New Zealand: Pressure Groups Material

Pamphlets, leaflets, addresses, papers, posters, stickers, letters, newsletters, press cuttingas and other miscellaneous materials, 1971 onwards, issued at national and local level by the Apartheid Information Centre, the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination, the Auckland Council for Civil Liberties, the Campaign Against Foreign Control in New Zealand, the Campaign for Better Government, the Campaign for Equality (New Zealand), the Citizens Association for Racial Equality, the Coalition Against Police Oppression (N.Z.), the Coalition for Open Government (N.Z.), the Federated Farmers of New Zealand, the Freedom Leadership Foundation Inc. (N.Z.), Halt All Racist Tours (HART), the Maori Organisation on Human Rights, the National Anti-Apartheid Committee (N.Z.), the National Council of Women of New Zealand, the National Interest Day Campaign Organisation (N.Z.), the New Zealand Anti-Common Market Association, the New Zealand Coalition for Trade and Development, the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties, the New Zealand Employers Federation, the New Zealand League of Rights, the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone Committee, the New Zealand Race Relations Council, the New Zealand Women's Electoral Lobby, Public Eyes (New Zealand), the Progressive Youth Movement (New Zealand), the South Island Movement (New Zealand), the Wellington Marxist-Leninist Organisation, the Wellington Organisation for Women Incorporated, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (New Zealand Section).

The materials held here reflect the growth in New Zealand in the 1970s and 1980s of pressure and interest groups, for whom the major issues were the rights of women and the Maori people, apartheid and nuclear weapons. These last two constitute the majority of the materials in this collection, with the anti-apartheid movement coalescing (to form HART : The New Zealand anti-apartheid movement) over the issue of South African sporting links and producing country-wide demonstrations and disorder during the 1981 Springbok tour. The strength of anti-nuclear feeling led to the nuclear weapon-free-zone movement in which various areas (soon constituting a majority of the country) declared themselves to be such zones, and contributed strongly to New Zealand's de facto expulsion from the ANZUS alliance in 1985 after the refusal by the Labour government to allow entry to the USS Buchanan when the United States refused to confirm that the vessel was free of nuclear weapons. Other less prominent groups include those representing the interests of farmers and civil rights organisations protesting against the alleged erosion of those rights under the Muldoon National government (1975-1984).

Alphabetically by group, and then in rough chronological order.

Open to all for research purposes; access is free for anyone in higher education.

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Records at item level on library catalogue (SASCAT)

Description compiled by Daniel Millum, Political Archives Project Officer at the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.

Copies can usually be obtained - apply to library staff.

The Commonwealth Political Parties Materials collection was begun in 1960-61, with special emphasis being placed then, as now, on "primary material such as party constitutions, policy statements, convention reports and election manifestos." (ICS, Twelfth Annual Report 1960-1961). Since then, the main method of gathering material has been to appeal directly to political parties throughout the Commonwealth, though contributions from Institute members and staff following visits to relevant countries have been significant.

Further accruals are expected, some in electronic form.

See also New Zealand: Political Parties Material (PP.NZ) and New Zealand: Trades Unions Material (TU.NZ) as well as Political Party, Trades Unions and Pressure Group Materials for other Commonwealth countries and related material in the library's main classified sequence, all held at the ICS.