“LESS NONSENSE.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 932, 30 November 1933, Page 5

“LESS NONSENSE.”

Lord Snowden’s Advice to Labour Party. THREE VITAL THINGS. (Special to the “Star.”) LONDON, October 24. “ Labour members are elected to represent constituencies composed of all sorts of people,” writes Viscount Snowden. “ The majority of the Labour members in the last Parliament were not trade union members. They were elected on political grounds, and supported by all classes in the belief that the Labour Party was a national party and not a faction. “ The recent attempt to secure a larger representation of the non-trade union element at the annual conferences was a revolt against the trade union domination of the party. But this revolt was quickly crushed by the steam-hammer of the headquarters, which gets its income from trade union contributions. The Labour Party can never get a Parliamentary majority by the votes of trade unionists alone, who comprise less than one-eighth of the electoral roll. The sooner the party realises that . . . the better. “ A Labour Government is the only possible alternative to a Government of reaction. But we are doomed indefinitely to a Tory Government unless the Labour Party can do three things—stop talking nonsense about Socialism in Our Day; present the country with a sound programme of constructive social reform; and prove to the country that it is a national party and not the servant of a faction.”