THE WHISPERER.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 August 1918, Page 1

THE WHISPERER.

(By a Working- Man, in Sydney Morning Herald.)

The genuine Labour Parry man must not for one moment be confused with the whisperer. The whisperer abuses the Labour Party quite as much as, if not more than, be does any other. The genuine Labour man stands for Government, and judging by the whisperer I knew, and using his own words which were, “ 1 am opposed to any form of established Government whatever,” the whisperer stands for anarchy. For the same reason he does not value his vote. It would be no penalty to take away from him that which he does not use and has only contempt for.

It must not be thought that the whisperer is necessarily an ignorant or discontented workman. The man 1 knew was ohe of the best workmen that eva* 1 bandied a tool He was master of his trade from A to Z, both in theory and practice. He could discuss any difficulty - in connection with it, and nearly always find a solution. In • this case it was. the whisperer’s ability at bis trade that first gained him his victim’s confidence. He had an open and breezy manner, appeared to be happy and contented, was a good talker, could quote from books and papers, and was a well informed man. I knew him for some years, and looked up to him, both as a clever workman and as a man generally. Though I did not always agree with his opinions, it was only daring the last year oi\ so that it became apparent to me what be really was. At the beginning of the war he appeared to be patriotic, not enthusiastic, but quietly, so. Then as the general enthusiasm wore off, be began to talk differently; but the change was so gradual that it was only by looking back and comparing bis remarks that it could be noticed. Whatever snbject was under discussion be would always work it round to the war. At first lie would say, “ We’ve done our share:” Then, “The c ipitalists are the enemy now.” “ What have we got to light for ; wo would not be any worse under German rule,” and so on.

The whisperer is a splendid judge of human chaiacter.; He knows bow to gain lus victim’s'* confidence and how to shape his arguments to su't each individual. To the greedy, ho talks greed, to the sympathetic, sympathy; with the thinker he reasons. He makes up his arguments for each individual rts carefully as a doctor prescribes. Ho rarely makes a mistake; if he does lie instantly, but almost imperceptibly, switches olf on to another line of argument. The whisperer’s arguments are, on the surface, very sound, and are put in a \yay that would appeal to any working man, especially so if the latter was suffering under a real or fancied grievance. The falsity of the arguments can only be seen when they are looked deeply into. Before fhe victim can do that the whisperer is off on another task. He can twist and turn like the snake in the grass that lie is He will bluff or bounce, jolly or reason, but. always with the one ■let purpose of catching the victim. As a working man who keeps his eyes and ears open, I have reason to believe that there are a far greater number of men infested with LW.W.ism, even if they are not actively connected with that body, than ever the “ powers that he ’ imagine, not to mention a far greater number whose minds are just in the fit state to be extremely fertile soil for the whisperer io sow his seeds of sedition in. .lust one or two talks and they are I.W.W.’s.” How is the whisperer to be defeated and these men won over ?. By counter propaganda; keep the facts before the eyes of the people, both the iitw facts and the old ones, iresh in their minds. Paint them in the most vivid colours ; burn tliem in. Provide the working man with ammunition to fight the whisperer with, fresh every day and day by day. Liven up his interest in the war; show him by print, by word of mouth, and by picture shows, why we are at war, and what we are defending ourselves against. Many men have gone down to the whisperer only because they had nothing to light him with. The whisperer would come at them day after day with fresh arguments. The victims had no answer, so fell. The whisperer, in addition to his own cunning, has a clever and unscrupulous organisation at his back. One difficulty in the way of reaching the working man is that, as a rule, he is not a close student of the newspapers. He mostly reads just to pass the time away. Probably he has never had the training to enable him to read and re-read an article so as to he quite sure he has got the full sense of it. If it seems to him to be a bit tangled up he does not trouble to unravel it, but goes on to something else thati equires no effort. The whisperer, on the contrary, is a very close student of the daily papers. He gets a lot of ammunition out of them. He will often refer to them. His victim has perhaps seen the paragraph referred to, hut has not readmit well enough to know that the whisperer is misquoting or only quoting part, and so is impressed by the whisperer’s apparent veracity. To entirely suppress the lAY.W. at the present might do more harm than good. The organisation could he suppressed, hut not the individual minds that comprise it. It is quite possible that many members of the I.WAV. being such is more due to their misfortune than their I an It. They were allowed to fall victims to

the whisperer without any attempt being made to render assistance to them in their fight against him. There may be, too, a number in the IAVAV. who are in against their better judgment, and who would be only too glad to he able to convince themselves that to leave the I.WAV. is the right step to take. Win these men over first. It will then be a much easier matter to find the whisperer and suppress him, for he must he suppressed absolutely.

Even such a mild measure as stopping the meetings in the Domain would give the whisperer an abundance of ammunition to fire at his intended victims during the week at work-shop discussions, etc, which cannot be stopped.. Knowing their arguments, I would suggest that patriotic meetings and displays fie held at the same time in the Domain. If that is not practicable, hold them on alternate Sundays ; but the grand remedy is propaganda seven days a week by every method that can he thought of.

j The same mistake lias been made here as at Home, waen at the beginning of the war they were so conscious and confident of the righteousness of our cause that it was thought . quite unnecessary to tell the neutral | nations about it. But German agents ' told too many lies, and backed them up with further lie 3, that Britain was j compelled, in the cause of justice, to start and continue a counter propa- . gauda. and do so even in England, If it is necessary there, right on the scene, how much more so here ? It is because I have seen and heard the whisperer at work, and have seen men fall whom I personally knew and respected what I realise what a danger he is to the country, and how urgent the need is for vigorous counter measures. I regret every day, every hour, that passes and nothing is done.