THE RED FEDERATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15170, 9 December 1912, Page 4

THE RED FEDERATION.

ITS FOUR YEARS' HISTORY.

DEFEATED AND DISCREDITED.

,Thk Federation of Labour has b'qen in existence a little over four years, and its record when it deemed action necessary has been one of complete failure. It came into existence in 1908 as a federation of miners.

In February of that year after the Blackball strike was over some of the members of the union were dismissed, including Messrs. J. H. Hickey and P. C. Webb. About that time Mr. It. Semple camo from Australia, and settled on the West Coast. Mr. Hickey liad visited America, and came back imbued with the doctrines of the Independent Workers of the World, and he and Mr. Webb aro said to have converted Mr. Semple. Tho trio immediately set to work to form a federation of West Coast miners' unions. It is interesting to note, however, that at this'time there was no talk.of 1.W.W.-ism. A conference of delegates of the unions was called in tho early ,part of 1908, and Messrs. Hickey, Semple, and Webb succeeded in forming the Federation of West Coast Miners. There was no talk of a general strike at that time, although the constitution adopted was framed 'on the constitution of the Western Federation of Miners in America, the moving spirit of' which was Mr. William 1). Hay ward, one of tho leaders of LW.W.-ism in America.

After the formation of the Federation of West Coast Miners, the executive sent out a circular to all mining unions in New Zealand, asking them, if favourable, to send delegates to a conference to be held at Wellington in October, 1908. The Thames and Otago unions were not represented at that conference, at which the New Zealand Miners' Federation was formed, and Mr. Semple was elected president, r

On October 18, 1909, a second conference was held in Wellington, and the title of the New Zealand Federation of Labour was adopted. The Trades Councils at the time were moving in the direction of forming a Federation of Labour along political lines, but they were forestalled, and the name was registered by the miners' organisation, although it was oven then only a federation of miners. • Mr. Semplo was appointed organiser, and Mr. Webb president. A new constitution was adopted, providing for . political action, and clause 2, of rule 2, in the constitution, gave the federation power to admit any bona-fide labour body, provided that there was no federation of the particular industry in which' the members were engaged. The federation had now grown strong, and included in its ranks all the miners' unions in New Zealand, except the Thames union. Beginning ol I.W.W. Methods. Between October 18, 1909, and August, 1910, the State miners' strike was engineered by the federation, and the latter also sent £3000 to assist the strikers, led by Mr. Peter Bowling, in Australia. In August, 1910, a third conference was field in Wellington. Having prevailed on several additional unions to join the federation now began to show its hand, and the constitution' was remodelled on I.W.W. lines, and political action was eliminated. Clause 2 of rule 2 was also eliminated, and a clause substituted, empowering the federation to take in individual unions belonging to any other federation. .This resulted in the smashing of the Waterside Workers' Federation. Propaganda Work Bearing Fruit. The two years of propaganda work carried on by the Federation of Labour now began to bear fruit. In quick miccession, many large and influential unions decided to join the ranks of the "militant" army. These included the Manawatu Flaxmillers.' Unions, the Auckland and Canterbury Labourers' Unions, the Auckland Tramways' Union, and the Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton.. Nelson, Westport, Timaru, Paten, Dunedin, and other Waterside Workers' Unions. In fact the federation made great headway, while merely organising, without putting I.W.W. tactics into practice, the majority of the unions not being conversant with the doctrines of the so-called Federation of Labour. The federation now became aggressive, and in the general labourers' strike in February of this year endeavoured to fore© an agreement from the employers. On behalf of the local bodies in Auckland, the Mayor (Mr. C. J. Parr) definitely stated that no agreement would be recognised unless ratified under the Arbitration Act. A bitter fight ensued, and culminated in fomo of the federation lenders rudely disturbing a meeting of employers convened by the°Mavor. These leaders had to leave the room..but as they did so, one of them, in a threatening "way, said to the j Mayor: "I will deal with you later." The federation supported a candidate, at tho Mayoral election in the city in April last against Mr. Parr, who. however, was returned by an overwhelming majority. This was the first serious setback that the federation had received, but lesson was quickly forgotten by the leaders. The Pull I.W.W. Platform. At the conference in May, 1912, the leaders felt sufficiently euro of their position to adopt the I.W.W. platform in full: they apparently considered the time had come to make a determined effort to wipe out the Arbitration Act. This was the beginning of the end. According to the preamble of the constitution "the working class and the employing class have nothing in common. . . ■*. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the wor! I organise as a class, take, possession of tho earth and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system. . . . By organising industrially we are forming the structure of tho new society within tho shell of the old." In the light of the LW.W. philosophy the federation set out frankly to smash tho Arbitration Act. The supporters of I.W.W. doctrines obtained the control of tho federation although a largo proportion of the members of the affiliated unions, were unquestionably in favour of arbitration and legal agreements with the employers. The Waihi Strike. Then came the Waihi strike on May 13 of this year. The engine-drivers at Waihi had formed an arbitration union and the federation endeavoured to coerce tho employers into intimidating the arbitrationieis. Failing in this the strike was declared. From the start the strike was foredoomed to failure. Union after union severed its connection with the federation during the months the Waihi' strike continued. Trump cards during tho strike were promised in abundance, but they were never played until the fateful gelignite and shooting outrages, which roused the righteous indignation of the workers at Waihi. and ended the rule-of the federation in that industrial centre. Rebuffs All Round. ' The federation has been hopelessly beaten at Huntly in the past few months. The General Labourers' and Auckland- Tramway's Unions has left its fold in disgust, and a. big section of the Auckland watereiders are antagonistic to the federation, while the Wellington waterside workers are demanding secession from the discredited and hopelessly defeated body. It can safely be said that' the, federation is now practically dead as far as the North Island is concerned. In the South Island the feeling against I the federation is also strong. At Reefton j it suffered a crushing defeat. The Otago ooalminers broke away in July last and i formed an arbitration union. Subsequently < this Kaitangata union broke away and the < federation sympathisers went to*the West ■ Coast. Practically the West Coast is now ! the" only stronghold of the federation, and 1 it is expected that the leaders will con- ! fine their attention to that district, [ >