ENCOURAGEMENT OF LAWLESSNESS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 21, 20 October 1920, Page 8

ENCOURAGEMENT OF LAWLESSNESS

NEWSPAPER COMPANY FINED ANONYMOUS! WRITER ESCAPES IMPfIISONMENT By Association. Qreymouth, October 19. Before Mr. Miiiunsell, S.M., to-tfuy, tht "Grey River Ailgus" Company and its manager, James O'Brien, were charged under section 2 of the Police Offences Amendment Act, 1911), that by publishing in the "Argus" on August 5, an article headed '•Blackball Notes" they did encourage lawlessness, and that l)j so doing tho manager did incite lawlessness. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Park, appeared for the prosecution, nnd Mr. W. J. Joyce for the defence. The article in question, under tho heading "Our Own Corresponded;:.' slated, inter alia: "'From the wage earners' point of view, the most important event in the world to-day is the success attending the Red Army of Russia in scatterim? and humiliating all the forces of reaction and intrigue that can be scraped together by the Allies' capitalists in their efforts to bring the Russian'proletariat back into the fold of capitalist domination and exploitation. The magnificent aclifevements of the revolutionary army in Russia are indeed inspiring to the wage-slaves of the world and should result in a determination on their part to use evory possible means to bring about the supreme objective of the Russian proletariat revolution, which is world domination by tho world's producers, an uprising and seizure of the political state of Germany, Britain, France. Austria, • Italy, Spain, and other European countries well within striking distance and will probably become an accomplished fact within the next few years. In iho .resent world's crisis, the workers must definitely take sides. Wo have either got to be uncompromising revolutionists, or meek, servile, Mensheviks, the Russian equivalent for sfoups like the British Labour Parti-, the I-L.l'., nnd others. It is useless to go on believing that the capitalist class will submit to being tamely dispossessed by a process of counting heads or legislated out of existence. As Lenin says, there is only one way for the worker to get possession of the means of production and distribution, and that is to .take it." Mr. Park stated that the Act was directly against the advocacy of Bolshevism generally, and he called the Magistrate's attention to the last passage of tho article. Ho read Nelson's War History to show what Bolshevism was, and the Magistrate agreed to accept this as an authority. Mr. Joyce submitted that there was no'case to answer. The only part of the article cited was the end. Webster's definition of revolution was "a fundamental change in government by another Government," as, for instance, tht overthrow of a Government by the number who had most voles. Revolutions could be bloodless and justifiable. The general policy of the "Argus" was democratic and constitutional. James O'Brien, in evidence, said that the paper stood always for constitutional action as opposed to violence, and he quoted leading articles in nroof. He interpreted the words complained of as quite consistent with constitutional action, the ultimate goal being Socialism. The article did not.deal with New Zealand directly, but with Europe. The Magistrate said that this was the first prosecution under the , section in question. He would consider the policy of the paper, but held that, the article would instil revolutionary ideas into its readers. ,Tho writer used the word "we." Th" latter part was the serimis. saying that workers should take what they wanted, which was inciting lawlessness. He accepted O'Brien's statement that he did ~"ot write or read I''' article before publication, and would convict him and order him to come up for sentence when called' on. The company would be convicted and fined ,£25 and costs. His Worship said that if ho knew the _ writer of the article ho would send him to prison.