FRIEND OR COMRADE?
"Don't call me friend, I'm no friend of yours," said a man in the crowd of unemployed that held up Mr. Coates for a street argument in Auckland. "Well, comrade," replied Mr. Coales, and there was general laughter. Mr. Coates's ready retort suggests the serious question whether all the workless and all the workers are able to distinguish their friends. Some of them, as recent events have shown, are too willing to accept a verbal assurance of comradeship, which carries with it no prospect save that of partnership in destructive agitation. Genuine friendship for the workless at the present time doc-, not consist merely in telling them of their rights and persuading them to demand Avhat cannot be granted. It consists in such constructive action that the outlook is improved. As Mr. Coates correctly pointed out to his interrogators, the workless are not benefited by maintaining the nominal wage if they cannot obtain work at that rate. It may appear unfriendly to suggest a reduced rate and more employment; but the comradeship of insisting on a maintained wage in which thousands have no share is even more open to doubt.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19310126.2.38
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 21, 26 January 1931, Page 8
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193FRIEND OR COMRADE? Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 21, 26 January 1931, Page 8
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