POLICY STATEMENT OF NEW ZEALAND COMMUNIST PARTY

Grey River Argus, 1 April 1948, Page 8

POLICY STATEMENT OF NEW ZEALAND COMMUNIST PARTY

[To the Editor].

Sir, —During recent months the propaganda organs of this country, following the lead of the U.S.A, and Britain, have been pouring out ('tirades of anti-Communist material. In fact, the tempo has been raised to such an extent that a note of hysteria is quite clearly observable. The hand is being overplayed ana thinking people will now see quite clearly that the idea behind it all is to create a mass biased hatred ol Communism. However, in the face, oi this concerted propaganda offensive the Communists of New Zealand, ask New Zealand citizens to.be sufficiently democratic and fair-minded .in their approach, to study something of our side of the question, nefore passing judgment. I feel that New Zealand citizens will be able to judge us on our merits if they have placed before them a clear outline of our aims and our ideals. No better explanation of what New Zealand Communism stands for can be gained than from the information contained in the preamble to the constitution of the New Zealand Communist Part.v. It reads as follows:— “The New Zealand Communist Party is the working class political party which carries forward the traditions of struggle for the New Zealand Labour Movement tor the . establishment of a classless society based on common ownership of the means of production, a society in which exploitation of man by man, nation bv nation, and race by race, will have disappeared. Present day capitalism has reached the’limits ot progressive development. Production in the main, is controlled by big monopolies, trusts and cartels, ihf unlimited desire of these concerns to inci’ease orofits, the appropriation bv private interests of social production, the increase of productive power and the restricted consuniptive capacity of capitalist. society give rise to' periodic economic crises and Imperialist wars.. “The Socialist objective of tne Communist Party represents the best interests, not only of . the working class, but of all who toil by hand 01 bv brain. The Communist Party atfirms that a Socialist State can only be based upon the support. of the majority of the people and. is resolutely opposed to all minority dictatorships. . , ■ “While affirming that complete j democracy can come only with the abolition of all exploiting classes, the Communist Party wages a constant struggle for the realisation of the widest possible democracy under the present system, and champions the cause of democracy against the Fascist or would-be-Fascist enslavers of the people at home ana abroad. The Communist Party has no interests separate and apart from those of the working people and is the most ardent champion of . their every-day needs, regarding their organisation for struggle around these needs as a necessary stage in tne development, of the working people towards the establishment of socialism - .... “In defending the vital interests of the people against the encroaching powers of the monopolies, the ) Communist Party seeks to unite all the toilers of town and countryindustrial workers, farmers, . public servants, middle class, Maoris and Europeans—in a solid front against reaction. It stands for a united trade union movement in each industry and for the united front of all working class organisations, political and industrial, against reaction and in defence of the people’s interests. It considers that only around such a united front of struggle can the wider unity of all working people of town and country be consolidated. While imperialsim lasts, and until socialism is established in at least the major countries, the peoples of the world must constantly live under the threat of new and more terrible wars. Nevertheless* the question of whether a new world war will actually occur is one. whose solution to which lies with the people of this and other countries.

“Consequently the Communist Party carries on a ceaseless struggle for -the preservation of world peace and for the defeat of warmongers. It gives full supnort to the principles of the United Nations Organisation as outlined at Teheran and' at San Francisco.

“In its approach to the problems of the New Zealand people, and to world problems, the Communist Party bases itself firmly upon the scientific principles given to us by the greatest leaders and teachers of mankind—Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin —who have shown us the way forward to the building of a world without oporession and war; a world brotherhood of man.”

Every New Zealand Communist is proud to adhere to such valuable working class principles, and, irrespective of gross slanders, misrepresentations and deliberate falsehoods, refuseses like the Communists of other lands, to deviate from these pronounced ideals. We have nothing of which to be ashamed, and we have faith in the working class and its ability to forge ahead and assume its place in the general structure of society. I am, etc., R. H. MOTH, BRUNNERTON.