The Press WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1935. Labour's Dilemma

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21456, 24 April 1935, Page 10

The Press WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1935. Labour's Dilemma

Parts of Mr H. T. Armstrong's presidential address to the annual conference of the New Zealand Labour party were so bitter and mischievous that it is impossible not to suspect that he is less confident about the political future of his party than he professes to be. The trouble is, perhaps, that the Labour party ceased some years ago to be anything more than a very efficient electoral machine. In the effort to widen its basis of popular support it has sacrificed both its political philosophy and its capacity to pronounce on the real issues of national policy. Mr Armstrong and the other leaders of the party still inveigh against " the capitalist sys- " tem of exploitation, greed, and "robbery"; but behind their invective is a vast emptiness. Asked what it proposes to substitute for the capitalist system, or whether it is in favour of destroying the capitalist system, the Labour party can only maintain an uncomfortable silence. It cannot retort with a proclamation of its faith in " the " socialisation of the means of pro- " duction, distribution, and exchange," since that phrase belongs to its robust Marxian youth. It is now promising security of tenure to small farmers, security of investment for mortgagees, and security for the manufacturing interests by a system of import control. In short, it has committed itself irrevocably to the defence of a system which, in its rhetorical moments, it denounces as decadent and corrupt. The New Zealand Labour party is a socialdemocratic party; it does not believe in capitalism, but it lacks the courage to go to the electors with a straight-out programme of socialism. It is amusing, therefore, to hear Mr Armstrong warning the country that "if Labour does not. " win at the next election there is " a grave danger of democratic " government being overthrown by " some form of dictatorship." If Mr Armstrong had paused to reflect upon the course of European history since the Great War he might have realised that the dictatorships which have arisen in Italy, Germany, and Austria are the direct result of the weakness of social-democratic governments, a weakness which in its turn is the product of a confusion of ideas. New Zealand is not in danger of a dictatorship because, having a government with some strength of will and a consistent policy, it does no', need a dictatorship.