BRITISH LABOUR PARTY

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11960, 15 October 1924, Page 4

BRITISH LABOUR PARTY

AND THE COMMUNISTS. (TV> the Editor "N.Z. Times.") •Sir, —In your leader erf the 10th inst. on the British* Labour Forty's defeat you say: policy of withdranving the prosecution of Campbell the Government will- not be hampered by any touch oif the Communist Extreme Party." We are not 6ure that yon are right in this assumption. You z&i'er to "two very signficant votes of the Labour Conference, but thero was a third vote which, in our opinion, is more significant than the other two. The conference decided by 1,804,000 to 1,540,000 "that no member of the Communist Par tv wilL be eligible for membership of the Labour Party." That means there were nearly as many votes oast for admitting members of the Communist Party (as individuals) into the Labour Party as there wero against. The decision to exclude is not likely to be enforced, first, because it would split the party, and second, because it is Impracticalblo, os Communists airs in tii© Trade Unions and join up through them. During the last three years the Labour Party conferences.have repeatedly passed, by large majorities, motions excluding the Communists, but the party has never expelled any. It has, on the contrary, ,on several occasions, endorsed tho candidature of men who are avowed Communists. On tho other , hand, the Communist Party instructs its members to enter the Labour Party, to 6eek selection as Labour candidates, and to worm thedr way into positions of influence and of power.

From our reading we gather that the entanglement of the Socialist-Labour Party and the Communists ia becoming more fully realised as time goes on. Tho ‘Workers’ Weekly” is an official organ of tho Communist Party. Mr Campbell is a Communist. Mr Maxton, M.P., is of tho same extreme type. The men aro in the Labour Party-, with others similar, and there is where the embarrassment lies for the Labour Party. Socialism makes for communism, and there is no escape from the ultimate responsibility. THE!! NEfW ZEALAND WELFARE LEAGUE.