Edward Hunter

Edward Hunter (also known as Billy Banjo) 2 June 1885 – 6 December 1959 was a Scottish socialist active in both Scotland and New Zealand. He was a trade union organiser, politician and a writer, and played a considerable role in the development of socialism in New Zealand. Born in Lanarkshire he was the son of a miner, which he later became himself at the age of 12 after receiving little formal education. He emigrated to the West Coast of New Zealand in 1906, already a committed socialist, influenced by Scottish left-wing thinkers such as Keir Hardie and Bob Smillie (both members of the Independent Labour Party). As a miners' leader, Hunter became a leading member of the New Zealand Federation of Labour. Hunter became a socialist writer using the pen-name Billy Banjo, articulating miners' concerns in verse and prose. Hunter was convinced that the miners could become politically educated to the extent where they would be ready to lead the working class to some form of socialist emancipation. He would regularly articulate these ideas and more in his writings. In 1909 he married Mary Wards Cutt in Wellington, with whom he had four children. As a member of the New Zealand Socialist Party, he had by 1911 become secretary of his local party branch. Around this time there was a wave of trade union militancy in New Zealand, and during this period Hunter became more politically assertive. In 'A song of freedom' Hunter called on the miners to 'stand and fight', and after the death of Fred Evans in a skirmish between police and striking miners at Waihi in November 1912, he called for a general strike which was proclaimed in 1913. Hunter welcomed this strike as a 'peoples' revolt' and was heavily involved in its organisation. His activities resulted in his arrest and he was charged with sedition. The authorities alleged that he incited revolution in response to the government's violent reaction. Hunter received a period of probation.