And Shall New Zealand Lead ?

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 10, 12 May 1911, Page 8

And Shall New Zealand Lead ?

And shall New Zealand lead? Momentous question, even awesome in its greatness. A question of grave concern for the people, of weighty import to the workers. Repeat it now, and to-morrow, and the next day. Lead ! What ? Whither ? Lead the world. To Emancipation. It is not a matter of "may"—it is a matter of "shall." For—wondrous revelation! — New Zealand may lead the world. Shall it? The answer depends upon the worker. None other needs, nor understands, nor feels. In a very special and very serious way the worker is called upon by events and evolution to elevate the world. He must save humanity or humanity is doomed. Behind the worker arc the age-long agonies and heritages of his class. Into his very being has entered a something equipping him for imperishable deeds, and strengthening him as mighty bulwark against the decay and rottenness inexorably the pitiless penalty of all who live upon his labour. He alone stands between civilisation and chaos; he alone sees, and clamours for, the time of liberation; he alone possesses the earnestness., and the vitality and the means wherewith Freedom shall sing o'er all the lands. Profound reflection it is—and reflection calculated to make the man "bowed by the weight of centuries" realise the grandeur of his mission and seize the glorious opportunity knocking at his door. Of a verity he is the salt of the earth. The worker's earnestness has come of his training and his urgent need; his vitality has come of his compulsory fortitude and the survival of the fittest ; his means are his rebellious numbers and his economic knowledge. When he likes to move, tho world— the product of his labour—may be his.

This applies everywhere, but elsewhere tire rule of the Tomb, Constitutional obstacles, ancestral customs, Feudalistic remnants harass his upward march. In Australasia, the worker has leaped over these obstacles. To a large extent. Ours have been the "unencumbered lands : ours has been the time of innovation and experimentation. And—we would appear to have exhausted the possibilities of error ! Labour legislation—reformism rather than revolution—would seem to have been the last possible attempt within capitalism to bring the worker to his own. All that preceded it failed, inasmuch as all that preceded it exalted as a class not the workingclass. Hence the work ing-class was always a subject class, bottom dog, mule ridden by master. Then grew and * multiplied Labour action. Trades unionism first, and next Labour-in-politics. These were postulated as emancipatory. Out of them issued Labour legislation. Hurrah !—the workers on wings of lightning wore to conquer the continents. But it didn't come off. it couldn't. It should have been foreseen. Obviously, while production for profit lasted »so long would exploitation last • and so long would the distress, unemployment, misery, and want caused by exploitation last. See ? All that is wrong with the world economically is the unjust distribution of wealth ■which prevents the wageearner receiving his full product. If he did, all would be producers and none would bo helpless or harmed; as he doesn't, his wealth-production cannot be consumed and becomes his curse. Irony C3 r clonic ! Yet this Labour legislation lias been both fruitful and useful. Granting this freely, scratch your head, O worker, and a-sk why it is futile ? Futile, that is, in that jobs are still scarce, anxiety still rife, uncertainty still the certainty of the future, poverty and prostitution still a haunting shame, rich and poor more sundered than ever, and robber and robbed more abundant than ever. Labour legislation has failed. Let us not be afraid of the truth. And with its failure fundamentally, in the light of working-class political economy we are reasonably sure that short of Benevolent Industrial Feudalism the Class Struggle can have no next expression but Socialism . The Co-operative Commonwealth beacons us to enter in. If Socialism was not practicable heretofore, it is practicable now. And where else shall we--get a if not into Socialism. Humanity moves onward. Mankind is a marching army. As New Zealand dared to lead the

world in Labour legislation—all honour to New Zealand therefor—as it held power to crush with its confident heel the serpent of Sameness, as it ventured to try new things and schemes and earned a world's riveted notice, shall it now he coward and stand still?, Let New Zealand's people never, never forget that it was New Zealand's "difference" which made it noted among nations., and made hungry for its chance and amelioration the driven toilers of all countries. Though the Federation of Labour and the Socialist Party alone would maintain the policy of "difference," — "Halt" being the cowed cry of other parties and organisations—is it not clear that "difference" will make history because it has made history ? The hour is rii>e for planning the Social Revolution and ushering in working-class supremacy. The workers are nowhere yet the Ruling Class. Make them such in New Zealand and classes will end in the coming of one class and the joy and wealth of all people. Into the Federation of Labour, every worker. Into the Socialist Party also. The work to be done—the weapons to be used —the means to emancipation— run thus: — Industrial Unionism. Socialist political action. Emancipation is the goal. Make the word our slogan. "We mad blind men that see." And shall New Zealand lead?