Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 23. September 12 1977
Civil liberties repressed
Civil liberties repressed
The coalition also used old legislation to repress civil liberties. For Example, War Regulations Legislation (dating from World War One) was used to imprison members of the Communist Party and leaders of the unemployed for sedition, and to stop the publication of books, some of which, like Bellamy's Parable of the Water Tank, had circulated for many years.
These measures drove many workers and petit-bourgeoisie to support the Labour Party. The Labour Party did not direct or build up the struggle independent of Parliament against the Government's measures. Instead they told people to place their faith in Parliamentary reforms. However, many members of the Labour Party played an active role in the development of the struggle outside Parliament.
The response of successive Governments did not please sections of the bourgeoisie, or A. E. Davy. Later, when Coates replaced Downey Stewart as Minister of Finance, the hostility of Davy and some sections of the bourgeoisie increased. "The business community was outraged, noteably by the change in the exchange rate which increased the price of imports, and by the ever accumulating evidence that Coates . . . was introducing 'socialism' at the instigation of his 'economic brains trust'." (2)