LABOUR CABINET AND SOCIALISM

Southland Times, Issue 25505, 27 October 1944, Page 3

LABOUR CABINET AND SOCIALISM

Planks Of Party’s

Platform

Comment on a statement made by the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash) at Kennington on Wednesday night was made by Mr K. J. Holyoake when speaking in support of the National Party candidate in the Awarua by-election at Winton last night. Mr Holyoake said that The Southland Times reported that when Mr Nash was asked if he thought the war would see the end of the conflict » between capital and labour, he said: “I do not think it would be wise to go for a system in which the State was the only employer as in Russia . . . For the present I think we shall have to retain the profit motive, as it acts as an incentive.”

“Now,” said Mr Holyoake, “let me quote from The Standard, the official paper of the present Trades Hall Government. The issue of August 9, 1937, reports an interview with Mr Nash after he had returned from his first world tour as a Minister. This tour included Moscow in Soviet Russia. Mr Nash then said that the Soviet system of economic planning was better than any other form of Government he knew of.”

In the same interview Mr Nash had said: “The Soviet’s problems were greatly simplified by the fact that the State owned all the land, of which it had obtained possession by killing off the owners during the revolution.” The Awarua farmers would note this with great interest. Which was the true Mr Nash? It appeared that the Trades Hall party realized that they had a hopeless task in Awarua if they ran in their true colours and so they were trying a little camouflage. • Was this move of Mr Nash a temporary retreat for the period of the Awarua by-election only? asked Mr Holyoake. He suggested that Mr Nash and his meetings should have been advertised as follows: “The Final Desperate Act in the Battle of Awarua; The Retreat from Socialism; By special request of the local party, to run for the Awarua by-election only; Starring Mr Nash (Walter the Wanderer), impersonating Napoleon in the retreat from Moscow.” EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS In his statement at Kennington, Mr Nash had said that co-operation between employers and workers offered a way of dealing with the conflict between capital and - labour. Again there was a typical temporary retreat from socialism, Mr Holyoake said. Just where did the Labour Party stand? Had they thrown old principles overboard? The first plank of the Labour party was still “the socialization of all the means of production, distribution and exchange.” To show Labour’s real attitude to industrial relations Mr Holyoake quoted from an article written by the late Mr Harry Holland, leader of the Labour Party before Mr Savage. The article was entitled, “The Tragic Story of the Waihi Strike,” and it stated that at a conference of the New Zealand Federation of Labour the following preamble was adopted: “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and the machinery of production and abolish the wage system.” At that conference the following had been elected to the executive: P. C. Webb (president), W. E. Parry (vicepresident), R. Semple (organizer), H. T. Armstrong, M. Fagan, E. J. Howard and P. Fraser. Some of these were the leading men in the Cabinet today. The statement quoted was an expression of their policy.

The fact was that Mr Nash was softpedalling during the by-election because he knew the electors were heartily sick and tired of the industrial strife in New Zealand, Mr Holyoake said. The electors had long memories and knew who was responsible for the industrial troubles in the Dominion. SHARING OF PROFITS

Mr Holyoake said that the people of New Zealand knew that the National Party’s policy included provision for co-operation in industrial relations. The National Party stood for profit-sharing and premium bonus systems to give incentive to industrial workers. Mq Holland, leader of the party, had a wide experience and a wealth of knowledge on this question and he had operated these profit sharing schemes in his own business for many years.

The electors were entitled to know which was the real true Labour Party, the one which for a generation had advocated and practised a bitter class war and industrial strife, on the men who were now purveying smooth words and soothing syrup to the people of Awarua.

The Mayor (Mr N. Metzger) was chairman. At the end of the meeting a vote of thanks to Mr Holyoake and a vote of thanks and confidence in the National Party was carried unanimously. About 300 persons were present at the meeting.