The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1921. ENEMIES WITHIN THE GATES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 20 November 1924, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, NO VEMBER 20, 1921. ENEMIES WITHIN THE GATES.

“Wfiere is the leader 'S’ “The Times ’ asked, “wise and strong enough to teaen tlie EaOuur Party mat mis country is sviii Englanu. and will nut accept, sudden violent and revolutionary cAanges." 'ino great Eondoii journal in discuss* mg the political situation created by tlie overthrow or the nisi Socialist Administration, questioned Labour s htiiess to proviuu a sane constructive Opposition, it is conjectured that Mr Macdonald s ieadeisliip is likeiy to end. His worst enemies aie las own past history, his extremist iuliowers, jus moral airogance, and las deplorable temper. The country wiis amazed 1111011 Mi - Macdonald’s plain statement that he had not been consulted over the Campbell case, was subsequently proved to have covered a Ministerial conference, with, himself in the. chair. The political impasse created by the indecisive result of the dlec-Uon id December 1923 gave Labour a Unique opportunity to demonstrate its capacity, but the Macdonald Adminisfva-. tion was discredited, not by the iiiembers of the Cabinet, but by the advocates of violent and revolutionary changes. In other words the citadel wits thrown down by the enemies within the gates. Where is the Labour Leader courageous enough to insist that Labour’s first duty is to put its own house in order before it aspires to the inure, exalted task of regenerating the social and economic life of the nation. The victory for political stability and the swing of votes to conservatism in face of the activities of the ugly'elements that threatened to uhdermihe tlie foundations, of society have not failed to impres!; the trusted friends of organised Labour. The idea that, “capitalism can be abolished by the Workers Uniting in One-class conscious economic orgaiiisa tidii, ’ ’ lias been rudely exploded. The Reds of Russia attempted to pm. this idea into proctibe—through the activities of the Soviet.—but the cure was discovered to be more deadly than the _ disease : indeed riO more cdiielusive pfobi of the failure of Lenin’s ghastly revolutionary experiment, need he produced than to point try the frail tid efforts of Leuiilised Riissia after yOars of Bolshevism to borrow from capitalistic Rritaii); The ■ greatest menace to the welfare of Liibutir, however, is hot the capitalistic system, but the ligly monster Labour organisations are nurturing within their own gales. Mi' Henry Watson., Secretary of the Victorian Painters’ Union, attacks the One Rig TTninn scheme which is openly revolutionary* launched by the Ansii,. >n Workers’ Union, the Watr .db Workers’ Federation, and. the coal miners, mul predicts its failure. Mr Watson is one rtf Australia’s recognised leaders of the craft unionists who have fOught the One Big Union step by step. He says: The value of organisation is not 1. matter of argument. Tlie resultant, increase in efficiency of effort has been dfemobstrated iii every field of human activity. The nature of the task to be accomplished will determine the character of the instrument. If the purpose he benevolent and constructive, on the one hand, or aggressive and destructive 011 the other, the form - of organisation will differ accordingly. Because the present forms of unionism are imperfect and disjoinff-d, it by no means follows that they are of do further use. But the aggressive and destructive elements iii the Labour ranks find t.o appeasement, except in demolition. Constructive progress fails to provide the spectacular element so dear to the revolutionary. So, we have ail insistent cry for the scrapping of our existing forms of organisation and tlie substitution oT something new and different. Under stress of this undisciplined ardour. several attempts have been made to impose upon the unionists of this country the form pf organisation known as the One Big Union. These attennV.s have hitherto met with lint little success. WhoUiP'' wc consider the squabbles of the rival factions amongst its advocates: examine the stilted dogmatism of its preamble; reflect upon the experimental uncertainties of its objective, or wandc amidst the tangle of its confuted forms, we find abundant reason for the failure to imolant this unwelcome evotic in the field ol Australian unionism.

The preamble mentioned by ilt \Vat.son, consist,s ot a series ol e;ttef>'orieal statements which aie none the less equivocal because of their dogmatic loim. '‘llie woiktnn' class,’' so inns the text, “produce all value. ’ Nmv, what is meant bv “the Working Class N’ \Ye ‘ know that gieat, numbers of people not usiialU leckoned among-st tlie. working class greatly assist pn the production of wealth. AVhile. it is certain that no value is produced without labour, it is equally certain that values are increased b\. the thousitndiold with the assistance or Capital. According 1 to the preamble the working class organisation is to “lake atid bold the. means id production, distiibutioh ml exchange, by revolutionary industrial and political _ action. 1 New, this taking of things that do lad,mg to them by the woi'kine or anv otliei class is apt be called by a very ugly name. In any ease, it is likely to produce some, laihei ] ; rubai ( om]>l icalions. However divergent, the ini crests ot I lie diiector ot indus|rv nod of the wagr-earner, the nidual capitalist may be, and oHeii is, an enliudy _ innocent tlmd parly. No British eomniunitv is likel\ to aitoid tin levolut lofia rics an op.partunity to enforce lln'ir iiostiums noon I ho ...|. The debauchery of Russia ] )V ili,' Kr:b and the ( vd c!T<"d-. siilVerc.l by rp u-'-rl nation,

at the hands of a band of merciless tyrants, presents a tragic example of the consumma lion of the. destructive policy of tlie- revolutionaries. The doings of the Moscow Soviet., with its confiscatory and iconoclastic doctrines, and the attendant honors and hopelessness, should arouse ■sane Labour to the realisation of its vast responsibilities, and the risk of permitting extremists io capture its organisations. The average working- man ought to display a. livelier interest in the trend of national politics; he must- —if lie hopes to win the confidence of his fellow-citizens outside his movement —take a firmer grip upon Labour's legitimate organisation, and purge the movement of the revolutionary elements which are ceaselessly plotting to hurl society over the precipice into the seething maelstrom of economic chaos and social helplessness.