WAR ON COMMUNISM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26584, 6 October 1947, Page 5

WAR ON COMMUNISM

CONSERVATIVES’ DECISION PARAMOUNT CONFERENCE SUBJECT From A. W. Mitchell, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 9.30 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 4. The Conservatives have officially declared war against Communism in Britain. This is one of the main political decisions of the party’s annual conference at Brighton. More than any other subject this feeling of anticommunism dominated the interest and feelings of the rank and file of the delegates. It seemed to take those on the platform by surprise just as last year at Blackpool. A demand from the floor for the policy took them unawares. This is not to mean that party leaders on the platform do not regard Communism with equal distaste or- antipathy,, particularly as they believe that over. Europe this winter will hang a brooding fear as to whether France and Italy will swing over to Communism thereby paving the way for a firmer Soviet footing in the Mediterranean, Greece, the Middle East, and North Africa. Though, the delegates no doubt had this thought at the back of their minds too, they were more immediately concerned with “ the poison of Communism,” which they believe to be seeping throughout Britain. Though the conference willingly agreed to the suggestion that their fight should be against both Communism and Fascism, their preoccupation was obviously with the latter. From the very start of the conference this strong under-cyrrent of .intense emotional feeling of anti-totali-tarianism was plainly discernible. It was the main line of attack against the Labour Government and it was endorsed by Mr Churchill in the closing hour of the conference when he declared: “ On every side and by every means the machinery for a totalitarian grip upon British society is being built up and perfected. One could almost wonder whether the Government. does not reconcile itself to the economic misfortunes of our country, to which its mismanagement so notably contributes, because these misfbrtunes give the pretext of establishing even more controls and evpn larger bureaucracy.” “ They make mistakes which make things worse. As things get worse they claim more power to set them right. Thus they move nearer to the scheme of an_ allpowerful state in which the individual is the helpless serf or pavvn.” It appears at the moment that whatever they . may feel or not feel about their policy, as outlined in the Industrial Charter, the Conservatives chief plan in their next electioneering programme will be one of freedom versus dictatorship. The Conservatives made it quite clear at Brighton that they are in no doubt about the influence exerted on the Labour Party by the Trade Union Congress, and that they see the Communist influence riddling trade unions. , , There was thunderous applause when the debate ended with Mr Henry Strauss declaring the subject was the most vital one to come before the conference, and adding:' “It is time we stopped asking what the Communists want. It is time we started showing what the Communists are doing."