Mr Muldoon renews communism charges

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 1

Mr Muldoon renews communism charges

(New Zealand Press Association I NEW PLYMOUTH, August 4. Waving copies of Communist newspapers published in New Zealand, the Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) continued his attack on Communist elements in trade unions when he addressed a meeting of National Party members in New Plymouth tonight.

“I believe that the greater part of the trade union movement in New Zealand consists of ordinary, decent New Zealanders doing their job enthusiastically, but with a reasonable sense of responsibility,” Mr Muldoon said.

The majority of trade!* union officials were mod- j erates, he said. This was certainly true of the I executive of the Federa- 1 tion of Labour. t j “There is, however, an- 1 other element in some key unions which is quite differ- 1 ent.” 1 These were the militants, Mr Muldoon said. Not all of I them were Communists. “But 1 many of them are, and they 1 wield an influence very much 1 greater than their member- . ship.” The Communist elements 1 did their best to get into 1 prominfnt positions in sev- 1 (eral key unions, Mr Muldoon I said. These included the (Drivers’ Union, the Seamen’s i Union, and the wharf unions. “The Seamen’s Union is led , (by Mr Bill Martin. He is not , a Communist. He is a moder- | ate, and if he had his way he : would have the Communists ' out of his union.” But, Mr j Muldoon said, it was extra- , ordinarily difficult to defeat . ja militant, because such a ; [person called on many emo- , jtions to do what he wanted | to do. “Class struggle” j The militants used the '■ (doctrines of class struggle 1 and other Communist principles, including the Com- ’ munist manifesto that the ■ end justified the means, he 1 (said. “Having created some 1 (kind of industrial trouble, he 1 (calls on the traditional trade ’ union solidarity to back him up.” Even the moderate ele- i ments in unions were drawn into the struggle when faced with this situation, Mr Muldoon said. This pattern could 1 be seen over and over again. The militants used intimidation and victimisation to

(achieve their ends and the ’lengths they went to were (very great indeed. Threats of physical violence, actual physical violence, and other threats to union members and their families were measures used by the militants, he said. The technique of the open ballot was another of the tactics. “The result is that these people have an influence in the trade union movement out of all proportion to their numbers.” Mr Muldoon said it was important that what was disclosed in his confrontations on television with trade union officials was not forgotten. “Three parties” He outlined what he termed the three Communist parties in- New Zealand: the Communist Party of New Zealand, which followed the Peking line; the Socialist Unity Party, which followed the Russian line; .“and a third group which has emerged quite recently. I don’t know , what they’re called.” ( He said the president of the Auckland branch of the Seamen’s Union (Mr R. Hughes) had said oh television last week that he was a Communist. “He is president of a very important transport union,” Mr Muldoon said. He added that there was certainly evidence of Communist influence in the Wainui dispute in 1969. “I would not think Mr [Hughes is a specially dangerous man, because he didn't strike me as a very clevei man,” Mr Muldoon said. Mr Muldoon then referred to Mr G. H. Andersen, secretary of the Northern Drivers’ Union, and his appearance on television. Mr An-

[dersen, he said, had admitted he was a Communist and had ; [admitted he wanted to break down and destroy the “system.” , “He is a person of great! 'influence.” said Mr Muldoon “He is in the middle of the 'breweries dispute. He is a very clever man, and a very man. He is closely as’e .sociated with C.A.R.P. in Auckland and other organi- ' sations. He is vice-president '.of the Socialist Unity Party.” "I Mr Muldoon then showed □ his audience copies of several j a : publications, which, he said,| were those of the Communp i ist organisations in the coun;try. He quoted several at-! tacks on him from the newsn papers, and spent some time! . describing an alleged photo--2 stat of a copy of one of his letters to the International Monetary Fund in 1967. ; Holding up a copy of the ’’ newspaper, Mr Muldoon said „ it purported to show a photo- ' stat of this letter. But, in fact, the letter shown was a forgery. “These are typical Communist tactics,” he said. e “Mr Andersen says there it are only six Communists' e actively engaged in trade! vi unions. I don’t believe him.”; e He said it was fortunate

that these people did not get any support as a political’ party. “But, unfortunately, the average New Zealander is in- ’ dined to think their influence is slight.” He told his audience that since the television debates he had had a stream of mail to his office, supporting his (stand against Communists. ’Some of the writers, he said, had told him they had been lifetime Labour supporters, (but would change to National [if the National Party would continue to expose Commun;istS. “I would guess Mr Kirk has had letters saying, ’Why dont’ ■| you get up and expose these '[people instead of leaving it all to the National Party’,” i Mr Muldoon said. i