The Phoenix Party was a short-lived left-wing political party in New Zealand.
It was founded by Gerald Williams, formerly an organiser for the Labour Party. During Norman Kirk's leadership of Labour (1965–1974), Williams came to disagree with a number of Labour Party policies, particularly over the policy of giving state funding to church schools. Believing that the Labour Party was becoming moribund, Williams founded the Phonenix Party. The name is an allusion to the mythical Phoenix, representing Williams' hope that the party would "rise from the ashes" of the Labour Party.
Williams was the party's only candidate, and attracted a certain number of protest votes. In the 1969 elections, he contested the Dunedin Central electorate, placing fourth (with 365 votes). He continued to criticise the Labour Party by means of satire. Williams later became a member of the Values Party, the world's first national-level environmentalist political party.
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Famous quotes containing the words phoenix and/or party:
“And there’s a score of duchesses, surpassing womankind,
Or who have found a painter to make them so for pay
And smooth out stain and blemish with the elegance of his mind:
I knew a phoenix in my youth, so let them have their day.”
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“If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state, because everybody would join the other party.”
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