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REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS
| Melanie Nolan, ed., Revolution. The 1913 Great Strike in New Zealand (Christchurch: Canterbury Press in association with Trade Union History Project 2006)
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| THIS BOOK IS AN excellent overview of the 1913 Great Strike in New Zealand, which was the closest New Zealand ever came to a general strike. (25) The book arose from a conference organized by the Trade Union History Project, a key centre for labour historiography in New Zealand, in November 2003 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the strike. There is an introduction by the editor, which provides the background to the dispute and provides a review of the historiography of the strike. There is also a useful timeline of the dispute and comprehensive bibliography. |
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The editor has organized the 13 chapters according to four themes. The first theme is a reconsideration of the historiography concerning the dispute. Erik Olssen and Richard Hill revisit their original theses concerning the dispute with Olssen arguing that the Strike shifted the political spectrum of New Zealand to the left and Hill emphasizing the ruthlessness of the State. Miles Fairbairn in a provocative essay questions the view that the strike was a `right wing conspiracy' and puts forward a `cock-up theory,' (68) which explains the strike more in terms of blunders by the government. He also highlights the poor development of business history in New Zealand, (73) which limits our understanding of employers' motives and tactics. |
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The second theme is `polarization.' This theme covers issues such as the role of the press, police, and the special constables in the strike. Donald Anderson argues that strikers did not take criminal action in support of the strike and took a more favourable view of the regular police compared to the special constables specifically recruited for the strike. John Crawford notes that there were considerable efforts by the state to hide the role of military in the strike. The military provided logistical support for the special constables, who played a crucial role in the strike. Regular and territorial officers provided leadership for the special constables. |
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The next theme looks at the strike from broader historical perspectives such as gender and the development of trade unions, the left, and the ruling class. The chapters on moderate unions and the ruling class highlight the limits of New Zealand labour historiography. Peter Franks notes that New Zealand labour historians ignored the `moderate majority' both generally and specifically in regard to the 1913 strike, with only 20–23 per cent of unionized workers joining the strike. (164) He argues that rather than shifting New Zealand to the left, the strike entrenched state-sponsored compulsory arbitration as the preferred means of both labour and capital to deal with industrial disputes. Jim McAloon provides a comprehensive overview of the ruling class in New Zealand and its role in the Strike and to some degree addresses the concerns of Miles Fairbairn about the state of business history in New Zealand. |
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Kerry Taylor's essay charts the subsequent impact of the strike on the development of the left in New Zealand, noting how the New Zealand Communist Party and other Marxist groups constructed and deployed the memory of the 1913 Strike to develop an alternative voice to labourism. Melanie Nolan provides an excellent gendered history of the strike highlighting the contribution of working-class women in the strike, noting particularly the role of housewives' unions during the strike. The chapter notes how both sides during the strike used various notions of `manliness' to praise and abuse their opponents. One minor quibble is that there is only a brief mention of the role of non-working class women during the strike. (248) Farmers' wives would have provided a crucial backup to spouses who enrolled as special constables. |
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The final theme places the 1913 General Strike in an international context. While Donald McRaild's discussion of the origins of industrial militancy in the UK is very good in its own right, the links between the British experience and the Strike could have been clearer. Mark Derby in his article, "William E. Trautmann and the Role of the Wobblies," also provides important insights on the rise of the IWWinternationally and its impact on New Zealand. While a lot is made of Trautmann's New Zealand origins, however, he only spent the first few years of his life there and it is not clear what his direct impact on the New Zealand IWW was. |
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There are some minor quibbles. With such an excellent book, it would have been helpful to have a postscript to bring it all together and remind the reader of the important issues raised by the book. There are times when the contributors could have made points clearer for non- New Zealand readers. Are we talking about coalminers or goldminers on the West Coast ? (23–4) How large were the New Zealand Socialist Party and other left groups? (204) |
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Overall, the editor and authors produced an outstanding book. It provides a comprehensive overview of the strike, capturing different perspectives on the historical significance of the strike and linking it to major themes in New Zealand labour historiography such as trade unions and gender. |
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GREG PATMORE
University of Sydney |
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