THE DANGERS OF DISUNITY

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 68, 13 December 1939, Page 8

THE DANGERS OF DISUNITY

While the Minister of Public Works has been rushing about the country denouncing the Communists in and out of the Labour ranks in characteristic language, and upholding the Government s war efforts, the Government itself continues to turn a blind eye to activities which certainly are not likely to encourage unity of purpose in the present national crisis. The resolution passed by the West Coast Trades and Labour Council, for example, describing the war as an Imperialist struggle for markets and raw materials between, capitalist Britain and France on one side and Germany on the othei and demanding to know the reasons for which New Zealanders are expected to fight, has been completely ignored. . Yet the resolution is a gross perversion of the facts in so far as it implies that Britain and France have gone to war seeking Imperialistic gains. It is mischievous and harmful, too, in its false inference that the cause for which we are fighting lacks justification. The State Coal Miners’ Union, a body affiliated with the West Coast Trades and Labour Council, promptly repudiated the resolution, emphatically denying that it represented West Coast Labour opinion. Another Labour organization affiliated ■with the council, the Gold Dredge Workers’ Union, a few days later was equally outspoken in disowning it. Both these large bodies of workers very properly declared their approval of the full strength of the Dominion s resouices being placed behind Britain in the struggle against aggression. But the Government, whose duty it is to safeguard the public interest, apparently has not troubled to make protest 'against the action of the West Coast Trades and Labour Council to exercise the powers which Mr. Savage has told us it possesses to check such misleading and dangerous propaganda. It has been evident for some time past that there is growing up within the ranks of the Government party a very sharp division. of interests. A militant and aggressive section has been extremely active and is seeking to capture control of both the industrial and political organizations of the Socialist party. The recent tours of Messrs. Semple and Webb, during which they addressed large meetings of Labour unionists, afford evidence of the concern felt within the ranks of the Government regarding the extent to which the undermining operations of the malcontents have weakened the influence and authority of those now in control of the party. These .internal differences should not be permitted to divert the energies of Ministers from the responsible tasks occupying- their attention in the prosecution of the country’s war measures. Nor should they deter action being taken against those whose activities may tend to hamper the completely successful execution of those measures.