The Daily News THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1922. LABOR AND COMMUNISM.
One of the most gratifying features of the recent Conference of Labor at Home was the direct manner in which Communism and its advocates were condemned. However extreme the views of a section of Labor may be, in the mass there exists a strong and durable attraction to the form of monarchist government as it exists in the Empire. In alluding to the disruptive tactics of Communists, when speaking at. the recent national conference of railwaymen in Britain, Mr. Thomas, M.P., one of the strongest and most level-headed men in the Labor Party, said these fanatics “appeared blindly to desire to break up the British Constitution, apparently despairing of ever being able to educate the people to their policy.” There can be little doubt that the policy and tactics of the Communists denote the kind of despair indicated by Mr. Thomas. They are obsessed with visions of an earthly Paradise wherein all their needs will be met without, effort on their part, everything being held in common. Happily, sane Labor has no hallucination on this matter, recognising the security of the British Constitution contains all the safeguards that can reasonably be expected, and’ that it stimulates thrift and advancement, for without security there can be no hope for those who mount the ladder of life. When Lord Northcliffe was entertained a few weeks ago by the Empire Press Union in London he took for his main theme the subject of loyalty, and referred to the intense and world-wide loyalty to the Crown that lie had found in his recent travels through the Dominions. In using the word “Crown,” Lord Northeliffe said that ■wherever he found that word it was the emblem that kept the Empire together. He believes, and rightly so, that the real connecting link that holds together the work which has been accomplished by scores of generations of Englishmen, of Irishmen, and particularly of Scotsmen, is the Crown. It has taken the centuries which have elapsed since the invasion of Britain by ,the Romans, until the present time, for the process of evolution in government to arrive at the high standard it has now reached. There is such a breadth of freedom of justice and toleraition in the British Empire as can possibly be conceived, hence the immensity of the gap between British democracy and Communism. If anything, there is too much toleration of inimical forces, but that very weakness is a sure sign of the immense strength of the Constitution, and the loyalty of the people to the royal link which holds the Empire together. It is not necessary to even glance at what the Communists have to offer in exchange for that link, for an abstract idea does not. lend itself to dissection. What, matters is that the people as a whole shall not only keep their loyalty undimmed, but shall make it glow with everincreasing splendor. Speaking of India, Lord Northeliffe said: “As to India, does anyone imagine for one minute that those conservative people would be linked up with a Republic? I do not believe it. They love signs of authority.” The secret of the enthusiasm which everywhere greeted the Prince of Wales on his tours overseas was that he represented the Crown of the great Empire of Britain. No other man of high estate could have evoked such loyalty or created such deep impressions. His complete triumph as a visitor was a tribute to the Constitution he so
worthily represented. The peoples of the Dominions may not be hyper demonstrative, but they , are true to the core. That is why extreme views are treated so leniently, and that is why sedition, Bolshevism and other similar evil grounds are not repressed as they would be in-other countries. AU the same the citizens of the Empire have a duty to perform in propagating loyalty and doing all in their power to combat disaffection. That Labor is setting a good example is particularly encouraging, and is a pleasing phase tha.t stands out well as against the upheavals which have taken place. There is no place for Communism under the British flag.
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Taranaki Daily News, 6 July 1922, Page 4
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695The Daily News THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1922. LABOR AND COMMUNISM. Taranaki Daily News, 6 July 1922, Page 4
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