The Marxist writer and activist Mike Davis died three years ago today. His left us an example of how to live and fight as an “old-school socialist.”

IT'S MIKE DAVIS HOUR, BABY

From a Stuff article on tomorrow's strikes in the public sector. The mood of those against industrial action seems to be annoyance more than anything, but the mood for it seems to be orders of magnitude more resolute. #nzpol

Hello BlueSky! Starting this account to showcase the ever growing list of radical online archives and collections. Nearly 1000 collections from the around the world are listed at the link below. Please follow for updates and collection highlights! hatfulofhistory.com/radical-onli...

So, that new project I've been teasing? I'm pleased to present the Spectre of History Collective! We will be onboarding a few new readers before launching reading sessions in January 2026. Anyone interested in joining or learning more is encouraged to reach out through the email below.

Pretty much what it says on the tin. Details on some upcoming events, a new project, and various bric-à-brac.

I will also be hosting this in conversation with the rad @rosieoverell.bsky.social at the end of the month! We'll be discussing a wide range of topics orbiting around the core theme of social and political issues raised by/present in the heavy metal subculture.

I will be involved with this & DJing alongside some great local talent. Do come along, as this sale represents one of the last words of the Black Star Books collective which was foundational for me and many others in discovering radically left-wing politics in #Ōtepoti. #dunedin #nzpol

In all seriousness, this is a very valuable project that absolutely should get the support of Oceanic socialists. Subscribe, read, contribute, disseminate!

It would probably be a hassle if billions offered to help this, but nevertheless

Billions must subscribe

A first look at tomorrow's front page of The National 📰 How genocide happened

One of the keys to the early 21st century which we can now analyse with a bit of hindsight is the proliferation of successful political revolutions and coups which promised at least a nominally progressive overhaul but failed to really carry out social or political revolution in a meaningful sense.

Consider my reposting an endorsement of this fundraiser, Byron is great quality as a person and as a researcher of what I used to call the "lunar right" in Aotearoa (a now useless term given how close the glassy eyed moonbats are to people with actual levers of power available)

Quick update thread on some stuff I'm getting up to in the near future, especially of interest to anyone in #Ōtepoti / #Dunedin but also maybe #nzpol generally too. First, I have an announcement for a new project I and a couple others have been cooking up here in Ōtepoti - full details in a bit. (1)

Another archive one, this time The State Adversary, which was a major publication for the 1990s anarchist scene in Aotearoa. I only have 11 issues digitized, out of how many I'm not sure but I know it ceased publication in 2000. #nzpol

This one's largely for @historyiswhat.bsky.social's interest, a 1992 issue of Aotearoa anarchist periodical The State Adversary taking up the cause of the *now* (33 years later) recently released Leonard Peltier. No idea if anything else came of this, but an interesting footnote nonetheless.

My only contribution to the current #nzpol discourse is this photo of an anarchist demonstration at Jenny Shipley's house when she was the minister for social welfare in 1992. It even involved light property damage in the form of a torn flag. Last I checked, Jenny Shipley is fine.

Proud of my Ōtepoti Dunedin community that at short notice came out in numbers to Port Chalmers to greet Winston Peters (& Shame Jones) who recently declared to the world his governments allegiance to genocidal regimes. These NZrs said “not in my name” very loudly & clearly. #nzpol

This is catnip to me, I'm excited🗡

There's gotta be way more detail bubbling away beneath this, it is (or was) probably the most significant alliance between a social movement and an electoral force in Aotearoa today.

Okay, seeing as the wave of industrial actions in late October is set for the 23rd, maybe this will wind up being more of a postscript to that. Still, two major, nationwide union actions in a week (both pretty explicitly aimed at the govt on political grounds) is more than anticipated.

Re(a)d Generations is one thus far, but it's a bit multilayered and clunky to read

Most of the time the truth is uglier than what the pundits tell you, but the future can also be brighter than what they want to believe as well. It just has a cost.

Running a reading group on revolutionary history mid-C14th to mid-C20th at the moment (we're taking on new members atm btw if you're in Ōtepoti|Dunedin), but we're still lacking a name! I want some snappy suggestions!

🎶🎶🎶 Welcome to my nightmare I think you're gonna like it I think you're gonna feel, right at home 🎶🎶🎶

Setting the date to land on both the 1835 declaration *and* the 1890 demonstrations is a symbolic coup de grâce. Handled well, this could be a monster of a demo.

Hey wait, I also don't salute the flag, don't honour the values of this country, and don't respect the people living here. I thought those were what qualified you to be a kiwi?

Today's reading in the waning sun

#OtD 4 Sep 1917 legendary Australian anarchist and labour organiser Monty Miller was arrested at the age of 78 for being a member of an unlawful association: the @IWW. He was subsequently sentenced to six months hard labour. Learn more in our podcast: workingclasshistory.com/2019/01/28/e...

Has anyone ever digitised or commissioned a reprint of Geoff Chapple's classic anti-apartheid book 1981: The Tour? It's getting harder to get your hands on these days, and it really should be required reading imo. Probably one of the most impactful kiwi books I've ever read, non or fiction.

Should whip something up next year to mark the 250th anniversary of the outbreak of the American Revolution. I think something on Thomas Paine and the forgotten strain of radical patriot agrarian reformism & abolitionism could be a goer...

Tom Clancy's Sociology for the South

Listening to seminal symphonic/industrial black metal album Ceremony of Opposites by Samael while marking first year reading summaries: "That's right, Swiss extreme metal pioneer known as Vorphalack, I do think this one should be marked up for going the extra mile in formatting and presentation."

New Zealand and the US briefly experimented with designing a tectonic weapon of mass destruction in the dying days of WWII under the codename Project Seal.

Rob Muldoon was in a production of the Rocky Horror Show in 1986, and briefly presented the cult late night Sunday Horrors slot on TV2 as Count Robula.

Another movement rumor that I don't know the veracity of (@evansmithhist.bsky.social may know), but supposedly Adelaide students during an occupation narrowly voted down a proposal to take up arms and head to the bush to fight a protracted people's war against the Australian state in the '70s.

This one's a bit of a movement story (grain of salt an' all), but a favorite of mine is that the Communist Party of New Zealand had a police spy join in the '60s who became convinced of the communist line and stayed a member in earnest until his death in the '00s.

I need my non-Kiwi people to know how deep the "explorers from (insert) reached Aotearoa before (insert)" rabbithole goes. This book posits that among many others, Phoenician explorers reached Aotearoa 3000 years ago. This guy has published multiple books.

One piece of advice I'd give to eager young comrades first having a go at socialist politics is that you may never feel like you're doing enough, but the world is *not* on your shoulders. Even being a member of a political organisation puts you in a small minority of the adult population here.

I have a reading group on revolutionary history, which covers 600ish years from the mid-14th to mid-20th centuries. It makes me wonder how many socialist(+ adjacent) reading and study groups are floating around #nzpol at the moment. I'm aware of one in Auckland and one in Wellington.

I'm looking at getting off of Instagram, the last Meta platform I still have accounts for. It feels good, and will be less of a headache than when I tackle getting off Spotify soon. Getting off Facebook & Twitter were great for my brain and time. Feels like closing the book on my teens and twenties.

01-08-1914 FRANCE3: The call for mobilization empties the union structures, their mail is now monitored and all their leaflets, posters and announcements are subject to censorship which remains in force until October 13, 1919.

01-08-1917 USA: Frank H. Little, anti-war activist & IWW organiser is lynched in Butte, Montana. He was on IWW's Exec Board when he was killed.

For the coalition, cutting funding as thin as possible to MCH is really a win-win. Red meat for the base - restricting funding to a ministry they think is fundamentally a globalist plot to make their kids gay anyway, fulfilling both the fiction of savings and a broadside on history as a discipline.

#OtD 23 Jul 1918 the Japanese rice riots began against high prices, a revolt up to then unparalleled in the country's history in terms of scope, size and violence, which eventually led to the fall of Prime Minister Terauchi's government stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9569...

#OtD 22 Jul 2005 civil servants in Tonga went on strike for pay rises. The strike incapacitated the government and grew to include many other public sector employees, resulting in the most significant challenge to the island's monarchy in its history stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9488...

I finally got around to updating 'Trot Guide', a brief survey of the various organised socialist (often Marxist) formations in Australia. slackbastard.anarchobase.com?p=52946

Were the socialist movement in Aotearoa to actually start seriously thinking about drafting a fighting program, whatever version it may be, on top of wading neck deep into the social question there's a lot of political questions left languishing at our peril (a Republic looms large among them).

Still a treasure trove to learn and inspire from the great French Revolution and revolutionary history generally in Aotearoa today. To riff a bit, we must in short order inscribe upon our banners: Educate! Educate! Educate!