INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24254, 23 March 1940, Page 2

INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES By J. T. Paul '.;'; ; ; 3e not afraid of enthusiasm; .'.: you need it; you can do nothing ' effectually without it.— Guizot. british farm workers* wages Rise The minimum wage of about 12.000 farm men in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight was recently raised by 2s to 37s a week. .. Proportionate increases are to be given 2300 youths, and the minimum rate of 640 women is increased from 5d to 6d an hour. The workers' claim before the County Wages Committee was sponsored by the National Union of Agricultural Workers. SOCIALISTS PERSECUTED The following message from Paris appeared in a recent issue of the Daily Herald, the London Labour daily:— Socialists in Soviet-occupied Poland, regardless of whether they are Poles. Ukrainians or Jews, are the most ruthlessly persecuted class cf people. A leading member of the Polish Socialist Party, just escaped from Eastern Galicia, told me this to-day. After a short initial period of tolerance the Soviet authorities ordered a clean up cf all the Socialists and trade union leaders in the occupied area. Members of the .. Jewish . Sccialist Party (the Bund) ere treated even worse than Poles. - Its leaders, as already reported in the Daily Herald, were arrested immediately the. Russian Army marched in. , ~ Now rank - and file members of the party, and the trade unions and sports bodies connected with it. are compelled to repudiate their organisations. otherwise they are deported to Russia proper or imprisoned. Lists of Socialist leaders have been sent by the Ogpu to all the frontier guards stationed along the Rumamsn and Hungarian border, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to flee Sovietoccupied territory. THE BLOW AT FINLAND Last month the British Labour Partypublished a pamphlet bringing into prominence the depths of feeling that the Russian invasion has stirred in the Finnish Labour Movement. Thus the Finnish trade unions have clared:^"We have no choice other than to fight. And this the whole Finnish nation is doing, assured of its right to live as an independent nation whose every class of society has the possibility of taking part in the conduct of common affairs within the framework of a democratic Constitution. The League of Social Democratic Youth speaks of the "defensive struggle on behalf of our national, social, and Socialist ideals." Countering the groundless assertion that a Finnish defeat would mean liberation for Finland,' the Manchester Guardian quotes the Communist International to confound the Communists. This organ, which no loyal Stalinist would ever contest, was arguing last July that the Finnish elections (which increased the Government vote) " prove that the people of Finland are for freedom and democracy and against Fascism," and was explaining what " this clear democratic mandate of the people" meant, and what measures " would be best calculated to mobolise the people for the defence of Finland's independence." In- his recent Silvertown election address, the Communist leader declared'that the Chamberlain Government and- the • British Labour leaders "want to keep" the Finnish people "in subjection and to use Finland as the base from which they hope to attack the Soviet Union.": But the Communist International ' explained matters rather differently: it was annoyed With Finland because it disliked (at that time) accepting a guarantee from Britain, France, and Russia.

"The toiling people demand (it declared) that it (the Finnish Government) turns definitely to the path of the effective protection of the independence of Finland, and takes its place in the defensive ranks of the peace-loving front. On the other hand, the Government is under constant pressure from German Fascism and Finnish reactionaries, who demand that Finland should remain on the path of the 'neutrality policy' so favourable to the aggressive Powers; that is;to say, left to its fate, which means abandoned to Germany."

JEWISH- SETTLERS FOR AUSTRALIA Dealing with what it headlines as " Commendable Jewish Settlement Scheme," the current Australian Worker describes the ambitious longterm scheme for the settlement of Jewish refugees in Australia. Behind Ihe proposal is the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Settlement, working for the establishment of a Jewish co-operative colony on an area of 7,000,000 ■ acres ' in the Kimberley district, in the north-west corner of Australia, east and south-west of Wyndham. No Australian Government is being asked to contribute to the cost of; the scheme, the necessary funds being made avails ble by Jewish organisations. It is planned that the settlement should be non-political and loyally Australian in every way. Australian habits and customs are to be followed closely, "and the English language introduced right from the outset. The Freeland League will bear the cost of all schools and other necessary institutions, though they will, of course, be under the direct supervision of the State. No • minority or alien problem will be allowed to develop, for it is an essential part of the settlement scheme that the settlers muat qualify as good Australian citizens.

It is proposed that et the outset 700 specially-picked colonists will be brought into the area to prepare roads, construct dams and irrigation, works, erect buildings, and lay the groundwork for pastoral and agricultural enterprises. Gradually others will follow as they c:n be absorbed, and the settlement scheme can be expanded. "When we remember what the Jews have done in Palestine," says the Worker. " and what has been done by colonist settlers in the Sudan. Libya and various parts of South America, under conditions far less hospitable than those offering in the Kimberley district, there is every reason to expect that the Freeland league's settlement scheme will meet with success. The proposed Jewish settlement scheme has received the endorsement of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Labour Councils of New South Wales. Melbourne. Hobart ?nd Adelaide, and the Western Australian Labour Government. It remains only ior the Federal Government to give its permission for the launching of the scheme.

The Worker says that the vast organisation built up by the Jews in Palestine should be of especial interest to Labour, supporters in Australia, since it has resulted in the mobilising of the workers in a way far in advance of what has,been done in most other countries. : . ,". . . Of the "400,000 inhabitants m Jewish Palestine over 120.000 workers are organised in Histadruth—the General Federation of Jewish Labour. Its membership comprises no less than" 80 per cent, of all Jewish labour One-third of Its members are women workers. The activities of Histadruth are unique among labour organisations Apart from its. industrial activities. such as the supervision of wages, hours, and working conditions, it controls employment bureaux, maintains work-ing-class libraries .and itsown daily newspaper, concerns .itself with the health and education of its members and promotes snort and dramatic art It controls a variety of co-operative organisations engaged both in production and distribution, including co-operatively-owned bus services. Its co-operative contracting department undertakes British Army contracts, and its building co-operative is now enRaged building.- a garden suburb at.

Haifa to house a thousand families, each with a cottage and half-an-acre of land. A Jewish settlement scheme in the Kimberley district, organised along the lines so successfully adopted bv the Jews in Palestine, should, in the opinion of the official Labour organ, be welcomed and approved by the humane workers of this country. It would be a generous working-class contribution towards the solution of the terrible refugee problem which Nazi persecution has created in Europe. From the point of view of settlement in an area at present undeveloped, as well as from the economic aspect, the Freeland League's scheme is to be commended. It has merit, too. because of the fact that the settler? to be brought into the area will make it their permanent home, and will no' be permitted to. drift into the industrial cities to compete with Australian workers, as is all too often the case with ordinary migration. Dr Steinberg, the secretary of the Freeland League, has great hopes for the success of the settlement scheme. He says: "Given the possibility of starting new life on a new soil, under a democratic Government, amidst a tolerant population.-the Jewish persecuted youth of Europe will bring with them- more than man-power, more than skill and financial resources. They will bring inspiration for a hard pioneering work, and a deep loyalty to the country of their adoption."