LABOUR'S POLICY

Chronicle (Levin), 6 July 1948, Page 7

LABOUR'S POLICY

Press Association 1

Likeness Te Communism Seen By Nationalists .

4Pet

DUNEDIN, July, 5. "The fallacy that the Labour-Social-ist plauners who are chosen for. their politicai, not for any business qualities, cantplan, has been laid, bare by the; course of eyehts," said ;lilx. W. J. Sim, jK.C„, president -of ' th^ . National Party, in his presidential ..address at 'the opening of the Party cpnf prence this morning. ... . •'What is the next' most important fallacy that has jto .be checked up and exposed? Is it not this,. that the Government wo'uld npw persuade this benighted. countfy that socialism and communism are ditferent things?' J .. At Mangakino) .the Prinie" Minister hacl taken a rather dramdtic farewell of communism, •saying: ~ " We' have absolutely nothing f'o do 'witli the'm and bid thern good-oye and a long farewell.'' Mr. Bemple saw it as a sacred duty to iight communism and had written a book on the subjeet to which tlie Prime Minister had added * foreword, coinmending the autlioi* for his resolute and nierciless attaclc- on the Communist doctrines and discij)les. Most people would heartiiy agree and would join forces gratefully with the Ministers, only reJieved that at long last a general and convinced acceptance seeined to be talciug place of what liad been fairiy obvious for ovei- twenty-live years to those who wished to see it. "Leaving out' of the matter all^question of Communist violence, whicli would achieve nothing in a British com-muuit-y, the, new. question today is: — ' Can, the Labeur Party and its leaders aa at..present •constituted be severcd froiii.conuiiunisni and disassociate themseives from its doctrines and attendant consequenccs? ' The couutry is entitled to more than. has been said and we deinand it in order to clear the air fur ther. I11 addition .to the iron curtaiu beliind which communism flourislies and msidiously plans its mastery of the world, there is in front of it the socialist fog and obscurity which in its own way is as baff'liiig as the iron curtain itself. The technique of obscuring politicai objectives has itself been learnl in a foreign; not a British, scliool. " Socialising Process. The Communist objective as set fortli in the Marx-Kngels manifesto was the .sociaiisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange. This also appeared 111 the written constitu -* tion oi the Labour Party and was still t lie foundation stone of the Party 'a existtPice. Eaeh in it's own sphere meant ultiniate ownership by the .State of all propefty, ,t I10* conseqiVent conduct of all blisinesa and •fudust'Vy,' tlre Pontrul of >t Iro wliole llfe df i the' coiriiiiuniiy. In"New ' Ze;flaiid1"rlie socialising provess'had'gone'fbnVafd piecfemeaJ in just such quantities as a British comuiuiiity : ih its complaceiicy Jnight be expected to swallow, , wifhoiit becoiiiing too resti've. New ZealaVid socialism eiiterlained the same" Oojbcti ve as the more piolent apd objectiowa'blo communism; . The diil'ereuce' oetwdeii Iheui was principally oue of tik'hiiique iu aehieviug .the end. The Wocialist liad- a liungry appetite for tlie state ownership of ail capital, and the 'eontrPl of all operations assPciated wi'th productioii, distribution and exchange, -Avhivh was as keen as that of the Coii'fmunist.- ' s ' "The New' Zealand • Wocialist is, in his politicai maJce-upy only the Communist in sheep'si ciqthing, J said Mr. fcviin. " It has been truly said that communism is oulv socialism in a iiurrv. We need further "recantation than Jias already takou place before the conception can lie accepted tliat New Zealand Labour-socialisin is dilferent in its intentious and substantial objectives from communism. Has tlie past teaching been wholly abandoned, expressed by no less than the Prime Minister lnmself, as evidenced by a speech reported in The Alaorilaud Worker newspaper ot June 9, 1920, that 'All working class activity must be based 011 tlie class war' and 'any politicai party not based on this perpetual enmity of the working class to the exp]oiting class is hanufui and misleading?' This is the Coiumun. ist thought. " "A great deal more "open frank abandoiiment' of Communist doctrine and thought ' is required before the couutry can have any assuranee that it wiji.not be cewverted into a 'Communist stdte, pleasantly nained hSocialist; and a .sturdy race of British men and women becoine a race of regimented human mice diligently nibbling at the Hocialist clieese. " . *'