Browsing by Author "McAloon, Jim"

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Emerging from an entrenched colonial economy: New Zealand primary production, Britain and the EEC 1945-1975
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2016) Hall, David Sidney; McAloon, Jim; Behrendt, Steve
The phrase ‘entrenched and colonial’ describes well the trading relationship between New Zealand and Britain in 1945. In that year 90% of New Zealand’s exports were primary produce and difficult to sell outside Britain, and New Zealand’s trading resembled a service to Britain, “Britain’s offshore farm” according to Robert Muldoon, rather than an economy free to choose its customers. Changes in Britain made adaptation in New Zealand primary production essential in the decades after 1945. Britain increased its own agricultural production to replace food imports; its textile industry declined, reducing the need for raw wool; and Britain became a member of the European Economic Community (EEC), an organisation that had strong protection for its domestic farming against suppliers from outside the Community. By 1975 the phrase ‘entrenched and colonial’ was no longer appropriate: primary produce still dominated New Zealand exports (78%) but more than 75% were now sold outside Britain. New Zealand had diversified both its export markets and the produce it exported. The thesis analyses how that transformation took place in the meat, dairy and wool industries, focussing on producers within the farm-gate, those handling the produce between the farm-gate and exporters, for instance, wool brokers, and freezing and dairy factories, and those representing, informing and supporting primary producers, mainly Federated Farmers and statutory boards. It contends that, for meat and dairy exports, New Zealand successfully adapted by building Asian/Pacific markets together with developing the produce and marketing techniques essential to secure those markets, and that producers within the farm-gate increased productivity considerably. For wool exports, rather than a need to reduce over−dependence on the British market, the main drivers of change were the competition from synthetics and the need to mitigate the impact of price collapses caused by economic factors outside New Zealand’s control. But successful wool trading through the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s discouraged change and major attempts at reform were successfully resisted by woolgrowers in the late 1960s and early 1970s. New Zealand successfully navigated through the potential threats from British membership of the EEC by adopting an effective strategic narrative that encouraged Britain and the EEC countries to agree special arrangements for New Zealand. That enabled New Zealand to keep exporting to Britain produce for which Britain remained the most remunerative market, especially lamb and butter. Britain remained an important trading customer but now as just one amongst many with New Zealand no longer Britain’s offshore farm.
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Middle Class Scots and Colonial Economic Success: Thoughts and Comparisons
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2011) McAloon, Jim
Were Scots to be found concentrated in particular occupations? Did networks, whether through common origin, associational life, religion, employment or marital connections facilitate the careers of Scots in the colonies? Were Scots different from other immigrants, especially the English, on any of these points?
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Not the Socialism We Dreamed Of: Becoming Ex-Communists in the United States and New Zealand, 1956-58
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2012) Blackmun, Carl William; Janiewski, Dolores; McAloon, Jim
Historians have previously analysed the crisis that gripped Western Communist parties in 1956 in response to Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin at the Twentieth Soviet Congress and the subsequent events in Poland and Hungary within a political and institutional frame. This thesis provides a more personal analysis of those events by examining and comparing the motivations and experiences of Communists who left the Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ) and the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) in the wake of the events of 1956. It uses autobiographies, memoirs, letters, oral histories, periodicals and archival sources to reveal the complex emotions and motivations which turned previously loyal Party members into ex-Communists. Through its comparative focus, the thesis also explores the different ways the CPNZ and CPUSA dealt with dissent, challenging the concept of the monolithic party and providing new insight into Communist Party organisations and the response of their leadership cadres to dissent and reformist pressures. This thesis explores the reasons why the events of 1956 resulted in a mass exodus which cost the CPNZ twenty-five percent of its membership and the CPUSA seventyfive percent of its members. It explores the responses of Communists in both parties to the revelations of Stalin’s crimes and their participation in hitherto unprecedented discussions and dissent. It examines the ways disillusioned Communists reassessed their political pasts, their present affiliations and traces their evolution into becoming ex-Communists. It then examines what ex-Communists faced in the transition to life outside the Party. In doing so, this thesis fits into an emerging scholarship that employs a more personal frame when approaching Communist history. It acknowledges the agency of individual Communists as they grappled with the consequences of de-Stalinisation, challenging narratives which portray Communists as Soviet automatons and subsume their experiences within the institutional history of the Party. The comparative focus of the thesis highlights the differences in national context and leadership responses which resulted in a much higher rate of attrition for the CPUSA than the CPNZ.