NEW ZEALAND PROSPERS WITHOUT CLASS STRUGGLE
Walker, George
New Zealand Prospers Without Class Struggle By George Walker New Leader Correspondent in New Zealand Wellington, New Zealand. READERS of The New Leader will, I hope, like New Zealand....
...This list could be continued ad infinitum, but I sb.;11 arid only one more item: The Neu Leader...
...This leads to attempts at industrialization which at times spells protectionism...
...Consequently, whoever may be in power, New Zealand will remain a bulwark of democracy in the South Pacific...
...New Zealand has been amply rewarded...
...on the one hand, it cannot disregaid its main supporters— the trade unices—who constantly request higher wage.1 and better weirking conditions, which means more state control and "interference" in private industry...
...and to similar measures which tie ate resentment among the farmers...
...MOST NEW ZEALANDER8 have to rely on the government to provide their means of sustenance...
...to a progressive numerical increase of public servants...
...For the?se and many other praiseworthy reasons...
...IN THE MIDST of a half-starved world, New Zealand is rich in products like butter, meat and wool...
...r 1 George Walker appears here for the first time as our new correspondent in New Zealand...
...hence there is not much cause for industrial strife or class hatred...
...This dilemma is of course exploited by the handful of communists in this Country who have inched themselves into some trade unions, but who have less reason for existence here than In most other countries...
...Still, she has no cause for complaint...
...Woo], for example, which before the war brought 15 cents a pound, now sells for 90 cents, and thus nets a handsome profit despite increases in the cost of labor and cost of living...
...now a small minority, they enjoy equal rights with the Pakehas, or whites...
...She can obtain in the world markets whatever prices she demands...
...What do the rest do...
...In dealing with her main customer—Great Britain—she does not follow the example of Argentina in charging prices which are wholly out of line with costs, both for business and for sentimental reasons...
...Although the Labor government is by no means as firmly established in New Zealand as its counterpart is in Great Britain, there is little doubt that old Labor stalwarts like Prime Minister Peter Fraser and Minister of Works Bob Semple would rather lose the next election than have any truck or trade with the Communists...
...New Leaier readers also stem to favor racial equality, and New Zealand has a goodly share of that— for example, the maturity in parliament includes four Ms oris, and no one has ever raised an eyeorow about that...
...on tiie other hand, it has to reckon with the essentially bourgeois spirit of the majority of the people, who are in many ways more British than the British themselves...
...Fortunately, due to lack of leadership, as well as to New Zealand's over-all abundance, the Communist party here is more nuisance than menace...
...New Zealand is primarily an agricultural country with a fairly even distribution of wealth...
...These factors combine to make for a united, happy community...
...They seem to like small countries, especially democratii ones, and New Zealand is both sma...
...The Saturday Evening Post published an article some time ago which described New Zealand as an uneasy Utopia, and not without a certain amount of justification...
...its leaders will therefere be- pleased to he ar th:.t new zcahit-el is now expecting its first [.arty of displaced persons from Europe, among wb-m ait- a few elderly ones admitted on purely humanitarian grounds...
...I and intensely democratic...
...1 gather, has always sided st/engly with the victims oi oppression...
...The writer, Sydney Greenby, stated that one-third of the farm population produces nearly 90 per cent of the total wealth of New Zealand...
...It does not have a single representative in parliament, and is not likely to acquire one in the foreseeable future...
...Very few countries enjoy as much prosperity and as few problems as does New Zealand...
...The incumbent Labor government is therefore in a somewhat awkward position...
...For the uninformed, the Maoris are of Polynesian origin and were New Zealand's first settlers...
Vol. 32 • June 1949 • No. 25
