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CORRESPONDENCE.

E. G. Martin, secretary of the Foxton Waterside Workers’ Union, writing in reply to our Moutoa correspondent, after indulging in some personal references, asks our correspondent how many men played cricket while their fellow workers took a day off in sympathy with the imprisoned Waihi strikers. The local waterside workers did not take a nn> off, and were not called “scabs,’’ but are contributing towards the Waihi fight. “According to your letter, you are a disciple of the Mills unity scheme. He himself is prepared to use the strike if needs be. Read that: party’s constitution before you try to teach me to the contrary. In conclusion, mark this : the Federation gained more for the workers in wages and conditions than the Arbitration Court would award them. This same Court was fiercely opposed by the ‘federated employers’ when the w'orker sought to try its justice. Now, when the worker lost faith in that Court, they treated outside of it, to their absolute benefit, which shows why the employer seeks to force us under that C. and A. Act —which was never administered in the way the Government of that day meant it to be. You talk of strikes. Have not the majority of strikes been by unions registered under the C. and A, Act ? Take the last official year book see where the employers of New Zealand were before the Courts ou five hundred and sixty different occasions. What for ? Simply because they saw fit to flout the different awards. How is that for “to hell with the agreement policy’’? Study these things, Mr Correspondent, before you try to teach others. You never know when your turn to fight tor yourself may come, but let it be that you will have the assistance of your fellow workers which you are not prepared to give them.”

A flaxmill employee writing to our Palmerston evening contemporary in respect to the tactics of the Federation of Labour to better the condition of the workers of New Zealand says: “As a mill hand I had no other option but to cease work last Tuesday, for the reason that, with flaxmill work, if a few knock off, the remainder must. So, in consequence, I went to Palmerston to hear the great Mr Semple propound his policy in the Opera House, setting forth how we were to be saved from the terrible clutches of capitalistic exploiters. After hearing him I came to the conclusion that he could teach me nothing about Socialism (his policy is nothing else), only that 600 women in Waihi were ready to go to gaol for the cause, if need be. I am now more certain than ever that this organisation will do tremendous harm to the genuine labour movement. Violence never won a single reform for the workers yet, and that’s the very thing the Federation’s policy provokes. So sure as men go to work in defiance of the Syndicalistic wish, although they may have reasoned objection to the methods of the Federation, they are molested and hampered to such an extent that any democratic government would be perfectly justified in summoning the aid o£ the police. Taw and order must be observed at all costs. No, sir, 1 maintain that it would be more preferable tor Semple and Co., to try and educate the workers up to the real meaning of Socialism, since they contend that it’s the only hope for the masses of workers, and advise them to go quietly to the ballot box and vote solidly for Socialist candidates. Another thing that is lacking in the Syndicalists’ policy is loyalty to King and country. I would very much like to see Mr Semple starting a branch of the Federation ot Labour in a country like Russia. He would come to the conclusion that he is much safer under the British flag, which he treats with such scant respect, than he would under the flag of the Czar.’’

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19121031.2.14

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1017, 31 October 1912, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
660

CORRESPONDENCE. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1017, 31 October 1912, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1017, 31 October 1912, Page 3

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