Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1947. Is Unionism On The Road To Anarchy ?

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 October 1947, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1947. Is Unionism On The Road To Anarchy ?

THE militant Mr Hill, secretary of the 1 New’ Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union, in his message of encouragement this week to the sponsors of the local beer boycott raises an issue of far-reaching importance. Hp declares that ‘ the Federation of Labour should now mobilise a national, campaign, not against beer prices alone, but Against bread prices, meat, baby foods, bacon, eggs, sugar all the essentials of life.” Mr Hill’s words have an ominous ring. They seem to declare plainly enough what has always been suspected in regard to the, local z beer boycott, that it is but a means to an end —the preparing of the way for the use of pressure tactics on a wider scale. As Mr Hill says, “great movements have arisen out of small matters.”

For many years the democratic world has been speculating on the future of unionism. The labour unions were founded to direct their energy to purely econo-* 1 mic aims, such as wages, hours, and conditions of work. That is their constitutional purpose. So long a& they serve that purpose and serve it faithfully and so long as the direction of their affairs remains in the hands of men who have as their sole aim the general good and not the advancement of their own selfish and sometimes subversive ends —then unionism can exercise a beneficial influence in the community. When it steps outside its rightful province, however —and when it is encouraged to do so by men outside its ranks who are motivated not by considerations of civic morality but by expediency—then the stage is set for developments of far-reaching consequences. Mr Hill’s “national campaign,” for instance, could be aimed only at the decisions of the Price Tribunal, a lawfully constituted body, established by the Government for the benefit of the consumers and giving its. decisions only after careful inquiries. To suggest a “national campaign’’ against its jurisdiction is to encourage disrespect for law' and order —and quite enough disrespect has already been encouraged. A trade union—or a federation of trade unions for that matter —was one thing when it directed its energy to purely economic aims. It became another when it was led —or misled —into adopting political aims as well. And a third stage was reached in the effort of the Communists to “white ant” and capture unions that hold key positions in industry and to use them in. order to advance their own ends, even to the extent of" incursions into foreign policy in the interests of Moscow Sovietism. Indeed Communist influence in New Zealand unionism is already such that there is clearly discernible the outline of the model revolutionary policy that Communists aim to promote in all democracies whose, democratic freedoms permit Communism to. conspire and subvert.. The New Zealand'.Labour Government which claims the support of the workers — albeit a dwindling support—-has already been embarrassed by the militant tactics of unionism, and its replacement by a Government very much farther to the Left is a thinly disguised, objective. Anyone viewing the political scene today may well wonder -what overt goal (industrial-econo-mic) or -what covert goal (candidly revolutionary) the wasteful and never-ending class warfare engendered by the extremists may yet reach. The efforts of unionism to capitalise the sellers’ market stand out clearly enough. What is not so, clear is what will happen when a sellers’ market, over-capitalised both politically and financially, comes to an end. . Th e political menace of extreme unionism is likely then to show itself even more clearlv 'in its true colours. It is time to look ahead; it is time for some serious, sane thinking. Are we to continue to live content —content like sheep in succulent pastures until the butcher comes?