WHEEREE IS BRITISH LABOUR GOING?

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 806, 8 September 1923, Page 11

WHEEREE IS BRITISH LABOUR GOING?

THE INTERNATIONALIST CRAZE.

(Contributed by N.Z. Welfare League) If Britain goes far wrong New Zealand—and all other parts of tho Empire—must suffer, For this important reason we are deeply concerned in what takes place in the Mother CounWhilo the political crisis which ended in Mr. Stanley Baldwin's appointment as Prime Minister was absorbing public attention, a great conference was sitting almost unnoticed in the German port of Hamburg. Yet the Gorman gathering may prove to have a far more important effect upon the future of British politics than the reconstruction of the Ministry. Although most British working men appear to be utterly unaware of what has happened, away on the banks of ,the Elbe, a few British Labour leaders have quietly bound the British Labour Party and his Majesty's Opposition in Parliament hand and foot to a crowd of foreigners. They have explicitly agreed to engage in what is called "class warfare," which is really Bolshevism as devised by Karl Marx. They have further agreed that in future the British Labour Party shall take its orders from the executive of a proGerman organisation with a German name, on which only one Englishman has a seat. • The Hamburg gathering was called the "International Socialist Congress, and the British delegation, winch was over forty strong, included Mr Arthur Henderson, M.P., Mr J. H. Thomas, M.P., Mr Sidney Webb, M.P., Mr. Buxton, and others of lesser note. Tho principal object of the congress was to unite the Socialist movement, hitherto much divided, upon an international basis. A new organisation was created, which is to be known as the "5.A.1." Its full name is the "Socialistche Arbeiter Internationale." In spirit the organisation is German through and through. The president, Otto Wels, is a German. The two French members of the executive are both notorious pro-Germans. The two members who purport to represent the United States are not American born, but one is by birth an Austrian and the other a Russian Jew. Every one upon the executive is an avowed champion of Germany. Such is the net in which the British Labour movement has been entangled, to the immense delight of the German Socialists, who think that in this country Labour will come into power to-morrow morning and will instantly throw oyer France. The wicked French ought to leave the Ruhr. Mr Henderson delivered a violent attack on the British Government because they had spoken unkindly to the "civilised" Bolshevists, and the British delegation proposed that we should forgo all war debts owing to us by others, and that Germany should not pay us anything by way of reparations. No wonder the crowds of enthusiastic Germans cheered Mr Henderson and his colleagues wildly. It was decided that the headquarters of the "Socialistche Arbeiter Internationale" shall be established in London. The first of the statutes of the new organisation runs as follows: "The Socialist International unites Socialist workmen's parties, which acknowledge their aim if be the substitution of Socialistic for capitalist production, and class warfare to be the means of emancipation for the working classes." Every one of the British delegates including Mr Thomas, Mr Sidney Webb and Mr Buxton, voted for this sinister and menacing declaration. The second Statute says: "The Socialist International is a living reality only so far as its decision of international questions are binding for all its parties. Any decision of the international organisation, therefore, signifies the voluntary limitation of the autonomy of the parties of separate countries." There can be only one interpretation of the extraordinary .action of the British delegates. It means that if a 1 Labour Government is returned by the electors it will have to obey a foreign pro-German executive. Herr Adler, of Vienna, whom we shall soon see in London as second secretary of this 'precious enterprise, says in his official report on the statutes that "the decisions of the S.A.I, in all international questions will be binding upon all affiliated organisations." The Constitution lays down this law: "The S.A.I, is not only an effective instrument in peace, but just as absolutely essential during war. In conflicts between nations tho International shall be recognised as the highest authority." The "5.A.1.," which places self above all Governments, is to have "ambassadors in all countries, just as Governments have their ambassadors." Evidently the headquarters of this Hamburg organisation in London is going to be a rather queer place. Of this precious International the president is a German. One of tho secretaries is Fritz Adler, of Vienna—the self-same Adler who murdered. Count Sturgkh, the Austrian Prime Minister, on the 21st October, 1916. WHERE NEW ZEALAND APPEARS In viewing this British Labour sacrifice to an Internationalist craze which denies the authority of all Governments and puts the League of Nations even right out of court, we ai'6 reminded that the New Zealand Labour Party, at its last conference, declared strongly for Internationalism. Which International it espouses is not disclosed. At present it is playing the good young man to the deception of those who never look below the surface. At the same time it is quietly working for an Internationalism which _ puts class before country, and which inevitably finds its apotheosis in the mad example we have just shown British Labour to be involved in. It is a tragical paradox that those who call for "self determination" most loudly are often the most fanatical in seeking to establish an International authority of class dominance which would destroy all rights and authority of constituted Governments exercising national sovereignity. The craze of Internationalism is a present danger which all thoughtful people would do well to take" note of.