“In a political struggle of class against class, organisation is the most important weapon.” -Engels ——————————————— For our third annual “State of the Unions” event Canterbury Socialist Society are grateful to host a panel of speakers on the topic of the Employment Contracts Act (1991) and its legacy. The act marked an enormous transformation of…
A joint event with the Maritime Union of New Zealand, the Rail and Maritime Union of New Zealand, and the Canterbury Socialist Society to commemorate 70 years since one of New Zealand’s most bitter industrial disputes. Due to Covid Level-2 restrictions the event was not advertised entirely publicly and was primarily attended by members of…
“This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils,…
Getting off the ground during these times has proved to be a challenge. Still, with such phenomenal support and solidarity from many members and non-members alike, it was only a matter of asking when, rather than if, we would have our Inaugural event. To that, we would like to extend an invitation to all to…
In 2011 a wave of revolution began in Tunisia and then spread across North Africa and the Middle East. In Southern Europe the “indignados” or “indigent ones” camped out in public squares in a round the clock protest against economic inequality. This mode of protest spread to the centre of financial capitalism with Occupy Wall…
“The day we can’t get our hands on the ballot boxes before the vote is counted we’re done for,’ Trueba argued. ‘The Marxists haven’t won by popular vote anywhere in the world,’ his confreres replied. ‘At the very least it takes a revolution, and that kind of thing doesn’t happen in this country.’ ‘Until it…
For our 2021 August event the Canterbury Socialist Society is pleased to host a guest lecture from Josephine Varghese. Josephine is originally from Kerala, and recently completed a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Canterbury studying urban migration of young women in India. This talk will discuss the historical background of the Hindu right-wing…
“A country of inveterate, backwoods, thick-headed, egotistical philistines, who have brought their “civilisation” with them from England and keep it to themselves like a dog in a manger.” – Lenin’s assessment on New Zealand having read one book of its short history in the early 1900s. For our June 2021 event David Colyer will present…
“Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place brings about the results we expected, but in the second and third places it has quite different, unforeseen effects which only…
Some fifty years after its inauguration, second-wave feminists celebrated the ‘first’ annual International (Working) Women’s Day, having casually dropped the word ‘working’ as if to efface the ceremony’s origins in the Second International. Whether intentional or not, the omission betrays longstanding tensions between, or the so-called ‘unhappy marriage’ of, feminism and Marxism. Says the feminist…