Michael Joseph Savage
Oxford Dictionary of Political Biography:
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Michael Joseph Savage
(b. Victoria, Australia, 23 Mar. 1872; d. 27 Mar. 1940) New Zealand; Prime Minister 1935 – 40 Born in Australia to Irish immigrant parents, as a young man Savage had various labouring jobs in New South Wales. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1907 and became a trade union organizer. He played a part in forming the New Zealand Labour Party in 1916 and three years later became the party's national secretary, and succeeded Henry Holland as leader on the latter's death in 1933.
Savage led Labour to its first general election victory in 1935; it was elected on a wave of disillusion with the outgoing government's failure to tackle the economic depression more energetically. Labour introduced a minimum wage, restored wage cuts, guaranteed prices for primary producers, expanded social welfare, and sponsored a public works programme. The policies established the domestic agenda of New Zealand politics until the mid-1970s. Savage was rewarded by an even greater victory in the 1938 election. He presented himself as a plain-speaking man, and was a reassuring figure to the middle class, although much of the press was strongly anti-socialist. He offered strong support to Britain on the outbreak of war in 1939, but died from cancer shortly afterwards, still in office.
Gale Encyclopedia of Biography:
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Michael Joseph Savage
Michael Joseph Savage (1872-1940) was a prime minister of New Zealand and a labor leader. He won a high place in his nation's esteem for the social and political leadership he offered in a time of depression and economic insecurity.
Michael Joseph Savage was born on March 23, 1872, near Benalla in Victoria, Australia. His parents were among the first Irish settlers of the colony. Educated up to the age of 14 at the local state school, Savage worked as a store hand for some years, during which he and his family experienced the full weight of the depression of the 1890s. After a period of unemployment and farm laboring in New South Wales, Savage returned in 1900 to Victoria, where he took up gold mining for a living. Already known as a fine debater, he helped establish and manage a cooperative and a local labor league.
In 1907 Savage emigrated to New Zealand in order to join friends who had moved there from Victoria. Instead of going to the mining areas on the west coast, he stayed on in the North Island working as a miller and later as a cellarman. He never married.
Union Leader
Savage represented Auckland at the National Conference of Trades and Labour Councils of 1910 and in the next year stood as a parliamentary candidate of the New Zealand Socialist party for the seat of Auckland Central. He was unsuccessful, and he again failed as a candidate for the Social Democratic party in 1914. Despite the splintering of the unionist groups, the burly Savage was emerging as a popular figure.
When the New Zealand Labour party was formed in 1916, he became a member and was eventually elected national secretary in 1919. In the general election of December 1919 he won the seat of Auckland West and kept this seat for the rest of his life. In 1923 he was voted deputy leader of the parliamentary Labour party.
Prominent for his championing of the working man, Savage concentrated during his political career on social questions. When Harry Holland died in October 1933, Savage had become sufficiently trusted by his colleagues to be elected leader of the Labour party, and in the depression years from 1933 to 1935 he made a great impression on the New Zealand public with his sympathetic manner, humane sincerity, and common sense.
His Government
The election of 1935 was a spectacular victory for Labour, which under Savage's leadership had gained a moderate, or middle-of-the road, reputation with the electorate. As prime minister, Savage bore responsibility also for external affairs, native affairs, and broadcasting. He had a flair for publicity and in 1936 introduced the broadcasting of parliamentary proceedings.
In 1937 Savage went to London to attend the Imperial Conference and sought guarantees from the British for defense against possible Japanese attack. On his failure to obtain specific agreements he initiated a defense conference with Britain and Australia at Wellington in April 1939. Reluctantly he became concerned that New Zealand should rearm heavily, and he threw his considerable influence behind the recruiting campaign which preceded the outbreak of war in September.
During Savage's time as prime minister the foundations were laid for a very comprehensive social security scheme. He was not by any means a doctrinaire socialist, and he referred to his Social Security Bill as "applied Christianity." In 1938 his popularity assured the Labour party of an even more significant electoral victory than that of 1935.
In 1938 Savage's health deteriorated, however, and divisions within the party further sapped his strength and taxed his considerable skill in public relations. By August 1939 he was forced to hand over his duties to Peter Fraser, who became acting prime minister. Savage died in Wellington on March 27, 1940.
Not as well read or as able as Holland or Fraser, Savage was nevertheless an affable, popular, and shrewd father figure for a small democracy which seemed intent on giving high priority to personal and social security. His simplicity appealed to the plain man in the street and gave New Zealand government a human touch.
Further Reading
John A. Lee, Simple on a Soap-box (1964), is an autobiography by a former colleague of Savage and contains extensive material on him. His career is well covered in Bruce M. Brown, The Rise of New Zealand Labour (1962). For background material see Frederick L. W. Wood, The New Zealand People at War (1958), and Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand (1959; rev. ed. 1969).
Additional Sources
Gustafson, Barry, From the cradle to the grave: a biography of Michael Joseph Savage, Auckland: Reed Methuen, 1986.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Michael Joseph Savage
| The Right Honourable Michael Joseph Savage MP |
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| Michael Joseph Savage in the 1920s. | |
| 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand | |
| In office 6 December 1935 – 27 March 1940 |
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| Monarch | George V Edward VIII George VI |
| Governor General | George Monckton-Arundell |
| Preceded by | George William Forbes |
| Succeeded by | Peter Fraser |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Auckland West |
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| In office 1919 – 27 March 1940 |
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| Succeeded by | Peter Carr |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 March 1872 Tatong Victoria Australia |
| Died | 27 March 1940 (aged 68) Wellington New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
| Profession | Trade unionist |
| Religion | Initially Roman Catholicism, then Rationalism, then Roman Catholicism again |
Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is commonly known as the architect of the welfare state and is constantly regarded as one of New Zealand's greatest and revered Prime Ministers. He was given the title New Zealander of the Century by the New Zealand Herald in 1999.
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Early life
Born in Tatong, Victoria, Australia, Savage first became involved in politics while working in that state. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1907. There he worked in a variety of jobs, as a miner, flax-cutter and storeman, before becoming involved in the union movement. Savage initially opposed the formation of the 1910 New Zealand Labour Party as he viewed the grouping as insufficiently socialistic. Instead he became the chairman of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, known as the "Red Feds".[1]
Political career
Socialist origins
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| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | |
| 1919–1922 | 20th | Auckland West | Labour | |
| 1922–1925 | 21st | Auckland West | Labour | |
| 1925–1928 | 22nd | Auckland West | Labour | |
| 1928–1931 | 23rd | Auckland West | Labour | |
| 1931–1935 | 24th | Auckland West | Labour | |
| 1935–1938 | 25th | Auckland West | Labour | |
| 1938–1940 | 26th | Auckland West | Labour | |
In the 1911 general election Savage unsuccessfully stood as the Socialist candidate for Auckland Central, coming second and beaten by Albert Glover of the Liberal Party.[1][2] During World War I he opposed conscription, arguing that the conscription of wealth should precede the conscription of men. After the war the voters of the Auckland West electorate put Savage into Parliament as a Labour member in the 1919 general election, an electorate that he held until his death.[3] He became one of eight Labour Members of Parliament, and in due course became the party leader following the death of Harry Holland in 1933. He helped engineer the Labour/Rātana alliance (formalised in 1936).
Prime Minister
Main article: First Labour Government of New Zealand
During the depression, Savage toured the country, and became an iconic figure. An excellent speaker, he became the most visible politician in the land, and led Labour to victory in the 1935 election. Along with the Premiership he appointed himself the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Maori Affairs. The first Labour government swiftly proved popular and easily won the 1938 general election with an increased popular mandate. Savage, suffering from cancer of the colon at the time, had delayed seeking treatment to participate in the election campaign. He died from the cancer in 1940.
Savage led the country into World War II, officially declaring war on Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, just hours after Britain.[4] Unlike Australia, which felt obligated to declare war, as it too had not ratified the Statute of Westminster, New Zealand did so as a sign of allegiance to Britain, and in recognition of Britain's abandoning its former appeasement of the dictators, a policy that New Zealand had opposed. This led to Prime Minister Savage declaring (from his bed) two days later that:
With gratitude for the past and confidence in the future we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand. We are only a small and young nation, but we march with a union of hearts and souls to a common destiny.
Savage brought an almost religious fervour to his politics. This, and his death while in office, has made him become something of an iconic figure to the Left. The architect of the welfare state (see Social welfare in New Zealand), his picture reportedly hung in many Labour supporters' homes. Savage rejected rationalism during later life and returned to his Catholic roots. His state funeral included a Requiem Mass celebrated at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Hill St, Wellington before his body was taken amidst general and public mourning by train to Auckland where he was interred initially in a temporarily adapted harbour defence gun installation. He was soon after removed to a side chapel of St Patrick's Cathedral in Auckland, while a national competition was announced, decided, and the winning design of the monumental tomb and memorial gardens at Bastion Point constructed, forming his permanent resting site. While younger generations have less awareness of him, many older New Zealanders continue to revere him.
Death and commemoration
He was a life-long bachelor, and lived with Alf and Elizabeth French in Auckland from 1908 until he died. Alf came to New Zealand in 1894 on the ship Wairarapa which was wrecked on Great Barrier Island, and helped in the rescue of a girl. Savage also served as the patron of the New Zealand Rugby League.[5]
Savage lies buried at Bastion Point on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour waterfront in the Savage Memorial,[6] a clifftop mausoleum crowned by a tall minaret, and fronted by an extensive memorial garden and reflecting pool.
Legacy
Michael Joseph Savage is revered from all sides of the political spectrum and is known as the architect of the New Zealand Welfare State. He is considered by academics and historians to be New Zealand's most loved Prime Minister.[citation needed]
Notes
- ^ a b Gustafson, Barry. "Savage, Michael Joseph - Biography". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4S9. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ Scholefield 1950, p. 109.
- ^ Scholefield 1950, p. 137.
- ^ "Fighting for Britain – NZ and the Second World War". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2 September 2008. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/second-world-war/fighting-for-britain.
- ^ Jessup, Peter (12 October 2002). "Kiwi players let their hair down at Clark bash". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2998849. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
- ^ Nathan, Simon; Bruce Hayward (updated 27 October 2010). "Story: Building stone". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/building-stone/5. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
References
- Scholefield, Guy Hardy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1949. Wellington: Govt. Printer.
Further reading
- Gustafson, Barry (1986). From the cradle to the grave: a biography of Michael Joseph Savage. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00138-5.
External links
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Oxford Dictionary of Political Biography
A Dictionary of Political Biography. Copyright © 1998, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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Gale Encyclopedia of Biography
Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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