1940: Wartime Conscription

July 19, 2024

By AHNZ

On 22 July, 1940, conscription was introduced by the Labour 1.0 Government. All males ages between 18 and 46 eligible for call up to service via the ballot.

It was a decision supported by the majority that a New Zealander’s life belonged not to himself but to The State. This means that almost nobody who fought in WW2 can be said to have done so out of conviction or virtue but because they would be punished if they did not.

To have a law like this requires enforcement and so the bravest New Zealanders were rounded up and put in cages.

“WWII saw 800 of New Zealand’s 5000 conscientious objectors labelled “military defaulters” who were then interned behind barbed wire in specially built camps in remote areas of the country. After release, they also were deprived of the right to vote for 10 years.” – Otago University Sociology Department (2016)

“Mr J. A. Lee received no support for his recommendation in Parliament yesterday that a national referendum be taken as to whether men should be conscripted for service overseas. Mr Lee severely criticised the Government’s action in setting up a War Council, which would be, in spine respects, superior to Parliament. That should not be.” – Te Awamutu Courier (May 1940,) Papers Past

The Labor politicians had, of course, gained their power on a platform of anti-conscription. The Prime Minister Peter Fraser and Minister Paddy Webb, for example, were incarcerated for refusing to “serve.” Ref. 1916: Peter Fraser Incarcerated, AHNZ

They had changed their tune radically now that they were part of the establishment. And, would go on to promote Peace-Time Conscription even after the war was done.

Surely, no matter who you elect or what they say to get elected, nobody can help being corrupted by government power over their fellow people. The solution is not the often tried, always failed, search for good men to hold this corrupting power without it turning them into tyrants. We must disestablish The State entirely.

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Solitary confinement huts, Hautu Detention Camp for conscientious objectors, Alexander Turnbull Library

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