The Dominion. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1913. THE LABOUR CONFERENCE AND POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1653, 21 January 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1913. THE LABOUR CONFERENCE AND POLITICS.

The public will not be slow to. draw its conclusion from the list of those labour organisations which have sent representatives to. the conference convened by the Federation of Labour. In that list will be found trades unions whicb are at present, or which were until quite 'recently, enrolled under the flag of the United Labour Party and registered .under tho Arbitration Act: there is even one- Trades and Labour. Council anxious to dome out squarely in line with tho. body- which pushed its tactics at Waihi and Waikino to the extreme of • revolvers and gelignite. That section of the public which has not closely followed tho drift of labour policy may feel;a little surprise that the "United-La-bour Party" appears after all to havo ' been merely a recruiting agency far the Federation; but we do noi think that our readers will be Much surprised, for they were olten enough asked to notice facts "which showed that the "United Labour' Party" was never really hostile to the Federation (whatever the appearances may have been), and was, indeed, at one with the Federation in its objective and in 1 its ■ reserve toctjo, Nobody, wo think, is so fool'ish or unjust as not to cpncedo to tne labour bodies the right tb organise as strongly as they can. Tho organisation of political ideas is to be wolcomed it gives to a clear public understanding of those ideas. It will be of great assistance to the nation to know—and tho conference. about to meet in this.city will help the, nation to know l —just what tho Labour party-stands for. ■ To us it is a triiling matter that, the Federation leaders—who have succeeded, in spite of their defeat in. tho Waihi insurrection againstlaw and order, in leading many_ labour bodies away from the "United Labour Party"—have proclaimed that they are anxious for nothing so much as to make war on the present The Government can take care of itself. What 1 is of high importance, however, is thab tho Labour movement appears likeljjf to fall into tho hands of the Federation of Labour, and that the public should be alert to recognise this fact. Every word wq .have written here, we know, is likely to be re,sented by some labour bodies and some labour leaders, who, anxibus for their cause, yet recoil honestly from the methods .and tho spoken and prfctised doctrines of the Federation leaders. But theso labour bodies and labour leaders .have signally, failed to- take tho field .against the Federation. Nor do we sco how they can with any_ effect throw, themselves . now against, the drift of the whole Labour movement into tho hands of tho Socialist extremists. There are signs that a section' of the disappointed Spoils party'is to hitch itself to the Labour party's car, to.any Labour party's car. if there, is, in that any prospect of getting any way back towards office. < There was' a time when the Labour party was rcadv to co-operate 'With the "so-call-ed Liberals'," and unready to understand that it was to that party only a useful dupe. That time has passed away; and tho rest of us can allow ourselves an amused wonder that the anti-Reformers outside the official Labour ranks should still fancy that they can use the Federation for their own ends. their anger at the Reform Government's guiet and unperturbed discharge of its. constitutional duty in the Waibi disorders will hardly induce the Federation loaders to. play tho Spoils party's game. . Perhaps the impending conference will result in tho drawing of a clear line between the Federation and' its sympathisers on the one hand and the opponents of Socialism on tho other. When tho pinch comes the anti-Reformers who aro unsympathetic towards tho Socialists will assuredly decline to place themselves behind the Federation. Those newspapers which are opposed to the Reform party will doubtless realise in time that they are doing their special political friends a disservice in seeking to commit them to an alliance, or at any rate an entente, with the party whose voico and mind and methods aro the voico and mind and methods of Me. Semple and his colleagues. It is too late now for the objectors to tho Reform policy to hope bo take charge of a Labour-"Spoils" combination: tho Labour partywill take, charge of any combination of that sort if it can be brought about. In the meantime, wc shall, await with interest the outcome of tho Federation's conference. _ That the policy of tbe Federation is not approved by the vast majority of the wage-earners will hardly be put in question, we should say, even by Mn. Semfle. But if there aro labour leaders able to organise a party, it is their business to organise that party; and it is equally the business 01 the public to make itself acquainted with the policy of such 0 party as they may or l piinisc. Perhaps the conference may turn out to bo able to proclaim some policy which will be better than a • policy of blank opposition to the Government which, with the approv-

al of 09 per cont. of tho people, decided that its duty in the Waihi disorders was to preserve the lives and tho safety of innocent working mon and women. Perhaps, also, tho newspapers which have not yet recovered their wits, although they have recovered their breath, since their disaster in July, will ultimately realise that they had better not allow their bitterness to lead them into, the folly, of supporting tlie Federation simply because it is"opposed to the Government.