With my grandad at the helm, they became known as the New Zealand Labour Party in 1916. Because, wild as his views were to the ordinary citizen, the views of the extremists in his party appeared wild to him. It is now generally accepted by historians that the modern Labour party came into formal existence because the freedom of unions to protest in New Zealand had been severely curtailed by law. Three hard core labour leaders of the Socialist Democratic Party, including Sydney Holland ended up in prison for encouraging the strike. Their national organisation was in chaos thanks to the concerted crackdowns, but these regional committees contributed greatly to New Zealand Labour becoming a bona fide political party in 1916.

Source: Stuff October 17, 2020 06:22 UTC