994) ‘The Alliance’, The Republican, January, No.81, pp.1-6.
Dennis Kavanagh
(1982) ‘Still the Worker’s Party? Changing Social Trends in Elite Recruitment and Electoral Support’, in Kavanagh (ed) The Politics of the Labour Party, London: George Allen & Unwin.
Simon Kilroy
(1989) ‘The Dangerous Beast that Anderton Brought in’, Dominion, 5 June, p.2.
(1989) ‘Campaigner gets Top Party Post’, Dominion, 5 June, p.2.
Marinus La Rooij and John Moore
(1992a) Media Release.
(1992b) Open Letter to NLP Members.
Nicola Leget
(1993) ‘Street Fighting Woman’, Metro, May, pp.62-69.
Ken Lowen
(1992) ‘The Insult of Consultants’, The Republican, October/November, No.77, p.14.
Peter Luke
(1989) ‘NLP Clears First Hurdle’, Press, 10 June, p.20.
(1992) ‘ “Good News” Helps Govt Keep Tamaki’, Press, 17 February, p.6.
Dave Macpherson
(1994) ‘Alliance’, in Jack Vowles and Peter Aimer (eds.) Double Decision: The 1993 Election and Referendum in New Zealand, Wellington: Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington.
Steve Maharey
(1986) ‘Moving Left: Can Labour be Socialist...and be the Government?’ in Maharey and Mike O’Brien (eds) Alternatives: Socialist Essays for the 1980s, Palmerston North: Department of Sociology, Massey University.
(1987) ‘Reshaping the Future? Labour, Ideology, and Socialism’, Race Gender Class, July No.5, pp. 71-85.
Robert Mannion
(1989) ‘New Foundation for the Left’, Dominion.
Matt McCarten
(1989) ‘New Labour Not a New Version of an Old Song’, New Times, November/December, Vol.1 No.1, p.2.
(1990) ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’, New Times, January/February, p.2.
Alison McCulloch
(1989) ‘Our Woman in the House’, Broadsheet, July/August, pp.13, 14.
(1992) ‘The Political Colours of Rainbow’, The Republican, June/July, No.75, pp.17, 18.
Elizabeth McLeay
(1994) ‘Political Issues and the Policy Agenda’, in Jack Vowles and Peter Aimer (eds.) Double Decision: The 1993 Election and Referendum in New Zealand, Wellington: Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington.
Robert Michels
(1949 [1915]) Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Trends of Modern Democracy, Illinois: The Free Press.
Raymond Miller
(1991) ‘Postmaterialism and Green Party Activists in New Zealand’, Political Science, Vol. 43, No.2, December: pp.43-66.
Raymond Miller and Helena Catt
(1993) Season of Discontent: By-elections and the Bolger Government, Palmerston North: Dunmore Press.
R.S. Milne
(1966) Political Parties in New Zealand, London: Oxford University Press.
Richard Mulgan
(1990) ‘The Changing Electoral Mandate’, in Jonathon Boston and Martin Holland (eds.), The Fourth Labour Government: Politics and Policy in New Zealand, second edition, Auckland: Oxford University Press.
(1994) Politics in New Zealand, Auckland: Auckland University Press.
NewLabour Party (NLP)
(1989) Interim Constitution.
(1990a) Report on the Permanent Revolution Group (PRG).
(1990b) NewLabour’s Manifesto 1990.
(1991a) NewLabour Party Constitution.
(1991b) Report on the NewLabour Party Annual Conference.
(1991c) Minutes of NewLabour Annual Conference.
(1994) NewLabour Party Constitution 1994.
Erik Olssen
(1987) ‘The Origins of the Labour Party: A Reconsideration’, in Judith Binney and M.P.K. Sorrenson (eds.) The New Zealand Journal of History: Essays in Honour of Sir Keith Sinclair, Vol.21 No.2, pp79-96.
John M. Orbell and Geoffrey Fougere
(1973) ‘Intra-Party Conflict and the Decay of Ideology’, Journal of Politics, Vol.35, No.2, pp.439-458.
Steve Oxenham
(1991) ‘Running on Honesty’, New Zealand Monthly Review, August/September, No.331, pp.20-23.
(1992) ‘Building the Alliance’, New Zealand Monthly Review, June/July, No.334, pp.18-20.
Stephen Padgett and William Paterson
(1991) A History of Social Democracy in Postwar Europe, London: Longman.
Angelo Panebianco
(1988 [1982]) Political Parties: Organization and Power, translated by Marc Silver, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Peter Parussini
(1990) ‘NewLabour Plots Course for Challenge in 1993’, The Evening Post, 14 November, p.9.
Permanent Revolution Group (PRG)
(1990) ‘1990 Elections: No Choice for Workers’, Pamphlette.
(1991) ‘Trotskyism and the New Labour Party’, 1917, No.9, pp.23-26.
Adam Przeworski
(1985) Capitalism and Social Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Adam Przeworski and John Sprague
(1986) Paper Stones: A History of Electoral Socialism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Len Richards
(1989) ‘Build the NLP’, New Zealand Monthly Review, June/July, No.319, pp.8, 9.
Len Richardson
(1981) ‘Parties and Political Change’, in W.H. Oliver (ed.) The Oxford History of New Zealand, Auckland: Oxford University Press.
Keith Sinclair
(1969) A History of New Zealand, Middlesex: Penguin.
John Clayton Thomas
(1975) The Decline of Ideology in Western Political Parties: A Study of Changing Policy Orienatations, London: Sage Publications.
Chris Trotter
(1991) ‘Left Hand of the Alliance’, National Business Review, December 20, p.7.
(1992a) ‘Alliance Split on Tax’, Political Review, August, p.11.
(1992b) ‘NLP’s Scheming Socialists at the Vanguard of the Alliance’, The Independent, October 16, p.10.
(1992c) ‘This Month in Politics’, Political Review, October/November, pp.5-11.
(1992d) ‘Anderton’s Alliance’, Political Review, November/December, p.19-27.
(1994a) ‘Who’s Right? If So, What’s Left?’, Metro, September?, pp.100-103.
(1994b) ‘After Anderton: Does the Alliance have a Future?’, New Zealald Political Review, November/December, pp.17-24.
Jack Vowles
(1990) ‘The New Labour Party: For New Times or Old Times?, in Sites, No.20 (Autumn), pp.54-68.
Jack Vowles and Peter Aimer
(1993) Voters’ Vengeance: The 1990 Election in New Zealand and the Fate of the Fourth Labour Government, Auckland: Auckland University Press.
Jack Vowles, Peter Aimer, Helena Catt, Jim Lamare, and Raymond Miller
(1995) Towards Consensus? The 1993 Election in New Zealand and the Transition to Proportional Representation, Auckland: Auckland University Press.
Douglas Webber
(1978) ‘Trade Unions and the Labour Party: The Death of Working-Class Politics in New Zealand’, in Stephen Levine (ed.), Politics in New Zealand: A Reader, Auckland: George Allen & Unwin, pp.182-195.
Denis Welch
(1989) ‘Fight to the Last Corgi’, Listener, December 11, p.8.
Frank L. Wilson
(1994) ‘The Sources of Party Change: The Social Democratic Parties of Britain, France, Germany, and Spain’, in Kay Lawson (ed) How Political Parties Work: Perspectives from Within, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
OTHER SOURCES
Dominion
New Times
New Zealand Herald
Press
Interviews with NLP members and ex-members
This absence of a doctrinaire approach was reflected in the political realism the Party displayed. Like all democratic socialist parties, it was confronted with the dilemma whether to hold on to the whole of the policy which it believed to be fundamentally right and face an indefinite political wilderness, or whether to modify the policy, retaining what it could without jeopardising the prospect of imminent electoral success. The New Zealand Labour Party inevitably chose the second alternative — inevitably, because the Party could not have been held together on any other basis (Brown, 1962: p.222).
Having won the internal battle, the Anderton group were able to concentrate on the external, public sphere — namely, winning votes and removing obstacles to their electability. An important aspect of this involved reassuring business sectors about the moderate nature of an Alliance government in order to ensure these powerful forces do not make people too scared to vote Alliance.
The significance of the Alliance
Undoubtedly the arrival of the mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system provided the NLP and Alliance with greatly improved electoral success. The dramatic increase of Alliance MPs in 1996 and the corresponding increase in parliamentary resources apportioned to the organisation was a shot in the arm for their capacity to improve their political standing. Parliamentary financial resources allowed for more Alliance staff to be hired, and for more money to be spent on the party organisation and election campaigning. Likewise, the increase in parliamentary representation greatly multiplied the amount of voices that spoke for the Alliance, both in Parliament and the public media —increasing the credibility of the party in the eyes of many who still saw the Alliance as a ‘third party’ or the ‘Jim Anderton Party’.
Maintaining and strengthening the coalition was clearly a priority for all five parties. The Alliance held together for quite some time, despite the pundits, and while National and Labour were haemorrhaging MPs and members. This success was based not only on an understanding that they rise or fall together but also on an increasingly common political approach. When it is also considered that in many areas the Alliance replaced the individual parties as the framework through which members are organised, a formal merger became inevitable.
This history has involved processes of recruitment, political debate and conflict, manoeuvring and exclusion. Forms of organisation have changed — for instance the leadership quickly came to monopolise decision-making, the Alliance structure has to a large extent superseded local NLP branches.
The NLP and Alliance history also reflects the disintegrative trends within present-day politics, such as the fracturing of previously stable major parties. At the same time it also shows the way in which mainstream politics recreates itself. Thus, out of diverse fragments, relatively insignificant in themselves, a major force emerged yet ultimately fell apart.
The NLP/Alliance history reflects too the shift away from class-based thinking, politics and parties in the late twentieth century. It also shows the decline of clear principles and ‘big ideas’, and the way they have been replaced with pragmatism, personalities and clever marketing. Further, it illustrates the pace of change and transformation in modern society. While the Labour Party took three quarters of a century to achieve its rightward deradicalisation, epitomised by the Fourth Labour Government’s rejection of traditional social democratic policy, the NLP saw ‘a speedy transition from birth to maturity’ (Oxenham, 1991: p.22).
The transformation of the NLP, although having its own specific elements which I have outlined, can also be seen as an example of the process described by Barry Gustafson:
Over a period of time a party created in response to specific socio-economic circumstances and aspirations must allow itself to be recreated and to co-operate in its own transformation if it is to survive... the compositions, demands, values, social relations, and technology of a society change; the changes are reflected in the composition and policies of a party (Gustafson, 1976, p.55).
External factors
In looking at the history and evolution of the NLP in this series of blog posts, I have concentrated on internal factors and processes that have led to the moderation of the NLP’s overall policy. I have done this because much previous analysis has ignored or downplayed these dynamics. But I am not suggesting that external factors have not been important. The rightward shift of the NLP can also be related to broad changes in society. The protracted economic problems of the 1970s and 1980s, which resulted in the restructuring of much of New Zealand’s economy, wiped out sizeable sections of industry and manufacturing. Seventy thousand manufacturing jobs were lost between 1984 and 1990. An important section of the traditional working class very quickly ceased to exist. This phenomenon is apparent in much of the ‘first world’, as major companies relocated to countries where production costs, especially labour costs, are lower.
These changes in countries such as New Zealand are reflected ideologically in ideas about the outmodedness of the concept of ‘working class’. The working class is suddently said to no longer exist as a meaningful sociological category. This was reinforced by the decline in trade union membership and the marginalisation of the trade union movement. Moreover, by the 1980s much of the union leadership promoted unions as little more than ‘friendly societies’.
The collapse of the Soviet bloc also had an important effect. Although most Marxists in New Zealand would hold the view that the Soviet bloc was the antithesis of Marxism, this was not how it was perceived by the public. Its implosion reinforced ideas that socialism, class politics, collective solutions and so on have failed.
At the same time, the triumph of capitalism has been less than inspiring. Most of the leading capitalist countries have suffered a series of major recessions, beginning in the early 1970s. While there have also been booms, these have tended to be short-lived. So whereas the long postwar boom enabled the expansion of the welfare state and a significant degree of social reform, the present condition of the New Zealand economy is clearly not conducive to such policies.
The effect of all these developments — the long slump, the collapse of the Soviet bloc and traditional social democracy in both its party and trade union forms, the economic restructuring and changes in class structure — was to significantly lower the horizons of all parties. By the time of the NLP’s formation no party stood for any great principles. The vision — or lack of vision — was dictated by harsh economic realities. Given that the NLP leadership started from the same fundamental premise as all of the other present and aspiring parliamentary parties — the acceptance that capitalism/the market economy are here to stay — it inevitably had to modify its earlier plans for fundamental social reform.
More than anything else, the NLP story has been about dissent and compromise. On the dissent side have been Anderton in the Labour Party, the establishment of the NLP as a dissident voice in New Zealand politics, and the fight by left elements in the NLP against the moderation of policy and focus. On the compromise side have been the record of much of the old Labour left, such as Helen Clark, in reconciling themselves to the rightward evolution of the party, the acceptance of the same reality by many leftwing individuals within the NLP, and the overall moderation of NLP policy and focus.
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tony Allen, Gareth Evans, Mike Freeman, Kate Marshall
(1978) ‘The Recession: Capitalist Offensive and the Working Class’, Revolutionary Communist Papers 3, London: Junius.
Alliance
(1993) Alliance Manifesto 1993.
(1994) Alliance Selwyn By-Election Manifesto 1994.
(1995) A Plan for All New Zealanders: The Alliance 1995 Alternative Budget.
Phil Amos
(1991) Party Name. Paper written for the National Council meeting of February 1991.
Douglas Anderson
(1992) ‘Jim Anderton: Politicianspeak’, Critic, 29 June, p.12.
Jim Anderton
(1989) Letter of Resignation from the New Zealand Labour Party, 18 April.
(1991a) Matter for Consideration on the Issue of a Change in Party Name, Paper prepared at the request of the National Council.
(1992a) Letter to Party Members, 22 January.
(1991b) ‘Third-Party Alliance’, NLP Report, Vol.1 No.2, p.2.
(1992c) ‘Fighting Back’, Political Review, August, pp.31-35.
Joe Atkinson
(1993) ‘The New Mood: Auckland and the Rise of the Alliance’, Metro, March, pp.54-61.
David Barnes
(1989) ‘The Very Nice Mister Anderton’, Salient, 14 July, pp.8, 9.
Peter M. Blau and Marshal W. Mayer
(1971) Bureaucracy in Modern Society, Second Edition, New York: Random House.
Fred Block
(1987) Revistiting State Theory: Essays in Politics and Postindustrialism, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Bolshevik Club (BC)
(1990) Bolshevik Newsletter, No. 6, 2 May.
Nigel Bolye
(1989) ‘Expulsions Seen as a Mistake’, Christchurch Star, 4 July 1989.
Sue Bradford
(1990) Letter of Resignation from the NewLabour Party, 9 April.
Bruce Brown
(1962) The Rise of New Zealand Labour: A History of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1916 to 1940, Wellington: Price Milburn.
Gordon Campbell
(1988) ‘The Politics of Dissent’, Listener, September 10, pp.16-18.
(1989) ‘Party Time’, Listener, May 27, pp.14-16.
(1991) ‘Change Partners’, Listener, December 9, pp.22-26.
Francis G. Castles
(1985) The Working Class and Welfare, Wellington: Allen & Unwin/Port Nicholson.
Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ)
(1989) ‘Where is New Labour Going?’, Peoples Voice, 27 November, pp.12-15.
(1990a) ‘McCarten: “Go Out on a Picket Line” ‘, Peoples Voice, 11 June, pp.6, 7.
(1990b) ‘Pulled in Two Directions’, Peoples Voice, 11 June, p.8.
(1990c) ‘NLP Expels Permanent Revolution Group’, Peoples Voice, 30 September, p.14.
(1990d) ‘Political Vacuum to be Filled’, Peoples Voice, 30 September, pp.15-18.
(1991a) ‘Monetary Reform Central to Joining Alliance’, Peoples Voice, 9 September, pp.35-38.
(1991b) ‘ “Senior Partner” in Alliance’, Workers Voice, 4 November, p.23-25.
(1991c) ‘Who’s Who in NLP’, Workers Voice, 4 November, p.27.
(1991d) ‘Publications, Premises and Professionals’, Workers Voice, 4 November, p.27.
(1992a) ‘Green Party Conference’, Workers Voice, 1 June, pp.11-19.
(1992b) ‘Workers Move Towards Left’, Workers Voice, 21 September, pp.26-31.
(1992c) ‘Element of Truth’, Workers Voice, 6 October, p.17.
(1993a) ‘NewLabour: Where to Now?’, Workers Voice, 1 February, pp.28-30.
(1993b) ‘Socialism Impossible Inside the Alliance’, Workers Voice, 1 February, pp.31-36.
(1993c) ‘Decline of NewLabour’, Workers Voice, 1 February, p.37.
(1994a) ‘NewLabour’s Conference: Behind the Scenes’, Workers Voice, 11 April, pp.4, 5.
(1994b) ‘Alliance Man Resigns Under Pressure’, Workers Voice, 29 August, p.2.
Steven Cowan
(1988) ‘Faith in History’, New Zealand Monthly Review, September, No.312, pp.8, 9.
(1989a) ‘A New Vision’, New Zealand Monthly Review, April, No.317, p.5.
(1989b) ‘Expulsion of the Communist Left’, New Zealand Monthly Review, August/September, No.320, p.7).
(1990) ‘The NLP: Where to from Here?’, New Zealand Monthly Review, April/May, No.324, pp.4, 5.
(1992) ‘Fighting On’, New Zealand Monthly Review, August/September, No.335, p.14.
(1994) ‘A Step to the Right’, New Zealand Monthly Review, September/October, No.346, p.3.
Bruce Curtis
(1989a) ‘The Development of the Labour Party: They’re Not as Red as You Might Think’, New Zealand Monthly Review, No.316, March, pp.14-16.
(1989b) ‘The Development of the Labour Party: From Socialism to Opportunism’, New Zealand Monthly Review, No.317, April, pp.13-18.
Geoffrey Debnam
(1994) ‘Overcoming the Iron Law? The Role of the Policy Committees of the New Zealand Labour Party’, in Kay Lawson (ed) How Political Parties Work: Perspectives from Within, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
David Denemark
(1990) ‘Social Democracy and the Politics of Crisis in New Zealand, Britain, and Sweden’, in Martin Holland and Johathon Boston (eds) The Fourth Labour Government, Second Edition, Auckland: Oxford University Press.
Anthony Downs
(1957) An Economic Theory of Democracy, New York: Harper and Row.
Robert E. Dowse and John A. Hughes
(1972) Political Sociology, London: John Wiley & Sons.
Leon D. Epstein
(1967) Political Parties in Western Democracies, London: Pall Mall Press.
Jim Flynn
(1991) ‘Labour’s Trickery and Deception — What Makes the NLP Different’, NLP Report, July 10, Vol.1 No.1, pp.12, 13.
Barry Gribben
(1991) ‘Election Result Lessons — Start Working Towards 1993’, New Times, December, p.2.
Barry S. Gustafson
(1976) Social Change and Party Organistion: The New Zealand Labour Party Since 1945, London: Sage Publications.
(1980) Labour’s Path to Political Independence, Auckland: Auckland University Press/Oxford University Press.
(1989) ‘The Labour Party’, in Hyam Gold (ed.) New Zealand Politics in Perspective, second edition, Auckland: Longman Paul.
(1992) ‘Coming Home?’, in Margaret Clark (ed.) The Labour Party After 75 Years, Wellington: Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington.
Shane Hanley
(1988) ‘We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying?’, New Zealand Monthly Review, September, No.312, pp.10-?.
James Keir Hardie
(1907) From Seftdom to Socialism, London: George Allen.
Martin Harrop and William L. Miller
(1987) Elections and Voters: A Comparative Introduction, London: MacMillan.
Patricia Herbert
(1988) ‘Anderton and Dyson run to the finishing line’, National Business Review, September 2, p.7.
Albert Hirschman
(1970) Exit, Voice and Loyalty, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Francesca Holloway
(1990) Letter of Resignation from the NLP.
Anthony Hubbard
(1989) ‘Saviour of the Purity of the Left’, Dominion, 30 April, p.11.
Tom Hyde
(1994) ‘The Exile Returns to Main Street’, Metro, May, pp.78-85.
Keith Jackson
(1973) New Zealand: Politics of Change, Wellington: Reed Education.
Colin James
(1991) ‘Third Party Alliance Potentially Major Force to be Reckoned with’, National Business Review, November 1, p.9.
(1993) ‘The Workers’ Flag’, in Colin James and Alan McRobie (eds) Turning Point, Wellington: Bridget Williams Books.
(1994) ‘The Future’, in Jack Vowles and Peter Aimer (eds.) Double Decision: The 1993 Election and Referendum in New Zealand, Wellington: Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington.
Colin James and Alan McRobie
(1990) Changes? The 1990 Election, Wellington: Allen & Unwin.
(1993) Turning Point, Wellington: Bridget Williams Books.
Bruce Jesson
(1989a) Fragments of Labour: The Story Behind the Labour Government, Auckland: Penguin Books.
(1989b) ‘Are We Republicans?’, New Times, November/December, p.11.
(1990) ‘The Wearing of the Green’, Metro, March, pp.138, 139.
(1991a) ‘No Easy Answers’, Metro, January, pp.158, 159.
(1991b) ‘The Birth of the Alliance’, The Republican, December, No.73, p.1.
(1992a) ‘The Disintegration of a Labour Tradition: New Zealand Politics in the 1980s’, New Left Review, March/April, No.192, pp.37-54.
(1992b) ‘Are the Greens Worth the Effort?’, The Republican, April, No.74, p.3.
(1992c) ‘Unreasonable Expectations’, The Republican, June/July, No.75, pp.15-17.
(1992d) ‘A Profile of the NLP’, The Republican, August/September, No.76, pp.15, 16.
(1992e) ‘A Vision Postponed’, The Republican, December, No.78, pp.12, 13.
(1993) ‘Winnie of Our Discontent’, The Republican, July/August, No.80, pp.1-6.
(1994) ‘The Alliance’, The Republican, January, No.81, pp.1-6.
Dennis Kavanagh
(1982) ‘Still the Worker’s Party? Changing Social Trends in Elite Recruitment and Electoral Support’, in Kavanagh (ed) The Politics of the Labour Party, London: George Allen & Unwin.
Simon Kilroy
(1989) ‘The Dangerous Beast that Anderton Brought in’, Dominion, 5 June, p.2.
(1989) ‘Campaigner gets Top Party Post’, Dominion, 5 June, p.2.
Marinus La Rooij and John Moore
(1992a) Media Release.
(1992b) Open Letter to NLP Members.
Nicola Leget
(1993) ‘Street Fighting Woman’, Metro, May, pp.62-69.
Ken Lowen
(1992) ‘The Insult of Consultants’, The Republican, October/November, No.77, p.14.
Peter Luke
(1989) ‘NLP Clears First Hurdle’, Press, 10 June, p.20.
(1992) ‘ “Good News” Helps Govt Keep Tamaki’, Press, 17 February, p.6.
Dave Macpherson
(1994) ‘Alliance’, in Jack Vowles and Peter Aimer (eds.) Double Decision: The 1993 Election and Referendum in New Zealand, Wellington: Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington.
Steve Maharey
(1986) ‘Moving Left: Can Labour be Socialist...and be the Government?’ in Maharey and Mike O’Brien (eds) Alternatives: Socialist Essays for the 1980s, Palmerston North: Department of Sociology, Massey University.
(1987) ‘Reshaping the Future? Labour, Ideology, and Socialism’, Race Gender Class, July No.5, pp. 71-85.
Robert Mannion
(1989) ‘New Foundation for the Left’, Dominion.
Matt McCarten
(1989) ‘New Labour Not a New Version of an Old Song’, New Times, November/December, Vol.1 No.1, p.2.
(1990) ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’, New Times, January/February, p.2.
Alison McCulloch
(1989) ‘Our Woman in the House’, Broadsheet, July/August, pp.13, 14.
(1992) ‘The Political Colours of Rainbow’, The Republican, June/July, No.75, pp.17, 18.
Elizabeth McLeay
(1994) ‘Political Issues and the Policy Agenda’, in Jack Vowles and Peter Aimer (eds.) Double Decision: The 1993 Election and Referendum in New Zealand, Wellington: Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington.
Robert Michels
(1949 [1915]) Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Trends of Modern Democracy, Illinois: The Free Press.
Raymond Miller
(1991) ‘Postmaterialism and Green Party Activists in New Zealand’, Political Science, Vol. 43, No.2, December: pp.43-66.
Raymond Miller and Helena Catt
(1993) Season of Discontent: By-elections and the Bolger Government, Palmerston North: Dunmore Press.
R.S. Milne
(1966) Political Parties in New Zealand, London: Oxford University Press.
Richard Mulgan
(1990) ‘The Changing Electoral Mandate’, in Jonathon Boston and Martin Holland (eds.), The Fourth Labour Government: Politics and Policy in New Zealand, second edition, Auckland: Oxford University Press.
(1994) Politics in New Zealand, Auckland: Auckland University Press.
NewLabour Party (NLP)
(1989) Interim Constitution.
(1990a) Report on the Permanent Revolution Group (PRG).
(1990b) NewLabour’s Manifesto 1990.
(1991a) NewLabour Party Constitution.
(1991b) Report on the NewLabour Party Annual Conference.
(1991c) Minutes of NewLabour Annual Conference.
(1994) NewLabour Party Constitution 1994.
Erik Olssen
(1987) ‘The Origins of the Labour Party: A Reconsideration’, in Judith Binney and M.P.K. Sorrenson (eds.) The New Zealand Journal of History: Essays in Honour of Sir Keith Sinclair, Vol.21 No.2, pp79-96.
John M. Orbell and Geoffrey Fougere
(1973) ‘Intra-Party Conflict and the Decay of Ideology’, Journal of Politics, Vol.35, No.2, pp.439-458.
Steve Oxenham
(1991) ‘Running on Honesty’, New Zealand Monthly Review, August/September, No.331, pp.20-23.
(1992) ‘Building the Alliance’, New Zealand Monthly Review, June/July, No.334, pp.18-20.
Stephen Padgett and William Paterson
(1991) A History of Social Democracy in Postwar Europe, London: Longman.
Angelo Panebianco
(1988 [1982]) Political Parties: Organization and Power, translated by Marc Silver, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Peter Parussini
(1990) ‘NewLabour Plots Course for Challenge in 1993’, The Evening Post, 14 November, p.9.
Permanent Revolution Group (PRG)
(1990) ‘1990 Elections: No Choice for Workers’, Pamphlette.
(1991) ‘Trotskyism and the New Labour Party’, 1917, No.9, pp.23-26.
Adam Przeworski
(1985) Capitalism and Social Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Adam Przeworski and John Sprague
(1986) Paper Stones: A History of Electoral Socialism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Len Richards
(1989) ‘Build the NLP’, New Zealand Monthly Review, June/July, No.319, pp.8, 9.
Len Richardson
(1981) ‘Parties and Political Change’, in W.H. Oliver (ed.) The Oxford History of New Zealand, Auckland: Oxford University Press.
Keith Sinclair
(1969) A History of New Zealand, Middlesex: Penguin.
John Clayton Thomas
(1975) The Decline of Ideology in Western Political Parties: A Study of Changing Policy Orienatations, London: Sage Publications.
Chris Trotter
(1991) ‘Left Hand of the Alliance’, National Business Review, December 20, p.7.
(1992a) ‘Alliance Split on Tax’, Political Review, August, p.11.
(1992b) ‘NLP’s Scheming Socialists at the Vanguard of the Alliance’, The Independent, October 16, p.10.
(1992c) ‘This Month in Politics’, Political Review, October/November, pp.5-11.
(1992d) ‘Anderton’s Alliance’, Political Review, November/December, p.19-27.
(1994a) ‘Who’s Right? If So, What’s Left?’, Metro, September?, pp.100-103.
(1994b) ‘After Anderton: Does the Alliance have a Future?’, New Zealald Political Review, November/December, pp.17-24.
Jack Vowles
(1990) ‘The New Labour Party: For New Times or Old Times?, in Sites, No.20 (Autumn), pp.54-68.
Jack Vowles and Peter Aimer
(1993) Voters’ Vengeance: The 1990 Election in New Zealand and the Fate of the Fourth Labour Government, Auckland: Auckland University Press.
Jack Vowles, Peter Aimer, Helena Catt, Jim Lamare, and Raymond Miller
(1995) Towards Consensus? The 1993 Election in New Zealand and the Transition to Proportional Representation, Auckland: Auckland University Press.
Douglas Webber
(1978) ‘Trade Unions and the Labour Party: The Death of Working-Class Politics in New Zealand’, in Stephen Levine (ed.), Politics in New Zealand: A Reader, Auckland: George Allen & Unwin, pp.182-195.
Denis Welch
(1989) ‘Fight to the Last Corgi’, Listener, December 11, p.8.
Frank L. Wilson
(1994) ‘The Sources of Party Change: The Social Democratic Parties of Britain, France, Germany, and Spain’, in Kay Lawson (ed) How Political Parties Work: Perspectives from Within, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
OTHER SOURCES
Dominion
New Times
New Zealand Herald
Press
Interviews with NLP members and ex-members
