A review of the political labour movement in New Zealand, 1899-1913

Abstract

This thesis is an endeavour to trace the course of that world-wide, humanitarian movement, known as the Labour Movement, in so far as its influences were manifest in the sphere of politics in New Zealand, during the period under review. I have attempted to depict the difficulties that beset the inception of a Parliamentary Labour Party and to show that success was attained only after a long and strenuous struggle during which crises in the industrial world did much to obstruct progress. It has been necessary to consider the economic conditions of the past, the politics, and, probably most important of all, ideas, since ideas always underlie movements and my task has been to take several aspects, find out their origins, trace them up to the period of discussion and then endeavour to collect them into one coherent whole.