Re: [OPE-L] The Development of Capitalism in New Zealand: Towards a Marxist Analysis

From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Sun Feb 18 2007 - 19:10:26 EST


Jurriaan:

Thanks for the very useful bibliographic references!

A brief question concerning the following:

> <snip, JL> New Zealand featured a kind of "settler capitalism", to borrow
>Donald
> Denoon's concept, in some ways an economically dependent country, and in
> other ways a politically independent country. Its political history,
> although obviously informed by European influences, deviated sharply from
> European models in important ways.
>
> Spectacularly, the Marxists and Marxist-Leninists could not even agree
> whether post-war New Zealand was a colony, a semi-colony, an intermediate
> country, an imperialist country, or a junior partner of imperialism, i.e.
> they could not agree about its place in the world market and in the
> international states system, never mind articulating the social meaning of
> local experience or devising an effective political strategy.

In the first paragraph above you suggest that there was "settler capitalism"
in NZ, but -- unless I missed something -- you didn't take a position on
whether  post-war  NZ is a colony, semi-colony, an intermediate country
(whatever that means), an imperialist nation, or a "junior partner" of
imperialism.  Are you saying that NZ is best thought of as a settler
capitalist  nation _rather than_ these alternative designations or _in
addition_  to one of them?  If the latter, which one?

In solidarity, Jerry


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