The Social Credit Association
Before the founding of the Social Credit party in 1953, there was the Social Credit Association. The Association focused most of its efforts on the Country Party and New Zealand Labour Party, where they attempted to influence policy. Roly Marks stood as a monetary reform candidate for Wanganui in the 1943 general election, and was later made a life member of the League.
Social Credit claimed that the first Labour government, which was elected at the 1935 election, pulled New Zealand out of the Great Depression by adopting certain Social Credit policies. Several followers of Social Credit policies eventually left the Labour Party, where their proposals (for example, those of John A. Lee for housing) were strongly opposed by the "orthodox" Minister of Finance, Walter Nash and other prominent Labour Party members.
In 1940 Lee, who had by then been expelled from the Labour party, and Bill Barnard formed the Democratic Labour Party. However the new party got only 4.3% of the vote in the 1943 general election, with both Lee and Barnard losing their seats.
Read more about this topic: Social Credit Party (New Zealand)
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