"LABOUR" AND COMMUNISTS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 71, 20 September 1930, Page 8

"LABOUR" AND COMMUNISTS

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—The four Wellington Labour members of Parliament who handed you a statement on the unfortunate result of the Mayor's meeting for unemployed relief are surely inconsistent, or else desire to both' "run with the hare and hunt with the hounds."

The genuine worker and trades unionist realises that the Communists are his enemies, and that they are as much against unionism as they are against patriotic and responsible Government, but the Labour politician is different: he has to appear to the public as an opponent to the Communist activities, yet he does not despise, indeed, he looks for, their support at election time. The party to which these members belong should be called the Socialist Party—"Labour" is a misleading name—and if their party really condemns the activities of the Communists why does its weekly newspaper carry on a policy on all fours with that of the Communists, namely, week in and week out, inciting class feeling, setting the workers against1 employers, Labour, against Capital, and in many cases taking up a decidedly unpatriotic attitude against the Empire? If the four members of Parliament are genuine in their condemnation of these activities why do not they take the practical step of inducing their party to bring its influence to bear on the newspapers which represent them? Their expressed disapproval of Communist actions ia inconsistent with their tactic acquiescence in the spread of Communist doctrines.— We are, etc., N.Z. WELFARE LEAGUE. 19th September.