Labour Chief Given Heavy Sentence

Chronicle (Levin), 9 July 1949, Page 5

Labour Chief Given Heavy Sentence

Received Friday, 9.30 p.m. SYDNEY, July 8. Rushing ijito the building frorn ears, squads qf .G,o]XLmonweaJth investigation officcrs and State nniformect poliee conducted a, lightning raicj on Miirx Ilouse, the ComjnipJgt Jj^dqnj^prs in Sydney. The uniformed poliee took positions 011 the sta'ircases apd at the .entranees of the offiees hnd iectupe r.oqmg \yhile Commqnwealth offieers searched drawers, cahihets and safes. The assistant deputy Commonwealth Crown Solicitor (Mr. J. Armstrong), who aecompanied the party, did not diselose the pippose of the search but it is beljeved the offieers who entered under a search warrant issued under the National Emergency Aet were looking for large sums of money. Seanning documents and books the offieers cjictated potes to an assistant and took possessjpn of some material. Wompn employees protested loudly and n well-known male Communist shonted : "So this is democraey!" as he was brushed aside. As the news spread crowds eongested the footpaths. Two women who tried to sell copies of the Coipmunist newspaper Tribune to the erowd were heckled. A press photographer in the entrance was .rushed by two men who kicked hjs capiera fpom his hands. The photographer closed with the assailants, but the poliee intervened. When oue Communist yelled; "MeCirr?s' stormtroopers are here," a Transport Union Worker retorted; "We are getting even for what you did in Berlin. " In the Arbitration Court Mr. Justiee Foster senteneed L. J. McPhillips, assistant national secretary of the Tronworkers ' Union, to six months' gaol for eontempt. Kenpeth MeKepn, Sydney distriet secretary of the Ironworkers' TJnion, was tined '£100 and the Federation itself £1000.

"When tlie squads of Commonwealth investigation offieers and Btate uniformed pojiee raided Marx Tlouse to- i dav thev were aeting on a search warrant under section 10 of the Crimes AM vhieh states that a warrant may he granted to enter any place, vessel or house by foree if necessarv shonld rea sonahle grounds of susT)icion exist tha: tliere is therein anything wliieh may constitutp an olfence against anv Communwoalth law. The deputy Direetor of the Commonwealth Investigation Rervice (Mr R. Wiiliamsl said the warrant gave officer> power to seize hoohs, accounts and other doeuments in respeet of anv offence against the National Emergencv Coal St rike Aet and the Crimes Aet. Further aetion would depend on what the seareh revealed. The searehers continued to ransaek the premises for near'y four hours and finallv left in the early afternoon earrving out filing cabinef^. and large packing cases crammed wjth doeuments. It is itnderstood no significant sum of money was found. hut one security officer commented: "We have something we have heen after for, a Rmg time. ' ' Thirty-two hundles of "books, aceounts, documents, records and several cabinets were taken to security headquarters. Guards on nhonps cut off several urgent calls made' "by known Communists. Scuffles between Communists and memhers of the crowd which. quickly gathered were dealt with hy the poliee. The general seeretarv of the Com-e munist Party (L. L. Sharkey) said: "The mask is off the Labour Party. What the Communist Party has always warned Ihe people to expeet has now liappened. Tn an atmosphere reminiscent of' Berlin under Hitler the Communist headquarters has heen raided by a swarm of security poliee. This, taken' with the s&vage gaol sentence on McPhillips and Txing and the tines on the ironworkers and McT\oon, reveals an alarming drift towards a poliee state and faseisin in Australia. The raid was earried out under the Crimes Aet which the Labour Party is pledged to repoal. "Fnless the people take aetion io prevent it to-morrow it will he progressive. Organisations and individuals who stand for liigher livihg standards, peaee and demoeracv y^ill he attacked. "Rince the Lahour Party has done what no other partv has — made it a erime to help feed the families of workers on strike — this is a challenge to the right to strike and a hiow at the root of demoeracv. The Communist Party will not he deterred from supporting the legitimate elaims of the miners. It will eontinue to do all in its power to hring ahout an early and satisfaetorv conclusion to the strike,"