“A FOUL THING”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26749, 19 April 1948, Page 6

“A FOUL THING”

COMMUNISM DENOUNCED ADDRESS BY MR SEMPLE CAMPAIGN OF EXPOSURE “What I saw on my last visit to Australia convinced me about the terrible evils of this foul thing called Communism, and I came back with a grim determination to expose it for the rest of my life. They have murdered men all over the world, and they have threatened to murder me. Well, if they do, my ghost will come back and haunt them.” These statements were made by the Minister of Works, Mr Semple, during the course of a vehement address on “ Why I Fight Communism,” which drew a large audience to the Octagon Theatre last night. The chair was occupied by Mr E. F, Jones, president of the Otago Labour Representation Committee. Mr Semple said he wished to make it clear from the start that he was not there to attack any country’s form of government, as he had always been in favour of the principle of letting every country choose the kind of government it wanted, but he would always oppose the attempts of those who were attempting to “ throw an iron curtain around this country.” “ The Communist movement,” Mr Semple continued, “is the most treacherous and the most foul thing that has ever crept into the hearts of men. Its object is to undermine all forms of constitutional government and substitute a dictatorship. We are fighting this monster of iniquity in this Dominion. This is the challenge, and I have taken it up.” ' Mr Semple explained that a*t an early age he had “ dedicated his life to battling for the under-dog.” He then read a number of extracts from various Communist publications which he described as “these gutter rags.” One extract stated by the speaker to be from the Workers’ Weekly, declared that the Labour movement would have to be suppressed because it was opposed to the dictatorship of the proletariat. Opposed to Dictatorship “ Of course the Labour movement is opposed to the dictatorship of the proletariat,” he said. “It does not believe that the proletariat or any section of the community is big enough to dictate to the rest of the country. It is equally opposed to revolution. But in the Communist countries no man dares to oppose the dictator. If he did he had to face the firing squad the gallows or the dungeon.” “It is up to all trade unionists to get these people out of their unions. They must defend trade unionism against these wreckers and gangsters. One of their ‘rags’ calls me a ‘running dog for capitalism.’ If I went to Russia and called Stalin names I would be a box of cold meat within 24 hours. If lam seen speaking to a capitalist then I am labelled a ‘ collaborator with the enemy,’ and if I wash my neck and put on a clean collar then I have gone completely over to the enemy.” , Mr Semple declared that “ there was a day when the worker in New Zealand had no other weapon than the strike. But there is no need for a single day’s strike in this country now because working men have been given full security from the cradle to the grave in this pansy-garden of the world.” “I am looking for one of those wasps,” the speaker said after glancing at an interjector in the gallery. “If I could get a picture of him with my camera, I would send it along to the Museum, No Iron Curtain “They put you in power,” shouted a man at the back of the theatre. “No, those rats never put us in power,” Mr Semple replied amidst applause. He added that many threats had been made by Communists “that they are going to stop me from being heard, but they are not going to succeed. By their vicious propaganda they are trying to bring chaos in this country. They nearly put the iron curtain around Queensland, but they failed and they are going to fail here.” At the conclusion of the meeting a resolution placing on record the highest appreciation of Mr Semple’s address, moved by Mr R. Walls, M.P., and seconded by Mr W. A. Hudson, M.P., was carried, with a few dissentients.