The People's Movement was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It was active in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and was

individualist Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...

in outlook. It campaigned for a reduction in the size of government, a reform of the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, a limit on the powers of political parties, and an end to the governing Labour Party's "socialist" policies. Although the Movement had a relatively high political profile, it did not achieve any notable successes. In April 1940, the Movement was joined by Albert Davy, an astute political organiser who had been credited with successful campaigns for the United Party and the Reform Party. However his Democrat Party formed in 1934 only split the conservative vote in the and the , and aided the 1935 Labour landslide. Again, Davy and the People's Movement failed to make much impact. In February 1941, a faction of the Movement merged into the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

, and in 1942, Davy branched off to found the

New Zealand Co-operative Party The New Zealand Co-operative Party or the United Liberal Co-operative Party was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. It was founded in December 1941 by anti-socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philos ...

. In the 1943 elections, the remnants of the People's Movement (organised by Davy) sponsored 25 candidates under the name of the "Independent Group" or "Independent People's Group" (IPG), but the candidates got only 7,389 votes (0.89%; provisional vote count) and none were elected. Davy complained that the 1943 election was decided on "strictly party" lines, and said that the effect of the Democratic Labour Party standing was to give six seats to the

References

Defunct political parties in New Zealand {{NewZealand-party-stub