Bruce Jesson
| Bruce Jesson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1944 Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Died | 30 April 1999 Auckland, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Spouse(s) | Joce Jesson |
Bruce Edward Jesson (1944 – 30 April 1999) was a journalist, author and political figure in New Zealand.
Bruce Edward Jesson was the son of Victor John and Edna Cavell (née Taylor) Jesson and the great-grandson of an immigrant from Leicestershire in England.
He was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School (where he read Darwin's Origin of Species while a "lab boy" in the biology laboratory and became an atheist) and the University of Canterbury, where he gained a bachelor's degree in law. He worked briefly as a law clerk, but refused to swear allegiance to the Queen, and was never admitted to the Bar.
He had two daughters,Rebecca Ngaire (Education)and Linley Kay (Botanist).
As a student in the 1960s, he was initially attracted to the Communist Party of New Zealand which tried to groom him to be the party's lawyer. The CPNZ had been the first communist party in the world to side with China in the Sino-Soviet split. However, Jesson struck out on his own, writing a number of polemics such as Traitors to Class and Country: A Study of the Conservative Left and publishing a journal called Te Tao ("The Spear"). As a student he was involved in anti-Royalist activities, being associated with the burning of a New Zealand flag by another student during a visit by the Queen Mother. He founded the Committee to Oppose Royal Tours (CORT).
Jesson was a republican who championed an independent political and intellectual culture in New Zealand. He rebelled against the habit of the New Zealand Left to take its political cues from overseas countries. He founded the anti-royal Republican Association in 1966, later moving to Auckland (first to Pokeno, later Otahuhu and finally Mangere) and forming a political party (the original Republican Party) to push the republic issue in 1967. Around 1970 he also associated briefly with Trotskyist activists such as Owen Gager and David Bedggood, and he contributed occasionally to journals such as Dispute, New Zealand Monthly Review and Spartacist Spasmodical.
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