TROUBLED LABOUR

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1923, Page 4

TROUBLED LABOUR

COMMUNISTS AND CROOK BALLOTS

SHARP DIVISIONS.

(FROM OUR OW» COttRESPONDENI.)

SYDNEY, 24th October, me Labour movement in Now South wales is still floundering among the perplexities created at t.hff last conference. Dhe> Communists, who had shown themselves, anything but friendly critics ot the parent body, were on that occasion received, with much talk of fraternal spirit, under a resolution' admitting to membership of the Labour Party persons who were members of other bodies but who subscribed' to the constitution of the Labour Party. Under the cloali of this decision prominent members of the Communist Tarty actually found their way to seats on the executive But there are many in the Labour movement who recognise that fraternity with the Communists does not enhance the Labour movement in the public esteem, and the motion between the two divisions'has, if anything, grown more acute. The Communists run their own organ, and have made no secret of their hostility towards Labour leaders, nor of their intention to leave no stone unturned to achieve their declared objective of capturma; the movement. Matters reached ■a head, on Friday, when-the executive of the Labour Party. decided to expel the Communists from the movement on the ground that they were a separate political organisation with divergent objectives. . The Communists, on:, the other hand, through their principal spokesman, Mr. J. S. Garden, contend that they are a non-political body, but at this sophistry members of the executive merely laughed. The principal members aflected by the decision are Mr J S. Garden, who only recently returned from Moscow, and Mr. J. Howie, and it is said that at least six other members of the executive and many members of branches must now decide on which side of the fence they stand. Messrs. Garden and Howie have both subsequently declared that they are Communists, and such they will remain in spite of any decision, air. Howie was elected by the last conference as a member of the Federal Executive, and says it is possible that the Communists will decide to appeal to the Federal body against the decision of the State Executive, and he predicts that the next New South Wales Conference will affirm the principle of the Communists working inside the A.L.P. While,this controversy is agitating the movement, it is troubled in another direction by extreme uncertainty as to the attitude of the Australian Workers' Union, owing to the recent expulsions from the party of certain prominent members for alleged improprieties said to be proved by the investigation into the so-called ballot box scandals. A lengthy inquiry which was held regarding the discovery of numerous ballot boxes used at selections of candidates resulted in a sub-committee recommending certain expulsions, which the State Executive agreed to._ The A.W.U. has since instituted an inquiry of its own, as a result of which it has exonerated its own members, and now demand 3 their reinstatement by the executive of the party. The A.W.U. is an enormously powerful union, and a breakaway of its members would be an incalculable financial as well as political blow to the A.L.P. Pending negotiations the relations of the two bodies are highly strained.