Paddy Webb
|
The Honourable Paddy Webb MP |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Grey |
|
|
In office 1913–1918 |
|
| Preceded by | Arthur Guinness |
| Succeeded by | Harry Holland |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Buller |
|
|
In office 1933 – 1946 |
|
| Preceded by | Harry Holland |
| Succeeded by | Jerry Skinner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 November 1884 Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 23 May 1950 (aged 65) Christchurch,New Zealand |
| Political party |
Socialist Party (1911–13) Social Democrats (1913–16) Labour (1916–46) |
Patrick Charles "Paddy" Webb (30 November 1884 – 23 March 1950) was a New Zealand trade unionist and politician.
Webb was born in Rutherglen, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria. His father, George Webb, was a miner, and Paddy Webb eventually worked in the mines himself. He quickly became active in the mining unions, becoming head of the local Amalgamated Miners' Association branch by 1904. During this time, he met Michael Joseph Savage, who would eventually become the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand.
As a result of his involvement in strike action, Webb was blacklisted, and in 1905, he moved to New Zealand to seek work. After briefly living in Dunedin, he moved to the West Coast, working in mines first on the Denniston plateau and then at Runanga. Webb became involved with the New Zealand Socialist Party, and was an advocate for socialist ideals. Working in the Runanga mine, Webb was somewhat sheltered from repercussions he would otherwise have suffered — the Runanga mine was state-owned, and the governing Liberal Party was more tolerant of his agitation than private interests were. Webb scored a considerable victory when he organised a successful strike at a mine in Blackball, and became prominent in the labour movement nationally.
Webb was one of the more radical figures in the unions. Many of the older leaders continued to support the loose alliance between the labour movement and the Liberal Party, but Webb believed that only independent action could advance workers' interests. Webb was involved in founding the radical New Zealand Federation of Labour (the "Red Feds"), and in the 1911 election, he stood unsuccessfully in the Grey electorate in Parliament. He then played a major role in the 1913 "Unity Conference", in which the Socialist Party and the more moderate United Labour Party merged to form the Social Democratic Party. The Grey electorate became vacant in 1913, and he was nominated as the Social Democrat candidate. In the by-election he was elected on the second ballot with Liberal Party support, and in the 1914 general election, he was re-elected. In 1916, the Social Democrats merged with the remnants of the United Labour Party that had resisted the previous merger, forming the modern Labour Party.
...
Wikipedia