Henry Edmund Holland (10 June 1868 – 8 October 1933) was an Australian-born newspaper owner, politician and unionist who relocated to New Zealand.

Gradually, his political views became attuned to socialism, although this was probably more an emotional decision than a theoretical one — Holland was deeply dedicated to the elimination of poverty, but had little use for complicated economic models.

Later, he and a friend began to publish a socialist journal — in 1896, he was convicted of libelling the superintendent of the New South Wales Labour Bureau, and served three months in prison.

In 1909, Holland was convicted of sedition, having advocated violent revolution against capitalism during the miners' strike at Broken Hill.

A bitter miners' strike, the most significant industrial action that New Zealand had yet seen, was underway, and the conservative government of William Massey was responding with strong measures.

Many New Zealand socialists resented Holland's arrogance, seeing him as a self-opinionated outsider meddling in a precarious situation that he did not fully understand.

[7] Afterwards, Holland co-authored the prolific The Tragic Story of the Waihi Strike pamphlet with a fellow Australian agitator, Robert Samuel Ross.

[9] His co-authorship with Ross of the pamphlet on the strike gained him a certain amount of prestige, as did his editorship of the Federation of Labour's newspaper, the Maoriland Worker 1913–18.

In the 1913 waterfront dispute, he was charged with sedition, and was sentenced to one year in jail for using seditious language coming close to advocating for violence against the government.

His friends Reverend Richard Hobday and Walter Nash visited Holland in prison and witnessed signs of mistreatment.

[1] Holland was initially selected as the SDP candidate to stand for Mayor of Wellington at the 1914 election, but was unable to contest the mayoralty as he was engaged in the sedition case, so John Glover stood in his place.

[15] Holland began contemplating leaving New Zealand and returning to Sydney though was persuaded to stay when he was selected as a candidate for the 1918 Wellington North by-election.

[16] Although he narrowly missed out on election, Holland reveled in the personal attacks made on him which was exactly the type of recognition he craved.

Holland was chosen based on his strong performance four months earlier in the Wellington North by-election and was a surprise to most given he was not from the West Coast, with many expecting Mark Fagan to be selected.

His aggressive oratory, while suitable for speeches, tended to oversimplify issues, and Holland was frequently criticised in Parliamentary debates as an impractical ideologue.

Holland's opponents successfully characterised him as applying simplistic doctrines to complicated issues, and of failing to look at a problem from all sides.

Previous Labour leader Alfred Hindmarsh had died in the influenza epidemic in late 1918 leaving the position open.

Holland came to personally personify the Labour Party in a way that his predecessors did not due to his superb oratory on public platforms where he could draw large crowds.

He built up a core following among his caucus consisting of Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser, Bob Semple and later Walter Nash.

Holland and the party executive began negotiations with Liberal leader Thomas Wilford about conducting a joint campaign and if successful, forming a coalition government which would set up a proportionally represented electoral system.

The main reason for this was Holland's personal financial situation which led to much of his attention being spent on writing articles and pamphlets to supplement his parliamentary salary.

Holland decided to withdraw support from the government and moved for a vote of no confidence, intending to trigger an election where he thought many disenchanted voters would switch to Labour.

Much to his surprise, the Reform party voted with United and the two entered into a coalition denying Holland his chance to seize the initiative.

[33] In 1933, Holland unexpectedly died of a heart attack, attending the funeral of the Maori King Te Rata Mahuta in Huntly.

Holland's son freely served as his secretary and also received help from friends to avoid being forced out of parliament on financial grounds.

He has a memorial in the Bolton Street Cemetery in Wellington, near to that of Richard Seddon, unveiled in 1937 by Savage with the inscription "This monument is dedicated to Henry Edmund Holland Leader of the Labour Party 1919-33 to commemorate his work for humanity.