Michael Joseph Savage founded the welfare state. In his own words, this man sums up Labour "from the cradle to the grave".
"I can smell the uranium on it [your breath]" was the epic quote by David Lange at the Oxford Union Debate. Lange was a legend - and Labour's 'no nukes' policy is now part of New Zealand's DNA.
Blackball is the West Coast town where Labour revolutionary tradition began with miners strikes. Hard men, hard socialists summed up by the rallying cry: "United We Stand, Divided We Fall".
Labour can have true pride when it came to treating people equally. Homosexual Law Reform, Civil Unions and Marriage Equality - Labour has made New Zealand a better place.
Labour was victim of what is surely one of the best political attack advertisements in world political history - The Dancing Cossacks from 1975. Rob Muldoon was so afraid of Labour he used a scare campaign portraying them as Soviet-Style bogeymen. The fear of its enemy shows the strength of Labour and the Labour/National war continues unabated today.
Sir Roger Douglas shook Labour, the economy and the country to its very core with Rogernomics. The economy and the country have long-recovered, but Labour is still licking its wounds 30 years on.
'Big Norm' aka Norman Kirk was Prime Minister from 1972-74 and died in office. One can only wonder what would have happened if he had lived longer. He summed up Labour's values when he famously said: "People don't want much, just someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work and something to hope for."
'Aunty Helen' was Labour's saviour in so many ways. She healed the party after Rogernomics, she united the party - and most importantly, she got Labour into power. Her incredible role is illustrated by the fact that Labour has never been the same without her.
'Chardonnay socialism' is the pejorative criticism of Labour to describe its drift from its working class roots towards urban liberals. This is increasingly referred to as 'Craft beer socialism' now.
Like it or not, leadership coups are part of Labour's lifeblood. What they call 'grassroots democracy' is really 'backroom knife-job training'. Their history is littered with plotted coups, failed coups or real coups.
