The Grey River Argus TUESDAY, August 13, 1946. SABOTAGE NO REMEDY

Grey River Argus, 13 August 1946, Page 4

The Grey River Argus TUESDAY, August 13, 1946. SABOTAGE NO REMEDY

Despite abundant Australian news from day to day that the industrial chaos is due to striking unions led by Communists, in spite of even the fight now by suc'h workers themselves for materials which these unending stoppages have made very scarce, Mr T. Pratt alleges a lack of evidence that Communists are the disruptors of industrial life in Australia. Nearly every strike, he says, is due to A'ietiinisation, and the employers are the ones who deliberately provoke the stoppages, w’hile “right wing” and “sectarian” unionists side with employers in such a policy. It is a fantastic plea that either workers or employers prefer the

loss of all the millions of money due to the long succession of planned hold-ups in Australia’s key industries. Queensland lost six millions over the strike precipitated over tjhe dismissal of a few hands from a bacon factory. The Queensland Premier at the outset, pointed out that their case could have been taken to the Arbitration Court if they believed they were victimised, but, instead, Communist union leaders involved the coal miners in a body, and after 17 weeks of strife, involving six millions of losses, the general public, broke tffie strike by their moral attitude. There followed what is described as the greatest anti-Communist demonstration in the history of Queensland unionism. It was at a mass meeting of meat workers in Brisbane,, when they voted overw'helmingly to obey the Premier’s order to return to work, after a strike of seventeen weeks. There was a denunciation by Mr R. Dixon (southern districts secretary of the Meat Union), and Mr M. Kearney (Meat Union organiser), of leading Communist union executives. There was also a demonstration against Mr Wells (Federal president of the Miners’ Federation), when he criticised Messrs Dixon and Kearney. Air Weds was counted out four times. Threats by the crowd followed to eject Communist officials from the platform. The crowd’s outburst against Communist meat union executives, Messrs G. Risdale and 11. Field, specifically mentioned by Mr Dixon as ‘•'traitors to t'he unionists’ cause”, was significant. It is unnecessary for us to quote other evidence in this instance, although the Premier said that the ironworkers had, in the case of Queensland, used the meat workers and miners as a “guinea pig” on whieffi to try out their disruptionist technique. In the case of Port Kembla, our critic omits to mention the denounient, and to say how many days the man over whom so many thousand workers were idled remained on the job. Perhaps Jhe will later correct this omission. As for the double-dumping, by no means all watersiders objected. but, in any case, seeing that well over half a million doubledumped bales still remained to be loaded during the stoppages, a date to end double-dumping—i.e. when all such existing bales would have been loaded —could surely [nave been negotiated without all the hold-ups. However, Air Pratt might argue that the idea of conciliation is outdated, so we shall quote some evidence which even he will doubtless accept, and even endorse. The leader of the Communist Party in Australia is Comrade L. Sharkey, of Sydney, and in his publication, “The Trade Unions”, he re-eejioes Mr Pratt in . saying, on Page 9:— “The Trade Unions are the most important mass organisations of the working class and, therefore, have a special importance for the Revolutionaries. ‘Without t'he Trade Unions a revolution is impossible’ Lenin has written”. On Page 33 Comrade Sharkey, speaking of the year 1942, says:— “The Party’s position was strengthened among the mineworkers, and our comrades are now in leading positions in the Union, and the Party receives a soliel vote from tjhe miners at election times. Further good work will finally convert the miners’ organisation into a really revolutionary Union and a firm support for the struggle for Socialism”. Incidentally, Comrade Sharkey scarcely re-echoes' our critic when lie states, in the same publication: “Catholic workers, as a body, have always been, in their great majority, loyal to their class and have contributed greatly to the strength of the Labour movement”. We have pointed out that fihe Communists have not ■concealed their policy to capture the Trade Union Movement for their own revolutionary ends, and it follows naturally that those cuds will conflict with the interests of any and every community which )hates the very idea of revolution as much as it does t'he dictatorship to its people of the policy of any totalitarian regime located in a foreign country. We have conceded that Communists are sincere, but must say that they are misguided, anl that, in a natural reaction to the undoubted exploitation of labour by monopolistic capitalists, they, are too ready to listen to the exponents of class warfare. Even accepting the arguments of such opponents, t'heir line is simply to copy the very evil course they attribute to the capitalists. In Victoria the ironworkers recently followed a conciliatory policy,, meeting the employers in conference, when a settlement, entirely satisfactory was obtained. Admittedly this method often. is preferable to going to the Court, . nd New Zealand miners have demonstrated time after time that meetings with employers, instead of Court adjudication, are more fruitful of satisfactory agreements than the tactics of Mew South Wales workers in relying on strike action any and every time. It is like using a steam hammer to drive a tack! The Australian

Labour Party is learning that the] Communist Party is simply anj Australian section of a worldwide organisation controlled and bossed by the rulers of the U.S.S.R. at Moscow; the aim being to promote world revolution so as to bring about a new totalitarian mode of life based on materialism. One form of this ovevsex action is to. exploit labour disputes, extending strikes, and cleverly fomenting social, racial, religious and economic- conflict. No settlement is thus regarded as durable, and if it is a choice between bettering the workers and promoting revolution, the revolution wins every time. It is for the rank and file of the workers, however, to display in their organisations the same keen interest as that taken by the Commuhists, or they may find out too late that, as in many cases, the fat is- in the fire, and the danger of unemployment is upon them unawfires.