The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY. APRIL 29th., 1925. AFTER LAND, CAPITAL.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 April 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY. APRIL 29th., 1925. AFTER LAND, CAPITAL.

Rki’KUKXck has been made in nil earlier issue In tin- tabor I.mil jiolicy. Alter land, (iiine.s eapital. and in both eases Labor | i opuses extreme action whi Ii calls for study and invesligati. n liv tlit* ole: tors before blindly easting their votes nt the next time of asking. It is as well to probe the position trim all points, and on ibis account it is ucrlli while reprinting tor general infermntiou the manifesto of “The Tinted Mine Workers of New Zealand" on the subject of dealing with capital if class in preference, to mass is to dominate the country politically. Here is an example of the kind of Bolshevism growing up in New Zealand which it is the duty of the electors to control before it assumes too much power. The preamble of the manifesto reads:—“We hold that there is a class struggle in society, and that the struggle is caused by the capitalist class owning that means of production to which the working class must have access to in nrdet to live. The working class produces all value. The greater the share the capitalist appropriates the less remains for the working c lass. The interests of those two classes are in constant eonllict. There can bo no peace as long ii,s want nr.d hunger are found among millions of working people, and the feu who constitute the employing class have all the good things of life. Between these two classes the struggle must continue until Capitalism is abolished. Capitalism can only be abolished by the workers uniting in one class-conscious economic organisation to take and hold the menus of production, distribution, and exchange by revolutionary industrial and political action. ‘Revolutionary action’ means action to secure a complete change, namely, the abolition of capitalistic ownership of the means of production- whether privately owned or through the State and the establishment in its place ol social ownership by the whole community. Long

experience has proved the hopeless fuI till tv of existing political and industrial method::, which aim at mending and rendering tolerable, and thereby perpetuating, Capitalism, instead or ending it. The rapid accumulation of wealth and concentration of the ownership of industries into fewer and fewer bands makes the trade unions unable I to cope with the ever-growing power of the employ hug t las:-. because craft unionism fosters conditions which allow the employer to pit one set of workers against another cot of workers in the same industry, thereby defeating each in turn. The.se conditions can be c hanged and the interests of the working class advanced only by an organisation so constituted that all its mem- j hers in any one industry or in all industries shall take con: cried action when deemed necessary, thereby making an injury to one the concern of 1 all. AYe held that, cs the working- < class creates and operates the socially- 1 operated machinery of production, it * should direct production and determine 1 working < onditions.” The foregoing is * a very clear and definite statement of 1 a policy towards which Labor is no ' doubt trending. The general body of 1 the electors, including the intelligent * workers, should know where the policy 11 of the lahorites will land the country h if given full play. Capital and Labor 1 must for the common good work harmoniously. They are alike essential to ' production. Capital is the motive power for labor. Labor without reward would l; he negative. And it must he borne in 1 mind that Labor is essentially manual and confined to its immediate environment. Capital is more pliable, and can a >e used in other avenues apart from 8‘ what is directly labor. It may be transiorred in a flash to another country. *

Xew Zealand if it were to be under the heel of Labor, and. capital were to be confiscated n,s proposed—why all free capital would flee to another country, and the Dominion would be left high and dry financially. Legislation along the lines proposed will bring national disaster Extreme action whether in

land or with money, would mean grave disaster for New Zealand. Labor seems predisposed to mishandle both these subjects of our established prosperity, and to wreck the financial edifice on which our trade and intercourse is reared. The electors must needs he wise to the situation; and realise the gravity of the position if l.ahor ho given a dominating position in regard to the political fortunes of the Dominion. On that account the next general election is an event for most serious individual concern.