A POISONOUS DOCTRINE

Hokitika Guardian, 18 March 1931, Page 5

A POISONOUS DOCTRINE

Silt JOHN SIAIOX ON SOCIALISM

LONDON, February 7

“I believe that Social.sm is a poisonous doctrine,” said Sir .Joan Simon, speaking at South Alolton, Devon, on Saturday, “the application of which saps enterprise and character, and wiveii I s.‘e this i sue openly raised, and Liberals patronised by Air Graham as lagging sheep who will soon he safe within the Socialist fold, I am bound to separate myself definitely from plans and policies which would lead to this humiliating disaster.” The Labour Party, in its election manifesto gave an unqualified pledge to deal immediately and practically with unemployment. To-day the unemployment figure was over 2,50t),000 —more than double the total when the Labour Government’s promise was made.

Faced with this deplorable failure; th 0 Government- attempted to create a diversion by its Trades Disputes Bill. They had utterly failed to show the urgency for such a measure or to explain what the effect of the enactment would be if we wcr,i faced with another general strike. That question had been put again and again during tlfe debate, and they were nuked to answer Yes “r No,

N“t being prepared to choose be» tween these two answers, the Government adopted a truly ingenious course. What was the good of having two law officers if you could not have two opinions out of them? „So the At-torney-general said yes, and the Soli-citor-general said no; and the Bill had been sent to a lommittee in a welter of confusion.

“RESTORING HUMAN RIGHTS.” In order to make confusion worse confounded the Prime Minister, speaking on Friday at Watford, declared that under this Bill a, repetition of the general strike would bo perfectly lawful. And this he described as “restoring human rights.” “This will be interesting news,” Sir John commented, “for hundreds oi thousands of innocent people who suffered so heavily from the general strike and its consequences, for they, too, have their human rights, which no section, however powerful and well organised, ought to he encouraged to put in jeopardy a second time.

“But what in to bo said of a Government which in times like those, with 2,500.000 unemployed in our streets, and with the Unemployment Insurance Fund on the verge of bankruptcy, seeks to occupy the time and energy of Parliament with a Trades Disputes Bill at all? A Trades Development Bill would bo more to the point.

“The Bill will not find employment for a single man or woman now on the unemployment register, ft will not relieve th o , country of a single burden under which it is now groaning. It offers facilities for carrying on strikes am! lockouts, which it itself declared to be illegal. It raises grave apprehension of strife at the very time when our great need is peace in the industrial as well ns in the international sphere.

“The central doctrine of the Liberalism in which I was brought up was tiiaf the interest of the community as a whole, must always be p ret or red to the claims of a section, however powerful ami insistent, ami I am no more prepared to facilitate the handing over of authority in this country to a vommittoe of trade unionists such as sought to carry through the general strike, than to hand it over to a committee of landlords or to a committee of press lords."