THE MENACE OF THE I.W.W.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3150, 31 July 1917, Page 6

THE MENACE OF THE I.W.W.

MR. HUGHES'S DECLARATION OF WAR. As' briefly cabled the other day, the Federal Pi'ime Minister (Mr. Hughes), iir. moving the second reading of a Bill to amend the Unlawful Associations Act of , ' 1916, said that prior to the passing of that measure the organisation known as the I.W.W. liad committed a series of organised crimes. It had been shown that the Act passed last year was insufficient to cope with this great menace to society. There was' abundant evidence that this organisation was still very actively at work in Australia, and it was necessary] that steps should be. taken forthwith to deal with it. This Bill would enable this to be done. The literature of Una organisation was being widely disseminated. The I.W.W. was controlled by an inner council. The larger proportion-, of its members were the 6courings oS society. Tiey were a menace to Australia and every other country. He was very glad that the majority of the members were not Australians. The United: States, the most patient of nations, liact taken drastic action against the I.W.W. These men were not to be regarded in. .any sense of the word as voicing tho aspirations of organised Labour. They canio into being to defeat organised Labour. They were orginally blackleg.* of tho worst typo. There was not a union in Australia in which they had been a curse. They would not recognise the authority of even the unions. They had declared war against society. Tho Government must take up that challenge,, and they proposed to do it... The greati weapon of this organisation was tho organised destruction of the means by which society lived. They threatened; to destroy the industry of this country, which had been coddled from the beginning.' This body was flourishing. Its journal had a wide circulation, and. money was coming in freely. The majority nf tho members were merely dupes. Mr. "Hughes, after quoting from tho I.W.W. journal, said that this was no- , thing but - anarchy. Under the Bill, whoever became a member of an unlaw- , fill association was guilty of an offence,, and was liable to sis months' imprison-' nifliit. Provision was made for deportation of Other than Australian-born subjects; also for the prevention of tha circulation of .pamphlets and literature of" an unlawful association, and the searching of the premises of persons suspected of belonging to this association. After the expiration of one month no member of tho Commonwealth Public Service who « - a3 a member of an unlawful association would remain in tho Public Service, ourt he hoped tho example set by tho Commonwealth would bo followed by tho States. Australia was at war, and it; was in the interests of the, country that they Rhould produce as mudli ns possible, . provide employment for as many as possible, and become as economically oflicient as possible. This association stood in the way of that policy, and could not bo allowed to exist. It was a distinct reflection on society that such an organisation was allowed* to exist. A member: Are you going to permit a' member of the association to remain a. member of Parliament. Mr. Tudor: It was said from every platform that members of the Labour Party belonged to the I.W.W. Mr. Hughes: I never said that, but I did say they were capturing the organisation both politically and industrially, and that they were destroying it..