GRAVE OUTLOOK
AUSTRALIA IN THE TOILS.
“RED” UNIONISM ON TRIAL
INTERVENTION OF NEW GUARD
SYDNEY, October 23
The shipping strike, which, at the time of writing threatens to plunge the whole of Australia into the writer of a dispute unprecedented in the Commonwealth’s history, is welcomed by* keen students, as a final trial between the forces of order and disorder, or between Communism in Australia and the accepted order of things. Like all such outbursts, it had its genesis in a trivial incident. A man named Schelley, of German origin, a member of the Seamen’s Union, was employed by one of the shipping companies to fill the vacancy created by the sickness of one of their old hands. Schelley. came to the company on the roster system, so‘ that they had no choice but to employ him for the time. Schelley is not only an agitator, but he i s not a good workman, and the company was relieved when their old hand recovered, and they re-employed him, dismissing Schelley. This action brought union: intervention, and started the trouble. The rest of the crew of the Canberra, an inter-State passenger vessel, was called out, and the vessel was tied up. -Sensing the immineuce of a “showdown” the union leaders, who are all dominated by a group of Reds, spread the trouble until it embraced, three or four other vessels, and eventually the whole of the waterfront was embroiled. On Thursday a. mass meeting, swayed by specious oratory, agreed to call a general shipping strike for 5 p.m. on Friday. That, briefly, is the' outline of the But there aire At her complications. NEW 'GUARD’S INTENTION. The New Guard, a powerful organisation organised on military fines, and with Fascist outlook and constitution, announced as soon as the trouble threatened that its members would not stand id i.y by while industry was strangled. Its leader, CoL Eric Campbell, a Sydney business man, stated openly that the New Guard, standing for the Constitution, and with unswerving hostility to the Reds, would protect volunteer workers, and would, if necessary, man the ships for the companies.
The Commissioner of Police and the Minster of Justice have both repudiate) the New Guard, stating that the police can do all the protecting that may be necessary. Nevel'thefess, the New Guard, which numbers more than 100,000 members in the city and suburbs already, and is organised to ensure the cent 'nuance, in any circumstances, of essential services, i,s determined to fight for the banishing of the Red leaders, believing that Australian unionism, under sensible control, will co-operate with those who are fighting for the rehab litation of the country/
MORE THAN A STRIKE. Recently industry showed signs of reviving. The coal trade was recovering from ithe slough into which strikes had thrown it, and there was a much improved moral among the people. This latest strike will,' of course, retard what little recovery was evident. The struggle that appears to be coming is more than a strike. It m y be a final test of strength between the forces of law and order, and the Soy et direction of 'trades unionism that has been growing like a cancer for the past 10 years. The next few weeks prorn se much certain clashes between ■New Guardsmen and volunteers on the one side, and the strikers on the other and a general upheaval, out of which everyone hopes' there wifi come a pe..n c that will last:
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Hokitika Guardian, 5 November 1931, Page 8
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577GRAVE OUTLOOK Hokitika Guardian, 5 November 1931, Page 8
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