The Maoriland Worker WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 3, 1923 The Value of Political Action

Maoriland Worker, Volume 13, Issue 1, 3 January 1923, Page 4

The Maoriland Worker WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 3, 1923 The Value of Political Action

In view of the solidarity of the industrial ami political movements during the recent elections,, it in hardiy necessary now t<j argue in favour of political action by the organised workers a;-; one of the means of improving their conditions of life and increasing the power of Labour. The fact that, in our contributed most to the .conversion of our comrades who placed sole.reliaii.ee on the industrial weapon "was that a slump could be artificially brought .ibou';'by the financiers, deliberately.for the purpose of. creating uiier;-:ptoy:i _ ient, the prejudicial effect, oil -which, on T-rade Uniou orgamsatrou -■■iiiid be exploited by capitalist politicians to compel it to aecep!; reductions of wages and encroachments on its rights through process of the law. Clearly, if the instrument by whicli the imrhislruUists; youujhl. t> efiVct Labour's emancipation from the profiteering system -could be broken in their hands by a group of n\ci\ controlling credit a::d dictating to the Government behind the .scenes, some alternate aotioii was required to saTeimard the Trade and protect the iviterc-sN of inf;iibers. Fortunately the industrialists perceived this ana ivied aocording to their perception. Their labours, jointly with those of the political movement; issued in a considerable success, and immediately bore fruit. Mr. K. A. W.right, M P., stimulated by his narrow shave in "Wellington ,Siibiu*bs, at once gave evidence of {mii»ht<:":mte»:t, and fin noun ccm.l tiiat the Arbitration Court's ■allowance ..for rent itv the fixation of its ))asia rate was at least ten shillings less than it should be. His discovery was certainly belated, but then, it was not until AFTER the election that the insecurity of his position, resulting from

the bitter sense of injustice at the Court's decision, was revealed to him. In any case, if Mr. Wright, as Mayor of "Wellingtori, acts in. conformity with his criticism of the Court., it will be worth at leas J; £20,000 in hard cash to the City Corporation labourers and tramway employees. £20,000 is a good return from an expenditure ol £500 in election expenses. It is in fact a dividend of 4,000 per cent,. And an even greater dividend is possible. For it the Liberals are not spineless flunkeys, they will fling , out Mr. Massey. and then there is MORE THAN A PROBABILITY that Labour wHI be able to prevent the third cut. This would be worth £750,000 to the Civil-Servants—a .solid cash yield for the simple act of walking intelligently to the ballot box and voting for the Labour candidate. Pat this way political action by Labour is not only eonimonsense— it i.s a potent move in industrial tactics. Let us have some more of it. It will not be improvable.