LABOUR AND WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 149, 25 June 1943, Page 6

LABOUR AND WAR

AUSTRALIAN UNITY FRONT MELBOURNE, June 24. After a bitter two-hour debate which was punctuated with uproar, the AllAustralia Trade Union Congress accepted a proposal by the militant group for a united front with all work-ing-class bodies for 100 per cent, war effort. The proposal was put forward by Communist delegates, but the Communist Party was not mentioned in the resolution. Moderates who opposed co-operation with the Communists were defeated by 130 votes to 120. Political correspondents point out that this is the first time that Communist proposals for a united front have been accepted by a workingclass conference. Earlier this month a conference of the New South Wales Labour Party rejected a similar resolution. Ninety unions, representing 700,000 workers affiliated with the Australian Council of Trades Unions, will be affected by the decision. Moderates among the delegates told the conference that the Communist Party and Labour Party were as far apart as the poles, and that there could be no unity between them. The name of Lieutenant S. G. Wallace was recently mcl ded in a list cabled from London of promotions by the Admiralty of R.N.Z.N.V.R. officers serving in ships of the Royal Navy. The list was communicated to the special correspondent of the Press Association by New Zealand House. The promotion of Lieutenant Wallace was subsequently cancelled by the Admiralty upon receipt of advice that he had been transferred to the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Naval Board.