SOCIALIST CREED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19679, 11 July 1938, Page 7

SOCIALIST CREED

NO CHRISTIAN BASIS SPIRIT OF HOSTILITY, PROFESSOR ALG lE’S VIEWS A plea for a higher standard of political philosophy and activity was made on Tuesday night by Professor R. M. Algie, organiser of the Auckland Provincial Freedom Association, to an audience of about 250 people at Papatoetoe. “One of the first things we have to do is to raise the standard from the level to which it has degenerated,” said the speaker. There was a tendency among the people to confuse social services with socialism, Professor Algie continued. Such a belief was dangerous and was not based on fact. It was equally erroneous to claim that socialism and Christianity were similar philosophies. Actually they were competitive philosophies. Was it possible to find anything in Scripture to suggest that Christianity had been founded on a spirit of hostility? asked the speaker. The philosophy of socialism, of taking from one section of the community to give to another, created hostility. The founder of socialism was Karl Marx, who had condemned religion as a dope, and said that one thing socialism must do was to destroy the influence of the church. If the principle of socialism was to destroy the church, how could it claim to be Christian? asked Professor Algie. When Labour candidates and Ministers said that socialism and Christianity were marching hand in hand it was impossible to agree with them. The Labour Government claimed that it had plans to insulate New Zealand against a fall in overseas prices and a depression, continued the speaker. No details of that plan had been disclosed, and it would probably prove to be like the plans which the Prime Minister claimed he and his party had for the adjustment of the exchange and sales tax, and the abolition of unemployment—the plans had never materialised. The price that the country would have to pay for the continuance of Labour rule would be heavy; it would be the introduction of socialism. Already the people’s freedom had been taken, as was evidenced in the restriction imposed on broadcasting, in the film regulations, in industry and business and transport.