Sowing the Seed

Maoriland Worker, Volume I, Issue 8, 20 April 1911, Page 6

Sowing the Seed

"A Railway W T age-Slave" writes to "The Railway Review" thus:— I was astonished to read in the "Dominion" a report of a speech delivered by Mr W. A. Veitch, President of the A.S.R.S., at a valedictory gathering in Wanganui on the occasion of his transference to Cross Creek. Mr Veitch is reported to have said he very much regretted matters between the Society and those in authority had come to such a serious and critical condition as existed to-day, and he further regretted that several branches had passed resolutions urging the Society to affiliate with the New Zealand Federation of Labour. In solemn tones Mr Veitch warned railway Workers of the awful consequences likely to follow such an eventuality. Strikes, financial ruin, and loss of public sympathy would, like a red spectre, haunt the dying moments of the busted A.S.R.S. and our only salvation lay in retaining the sympathy (!) and respect (! !) of the public. Our President in effect urges us to be all good and contented boys, and to use orfiy those means of defence approved of by the bosses. One can be quite certain that any means of defence approved of by the bosses would be of little use to the railway Workers in defending their rights, for all history teaches us that the Working Class has only bettered its conditions by fighting for its own hand, regardless of outside opinion. Men like Mr Veitch, who attempt to mislead the Workers from the true path of progress (the solidarity of Labour) have lost all claim to respect from their one time fellowworkers. . . It may not be this year, it may not be the next, but the time is coming when conditions will demand that our Society join the New Zealand Federation of Labour, and then, instead of taking part in futile deputations, cap in hand, to arrogant Ministers, we shall stand up in our collective strength and demand our rights, like men.