Confessions of a Scab

Maoriland Worker, Volume 5, Issue 178, 1 July 1914, Page 5

Confessions of a Scab

. t FROM "THE KNUT."

"The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the ©merods, and with the SCAB."—Deuteronomy, 2B: 27. "Therefore tho Lord will' emtio tho SCAB on the crown of his head." — Isaiah, 3: 17. "And if the priest see that behold tho SCAB spieadeth, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean."t-Levi, 13: 18. . Never shall I forget the morning I first applied for work ns a professional "scab." It war. gloomy weather, with a steady downpour of rain. It seemed as 'if tho sun had hidden its face to shut out tho sight of my trickery—as if tlio heavens wero weeping for my perfidy. 1 fancied that guilt was branded on my brow, that people read my dastardly purposo in my faco. It seemed as if tho men turned from mo in" loathing, as if the children hushed Uioir merry laughter at my approach. The very stouos of tho street seemed to cry out bonoath the pressure of my feet, "Traitr or! coward I scab!"

I am ashamed to walk the streets at open ,day. Those who U6ed to greet mo with a glad smile now shun mc as though I were afflicted with a dreadful pc.tilonco. Even littlo children point mo out £nd whispor my shame to their schoolmates. At school, everywhere, my own children aro shunned or jeered at; no one will associate with them—because their father is a scab.

I frequently hear my foreman cay, "I can't get the allotted work out of this bunch of rotten scabs." He no longer trusts mc, knowing that I have proved a traitor to my class. He realises that a man of that calibre must be unsafe and dishonest. His threatening looks, contemptible sneors, and constant abuse I must suffer in. silence. My wretched lifo bcoomes unbearable. It is hell and misery for myself and my innocent wife and children. Wo aro all branded. 1 want' to get away from it, to get out and go to some other part of the country. There I can begin anew and work with my fellow-man as I should.

Where can Igo ? When I get fnore I will at onco join tho union. I will make amends as far as I can for my traitorous work of the pa-st. I will join the union and help it in every way I can, so that I may look my fellow-workers in the face liko a man. Their- -cause is mine. Those out on strike are fighting for mo and nijno, although I am a traitor and>ono of the basest wretches ever born—a scab.

Yes, I will go away and redeem my horrible past. I realise now that, although it sounds nico, the "open shop" means a deadly snare. It enabled my boss to weed out his union men ono by one and replace them with scabs. Every chango augmented his profit and entrenched him against the strike. A union man in an open shop uovor knows when ho will bo fired to make room for a cheaper man. I can sco now that unions v/cro formed for self-defence, that the} are absolutely necessary safeguards c gainst the brutal, slave-grinding boss. Tho union binds men together lor mutual, protection against tho pot-bellied plutocrats who, having the earth, want to claim tbe earth and sky and sea.

If combination is good' for capital it is good for Labour —for the-cold-blooded reason of self-interest. But thero is a difference. Underlying Labour unionism is the cause of right, but back of capital are the crimes of vanity, greed, inhumanity, and lust for power. I see it all since I joined the scurvy scabs.

I will join the union for the same reason that I get out of the way of a motor-car or a runaway horse—self preservation. Outeido the union I am at ;tho mercy of any master; I am simply a doormat for his dirty feet.

Never again will I become a cowardly scab. I am deeply af.hamed and humiliated because of my treachery to my class. The scab betrays oven his own children. I will, away and become a man. I have learnt the bitter lesson. I was taught it while working as a scab. Here it is, and I hope that every scab who reads it will desert tho enemy and fall into the ranks of tho union. Hero it is, as plain ns tho nose on my face, the self-evident, terrible truth: When tho strike comes scab labour combines against union labou:, but Capital combines against both!