LABOUR CONFERENCE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1657, 25 January 1913, Page 3

LABOUR CONFERENCE.

PROPOSED NEW CONTROL. COMMITTEE APPOINTED. ■ v . v- . TO DRAFT A CONSTITUTION. Tho delegates to'the Federation of Labour Conference continued their deliberations, yesterday. Following is tho official report:— '• Discussion'. was' resumed on - Mr. Boss's solidarity motion, and tho ' following amendment moved by Professor Mills :— "To tho end of securing complete industrial and political unity, this conference urges all 'industrial and political Labour bodies .maintaining a-Dominion organisation, and not identified with tho'United Labour party, to appoint each a commission with as many members as it may like, but with power to act, to meet and confer with tho Easter. Confcrenco of the United Labour party, and to undertake the complete consolidation of Labour both for political and industrial purposes, and to forthwith inaugurate that body or bodies as a going' 'concern. 'Tailing in' this, then to undertake a creation of a single body for industrial purposes and another < single body for political purposes, but in that case to 'so relate the Dominion organisation for political action to tho Dominion organisations of the industries that tho party of Labour cannot be alienated from tho Labour unions either in its policy or its-control/ •'3., Failing to accomplish either of the above, then to undertake to secure an agreement under which all unions and other-Labour bodies shall make local arrangements with each other, such as will make possible - the naming of one candidate only standing for the name of Labour of any office in any election. : ■"That until such time as there is a complete, organisation of all the workers'along the lines'of .the industries'and occupation, in which they. aro employed, seeking for the solidarity of Labour,i.this conference urges that ill all cases of strikes and lookouts the Dominion organisation of tho industry or occupation involved shall bo the controlling organisation/ and where possible a ballot of all members of tho controlling organisation should be taken preceding an order to.strike, and the cooperation of other bodies shall be sought for through .their Dominion' organisation, and such support shall ,bo asked for after ample opportunity;'for deliberate action, .includuig {lie taking of a ballot after the same,manner as,is suggested for the controlling body itself.", ■ ■ Mr.. Boss's motion was carried. . .Mr. Belcher gave notice that he would movo i at a later stage that the Government,be requested to amend the Constitution Act of New Zealand so as to »dmit of the Dominion Parliament passing any. shipping laws necessary to con-■ serve ■ the interests of ■ persons engaged in the maritime occupations of 'the - Dominion:

Tho adjourned discussion on Mr. Hickey's motion arid 'Mr. Mills's' amendment regarding industrial arrangements pending the forming,of a completely united industrial organisation' was Tesumed. ' Mr. Praser. opposed the amendment, which ho said would have a most insidious effect. / Delegates had expressed a .desiro for unity, ;but,'the amcnamont wonld militate .against ind.iistrial unity., They woro-' living . in', the l twentieth century— n time for • clear and. determined action. The amendinent in the event of "scab" slaughtermen being employed, would compel 'a prolonged Land roundabout procedure that would make blacklegs of the watersider,- afid would, not permit ; tho ivatersiders : to' take swift action to help the slaughtermen. To be effective they, must-be prepared at any time to throw in their lot with the rest in time of strife.

.. Mr: Sl'lennah also opposed the amendmfnt.; It course, ncccssaTy to. tho organisation/ 1 The men/involved in . a trouble were the best iudges cs to whether tliey should fight or not. In every fight,the;workers were always right and never wrong./How,could thoy.ba lcrong. when.they,were only gettfns'la fraction of/the wealth they produced? -If the Wnihi mineTs' had followed: along'the lines indicated in tho amendment, they would have been, defeated before they could have utilised, tho ponderous and 'slow, machinery proposed. I-' A letter was, rcccived from the Mayor of Wellington;extending - the - courtcsy of thi munibinality to delegates and wishing the conference success in its deliberations... ' ~, ' . , "Mr".''Ellis wished to support the amendment.. He .urged, that the industrial organisations in existence should be iitiliecd. in the direction of the motion carried for industrial unity; Sir. >R.' Sompla said the resolution now before tho conference meant that they would support tho slaughtermen.if neces- ' sary.': Thoy. did' not, question the slaughtermen's right to sheath their, knives. The . employers! were going, to', organiso "sco.b" concerns under the Arbitration ■ Act, and when "scab" meat came to tho wharf.were ! the watersiders going to ask: "Did the' slaughtermen tako a ballot?" In ' mich a case, the man who . handled tho "scab" carcass' would; be as much a "soab" as'the man who killed and drcss•ed it;He'objected' to juggling with phrases, and he wanted to see the conference do something. ' Mr.-. G. 'Fftrland said there was littlo difference : between the ballot. Mr. MasFey wanted and the one Mr.' Mills wanted. Tho . ballot in this caso was the refuge of a coward. The idea of such a, ballot at the waterside would be farcical, because any action they took must bo sudden. A ballot snch as that proposed'would give the capitalist press 'an'. opportunity to make a' caso. for the masters.

Mr; Colling said he had been through various strikes in England and in Austmalama, and knowing what a strike meant., he objected to any outside parsons boins permitted to' say whether men'should bo allowed to strike, or not. Quoting from the Arbitration Act, he showed that the special clauses were pnt there for" a.,special purpose. The fortnight's notioo ; was to give time to ' get "scabs." , They had. had a lively experience of this in the bakers' strike. To take a ballot as suggested' by Mr. , Mills would bo to place thedr affairs in 'the hands of the employers., . Mr. Whiting supported the amendment. He denied that it meant, that any outside body_ should be permitted to control a strike. He was as much in' favour of unity as anyone. Mr. Holland said tho difference between "my class right or wrong" and "my country right or wrong" was that the workers were never wrong wh/n Miey-fought for more of tho wealth their labour produced. The amendment resolved into a declaration that they must take a ballot to decide whethor they ( would fight for or "scab" upon their fel'low workers who might happen to be on strike.

Mr. Hickey said the resolution was being interpreted in a way that was not correct. Tho resolution covered tho wholo field of the present stage of industrial organisation. As Mr. Collins Mid, every union must make provision for business conduct. The labour movement never progressed by being mealy-mouthed, but by being militant, and the correct spirit to act upon was to recognise the need for united action.

A telegram was received from Mr. Lnurensori, M.P;,< .wishing: tho conference success. . ' ■ . Mr. Tregoar said lis . was nominally in favour of tho amondment. Ho counselled moderation, and would ratlior see a committee formed to draft some proposal 'on which they could apreo than have the conference split on this question. He.was in favour of many things that had been put forward—as for instance, that the watersiders and other workers' should riot handlo material to help the employers against the workers on strike. At tho samo time, in. tho case of certain industries; especially where tho stoppage of a I .milk supply might involve the lives of infants, lie thought some special provision should be made. •.

Mr. Wallis opposed the amendment. If he cast a ballot for the amendment, ho'would be insulting tho members'of tho organisation ho represented by doubting what their answer would be if ever they were'asked whether they would "scab" oh their fellows on strike. Mr. Moriarty said ho would speak in favour of the amendment, because it would do awny with so-called leaders. What right hail any man to appoint himself: ft lender and call Mien out on strike?■ He objected to combining industrial and political buaincM. The elauglitermen hid

taken a ballot to decide whether they would strike. ' . , Mr. Young said that tho motion 6iniply asked that they should take oorlam action in tho event of a strike, pending in(luM,ri:u .unity. In the tram strike certain Labour men .had argued for 14 days' strike. I-' lol } they had two meetings, and . every hand went up. Indeed, every man stood up. Then they took a ballot, and cVery nmn voted for the strike, with, two lniortnal votes. If the boss hit him on one cheek, he was not going ,to bed to think it over for a fortnight, but lie would hit back on the job. To support the amendment would bo to support the policy of Mr. Massey and the Government. ■ - Tho motion was put, and carried on tno voices by a largo majority. . - ilt was resolved that a committee 01 twelve be appointed to draft constitution aiid principles of the proposed new organisation. ' _ ■ • ■;A telegram was received from the Tinsmiths' Union, Christchurch, (congratulating tho conference on its work. ■■ (The Hon. W. F. Massey, in reply to conference's request for a deputation, telegraphed from Taupo that'it would bo impossible for him to return to Wellington before tho end of tho month,: owing to engagements already entered into. ' ! Mr. Young moved that the Mayor be thanked for his invitation, and tnat'ho be informed that the business of tho conference, would not. permit delegates: as a Whole to take advantage of his courtesy. rMr. Mills moved: "That the special Industrial Committee bring down to this conference; an outline of constitution; such outline as approved by conference to be later recommended to all trades unions as tho decision of this conference. A sub-committee to be afterwards set up to work out dotails, and report to a joint conference, composed of delegates from all unions adopting such outline of constitution." . •Mr. Silverstone seconded. ■After a deal of discussion it was resolved that the conference should be held at Wellington on the first Tuesday in July, application to be made to the U.L.P. and Socialist Party to adjourn their annual conferences to the same date. ;

■' Mr. Eagle was given permission to retire in" favour of Mr. Cook, national sec-retary-of tho Socialist Party.During the discussion Mr. Fulton said he. was in favour of ■ allowing time for consideration of the matter, but he wanted in the meantime a declaration as to what was to be done re Huntly. He had ha!d a letter from there, which conveyed tho information that because in a meeting; a union man had denounced the scab union ho had been threatened by the secretary of the scab union that ho would lose his job. It seemed that tho bosseshad delegated tho work of . sacking iinen to the secretary of the scab union. . The' following was tho committee elected: Messrs. Ross, Soinple, Hickey, Fraserj Hunter, Young, Parry, Belcher, Holland, Mills, Webb, and Tregear. . On a motion being moved.to refer the matter; of political unity to a committee of twelve, Mr. Ross' opposed, on the ground that'they should first como to some decision as'to tho essentials for. unity—which were the. objective and name.; ; The federation was prepared to have unity ,on the political field, providing it was on a sound basis. Tho Federation of Labour had nothing to gain by a political party, except .that, it would thus,find political reflection for its revolutionary attitude on tho industrial field.

Mr. Semplo favoured leaving matters of detail .to bo set up. ;, Mr. Fraserjsaid.that-it was only ou a jliasis of the class struggle,, and Marxian Iphilosophy.... So.',far as. the name of the party, was, concerned, he folt that; they could not'do better thaii copy-the. namo of tho Social Democrats of Germany, in which there, was nothing, mystifying whatever. Anything outside ot a clear objective ,and an uncompromising objective would only lead to disunity and'conlusion. ; Mr. Tregear moved as an amendment that tho one committee act in both cases. . Mr. Cook said tho name of the party would be of vital importance. Militant Socialists would not accept a party with a non-Socialist name. . \

The amendment of Mr. Trcgear /was, ..carried. >"! ilft'Hictey tribVedi'- ahd 'Mr. Mills seconded, tliat the rules, etc., prepared by tho,' sub-committetis be submitted to ' the full-committee for endorsement.

On Jir.,.M'Lennan's motion, it wasre r solved that tho committee, should report, on industrial; matters first. '

Mr. Smith,.Dunedin (Drivers'),, moved:"That in view of tho fact that about 90 per cent, of the membership of unions aro continuously - absent from tho meetings, and arc, t.hus out of touch with matters dealing with questions of vital interest to them except as dished out by tho daily. ■ press, and. also tho fact that union members aro rarely circularised. concerning their business,, it 'is imperative that, unions establish a central bureau, the functions of which shall'be to circularise all members of unions subscribing to it .at least once per month, :nnd a medium .thus established to be used an a vehicle for the education of .the iiiiits on economic ;questions." . , ; - The ■ _ first essential, ■ he, said, ,• in industrial .was''to infuse .dynamic force into the,'-'movement, and this .would bo dono ,by adopting some such method as.',suggested. .

, Mr.- Silverstond seconded.He argued they should adopt snch methods as would !make for the elimination of lack of knowledge, and attendance at meetings would make in this direction.

: A discussion on methdds followed, Mr. Mills stating what had bean done "in other parts in the matter of systematically circulating literature. He advocated carrying the motion. - > The motion was carried. " ,

. Mr. Boreham .(Dunedin Trawlers) moved :, "That with the lessons of the past year written in the blood- .of our dead 'comrado before us, .no'.effort should be spared during the next 22 months that will tend to bring about the political destruction of tho Massey Government." Ho said immediately the Massey Government .got' into power - they- repaid the porkers-who,had put them there by sending police to Waihi. Evans was killed, and tho law of thuggery put into operation, ' towards the destruction of clean unionism. He urged the adoption of the remit.'- ■ . j - .

- . Mr. G. Smith seconded. I Mr. M'Lennan supported the motion. He said after what had' beon done at Waiii and Huntly, it was up to every .worker 'to' help to .'shift Massey., They condemned the scabs, but those who were accessories—who endorsed the scabs—were worse than the scabs. The scab was sometimes the victim> of economic circumstances, bait the man who stood outside and applauded the scab and aided him was far more worthy of censure. The Massey Government's action had ended in murder. The Miners' Hall had been 'broken into, not only with the police looking on, but with the police assisting them—under instructions from tho. Massey Government.'