“OUT WITH COMMUNISTS, OR I WILL RESIGN!”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17881, 24 June 1926, Page 5

“OUT WITH COMMUNISTS, OR I WILL RESIGN!”

MR H. B. OWEN GIVES ULTIMATUM TO UNEMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE “ Clear this Communist element out of the unemployment business, or I v.ill get out myself!” declared Mr R. B. Owen, secretary of the Citizens' Unemployment Committee, at a meeting: of the General Committee this morning:. “ I ask members and the Trades Hall secretaries to do so. I won’t have anything to do with that crowd. That's putting the matter bluntly.” The committee, after discussing the matter, took no action, but it was suggested that the Trades Hall secretaries should cease to employ Mr S. Fournier in connection with relief activities.

A SINISTER MOVE. Mr Owen Mid that there was a little sinister move to checkmate the committee and undermine its efforts. lie thought the time had come when the committee should ask the trade union secretaries to define their attitude towards the Communists. He understood that the unemployed had intended to organise a parade which would not have helped the committee at all .The people at the Trades Hall should do what was done at Auckland, where the Trades Hall officials had “booted” the Communists out. “They are out to make trouble,’’ he continued, “and I am not going to waste my time over unemployment if these men are going to pull against me. - ’ The Mayor (Mr J. K. Archer) said that as far as the Trades Hall question was concerned people had to remember that there was a proper and official unemployment committee there, of recognised trades’ union secretaries—men of responsible position and men of character. The other committee working for unemployment had nothing to elo wtih the Trades’ Hall Committee, except that it used a room at the halL Mr Fournier, the peaker % understood, was acting in purely a private and individual way, with no recognised standing at the Trades Hall Thirty or forty men in the city could not really be prevented from hiding a meeting and expressing opinions upo r.a public question. The best plan was to ignore the unofficial committee. NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPHS. Mr I'. C. Ellis, when asked by the Mayor to explain the position, said he was sorry the question had been raised. as the position had been clearly outlined before. The responsible offi- < ials at the Trades Hall were a committee that came into action immediately when anv thing urgent came up. This was the Trades Hall Unemployment Committe. Anything that was given to the newspapers came from that committee, and anything done outside had nothing to do with the committee. “If this committee takes notice of every paragraph in the newspapers we will never get anywhere,” continued Mr Ellis. Matters must be dealt with by the recognised committee, of which Mr 11. Worrall is chairman and Mr W. J. Green, secretary. There were about 100 unemployed at the Trades Hall this morning, and the easiest wav to settle the matter is to get work for the«e men, of whom the bulk are ablebodied. and can work. ‘‘Some of our friends of the newspapers are making a little bit of copy out of it. Thers was a little paragraph in the ‘Star.’ and there is nothing in it. Our friends of the newspapers are not helping us by publishing that. There is a chairman and secretary of the Trades Hall Committee, and let’s get the men to work.” Mr Hewlett: “The Communists arc the worst friends they have.” Mr Owen said that at the previous meeting of the committee Mr Ellis had stated that the position had got out of hand a bit, but that by Tuesday everything would be all right, and that the Trades Hall Committee would put those people in their proper place. Since then he had read in one of the newspapers that Mr Fournier, a foreigner who was out to make trouble, was in the pay of the secretaries of the Trades Hall. Activities of Communists. I want to know. ’ said Mr Owen, “ if that is rorrect or not correct. Are you paying Fournier?” Mr Ellis: I will answer that, Mr Owen. Mr Owen said that he was out to help men who were in distress. The work he had done in the past proved that. Away back in 1922, when he was receiving no help, he had established I he principle of union wages. Now, the Communist gruuo was trading on the work of the committee.

“ I ask you and the Trades Hall secretaries,” Mr Owen continued, “toclear this crowd out, or I will get out my--eif. That is putting the matter bluntly.. I will not have anything to do with this crowd. The other day a deputation waited on me, and I re-

fused to meet them. I told them to put anything they wished to plaoe before me in writing.’’ MR ELLIS EXPLAINS POSITION. Mr Ellis said that he thought it would have been better if the discussion had been taken in committee, because the more that was said about the matter the worse it would get. The committee started to function about a week ago. In the meantime something had to be done to necessitous cases. The whole of the secretaries at the Trades Hall had their own work to do, and they wanted somebody to take charge of the handing out of relief, such as tea, bread, grocery orders, coal and so on. Mr Fournier was there, and he was put in charge of the distribution of the relief stuff. He had to live. The secretaries did not wish to pay him out of funds provided for the unemployed, so .what they did was to contribute half a crown each to meet his needs and out of pocket expenses. As soon as they got the men to work, the whole of that would stop. There was no occasion for any of the unemployed to interview Mr Owen, and he had done the right thing in refusing to meet them. Someone had to do the job of distributing relief, and Mr Fournier had been engaged because he was there. The speaker considered that there was no need to be the least alarmed. It was a cast of “ Least said, soonest mended.” HARMING THE UNEMPLOYED. Mr Hewlett said that if the committee reaffirmed the principle of refusing to recognise the Communist element, and that it was the opinion of the committee that the Communist element was only doing harm to the unemployed. that would be sufficient. Mr Ellis: Hear, hear. “MAKING COMMUNISTIC SANDWICHES.” There was no Communist committee at the Trades Ilall, said Mr Worrall. Mr Fournier was the only man among them that had any idea of the philosophy of Communism. The newspaper Press had advertised him and thus strengthened his hand at the price of retarding the work among the unemployed. The speaker described the great amount of work that was entailed in getting lists of the unemployed and rationing out the foodstuffs; and concluded by expressing, the hope that Mr Owen would allow the committee to carry on its work at the Trades Hall. Mr Owen: “I object to this Communist being employed, and making, as it were, Communistic sandwiches. The public will not contribute if this insidious propaganda is to continue. Let him go back to selling his papers. He is out to make trouble, and it’s best to nip it in the bud.” It was a compliment to the man concerned to take such notice of him, said the Mayor. It were best to ignore him. The speaker did not think the matter could be decided ‘by threats. Mr Fournier had tackled the unemployment problem last year, had preached Communism, and his name had not been mentioned. WAY OUT OF DIFFICULTY. Mr E. H. Marriner said he thought the best way out of the difficulty was to ask the secretaries to employ someone else. “If this man is a bugbear why employ him and antagonise the committee?” he asked. “Let him go back to his work of selling newspapers and get someone else. That is a very easy way out. There are many others at the Trades Hall willing to take it up.” Mr Marriner said he would be very sorry indeed to see Mr Owen get off the committee after doing so much good work, for the unemployed. They would get over the whole trouble if the secretaries of the trade unions would employ another man. Mr Ellis said he thought the best way out of the difficulty would be to adjourn the discussion of the whole matter until next week. The paramount thing was to get the men working. Mr Hewlett said it was unfortunate that the discussion had not been taken in committee.