The New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1920. TOO LATE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10688, 7 September 1920, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1920. TOO LATE

The revolutionary pronouncements of certain Labour leaders and Labour organisations of New Zealand have "missed' the 'bus." Their support of the Council of Action is too late for its real object, which is the triumph, of Bolshevism over Poland on its way to enslave "Western Europe. The pretence of the Council of Action; is the prevention of war generally, but their object is the release of the Russian Soviet from Western intervention in favour of Poland." Tho Council of Action concealed its face under a matter of general philanthropy for-a time. "When the Polish armies were 'driven back, and terms of absolute destruction were dictated by the greedy Soviets, the Council became alarmed lest Russia might be deprived .of its victim, and, in its fear, dropped its mask. Standing for tho destruction of Poland and the establishment of the first Soviet step to the West, the Council .issued its class- ukase—to the British Government, and backed it with a threat of civil war. It got its answer in. the shape of a most uncompromising refusal. And immediately afterwards- the Polish armies swept the Reds back in headlong disaster. The outcome is. the Soviofc withdrawal of the murderous terms proposed, in the hour of victory, and the Soviet expression -of willingness ; to treat; with the Poles in less arrogantfaehion.-TT The position makes ridiculous . the Labour resolutions supporting the Soviet aggression. The Soviet aggression has become a flight; there is no longer any reason for anybody to protect Poland Against annihilation; there is no possibility of any war against Russia; and yet these cries against interfering with' . Russian tyranny continue.;; .The' e'igiis*ai:e that they may presently take a different tone—tho tone of frenzied suppliants demanding protection for the poor, deluded, down-trodden Soviets, to help them to yet save humanity by murdering everybody in the world ouvsido the proletariat. Already ■ tho consequences of the disaster, so splendidly inflicted by the patriotic valour of the Polifih .armies are 'spreading. . 'For a time the German secret allies of the Soviets, who had predicted Polish disaster at every turn before the great Polish victory, kept up a pretence of a vast counter-advance of tho Soviet armies, and even announced the defeat" of Wrangel's, offensive. ißut" these fables have (subsided; the last reliable Soviet army—Budeny's cavalry—operating for propaganda purposes, has been annihilated; and • the special, great levies ordered by tho Soviet Government to meet tho crisis have been answered by risings throughout the "Ukraine against tho hated oppressors. Tho only course now for 'the aiders and abettors of tho Re\-olutionary Tribunal of Action is to call on the British Government and its Allies to march into Russia to restore the usurpers masquerading in the name of the pro. letariat. They are hardly likely to do that. But, if they do it, then it will bo the first honest demand made by the Council of Direct Action.

For the. rest of the Empire, tho Council of Direot Aotion matters but little. The fact that the a'ttempt of tho leaders of the' miners to bring about a general strike is hanging fire, proclaims tho contempt in which the Council of Action is generally held. That arrogant body began with a grab at the reins of the British Empire, and is ending .by not being even noticed in a domestic crisis. It is clear that there is enough common-Bonse in tho British Labour ranks, and respect for the constitution, to let this proposterous movement die a natural death Nothing' could have happened more happily. When the Council. put out its hand to force its own pet lino of action, the foreign situation it had chosen for ite stage dissolved; and the movement was loft bobbing about absurdly on the waves of chance.—a vain thing, ridiculously babbling. But though that is the outcomo, it is impossible to forget tho true character of the movement. It is a revolutionary organisation; it has tried to seize the reins of power by the hands of a class; it has proclaimed that any section that chooses to call itself the people has*tho right to govern the realm and tho Empire. This is the movement which actually attempted to set up a Botehcvik tyranny in Britain, and did so in ayniDathv with the treneral 80l-

shevik design against the freedom of fthe whole world. , This is unforgettable; and against its repetition all men of- patriotism £S3$ loyalty must be prepared.