RAISING ITS HEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 309, 28 December 1920, Page 5

RAISING ITS HEAD.

COMMUNISM IN BRITAIN. AMONG THE UNEMPLOYED. PERMEATING THE ARMY. ANi ALARMING STORY. (By Cable.—Press Ansociation.—■ Copyright.) (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, December 27. The "Times" special correspondent, declaring that communism is raising its head weekly among the unemployed in Great Britain, says that Communist societies have followed up Moscow's i dictum, that "the faithful must earn fitness for affiliation by undertaking revolutionary propaganda in the army." He says the British Army has lately been fully recruited from a magnificent stream of sturdy ex-soldiers and Communist societies, whose membership is now six thousand. He draws attention to the fact that demobilised' men are making a great effort to capture their organisations. The principal association, the National Union of Ex-soldiers, popularly called "Nux," seems at present largely in Communists' hands. It teaches the Convention of Marxism, and has drawn up a long programme demanding national ownership of land and capital, and popular control of industry. Many agitators, even conscientious objectors, have secured affiliation with the union as associates, and are leading such a movement as the seizure of houses, baths, and halls. The correspondent does not comment, but points out that the union has 4SO branches and an estimated membership of one hundred thousand. The "Times" Labour correspondent says: "The now year will be marked by important developments of amalgamations in the labour world. The first will bo the establishment of a general council, replacing the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress. The council will consist of thirty members, representing seventeen trades and five sub-committees, representing groups of allied industries, with a strong full-time secretariat.— (A." and N.Z. Cable.)