Social Credit Party (New Zealand)

Social Credit Party (New Zealand)

The New Zealand Social Credit Party (sometimes called "Socred") was a political party which served as the country's "third party" from the 1950s through into the 1980s. The party held a number of seats in the Parliament of New Zealand, although never more than two at a time. It has since renamed itself the New Zealand Democratic Party, and was for a time part of the Alliance.

The party was based around the ideas of Social Credit, an economic theory established by C. H. Douglas. Social Credit movements also existed in Australia (see: Douglas Credit Party & Australian League of Rights), Canada (see: Canadian social credit movement), and the United Kingdom (see: UK Social Credit Party) although the relationship between those movements and the New Zealand movement was not always good.

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