THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered (oi transmission through the Post as a newspaper, THURSDAY MARCH 11, 1948 A Testing Time For New Zealanders

Northern Advocate, 11 March 1948, Page 4

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered (oi transmission through the Post as a newspaper, THURSDAY MARCH 11, 1948 A Testing Time For New Zealanders

It is becoming increasingly evident that if law-abiding and peaceloving elements in countries which enjoy the democratic way of life do not manifest interest in their own welfare, and, in a spirit of goodwill, use the same missionary zeal to increase their numbers as Communists use to secure converts to their ideology, submergence of liberty will assuredly take place, and that before long. This should be a sobering reflection on the part of political leaders no less than the rank and file of their followers.

It is plain to everybody who does not deliberately shut his eyes to facts that a crucial testing time is at hand, and that if people who desire continuance of laws which give individuals liberty of thought and action that are not anti-social, they must not only close their ranks for mutual protection, but insist upon reforms and the removal of existent anomalies which may be causes of discontent. These things should not be done in a spirit of unfriendliness, jealousy or anger, but rather with an overwhelming urge to safeguard the state and promote the wellbeing of everybody. This contention may be stigmatised as foolish idealism, but those who think in that way may well ask themselves: what is the alternative?

That is a question which leaders of political parties in New Zealand, for instance, should ask themselves today, when forces of evil arc strenuously and subtly trying to seduce sections of the people.

Can any sane man or woman, aware of what is happening in other parts of the world, believe that ambition to promote better and happier conditions for lhe people as a whole is motivating those who engineer strikes, go-slow tactics and general obstruction of industry in New Zealand today?

If, as at one time was the case, the masses of the people were subject to the law of the jungle, which left the weak to fend for themselves, there might be something to be said for the advocacy of direct action by a valiant few who were ready to lead forlorn hopes.

But today Lhe rule of law lias replaced tooth and claw in the settlement of questions at issue between parties engaged in industry, and there is no need for the adoption of destructive tactics.

Yet. in spite of these things, some extremist elements who have secured places of power in organised labour have counselled action which can only be interpreted as a challenge to state authority and destructive of the machinery of conciliation and arbitration.

A policy of this description simply does not make sense, unless it be that desire to create national confusion is the objective of Communists, who hope that out of such confusion they ma) be able to seize supreme power.

In the light of what such seizure of power by Communists has meant in older countries, can any New Zealander, whatever his or her allegiance to the dominant political parties in the Dominion may be, want such a revolutionary development to take place? Surely not.

Yet it is a regrettable fact that, in the face of a common foe. a large section of moderate people who are good citizens in every sense of the word, evince no concern in the lessons of contemporary history.

Trades unionists, for their part, should see that they take a live interest in the affairs of their unions and realise that each is invested with the privilege, as well as the responbility. of expressing at the ballot-box his opinion of candidates for important offices and his attitude towards general policy.

In the past, many unionists who might have impressed their personalities upon their fellows have refrained from attendance at meetings, and have thus allowed extremists, elected by minority votes, to be placed in the scats of power, witli results that are clearly seen today.

No longer should fair-minded unionists be apathetic towards the affairs of their unions, and in consequence find themselves, as many arc doing today, placed in a most invidious position: either to obey strike orders promoted by men for whom they did not vote on selection day, or, by refusing to strike, render themselves open to charges of an opprobrious nature. This embarrassment, with the added knowledge that an insidious thrust against the country’s vitals is being made, could most likely have been avoided if the unionists and those who share their desire for peace and order, had exercised their prerogatives in shaping the destiny of their unions.

The same comment may be addressed to moderate members of the public at large who, because of political differences have failed to recognise that broken ranks have allowed the assembling of extremists who, through ignorance or inability to appreciate the garden path down | which they were being led, have allied themselves with the advocates of an alien ideology. The New Zealand Government of ' the day has been forced at long last to a realisation that attempts to appease subversive elements as a j policy as foolish as it is futile, for I sooner or later the hand which feeds ; will be bitten.

In these circumstances the surest means by which a strong stand can succeed in restoring sane conditions in industry is for the people, irrespective of political opinions, which can be given effect at the proper time, to show that they are definitely behind the forces of law and order —which calls for a united front against the enemies of democracy.