Rupert O'Shea explains the mood towards the war in Afghanistan among workers in New Zealand and also explains a little of what is happening in the political an d economic scene in the country. There have been demonstrations against the war, in fairly modest numbers so far, but starting before the first bombs were dropped on Afghanistan.

Since the attacks on America of 11th September, many people have been eagerly following events on TV, demonstrating the heightened interest in international affairs that has been reported from other countries on the In Defence Of Marxism web site. In the short run at least, many people have been taken in by the imperialist propaganda that has been pouring out of their TVs and other bourgeois media. Take my friend Joanne, for example. She is a Labour party member. But she thinks America is in the right. I tried to explain the far greater atrocities that the US government and big business have committed, but she did not buy it. Everything's different now, she says. She seems to think the

Rupert O'Shea from Wellington looks at the real record of the Labour Alliance Government in New Zealand which has been presented by some as a 'left' government as opposed to socialdemocratic governments in Europe.

We received the following report on the recent elections in New Zealand. We are reproducing it here because of the interesting information and analysis of these developments which, as far as we know, have not been covered seriously from a Marxist point of view elsewhere. The final count of the New Zealand election results, incorporating the Special votes, did not come out till 9th December, just after the article was posted on the web, so there is also an update attached as a postscript.