The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1928. THE LABOR ALLIANCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 August 1928, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1928. THE LABOR ALLIANCE.

i The lender of the British political La- | hour party who is on a recouperating j trip to Canada, has been opening his i mind as to where the party stands in I relation to some of its apparent en- | largements. In commenting on the ! matter an exchange says that .Mr Ilamj say MacDonald apparently finds It | easier to say precisely what he means I about the policy and prospects ofLalxir when lie is in Canada, than when he is in Britain. At all events, his jHilitiical speeches and 'interviews since lie reached the. Great Dominion have been singularly clear and outspoken, and in his late Toronto address lie has defined his own position with commendable frankness anr courage. The Labour Party, lie declares, is “the onem.v of Communism” ; he refuses to accept the doctrine of the “class war” as the basis of his policy, and though he still holds to Socialism lie regards it as a tentative experiment in the reconstruction of civilisation, which must justify itself by success at every stage. It will he seen that he openly rejects Communism., but he still has leanings towards Socialism. Nevertheless, it is obvious that Labour in its political action is often in dose alliance with the two branches of extreme referred to. Nowadays, we often see the political Labour party in Now Zealand, referred to as the Labour Socialist party, and it is mainly on account of the trend towards socialism in the Labour policy that there is so much distrust on the part of those opposing Labour in polities. There is always a dead set against “ capital,” which Labour would confiscate, but the “capitalist” in New Zealand would be hard to discover as the possessor of undue wealth. There are many in the ranks of labour, humble folk, who were wise and thrifty, and their savings have l>ecn put into various securities so that their thrift might grow. Yet. we know by the way the political Labour leaders assail banks, insurance companies, and investing organisations that those who may have acquired holdings in such institutions by reason of their thrift are the butt of the Labour policy in its vendetta against “capital.” Mr MacDonald is inclined to hang on to Socialism at Home, which shows that from the head downwards the desire to spoil the thrift of the nation is part and parcel of a universal policy with the party. Mr MacDonald has repudiated the doctrine of “class war” in its Marxian sense, and though lie has occasionally displayed a painful lack of resolution in dealing with the pro-Bolshevik section of his followers, he has always refused to associate himself with either the principles or the policy of Communism. But it will be difficult for ,th*e extreme Left Wing of the Labour Party to ignore their official leader’s latest pronouncement on these subjects, and we may expect, as an exchange says a revival of the bitter controversy that has so long distracted the party when Mr MacDonald returns. It is possible, however, that Mr MacDonald is already preparing for the struggle, and that the declaration of faith that he lias just submitted to the Canadians is in a sense a challenge to extremists, of his party. Quite reoently serious differences of opinion in regard to the conference originally organised by Sir A. Mond between employers and workers brought to a head the incipient revolt of the Left Wingers; and Messrs Cook, Hicks, and Wheatlev endeavoured to induce the General Trades. Union Council to throw the conference overboard. The Council refused by a substantial majority of rotes, but matters have not been mended by the manifesto issued by Messrs Maxton and Cook, in which they charge the Labour leaders with deviating from the party’s Socialist programme and deluding their followers. Very possibly Mr had all these things Jn

view when ho made his speech at Toronto. The situation, however, shows tho dangerous drift of such a Labour policy, and the wisdom there would bo for a country such as this to avoid the serious results which would follow were the Labour-Socialistic party to gain a real Parliamentary footing m New Zealand.