REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 7 September 1925, Page 7

REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM.

OH A LLENG E TO DEBATE. AI K AT MO i; E AND LABOUR CANDIDATE. Air Atmore, ALP., lias addressed the following letter, under date August 28, to Mr B. 11. I lie key, the Labour candidate for Invercargill: — Dear Mr Hickey,—l received the note in which you refer to my challenge to debate the public statements of leaders and prominent members of the Revolutionary Socialist Party, which I made at Invercargill in the course of a speech, during which 1 referred to the necessity for all reasoning citizens coining together to secure a strong and stable National Government being formed before the coming election, in order to provide a comprehensive policy of reconstruction and economic and social betterment; and by ministering to the true interests of the people to avert the danger of the breakdown of representative government being formed before the coming crease of parties and the consequent inability of the Government to function for the welfare of the State, and also to provide effective checks against the spread of the pernicious revolutionary Socialism and Communism, which, in my opinion, is threatening the existence of the Empire and civilisation itself. You have note that I have particularly specified the names of Messrs Holland, Fraser and McCombs, any one of whom I would be pleased to meet, if they are prepared to debate their public statements and articles from their official journal, which I set out, at some length. You now ask whether my challenge is wide enough to include you, and my answer is that, although I should prefer to meet one of the three named gentlemen, as they are all more prominent in the Socialist movement than you, still, if they are unwilling to meet me, I shall be pleased to meet you on the conditions set out beolw, subject to you receiving the nomination of your party. ' May I sav that, in referring to your party as “Revolutionary Socilists” in the opening paragraph of this letter, I am simply quoting the words of your j leader, Mr. Holland, ALP., who said that he was a “Revolutionary Socialist who was prepared to fight when the time comes.’’ ITEMS OR SUBJECTS FOR DEBATE. I shall first ask you to defend your own public statement: “To hell with agreements.’ Then some extracts from the Maoriland Worker, which apear to indicate the confirmed opinion of your party, and which are as follows: “If Ireland succeeds in achieving her independence, it means the breakup of the Empire. That will he a blessing to the world and an inspiration to the cause of Labour, who are opposed to Empire root and branch. The break-up of the Empire means entire independence of its component States. That is what the break-up of the Empire means to us, and nil good Communists should not only . hold these views, but- do all in their power to give effect to them.” Compare this statement with one from the Communist Review, published in England: “The collapse, of British capitalistic Imperialism would let loose at once tremendous forces thgt would surge forward inevitably - toward world revolution.” And the following by Lenin and Trotsky, where they declare that “Capitalist States of the world must be overthrown, and 1 the British Empire is their first objective.” And since your Socialist Party is Marxian in outlook it will not be out of place to include for our debate the following messages from Karl Marx to the First Tutern.-itionriK more especially as the Maori land Worker’s statement about the “break-up of the British Empire” is similar in tone: “England is the country in whicha real Socialist revolution can be made. The English people cannot make this revolution. Foreigners | must make it for them.” “Communists disdain, to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare their ends can only be attained by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. ” And the statement of Lenin, whom All'. Fraser, ALP., proclaimed to be “one of the world’s greatest, statesmen”: “The substitution of a proletarian for a capitalist State is impossible without a violent revolution.” In addition to the above, the following to be added to the list for debate: The statement by Mr. Janies Roberts, secretary of the Dominion Federation of Waterside Workers, speaking on the subject of an industrial parliament, when lie said: If every industry is to lie efficiently managed it must be managed by men who understand it. If the P. and T. Department is to be efficiently , managed the men must have a say. Messrs Masscv and Coates know possibly ns much about your department as the farmers do, and that is not very much. Possibly the licking of a twopenny stamp is their limit. The day is coming in New Zealand when, instead of having a Government elected according to geographical boundaries, we will have one elected by the different industries. Your industry will have its representative there. He will be put there by you, and you will have the rig3it to put him out as soon as he treats you too hard. The time lias arrived noiv when we should be audacious in every department. Instead of the regulations being placed there before you, your men should be there to draft them. t I should also in the debate ask vou, Air. Kiel icy. wliet-hei- you approve of 1 and defend the following extracts and statements: Anzae Day as an official holy day is nothing more nor less than a sickening farce. As such it should be removed from the calendar as soon as ever it is possible by pressure of public opinion to do so. The sinister purpose that- lies behind this attempt to fasten the observance of this clay as a holy day for all time is plain enough to those who have eyes to see. The fulsome lauding of the Anzacs as demi-gods is in itself a farcical

attempt to glorify a gallantry that Was in the main a pure accident. True, the Anzacs were brave—but, 1 ask you, what else could they be? When at- that ghastly landing at Gallipoli they were shot down like dogs in the boats, where could they have run to. even if they had been inclined not to “be brave”? —Maoriland Worker, May 13, 1925. . When, the Capitalists took the Carpenter and nailed Him to the cross they thought they had killed the Labour movement. . . Don’t forget. Sunbeams, the Carpenter was crucified for defying the money-bugs of His day.—Mxtract from Children 's Column, Maoriland Worker. The statement of Mr. P. Fraser, who, after instancing the overthrow of Russian despotism and the setting up of a Communistic State, said: “The Labour movement in New Zealand is part and parcel of the same movement.” Also liis declaration, which appeared in the Evening Post, 1921, during a controversy with Mr. Wilford, M.P., that “Lenin and Trotsky were two of the greatest statesmen in Europe.” Mr. Holland, M.P. ’s statement that: “Interest is something for nothing.” And in Hansard No. 4 of last year le made a similar statement as under: “If the farmer gets the full fruits of lis labour and exertions there- is notling left for the mortgagee.” The statement of Mr. Parry, M.P.: I have failed to find a single instance where a possessing class submitted to dispossession of the privi- j leges and predatory powers it heldI support volunteer forces for defence purposes, because- such a force would be necessary to protect the working class when a Socialist Government is in power. The statement of Mr. E. J. Howard, M.P., made in our Pasliament: As soon as possible I will help to get rid of Parliament as it is now constituted, and institute in its place an industrial Parliament that will reflect the useful people of this Dominion. The collective cable message sent to he Russian people condoling with them upon the death of the arch murderer jenin, which only Mr McCombs, M.P., publicly disavowin'., and publicly rebuked the executive of the Socialist Party for sending. The following statements' made by me, which I shall ask you to dispute: That the highest real wage in the world is paid where capital is most highly organised, that is, in Henry Ford’s factory; and the lowest wages have been paid where the Socialistic experiment has been most widely tried —in Russia, where 1,700,000 odd of the most • intelligent people have been executed by the Socialist Government, up to February, 1922; and

that the defects commonly ascribed to the capitalistic system are more the defects of human nature and; not i inseparably connected with that iivstem which, bv reason of big scale • production, nas raise*? t'ie standard of comfort throughout the world. If the Socialists believe that human betterment and the new Jerusalem is to be found, down the revolutionary Socialist’s avenue, it is, of course, their duty to promulgate their doctrines; but it is equally incumbent on those who believe that revolutionary Socilism, with all its hateful class-consciousness, leads l but to confusion and poverty, to do what lies in their power to combat, revolutionary arguments. 1 feel it necessary to denounce all class-consciousness, the inculcation of bitter class' hatred, or anything else which may tend to split the people iiito sections, when co-operative effort is so urgently needed, and without which we cannot hope to solve oil!- reconstruction problems, which are infinitely more difficult than those faced during the war. In conclusion, Mr. Hickey, if you are ].-repared, to dispute my statements quoted herein, and to defend the foregoing utterances of tour leaders and .yourself, and of the leaders of the Russian revolution, whom some, of your number have publicly eulogised, and also the statements taken from the official newspaper of your party, I shall be delighted to meet you in, Dunedin, where I have been asked to give a public address; or, if a large hall cannot be obtained there, then the largest theatre in Invercargill will suit my purpose equally well. But you will clearly understand that the subjects to be debated are contained in this letter. I have many public, engagements to fulfil, and with the prospect of a short session and ah early election, it is obvious that an early date must be fixed for the debate.—l am, etc., (Signed) HARRY ATMORE.