The Political Situation

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 303, 20 December 1922, Page 4

The Political Situation

-:"'" Since the last issue of The Maoriland Worker the political situation lias not improved for the Tory Party. ( With Mr. Lee, of Oamaru, among the politically slain, Mr. k Massey is in a minority of-four. Whether or not the Tory j Government retains power depends on the attitude of the - : Liberals, and it is their hesitation that creates doubt as ~1. to what will occur. We know definitely what Labour * intends to do—it will vote against Mr. Massey on every occasion for the simple reason that its opposition is not of a dubious quantity—but of the policy of Liberalism the ■■■[ public can only conjecture. ...The silence of it.g leader, however is very easy of explanation. Mr. Wilford is embarrassed by his election pledges. From Auckland to the Bluff, he swore a solemn vow that if he had to depend on ■* Labour votes he would decline to take office, should the electors place him in a position so to do. And now power is 1 within his grasp he hesitates for fear Labour will- take advantage of his j>osition to oust the Masseyites. His promises condemn Mr. Wilford to vacillation, and-for this he will assuredly pay the penalty. For not only is vacillation a crime when the issues are sharp and clear in the minds of the masses of the people, but, however true it is that as between tne Wilford and Massey politicians there is no fundamental difference whatever, the rank and file of the" Liberal voters THINE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE, and consequently require the dismissal of the Tories. Mr. Wilford is thus in a cleft stick. Caught between his anti-Labour pledges and the desire of his own voters for social progress, he, like Brer Rabbit-cum-Mr, Mieawber, lies low, says nothing, and waits for something to turn up. Labour will lose nothing by his inaction— indeed by vigorously assailing the Government it can wrest from Mr. Wilford in the minds of the people the reality of Opposition, even supposing that numbers give his party "that title, which is not at all certain. Further, Labour should suffer no anxiety over the problem as to which side of. the fence gentlemen like Mr. L. M. Isitt, whose proMasseyism is being exploited diligently by the Tory press for the maintenance-of "Reform, ,, will.fall —if they.drop on Mr. Massey , s side, it will be all to the good. Ratting .. after ten years , of Toryism will not be taken so philo-" sophieally as before it, and the Liberals guilty of it, elected as they have been against Massey candidates, safely be left ,to the tender mercies of the people, who may be

depended on to give theni their deserts. The tide is with Labour. Let us keep our heads, work and organise, in- / V| jppired by the knowledge that our Movement is the only ,y alternative to the injustice and incapacity of capitalism^ : and will therefore bring salvation to t