Please join us for this special bonus event in which former senior lecturer in mathematics, now columnist and writer Donna Miles-Mojab sits down with Sionainn Byrnes of the Canterbury Socialist Society to discuss the escalating war in Iran. In particular, Donna and Sionainn will talk through the nuances of critiquing a regime like Iran’s on…
Category: Events
Murray Horton: Sixty Years of Political Activism
Murray Horton has been an activist for more than sixty years, in Aotearoa, Australia, and the Philippines. At one time an Editor of the University of Canterbury magazine Canta, and then active in the former National Union of Railwaymen, Murray has also been involved with the likes of the Christchurch Progressive Youth Movement, the Philippines…
Standing Orders: Social(ist) Drinks
NOTE: as per the decision made at our 2025 AGM, this social drinks event will now take place on the fourth Wednesday of every month and alternate between Pomeroy’s and Punky Brewster. — Come along to our monthly social event for a beer and a banter about political goings on and/or anything else that comes…
The Ernie Abbott Memorial Lecture 2026 – Give Me A Reason by CTU President Sandra Grey
At the 2025 Labour Party conference, Council of Trade Unions (CTU) President Sandra Grey challenged Labour to “give workers a reason to vote for” them by delivering fundamental, systemic change. She said that Aotearoa New Zealand’s “pavlova paradise” has been “eaten up by the rich,” laying the blame squarely at the feet of the 4th…
International Women’s Day: Declaring a Nitrate Emergency
Vicky Southworth was a regional councillor at Environment Canterbury for 6 years (2019 to 2022). Prior to this she gained a Master of Water Resource Management from the University of Canterbury and worked as an engineering geologist with a focus on contaminated sites. Vicky will talk about the Nitrate Emergency declaration – what the issue…
Against All Odds: A Public Talk on the Past, Present, and Future of Social Movements in Indonesia
The Wellington Socialist Society Presents – Against All Odds: A Public Talk on the Past, Present, and Future of Social Movements in Indonesia, In Conversation with Ben Laksana (Te Herenga Waka). Activism and social movements in Indonesia have been shaped by a long history of anti-communism, state violence, and the repression of popular organising. Drawing…
Standing Orders: Social(ist) Drinks
NOTE: as per the decision made at our 2025 AGM, this social drinks event will now take place on the fourth Wednesday of every month and alternate between Pomeroy’s and Punky Brewster. — Come along to our monthly social event for a beer and a banter about political goings on and/or anything else that comes…
Show Debate: ‘The CSS should be involved in electoral politics…’
It’s a question that comes up at least once per year: should the Canterbury Socialist Society enter into a more ‘formal’ politics at the levels of local and central government? Should it establish a new party? Seek to influence an existing one? Or should it support independent candidates on a case by case basis? On…
Book Launch: ‘It’s Not My Fault: Memoir of Graeme Clarke’
Join the Wellington Socialist Society and Rebel Press for the launch of Graeme Clarke’s memoir “It’s Not My Fault.” Graeme has spent much of his life in the trade union and socialist movements. He became active as a union delegate in the auto industry and later became a union official. He also became involved in…
WSS Christmas Pub Quiz
Welcome to our inaugural Christmas pub quiz hosted by the Wellington Socialist Society to cap off a long year! Have a few drinks and enjoy some pub trivia covering topics ranging everything from politics, pop culture, to general trivia. We’ll be awarding prizes to the teams that come out on top with a podium finish….








