Bruce Edward Jesson was a journalist, author and political figure in New Zealand.
20 Facts About Bruce Jesson
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Bruce Edward Jesson was the son of Victor John and Edna Cavell Jesson and the great-grandson of an immigrant from Leicestershire in England.
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Bruce Jesson was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and the University of Canterbury, where he gained a bachelor's degree in law.
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Bruce Jesson worked briefly as a law clerk, but refused to swear allegiance to the Queen, and was never admitted to the Bar.
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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.
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The sentence was overturned in June 1966 after a judge found Bruce Jesson had been denied the right to legal counsel by police.
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Bruce Jesson founded the Committee to Oppose Royal Tours.
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Bruce Jesson was a republican who championed an independent political and intellectual culture in New Zealand.
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Bruce Jesson rebelled against the habit of the New Zealand Left to take its political cues from overseas countries.
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Bruce Jesson founded the anti-royal Republican Association in 1966, later moving to Auckland and forming a political party to push the republic issue in 1967.
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Bruce Jesson was a founding member of the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand, until his death in 1999.
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Bruce Jesson was interested in developing an indigenous Marxian tradition in New Zealand, and participated in the four NZ Marxian Political Economy conferences staged in the 1970s and early 1980s.
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Bruce Jesson published four books about the neo-liberal revolution in New Zealand, and became a fellow of the Auckland University Political Science Department.
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In 1990, Bruce Jesson joined Jim Anderton's Labour party splinter NewLabour Party.
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Bruce Jesson stood as a candidate for the party in the Panmure electorate in 1990.
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Bruce Jesson again stood in Panmure in 1993, for the Alliance.
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Bruce Jesson became chair of the Auckland Regional Services Trust between 1992 and 1995.
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Bruce Jesson died of cancer in the Auckland suburb of Mangere Bridge on 30 April 1999.
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The Bruce Jesson papers are archived at the University of Auckland Library.
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The Bruce Jesson Foundation was established in his honour in 1999.