EXHIBITIONS

Industrial Unionist, Volume 1, Issue 4, 1 May 1913, Page 1

EXHIBITIONS

In December next the Master Class of' Auckland intend to hold an exhibition in order to boom their already over-advertised country and its wealth.

Consequently, during the Exhibition, the supply of labour in Auckland and its vicinity will hardly equal the demand. The erection of buildings, fences, etc., of the Exhibition proper; the handling and transportation of goods and exhibits thereto; the renovation of boarding-houses and hotels; and the large stocks in the stores will, for a short time, eat up all the available labour in Auckland.

Now. in Auckland there is a vast amount of dissatisfaction in working class ranks, what with the long hours worked by certain trades, such as the carters and tramway men ; the injustice, re the waiting room, to the Waterside Workers; the long-standing grievance of the Auckland General Labourers, who were so shamefully treated by their alleged friends; and nearly all the trades and unions have more or less grievances with their employers generally.

There is a good deal of talk of fighting in tramway circles, and there is little doubt that sooner or later a fight will take place. Now, the I.W.W. says that the time to hit the boss is when he is busiest, when he can least afford to have his business interfered with; when the workers are toiling overtime in order to cope with the rush ; when the unemployed army is not existent; that is the time to hit, and hit hard. Take a leaf out of Sydney’s book; you see the power of the gasworkers and ferry-workers, who brought the State Parliament to its knees. The refusal of the produce porters to work reduced Sydney to a state of siege. What do the workers of Auckland want ? 1. A 44-hour week. 2. Better conditions all round. 3. The watersiders to get justice from the Harbour Board. 4. The settlement of the Labourers’ demands.

All these things can be obtained by preparing for a General Strike to start on the opening day of the Exhibition. There is no reason wiiy we should not have an exhibition of solidarity, then we should inaugurate a general cessation of work throughout the city of Auckland until the workers get their better conditions and shorter hours.

An opportunity like that does not come very often, and must lie seized.

Just imagine Auckland, with thousands of visitors and sightseers and business people here. No cars, no lights, no bread supply, silent wharves, no shops open, nothing doing. Imagine strong pickets with a line around Remuera, cutting off food supplies in that favoured locality. It has been done again and again in town after town. It can be done in Auckland. Let us propagate the General Strike, the spontaneous ebullition of class solidarity, the most effective weapon of the militant worker. The employing class despise us here in N.Z. It is time to be busy. It is time to take a spell. It is time to stop work. The transport workers of Britain brought the Great Liberal Government to its knees; the workers of Auckland can do the same business by Direct Action, by doing it themselves. Yes, Exhibition time’s the time.—Spanwire.