"1932 riots had allowed a voice for radicalism in New Zealand..."
The establishment of right-wing political groups was a result of the frustration that people felt toward the government for its unsatisfactory responses to the economic and social effects of the Depression.
In the long-term however, none such groups gained any real footing
to grow and develop further. What they did achieve was, to show that the 1932
riots had allowed a voice for radicalism in New Zealand.
The New Zealand Legion
The New Zealand Legion was established amidst a wave of conservative discontent in politics and was developed as a way of building a government based on national, rather than sectional interests and opposing any government intervention.
The basis of the group was nationalism as well as promoting individualism and social conservatism. Some historians have critiqued it as being fascist; however the group did not intend to be seen in such a way. Legion members agreed that there would be no social upheaval. It was formed after Robert Campbell Begg, a Wellington urologist, called a meeting of 50 local businessmen and farmers on the 8th February 1933. Present at this meeting were the leaders of the New Zealand National Movement, which was a small protest group that was formed the year before, by people dissatisfied with the United-Reform coalition government, in order to pressure the government into cutting costs. By the end of 1932, the New Zealand National Movement had not made much progress as its protest was limited to small groups of businessmen, farmers and local Reform Officials. The Movement would probably have faded into the background without any further action, had it not been for the fact that Coates forced a rise in exchange rates. “This inflationary measure, the subject of bitter controversy, threatened conservative stability and contributed to the growth of the New Zealand Legion” as historian Michael C. Pugh(The New Zealand Legion, 1932-1935) puts it.
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Collectively the group at the meeting agreed to form a new non-party “emergency movement to meet the national crisis” and look at organising everyone in the country for safety and security. “The Legion was a successor to the New Zealand National Movement” (Protest in New Zealand). The primary focus of the group Begg said was for “a more efficient Government, centrally and locally, and Government based on National, not sectional interests.” Their goal was to bring the nation together to jointly get through the crisis that was taking over during the Great Depression. The Legion quickly grew and within several months, it had 20,000 members. It began to create a name for itself and major newspapers and prominent politicians, as well as other leaders within society took notice. It didn’t last however, and by mid-1934, it was all but obsolete.
A correspondent for the Auckland Star published on the 1st of May 1933 reported that “the Legion is the opportunity for al patriotic people to join an organisation who first aim will be to carefully investigate all measures of constitutional reform through centre, division and national council..it will be the business of the Legion to see that Parliament is constituted of men who are not seeking a political career, but who without ambition or hope of reward or fear of consequences, will provide the ‘regulative wisdom to control our specialised activities and the thrusting energy of our sectional and selfish interests’.” The Legion was to provide a way for trying out ideas of economic and social reform. It was not its intention to impose its will on any Member of Parliament, but to at least give guidance to certain extends on difficult questions of reform.
The New Zealand Legion was able to show itself as an unconventional solution to the Depression by winning support from conservatives who believed that actions needed to be taken, but that the socialist approach was not the right way to move forward. The government was criticised for adopting socialist policies to overcome the effects of Depression and of simply attempting to conciliate left-wingers, rather than resist them.
After the 1935 elections, the group no longer existed, however many of its members joined the newly formed National Party.
A correspondent for the Auckland Star published on the 1st of May 1933 reported that “the Legion is the opportunity for al patriotic people to join an organisation who first aim will be to carefully investigate all measures of constitutional reform through centre, division and national council..it will be the business of the Legion to see that Parliament is constituted of men who are not seeking a political career, but who without ambition or hope of reward or fear of consequences, will provide the ‘regulative wisdom to control our specialised activities and the thrusting energy of our sectional and selfish interests’.” The Legion was to provide a way for trying out ideas of economic and social reform. It was not its intention to impose its will on any Member of Parliament, but to at least give guidance to certain extends on difficult questions of reform.
The New Zealand Legion was able to show itself as an unconventional solution to the Depression by winning support from conservatives who believed that actions needed to be taken, but that the socialist approach was not the right way to move forward. The government was criticised for adopting socialist policies to overcome the effects of Depression and of simply attempting to conciliate left-wingers, rather than resist them.
After the 1935 elections, the group no longer existed, however many of its members joined the newly formed National Party.
This Cartoon "Pull All To-Gether" appeared in the New Zealand Legion's journal the National Opinion in 1933. It seeks to show that the Legion believed that Party politics were full of conflict and not really going anywhere. They wanted to promote nationalism as a means of combating the crisis, irrespective of sectional differences.
The Democrat Party
The New Zealand Democrat Party was founded in 1934 with the intention of opposing socialist legislation by the government.
It was founded by Albert Davy who was a well-known political organiser at the time. He was worked first with the Reform Party, then for the United Party and finally for the Reform again. He often conflicted with those he worked with; however he was great at campaign management and fundraising. Politically, he stood for decreasing the size of the government as well as government intervention in the business world. The slogan "More Business in Government, Less Government in Business," used by the Reform Party was from the direction of Davy. Initially Davy supported the coalition between the United and Reform Parties, however later he resigned in a protest at the legislation the coalition enacted to counter the Great Depression. He criticized the coalition as “socialist by inclination, action and fact.”
In 1934, Davy and William Goodfellow, a wealthy Auckland businessman and industrialist who also opposed the economic policies of the unite-Reform coalition and equally converned by the rise of the Labour Party, formed the New Zealand Democrat Party. Their intention was that the small, committed party would hold the balance of power in parliament and force the government to adopt more business-friendly policies.
The Party’s support was mainly the Auckland business community. It promised to restore the unemployed to work at full normal wages, to restore Public Service wage cuts, and to reduce taxation, while at the same time proposing a national health and pensions scheme. The Democrats also promised to reduce the exchange rate and to guarantee farmers' export prices by means of a subsidy. This programme, although it promised much, was generally impracticable. Before long, the two leaders came into conflict as Davy wanted to recruit more candidates and make this a major Party while Goodfellow wanted it to be a small party whose focus was to attain a few select seats. In the 1935 elections, the Party gained eight per cent of the vote in 1935, but no seats. Despite their inability to enter Parliament, their impact on the election may have contradicted their intentions. By splitting the anti-Labour vote, they ultimately contributed to Labour’s overwhelming success in 1935. Many of the Party’s members later joined the National Party and Davy went on to establish the People’s Movement and New Zealand Co-Operative Party before retiring from politics to focus on business.
In 1934, Davy and William Goodfellow, a wealthy Auckland businessman and industrialist who also opposed the economic policies of the unite-Reform coalition and equally converned by the rise of the Labour Party, formed the New Zealand Democrat Party. Their intention was that the small, committed party would hold the balance of power in parliament and force the government to adopt more business-friendly policies.
The Party’s support was mainly the Auckland business community. It promised to restore the unemployed to work at full normal wages, to restore Public Service wage cuts, and to reduce taxation, while at the same time proposing a national health and pensions scheme. The Democrats also promised to reduce the exchange rate and to guarantee farmers' export prices by means of a subsidy. This programme, although it promised much, was generally impracticable. Before long, the two leaders came into conflict as Davy wanted to recruit more candidates and make this a major Party while Goodfellow wanted it to be a small party whose focus was to attain a few select seats. In the 1935 elections, the Party gained eight per cent of the vote in 1935, but no seats. Despite their inability to enter Parliament, their impact on the election may have contradicted their intentions. By splitting the anti-Labour vote, they ultimately contributed to Labour’s overwhelming success in 1935. Many of the Party’s members later joined the National Party and Davy went on to establish the People’s Movement and New Zealand Co-Operative Party before retiring from politics to focus on business.
The Social Credit Political League
The Social Credit Political League, formed in 1934 was a more influential middle-class protest movement, devoted to the monetary theories of Major CH Douglas as a way for the nation to recover from the effects of the Depression.
The League was not a political party but a “crusading pressure group” (Frontier of Dreams: The Story of New Zealand) that wanted to work with the monetary theories of its Canadian sage, Major CH Douglas to bring the nation back from the slump. It blamed a lack of purchasing power for the slump and offered a straightforward, painless solution – have the state create cheap credit. The faith in this scheme spread rapidly throughout the nation, especially popular with dairy farmers and small-town businessmen in the North Island. It was also largely influential within the Labour Party, many of whose leading figures, including Frank Langstone, John A Lee and Rex Mason, were convicted ‘credit men.’