"RED" INFLUENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 259, 1 November 1932, Page 7

"RED" INFLUENCE.

A PRODIGIOUS CHARGE Test Case in Sydney Under New Crimes Act. "AVERMENTS" AS EVIDENCE. (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, October 28. The first case under the Federal Crimea Act of 1932 —a case which is intended to test the efficacy of the Act—was brought into court this week, when Francis Devanny, the publisher of the "Workers' Weekly," was charged with having solicited contributions in his paper for an "unlawful association," the Communist party of Australia. The Act defines any • organisation ae unlawful which advocates or encourages' the violent disturbance of the constitution or the overthrow of the existing order of government, or the forcible defiance of law and order. Further, the Act provides that the prosecution may' in such cases produce "averments" dealing with the character of the organisations or publications concerned, and that it shall not be necessary to support these "averments" by oral evidence, but that the Court may decide the case on this written testimony alone. Needless to say, this Crimes Act has been hotly criticised by the extremists, and by all political organisations which feel that they are liable to be suspected of revolutionary sympathies or leanings, and in this case counsel for the defence intimated at the outset that he proposed to contest the material clauses of the Act as "ultra vires," and that in any event he would reserve the right of appeal. Extraordinary Procedure. The case is thus a very significant and important test, but it was rendered even more remarkable by the extraordinary procedure and the immense volume of the documentary evidence submitted. For, in support of its allegations against Devanny, the produced an enormous mass of material, analysing at length the character and purpose of the Communist movement, and endeavouring to show to what a very large extent its ramifications 7 iave already taken root in Australia. The charge thus compiled was contained in 90 typewritten foolscap pages, which took four hours to read to th» Court and represented as much printed matter as four or five full sheets of an average daily paper. This is said to mark a new record for Australian litiga"->n, and it certainly produces a very startling impression in regard to the spread of Communistic doctrines and activities on this side of the world., ' > . It would be quite impossible for me to traverse the ground covered by this huge indictment. It is sufficient here to say that the Crowi "averments" show 1 a clear and close connection between the I Third International and a large number. ;of Australian industrial organisations through the medium of the minority movement, which as "the Australian section of the Red International of Trade Unions" links up the revolutionaries in. the Commonwealth with the Comintern of Moscow. This has often been said before, but the statement has never yet been supported by so imposing a mass of evidenbe. And even more startling than the general discussion of Communist principles and their direct influence on our economic and political life was the testimony dealing with the growth of Communist journals and periodic literature among us. Propaganda Among Workers. Among other "averments," it is asserted that Communistic pamphlets and bulletins are published from time to time-under special titles on the waterfront, at Dowling Street, Fort Macquarie and Eozelle tram depots, at Whitehay, Ultimo and .Gunnerang powerhouses, at the. Eveleigh, Enfield and Chullora railway yards, at Mort's Dock, at the Clyde Engineering workshops and at Arnott's biscuit factory; It is by such means that the Communists insidiously and indefatigably pursue their task of "white-anting" the unions, stirring up disaffection and sedition among the workers, and preparing for the violent overthrow of the whole existing order of things through the coming "social revolution."

Counsel for the defence not only challenged the validity of the Act and protested against the absence of witnesses, but ridiculed the charge, maintaining that at worst, the "Workers' Weekly" had solicited contributions, not for the Communist cause, but for the great conference of trade unions held in the Trades Hall last August, and when the Court decided against Devanny and those who were joined with him in the charge and deferred the pronouncement of sentence, counsel at once gave notice of appeal. So there for the moment the case stands. But it is quite certain that whether the decision of the Court is upset 'on some legal technicality or not, the Federal Government is fully determined to make strenuous efforts to extirpate Communistic propaganda here, and the Crimes Act is only the first step toward the goal which it has resolved to attain.