THE LABOUR AMALGAMATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 77, 1 April 1913, Page 9

THE LABOUR AMALGAMATION.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —It is generally considered unwise to intervene iv another person's quarrel, but this has not deterred your correspondent, "Bara Fostus," from joining "Plumbob" in his attack on the supporters of the unity scheme, an attack l>oth weak and mischievous. The weakness of '"Bara Fostus" consists in his superficiality and avoidance of fundamentals, and his mischievousness is manifest in his attempt to direct attention to matters of relatively minor importance. In order to sustain this position he is compelled to misrepresent and distort the objective and methods of the proposed scheme. After asserting that the unity scheme is identical with syndicalism, or, rather, his own interpretation of it, he launches out into a lengthy statement of facts connected with the law of wages that are not disputed, but the existence of which are deplored as being evils inevitable to the system under which labour is sold under compulsory conditions in a competitive market where, taken as a whole,, the conditions are always in favour of the purchaser. The proposal for the unity scheme is the outcome of a fuller knowledge of these laws and conditions by the workers or sellers of labour than has obtained in the past, and a desire to remedy them on a basis of justice and right instead of the basis of might by which they are at present sustained. One thing is admitted on all sides, that is, that the present state of things in connection with labour is not satisfactory' a,, d must of necessity become changed. The question for the workers is, are any proposed changes for or against our advantage and well-being and advancement?

Once the proposition is advanced "that the employers or purchasers of labour and the sellers of labour have nothing in common"—and to state it is to state a truism—the necessity for the organisation of tbe working-class into a homogeneous body for the advancement of their interests becomes at once apparent. It is iv the great matter of organisation that the liest work of the best men of the workers must be done. An unorganised working class is a . icre mob; organised, they become an army. The strike and the boycott or the practice of sabotage are mere outpost incidents in the great struggle which can only be decided by the organised mass. To accuse the Semplcs, Parrys. Frasers, and Mcßrines of permanently injuring labour is mere frothy verbosity. The leaven of dissatisfaction, assisted by the spread of education is steadily working its way through the mass. The Semplcs and others of similar character are but the bubbles forced to the surface by the working of tbe leaven beneath. They are products, not causes. Men of exceptional fervour or ability have at all times and always will stand forth as indicators of the movement of the masses. Sooner or later the mass of the workers will have became so leavened with knowledge of tho laws which truly' govern the production and distribution of wealth as to make a change irc*r- the present order to the new not only possible but desirable and necessary. Meanwhile the Bennetts and Mi— and Scmples and others like them are doing good work in

voicing the aspirations of their crass, in educating and encouraging, and not aU the force of consolidated wealth, much less the feeble whimperings of such as "Plumbob" or "Bara Fostus" can stop the onward march of those who will be nee!— I am. etc, DEUCALION. (To the Editor.) Sir—There are two factors which, seem to be ignored by "Bara Fostus_ in his reply to Mr. Mcßrine. Now, 1 am one of those who believe in industrial organisation upon scientific lines, aud 1 believe, furthermore, that email-! cipation of the working classes can only be obtained by that means. The one thing that is 'necessary to bring about scientific industrial organisation is to infuse solidarity, or class interest, amongst the workers in their daily struggles with their masters. And the two movements of to-day which are most effectively performing that work, the Industrial Unionists (or 1.W.W.). and the Syndicalists, are the product of the de-. spised, unskilled workers. The two factors which "Bara Fostus" ignores are: (1) The .ever-increasing improvement of productive machinery ; and (2) the trust, combine, and capitalist syndicate.

In dealing with the first point, we know that skilled labour is being eliminated by the machine. The skilled bootmaker "has disappeared, and now boots are manufactured by machine process, and the labour employed in feeding these machines is to all intents and purposes unskilled. Unskilled ■ workers handling concrete moulds take the place of bricklayers. Glass blowing, once a highly skilled trade, is now done by a gigantic complex machine. In short, in every branch of industry to-day scientifii machinery is ousting the skilled worker and he, being compelled to work to live has to compete at the unskilled level viz.. the end of a long-handled shovel And the ever-increasing struggle foi existence at" that level is being dailj augmented by the introduction of stcan navvies, etc..

' The conclusion which we naturally draw is that scientific machinery is daily ousting and crushing out both artisan, and the unemployed market is assuming more formidable proportions daily.

Point. Jvo. 2" is the trusts and combines. These are scientific organisations of industry, which, by their enormous aggregations of capital and minimising of working expenses, are smashing out the small shopkeepers and business men who are competing against then- They beat them because they undersell them or refuse the small man supplies. In Christchurch recently some twenty small butchers' shops closed down, and now the meat trade is controlled there by a big trust. This is evident to anyone who has eyes to see or can read a paper. Seven per cent of the .people of New Zealand own 80 per cent or the land. The small landowner and farmer is being expropriated by the big land companies.. Farmers and butchers, grocers, and small manufacturers are being kicked out into the ranks of the working class, to compete with the ever-increasing, army of the. working class. On the one hand is the ever-narrowing circle of privilege and of riches, on the other is the ever-growing army of paupers, outcasts, and social pariahs. And in 'Sew Zealand the m_lionaii-e is a fact, the pauper is a fact. Despite all the pious resolutions of conservative labour organisations the emigrant is coming, and must come. Land and industrial monopoly has cleared Europe of its agrarian population, and dumped them down in the textile mills and the steel works of North America. And to-day New Zealand figures in the world's eye, and the disenfranchised herds of Europeans turn their eyes I—therwards, and despite all.your restrictive or repressive legislation "they W-l come. The class war is world-wide —we cannot avoid it. "Bara Fostus" has often sneeTed at the working-class syndicalist. It is naught) for working men to unite for thenmutual protection, tot iar the moneyed syndicate —well, tnat-jryu ffigereiit. thing..

I don t think that "Bara Fostus' condemnations will carry weight with the 600,000 members of the French Confederation Generale dv Travail, or the 532,000 members of the I.W.W. in the States, or any of the ever-growing radical and revolutionary unions of all countries. He may. apologise for a system which produces millionaires and paupers, but I never shalL I shall fight it, and my weapon shall be industrial organisation, generated in the ranks of the unskilled and the disenfranchised. Do not boast about your short hours in New Zealand either. Mr. Purtell's letters tells you that the carters in Auckland work 00 hours per week, and I tell you that the traffic department of the tramways here average over CO hours per week. And our high wages for New Zealand average less than £2 per week. God help us when conditions get bad and hours get lengthened. But there will be further development of machinery, tliere will be the strangling of the common good by the tentacle of the trust. There will be strikes, and they will grow and spread over greater areas; there will be financial crashes in- tbe commercial world, and they will be more disastrous, and in a few years will be annual, half-yearly occurrences. The fabric of society will be shaken; capitalism,' top-heavy with its crimes, will totter to oblivion. The industrial workers, with battalions marshalled, will bail its death, as it follows feudalism and slavery to its grave. Machine production and the trust will make —will compel—both the conservative and the radical worker to become revolutionary. And Marx's message will become realised, when he proclaimed: "Workers of all lands, unite; you have nothing to lost but your chains; you have a world to gain."—l am, etc., TOM BARKER. [This correspondence is closed.—Ed.] CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE. A SUFFERER" complains of the sanitary service in Vermont Street. He states that there was no service at all last week.