The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo The Sun. THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1940. UNIONS AND LEADERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 127, 30 May 1940, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo The Sun.

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1940. UNIONS AND LEADERS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the trrong that reeds resistance, For the future tn ihe distance. And the good that tee can do.

This is a. time when every organised section of the community should scrutinise carefully the utterances and actions, of those who are, or purport- to be, its leaders and spoke-men. When, for instance,j speakers at a meeting include three men who are described as .secretaries respectively of the Drivers' and Engineers' and General Labourer*' Unions, it. is incumbent upon every unionised driver, engineer and general labourer to note whether the opinions expressed by these, their paid officials, arc in agreement with their own. Still more should they ask themselves that question when the professed purpose of the meeting was "to protest against the imposition of military and industrial conscription," and when they know, as they ought to know, that the leaflets advertising the meeting were printed by the Communist party. It is possible, of course, for patriotic citizens to object, on principle, to conscription, though it should never be overlooked by objectors that the only purpose of conscription is to make possible the defeat of an enemy who regards such principles as nonsense and symptoms of decadence. But it is also possible that objectors to conscription may be animated by quite different motives —by the desire to impede the nation's war effort by any means, including the old familiar means of exploiting prejudices in order to confuse the issue. That is certainly the motive, and those are the tactics (or some of them) of the Communist party. Therefore it is the duty of drivers, engineers and general labourers to ask themselves whether their own interests, either as citizens or >as unionists, are being served by their spokesmen.

The point of view of the Carpenters' Unioil—or, rather, of its executive — has been expressed in a publication which purports to represent the union. It declares that its council "feels that the reactionaiy sections of the community are endeavouring to use t'he emotions and patriotic sentiments of the people in order to remove the protection against exploitation of the wage-earner," and "to stampede the .Government into acceptance of a Coalition Cabinet." Is that an honest opinion? Is it, perhaps, an expression of the valour of ignorance? Or is it the expression of the venom of prejudice? The essential facts are that the Government in power is a Labour Government, which is well known to be a protector of the wageearners against exploitation. No one could remove the anti-exploitation laws without the Government's opnsent. • The Government has intimated its intention to pass an emergency law enabling the conscription of men —and of money. Presumably the Carpenters' Union would not object to the conscription of money; but it objects to the conscription of men, for any purpose. Or rather, its leaders object, and they are sending delegates to Wellington to oppose the proposal of the Labour Government. What right have they to prejudge it? If the Government had introduced its legislation without calling a conference of the Labour party and of the Federation of Labour, no doubt the leaders of the Carpenters' Union would have protested. But the Government has not done so; it is consulting its followers. Did the leaders of the Carpenters' Union, in their turn, consult their union members—the men who employ them and whose views they purport to represent? Or did they—as their publication indicates —simply prejudge the issue? But the real question is: Are the carpenters (and :the drivers and the general labourers) satisfied to have it appear that they are against conscription, against any interference with their standard of living, even though conscription will be universal and lowering of living standards will be universal? Do they support the Labour Government, or do they support their paid servants in opposing the Labour Government ?