WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19365, 1 July 1937, Page 14

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

THE THEORY OF SOCIALISM OPERATION IN DOMINION LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE (By “Junius.”) There is no word so execrated •by the lover of real freedom as socialism. We hear the word every day! littered by men of every call of life and in most cases, it is to be fearecl, it is not fully understood. In any event its real .effect is not appreciated. The words of Edmund Burke in one of, his reflections referring to romantic political ideals apply to socialism today: “It is extremely difficult to convince people that their Utopian schemes, which hold out what appear to be definite prospects of a paradise on earth, are built upon romantic or unreal principles of psychology and socialogy.” The inevitable failure of socialism will find its root cause in its psychological base. The thousand and one variants of what socialism is do not matter much at present for, thanks to the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage he has told us that he means to socialise the means o.f exchange and productipn. That is socialism. It means that the State Will, conduct all exchange and all production, which means that all businesses or industries will be directed or controlled by the Government. It is in its essence anti-democratic. It places in the hands of the Cabinet or council complete power over the right of the individuals to conduct business. The manipulation ,of credit is given to the same council. Bernard Shaw tried to express socialism in the clearest terms he could command. He said that it, “reduced to its simplest legal and practicable expression, means the complete discarding of the institution of private property by transforming it into public property, and the division of the resultant public income equally and indiscriminately among the entire population." Socialising Credit Later it will be shown that this Labour or Socialist Government which has the people of New Zealand by the throat is carrying out its scheme on the lines laid down by Lepin and Lang. The latter said: “You must socialise credit first. The other things will come later. If you Want to go through a door you must have, the key first. Socialisation of credit is the key.” Lenin said the first step must be the nationalisation of the banks. That, of course, is the machinery for the creation of credit. Lord Snowden, w'hen he was plain “Mr.” and an avowed Socialist, said that the Socialist method would remove the present competitive system by placing under official administration such departments of production as can be managed collectively as well as the distribution among all of the common produce of all, according to the amount and social utility of the productive labour of each.” It will rest with the particular Minister of State to assess the social utility of individuals just as the Minister of Transport in New Zealand has already arrogated to himself the power to dispossess at his will any owner of transport of his right to carry on his chosen work. The Government has already commandeered the country’s credit by turning the non-political Reserve Bank into a State Bank, and the transport industry is being gathered in so as to become a State-controlled industry. The healthy competitive system is threatened with extinction and in its place a system dictated by officials carrying out the schemes ol the Socialists in power. Need For Competition Competition is absolutely necessary to produce fully and efficiently. Without the healthy spirit of competition those who work under the domination of Socialist officials will lose interest in their work, will produce without that passion to turn out good work without which it will be Impbssible to compete with other countries. The next and last term calling for definition is capitalism. The simplest way to define capitalism would be to say that it is non-socialism. That, however, is not enough. The word is used loosely by many, but may be said to imply the recognition of private property and private enterprise in industry. Subject to regulations of State, it implies the possibility of the individuals, making a large fortune or of losing everything, except that it implies an obligation of the State to look after the indigent. The right to buy and sell labour is implied. Material means of production may be purchased by an individual for cash or credit. With it can properly be said that capitalism Is not a system, it is an economic principle operating in all societies except communistic or socialistic states. If these definitions are clear and accurate, as we claim them to be, the people of New Zealand, by considering the operations of the Socialists to-day, v/ill be able to envisage what is happening, and if the great majority still retain their independence, the fortitude which is a British inheritance, and a desire to leave for those who are growing up something better than a country dominated by a discredited and uneconomic philosophy, then each can play some part in returning New Zealand to political sanity.