Bolshevistic Methods

Hokitika Guardian, 2 May 1922, Page 4

Bolshevistic Methods

EXTREMISTS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. SYDNEY, Api il 10. Exasperated at the defeat- of the Labour Government, some of the industrial extremists in Sydney have been uttering dark menaces of a- renewal of the recent struggle “ in a. sterner arena.” Coming from men whose inHupnee is predominant in bodies which recently expressed sympathy with the rebels on the Rand, thc-e threats have naturally been construed as having a Bolshevist and revolutionary significant e.

Such is the interpretation given to them hv the .ex-I’rem'cr (Mr AY. A. Holman), who in an address last week denounced the suggestion that a minority unable to get its way hi politics is entitled to resort to the “undemocratic methods” employed by tho champions of Sovietism in Russia, and unsuccessfully imitated by the “Council of Action” in South Africa. It may Ive thought that the ex-Premier is taking tho situation in New South Wales too seriously when lie enters into a formal argument to demonstrate ho wrongness of the policy cf “ imposing by brute force the opinions of the minority on the rest of the community.” But the approval accorded by a militant section to a revolt against constitutional authority, and in favour of a “ dictatorship of the proletariat,” shows at least that dangerous ideas are fermenting in the minds of extremists, and justifies an appeal to the comnionsense of a defeated party to frown down such hints of a revenge by means of violence. Nor, in view of the deplorable happenings in South Africa, can il he urged that- tlier,, is no occasion to warn rebels in embryo that they are sure to fail in any attempt to overthrow constitutional government, and cannot hope to do more than cause unnee-s----sn.ry civil strife and bloodshed, and, ns on the Rand, aggravate economic difficulties and increase distress.