NEW ZEALAND SOCIALIST PARTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2924, 30 March 1910, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND SOCIALIST PARTY.

There was a, good attendance at the Socialist party's meeting last, evening to bear Mr :Al«x. Glass speak upon the " ftthies of Capitalism." The speaker said that the first thing that struck .an '.observer about lhe_ opponents of Socialistic reform wa:j their • exceedingly narrow outlook. They seemed all quite satisfied that the present capitalistic system was something fixed by divine will, forgetting that society is tt. moving, living thing, and the product of past causes. It is usually admitted that from standpoint Sooialisrn is irreproachable, but quite impracticable, and a very slight examination of the moral claims of the capitalistic system would show it the enemy of all progress. Under such a system man is a mere commodity, disposed of in the market-place like any other chattel, and only engaged when the owning class can make a profit out of his labour. Whilst it is quite true that the worker is no longer a serf wearing a. collar, as he was in the Middle Ages, the lecturer contended that he is as closely bpund to his employer as any serf ever was. The driving power of starvation forces the labourer to sell his labour at a rate which barely allows a _ means of subsistence. Whilst a few individuals own or control all the means of wealth produo tion, the worker, who only has his labour, is, in the matter of negotiation for. ment, in a similar position to the wayfarer, confronted by the highwayman with a pistol. Under the British constitution po man is allowed to molest another with violence, but in the industrial world the moneyless labourer is • subjected to a threat .of starvation, which is a more cruel injustice than any physical violence could possibly

\ be. A society based on such a system must, 'bean immoral one, and should be removed by a people who claim to be a moral people. Speaking of the conditions in the Dominion, Mr Glass said that although- he had not been very long here he ooukl plainly see that New Zealanders had not much cause for congratulation on {heir economic condition. In srjite of great natural advantages and a sparse population the ! germs of chronic unemployment and poverty : were quite apparent: Plenty of capital was ; idle, land was out of use, and men were j walking the streets seeking work. This J condition he declared must always exist so j long as the production of commodities was carried on for private profit. In conclusion, the lecturer pointed out that it war possible to gauge by measurement the physical deterioration, but no one could I measure the loss of moral fibre in the people, the women and children sacrificed, and the men demoralised by uncertainty r>f work, and h& urged his hearers if they believed in co-operation to put if into "practice at once by helping thos* who were doing their best to spread a knowledge of Social- : ism. The address was well received, and j there was an animated discussion at the conclusion.