Blackball was a centre of New Zealand radicalism and worker militancy. It is considered the birthplace (the predecessor) of the New Zealand Labour Party, which followed the miners' "cribtime" strike in 1908, which at ten weeks was the longest in New Zealand history. In the Great Strike of 1913, Blackball miners were the last to return to work, in 1914. During the strike they had picketed at nearby Brunner and burned down the house of the secretary of the "arbitration" union (strikebreakers). In 1925 the headquarters of the Communist Party of New Zealand moved from Wellington to Blackball. The pit closed in 1964.