The Press. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1909. SOCIALISTS AND PATRIOTISM.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13397, 14 April 1909, Page 6

The Press. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1909. SOCIALISTS AND PATRIOTISM.

The bitterest opposition to New Zealand's gift of a Dreadnought has come from the Socialists. In Christchurdh wo have heard the ; views of Messrs Taylor, McCullough, Sullivan, and At.rinson upon tlje subject. At a meeting of the Trades and Labour Council at Auckland the other day, On© enlightened patriot, who moved a resolution disapproving of the Government's offer, thought the money should be spent in local defence, but. added: •'I would' not be inclined' to shoulder " a gun and fight for any country that "would not pass a Right to Work Bill " and give mc the right to live." An*, otber public-spirited and far-seeing person suggested that if Sir Joseph Ward wer« "a proper statesman and a prudent man", he would develop thetJEariapara iron deposits, nationalise the._nt|| industry,; and build n«sn-of-wAr ; andi cannons in this country. This j man also is, personally, of a strongly--pacific and non-belligerent nature. "I "have no.time," he said, "to take up "a sword and fight for other people. " If the capitalists and large landowners want to fight, let them. I "would not mind King Edward! and " the Kaiser each taking his gun and "having it out, and they would get " an immense audience." * When another delegate, however, went so far as to say that he did not think it would make a great difference to New Zealand if Great Britain was under Germany's rule, we are glad to observe from the report in the "Auckland Star" -that his remark was received with " a chorus of dissent." It must not:be supposed that this strange trend of patriotism is peculiar to New Zealand Socialists. It is the "badge of all their tribe," with one or two exceptions, whom we will mention presently. When a town's meeting was convened at Battersea recently in furtherance of the Territorial movement tho Socialists did their best to break up the meeting. Lord Lucas, the Under-Secretary for Wax, was "to-dry -weed, and could scarcely obtain a -rearing. Finally a local Socialist moved as an amendment to the resolution calling for support for the Territorial Force, that "this meeting of the " citizens of Battersea _rtwmgly. recom- " mends th© Government to abolish mihtary law before asking men to " join the Territorial Army." It was announced that tho resolutioo waa carried, but only by 123 votes to 97. This amendment reminds -ua thai not many months ago thousands of Socialist leaflets were circulated among the British .Army, in winch the men* were.told they wer© a "pariah.das./',and would

-amain so while they were •'con-pdled *'to serve under a baa-barons military " code-called. military law." The truth k that Socialism is essentially antirpatriotic, and does not attempt to disguise the fact. Messrs » E. Belfort Bax and H. Quelch, in "A New Catechism of Socialism," say frankly enough— "Soda—sui is essentially international. - It recognise- no distinction between the various nations comprising th© modern civilised world. 'My country right or wrong,' th© expression of modern patriotism, is the very antithesis of Socialism. . . . This internationalism means liberty and ©quality between nations as between individuals, and amalgamation as soon as feasible, and as close as possible under the Red Flag of SociaJ Democracy, which does not recognise national distinctions or th© division of .progressive humanity into nations "and races. . . . Socialists aro in this respect eminently 'Little Engknders,' 'Little Francers,' and 'Little Germaners.' " In another publication written for the Social Democratic Federation, Mr Quelch says that Socialists "are the •' foes of what generally passes for ' patriotism ond of all form* of Im"perialism." Some of the Continental Socialists are still more outspoken. Speaking on Sep£em_er 12tb, 1907, the French Socialist leader, M. Herve, said:—"As for us we maintain our "position. We detest all Mother " Countries. We will not give an inch "of our skin for our own. and if we " have to risk our lives it must be for "something worth while, and that is "to make a revolution." At the Socialist Conference at Stuttgart in 1907, this same M. Herve actually moved a resolution (which was not carried) declaring that soldiers should desert in the event of Tevolt or in tim© of war. W© have said that thero are some exceptions to the general rule that Socialism means anti-patriotism. In England, Messrs Blatchford and Hyndman, to their credit, have been doing their best to arouse attention to the reality of the German menace, and England's duty to strengthen her Navy so that she may be enabled to hold her own. What is very much to the point just now is that in Germany Herr Bebel, speaking in the Reichstag on behalf of the Socialist party, has repeatedly declared his approval of a compulsory militia army on the Swiss sjstem, and has even gone so far as t' say that "just colonisation" would obtain the hearty support of Social Democracy. There is indeed a complete change in the attitude of theGerman Socia.ists towards Imperialism. "It is no longer popular," writes Mr Austin Harrison, "for the Socialist '•party, to geb up in the Reichstag " and abuse the Empei-br's naval and "colonial efforts. The working man ''rather Hkj-s to hear of Gerrhan "colonial endeavour in remote parts "of the world. He is getting to think "that ships are not a bad asset after "all. ■- He is a growing convert to : "th© word"Weltpolitik.' He has be"gun to have a personal pride in the "nation's overseas achievement." We can now better appreciate the message of sympathy that the Wellington Socialists have thought fit to send to the German Socialists. The latter, we should say, will be hugely pleased.