Socialism in New Zealand

The extent to which socialism plays a part in modern New Zealand politics depends on which definitions of socialist are used, but few mainstream politicians would describe themselves using the word "socialist". The term "social-democrat" is more common, but the more general "left-wing" or "centre-left" are used far more frequently. New Zealand has a complicated assortment of socialist causes and organisations. Some of these play a considerable role in public activism—some commentators claim that New Zealand socialists are more prominent in causes such as the anti-war movement than in promoting socialism itself. Other groups are strongly committed to radical socialist revolution.

Several prominent political parties in New Zealand, such as the New Zealand Labour Party, have historical links to socialism but are not generally considered socialist today due to their acceptance of a market economy. More likely to receive this label are the small Marxist organisations that exist outside the mainstream political world, such as the International Socialist Organisation and Socialist Aotearoa.

Academic Josephine F. Milburn argues that socialist theories were introduced by immigrant workers with experience in the British labour movement. Their ideas were not widely accepted, however. The Liberal government that was dominant 1891-1912 rejected socialism but it supported unions and the Liberal Government of New Zealand set up the country's welfare state in the 1890s and fought the large land holders. She argues that governmental activism cannot be attributed to the influence of the small socialist movement.

The growth of socialism as an ideology in New Zealand only began to occur around the beginning of the 20th century. Some historians, however, claim that a sort of "non-ideological" socialism was born shortly after the establishment of self-government, and flourished in the late 19th century. This, they say, was mostly in the form of a "paternalistic" government which believed in the need to speed the country's economic growth, rather than in the form of an ideologically leftist government. These historians argue that because of New Zealand's small size and its focus on agriculture, the newly established government was forced to assume responsibility for many things that would otherwise be undertaken by private enterprise - railways, banking, insurance, and many other things that New Zealand's small business sector could not yet afford. Premier Julius Vogel was a notable advocate of government projects of this nature. Later, the Liberal Party was accused by its opponents of being "socialist", although most within the party rejected this. One commentator has claimed that until the Russian Revolution of 1917, New Zealand was the most socialist country in the world, although many believe that this is overstating the case.

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