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 Ginninderra, a rural village that would later become part of the Canberra suburbs. He was born to Mary () and Edward Holland, as the second of five children. Initially, he worked on his parents' farm, but later was apprenticed as a compositor for the Queanbeyan Times in nearby Queanbeyan, where he was first introduced to socialist thought. Holland did not receive an extensive formal education, but developed a great enthusiasm for reading that would continue throughout his life. He also became highly religious, joining the Salvation Army.
In 1887, Holland left Queanbeyan to work in Sydney. Shortly afterwards, on 6 October 1888, he married Annie McLachlan, whom he had met at a Salvation Army meeting. The two were to have five sons and three daughters. In 1890, however, Holland found himself unemployed, putting the family in a poor financial position. Holland left the Salvation Army at this point, believing that its response to poverty was inadequate; he remained, however, quite strongly religious. Gradually, his political views became attuned to socialism, although this was probably more an emotional decision than a theoretical one — Holland was deeply dedicated to the elimination of poverty, but had little use for complicated economic models. Despite leaving the Salvation Army, he retained a sense of personal mission, scorn of moderation, impatience with piecemeal reform and a sense of undeviating righteousness.
Political activity in Australia Holland joined the Australian Socialist League in 1892. Later, he and a friend began to publish a socialist journal — in 1896, he was convicted of libelling the superintendent of the New South Wales Labour Bureau, and served three months in prison. Upon his release, the journal was moved to Newcastle for a time, but eventually returned to Sydney.
In 1901, Holland stood as a candidate for the Australian Senate and the state seat of Sydney-Lang. He was standing for the Socialist Labor Party, having rejected the Labor Party as too moderate. He did not make any significant impression. Later, in 1907, he stood in the New South Wales state election, but was caught up in strong infighting between socialist groups. Holland had acquired a reputation of arrogance and egotism, and was convinced beyond all doubt that his views were correct.
Holland was convicted of sedition over a speech made at Broken Hill in April, in which he advocated for miners to resist police by force if they deemed it necessary; he was the first person ever to be charged with sedition in New South Wales. He was sentenced to two years' hard labour, but was released after just five months after 50,000 people signed a petition demanding his release. Holland suffered from depression during this period, which, combined with chronic overwork, led to his health breaking down by 1911.
In 1912, after his release from jail, Holland soon found himself in trouble with the law again. This time, it resulted from his refusal to register his son for compulsory military training. Rather than pay a fine, Holland left Australia and travelled to New Zealand, accepting an invitation from the Waihi branch of the New Zealand Socialist Party. He was paid £2 a week plus travelling expenses for three months of lecturing and organising. His arrival would normally have been controversial, due to his felonious past, but was overshadowed by industrial action in Waihi.
Political activity in New Zealand
Waihi At the time of Holland's arrival, Waihi was descending into chaos. A bitter miners' strike, the most significant industrial action that New Zealand had yet seen, was underway, and the conservative government of William Massey was responding with strong measures. The strike eventually led to the death of a miner in a shoot-out with police. Holland was encouraged by the strike, believing that it was the beginning of "class war" against capitalism. This view was not shared, however, by the New Zealand Socialist Party, which, when the strike broke out, had actually asked Holland not to come to Waihi. The New Zealand socialists, for the most part, saw socialism as a means to an end, and distrusted Holland's view that socialism was a goal in and of itself. Many New Zealand socialists resented Holland's arrogance, seeing him as a self-opinionated outsider meddling in a precarious situation that he did not fully understand. Afterwards, Holland co-authored the prolific The Tragic Story of the Waihi Strike pamphlet with a fellow Australian agitator, Robert Samuel Ross.
Moderation Gradually, however, Holland's militancy decreased. In 1913, following the failure of the strike, he attended the second unity conference as a delegate. His co-authorship with Ross of the pamphlet on the strike gained him a certain amount of prestige, as did his editorship of the Federation of Labour's newspaper, the Maoriland Worker 1913–18. In 1913, a candidate of the Social Democratic Party (or SDP, which the Socialist Party had merged into) was elected to Parliament with backing from the mainstream Liberal Party, and Holland was happy — at one stage, he would have condemned co-operation with any non-socialist organisation. Holland himself, however, still ran into difficulties with the law. In the 1913 waterfront dispute, he was charged with sedition, and was sentenced to one year in jail for using seditious language coming close to advocating for violence against the government. His friends Reverend Richard Hobday and Walter Nash visited Holland in prison and witnessed signs of mistreatment. Years later Nash described his visit: "They made me stay outside the door, they would not let me inside his cell. They would not let him have a razor so he was all bristly with ugly growth out of his face … I had a talk with him, with somebody standing by me to listen to what I said. He said, 'I didn't say what they say I said, but if I said it I would justify it.'" This time, however, he was widely seen by the public as a martyr, and gained considerable support. Holland was initially selected as the SDP candidate to stand for Mayor of Wellington at the 1914 election, but was unable to contest the mayoralty as he was engaged in the sedition case, so John Glover stood in his place.
At the Holland stood for the SDP in the electorate, finishing third. In 1915 he stood as an SDP candidate for the Wellington City Council. He was unsuccessful but polled much higher than any of the other candidates on the labour ticket.
Parliamentary career
With the gradual unification of the labour movement in New Zealand, the (second) Labour Party was founded in 1916. Holland was one of the founding members, although his opinions about the direction of the party were not identical to some of the party's other leaders. Holland believed that the Labour Party would lay the foundations for socialism, while the more moderate members of the party simply wanted to improve the wages and conditions of workers. He stood again for the now unified Labour Party for the city council in 1917 where, though still unsuccessful, his vote share rose over 10%.
Holland began contemplating leaving New Zealand and returning to Sydney though was persuaded to stay when he was selected as a candidate for the 1918 Wellington North by-election. His campaign stood on the grounds of opposing conscription, inflation and wartime 'special privilege'. His campaign organiser Peter Fraser encouraged Holland to directly challenge Prime Minister William Massey and Minister of Defence James Allen over the treatment of conscientious objectors in Europe which resulted in replies from both. As a result, Holland became a household name in Wellington. Although he narrowly missed out on election, Holland reveled in the personal attacks made on him which was exactly the type of recognition he craved.
In 1918, Paddy Webb, a Labour MP, was jailed for refusing military service. Holland stood in the resulting Grey by-election to replace him. Holland was chosen based on his strong performance four months earlier in the Wellington North by-election and was a surprise to most given he was not from the West Coast, with many expecting Mark Fagan to be selected. Holland accepted with the knowledge that he was to resign the seat when Webb was released. Many Liberal Party supporters who had previously voted for Webb, thought Holland too extremist and withdrew their support leading to a reduced turnout. He was narrowly elected and delighted with his victory, but other members of the party were less enthusiastic as Holland's majority was far lower than Webb's had been. Holland dismissed this, saying that his victory, unlike Webb's, had been for pure socialism rather than mere reform. Holland represented the electorate 1918–19, and then the Buller electorate from 1919 until he died.
Initially, in Parliament Holland was not a particularly strong performer. His aggressive oratory, while suitable for speeches, tended to oversimplify issues, and Holland was frequently criticised in Parliamentary debates as an impractical ideologue. Holland's opponents successfully characterised him as applying simplistic doctrines to complicated issues, and of failing to look at a problem from all sides. Holland spoke in support of the Bolshevik revolution and a failed German socialist revolution as well as denouncing the secret diplomacy that formulated the treaties following the war. Newspapers were highly critical of Holland and his stance, labelling him as both pro-German and pro-Bolshevik. This put him at odds with his colleagues who were more doubtful of the revolutions overseas.
Party leader Shortly before the 1919 election, the first contested by the Labour party as a united bloc, Holland contested for the leadership of the Labour party. Previous Labour leader Alfred Hindmarsh had died in the influenza epidemic in late 1918 leaving the position open. His only opponent was previous party president James McCombs, who had more parliamentary experience than Holland. The caucus voted and the result was a draw, though after a draw by lot, Holland won the parliamentary leadership of the party, becoming Labour's next leader. Most historians see his victory as being due to his public profile rather than to his policies, which many in the Labour Party considered too extreme.
Holland came to personally personify the Labour Party in a way that his predecessors did not due to his superb oratory on public platforms where he could draw large crowds. He built up a core following among his caucus consisting of Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser, Bob Semple and later Walter Nash. All were to become not only loyal lieutenants to Holland during his tenure, but the most influential members of the First Labour Government following Holland's death.
In 1922 there were movements towards a proposed alliance between the Labour and Liberal parties, similar to the Lib-Lab Pact in the UK. This was in order to avoid vote splitting, particularly in marginal semi-urban electorates. Holland and the party executive began negotiations with Liberal leader Thomas Wilford about conducting a joint campaign and if successful, forming a coalition government which would set up a proportionally represented electoral system. However, the talks collapsed after Wilford demanded on holding on to office for a full term before holding an election under the new system, Holland thinking he would use this time to attempt to discredit Labour.
Leader of the Opposition