Michael Joseph Savage

Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was a New Zealand prime minister born in Australia. He led the country’s first Labour government from 1935 until he died in office.

Early life

Savage grew up in Victoria, Australia, the youngest of eight children of Irish parents who had fled the famine. His mother died when he was five, and his sister Rose raised him. He attended a state school for five years, then worked at a wine and spirits shop in Benalla from age 14. He also took evening classes at Benalla College.

Though short, he was strong and known as a boxer and weightlifter. In 1891, after the deaths of his sister Rose and his brother Joe, he adopted Joe’s name and became Michael Joseph Savage. Losing his job in 1893, he moved to New South Wales, labouring as a ditch-digger in Narrandera for seven years.

There he joined the General Labourers’ Union and was influenced by the radical ideas of Americans Henry George and Edward Bellamy. Returning to Victoria in 1900, he worked various jobs and became active in the Political Labor Council. In 1907 he was chosen as its candidate for Wangaratta but withdrew when the party couldn’t fund his campaign. He remained active and befriended fellow member Paddy Webb.

Arrival in New Zealand

Savage emigrated to New Zealand in 1907, arriving in Wellington on Labour Day. He worked as a miner, flax-cutter, and storeman before moving to Auckland in 1908. He boarded with Alf and Elizabeth French and their children, living with them until 1939.

He found work at a brewery owned by a Jewish family, which helped him avoid the anti-Irish Catholic bias common in Auckland. He joined the brewers’ union and soon became its president. In 1910 he was elected president of the Auckland Trades and Labour Council.

Early political career

Initially, Savage opposed forming the New Zealand Labour Party, thinking it not socialist enough. Instead, he chaired the “Red Feds,” the New Zealand Federation of Labour, helping organise meetings and distribute the socialist newspaper Maoriland Worker. He stood unsuccessfully as a Socialist candidate in the 1911 and 1914 elections, finishing second each time.

He supported the creation of the Labour Party in July 1916. After local political work, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1919 as one of eight Labour MPs. In 1933 he became party leader unopposed.

Savage led Labour to its first general election victory in 1935. His government’s economic recovery and social welfare programmes won broad support, securing an even bigger win in the next election.

In 1939 his government joined Britain in declaring war on Germany. His health declined quickly after that second victory, and he died in office. His deputy, Peter Fraser, succeeded him.

Savage saw himself as the party’s spokesman and worked to keep its factions together, though he expelled left-wing critic John A. Lee. Known as the architect of New Zealand’s welfare state, he is widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest prime ministers. He is the only New Zealand prime minister to serve under three monarchs—George V, Edward VIII, and George VI—due to Edward’s 1936 abdication.