THE DANGER OF NATIONALISATION..

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18545, 4 May 1922, Page 11

THE DANGER OF NATIONALISATION..

A LABOUR MAN’S VIEWS. (Communicated by the N.Z. Welfare League) We have in New Zealand a Revolutionary Political Party which is constantly engaged in -advocating' “the -- Nationalisation_ of Banking and all the principal industries. This party is looked upon generally as extremist. A real danger, however, exists in respect to the attitude of a large body of our politicians in that they are disposed to advocate from. time to time advancements in the way of State trading and the nationalising of services previously left in private hands. ' ■ We present here the views of Mr W. A. Appleton, secretary of the General Federation of Trad?* Unions, Great Britain, as they are wortbj of the most serious thought. DANGER OF STATE CONTROL. “Perhaps I fear the State more than I fear the inexperienced workman. The latter would suffer as a consequence of failure and might be expected to learn by experience. The State would also suffer by failure, but the individuals responsible for failure would mostly escape suffering, continue to draw salaries and to qualify for pensions.” , . “It was Mr Gladstone who declared that it was the State’s business to govern and not to trade. State interference involves political as well as industrial disadvantage. It is not "merely that State trading costs more in cash; in practice it jeopardises more than it costs commercially.” “The industrial past has had many unhappy phases. There have . been bitter conflicts between Capital and Labour, but in Britain until-recently there have been no revolutionary collisions between Labour and the State. If the State extends its activities, and does more than provide opportunities and hold -an even balance as between workers and the owners of capital, it increases its disagreements with both, so that, instead of strikes, it will become necessary for it to face the-possibility, and perhaps the fact, _of revolution.” “Those who glibly advocate State Confrol of enterprise should ponder this fact. Workmen are being-advised to commit the mistake of' assuming that what the State has ■ dond in abnormal circumstances, and on credit, the State can do in-normal circumstances when credit • has to be liquidated by cash or goods. 7 ’ “It is astonishing to find how few people there are who realise that what the State was doing during the war " was merely to purchase within its own borders, articles that had no reproductive value whatever, and for which it paid r - a price altogether disproportionate to the work value involved. In other words,-the State was purchasing fireworks and paying for them with paper—paper which had no value outside Britain unless it, was backed by ■ that very" capital which the syndicate now seeks to dissipate, war-time prosperity was indeed fictitious, but the average' man an’d. woman did net realise this, and so was started a chain of ideas concerning post-war possibilities that well might, through undue interference by the State, ultimately result" in revolution and the disintegration .of , that, great commonwealth which includes, with Britain. Australia, South Africa, and India, anefa host of kindred communities.” THE. CASE AGAINST REVOLUTION. “Only the fool desires to produce chaos in the hope that order will involve. Anarchy—the elimination of law and order and "restraint—whether in industry or in politics, or in commerce, carries with it disaster. All nature bows to " the law and carries" out against its "infraction. Anarchy may be dismissed as a' reversion to the ineffective elemental and as the least useful of all the theories advanced by the advocates of revolutionary change.” '• “The case agaihst revolution is admirably epitomised "in the ‘ words of the Management' Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions.” "'Tt; is nbtdribus,” says the committee, all representative. Trade Unionists, ‘“that soine ' men live, only to.- fan the flame of discontent. They have no scruples. They call themselves revolutionaries, and the best of them frankly, aim at the creation , of a social state Which has ceased to know either in equalities or pain., Thhir mental .'outlook, prevents.' them seeing that disastrous follow beneficent intentions if these intentions ignore economic laws and social rights.” “It is argued that revolutions are necessary to coerce and displace governments. Unfortunately, revolutionary action cannot be confined tp the punishments ~of governments: . . It is, .the ..people-who gave -blood dnd suffer material - loss; tmd whatever ■is lost,. the people must- replace by' renewed greater industrial effort. In an Empire constituted as in the British Empire, that replacement must be ; tremendous, for the trouble cannot be confined to geographical or ethnological limits.’’ . , LOCAL* APPLICATION.:" ; * The" flippl icaf ion of these thoughts of.'Mr Appleton to our New Zealand. conditions should inspire us to be on our, guard against the insidious movement, towards .nationalisation."" Already, the people of New Zealand have seen" how much the\ Government is" "being'involved tn‘ industrial disputes, and what this may lead to should give pause to every public ;m®n-rajid‘ "Woiliett' who desires stable conditions and avoidance of the dangers of social and industrial upheaval.