Bruce Jesson (1944 - 1999) was a leftwing journalist, author and political figure in New Zealand. He was educated at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, where he gained a bachelor's degree in law. 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the third largest city in the country. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... The Auckland Metropolitan Area, or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest urban area in New Zealand. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Pākehā is a term generally used to describe New Zealanders of Anglo/European extraction, but to many Māori it also means non-Māori or foreigner. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Old Farts by the Sometimes-United Nations. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

As a student in the 1960s, he was initially attracted to the Communist Party of New Zealand which tried to groom him to be the party's lawyer. The CPNZ had been the first communist party in the world to side with China in the Sino-Soviet split. However, Jesson, being an independent thinker, soon struck out on his own, writing a number of polemics such as Traitors to class and country: A study of the Conservative Left and publishing a journal called Te Tao (The Spear). He had a lifelong antipathy to the sectarianism and dogmatism that plagued the small Marxist groups in New Zealand. The Communist Party of New Zealand was a Communist political party operating in New Zealand. ... The Sino-Soviet split was a major diplomatic conflict between the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), beginning in the late 1950s, reaching a peak in 1969 and continuing in various ways until the late 1980s. ... Sectarianism refers (usually pejoratively) to a rigid adherence to a particular sect or party or denomination. ... This article is on dogma in religion. ... The degree to which Socialism in New Zealand has been of significance in mainstream politics is debated, as varying definitions of socialism and communism make the extent of its influence difficult to measure. ...

Republicanism

Jesson was from that time an avowed republican championing an independent political and intellectual culture in New Zealand. He rebelled against the habit of the New Zealand Left to take its political cues from overseas countries. He founded the anti-royal Republican Association in 1966, later moving to Auckland (first to Pokeno and later Otahuhu) and forming a political party (the original Republican Party) to push the republic issue in 1967. Around 1970 he also associated briefly with Trotskyist radicals such as Owen Gager and David Bedggood, and he contributed occasionally to journals such as Dispute, New Zealand Monthly Review and Spartacist Spasmodical. Republicanism in New Zealand is a movement to replace the countrys current status as a Commonwealth realm and constitutional monarchy with that of a Commonwealth republic. ... The Republican Association of New Zealand was a political organisation in New Zealand with the aim of supporting the creation of a New Zealand republic. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... The New Zealand Republican Party of 1967 was a political party which campaigned for the creation of a New Zealand Republic. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ...

When activity in the fledgling Republican Party petered out, Jesson wound up the party in 1974, but continued to publish a widely-read pro-republican broadsheet entitled The Republican (1974-1995), covering both republican and leftwing issues in a plain and unpretentious style. This journal also featured articles by many other New Zealand leftists. (The Republican merged into Chris Trotter's New Zealand Political Review in 1995). 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

By this time, Jesson - who never had much of a steady career, working variously as labourer, wool presser, dustman and freezingworker - was living with his wife Joice, an educationist and tutor/lecturer, and played househusband as well as pursuing his writing. He was interested in developing an indigenous Marxian tradition in New Zealand, and participated in the four NZ Marxian Political Economy conferences staged in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Around the time of the mass protests against the Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand in 1981, he associated with Māori radicals such as Donna Awatere, Dun Mihaka, Syd Jackson and Ripeka Evans who sought to put Māori nationalism on the political agenda (Mihaka, though an anti-royalist, was strictly speaking not a nationalist). The first drafts of Awatere's famous book Maori Soveignity were published in The Republican. Donna Lynn Awatere Huata (sometimes written Awatere-Huata) is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. ... Dun Mihaka is a Maori activist and political candidate. ...

It was only late in his life however that Jesson became better known to the general public, as respected political columnist for Auckland's Metro magazine and contributor to other magazines such as North & South and New Zealand Political Review. He also published four books about the neo-liberal revolution in New Zealand, and became a fellow of the Auckland University Political Science Department. The North & South is a monthly magazine published in New Zealand. ...

Entering politics

In 1990, Jesson joined Jim Anderton's Labour party splinter NewLabour Party, and stood as a candidate for the party in the New Lynn electorate. In 1991, he was elected to the Auckland Regional Council as an Alliance candidate, becoming chair of the Auckland Regional Services Trust between 1992 and 1995. James Patrick Anderton (almost always referred to as Jim Anderton) is leader of the Progressive Party, a political party in the New Zealand Parliament. ... NewLabour Party logo NewLabour was the name chosen by Jim Anderton, an MP and former President of the New Zealand Labour Party, for his new left-of-centre party in 1989. ... New Lynn is a residential suburb of Waitakere, one of the four cities that make up the Auckland metropolitan area in northern New Zealand. ... Auckland is one of the 15 regions of New Zealand, named after Auckland City, the large city at its heart. ... Current Alliance logo The Alliance, when referring to New Zealand politics, refers to a left-wing political party. ...

An anthology of his later articles has been published posthumously as Bruce Jesson: To Build a Nation - Collected Writings 1975-1999 (2005). He is affectionately remembered as a very learned but unpretentious radical who sought to shed light on the peculiarities of New Zealand politics, and who pioneered an independent left-wing analysis of local political affairs. The Bruce Jesson papers are archived at the University of Auckland Library. The Bruce Jesson Foundation was established in his honour.

Bibliography

• Traitors to class and country: A study of the Conservative Left
• The Fletcher Challenge: Wealth and Power in New Zealand (1980).
• Revival of the right: New Zealand politics in the 1980s
• Behind the mirror glass: The growth of wealth and power in New Zealand in the eighties (1987)
• Fragments of labour: The story behind the labour government
• "The Disintegration of a Labour Tradition: New Zealand Politics in the 1980s", in: New Left Review, #192, March-April 1992.
• Only Their Purpose is Mad, The Money Men Take Over New Zealand (1999).
• Bruce Jesson: To Build a Nation - Collected Writings 1975-1999 (2005). Edited by Professor Andrew Sharp.

See also

• New Zealand literature
• Republicanism in New Zealand

New Zealand claims as its own many writers, even those immigrants born overseas or those emigrants who have gone into exile. ... Republicanism in New Zealand is a movement to replace the countrys current status as a Commonwealth realm and constitutional monarchy with that of a Commonwealth republic. ...

External links

• The Bruce Jesson Foundation
• Bruce Jesson: To Build a Nation