The Dominion TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1927. A LABOUR-SOCIALIST DEFEAT

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 14, 11 October 1927, Page 8

The Dominion TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1927. A LABOUR-SOCIALIST DEFEAT

The defeat of the Labour-Socialist Government in the New South Wales elections is a decisive vote against the dangerous doctrines of Socialism, which Mr. Lang and his following have tyrannically imposed upon the community in innumerable legislative raids upon capital and industry. The poll was fairly heavy—76 per cent, of the electorate—indicative of the keen interest taken throughout the State in the elections. The campaign also was a very bitter one. The Lang party not only was fighting in the last ditch of its political extremity, but Labour’s fighting forces were split by internal dissensions. That Mr. Lang has lost the support of the Labour moderates is clear from the defeat of two of his nominees by Messrs. Mutch and Evatt, ex-Ministers. of moderate views,.who had been expelled from the party. This reverse within his own political class is no doubt the reaction from the autocratic methods adopted by Mr. Lang in pursuance of a resolution by a special conference which met some months ago to consider the disputed question of his leadership: “Recognising,” it stated, “that unity is essential to the successful carrying out of the platform- and policy of the Labour Party, the Premier is hereby authorised, in the event of circumstances arising which, in his opinion, imperil the unity, to do all things and exercise such powers as he deems necessary in the interests of the movement.”

The issue then before the party was whether Mr. Lang should step down from the leadership in order that a reconciliation of the opposing elements within the organisation might be effected. He had just previously sustained a series of reverses in Parliament, and his retention of the leadership was contingent upon the promise of a dissolution as soon as his programme of legislation had been carried out. The plain deduction from this situation was that the resolution above quoted was merely a public gesture to save the party’s face and make a show of unity before the elections. As events now prove, these tactics have failed. Mr. Lang has not only been defeated by public opinion, but also by his own political class. The long regime of Labour in New South Wales has been due to the general apathy of public opinion towards questions of government, the Jack of effective organisation and unity amongst the political forces opposed to Labour-Socialism, and the solid front presented by the Labour-Socialist Party up till the time of the recent split. The Lang Government’s out-and-out class legislation during its last term of office seems, however, to have effectively roused the public from its apathy and awakened it to the danger of its position. It has at last dawned upon the electors that the doubtful benefits of applied Socialism are extremely expensive, and that the State as a whole is now suffering from the very unfavourable impression created in the London money market by Mr. Lang’s persistent policy of antagonism to vested interests and industry. The realisation of these things, added to a State-wide revulsion against extremist doctrines, were more effective influences in bringing about the downfall of the Government than the dissensions within its own ranks.