SuperCity: Communist candidates spread word

Annalucia Vermunt Communist League candidate for the Super City Mayoralty. Photo / Supplied

The Communist League is putting up two candidates in next month's Auckland Council elections in a bid to engage workers more within the city's political arena.

The Communist candidates, Annalucia Vermunt and Patrick Brown, suspect the new Super City structure will further disfranchise Auckland's working class.

Come the Super City, more and more decisions will be made in boardrooms, said Ms Vermunt.

"One of the biggest lies today is that because we get to tick a box every three years we have a democracy," she said.

"Democracy is about the public being engaged in day-to-day decisions that affect them."

The focus for the majority of Super City contenders had been too much on personality and not enough policy, said Ms Vermunt, who is making a bid for the top council job herself.

"Some fellow campaigners promise growth and jobs but they have no programme to deliver on that promise."

Mr Brown said the Communist League campaign could not be separated from the fight for the working class.

"I have no personal ambition at all."

Besides contesting the Auckland mayoralty, Ms Vermunt, a butcher at a South Auckland meatworks, is also standing for a council seat representing the Manukau ward, and Mr Brown, a factory worker, is seeking to represent the Maungakiekie ward.

The two are seasoned political campaigners. Both stood under the communist banner in the 2008 general elections.

Mr Brown said the Communist League saw election campaigning as a chance to expose a broader audience than usual to its political message and the struggles of workers in a capitalist society.

The pair have joined forces on the campaign trail, taking to the streets of Mangere, Otahuhu, Glen Innes and other largely working-class suburbs in their wards to talk to voters.

"We are out there talking to everyday people and what we have to say really rings true," said Ms Vermunt.

Mr Brown says voters are interested in their campaign.

He says so much of the public debate focuses on the three or four mayoral candidates who are seen as serious contenders, but "when we get the chance to be heard, people find it refreshing. I am not saying they agree with what we have to say, just that it is a different take on issues."