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International Socialist Organisation | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Collective leadership |
| Founded | Early 1990s |
| Newspaper | Socialist Review |
| Ideology | Revolutionary socialism Anti-capitalism Democratic socialism [1] Marxism Trotskyism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Website | |
| http://www.iso.org.nz/ | |
The International Socialist Organisation is a Trotskyist organisation in New Zealand.
New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.
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The founders of the ISO in New Zealand, notably Brian Roper and Laurel Hepburn, were active in the International Socialist Organisation in Australia, a section of the International Socialism current. Returning to New Zealand, they formed the Dunedin-based ISO in the early 1990s. The organisation played a leading role in the student protest movement of the early 1990s.
The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) was an Australian Trotskyist political organisation, founded in 1971, originally as the Marxist Workers' Group (MWG) until it became Solidarity in a merger in 2008 with two other socialist organisations. It was the official representative of the International Socialist Tendency (IST) in Australia.
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
The International Socialist Tendency (IST) is an international grouping of unorthodox Trotskyist organisations espousing the ideas of Tony Cliff (1917–2000), founder of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in Britain. It has sections across 27 countries; however, its strongest presence is in Europe, especially in Britain.
As a result of its own development, the Communist Party of New Zealand was also attracted to the International Socialism current, and developed links with the British Socialist Workers Party, the leading representative of that current. This meant that there were two competing representatives of the same political ideology in New Zealand, which led to the SWP brokering a fusion between the two groups.
The Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ) was a Communist political party in New Zealand which existed from March 1921 until the early 1990s. Although spurred to life by events in Soviet Russia in the aftermath of World War I, the party had roots in pre-existing revolutionary socialist and syndicalist organisations, including in particular the independent Wellington Socialist Party, supporters of the Industrial Workers of the World in the Auckland region, and a network of impossiblist study groups of miners on the west coast of the South Island.
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded as the Socialist Review Group by supporters of Tony Cliff in 1950, it became the International Socialists in 1962 and the SWP in 1977. The party considers itself to be Trotskyist. Cliff and his followers criticised the Soviet Union and its satellites, calling them state capitalist rather than socialist countries.
The ISO and CPNZ fused in the 1990s to form the Socialist Workers Organization. However, a majority of the former ISO soon left as a result of what were seen as Stalinist practices on the part of the former CPNZ leadership. The ISO then resumed its separate existence, and expanded from Dunedin to form a branch in Wellington. The Wellington branch reopened in 2012 after being closed for several years. An Auckland branch was established in 2013. Branches in all three centres continue to function, with strong orientation around the university campuses.
The Socialist Workers Organization was a Trotskyist organisation based in New Zealand. It was part of the International Socialist Tendency, the British Socialist Workers Party's international tendency.
Stalinism is the means of governing and related policies implemented from around 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin (1878–1953). Stalinist policies and ideas as developed in the Soviet Union included rapid industrialization, the theory of socialism in one country, a totalitarian state, collectivization of agriculture, a cult of personality and subordination of the interests of foreign communist parties to those of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, deemed by Stalinism to be the leading vanguard party of communist revolution at the time.
Wellington is the capital and second most populous urban area of New Zealand, with 418,500 residents. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the major population centre of the southern North Island, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region, which also includes the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed.
The ISO's publication, Socialist Review, has been produced sporadically over the lifetime of the organisation. It passed its 50th issue in 2014.
The ISO has been active in anti-war campaigns, environmental campaigns, and union work (with the Unite Union, the Engineering, Printon and Manufacturing Union, the Public Service Association and the Tertiary Education Union). In the 2011 election, the ISO supported the Mana Party. The ISO was part of the Mana movement, until democratic consensus determined that the ISO would withdraw from the Mana movement in early 2015 [2]
Unite Union (Unite) is a trade union in New Zealand. It represents a number of workers across various industries, and was the sponsor of the Supersizemypay.com campaign directed towards improving working conditions for fast food workers in the country, in addition to representing other hospitality and retail workers. Unite is affiliated with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.
The 2011 New Zealand general election on Saturday 26 November 2011 determined the membership of the 50th New Zealand Parliament.
The ISO has close ties with Socialist Alternative in Australia.
Socialist Alternative, commonly abbreviated as SAlt, is a revolutionary socialist organisation in Australia, identifying with the Marxist tradition of "socialism from below". Formed after its founding members were expelled from the former International Socialist Organisation (ISO) in 1995, It has branches across Australia, their membership operates within the trade union and student union movements and grass roots campaigns.
