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The Great Strike refers to a near
general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...
that took place in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
from October 1913 to mid-January 1914. It was the largest and most disruptive strike in New Zealand's history. At its height, it brought the
economy of New Zealand New Zealand has a highly developed free-market economy. New Zealand's nominal GDP was NZD $425 billion. In the 2025 IMF rankings New Zealand was the 52nd-largest national economy in the world when measured by nominal gross domestic product ...
almost to a halt. Between 14,000 and 16,000 workers went on strike, out of a population of just over one million. The dispute began with a coal miners' strike in
Huntly Huntly ( or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlements include Keith ...
and on the
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
waterfront, and quickly spread to other industries around the country.


Origins

In 1909 militant
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
ists had formed the
New Zealand Federation of Labour The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU or CTU; ) is a national trade union centre in New Zealand. The NZCTU represents 360,000 workers, and is the largest democratic organisation in New Zealand. History It was formed in 1987 by the m ...
(the "Red Feds") an organisation opposed to the Liberal government's
Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894 was a piece of industrial relations legislation passed by the Parliament of New Zealand in 1894. Enacted by the Liberal Government of New Zealand, it was the world's first compulsory system o ...
, which meant labour disputes had to be settled though
conciliation Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute rely on a neutral third-party known as the conciliator, to assist them in solving their dispute. The conciliator, who may meet with the parties both sep ...
boards and
arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...
courts. Unions at first generally regarded the arbitration system as beneficial, while many employers saw it as limiting their powers. With no significant stoppages between 1894 and 1906, New Zealand became known internationally as ‘the country without strikes’. However, unionists had several complaints about the arbitration system; it failed to increase wages in line with the cost of living, didn't compel employers to pay for all hours of work, and the provisions for employers hiring workers at less than agreed rates were considered too loose. The growth in the number of unions in the early 1900s increased the arbitration courts' workload to the point that unions could wait up to a year before getting a hearing. In 1905 an amendment to the act made
strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Working class, work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Str ...
and lockouts illegal where there was an award covering employers and workers and another amendment in 1907 increased the penalties for striking illegally. Only unions registered under the Trade Union Act passed the following year could legally strike. With the forming of the federation, affiliated unions withdrew from the IC&A Act and registered under the Trade Union Act. By 1911 the organisations' membership had doubled to nearly 14,000 workers. In March 1913 a dispute began between Wellington shipwrights and the Union Steam Ship Company; the workers wanted the company to either pay them for travelling time or provide them with transport to new workshops at Evans Bay. In May the shipwrights cancelled their registration under the IC&A Act and joined the Federation-affiliated Wellington Waterside Workers' Union (WWWU).


Industrial action

On 6 October, Allison's Taupiri Coal Company sacked sixteen miners at
Huntly Huntly ( or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlements include Keith ...
, three of whom had recently been elected to the arbitration union's executive. The company refused another ballot and the directors declared that there was nothing to discuss with the union. Three days later the workers voted almost unanimously to strike until the sixteen men, and other miners not re-employed after a strike the previous year, were reinstated. After receiving congratulations from the UFL the miners asked the federation to take control of the dispute. Meanwhile, the Wellington shipwrights had added further grievances to their list, including demands for increased pay and holidays, and they began a strike on 18 October. The wharfies held a stop work meeting at 8am on the 20th and decided to refer the dispute to the UFL and returned to work, only to find that scabs had been hired in their place. In defiance of their president another meeting was held and 1,500 workers decided "That no work shall be accepted until such time as the victimised men are re-instated". On 5 November, strike supporters clashed with mounted special constables who were riding from their base at Buckle St to Lambton station. Their mission was to escort racehorses from the station to the wharves so they could be shipped to Christchurch for the New Zealand Cup race meeting. The battle between the two parties began on Featherston Street, where specials charged strikers. Pro-strike tram drivers rammed specials on horseback, and metal spikes and detonators were thrown at horses’ feet. The specials later assumed control of the wharves. It was a decisive moment in the strike. The events in Wellington and Huntly received national attention over the next week and many
Wobblies The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
in
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
and Wellington called for action. On 24 October the wharfies invaded several ships and stopped work, that same day the ship owners offered to reinstate the 1912 agreement if work was resumed, but the union rejected the proposal. In Huntly no miners or truckers went to work. The company claimed the union was breaking their agreement, though union leader
Harry Holland Henry Edmund Holland (10 June 1868 – 8 October 1933) was an Australian-born newspaper owner, politician and unionist who relocated to New Zealand. He was the second leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. Early life Holland was born at G ...
stated that the 'agreement' had been drafted by the company and 'agreed to' when there was no union. Recalling the events later striker Banjo Hunter recalled "the strike fever spread like a huge epidemic wave" During the strike, younger farmers were enlisted by the government to work as special constables, known as Massey's Cossacks. These farmers worked and protected areas such as Queens Wharf, Auckland. In Wellington 'foot specials' were recruited from middle-class urban workers.


Interpretation

The conventional idea of the strike is that it was part of a global change in both the ideological beliefs and strategic methods of trade unionists worldwide as the ideas of
syndicalism Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through Strike action, strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goa ...
spread. However most of the workers in the strike were 'ordinary people.' it is often seen as an instance of
class war Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom gener ...
; the workers of New Zealand fighting against the employers and their allies in the conservative
Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
government that had come to power in 1912. Some historians have suggested that employers engineered the conflict, for example Michael King wrote that "In October of that year
913 __NOTOC__ Year 913 ( CMXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * June 6 – Emperor Alexander III dies of exhaustion while playing the game '' tzykanion'' (Byzantine n ...
.. employers fearing a continuation of 'revolutionary' union tactics, engineered a lockout on the Wellington wharves." and Richard Hill in his history of the police wrote "the federationists were the victims of a government determined to destroy its class enemies... Leading employers decided to strike at the heart of the union movement before the united federation had a chance to consolidate... with the government assisting in various ways ... the government was more interested in crushing the watersiders than getting the wharves going."Richard Hill, ''The Iron Hand in the Velvet Glove'' p. 305. Cited in Fairburn, p.61


Notes


Further reading

* * Hancox, G. G.; Hight, J. (1914).
The Labour Movement and the Strike of 1913 in New Zealand
. The Economic Journal. 24 (94): 177–204.


References

*{{cite book , editor-first=Melanie , editor-last=Nolan , title=Revolution: The 1913 Great Strike in New Zealand , location=Christchurch , publisher= Canterbury University Press , year=2005


External links


The 1913 Great StrikeWobblies and Cossacks: The 1913 great strike
Great Strike, 1913 Labour disputes in New Zealand Great Strike, 1913 Industrial Workers of the World in New Zealand General strikes
1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...