LABOUR PARTY PROPAGANDA.

Evening Star, Issue 21622, 18 January 1934, Page 6

LABOUR PARTY PROPAGANDA.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —“ Disillusioned,” in your issue of January 16, spent one penny on pamphlet No. 1 issued by the New Zealand Labour Party, and from this pamphlet he tells your readers, and the workers especially, to beware of the “ treacherous nature ” of the Labour Party’s policy, and that as a result of such policy ‘‘ Labour Party politicians are no longer looked on as dangerous and a menace to the existing social order, which every intelligent individual can clearly see has outlived its usefulness in promoting human progress and development.” He fears “ Labourites have forgotten the original purpose of the Labour movement for the sake of a comfortable seat and a handsome remuneration for babbling away in the talk shop and assisting to maintain the general belief that Parliament governs the country, whereas its function really assumes the role of a cloak for the dictatorship of vested interests.” , He also says: “ The pamphlet contains as many abstract and vague promises as were ever made by the followers of Messrs Forbes and Coates.” I will take the last paragraph first, and ask, in the case of a party that has not been tried, what else can it put out but promises? Concerning abstract and vague, this depends on definitions. The Forbes-Coates Party told us the wage cuts would be the means of reducing the unemployed, because lowering costs would enable employers to employ more people. The Labour Party told them that reducing the purchasing power of the workers would increase unemployment. Who was right? To say that a certain thing will nappen which does not is surely evidence of faulty deductions. In this the Labour Party was correct. Might it not also be correct in its policy, if once it gets a chance to put it into operation? Does “ Disillusioned ” mean to assume that Parliament could not be made to function more liberally in the interests of let me say, the unemployed? Does he mean, further, that the Labour Party is only there to stage a sham fight for the further entrenchment of vested interests? Of course, Parliament is only a reflection of the. several interests outside. Then let it be a reflection of the largest group of interests (the workers), and if the phrty fails to improve the workers’ interests on getting into power then the wbrkers will want to know why. If it is the machine that will not function, then that is something worth while for the workers to know. The purpose of the Labour Party, I should say, is to make Socialists, because you cannot, surely, have a thing until you create the conditions that will usher this in. The objective of the Labour Party is Socialism. Its “ immediate ” policy is what it will attempt on assuming power as the Government of this country. Before this can be attained a majority of the people must support it. So far this has not been the case. To call a party’s policy “treacherous” is surely a little premature, seeing that it has not had, so far, a chance to demonstrate this.—l am, etc., P. Neilson. January 17. ,