THE I.W.W. IN N.Z.

Industrial Unionist, Volume 1, Issue 8, 1 September 1913, Page 2

THE I.W.W. IN N.Z.

The May, 1912, Conference of N.Z.F. of L. delegates considered “ the advisability of introducing certain machinery clauses that would have the effect of transforming the Federation into a National Industrial Union on the lines of the 1.W.W.” and though the Federation, at that time, approach-

ed nearer to Syndicalism, in gene-

ral policy, than any large body in N.Z., the adoption of the resolu-

tion and the setting up of a committee meant nothing more than an attempt to improve the form and machinery of organisation. Since then, the most awful charge brought against the Federation leaders is that they have tried to introduce “I.W.W. methods.” How absurd the charge is has been seen by their doings and official utterances. True, the employers got something of a shock when the I.W.W. element in the Federation manifested itself at that conference ; but the bosses’ fears have been, to some extent, allayed, for the time being at any rate, and the only propaganda body in N.Z. standing for clear Industrialism and uncompromising Direct Action is the small, but growing I.W.W.

If anyone wants credit, let it be given ungrudgingly to those militants, chiefly S.P. men and Federation! sis, who helped to pioneer the One Big Union idea in N.Z., coloured the whole National Labour Movement with a stronger dash of red, and put up some kind of fight against the employers. But there has been some reaction, a new epoch has been entered, and a parting of the ways reached, and in the not distant future the Direct Actionists must assert themselves. In every country, where any de gree of capitalistic' development has been reached, two broad phases of the Labour Movement —or, more* accurately, a working class, movement and a semi-bourgeois movement antagonistic to each other — have appeared; they are, briefly, Social-Democratism and Syndicalism. In N.Z. the I.WW. best represents tlie latter, and from present signs it seems that the rival movements must develop here. Our purpose here is not to philosophise propetically, but, as fears have been expressed, to intimate that the I.W.W. will go on functioning as a militant propaganda body. The possibilities of progress towards I.W.Wism in other organisations are doubtful at present. If, within reasonable time, they approach anywhere near the cur-

rent general conception of revolutionary Industrialism, the I.W.W. can have no object in disrupting them. If they do not, then they will probably disrupt themselves. The general feeling of the I.W.W. membership in N.Z. is a desire to minimise friction with existing genuine Labour bodies, coupled with a determination to be heard and to carry on activities, per medium of mixed (propaganda) locals, in face of any opposition, coming from any quarter. Also to assist unorganised workers to organise industrial unions under I.W.W. Charter. The Direct Actionists will not be downed. To attempt to kill the I.W.W. by belittling, misrepresenting, or ignoring it will but stiffen the back of the membership.

When any Labour organisation is in trouble, that is, engaged in any important industrial battle with the employers, the I.W.W. must, and will, drop differences. To be a “ red ” is not just a matter of being “ patriotic ” to an organisation or a set of initial letters, it is a matter of fighting always on the side of the Working Class, and with a view to ending the Wage System with all possible speed.