NEW ZEALAND MUST CLEAN HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 232, 26 June 1940, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND MUST CLEAN HOUSE

Warning In France’s Fate HISTORY OF A SUBVERSIVE PAMPHLET (By Obsebveb.) In charging two Communists at Palmerston North on Monday with publishing a subversive pamphlet the police brought to public notice the existence of a particularly dangerous publication called “The Spark.” The accused got no more than theirXdue when Mr. H. P. La wry, S.M., sent them to jail eaeh for . 12 months. This pamphlet has circulated among tlie extremest elements of the Communist Party in New Zealand. It has been hard to come by copies, the publishers taking ' precautions to prevent any falling into the hands of the authorities. An acquaintance \who , got possession of one for a short time informed me that it preached the most violent Communist, doctrine and. advocated direct actioii with the object of bringing about armed revolution’ in New Zealand. This may sound fantastic in a country like ours. And, so, for the prospect of such an event occurring here, it is. For all that, the pamphlet urged Communists to enlist in the New Zealand Forces —as the police evidence showed —in order to learn to use a rifle, not for the defeat of Hitlerism but to hasten the armed overthrow of the 'democratic system. It is in keeping with the inflammatory nature of this document that its name was “The Spark.”

It brings to mind something else of the same kind and intent. In 1900Lenin. with other revolutionaries exiled from Russia (founded a journal at Munich to speak for the Workers’ Social Democratic Party., They called it “Iskra”- (the “Spark”). In a prefatory announcement Lenin outlined the beginnings of the Communist programme based on revolutionary Marxism. Is it no more than a coincidence that the subversive pamphlet published by the pair of Palmerston North Communists should bear the same-name as that adopted by the Russian revolutionaries 40 years ago? It is wholly for the good - of -New Zealand that police action and the force of anti-subversion law have put out the spark ignited by irresponsible malconterits whose activities are unashamedly destructive of the British institutions under whose protection they have too long enjoyed freedom to pursue their despicable work. As more and more is revealed of the collapse of France it is only too clear that internal decay played a substantial part in the tragic events of the last six weeks. Communism in low places and Fascism in high have combined to encompass the downfall of a great nation. There is yet time to root out the evils of subversion here. With the fate of France as a warning, the Government of the Dominion cannot afford to pause in the campaign to clean house of undesirables whose presence is against the public welfare and national safety. Where passive, they are parasites upon the loyal 95 per cent, of the population, and where active they are traitors and should .be treated by the law as such. The title adopted by the accused at Palmerston North for. the document which sent them to jail is evidence enough of the foreign ideology from which thesd individuals draw the inspiration for their un-British activities.