Truth "IN CAMERA" CONFERENCE.

NZ Truth, Issue 474, 18 July 1914, Page 6

Truth

" IN CAMERA" CONFERENCE.

?THEf PEOPLE'S PAPER. . TERRS TO SUBSCRIBERS S. D. P»» Amnom... a 13 , 0 \ ,;. Patabcb HAIiF-YfcAßr.Y 6 6 \ \ IN QUABTEUJQY... 8 3 / ADVAHGB. i ] __J SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1914.

•. » ' „ - Labor's Laudable Lenity. The Democratic Spirit. Last week tho third Unity Conference, called by a gathering of Trades Union, delegates, held m "Wellington Trades Hall m April last, met and concluded its labors. This week, what claims to bo, or aims at being, the political wing of a consolidated Labor Party is m session. 'From the meagre reports of the deliberations of tho former supplied to the Plutc. press it is impossible to base any comprehensive criticism, cither destructive or constructive. Whether the kindred body now sitting will fight shy o£ publicity also, "Truth" does not know. It hopes not. In an Old Book that ever lies handy on "Truth's" table, there is a pregnant passage which says, "Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds aro evil." "Truth" would be the last paper m New Zealand to insinuate that such a passage could bo aptly applied to either the Conference oC last week or that of its confrere now sitting, but the same Book also says that those who would do well must not only do no wrong, but "abstain from the very appearance of evil." • . • • Despite the fact that "Truth" is the only paper m the Dominion, not excepting even the "Maoriland "Worker," that gave Labor a Square Deal during tho recent waterside workers' war, "Truth" is also the only paper that,' so far, has received no official report of the proceedings or decisions -of tins Vilify Conference. Why this apparent boycott 1 True, * ' Truth has had the tantalizing timcrily to 'Thrituiise • certain leaders ami .would-be leaders, v^exij ,?n its

opinion, what they had done or what they proposed doing, was inimical to the best interests of the working class. True, "Truth" has had the audacity to direct the industrial democrats to douse certain individuals now posing asv lights of Labor. This advice it is pleased to see has been taken. True, "Truth" has never been a blind barracker for certain loudmouthed office-chasers and political pot-hunters. All this is true, is admitted, is gloried m by "Truth," but all this, it affirms, it has done m the best interests of the poor proletarian plugs, who have perpetually to pay the piper. This being so, the boycotting of this democratic family journal by the recent conference is illuminating. It makes plain the need of secrecy m order that certain persons much m the limelight during the past, should not altogether, and with too much alacrity loose their reputations. It tells more eloquently than any woids of ours possibly could do that these men m order to avoid justifiable and absolutely disinterested criticism, allied themselves with the most reactionary and Wowseristie ele-' ments m the Conference. They shut out the representative of the paper having by far the largest circulation among all classes m New Zealand. They shut out the representative of the only paper m the Dominion, whose 'criticism would have proved helpful, being inspired by no - ulterior motive, "Truth" haying no axe to grind, party, partisan or parisitieal. They shut out the representative of the only paper m New Zealand, . able and willing to treat the acknowledged aspirations of Labor, sympathetically and intelligently, the only paper having writers on its staff who have the economic and theoretical knowledge necessary to enable them to approach and dispose of the subject m a qualified manner, and who are at liberty to write exactly as they think-. It is well that the working-class readers of ' ' Truth should be cognisant of these facts. • • • There can be.no disguising the fact, that a considerable modification has taken place m the attitude of the Federation of Labor towffcrds the "common enemy." This may, or may riot, be justifiable. So far as "Truth" can gather from the scrappy reports published m the Plute press, per favor of the Conference, from a certain point of view the modification is nioi£ one of the manner m which Labor's demands shall be made', than is the nature of those demands or of Labor's final objective. There may be, probably is, much wisdom m this. It isn't advisable, nor is it necessary to beat a horse over the head with a club to get it to go m a desired direction. In the objective of Labor, however, "Truth" sees no modification— and there can be none— if the Federation is to remain what its name implies. That objective is the collective owner- j ship of the land, the means of J production, distribution and exchange. But of' the objective very little is said, because it constitutes 1 m itself a political programme m which, as yet, the majority of the workers themselves do not believe. They conclude, wisely, or otherwise,' that to emphasise the said objective would be no remedy for present-day industrial ills; that it would aggravate, instead of mitigate or cure economic evils. • ? ■ * There can be, however, no two opinions as to tho vitality and prevalence of the world-wide Democratic Spirit. Tho spirit of tho Labor movement looks at the facts ot ! life courageously. To thousands of men and women today life is a tragedy. They live m crowded sections of the great cities, where they are denied participation m the common gifts of God — fresh air, pure water, cheering sunshine. They watch the ebbing life of their dear ones, knowing well that the deadly disease is needless, and preventable; knowing well that the mortality iv their homes is three times greater than that m the homes of the exploiters of their labor. They see their children denied muc,h ot! the pleasures of childhood, driven to seek their playgrounds m narrow courts and squalid streets ; denied the education so necessary for their fuller enjoyment of the best things of life; that they also, on entering their teens, may onter tho work-a-day world m order to help earn j the necessaries of life for tho j -household, and strange but mcvi-! table result, compete against their own parents and brothers and sis- 1 tors. Compelled to accept wnges I barely sufficient to keep them m the condition of efficient human machinery, often unable to get work because no one sees a way of making a profit out of their labor, tliey suffer physical hunger. This physical hunger is mado moro koen by the never absent paugs of mind hunger — tho, craving of tho soul for leisure and the mn.'in.H to nourish the higher lift?. Their conditions of employment, ■■ : *'- i ■ '.'"■'.■

as a rule, are neither comfortable nor sanitary ; nay, they are often "so far unendurable that the years of their labor and of their lives are considerably shortened thereby.,,, ' .* * • Taking these things into account, "Truth" is not surprised at the manifestations of Labor unrest throughout the world to-day. "What does surprise "Truth" is Labor 's lenity, despite its great provocation. Even m this fair Dominion, where wages, hdiirs and other conditions, relatively with other countries, are favorable, the workers m a great measure are dependent upon the caprice and goodwill, as also on the business capacity of an employer, m the selection of whom they have had no. free choice. In the selection of overseers, m the administration of the affairs of the mine, the factory, the workshop, they have no voice. They have no share m the profits' of their labor other than as a wage, which stands m the same relation to the human machine that the fund for the renewal and repair, of plant stands towards the meehanieal; machine.' And all the wliile they see a small minority m the community, whose chief concern or difficulty is, not how to live on their income, but how to get rid of- it. They seethe" wealthy so arrogant, so blatant/ and withal so useless, that even '■men who are not m sympathy Avith the Labor movement are constrained" to "asli with Frederic Harrison : Are rich men 'likely, to ] prove of any social' use, or will it be better for society^ to ; abolish the "institution ? The accredited leaders of Labor m every land see these facts and have dared to strive to make society see them. They are making the one half of the 5 world for the first time see how tlie other half lives. "The prudent man seeth the evil." It- was because those m. authority, did nat...see the evil, anai'jran&yte* the »£atise, that the Greeeian;. $3mpire passed to nothingness.:; It was because those m authority did not see the evil and remove the cause that the Roman Republic was overthrown. It was because those m authority did not see the evil and remove the pause that the French revolution?^eventuated. It is the province of our Labor Leaders to-day not to denounce and threaten individuals, but to so . appeal to society as will compel it to see the evils of the present industrial system. Their pictures may be out of focus,. exaggerated and ill-pro-portioned, their language may not be the language of "the schools nor show a closevfamiliarity with the rules of grammar and syntax, but their facts must be facts that -.will m§,kethe mentally blind see, and the mentally deaf hear. *. • • To be successful on the political field it will be necessary to modify much more than the language of the propagandist. What is legitimate, nay laudable m the agitator often is anathema m the practical politican, though both may be sincerely seeking to attain the same end. If the Federation of Labor has publicly cried "Peccavi!" then there must be no harking back. There must be no return^ig like the dog to its vomit. It must face the future determined to go forward, making progress along well-defined industrial and political lines. Only m the narrow sense is the Labor movement a class movement. The Spirit of Brotherhood, which is the truo Spirit of Democracy', knows no limit of class or creed. It is no class jealousy or class ambition that has drawn such men as Bernard Shaw, Jerome K. .Jerome, 11. G. Wells, Robert Blatehford and many other of the foremost men of literature and science m all countries to tho side of Democracy and iv favor of its aspirations. But, oven if it be granted that tho Labor movement does engender a dass jealousy, such is surely preferable to individual selfishness. "An injury to one is injury to all," is asypt the motto of a class, a Labor Federation. So, ' ' Noblesse oblige was a class motto, the motto of the feudal nobility, but surely either of them is an advance upon "Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost," which is the motto of tho individualism so rampant m our midst 10-day. All sections of tho Labor movement must recognise that it is not by denouncing this or that employer, this or that administrator, this or that politician or political party, it is not by pointing out the inadequacy of; this or that palliative reform, but by discerning and setting m motion those combined mutually helpful cooperative forues— industrial, political, intellectual and spiritual — which alone can regenerate society, and so effectively and for all time abolish the evils of the prosent chaotic system m which the many are made, servitors for the few, the useful dependents of the useless.