Every time a Labour government is elected, different left-wing groups tell us to support Labour. These same groups tell us to vote Labour every time an election comes around. They tell us that the Labour Party must be supported because it is a working class party, friend of the workers. Labour may have working class members - though it has become increasingly dominated by middle class professionals - and working class support, but that does not make it a working class organisation. Instead of supporting Labour, we should view Labour as an obstacle to working class liberation.

Labour's record in office and out clearly illustrates it is a party for capitalism. It has regularly and routinely acted against the working class. And it continues to do so today. In 1951 Labour did not support the Waterfront strikers. In 1974 Labour deregistered a militant union, jailed a union bureaucrat, and began the police raids on Polynesian "overstayers". And most savage of all, the 1984-1990 Labour government unleashed "Rogernomics" on us like lab rats. Rogernomics brought in the most extreme free-market regime in the "developed" world. This Labour implemented free-market "revolution" has made 80% of us worse off whilst enriching the pockets of capitalists (local and foreign) to a disgusting and foul extent.

"THIRD WAY" LABOUR: MORE OF THE SAME

And the current Helen Clark led Labour-Alliance government is not much different. Some middle-class academics claim that Labour represents a "third way" between the old welfare state capitalism of "Old Labour" and the free-market capitalism of Rogernomics. There is little substance behind this claim. Despite a few cosmetic changes, Labour in office has basically continued the very same pro-capitalist, bash the workers, free-market policies of the Rogernomics era. This can be seen in the new Employment Relations Act (ERA) and Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

The ERA brings in the harshest anti-strike legislation in the "developed" world. As Chris Trotter has written, the ERA is a piece of legislation written by trade union bureaucrats because it outlaws wildcat strikes (strikes which go ahead without the blessing of union bureaucrats). Union bureaucrats will ensure that workers do not ask for "unreasonable" (i.e. higher) wages, and workers cannot legally go out on wildcat strikes in resistance to this. So the ERA seems to ensure that the union grassroots membership (or rank and file) will be kept under the control of union bureaucrats. (Chris Trotter, NZ Political Review, September, p2). This suits the capitalist elite just fine, as they are worried about workers becoming stroppy about many, if not most, not receiving pay increases in real terms since 1991. So the union bureaucracy once more - after a period in the wilderness since about 1991 - become junior partners in the state machine whose job it is to repress working-class dissent.

Recently, Labour has signed the Singapore Free Trade Agreement, an agreement which will lead to further job losses. They have more in store for us, with the threat of further free trade agreements with Hong Kong looming on the horizon. Labour clearly only really cares about the wealth and profits of capitalists. This can be seen with the recent Business Forum, where Labour only invited seventy rich capitalists to discuss state policy and excluded everyone else. At least the 1984-1990 Labour government pretended it was going to consult workers. It even had a series of economic forums where it invited the public to discuss state policy, although these were actually PR exercises to sell the terror of Rogernomics.

VOTING LABOUR WITH ILLUSIONS

Yet, despite the record of Labour, most leftists tell us to support Labour. They claim Labour is better than National, and that if we put pressure on Labour then they will hand us a few crumbs in return. Yet all they give us is more free-market madness. Is Labour really better than National, or is it just the alternative party of the bourgeoisie (i.e. capitalist class)? It is precisely because Labour is perceived to be less harsh than National that it can actually get away with more than National. People are more likely to oppose a National government, and so the capitalist class can use the Labour Party to bring in policies which suit them and not us, like Rogernomics and the Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

A party like Labour seems to offer change and seems to be better than National. Being out of office so frequently, they can always claim that next time things will be different. However, things can never be different as long as people support political parties and capitalism. Labour (or Alliance, or the Greens) will never be able to fundamentally change capitalism. Capitalism is based upon the making of commodities (things to buy and sell) and the exploitation of labour. People who work receive less than they produce, the surplus going to the bosses, whether private or state. Capitalists relentlessly try to increase their profits by making us work longer and harder for less pay and in worse working conditions. With regularity, capitalism is thrown into crisis by this very competitive drive, with heaps of workers thrown out of work and others having their wages or benefits cut.

This is the capitalist reality we live in. Politicians who try to ignore this are soon brought to account by stock market crashes, galloping inflation, flights of currency and capital, currency crises and more. Then they have to return to capitalist normality. This has been the fate of left-wing governments the world over, and has forced various Labour governments to attack working-class living standards (except in NZ since 1984 our esteemed Labour Party has not even been forced to implement anti-working class policies, but has willingly and consciously imposed them on us!).

It is this reality that turns every so-called "left" leader into a "traitor", from David Lange to Helen Clark to Jim Anderton. At least some ex-Labour Party leaders have been honest in showing their true colours since they left the party. Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble are in ACT, an extreme free-market party to the right of National. Mike Moore (Labour PM in 1990) is now head of the World Trade Organisation, a brutal organisation which seeks to impose the free market on the world for the benefit of the international capitalist elite.

THE LEFT WALLOWS IN ITS OWN ILLUSIONS

Labour long ago gave up any pretence at wanting to get rid of capitalism. Equally they have got rid of any notion of nationalising large parts of it. Now they have largely given up the pretence that they will make capitalism operate more fairly, and have been openly pro-capitalist and anti-working class, wanting at best an alliance between local capitalists and the state to exploit us in a more stable environment. As Jim Delahunty has written, "the Labour Party as it now exists cannot be said to be a friend of the people, but exists as one of the parties of capital" (Jim Delahunty, Night's Black Agents, p9).

Yet many left wing groups in NZ share the view that we should vote Labour. For example, the Socialist Workers Organisation (SWO, a small Marxist-Leninist party) say that they know Labour is rotten. Yet every election they try and command us to troop out and dutifully "vote Labour". They qualify this by saying we should do it "without illusions". They do this for a number of reasons. The first is that the SWO still has illusions about Labour. To be open and honest, and inform workers not to be conned by Labour would - they believe - risk alienating a lot of support. As the SWO prefers masses of followers to conscious revolutionaries, they have no problem making the choice of directing the masses from above to "vote Labour".

Another reason is more sinister. The SWO leadership know what Labour is: a capitalist party. However, for all their talk of "socialism from below", they do not believe the working class is capable of making a revolution by itself. They believe it has to be led to what they call "socialism" by an elite of professional revolutionaries.

Part of this process, as they see it, is that the working class has to go through a series of "experiences" before they will turn to the SWO for leadership. One of these steps is "going through the experience of a Labour government". They think this will teach workers that Labour (and Alliance) is rotten. This attitude reveals the contempt the SWO and the rest of the left have for working-class people and their creative ability to change society, and their manipulative and authoritarian tactics and aims. It also means that the SWO ends up as little more than a far-left electoral fig leaf for Labour, fostering all the illusions they claim they want to get rid of.

ALLIANCE AND GREENS:
FURTHER CAPITALIST ALTERNATIVES

Or some leftists claim we should vote and support the Alliance to try and keep Labour honest and left wing. The trouble is that the Alliance in coalition with Labour has done the exact opposite, supporting without much opposition the pro-capitalist, free-market bash the poor policies of Labour. For example, the Alliance has voted in the ERA. Perhaps this is not surprising, as the Alliance is dominated by capitalist millionaire Jim Anderton, who split from Labour in the late 1980s. So the Alliance basically began as a left-wing split from Labour, but has ended up as Labour's loyal lieutenant in a pro-free market coalition.

Or some view the Greens as a supposedly radical alternative to Labour and the Alliance. To some extent this cannot be proven until the Greens become part of a government. Out of office, the Greens can cultivate a radical image to pick up alienated voters, but the reality is the Greens have little anti-capitalist substance. The Greens basically support a greener capitalism. No doubt if they did become part of the government, they would be forced to introduce anti-working class and pro-capitalist policies.

To be frank, most Green party members - most of whom are middle-class liberals - would have no trouble implementing such policies. The experience of the German Greens in government voting for the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia whilst claiming to be anti-war illustrates how Green parties will be forced to operate once in government.

LET'S GET COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL!

It is only when the working class is completely out of control that people will gain control over their everyday lives. This seems silly at first, but when you think about it, it is only when the working class is out of control of any leaders (left or right) and acting for itself that it can liberate itself.

When people stop begging on their knees for a few crumbs from supposedly benevolent organisations like the Labour Party, and instead consciously act for themselves, a truly democratic society becomes possible. Only through working-class direct action, and not indirect action through corrupt politicians or union bureaucrats, can a real anarchist socialist society be achieved.

In NZ today, people are pissed off with political parties to an extent never seen before. Hardly anybody trusts politicians. The left may still see Labour as left wing, but working class people know better. Many now see Labour as no different from National. And most realise the Alliance or the Greens or any obscure Marxist-Leninist sect don't offer much of an alternative. So, many people are implicitly adopting the anarchist critique of political parties.

As well, many realise the reality of the free market means more power to big business and less control over one's own life. But people are also beginning to question and resist the power of transnational corporations. There is a growing anti-corporate and sometimes anti-capitalist feeling in society, one that bursts forward in protests against things like the World Bank and World Economic Forum.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

There is now a vacuum on the left. Old style Labour Party welfare state capitalism has collapsed from 1984. Authoritarian Marxist-Leninism has been completely discredited after the fall of the Stalinist Eastern bloc over 1989-1991 and the Tienanmen Square massacre in China. So, together with the anti-parliamentary and anti-capitalist feeling in society, there is great potential for a truly libertarian communist - i.e. anarchist - movement to develop.

Overall, the Labour Party is an obstacle to working class liberation. We need to get rid of the Labour Party and its support if we are to get anywhere. All the lies, cheating and manipulation of Labour and its supporters would be laughable if the issues at stake weren't so vital.

The fact is that capitalism is a disgusting social system. Countless hundreds of millions of people have died in the last 100 years because of capitalism's wars, and from the poverty, starvation and preventable disease capitalism produces. The toll of human life and misery and ecological destruction have had the sole purpose of keeping a tiny minority of the population in power, wealth and privilege. It is towards the maintenance of this system that all of Labour's efforts have gone. Experience has shown that for all their fine talk of wanting to make the system fairer, the system has ended up changing them.

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