"Leaders of the Left"

The so called "leaders of the left", the Socialist Unity Party unionists were distinguished by an equal bankruptcy and reliance on capitalist policies to solve the problems of working people. Aside from their attempts to commit the New Zealand worker's movement to the imperialist foreign policies of the Soviet Union the SUP was almost solely concerned with the extention of their influence in the heirarchy of the Federation of Labour.

The "Tribune" crowed in it's lead article, "A number of progressive changes-took place which will allow for a more direct involvement in FoL affairs by the National Council." As the National Council of the FoL is weighed with SUP leaders, it is hardly surprising that the "Tribune" titled it's article "FoL Conference — a basis for advance."

This is not at all to be confused with an advance in worker's struggle. On the floor of the conference the SUP put it's efforts into advocating an "advance" of trailing behind the Labour Party as a solution for workers.

G.H. Anderson (SUP president and Northern Driver's Union Secretary) called on delegates to support a remit from his union which put the question of defeating the Muldoon Government and the election of a Labour government as a "vital task" for the trade union movement. The remit included the following "...a future Labour Government will require a strong, well based and active labour movement to back up Labour's legislative programme in face of the combined anti-labour forces of the National Party and big business (both New Zealand and overseas controlled)."