“REFUSING EMPLOYMENT”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23669, 29 November 1938, Page 5

“REFUSING EMPLOYMENT”

TO THE EDITOh Sir, —1 have read with considerable amazement on page 4 of your Friday issue a statement by the Minister of Labour, Mr H. T. Armstrong, headed " Refusing Employment." Such an enunciation of policy is, in my sincere opinion, entirely at variance with the outlook and aims' of a genuine Socialist. Even from a capitalist angle it is a policy which is approximately 50 years out of date. No modern manager or employer with common sense would endorse such a statement, as it is arbitrary and provocative in the extreme, and, to put it mildly, is a most tactless and foolish move, which will do much harm to the Labour Party and alienate some of its most loyal supporters. I wonder if the two Ministers named are as zealous in improving the conditions and wages of the working class as they are in greasing the wheels of the capitalist industrial and agricultural.machine. I have read several of these anti-worker effusions from Messrs. Armstrong and Semple from time to time, and I am firmly impressed with the necessity for replacing them by two younger men who are honest and genuine Socialists* No more reactionary statements could be issued by the most hardened Tory ; I have always been an ardent supporter of the • Labour Party, but the. tactics of" Messrs- Semple and Armstrong.disgust roe thoroughly, and are hot in' accord with- the party's objective,,viz.. Socialism. I am strongly opposed to all measures which seek to coerce Workers into accepting any particular job»under fear of penalties, as I maintain suc*h a practice ,is really industrial conscription. If such a course were pursued in wartime or under; ; conditions of extreme urgencysuch,:, for instance, as a flood or other natural' disaster—it might perhaps be more or less justifiable, but I am certain that industrial conscription, even in the thinly-veiled form in which it is put forward by Messrs Armstrong and Semple is an unwarranted piece of tyranny. The line of granting subsidies to any special industry, such as farming, js most imjust to other industries, and in the long run can only cause trouble, because it is really putting a premium on incompetence, or greed. The industry subsidised must ultimately become unable to stand against competition, but in the meantime it is kept seemingly prosperous at the expense of the working class and the general taxpayers. No attempt to bolster up farming or any other industry by penalising workers, high exchange rate, or tariffs will be a final success. Failure can be delayed and camouflaged by such tactics, but not for Ion?. . Collapse must inevitably follow, inefficient management, and irremediable turmoil = must arise, from robbing, of their just rights, privileges and prerogatives. The lesson is plain; real democrats and Socialists will strenuously dissent from the policy issued by the present Minister' of Labour. Only a hide-bound Conservative .would seek to dominate workers in the manner suggested.. Such proposals from an alleged Socialist are ludicrous in the extreme, especially after the ingratitude displayed politically by so many farmers in the last election. Evidently nothing the Labour Party could do to pander to the land owners would elicit their approval and support. Conscription of workers to help the farming industry was. and is, a futile tactic, and the same applies to the high exchange .rate and the retention of the country quota. All three were, and are. a failure. —I am, etc.,

Socialist Elector. Dunedin. November 25.