A WORD OF WARNING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 31 May 1930, Page 11

A WORD OF WARNING

(Contributed by the New. Zealand

Welfare League)

Referring to the rioting at.Rothbury, Australia, in January last, tho "Sydney Bulletin" said: —; ._.,'. "To-day there is a power in the world waiting to grasp every opportunity that offers to fan the smouldering fires of discontent into revolutionery action. This is the appalling danger of the pre-: sent' situation —that man,, at heartmost, law abiding may be lured on into committing themselves to definite hostility to the law." The power referred to is the Third International, at Moscow, and. we see the agents of that sinister body at work in the Dominion, organising and inciting the) unemployed to demonstrate. •

The Communist, R. P. Griffin,' and others, are taking an active hand in this call for direct action, and we warn the men out of work that the Communists are not at all concerned about the welfare. of the unemployed workers, but are only acting for their own purposes in strict accord with instructions from the Third International. Th.e workless are to be used as "catspaws" to start ! trouble. This is not guess work on our part, as we have definite facts to go upon! Here is what the official, Russian, report in our possession says: "In all capitalist and most colonial countries there exist to-day Communist parties prepared to conduct the unemployed into the revolutionery struggle—the Communists are mobilising this fight of the unemployed against capitalism."

THE PROGRAMME

In March last the question was dis.eussed fully in Moscow in order, to see how best to utilise it. Lozovsky, a member of the Soviet Government and on tho International Executive, wrote a long treatise on the Communist work amongst the unemployed in> other countries. We have this treatise in which he says: "Every unemployed worker constitutes a centre of ferment, wholesale unemployment Is a reservoir of revolutionary energy, and we must understand how to organise this force, how to divert this energy into proper channels—it represents a powerful revolutionary force to be made 1 use of only by creating an appropriate organisation." ,

He then explains how essential it is to try to agitate amongst men in work by using the fear of unemployment and thus "link up the movement of the unemployed with the general proletarian class movement." It would, he continued, "be.puerile to tell the unemployed to wait with their demands till capitalism is destroyed. We must tell them to organise, wrest by force from ■ the bourgeoisie every thing they can by mass action, including armed revolt, and fight for their demands keeping in mind the fact that the destruction of the capitalist system is the only way to put an end to unemployment." Compare this last with R. P. Griffin's advice to the unemployed in Wellington last week: "The matter could not be settled by the capitalist class, so it was up to the unemployed to organise and hold demonstrations." Also his reported threat to Mr Forbes "unless you pay attention you are going to see something." Lozovsky, explains how "strikes can arise in connection with this problem" by inducing workers to down tools if any men are discharged and adds "strikes can and must be organised. The renunciation of the strike weapon, pleading the bad business situation, must, be ruthlessly opposed." Note the recent freezing works trouble.