LABOUR CONFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2680, 28 January 1916, Page 7

LABOUR CONFERENCE

A MANIFESTO

CONSCRIPTION OPPOSED

The conference convened by the Federation of Labour to discuss the question of conscription concluded yesterday. The following is tlifi official report of the proceedings, supplied by tho Press Committee oi the conference:— This conference of New Zealand Labour organisations, convened for the purpose of discussing conscription,is steadfastly opposed to the spirit of militarism that made this war possible-, and deplores the loss of human life and of property and the intense misery caused by this war, and it expresses its sincere and heartfelt sympathy with tho relatives of those who have fallen in the fight. Conscription of Life. This conference, representing 87 organisations of labour (including all the Trades _• Labour Councils, >vitli the exception of. Otago) regret* that a section of tho community should attempt to introduce' conscription, a system that has been consistently opposed by the working classes in all parts of tho Empire. We put forward the following contentions against the principle of force where life is concerned That where only some are forced to give their lives for the country no equality of sacrifice is possible; that were all our physically fit-men compelled to enlist certain of our primary industries would be seriously, crippled to tho detriment of tho people of the Dominion and of the Empire; that if this is admitted and certain men are exempted from military servico tho doctrino of equality of sacrifice becomes absurd; that when human life is at stake all men stand equal, and there can be no means of selection devised that can be considered fair, nd. that the policy of insisting on the enlistment for servico abroad of single men and youths is inimical to the best interests of tho nation, and of the potentialities of the future rtfee.

Thousands of our colleagues strenuously opposed to compulsion in any form have gone as volunteers, and while their backs are turned we must use every effort to preserve intact the civil rights our people have won. There must be no surrender of principles, which have raised British citizenship above serfdom. We are convinced that conscription is desired not so much for the purpose of winning the war as to effectively hold the workers in subjection when the critical after-war period is reached. Already the unions, which are the bulwarks of our industrial liberties, have surrended many of their privileges and rights won through long years of struggle; already our political liberties are being dangerously invaded; and, when the war is ended, conscription, if enacted, would prove an cft'ecive. power to prevent Labour regaining those lost and surrendered rights, privileges, and liberties. Therefore, this conference declares its opposition to conscription, and will resist its introduction to the utmost.

Writing in tho London "Clarion" in the sunset hours of his great life, William Liebknecht, the then leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Kcichstafj, warned the British working men against the menace of Prussian conscription. He declared: "Conscription means militarism, submission of the people under military power, the end of democracy. . . The soldier of conscriptiop has to obey blindly. Our Emperor, who is the highest commander of the Imperial Army, has himself more than once emphatically told the soldiers: 'If you are commanded to shoot, you have to shoot even at father and mother. . . .' .Conscription has for its principal aim to separate the soldiers from the people; to instil into them the idea that they are beings of a higher order and caste than the common drudges without arms and uniform, and that' tho highest deed of man is to shot or maim his fellow-man. The Germani Magna. Charta, as framed by militarism, has been condensed into the famous dictum; "A German's duties and rights are to hold his tongue, to serve as a soldier, ana to pay his taxes. Your Magna Charta would speedily be superseded by this were you. to .get under the iron rule of conscription." "We must," as Dr. Clifford, the eminent Baptist minister, says, "guard our democratic liberties against the attacks of State absolutism. . If we adopt conscription we can be Prussianised by our want of insight and, faith in freedom.".

Voluntaryism. This conference points out that New Zealand has fulfilled every pledge in respect to the number of men the Government undertook to send in the Expeditionary Forces. In addition New Zealand has equipped and dispatched an entire Riiie Brigade, and has maintained its full quota of reinforcements on the highest scale. 1 To impose conscription, therefore, would be a grave and unjustifiable reflection on the courage of the people of New Zealand, who have equipped and sent more men to the front in. proportion to population than any other part of tho overseas Dominions, Always provided that men on active service are sufficiently equipped, maintained remunerated, and their dependents adequately provided for, the voluntary sy6tem cannot possibly fail while a majority of men of military ago are in favour of prosecuting the war. There are thousands of men who are ready and willing to go to the front if the Government would make adequate provision.for their dependents while they are on service and in tho event of death or disablement. Charity and doles from patriotic funds are not what is wanted. That tho conditions under which men are asked to enlist are unsatisfactory is proved hy tho fact that local authorities are paying soldiers amounts from public funds which bring their pay up, to the level of their civilian wages, and in this connection the one shilling a day separation 1 allowance for married men and Sunday pay are not computed. A soldier's pay should not be less than .that of the trade union rate for the best paid artisans. The pensions for soldiers and dependents ought to bo made much more liberal, and the pensions to wife and children should not bo made a matter of charity, but a matter of right. Undor the present Act a soldier's wife and children havo to plead, poverty .before receiving the full pension. The Act says: "In determining tho rate of pension payable to a dependent of a member, the board' shall take into consideration tho property or income from all sources of the dependent, and of nil persons liable at law for the maintenance of tho dependent."

Voluntaryism forces a Government to make adequate provision for the soldier and his dependents before it can expect to set the necessary recruits. The abandonment of the voluntary principle therefore, which allows men to withhold servico until reasonable provision is mado for themselves and dependents, ■ will deprive the community of its most powerful means of securing the improvements necessary. .

Tho conference offers the following general arguments in favour of the voluntary principle. Even from the militarist. viewpoint volunteering furnishes the best soldiering material and tends to get rid of those officers who cannot make thomselves respected by their character, ability, tqct, and conduct. It thus guarantees as far as possible under a military system reasonable treatment to the recruit. Voluntaryism is tho best protection against the military abuses so rife in compulsorily enlisted armies, conscript armies are chcaper than voluntarily enlisted armies, and this explains the financial shirker's preference for conscription. They are cheaper, however, only for those who ought to pay. If voluntaryism is displaced by conscription, the soldiers and their dependents are certain to suffer ami tho financial shirker escape.

Conscription of Wealth. To finance New Zealand's further participation in tho war and the improvements in the pay and pensions of men on active service, the confercnce urges drastic taxation, to tho extent of the confiscation to the use of the State of all incomes in excess of a soldier's pay, as already defined in the terms of, this manifesto. This policy would result'in a greater rate of enlistment, and at the same lime test tho sincerity of those who are pledging tho last mail and the last shilling to tho prosecution of tho conflict. loans inevitably mean postponed liu,ymt!(tl Willi hh>i'£ (nln'oal, fur' i| tß jjuuMVed filasses, and sreatar bmdens for

future generations, with the result that tho men who fight live battles will eventually be compelled to also earn the interest on the debt, and thus pay toll to those who should have done their share by paying tho cost. To conscript a man's wealth is a less serious invasion of personal libertiesthan to conscript a man's person, and in n strugglo for freedom the conscription of wealth must precede the conscription of flesh and blood, and bo fully tried before the latter is seriously considered. Conscription of wealth does not mean the taxing of tea and sugar and the borrowing at 41 per cent, free of income tax the war profits filched from tho nation by the patriots who have made the war an occasion for levying toll on their owa nation. It does not mean an increase of a quarter of 1 per cent, in tho taxation of persons with .£100,01)0 a year. It does not mean any mere increase in taxation which leaves the wealthy wealthier than ever as a direct result of fue war. It does mean giving the people as a whole a real interest in tho ownership of their country and in the ownership of those main industries upon which their life and development depend. Unless the private properly, which now privileges and empowers a small class to lay tribute on the community is conscripted to the use of the State, made social property, that is, national organisation will remain a myth. The clamour for conscription simply resolves itself into the demand of private enterprise for more weapons for its entrenchment and aggrandisement. Conscription of wealth means that the land, mines, mills, factories. ships, banks, and all the colleclive-ly-used means of wealth production shall bo seized and operated for tho collective benefit of the peoplo during tho war; and shall remain the property of the people after the war.

Peace Terms. . In regard to peacc terms and the bringing of tho war to a speedy conclusion, tins conference would commend to tho earnest consideration of fellow-citizens the Popo's appeal to the belligerents: Let it not bo said that the mighty conflict cannot bo settled save by force of arms. Let the mutual will to destroy be laid aside! Bo it remembered that nations die .not! >Humbled and oppressed, they bear with quivering impatience the yoke laid upon them, preparing to renew the contest, and handing down from generation to generation a sorry heritage of hate and vendetta. Why Hot weigh at once, with ranscience serene, tho rights and just aspirations of the people? Why not begin with willing minds an exchange of views, direct or indirect, with the object of taking into account, as far as possible, those rights and aspirations, and thus put an end to the intense struggle, as has happened in other similar circrtmstances? Blessed he he who shall first raise the olive branch, and shall extend the right hand to tho foe, offering reasonable conditions of peace. The equilibrium of the world and the suro and prosperous tranquillity of the nations rest far more on mutual goodwill and upon of rights, and others' dignity, than upon the multitude of armed hosts and upon, formidable girdles of fortresses." This conference is strongly of opinion that the iime has arrived when the Allied Governments should publicly stato the terms upon which they are propared to bring tho conflict to an end. This is not only due to the peoples of the Allied nations, but, if the details of tho terms to 1 cognise the right of peoples to develop according to their qwii geuius, and reduce tho dangers of secret diplomacy and the private interest in armaments manufactures, they will assist the German Social Democratic movement in creating a larger peaco settlement in Germany. ■ The war has reached a stage when the intelligence . of the world must asert itself to extricate humanity from tho impasse into which military bureaucracy has led it. The publication of peace terms will provoke public discussion, inform the public mind, and thus ensure that the peoples involved will enter moro fully into tho sentiment of tho war. In this way will be secured a peace agreement based upon principles of humanity a!id right rather than upon the desires of certain classes for mere economic and military advantage. (Signed) E. Hunter, P. Eraser, C. W. Webber, Press Committee.

Other Resolutions. 4 "With reference to the proposal made that an Imperial Conference bo held in London to discuss <a-n<l. anuigo trado rein.tions, tariffs, and ofche? matters,- the selfgoverning States and Dominions to bo represented, this conference objects to any representation of this Dominion until the peoplo of the country have been consulted and instructions given to its representatives based upon tlie decisions of the people." v "That the United Federation of Labour Executive, together with five members elected by the conference, be appointed a committee to closely watch the development of events, and, in the event of any attempt towards the introduction of conscription; this committee shall communicate with the Labour organisations whenover in its opinion the situation warrants action." ( The five committee members elected were as follows:—Messrs. H. E. Holland, W. T. Young, J. M'Kenzie, E. Canham, and E. Hunter.

"That this conference place on record its appreciation of the splendid fight conducted by the "Maoriland Worker" against conscription, and, -with a view of assisting the only national working class paper in Now Zealand in its efforts in this and other working-class questions, delegates assembled pledge themselves to do all in their power to assist the paper." The following resolutions were passed at the conference:— - ■

(1) "'That this conference expresses its sympathy with our fellow-unionists at Broken Hill iu their fight for the forty-four-hour week, and that the delegates assembled pledge themselves to leave no stone unturned in soliciting financial assistapce from their respective organisations in order to enable our fellow-union-ists, to carry their fight to a successful conclusion/

(2) "This conference expresses its alarm and indignation at the recent instances of tyranny and oppression introduced into this country, and especially protests against the prosecutions and fines inflicted in the cases of Messrs. 35. Gill, of Auckland, H. ,IV. Reynolds of Christchurch, and Mnrrell. of Wellington, as being contrary to British liberty, and' savouring of that 'yranuy that we aire sup-' posed to be at war to suppress."