Red Squad
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Red Squad (May 2011-June 2013) was a far-left, communist, political party formally active in New Zealand. It was the longest lasting communist party in NZ political history. It went under various guises throughout its history. In June 2013 is was succeeded by People's Political Party.
History- Red Block
The Red Squad was originally founded in May 2011 by veteran NZ communist and former Red label Party founder zoomenager. He left RLP after being PTO in the April 15 party president (PP) elections and joined the then morbid Partido Socialista de Chile, which had remained in NZ following Chile's defeat in the February war.
In the May 15 elections, he won the PP and subsequently renamed the party, the Red Block. He sought to realign it firmly with a communist ideology but kept a distance from his former party, the RLP. During this period, the party remained outside the top-five and therefore was relatively limited in what it could accomplish.
Red Squad
By late May, zoomenager sought to establish a new party, that was firmly rooted along a communist doctrine. He, therefore, disbanded the old "Red Block" and founded a new party, the Red Squad. He sought to bring the party into the mainstream of NZ politics and in the June 2011 Presidential elections, he supports RLP candidate Koska de STRAH in his losing bid.
Following this, zoomenger sought to build up the parties profile and worked to get it into the top-five. He issued the Commies are here manifesto, that outlined his vision for the party and the goals it wanted to accomplish. During this period, the party flirted with top-five status, as it and the Taranaki Tribe routinely traded the #5 position. Eventually, the party fell back to #6 and has generally been stalled in its growth.
The party had a breakthrough during the month of July. In the Presidential elections, it endorsed RLP candidate and eventually victor Kurojca. However, its real breakthrough came in the July 25 Parliamentary elections when it won 2 out of 40 seats. This was the first time a communist party had earned representation in NZ.
It continued to remain an active party in NZ during the months of August and September. In both elections, it supported the RLP Presidential candidate (Splindza in August & Koska de STRAH in September) and contested Parliamentary elections. It returned to Parliament in September (1 seat) after being out during the month of August.
The party supported UIS candidate DaRkO 206 in the October Presidential elections. However, since the victory, the party has seen its membership suffer a sharp decline, dropping to a low of 11 members. Many have shifted to either the newly formed Love and Peace (L&P) or the resurgent UIS.
However, in the lead-up to the November parliamentary elections, the party choose to run 4 candidates and this time sought out aid from L&P. This paid off as the party elected 4 MP's, the most in its history. They agreed to support the administration of Helen Moon.
In the subsequent PP race, zoomenger was unopposed, thereby solidifying his hold over the party. Even the elected MP's did not bother to challenge him, with two eventually departing from the party to join L&P. In the December Presidential elections, the party shocked the NZ community when it supported Peace 'n' Prosperity Party candidate mortalbeta, this was the first time the communist party had backed a centre-right party.
Ranginui Influx
The party experienced a major shift in December, as the swift and steady rise of Crocus Valley saw Ranginui knocked out of the top five parties. In order to remain electorally competitive, many Ranginui members shifted to Red Squad. The parties reached an agreement where the Ranginui members did not contest zoomenager's control of the party, in exchange for running under the party banner in parliamentary elections.
This agreement has generally remained in place and helped to explain the party's relative continued representation in the Parliament. However, in following months, the party has lost ground as Ranginui members left NZ and its leadership stagnated under zoomenager's control. The party has adopted the policy of running a CP candidate in every election, usually ending a distant 4th or 5th.
Stagnation and Argentina
The stagnation of the party continued under zoomenager and even after running candidates in CP elections, it continued to be a minor force in NZ. Few new members joined it and the more established parties offered limited cooperation with it. zoomenager didn't appear to bother and faced limited internal opposition. Although he was occasionally challenged, he typically saw it off with his core backers. An exception to this was Aty87, who won in October 2011, but he remained PP for only a month before resigning and zoomenager returned to the leadership.
zoomenager finally relinquished his control in July 2012 when former Ujedinjenje ili smrt PP Spartac ran against him. He lost the June election but then defeated zoomenager in the July election to become PP. His victory meant restoring the party with some newly elected members and slowly the party began to have between 1-2 MP's every Congressional election.
Party Presidents
| Month | Party President | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| May, June 2011 | zoomenager | Founder and former PP of the Red label Party |
| July 2011 | Fromic / zoomenager | Fromic PTOed the party but resigned days later. |
| August - October 2011 | zoomenager | 6x PP. |
| October 2011 | Aty87 | A splinter player from the Templar's. |
| November 2011 - June 2012 | zoomenager | 14x PP. Party stagnated. |
| July 2012 - May 2013 | Spartac | 11x PP. Former UIS PP and the last party president. |
