Introduction by Mike Treen
GPJA editor
The attached PDF document is meant as a resource for what is often the hidden, horrific role that the New Zealand military has played in enforcing the world imperialist system. Given New Zealand’s size, this usually means that our rulers ally themselves with a larger imperial power, first Britain and latterly the USA.
The system that is being enforced is a system of both economic plunder and ongoing exploitation. This system evolved from the colonial world established by a handful of countries, beginning with Portugal and Spain in the 15th Century, followed by Britain, France, and the Netherlands, and culminating in the scramble for Africa, which also included Italy, Germany, and Belgium. The USA and Japan joined in a bit later to take what they could.
Every empire required military force that cost the lives of millions of people.
However, that system of plunder evolved into the modern form of imperialism, which is still best described by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in his book, Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism, written in 1916 in the midst of what was the first great inter-imperialist war.
Today, almost the same countries comprise the imperialist world. They have created their own club dubbed the G7 nations. The Group of Seven (G7) countries are selected based on their status as major advanced economies and developed democracies. There are no formal criteria for membership, but the group consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union also participates in G7 summits. The G7 countries are responsible for roughly half of the world’s GDP.
Australia and New Zealand grew to become minor imperialist nations with colonies of their own and have been satellites of the bigger imperialist powers.
The GDP per capita of the imperialist world (Western Europe, Japan, the USA, Australia & New Zealand) is about US$50,000.
The GDP per capita of the former colonial world is around a quarter of that number – ranging from $2500 for India, $5000 for South East Asia, $7500 for Africa, $11000 for Latin America and the Caribbean, to $12,600 for China.
All these nations (except China) have remained in debt bondage and unable to significantly develop their economies to the point of escaping imperialist domination and exploitation.
China, on the other hand, doubled the size of its economy each decade for the last four decades. 800 million people were lifted out of poverty, and 150 million out of extreme poverty. See: Tricontinental –
Serve the People: The Eradication of Extreme Poverty in China
Because of the size of their population, 1.4 billion people, they have become the largest economy on earth when measured on a purchasing power parity basis. They became the industrial powerhouse of the world with an astonishing 30% of world manufacturing output.
“China’s per capita income has increased five-fold between 1990 and 2000, from $200 to $1,000. Between 2000 and 2010, per capita income also rose at the same rate, from $1,000 to $5,000, moving China into the ranks of middle-income countries.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_China
China has experienced significant wage growth over the past few decades, with average wages increasing from 445 yuan per year in 1952 to 114,029 yuan in 2022. Minimum wages in China have indeed seen substantial increases between 2010 and 2025, driven by economic growth, urbanization, and efforts to reduce income inequality. The average minimum wage rose significantly from around ¥1,200 in 2010 to approximately ¥2,100 by 2020, with further increases in subsequent years, reaching ¥2,690 in Shanghai by 2025, according to Playroll.
As well, in recent years, China has used its massive investments in infrastructure, in particular high-speed rail, to significantly reduce inequality between regions.
There is some debate worldwide about whether this was the result of a form of state-directed capitalism, or as they describe themselves, “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”.
I have sympathy for a view closer to the latter position, but one still critical of China’s bureaucratic authoritarianism. See: China as a transitional economy to socialism? by Michael Roberts
To do what they have done economically over the last four decades implies some system of planning. Only Korea and Taiwan have developed in a similar rapid economic way and that was only because they were the front line of the Cold War against the Soviet Union and China; they were allowed to develop their economies, including with some state planning, and (until recently) export freely to the US. But it is clear that the monopoly capitalists call the shots on what the government does in Korea and Taiwan, and that appears not so in China, despite the immense wealth of some of the capitalists there.
However, the gigantic economic growth in China meant it became the biggest trading power of almost every country on earth. This means that, if they want to, countries can risk taking a more independent stance (politically and economically). This is reflected in the formation of the BRICS alliance in 2009, which has grown progressively stronger and now has half the world’s population and over 40% of its GDP.
This was explored in a useful Tricontinental report recently, which argued that though still weighed down by debt and austerity, developing countries are beginning to chart alternative paths as a new mood takes hold in the Global South.
The hidden history of NZ imperialism
New Zealand’s role in the various wars of empire is often completely hidden from our understanding.
My first job in preparing this document was simply to catalog what I could discover and provide links to basic facts proving we were there (including some surprises to even me – like against the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Russian revolution, or more latterly the invasion of Egypt by Israel, the UK and France in 1956).
When forces opposed these wars inside Aotearoa New Zealand, I tried to find links to those voices also.
I hope you emerge horrified by what you learn.
Mike Treen
GPJA
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