LABOUR'S TROUBLES

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 127, 31 May 1937, Page 11

LABOUR'S TROUBLES

"REBELS'* READMITTED

MR. GARDEN'S POSITION.

MOVE TOR UNITY.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 24. On Friday night the executive of the c State Labour party considered the ] recommendation of the Australian ] Labour amity executive for the readmi*. j sion of certain members expelled by the ( State executive from the movement. s By 22 votes to 9 it was decided to read- s mit the 14 expelled members and to 1 readmit seven others conditionally on ] their promise to conform in certain ways ] to the party regulations. This wholesale readmission of the "rebels" might seem at first sight to , represent a decisive defeat for the Langites. But the State executive displayed a great deal of resourcefulness in blunting the keen edge of this mortilication. In the first place, the executive announced that it still held the views it had expressed all along about the I necessity for "disciplining" the rebels, , but "for the purpose of concentrating the whole of the energies of the movement on the Federal election campaign, and consolidating the unity of the party right through the Commonwealth," it agieed to accept the decision of the A.L.P. in this matter. Saved Face. However, it saved fa«e for itself and for Mr. Lang by protesting emphatically against the action of the A.L.P. executive in dealing with the expulsions, an the ground that such action was an infringement of the State Labour party's rights. "The executive," as the "Labour Daily," puts it, "further decided that the Federal executive had abrogated the Federal Constitution in hearing and deciding the, appeals in question, and agreed to the appeal to a Federal Conference against the Federal decisions." As a final effort to minimise the effect of their compulsory readmission of the expelled "rebels," the report presented by the executive fastened upon the case of Mr. Garden, and made every possible attempt to show that nothing but the Langites' fear of Mr. Curtain, and their desire to propitiate the A.L.P., had 1 induced them to receive . their arch- ' enemy, back into the fold.

Formal Report. The delegates to the meeting of the A.L.P. executive reported formally that in voting to lift Mr. Garden's expulsion the majority of the Federal executive did so only in the belief that they were contributing to the unity of the movement, but before voting a delegate from each State expressed undisguised hostility to Mr. Garden and disapproval of his "activities. His readmission was, therefore, only an act of, mercy. As final proof of the implacable hostility of the State executive to Garden, it refused to give him an opportunity to contest the Cook seat at the next Federal election. When Garden was expelled from the party last year he ceased to represent the Labour movement in the Cook electorate, Which returned him. to the Federal Parliament. The local organisations in Cook were authorised to select a candidate, for the next Federal election in the .ordinary way, and Mr. Garden's name was eliminated from the list. Now he' is back in the movement again, but the executive, determined ! that he shall benefit as little as possible through readmission, has decided that "the selection ballot for Cook district be not disturbed." Thus Mr. Garden is robbed of any chance of being selected, and if he stands for Cook at the forthcoming elections it must be as an Independent. Well Worked Out. All these manoeuvres have been cleverly worked out, so as to placate the A.L.P. by formally accepting the recommendation of its executive, and at the same time to thwart the "rebels" and prevent them from gaining much advantage from their readmission. Of course, these facts are manifest to Mr. Curtin and his friends, and it is not likely that the knowledge of them will conduce to the consummation of that "solidarity and unity of Labour" of which Mr. Lang talks so loudly. The Langiteß ascribe their unpopularity in other States and their inability to get their own way to "the co-ordinated propaganda of the anti-Labour Press," but it will need more than this to convince the A.L.P. that the Langites have right on their side, or that Labour could hope for victory under the leadership of Mr. Lang.