SOCIALISM AND J. A. MILLAR.

NZ Truth, Issue 158, 27 June 1908, Page 6

SOCIALISM AND J. A. MILLAR.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — Since the Socialist propaganda has been initiated all the flunkeys 1 who fawn to Fat have, been filling the papers with furious fukninations against the Socialists. Sycophantic scribblers have sneaked around snake-like, spitting forth their venom at them. Tom Mann ought to glory m the fact that he could rouse the press from one end of New Zealand to the other to a pitch of fury by telling the simple truth. But At has been so from time immemorial. The advance guards of ©very popular movement m defence of public rights have been vilified and slandered by the vested interests that opposed them. Mo one recognises this fact or has pointed it our more capably than you have. And as your journal poses as the friend of the workers, your present attitude of antagonism is inexplicable to the working class movement which is following the lead of all other civilised countries by asking for the full reward of the fruits of their labor. ' 'You cry out m despair that the present Government is a Socialist one. Th« following, extract is a reply to the Socialists by Mr Millar. There is no ambiguity about it, but a direct challenge to Socialism :— A CHALLENGE. The elections were coming along very shortly, and those who .held the views he had been referring to would have ap opportunity of putting m men who were going to do all these things. — (Applause.) He gave them five months' dear notice that the Government was not going .j;p accept the doctrine, so that, they might at once he m a position ot finding men who were going to do it.— (Applause.) You surely have rot forgotten the Blackball strike, where seven unionists were sacked, and non-unionists | kept on, although they were working under an agreement that said preference shall. h&: given to unionis-ts ? You have not forgotten that when the Arbitration Act was . introduced it was supposed to be a Court of Equity and good conscience and the workers were told that no legal technidalities should override the intentions of the Legislature ? And yet to present those seven men from being victimised the miners were forced to strike. Have you forgotten the Denniston Miners' case who now work under the bank-to-bank clause that the legal technicalities raised by a judge deprived them of ? Do you remember that m spite of the judge's decision the men gained their terms, and with the connivance of Mr Millar. And yet because the Blackball miners asked for the same terms the law intended to al-< low them, their homes are being sold out. Do you remember how Mr Millar blackballed these men and denied them ; the

right to get - work on the Government Railways ? Why tfien is it wrong for us to show our disapproval oi Mr Millar's and the Government's action, which- he admits is equally responsible ? Mr Millar's action m boycotting strikers has been commented on as follows : — •After all, perhaps his method was kinder than the la,w of King Edward VI., who decreed that ap.y person, male or female, who was idle for three days or refused to work, should be branded with the letter "V" on the breast and he compelled to Work for the informap.t for two years. The owner o£ such slaves could treat them as he liked, and. could starve or liog them. If the slave ran away, he or she when, caught was, if more than a fortnight had elapsed, branded with the letter "S" on the forehead or cheek, and were then compelled to work for their, taskmaster for the rest of their miserable livesNow, I ask you to remember that everything that the Blackball miners' fought for the Legislature intended to confer on them. TheD reinemiber that in' August, 1891, when Mr Millar was secretary oi the Seamen's Union, he wrote to the Railway Commissioners inciting them to break the Carriers' Act as follows :— "Now, we have always understood that minorities are supposed to 'be ruled by majorities, but m this case it seems that an individual is to be allowed -to cause a total cessation oi trade m the colony because the Carriers' Act is said to compel you and your carriers to take his goods, but I venture to say that there never .was an Act yet passed that could not be evaded i£ the parties interested desired to do so, . and this one v - is no exception to the rule." I Will now quote another extract from that letter to show, you how Mr Millar placed Justice before Law m '91, and I ask you to remember that the same Mr Millar had the power to stop the Blackball strike by the same means he adopted at Denniston. He says :— "I would remind you that the rights of labor demand quite as much conservation as the rights of capital, but 1 am given to understand that you intend to dismiss any servants who would refuse to handle the goods of a man whose avowed and openly expressed intention is to crush the worker, thereby conserving the rights of the capitalist to the sacrifice of the laborer. Surely this is not justice, and I would hope that gentlemen occupying the high and responsible position which you do wowld look fairly at the rights of both sides, as surely if it is right for capital m the shape of Whitcombe and" Tombs to defy labor, it is equally right for labor, your servant, to say they accept the challenge." Now, sir, I ask you to remember that Mr Millar stated" m his address m Dunedin that the Saddle mill miners were jus- 1 , tified m striking because the company broke the law.. That being so, was it not also fair for the Blackball miners " to strike as they were sure that the company had broken the law,? When you heat Mr Millar talk of law and order, remember the following extract from his long letter :— "So long as no members of the affiliated bodies is made to suffer a crisis is averted, but the first man' made to ! suffer will be the signal for everything to stop from Auckland to the Bluff. . . Our whole desire is to have peace with, honor. Should we not be able to achieve this object then our only course will be war to the end." Now, sir, '•I want to remind you that unions are formed to protect their members. And if Mr Millar, a former advocate, has deviated from this path the union must not be allowed to deviate by following him, but must proclaim its purpose and work unceasingly to accomplish 'its mission. The Socialist movethent proclaims the worker should get what he earns, and the^ capitalist should earn what he gets. All the Socialists -here are trades unionists, and throughout New Zealand they fought for the miners whenever they struck. Naturally, ;the capitalistic press is down on them. From tne men who fought against us at the time of the strike we cannot expect justice, especially when they declare themselves as anti-Social-ists. Dr. Findlay's recent speech, where he advocates a speeding up of labor after the American style is inhuman,. The worker has only his labor power to sell, and if worked too hard he becomes a muscle bankrupt at an early age. ,\ The worker requires humane conditions of work that will enable him to continue work to such an age that he will not be . dependent on charity. Those who have heard Tom Mann speak, and those who know his ability, which would command a wonderful living if he spoke against Socialism, have an idea of the straightness of the man, who puts principle before pay, humanity before mammon, will- -not take much notice of your ill-considered remarks, which came as a rude shock.— l am, etc., t -.'£. POT. Dunedin, June 21, '08. P. S.— Millar, now says we must buy the landlords out at present valuations. Years ago he argued that the unearned increment had been created by the people and should belong to the' people, and the. correct way was to tax them out. It is our intention at the coming election to oppose Millar and quote Millar against Millar. Millar has changed, but the work-ing-class movement has not ; it will go straight on. I—T.P.1 — T.P.