Patea & Waverley Press FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1926. A DANGER AHEAD.

Patea Mail, Volume XLVIII, 15 January 1926, Page 2

Patea & Waverley Press FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1926. A DANGER AHEAD.

THE figures whieli we published recently showing the gradual diminishing of the numbers of those opposed to Socialism should serve as a warning that unless united action is taken by the electors the day will eventually dawn when the Red Flag will supplant the Union Jack in this country. The figures we quoted went to show that not only had the Socialist vote at the last election increased by 21,258 over that of the 1922 election, but the votes of those opposed to Socialism had actually decreased by 7320. Some will perhaps ask why a Socialist Government should be dreaded in the Dominion.. The answer, of course, is that the utterances of the .Labour leaders in this country and their platform prove conclusively that Revolutionary Socialism is the ultimate goal of the Labour Party, camouflage the fact how they will. There can be no denial'of this fact. At the Unity Congress held in Wellington in 1913 the present leader of the Labour Party (Mr. H. E. Holland) moved the following pre-amble for the Federation of Labour: — (1) The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are to be found among millions of working people, and the few who make up the employing class have all the good things of life. (2) Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organise as a class, take posses-

sion of the earth, and the machinery of production, and ■ abolish flic wage .system. '' And so on ad nauseam. Can it be wondeted--at that hi so happy ’and prosperous a country as New Zealand is- at the present day right-thinking people view with alarm the possibility of men with such revolutionary views so openly expihssed ever gaining the reins of power. What these Labour leaders think of the law which is the protection of the weak in this 1 and every country where dh^'British/flag is flown is shown by Mr. Semple’s utterances .as recently as January of last, year, when .in appealing to the rank and file df the Freizuig Workers’ Federation for £25,000 for a. fighting fund, he said.: “ To-day you are governed! by laws written by the political representatives of, the combines and trusts that exploit, you. Tire sm.allness of the, dole you receive through the Court of Arbitration is due to the fact , that the ’Xoiift is'a political institution controlled by the party in j)Ower. The' law at present denies you 1 industrial freedom, and industrial unioiiism is renderecV impossible by the law. Your organisations arc controlled by the iaw. v ln fact, yon are mere chattels in the hands of a class-made law, which has been dictated, and is administered, by your oppressors. You produce all the wealth of the country.- You 1 should, through your representatives, write the laws that - determine how that wealth shall be distributed.” - -

Note the phrase, “ You produce all the wealth of the country.” That statement is addressed! not to the man who took up his land when it was virgin bush, and by his toil, industry, and capital outlay prepared'The pastures upon which are the sheep arid ’ : cattle that are to 'be 1 sent to the freezing Avorks to be killed and frozen, but to the man, vfery’ oftenmot a New Zealander at ""all, 1 Avho, taking no risks, Avhose pay is assured, and Avhose circumstances are,; . generally speaking, .more comfortable than those of : tlie .producer-, particularly in the early days,-is told that he creates “all the wealth ’ ’ the countryside has produced through'tlie energy and enterprise of the man A\ f ho has madd/the occupation of the worker possible.’ These utterances,, as well as those of the LabourFarty’s official organ, cause us to vieAV Avith alarin the decrease in ', the ■ antiSocialist vote, and ' dread the day when Socialism will rule. Where the official organ's sympathies lie was shown when the Irish rebellion broke out, Avhen the paper Avent out of its Avay to rejoice that the rebellion Avas “ the first step in the breaking up of the British Empire. ” Of a truth, the time is ripe, and- more than ripe, for a united front being presented against the common foe who would' trample the liberties of the. people in the mire.