1912: Compulsory Military Camps

March 30, 2020

By AHNZ

This month in history, 108 years ago, March 1912: The first of the compulsory military camps.

Thousands of boys (12yo+) will be prosecuted for not attending them.

Premier Ward hopes public will understand that teenagers are not being sent to jail for refusing to train but for refusing to pay their fines as per The Defence Act. Wow. Great come-back Old Man Ward.

New Zealand really pushes back against this slip’n slide toward World War One. Ward is forced to resign and his long-standing Liberal Government soon falls.

Extracts from the song resisting citizens and detained youngsters’ parents sang….

“Joey Ward is Premier, but he hasn’t long to live,
He sold our country’s children, and a Dreadnought he did give,
But now we all see through him just as though he were a sieve,
And we’ll set our children free!

Glory, glory, halleluja x 3

We’ll never have the camp life, with its immorality.
We’ll never have our children drilled by aristocracy,
For we are democratic, and we every will be free,
And we’ll keep our children free.
Cruel war and slaughter has held long enough its sway,
Burning homes, and killing wives and children where they play,
But now we have made up our minds that peace shall reign for aye,
And our children shall be free!”

It’s very refreshing to read and write about New Zealanders pushing back against the authoritarian State. These sorts of things are not covered in State history but must be given a very high place in Anarchist History.

New Zealanders are not fearful people resolved to being bossed around by their political staff! They might fool us for a little while but we’ll bounce back no matter if it’s a Ward or an Ardern.

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Image Ref. Stallone tries to jail-break his movie son out of military indoctrination; Scene from Over The Top (1987)

Ref. Full Lyrics; MW; Papers Past

Image ref. Ward; National Library of NZ

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