Wednesday 21 December 2016

A Stranger Kind Of Magick.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: The ultimate ambition of the Golden Dawn’s adepts was to utilise the “magical imagination” – a process which involved “visualising a desired reality”, concentrating one’s will on it, “moulding its form in astral light” and bringing it, finally, into “the plainest physical reality”. As a description of the process that saw neoliberalism imposed upon the world, this is pretty good. (Assuming, of course, that the mass media counts as “astral light”!)
 
THERE’S A LOT OF INSPIRATION to be found in waiting rooms. At my dentist’s, just the other day, I discovered a veritable treasure-trove in Greg Roughan’s extraordinary contribution to the March 2016 edition of North & South magazine – “Bewitched in the Bay”.
 
Much to its dismay, Havelock North is now inextricably linked with campylobacter poisoning. There was a time, however, when this well-heeled Hawke’s Bay village was regarded as “the Vatican” of esoteric spirituality.
 
According to Robert S. Ellwood, author of Islands of the Dawn: The Story of Alternative Spirituality in New Zealand, at least one American adept is said to have declared: “If you want to hear Elizabethan English, you go to Appalachia; if you want to see what the original Golden Dawn was like, you go to New Zealand.”
 
And, yes, he is talking about that Golden Dawn, or, to give it its full title, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This late-nineteenth century British-based occult society will forever be associated with the “wickedest man in the world” and self-proclaimed Beast of the Book of Revelation, Aleister Crowley; and, somewhat more respectably, with the celebrated Irish poet, William Butler Yeats. Roughan’s fascinating article, inspired in part by Ellwood’s book, retells the story of how, long after the original Golden Dawn collapsed amidst scandal and recrimination, its colonial Hawke’s Bay offshoot went on practicing “magick” well into the 1970s.
 
Roughan’s revelations got me thinking about two other imported belief systems which took off and thrived in New Zealand long after their offshore inspirations had faded – or disappeared altogether. The first of these was “social credit” – the esoteric monetary theory formulated by the British engineer, Clifford Hugh (“Major”) Douglas. The second, forever associated with another Douglas, is the extraordinarily pure (some would say extreme) variant of free-market economics which took root here in the 1980s. Neoliberalism, as it is now known, has thrived in New Zealand ever since. To the point where, like gorse, it has driven both its native and exotic competitors into the shade.
 
Social Credit never really took off in Great Britain but, like the magick of the Golden Dawn, it possessed sufficient power to spellbind colonials. In Canada and New Zealand, particularly, social credit-inspired political movements exerted considerable influence over domestic politics – principally during the 1930s. For many years, the Canadian provincial government of Alberta was dominated by social creditors, and several MPs in the First Labour Government (1935-1949) were vocal advocates.
 
With the widespread adoption of the expansionary economic ideas of John Maynard Keynes by progressive post-World War II governments, the numbers following social credit’s monetary theories began to dwindle. In New Zealand, however, the movement refused to die.
 
In 1953, despairing of ever again wielding influence in a major political party, the social creditors reconstituted themselves as the Social Credit Political League. At its first electoral outing in 1954 the League secured 11 percent of the popular vote (an extremely creditable result by today’s MMP standards) and immediately became New Zealand’s third party. At the peak of its popularity in 1981, Social Credit’s share of the popular vote rose to an astonishing 21 percent.
 
By 1987, however, New Zealanders were under the spell of a much more potent variety of monetarist magick. Curiously, the policy prescription which became known as “Rogernomics” (after Roger Douglas, the Labour finance minister who drove it forward) may be traced to another esoteric collection of adepts and initiates, the Mont Pelerin Society.
 
Appalled at the rapid expansion of economic and social democracy unleashed by Keynesian economics, the “classical liberals” of Mont Pelerin, laid out their plans for counter-revolution before the discomforted capitalists of Britain and America, and waited patiently for the right political moment to unleash them.
 
The ultimate ambition of the Golden Dawn’s adepts was to utilise the “magical imagination” – a process which involved “visualising a desired reality”, concentrating one’s will on it, “moulding its form in astral light” and bringing it, finally, into “the plainest physical reality”. As a description of the process that saw neoliberalism imposed upon the world, this is pretty good. (Assuming, of course, that the mass media counts as “astral light”!)
 
Following precedent, New Zealanders seized upon this latest manifestation of esoterica with a zealotry unequalled in the rest of the world. As before, elite enthusiasm for neoliberalism proved crucial. It intensified and gradually took control of practically all of New Zealand’s significant institutions. As though, in the mid-1920s, New Zealanders had woken to discover that everyone in high places, from Governor-General to Chief Justice, Prime Minister to Police Commissioner, were Magister Templi in Havelock North’s occult society
 
Overseas, political support for neoliberalism is fading. But, if its tenure here turns out to be as enduring as the Golden Dawn’s in Havelock North, then New Zealand will not be neoliberal-free until 2046.
 
This essay was originally published in The Press of Tuesday, 20 December 2016.

12 comments:

mikesh said...

"Social Credit" economic policy rested on two main planks: (1) getting rid of fractional reserve banking and placing the creation of money solely in the hands of the crown. and (2) introducing an unconditional basic income (UBI), which Douglas called a "national dividend" Both of these ideas are still reasonably popular today, though no longer associated exclusively with Social Credit.

The third idea which Douglas put forward was the A+B theorem which very few people understood, and which was almost certainly invalid. It was this idea I think which gave social credit its "crackpot" image. However the A+B theorem was an attempted explanatory theorem only and would not have affected the imlementation of the two policies above.

Guerilla Surgeon said...

Well, when the World Bank is saying that austerity doesn't work, it's probably time to abandon the experiment. Never mind how many lives it's ruined, never mind that it trashed the economy for any number of years after it was introduced, and never mind apologising. They rarely do.

Len Richards said...

Neo-liberalism was, like Magick and Social Credit, a "travelling theory" (a term popularised by Edward Said). This theory came to NZ via Mt Pelerin, Chicago and Pinochet's Chile.
The fervour that NZ's ruling class grasped onto this quackery is in inverse proportion to the weakness of the theoretical grounding of the left alternative (and the only other alternative to failing Keynesianism was on the left).
The fact that NZERS can grasp onto extreme solutions can give us some solace that someday they might embrace an anti-capitalist, pro-people and pro-planet socialist alternative.

David Stone said...

Hi Chris

I love the gorse simile .

Mikesh yes. The A+B probably killed S C and I think to understand it was to understand where it was wrong.
What killed the movement in it's tracks though was the Clide Dam Empowering Bill.

Cheers David J S

swordfish said...

Chris " At the peak of its popularity in 1981, Social Credit’s share of the popular vote rose to an astonishing 21 percent"

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying SC soared even higher - to around 30% - in opinion polls around late 1980 / early 1981 - a few points ahead of Labour.

(Interesting facet of SC = until Beetham conducted a thorough purge in the early 70s, SC had always included a core group of conspiracy-minded anti-semites among its activist base and office-holders. Not necessarily a majority, but at least a solid minority group)


Len Richards "The fact that NZERS can grasp onto extreme solutions ..."

Important to note that Rogernomics / Ruthernasia never really commanded majority support (the closest it came to voter approval was at the 87 Election but even then NZES data suggests outright support = minority sentiment). By the early 90s, opposition was overwhelming (even among National supporters).

Wayne Mapp said...

Swordfish,

You are wrong about Rogernomics and Chris is right. Rogernomics has been the dominant theme in the NZ economy for 35 years. Sure the rough edges have been knocked off by both Helen Clark and John Key. But neither turned their back on Rogernomics.

In essence Rogernomics involves an open economy, reasonable tax levels, completion wherever possible, a reasonable amount of privatisation in anything that operates in the market (power and telcos). And reasonable employment laws. The current legislation is adapted from the laws passed by Labour in 2000.

The political success of both Helen Clark and John Key is testament to the reality that NZer's by a majority prefer the overall Rogernomics solution, provided it applied in a reasonable manner.

Charles E said...

You fail to mention that the country has had throughout the alleged neo period you are obsessed with trying to prove, a stonking great welfare state. And still has. Hardly neo at all, this rock star country, well governed by a Centre regime for 16 years now. Not neo at all.
Merry Xmas

vol said...

Lovely language, beautiful column, sweet parallels.

Yes, a paid-off elite -- cash, and the unpublic idea of 'meritocracy'(versus the public ones of 'democracy' and 'freedom') to justify themselves.

'Meritocracy' is the real motor of elite justification since 1984.

And now with Trump they are proved morally bankrupt.

Yet there they ever sit, Chris.

swordfish said...

Oh dear, Wayne. You've forced me to waste a little bit of precious time on Christmas Morning.

Haven't got all the relevant data to hand, but I can assure you that the NZES survey figures show massive majorities of voters (of all partisan persuasions) were opposed to the privatisation agenda, to the core monetarist policy at the heart of Rogernomics / Ruthenasia (narrowly prioritising the reduction of inflation at the expense of increasing unemployment), while somewhat smaller majorities (including a slight majority of Nat voters) agreed that the wealthy should be taxed more heavily (ie supported a more progressive tax system).

All summed up in the NZES conclusion that voters, on the whole, rejected Rogernomics and its Bolger-Richardson successor, and that (in the 90s) it was highly ironic that National - the Party (mis) identified by significant numbers of voters in the 1990 NZES as being firmly opposed to Rogernomics - went on to take key aspects of the agenda even further.


In other words, there was a massive discrepancy between (1) what voters wanted and (2) what National was offering and (3) what voters PERCEIVED National was offering.

Ever wondered why the Nats took such an extraordinary hit in the polls during the early 90s, Wayne. Ever wondered why they plunged a huge 13 points at the 93 Election or why Labour and the Alliance combined won more than half the vote ? (and that's leaving aside the anti-Ruthenasia NZF vote).

Come to think of it, ever wondered why Steve Joyce noted at the outset of the key Govt that the huge majorities opposed to any further privatisation (picked up in both Public polls and National's private polling) were really scary ?


.

Guerilla Surgeon said...

Thanks swordfish. You save me a little time on Christmas morning. I think the essence of the Bullshit is this:

"In essence Rogernomics involves an open economy, reasonable tax levels, completion wherever possible, a reasonable amount of privatisation in anything that operates in the market (power and telcos). And reasonable employment laws. The current legislation is adapted from the laws passed by Labour in 2000."

Particularly the word reasonable. Something that is subject to many different definitions. A real political answer that Wayne. I guess it's to be expected, you being a politician. But Merry Christmas anyway.

vol said...


Rogernomia , Wayne Mapp, involves a 'settlement' that needs the lower third not to vote. That cuts out the lower third. Not the NZ way. Happy for your upbringing, not for your heritage.

vol said...

Geoffrey whats-his-name was wrong.

From the government of Lange I can only think of his second wife as right.

Like Suetonius's 'histories' of the Ceasars.

So much in the heart of Savage. Who denied his personal life for us.

The best Scot, an Irishman. I admit.