FORMATION OF THE MAJORITY PARTY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 19 April 1922, Page 5

FORMATION OF THE MAJORITY PARTY.

3 The split that took place in the Aus- , trahan Labour Party ten days ago is ; complete. Australian newspapers to - hand show that the Majority Labour I Party, which broke away from the i omcial section after the expulsion of - Mr. J. H. Catts, IvLP., has issued a ! manifesto repudiating the Communistic - proposals embodied in the Federal - Labour platform at Brisbane last year, 3 and reverting for the present- to tho , platform of 1920. , The expulsion of Mr. Catts by the executive of the Australian Labour , 1 arty took place on April 7, and it I appears to have been regarded by the ; moderate men in the party as the- , climax of a series of tyrannical actions I on the part of the extremists. Labour I men who resented the autocratic rule s ot the A.L.P. executive met in Sydney L the next morning, and decided upon , the reorganisation of the party. The i following manifesto was subsequently , issued: — 1 "Whereas the Australian Labour Party is misrepresented by a minority section, which has improperly obtained ' control of its head at Macdonell House, I Sydney; and whereas such section has ; become associated or allied with interests and coteries antagonistic to and destructive of the aims and objects of the Australian Labour Party; arid , whereas, by the manner in which the Australian Labour Party is manipulated, it has been for some time, and still is, impossible to rid the movement of the elements referred to, "Be it therefore resolved: "" "(1) The Australian Labour Party j shall be reorganised by the majority, I and shall be known by. the short title of the Majority Labour Party. ! "(2) The objective of the party shall > be (a) The cultivation of an Australian j sentiment, based upon the maintenance jof racial purity and;the development in j Australia of an enlightened and self- , reliant community; (b) the securing of the full results of their industry to all producers by collective ownership of monopolies, and the extension of 'the . economic functions of the State and -municipality. . . J "3. (a) The policy of separation of [ Church and State and secular, unde- : nominational public education is aecept;cd as final and conclusive; (b) the party shall CopjiJffe the Commonwealth or a State maicm^- any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for pre- | yenting the free exercise of any re- , ligion, and no religious test shall be 1 required or permitted as a qualification ! for anyoffice or public test under the i .Commonwealth or a state; (e) the prin--1 ciples presented in clause (b) shall be applied in- the administration of the affairs of the party; (d) this section j and the policy and principles presented therein shall not be quashed, abro- : gated, altered, or called into question I on any account whatsoever. j "4. The conference, the executive, i and the branches shall exercise the respective functions prescribed for them, and no member of the party shall, be. subject to any control or discipline other than as clearly set forth in the rules. "5. The Federal platform made atBrisbane in October of 1921, providing' for the Soviet Communist system of government, the abolition of Parlia- ! ment. and the substitution therefor of a supreme economic council, based industrial Soviets, is not accepted. For i the-present the planks of the Federal 1 platform for 1920 are adopted. | "6. The State platform, pledges, con- , stitution, and rules of the A.L.P. are ■ i hereby adopted and incorporated with sections 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, subject to the revision of the general rules to provide more effectively for the proper conduct of any endorsement or selection of candidates, the administration of funds, and the business of the conleience."