MR, FIELD AND THE "MAORILAND WORKER"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2797, 15 June 1916, Page 6

MR, FIELD AND THE "MAORILAND WORKER"

(To the Editor.) Tlie editor of the "Maoriland Worker, Mr. Holland, judging from his J havo been touched on a somewhat tender spot when I challenged his bluff jii calling himself "Labour" uitn a capital L . There aro only two points in his letter that appear -to me worth noticing. I must thank Mr. Holland for pointing'out my mistake in confusing the I.W.W. with W+i^ r „ li " r ''T, as . tlloy are termed . hL% ®° c ! lahst ! c Reviews. Tho correc-(J,-lsl.crror enables me to bring the affiliation with Berlin" a little Mrt°offh°- 1 H iu the official report of the proceedings of the Unity Congress which bears the imprint of the ' w. fT'u 1 ' r 01 ; r '" an d-which congress was held on July 1 to 10, 1913, in WellSi !s,- U ?- le in t er esting particulars of this affihahon with Berlin. The constitution of the United Federation of Labour as adopted by that congress in article 15, P> ag -2 ,V, t , ho re l ,ort states: 1. "The United Federation of Labour .... shall become affiliated with the International secretariat of Berlin, the headquarters ot the International Trades Union movement, and it will especially enter into the closest possiblo relations with the union movement in all countries •withm or bordering on the waters of the l acinc. It is worth noting that it does not say muv become/' but it says "shall become, affiliated with Berlin. I will go a little further, and' point out thatihe constitution of the Social Democratic Party, as approved by the §amo congress, states ou page 98 of the same report*, Article XI: "This organisation (tho Social Democratic Party) shall b© allied with the Labour movement throughout the world, it will be represented in the Internationalist Socialist Bureau and in the' International Congress, the recognised headquarters of the-international political working class movement." This, it appears, as stated above is in .Berlin. :It would > be interesting to know if the New Zealand Social Democratic Party, of which the "Maoriland Worker".is the official organ, have disassociated themselves from Berlin since the war. ,I am pleased I 'to notice that the editor of the '"Maoriland Worker" appears to be ashamed of the extracts I quoted from his paper, and tries to disown them. I must point out, however, that out of ■ the extracts quoted l in The Dominion, four of the most hysterical and abusive" were from leading articles, three were editorial comment, two were from a regular column called "The Moving Finger," one was from a "regular column, "Notes to Henry by the Vag," - one'was a, news paragraph, and one only was from' a letter to the editor, part of which was quoted, together with the writer's name and address, JJ T. Fox, Sapper, . N.Z.F. Hospital, Pahiatua: This letter challenged a leading. article in'the "Maoriland Worker/' saying:—"I further say that in your leading articlo you make use of certain words, 'We of the Labour movement/ I am bound to say that you ought to state, 'Some of us in the Labour movement.'" Sapper Fox. who apparently is a returned soldier, is one of the Labour Party, and states he is a Red Fed.; says further ,in the same letter, in criticism of the "Maoriland Worker;" "The greatest enemy of to-day to the returned soldier is the man who dares to write pijlle, instead of shouldering a gun."—l am, etc., T. A. H. FIELD. '