Communist Party of New Zealand bulletins and leaflets.

This collection was donated by Bert Roth (socialist, historian, and former Deputy University Librarian at the University of Auckland) in 1990.

Box 1 contains internal documents of the Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ), dating from 1957 to 1979, collected by Roth. These papers document fierce ideological debates within the party concerning its relationships with the Soviet Union and China, and internal disputes, including the expulsions of Wilfred (Bill) McAra and Diana Wislie in 1974 from the CPNZ.

Box 2 contains leaflets printed by the CPNZ between 1955 and 1983. Most of these were distributed by the Auckland branch; however, the collection also contains items from the Waikato, Porirua, Wellington, Christchurch and Canterbury branches. In addition, there is one folder of leaflets printed in the 1950s and early 1960s by the CPNZ’s transport workers’ section (Unity, The Indicator, Drive Forward, Gear Change) and a twenty-fifth anniversary copy of the People’s Voice from July 1964. Finally, Roth collected Socialist Unity Party leaflets, circa 1969 to 1985, which are housed in one folder.