page_title: New Zealand Labour Party
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: New Zealand Labour Party / History / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Shows members of New Zealand Parliamentary Labour Party. They are, back row: - Ted Howard, Bill Parry, James Wright Munro, Daniel Giles Sullivan, Michael Joseph Savage, seated: James McCombs, Harry Holland, Peter Fraser and Fred Bartram.
context_page_description: The New Zealand Labour Party, or simply Labour, is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers describe Labour as social-democratic and pragmatic in practice. The party participates in the international Progressive Alliance.
  The New Zealand Labour Party formed in 1916 out of various socialist parties and trade unions. It is the country's oldest political party still in existence. Alongside its main rival, the New Zealand National Party, Labour has dominated New Zealand governments since the 1930s. As of 2020, there have been six periods of Labour government under ten Labour prime ministers.
  The party first came to power under prime ministers Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser from 1935 to 1949, when it established New Zealand's welfare state. It governed from 1957 to 1960, and again from 1972 to 1975. In 1974, the prime minister Norman Kirk died in office, which contributed to a decline in party support. Up to the 1980s, the party advocated a strong role for governments in economic and social matters.
context_section_description: Almost immediately, the new Labour Party became involved in the acrimonious debate about conscription, which arose during World War I – the Labour Party strongly opposed conscription, several leading members were jailed and expelled from Parliament for their stand against the war: Peter Fraser,  Harry Holland, Bob Semple and Paddy Webb. The loss of leadership threatened to seriously destabilise the party, but the party survived. (Fraser, Semple and Webb later supported conscription in World War II.)
  In its first real electoral test as a united party, the 1919 election, Labour won eight seats – the party's quick success shocked many conservatives. This compared with 47 for the governing Reform Party and 21 for the Liberal Party.
  Although Labour had split with its more militant faction (who went on to form various socialist parties), it maintained what were at the time radical socialist policies. Labour's 'Usehold' policy on land was, in essence, the replacement of freehold tenure by a system of perpetual lease from the state, with all land transfer conducted through the state (the full nationalisation of farmland). This policy was unpopular with voters and was dropped by Labour, along with other more radical policies, throughout the 1920s.
  In the 1922 election, Labour more than doubled its number of seats, winning seventeen. In the 1925 election, it declined somewhat but had the consolation of soon overtaking the Liberals as the second-largest party. Labour leader Harry Holland became the official Leader of the Opposition on 16 June 1926, after the Eden by-election on 15 April elected Rex Mason (Labour) to replace James Parr (Reform) who had resigned. After the 1928 election, however, the party was left in an advantageous position – the Reform Party and the new United Party (a revival of the Liberals) were tied on 27 seats each, and neither could govern without Labour support. Labour chose to back United, the party closest to its own views – this put an end to five terms of Reform Party government.
  The rigours of the Great Depression brought Labour considerable popularity, but also caused tension between Labour and the United Party. In 1931, United passed a number of economic measures which Labour deemed hostile to workers, and the agreement between the two parties collapsed. United then formed a coalition government with Reform, making Labour the Opposition. The coalition retained power in the 1931 election, but gradually, the public became highly dissatisfied with its failure to resolve the country's economic problems. Harry Holland died in 1933 and was replaced by his deputy Michael Joseph Savage as party leader. In the 1935 election, the Labour Party gained a significant majority, gaining 53 seats to the coalition's 19, and returned to government.
  Several of the early Labour Party stalwarts were Australian-born: Alfred Hindmarsh, Harry Holland, Michael Joseph Savage, Bob Semple, Paddy Webb, Bill Parry and later Jerry Skinner, Mabel Howard, Hugh Watt and Dorothy Jelicich.
caption: Members of the Labour parliamentary caucus, 1922. Prominent members are Harry Holland (seated, left of centre), Peter Fraser (seated, right of centre) and Michael Joseph Savage (back row, rightmost).
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