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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 39, Number 14, 5 July 1976.

Salient Worker on South Africa

Salient Worker on South Africa

Dear John,

I wish to emphasise to SP Mark that I used the parallel of working class New Zealanders and South African Blacks to show that both were in a similar position. Namely, that they are used, or rather their labour is used, to support a small elite who, because of their position vis-a-vis the means of production, dominate all spheres of our lives.

This is exemplified beautifully in the case of of the South African tour. You state that "the majority of the working class supports the All Black tour". If this is correct, and I have severe doubts to whether it is, then we must ask why this is. It may be simply that they like their rugby, but I feel the reason is deeper than this.

The National Party always make a big show of the proverbial classless society. In order to convince people of this, they constantly play to the notion of the general will. In other words, they use mechanisms like-baiting "commy stirrers in the unions" to make people think that New Zealanders are all the same eg "we must all take a cut in living standards" "we must all work harder to get out of this economic mess" etc. What they are in fact trying to do is to prevent working class consciousness which is the wont enemy of a capitalist economy.

These techniques have worked reasonably well up to now. New Zealand workers have not been able to identify themselves with the proletariat of other countries. If they had been, the All Black tour would never have taken place.

- Salient Worker

p.s. Come up to the Salient office and we can bash these issues out, p.p s. I do not support the Labour Party. In fact they pose a greater threat to the class consciousness of the workers.