THE LABOR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 18807, 4 December 1924, Page 3

THE LABOR MOVEMENT

IB? VETBBAN.j Briej contributions on matters with rtftrtnct to the Labor Movement are invited. THE LABOR PARTY AGAIN. On November 20 there were some com* monts on the different parties that claimed to represent Labor in the dominion. At the conclusion of these comments the following statement was made ; —“ There was a time when the trades councils and their conferences did all the important work of the Labor movement, and made the required appeals to Parliament, and in those days more was done for and more benefits gained for the workers than has been the case since the Trades Councils conferences were abandoned.” I have been informed that these comments have been discussed in different places, among some university students, for instance, and last weeic, so I am informed, at a meeting in the Trades Hall, objection wae taken, and ment was made, that “Veteran'’ was wrong; that Trades Councils never took part in politics, and that the Alliance of Labor was at the head of the industrial side of the movement, and the New Zealand Labor Party took charge of the political side. This aroused my curiosity, and I looked up the records. [ find that on Thursday, August 25, 1881, the following paragraph appeared in the ‘Press At a meeting of delegates from the various trades held at the European Hotel last evening, the following resolutions were passed:—“That the time has now arrived when it is desirable that a trades and Labor Council should ho formed in New' Zealand.” “That a committee consisting of Messrs Bradley and Stoddart (engineers), Thorn (carpenters), Gow (plasterers), Marshall (bootmakers), Dickson (compositors), Monkford (laborers), and G. H. Gordon be. appointed to draw up a code of rules suitable to the requirements of a Trades and Labor Council for New Zealand.” The council worked very quietly for some time. At the start the objects of the council were stated as follows 1. To better the condition of the. working classes; to assist each other in maintaining the eight hours principle; and to give moral assistance in cases of dispute in all trades and other bodies of working men who may join the council. 2. To obviate as far ns possible the necessity for “strikes” by a careful a.ml patient in vest iga (inn of subjects hi dispute between employers and employees; and by undertaking, in conjunction with the, parties interested, the. settlement by arbitration of disputes. 5. To use every legitimate means to obtain a proper representation of Labor in the Legislature of the colony. Oil May 2, 18S4. the Parliamentary Committee brought up a report, which, alter discussion ami amendment was agreed to as follows

Thu followin'; plunks In comprise the council's political platform : 1. hand Nationalisation : As a moans to this that in future Crown lands be disposed of by lease only. 2. Abolition of pensions. 3. Cessation of assisted immigration. 4. Legislation of the eight-hours system. 5. Extension of polling to 8 p.m. 6. Progressive land lax and tax on large incomes. 7. Local Government reform. 8. 'Reform of the jury law by payment of all subpoenaed jurors. 9. Government regulation of workshops. 10. Reform of the Factory Act. 11. Encouragement of local industries. 12. Local option. 13. Elective Upper House. 14. .Seamen's franchise. 15. Abolition of plural voting. On January 8, 1885, a Trades and Labor Congress was held in Dunedin. Thai conference, deliberated for live days, and many subjects connected with the Labor mo\cment were dismissed and dealt with. After that nothing seems to have been done until 1889, when it was decided to start another 'Trades ami Labor Council in Dunedin. A committee was appointed to drawup a constitution and rules. Those rules were presented la a meeting on January 14, lb9o, and on January 28, 1890. the constitution and rules were adopted._ 1 have not room for them all, but will just state one of the objects of the council To discuss, consider, and put into force when approved, any scheme which may lie brought forward in the interests of trades unionism, and to use its influence in support of nr in opposition to any Hill or Rills affecting Labor which may be brought before the Parliament of New Zealand. A conference of Trades Councils was held in Wellington in June, 1891. which was addressed by the lion. W. I’. Reeves. Minister of Labor, and (lie conference spent about nine days in considering a number of Labor Rills that the Minister intended placing before Parliament. Most of those Hills were afterwards placed on the Statute Rook. In 1912 the last Trades Councils Conference was held. Rut I understand they were resuscitated in January of this year. Proposed Labor legislation was placed before most of the council’s conferences, and many of the recommendations of those conferences were accepted and placed in the Acts passed. At a Dunedin Trades Council meeting in 1890 it was proposed to set np a committee for the purpose of selecting Labor candidates for the coming election. Two delegates objected and left the meeting. At the following meeting two fresh delegates were appointed by the union represented by those who bad retired. A manifesto was issued by the council advocating the election of six members to represent the Liberal and Labor Party of Dunedin and suburbs in Parliament, and in December, 1890, five of the six were returned, Mr J. A. Millar being defeated for Port Chalmers. After the above, who will say that the Trades Councils have never been political organisations '! I reiterate the statement in the notes of November 20; they are strictly correct. * * * COMMUNISM. The Liverpool ‘ Weekly Post,’, dealing with (ho Communist threat, says: The Communists, undismayed by the rebuffs they received at the Trade Union Congress, are to make an altempt to force themselves on the .Labor Party at the annual conference. They have been conducting a vigorous campaign, and have induced several branches to propose that the Communist Party be affiliated to the Labor Party. Mr Tom Mann, who went into retirement some time ago, has again come to the front, and the Amalgamated Engineers have placed him at the head of the list of parliamentary candidates whom they are prepared to finance at the next General Election, This gives rise to a curious situation, for the National Executive of the Labor Party is strongly opposed to the affiliation of the, Communist Party, and so far this policy has been supported by the rank and file. The solitary Communist member in the House of Commons has announced his withdrawal from the ranks of that party, and Communists in this country do not exhibit any constructive capacity. They axe merely mischief-makers and wreckers.

Tins explains why tho Labor Party is absolutely opposed to the recognition of any member of the Communist Party as an official Labor candidate. The Communists are always endea.voring to undermine the influence of Labor’s trusted representatives. Both the Labor Party and trade unionism have been built on constitional lines, and as the result, of patient and unremitting toil. _ “ The Labor Party,” as tho official circular issued by tho executive points out, “ seeks to achieve the Socialist Commonwealth by means of parliamentary democracy. The Communist Party seeks to achieve the ‘ Dictatorship of the Proletariat ’ by armed revolution.” The differences between the two parties are “ fundamental and unchanging,” and it is important that the workers should thoroughly understand this difference. The object of the Communists is to destroy the Labor Party, and to make it a Communist organisation. The /Communists have failed in the industrial field, and now they are attempting to force themselves into (he Labor Party, though on every cocasion they attempt to discredit that party and denounce its constitutional policy. They the 1

and most dangerous enemies the working class possess, and this explains why every responsible leader of labor is hostile to the mischievous activities of the Communists. * * « # THE BEST WEAPON THE VOTE. _ “ Gray Quill,” in the labor column of the ‘Weekly Post,’ says: It is not surprising that the Labor Party has finally decided to excommunicate the Communists. The ideas of the latter were those of the unthinking men of the Labor Party who believed that the social revolution could not be brought about without bloodshed and heroic Labor barricades, which would be a mascot for future ages. It was idealism run mad. Being a practical man myself, I preferred the safer way of capturing Parliament through the vote. “ The best strike weapon is the vote,” said one of the despairing leaders of the terrible, yet abortive, strike in South Africa in 1922. The vote will give the representatives of the men of this country the control of the army, navy, Home Office, all the local and administrative machinery for the running of the Empire. On one occasion, when Tom Maim was Hying to convert me to his point of view, I said to him: ‘ Tom, I want the machine guns to bo on, the side of Labor, and not against. We can only do that through a vote.’ ” » « # * A VETERAN TRADE UNIONIST. Mr James Wardley, one of the pioneers of the eight-hour movement in Victoria, celebrated his lo9tJi birthday on October 20, and was the recipient of many birthday greetings and congratulations. Mr Wardiev is st'll hale and hearty, and it is only within the past few months that he has .given up his active part in the affairs of the Operative Bakers’ Society, of which body he" lias several times been president.