LABOUR PARTY AND COMMUNISM

Chronicle (Levin), 4 December 1947, Page 7

LABOUR PARTY AND COMMUNISM

Mr. Fraser Causes Considerabie Surprise

WELLINGTON, Dec. 3. At the moinent — but only ±'or the tnoinent, some observers believe — unionist opinion in Wellington is restrnined regarding the declaration in Greymouth on Monday jright by the i'riine Minister (Mr. Fraser) that any oue believing in Communist prieiples is not lit to head a trade uniou. There is no doubt t-hat tlie Priam Minister 's statement has caused considerabie. surprise. A prominent unionist said that the declaration was exceedingly rash on the eve of the Westland by-election, in which the Government relied to a very great degree 011 the undivided support of the trade unions. "I thought last week that thc Government wiil receive a shock ir Westhuul. for it is inereasingly cleai that there is a cleavage of opinion if not of iuterests, between industriul Labour and political Labour," he said •'l think so even iriore after reading Mr. Fraser 's remarks. They are exactly the thing to give itnpetus to ali the lalk that West Coast unionists inay bovcoit the poll." The unionist said that the Goveinment uiusl be auare that Couiuiuuist.; led numbers of trade unions iu various parts of the eounlry, aird this position uid obtained for a good niany yeai\ . There were Comiminists who wero prominent in union aifairs in , Westhead, for instance, and yet the Ministe: of Keliabilitation (Mr. Skinner) and then the I'riine Minister seemed beul • m autagonising them. Puzzling Tactics ( 'omuiunists were, he eontinued, pro mincut orticiuls in some district Irades couucils, notably in Auckland, and un outcry could be expeeted from there. All these organisations were afliliutions of Ihe New Zealand Federation of Labour, which was the true )>rop of tlu. Labour Go\ ernmenl, and the l'rime Minister and his colleagues must surcly be aware of the possilde repercussions. rhal was why, he said, the tactics ot the Government were so puzzling. 110 though that tlie development was especially sigiiiiicant after the Federa tion of Labour 's refusal to ,join the Anierican Federation of Labour 's drive against Commuuism, and its assertiou that it would take its policy from the World Federation of Trade Unions, in which Communist. influence was evident. Mr. Fraser lmd also chosen l:o express his condcmnation after tlie Federation of Labour had re!)uked ths Minister of Keliabilitation for his statemenis airainst C'ontuiuiiisin. To the unionist 's niind, these rapid evoiits all indicated a wideniug oi opinion between iudustrial Labour aua political Labour iu a situation wlicrt union dissaiisfaction with wages- aul comiuodity costs and with the polili •ians' appropiiation of pensions fai ibove those ihe workers hoped to get was a vital factor. He umlerstoo.l that tlie Government was partirularh disturbed because of the trade unior movement 's pro.jeeted on.slaugiit on ■ommodity prices, beginniug with boei >. on tlie West Coast. . While trade unions had not so fa» | denounced the politicians' superannuu I tion award t o themselves, he said, it was more signilicant that they had no.. I'ndorsed the legislat ion. Their very sileuce was eloquent in the presen "ir'-umstajices. „ 111 the ni'enuti ni e,-., tlie; Federat ion oi j Labour reniains reticitent abont it.- | I ransacl ions at last week's coufcreuce "'There are no connnunications to tio: | press abouf uuyihing.'' an otlicial said! vesterdav. j

COMMTJNISTS REPLY TO MR. FRASER WELLINGTON, Dec. 3. "Mr. Fraser is flogging a dead horsi wlien he attempts to disprove the idontity of the Coinmunist i'arty and the Labour I'arty," declared the Wet lington district committee of the (Jomuiunist Party in a statement. "No inteiligent person is likely to make this error, ' ' the Communist state uient eontinued. '"Nor do Nationat Party speakers believe it eithef. "They speak with their tongues in their qheeks but they do know that no tactic is more likely to help them tu [lower tlian the proinotion of division withhi the ranks of the Labour rnov'e ment. Piiforiunately, some Labour spokesiuen are only too willing to play their game — a dangerous game whicl can have very serious consequences foi ihe working class movement in Neu Zealand." The Communist Party eontinued "Only a practical [irogramnie of econo mic. advance can destroy the presem Xationalist attack. The prograinnte oi the New Zealand Federation of Labou: is such a policy and is fullv supported iiy Connnunists in the trade unions even if Mr. Fraser does not suppori it. ' ' The statement claimed that New Zealand was not endangered by Com inuuism, but was menaced by "thc sul'seiw ience of the British and New Zealand Labour Governments to An.erican Jmperialism, " which was dragging doi.u the people 's living sttwulards. If Imperial Proferenct went, New Zealand farmers would bt allected disastrously, and there wouto be a tariff low ering . which would menuee New . Zealand secondary iu dnstries. "Those are tlie things to which Mr Fraser and tlie Labour Governmeu1 sliould be dii'ecliug their attention, no some camjiaign against an imaginary and nebulous danger, "- said tlie state ment. "The Communist Party is cleai" on these issues. It has been pointing out tlie real dangers confronting Nev Zealand for a hmg time, and it will di its* utinost to defend the people ot New Zealand from Anierican liu perialism or any other alien in fluences. ' ' The people would "readily understaud the signilicance of the united tront " between the l'rime Minister, Mr. Fraser. and the Leader of the Opposit ion, Mr. H oi land, Mr. Winston Churchill and President Truinan in "a concerted attacked ou the Communist Party," the Wellington district committee of tlie Communist Party stated this afternoon in icference to Mr. Holland's descrijitiou of Connnunists as-wreckei-s. Tlie statement declared that Couuuunists in New Zealand were not responsible for iudustrial unrest, the cause of wliicli was "tlie empty social uature of the systeiu itself." The Conimuuists wero not wreckers but builders of a new* econoniie order. Mr. Hollmid was correct wlieii he said that the NationaJ J'arty never liad anything ii1 coiuuioii with the Communist Party*. Communists had never supported the Nationalists because they wer^ as fiir apart as the poles. There were ye ( ommuuists or forrner Communists ,in the National Party but f'it lnay surprise Mr. Ilolland to know that there is quite a nuniber of formcr members of tlie National Party* wlio, feaving. beconie disillusioiied with it and tlie woni out social system it represents, have now jomed Ihe Communist Party in connnon with many former members ot the Labour Partv. "