THE LEADERLESS LEGION

Evening Star, Issue 17313, 29 March 1920, Page 8

THE LEADERLESS LEGION

MIDDLE-CLASS MOVEMENT TO COMBAT COST OF LIVING. At various times there have been tentative schemes broached, but never till lately getting beyond street-corner gossip, to orgaiii.se that great mass of middle-class men—the salaried, non-manual workers," who lie between the two camps of Capital and Labor. Melbourne's big campaign to bring down prices has quite recently secured the first assurance of middle-class action. At a public meeting in the Athenaeum Hall, the following motion was unanimously carried: That this meeting approves of the following objects of the middle-class party, and agree to support the movement: (1) To protect the rights and interests of the men -and women of the middle class;

(2) to promote mutual understanding between all classes of the community; (3) to obtain the removal of the unfair bur- • dens on.the .mMdl«,.classes;.. (4).t0 reduce the high cost of food, clothes, and work." The principal speaker, Mr Mendell, 6ald that the middle-class party represented the plain, common, indispensable people called the general public—a leaderless legion, -unrepresented, defenceless, powerless. They worked harder than anybody else, and liad less security Organisation, therefore, was necessary to represent the consumers who were not considered by Capital and Labor. In Australia 9 per cent, of the people were "capitalists" or big employers; 11 per cent, trades unionists, while 80 per cent, were the rest of the people—women, children, dependents, and " the middle-class party." There were three chief causes of high prices—waste of war, inflation of currency, and profiteering or overcharging. The middle-class party "were not hostile to trades unionism. The party must adopt the caucus and the boycott, and oppose strikes. They could refrain from buying luxuries and unfairly dear goods. T"hey could pledge themselves to buy only Australian goods. They could volunteer to break strikes, which hurt their families more than others, and could insist on better public finances, stop borrowing and wasting.