alternatehistory.com

New Zealand's longest serving Prime Minister was one Richard Seddon, who served for thirteen years from 1893 until his death via heart attack in 1906. A populist progressive and autocrat, he utterly dominated the political landscape like no-one before or since - easily winning five elections.

In OTL, his successor Joseph Ward had none of Seddon's charisma, and had to deal with the Liberal Party being inevitably squeezed between its left and right factions. Union irritation with industrial relations led to the 1908 Blackball Strike (and eventually the establishment of the Labour Party). Farmers were lured across to the conservative opposition by the promise of free-hold tenure on farms (and hostility to unions).

So the question is - what if Seddon didn't have the heart-attack? He was only 61 at the time.

  • This presumably delays the emergence of Labour as a political force in New Zealand. How long?
  • You likely short-circuit Blackball, the Waihi Strike of 1912 (Fred Evans survives), and the Great Strike of 1913. Discontent simmers, rather than explodes - but what happens later?
  • If Seddon is still around for the First World War, things get interesting. He was an ardent imperialist, but unlike OTL Bill Massey, he is not going to spend the war baiting Reds and Catholics. Do we still get conscription?
  • The civil service reforms brought in by the 1912 Reform Government never happen - which embeds Seddon-era nepotism (or a taint of corruption).
  • If the Liberals remain New Zealand's progressive party, does this potentially turn New Zealand into a Canadian-style situation?
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