“Working men’s Paris, with its Commune, will be forever celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society. Its martyrs are enshrined in the great heart of the working class. Its exterminators history has already nailed to that eternal pillory from which all the prayers of their priest will not avail to redeem them.” –…
The Canterbury Socialist Society is pleased to confirm our second annual Fred Evans Memorial Lecture. For this lecture we invite a theorist, organiser, or other person of interest to speak on a topic pertaining to their expertise. Fred Evans was a prominent unionist during a pivotal moment in New Zealand labour history – the Waihi…
For our October event, CSS member David Colyer will present a lecture on some of the earliest aspects of the workers’ movement in New Zealand. In the late 1880s a new wave of radicalism swept the industrial world. Millions of workers joined new trade unions, socialist political parties, and the Knights of Labour, which was…
“War is the mass murder of workers. When workers refuse to obey the calls of their governments, there will be no more war” -Keir Hardie “I would close every recruiting station, disband the Army, and disarm the Air Force. I would abolish the whole dreadful equipment of war, and say to the world; ‘Do your…
Climate and Capitalism: A Public Lecture on Climate Change and Capitalism “It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of the earth and of nature than the breakdown of late capitalism.” -Fredric Jameson “Socialists have all too often failed to take ecological issues seriously enough. However, this is not a…
The Canterbury Socialist Society is excited to announce our first annual Fred Evans Memorial Lecture. For this lecture we invite a theorist, organiser, or other person of interest to speak on a topic pertaining to their expertise. Fred Evans was a prominent unionist during a pivotal moment in New Zealand labour history – the Waihi…
[Solitude or Solidarity: On Postcolonialism and Marxism] “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…
“No. I am no dog to be registered; neither am I a slave to be trained to fight to uphold kings, aristocrats, and rich men in luxury while the workers never have sufficient of the world’s goods to enable them to live a comfortable life.” – Harry Cooke, on refusing Compulsory Military Training, 1911. For…