The Need of the Hour

Maoriland Worker, Volume 4, Issue 146, 19 November 1913, Page 2

The Need of the Hour

Tiie rapid rise of the New Unionism, with the unity of Labor as its kejnote, and political action as one of its articles of faith, has filled the hearts of tho.se who hated the old unionism with a frenzy tlut the wildest outbursts of vilification fail to" satisfy. The old craft unionist, building a wall around his O'Vij particular trade interests., and Isrgtiij , unconcerned with what was goin£ on within the walls of unionists of other trades, who were living the same sort cf self-contained life that- he was living, was often enough regarded as a monitor of Iniquity. Whenever independence took the place of docility in his occasionally discontented mind, whenever he jbegan to assert the work-ing-class manhood within him m a demand for improved conditions, an army of journalists wouid set out on the congenial tnsk of holding him tip as tht dupe of well-paid agitators, and would strive strenuously arid enthriaiest'icaily to sandbag him back to the k'tt'iy [.-o>itiaii that Providence' hsd specially ordajjied lie must occupy. Occasionally the old craft unionist, hearing tie sounds .of strifft in a neighbouring trade enclosure, would find a spirit of sympathy, a feeling of community of iilerests with the unfortunate next door, stirring his heart, and the hand of help, with some ill-spared coin in it, woidd be held out. Arid then the oFd rrder began .to change., the old exelu.siveness to break tip. The separate, and generally unrelated, regiments of the industrial army were considerab'y added to whan, in 1888, unskilled labor for the first time wa3 successfully organised The strike which followed of the London dockers, with a "tanner" an hour as their humble objective, electrified'the trade union movement, and hard facts appealing to sentiment did more in a few short weeks towards awakening a widespread sense of work-ing-class solidarity than carefully prepared arguments appealing to reason could have hoped to accomplish m a decade. The big maritime strike of 1800. and the shearers' strike that imraodiateJy succeeded it, brought Australia well into the vanguard of the movement j that had the emancipation, of the workers for its aim, and the amalgamation ! of the industrial unions and the cap- j turo of the Legislature as its methods. While th« old unionist, vrith his nariow sympathies, provoked tha hirekngi mud-slingers of assailed privilege to anger, the new unionist, with his broader outlook and clearly-defitusd goal, has thrown them into wild convulsions. That the man in moles should claim tlie right of collective bargaining, the right to discuss, and even dispute, with mine-owners and factory-owners and steamship owners on such matters as wages, and hours, and conditions of labor, was indeed highly presumptuous, and called for scathing condemnation; that he should aspire to place the sceptre of political power in the horny hands of men lifted right out of the ranks of labor for j that particular purpose was nothing less than suorilege. And so the antiLabor press straightway jettisoned its i conscience—if it ever had one— gathered together a vast and varied assortment of adjectives and expletives, got its picturesque imagination into working order ,and started out on a new crusade. Did facts require coloring, the office artist dressed them up in hair-raising gaudiness; did they require inventing, the office liar was requisitioned; did an item of news crop up in the world or ever.-ts that might have discredited their own cause cr assisted that of Labor, it was promptly, and vigorously suppressed. The story of the Capitalistic press, in its relation to the Labor movement, is indeed a dark and sorry die. Attacking class batred, they have fairly frothed with it; assailing a non-oxist-enfc tyranny, they have writhed ignomiuiously under a real one, condemning sufferings inflicted by strikes, they] have shut tfceir eyes to the sufferings that have forced workers to take up the gnge of battle in a hundred industrial upheavals Even to day they are screaming for batons and special constables to brow-beat the workers into submission in Netv Zealand; but ye.tcrdav they were applauding the bloody villainy on the Rand, where miners, revolting against a huge and murderous despotism, wefe mowed down in cold blood; to-morrow, if needs be ,they will do the same. Providence- fights on the side of the big battalions, and the workers suould bear in mind that they are the big battalions. Weli-organieed and wellofficered, they can defy the strength of

vested interests and the soulless sycophants that champion the moneyl.ower, and march to 'ictory. But organisation, political ami industrial, raised to its highest decree- oi numerical and working efficiency, constitutes their first line of attack and defence ; it is the open sesame of the future, the force against which opposition wil! vainly strive. Let the wage-earner' recognise ite importance, and extend tl eir ranks and sway accordingly, and all things will be added to them. Brisbane 'Daily Standard" (5 11 13).