THE LEGION'S AIMS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 124, 29 May 1933, Page 6

THE LEGION'S AIMS

(To the Editor.)

Sir,-f-"Legionnaire," your correspondent, is- under some misapprehension. The NewZealand Legiop was started on the basis:— (1) It was an educative movement to instil in the minds of the people, of New Zealand their duties as a democracy. (2) It condemned the Governmental system whereby representatives were not able to exercise their independent judgment in regard to matters of legislation, and as a corollary it condemned the party system, and party organisations1. (3) It "presumed '*'that it was possible to retain a form o£ democratic government and avoid either a Communistic or Fascist system, which are at any rate in their developmental stages, government ,by a minority of the people. ;.." With. these postulates; it offers an 1 organisation.; by which every individual with anything constructive to offer can assist to frame details:—(a) In regard to the exact form that government, local and general, will assume, (b) To consider the particular principles which should be followed in regard to economic questions of such vital importance as unemployment, currency, land, international relationships, etc. Those who are still standing outside its ranks tacitly declare:— (1) That its aims are impossible, and thut war of class against class gives tho only and inevitable solution, and that any form of democratic government is an impossibility. (2) That the organisation of the Legion is not such as/ to enable them to effectively voice their views on the questions to be solved, or that any such movement is unnecessary. (3)' That they have nothing constructive to offer, and will be pushed entirely by forces outside themselves. Among group (1) arc tho?e who, following the Moscow (not the Soviet) ideal definitely assume that the dictatorship of the proletariat, to use their own jargon, is the only possible development, and, further, that as this can only be obtained by the suppression of the bourgeois and forcible or revolutionary action, and as a preparation the cement which binds the bourgeois elements, namely, patriotism, nationalism, religion, aud family life, must bo destroyed. The detailed tactics to be used for ths purpose have been regularly supplied from an International group in Moscow. Another group under (1), are those who believe that only a Fascistic doctrine can prevail. Among group (2) are to be found, in addition to firm believers in the present system, honest doubters and defeatists, that is, those who can offer us no alternatives, and yet think the Legion will be ineffective, some even by implication going the length of thinking and saying that nothing at all can be effective. Among group (3) are a large number of people who, accustomed to the action of a few who have grouped themselves as a political party presenting ready-made policies are unprepared to take any share in the framing of these themselves. They consider that the group of founders of the Legion should act in the same arbitrary way as the founders of a political party. This is the group that is -calling loudly at this stage for fixed and definite policies. Undoubtedly the time will soon arrive when the Legion must consider that a fair opportunity has* been, given, to all those who are willing and able'to assist, to join, and definitely proceed, to formulate the details of its proposals in regard to Government, and also in a general way to the principles to be advocated in connection with more intimate- questions of detail, though naturally the detailed policies must be left to the independent thought of those chosen to implement them. ■ ." ' ■ ■■■.'• This) statement has been clear enough to attract to the ranks of the Legion many thousands of the type of men and women who are able to see clearly and appreciate the principles involved. A great deal of the cry for policy at this stage is a cry for the Legion to abandon the principles on which it was founded. All that is demanded is that critics should determine whether these principles are right or wrong, whether worthy of support or condemnation. The issue is then'clear cut: nothing is to be gained by attacking the absence in the Legion of principles which it never professed to have, even though some of its critics might dearly like it to have them. —I am, etc., .. NEW ZEALAND LEGION.