THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1933. THE UNEMPLOYED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21998, 6 July 1933, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1933. THE UNEMPLOYED

There is nothing’ like organisation. According to an official of the Council of the National Union of Unemployed a national strike of the unemployed is pending and very close at hand. This is distinctly interesting, and doubtless the community veil! be grateful for the word of warning that should modify the shock received when the strike actually does burst upon it. With strikes the people of this country are familiar enough, but a strike of the unemployed on a national scale would be a distinct novelty. Normally it is the employed that go on strike. The unemployed, being out of work, might be supposed, ipso facto, to have nothing to strike about, and to be in the position of those to whom the offer of temporary work is distinctly associated with the understanding that they may take it or leave it. The whole idea of a strike on the part of men who are without regular employment is, indeed, somewhat grotesque. It might be imagined that those who are in urgent need of work, and are dependent for such work as may be found for them on the preparedness of the community to provide for the cost of such relief, are scarcely in a position to bargain and dictate. Apparently that is not the way, however, in which leaders among the relief workers themselves regard the position, as was revealed when the Hawke’s Bay River Board decided to carry out preliminary river diversion work with unemployed labour. The result was that all River Board wprk was declared “ black ” and some hundreds of relief workers enjoyed the experience of going on a strike which must have reacted unfortunately upon their dependents. Eventually the issues involved were referred by the Provincial Council to the National Council of the National Union of Unemployed, and the report concerning the imminence of a national strike of the unemployed has relation, no doubt, to the deliberations of that important tribunal. This is all very impressive, but none the less the humour of a strike on the part of the unemployed must be apparent to many of those who will be expected, and will possibly be coerced, to participate in it, should the clarion call to national action be actually sounded. If one thing is more certain than another, it is that such a strike would be a piece of foolishness, and would be viewed by the public generally as a very curious and unwarranted development. The community has a great deal of sympathy with those of its number who, through no fault of their own, but simply owing to stress of circumstances, are at present shut out from the employment upon which they could previously depend. Probably there is no taxation which is more ungrudgingly paid, heavy though it is, than the tax for the relief of unemployment. But it is for the unemployed to recognise that the community is in no mood to be very tolerant of “ demands ” asserted by relief workers’ organisations. Before they decide to go on strike the unemployed should reflect that in so doing they will forfeit a large amount of the sympathy that is extended to them. This, indeed, should be quite realised by the majority

of them. It would be a very unfortunate result were the measure of voluntary assistance rendered to the unemployed, lacking 1 which they would be considerably worse off than they are, to be affected by any rash attempt on their part at what has been called “ staging an explosion.” It is not to be supposed in any ease that a national strike of the unemployed would be favoured by more than a small section of the relief workers, and the motives of the minority would certainly be questioned. Should a strike occur it may be surmised that influences that have been exerted from beyond New Zealand fo v the furtherance of schemes for the overthrow of the capitalist system wil, be partly accountable. These influences are at work underground in all countries, and are directed by agents who, since their object is to show results for the funds with which they are provided, are little concerned about the extent of the suffering that may be experienced by those who allow themselves to be led by them. Not without ample justification has the Minister of Employment stated that no country in the world is doing more for the relief of unemployment than is being done in New Zealand.