After considerable interest from Society members who met up last week, we have decided to complete our winter film series, shortened though it was by covid-19 circumstances, as originally planned with a short notice screening of Ken Loach’s 1969 film Kes. Based on the novel Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines, Kes follows the…
“We are living in a epoch where there is combat between commercialism, or the system of reckless waste, and communism, or the system of neighbourly common sense.” -William Morris, 1895. “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” -William Morris For our first event outside…
“Wherever capitalism appears, in pursuit of its mission of exploitation, there will Socialism, fertilized by misery, watered by tears, and vitalized by agitation be also found, unfurling its class-struggle banner and proclaiming its mission of emancipation.” -Eugene V. Debs, The American Movement, 1898. ——————————————————- Politics in the United States today can be difficult to untangle….
Otesánek | Little Otik by Jan Švankmajer (2000) The Canterbury Socialist Society warmly invites any and all to the first in its four-part winter film series in which Sionainn Byrnes introduces the Czech film Otesánek by Jan Švankmajer. Based on the eponymous fairy tale by Karel Jaromír Erben, Otesánek depicts an infertile couple who, having…
“In a political struggle of class against class, organisation is the most important weapon.” -Engels ——————————————— For our third annual “State of the Unions” event Canterbury Socialist Society are grateful to host a panel of speakers on the topic of the Employment Contracts Act (1991) and its legacy. The act marked an enormous transformation of…
A joint event with the Maritime Union of New Zealand, the Rail and Maritime Union of New Zealand, and the Canterbury Socialist Society to commemorate 70 years since one of New Zealand’s most bitter industrial disputes. Due to Covid Level-2 restrictions the event was not advertised entirely publicly and was primarily attended by members of…
“This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils,…
Getting off the ground during these times has proved to be a challenge. Still, with such phenomenal support and solidarity from many members and non-members alike, it was only a matter of asking when, rather than if, we would have our Inaugural event. To that, we would like to extend an invitation to all to…
In 2011 a wave of revolution began in Tunisia and then spread across North Africa and the Middle East. In Southern Europe the “indignados” or “indigent ones” camped out in public squares in a round the clock protest against economic inequality. This mode of protest spread to the centre of financial capitalism with Occupy Wall…
“The day we can’t get our hands on the ballot boxes before the vote is counted we’re done for,’ Trueba argued. ‘The Marxists haven’t won by popular vote anywhere in the world,’ his confreres replied. ‘At the very least it takes a revolution, and that kind of thing doesn’t happen in this country.’ ‘Until it…