Editorial from this month’s issue of The Spark:
Labour’s biggest donor, billionaire Owen Glenn, recently embarrassed Prime Minister Helen Clark by skiting that she wanted him in cabinet, and by angling for a diplomatic post in Monaco.
Then, more strife came when Labour “forgot” to mention a $100,000 interest-free loan that Glen had given Labour in December 2006.
Has Labour finally lost touch with its working-class origins?
Labour’s always been right in the pocket of the rich. A major supporter of the very first 1935 Labour Government was brewing magnate Ernest Davis, at that time New Zealand’s richest man. Davis’s support was rewarded when Labour knighted him in 1937.
In 1946 Labour knighted construction boss James Fletcher, a central figure in Labour’s repressive WW2 administration.
Like National, Labour seeks office to serve the political system of capitalism.
That mission necessitates constant kowtowing to the biggest private property owners, at the expense of the rest of us whose work creates the wealth of the few.
The Spark and the Workers Party membership who produce it are in total opposition to capitalist bosses and capitalist political parties. Our aim is a socialist political system, where workers run society.
Workers Party finance comes from a steady trickle of small regular donations made by our readers. These contributions come with no strings attached. Together they keep a socialist alternative alive and growing. Much appreciated – please keep them coming.