by Rufus Tyler

The 1981 PATCO air traffic controllers' strike was one of the largest strikes by federal employees in the United States.  This strike had ramifications that would be felt world wide by the working classes, especially in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.  It would also mark the ultimate betrayal by a man whose reputation for selling out workers to serve his personal and political ambitions.  That man was Ronald Reagan.

The Professional Air Traffic Controllers' Organisation was the industry's union. They had been incorporated in 1968. 1968 was a turbulent year, the Prague Spring, the Paris Riots and the Tlatelolco massacre, where 325 were killed, hapenned abroad while in the US Martin Luther King, Jr and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy were both assassinated.

 United States soldiers with prisoners in Grenada: 1983. 

Source:  www.thoughtco.com 

By Rufus Tyler

“There was a rebel village five clicks down the road. Word came down from top brass: make it disappear. We…we didn’t know any better. We were…we were kids. I watched myself pick up the flamethrower…I just…went…off.” - SNL Introduction to Puppetry skit, illustrating popular culture's impression of the 1983 invasion of Grenada.

Flooding in Brazil 2020.  Source: CGTN

By Rufus Tyler

"State of the environment and the Socialist versus the Capitalist response to It".

This article will discuss the extent of the problem by covering two main points:(a) Anthropogenic (man-made) climate change and its adverse effects and (b) the effect of global warming on crops and commodities, and how it affects the working class.

Soviet tanks roll into Prague in Czechoslovakia on August 21st, 1968. Copyright: www.historytoday.com

By Rufus Tyler

1968 was a turbulent year for the bourgeois. There was widespread discontent in France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Pakistan, and widespread anti-war protests in the English-speaking countries. 1968 marked the high tide of capitalism, there had been unprecedented economic growth since WWII, as a result the proletariat was growing too. Revolutionary fervour was on the upswing as well, thanks to the Cuban revolution and Che's adventurism, plus the ongoing wars of liberation in Africa: Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia, Guinea-Bissau. These struggles fired up the youth in the West and Latin America.

By Rufus Tyler

Portugal is a small country in Southwestern Europe with about 10.8 million people (2017 estimate) the median age is 42.2. It's about a third the size of New Zealand. It borders Spain and the Atlantic Ocean. Since joining the then European Community in 1986 the economy has become increasingly service-oriented. Over that time neoliberalism has unleashed a series of reforms like privatisation that have resulted in increasingly precarious working conditions. In 2011 it received a rescue package from the IMF bringing Austerity measures that pushed emigration to levels not seen since the 1960s.

By Rufus Tyler

In September 1970 Salvador Allende was elected into government at the head of a left-wing coalition, the Unidad Popular (UP). Even though the coalition was reformist, the bourgeoisie still feared the revolutionary potential of the UP government:

By Rufus Tyler

“Materialism” as a philosophical notion means that all things in the universe are made of the same thing – matter. There's no heaven or hell, no ghosts or spirits. Materialism is a version of monism

Matter is not a social construct, it exists independent of human ideas and thought. This can be contrasted with philosophical idealism which states that things are influenced and created by ideas, essentially saying that the world is not real and that matter (“things”) are derived from ideas. To idealists reality, and matter, are mere reflections of thought. (ideas)

Dialectical Materialism is one of the three key tenets of scientific socialism, the other two being Historical Materialism and Marxist Economics.

by Miles Lacey

In New Zealand there is a phrase that is commonly used in all walks of life: "She'll be right".  Until recently the term generally had positive connotations, reflecting our laid back attitude to life.  In more recent times the term has become increasingly negative as it often refers to a complacent attitude that leads to poor decision making, often of a financial nature.

Article by Rufus Tyler

The Covid-19 virus most likely originated from the wet markets of Wuhan, China. It is certainly not a manufactured disease as proposed by former United States President Donald Trump – who claimed that it came from a Chinese lab - and it wasn't spread deliberately by American military personnel during the 2019 Kowari trilateral military exercises that were hosted by Australia and attended by the US and China in Northern Queensland as claimed by Chinese propagandists.

Prior to the European settlement of New Zealand, most Maori lived in small villages where the very notion of ownership was unheard of.  Housing was usually allocated according to the position held by a person, or more commonly, a family within the community.  The houses were usually made of whatever materials were available, especially raupo.  They were also quite small because most of the activities undertaken within the villages were done outside or in communal buildings such as the marae (meeting house).