NO AFFILIATION

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 158, 1 April 1937, Page 13

NO AFFILIATION

Labour Party Rebuffs Communists BATTLE BY CIRCULAR By 49S votes to 14 the New Zealand Labour Party yesterday rejected a remit, "That the application ot the New Zealand Communist Party to affiliate with the Labour Party be endorsed. The remit, was sponsored the Waikato Labour Representation Committee. Auckland Carpenters and Joiners’ Union, Gisborne branch ot the partv, Auckland General Labourers Union, and Auckland Drivers Union. A circular letter over the signature of the national secretary ot tne Labur Partv. Mr. D. Wilson, was sent to all delegates to the conference, calling upon them to oppose the affiliation of the Communist Party. . To counter this move the Communist Party distributed leaflets to each delegate'before the debate began yesterday morning, apparently hoping to influence the vote in the direction of tne remit. The leaflet is headed, we appeal to Labour —Unity above all, and asks whv Mr. Wilson felt it necessary to assail a body of workers (Communist Party members) which, according to his claims, had “practically no following in the country.” "Is it not because he realises that the Communist Party has become a real force in the working-class movement?” states the leaflet, which declares that among the workers there exists a “Growing demand for unity and appreciation of the soundness ot the Communist Party’s politics. . Mr. Wilson had argued in his. circular that “The Fascist menace Is one of the results of the preaching of revolutionary tactics by the Communist Party itself.” „ The Communist Party retorted, thai Mr. Wilson’s understanding ot the meaning of Fascism was superficial. It emphasised, however, that the menace of Fascism was “one of the main reasons for the Communist Party’s continual attempts to achieve working-class unity.” The leaflet, which bears the mime of Mr. L. Sim, general secretary of the Communist Party of New Zealand, describes Mr. Wilson’s arguments against affiliation as “the hackneyed and discredited views of right-wing Labour leaders in every country in the world. Mr. Sim agreed that there existed some fundamental differences between the Communist Party and the Labour Party, but contended that the threat of war and Fascism should be sufficient to unite the two parties against the common danger. Furthermore, reactionaries (political opponents of the Government) in New Zealand were seeking to organise discontent among the farming community and the middle-class population. Only a united front between the Labour and Communist parties could defeat them. The remit was lengthily and at times warmly debated before being defeated by an overwhelming majority.