Industrialism and Militarism

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 14, 9 June 1911, Page 4

Industrialism and Militarism

SAITH THE SPEAKER.

_ protest against the conscription because I belong Vo a school of thought which declares for peace. We claim that war is a relic of barbarism; we havo become conscious of the fact that ©ur class, the working class, have too long paid the blood tax. We have been too long the slaves of industry; we have been too long used as mere machines to build mansions for the lazy few —too long contented to toil and produce the good things of this earth and allow them to be cornered by tho robbing class 3• in short, wo havo too long begged the crumbs from the master's table. Motheirs have been contented to allow their sons to be transformed into murderers, to spill and cause to be spilt, rivers of Olood in order to protect tho interests of the very class who. all through history, have enslaved them! Wo claim that even in the opening years of the most/ marvellous of centuries, with all the history of the past behind them, that the sons of toil are still kept in

SUBJECTION BY SOLDIERY, who havo ever been the paid assassins of the money-burglars of the world. All forms of slavery, no matter how abject and brutal, have been guarded ever by soldiers, who have been prepared to stick a bayonet through tho heart of any poor wretched slave at his master's command. History is full of these terrible records. The great Labor movement, which is designed to embrace toiler in the world, is too sacved to be associated with armies or (which are organised by and for the employing class). The sword and the Eaoor movement ha\ r e nothing m common. One stands for bloodshed, tho other stands for freedom and brotherhood. TURN TO OUR PREMIER, Sir Joseph Ward, Avho was largely responsible for the Compulsory Military Training Bill noAV in operation, and to-day is engaged in a crawling competition, and is telling the heads of the piutes and robbers of the Old Land wnat a loyal lot of citizens the people of God's own country are. He is convincing them that you would be content to starve, providing you had the glorious privilege of being wrapped up in the Union Jack. Let us trace this great statesman's career just bacK tnree years, and we lind him denouncing compulsory training. A little later we find him going to England for the good of his health, leaving the country thronged with unemployed. He returned with orders from the authorities in England to introduce this Compulsory JYiihtarism Act. He has faithfully carried out their instructions, and has received the support of his blind followers in tho House. We are told this is a democratic country. Were you people

CONSULTED ON THIS QUESTION? Did you mothers and fathers get a chance to say whether your sons should bo forced to protect property they do not own F Did you get a chance to say whether it Avas right or wrong that your sons should be handed over to some military squib, Avho has crawled into tho position, and to have the right to engender a spirit of jingoism into him, and destroy his maunood V Did you get a chance to say whether your class should be called upon to pay a tax of £1,000,000 a year to "protect" the country you do NOT ownp The answer is No! The measure was forced upon you by an autocratic Government, whose chief purpose Avas to receive praiso and title from "our gracious King." Were you consulted wnen Sir Joe gave England a Dreadnought costing li millions V — a further tax not only upon you, but upon the unborn; and at your expense and the expense of the unborn, this mighty Captain of the State Ship is cutting a figure to-day in tho limelight before tho plutes of England, and will no doubt return with a lev/ more letters before his name. Well may they praise him; he has proved a worthy tool for them. The humorous part of the whole business is that rust after Joseph G. Ward gave the Dreadnought to England, he paid a visit to "the pawnshop," and Avas successful in borrowing £5,000,000 from the very class he give tho Dreadnought to! They call this high finance. Your national debt to-day is £80,000,000. Every child born owes to the money lords of England £80! That's a nice little "Matilda" for a million people to carry, isn't it ?

How much property do the children of tho Avorkinir class inherit at hirth ?

Robert* Seraple or War, Ward, and Kitchener

Practically nothing. They havo a pair of hands, and havo to crawl to a mastor for a job. Ho owns tho tools with which they work, therefore ho OWNS them. Without his permission to work, you are free to starve! You are today just as much tho property of the master class as the serf was the property of the baron under feudal law. The economic lash held by the master class makes us the docile tools wo arc. Soldiery is NOT going to drag you out of this bondage. Joey or his blind followers will never help you; they have kept and will assist in keeping you where you are. The giant that will free you lies sleeping in yourselves. After Joe's trip to England we were "honoured" with a visit from

LORD KITCHENER, one of England's famous "butchers." He was taken by the hand by Joseph and his followers, and his visit cost £3000, most of which was Avasted m "Government guzzles!!" Toasting Kitchener's health, revieAving his bloody career, and with champagne coursing through their plutocratic veins, they decided how they were going to capture the boyhood "of this country, force them into military

camps, and engender a spirit of jingoism into them, so that they might be used against their own class! Where did the great butcher get his name whose advice your Government so readily accepted ? It was in the Soudan War, Avhere 10,000 natives were slain, bullets showered upon them by Kitchener's army, which had in their possession all tho modern instruments of war, while, on tho other hand, the natives used ancient Aveapons of defence. One of the most brutal acts ev_r known in warfare Avas exhibited by this great soldier, who orders for tho wounded NATIVES TO BE SHOT, lying helpless beneath the scorching sun, crying for water to moisten their lips and to ease tho death-rattle in their throats. That is what Aye call "civilisation!" Strange to say, a day or so after this brutal exhibition Kitchener and his soldiers attended church parade, and the preacher took as his text "Thanks be to God who giveth us this victory 1" It is generally known that the same gentleman gavo orders in South Africa for the soldiers to burn the homes of the Boers, and left the innocent wives and children of THE BOERS HOMELESS. You remember the Boer War. Well, do you remember how you hooted the men and women who told you it was an unjust war ? You wero then told by men who thought for themselves that if there were no gold and jewels in South Africa thero Avould have been no war. You would have crucified those men for telling you the truth had you dared to. You praiso them to-day; bitter experience has taught you that those men and women -were right. We come to tell you to-night that you havo no quarrel with the -workers of any land. We further tell you that you should join hands with your fellows across tho seas, and declare once and for all "peace and goodAvill to all mankind."

Let us ask ourselves WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF WAR, and where lies its origin ? After dis-

covering its cause, we should get down to the roots of it. Take the case of the skilled surgeon who has a patient suffering from cancer. He, knowing his duty, does not meddle with the surface of the growth, which is merely tho effect of a cause. He sets to work and gets at tho root of tho disease, and saves his patient's life. Socialists declare that the one great evil in society is tho

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP of the means of life. War to-day is capitalistic and is only one of the effects of this great evil. If you will bear with mc for a few minutes, Aye shall discover that soldiery was first used to protect privato property. The speaker went back into ancient society, and showed clearly that awayback 'hi the days of cannibalism the tribes met in warfare, tho victims being taken by the conquering tribe and used as food. Later on, these captured in war were used as slaves, because they realised that a man was more valuable alivo than in the pot.. Here was the beginning of soldiery. Soldiers wero kept to keep the slaves in subjection. Mr. Semple traced tho evolution of war through all forms of society, showing that tho slaves of all ages "were kept in subjection by soldiery. He also gave a brief sketch of Greece and Roman history, showing that the slave trailic, the greed for wealth, men owning cities —in fact, tho whole of the nation was owned by a few men; and the moral customs of the aristocracy of those nations and the enforced poverty of the workers was undoubtedly the cause of their downfall. Hero the speaker assured his audience that the same forces tl.i-.vt undermined those nations were at worl. to-day in our supposed civilisation. We had on the one hand the wealthy class with their ever crushing power to secure more wealth. On the other hand we had poverty, crime, degradation, and prostitution. Continuing, Mr. Scmplo said: "There is enough and plenty for all, there is no need for this human suffering. Tho remedy is in your hands. None but slaves can free slaves. I ask you to dare to DO YOUR OWN THINKING, and discontinue being the dupes of politicians and the clergy. _. em ember the attitude adopted oy the liisnops in England, who were members of the Houso of fjords, when they opposed tho great l_ducational Act. xney havo always opposed your progress, mo wilo ot too joisnop oi -auwjr-ury christened ono of tueir latest v/a-rsiiips, and blessed it, and. the following Sunday tho j-ishop fheacned on 'Love ye one'another!!" At the last Socialist Congress, 1910, at which 33 different nationalities were represented, and representing _~U_t),_*-_ people, resolutions were passed condemning Avar and declaring tor peace. Tho same people who denounce Socialism uphold war. The coal miners of the world COULD STOP WAR TO-MORROW, and there is a class-conscious feeling rapidly groAving amongst them to embrace industrial unionism, which, needless to state, is opposed to war. That feeling means that tho coal miners of the world, when an unjust war toolplace, would refuse to hew coal to steam those murderous machines. I am doing, and intend to do, ail I can to foster that, feeling. You may say it is too late to protest against this compulsory militarism. My answer is No! It is one thing to enact a IaAV and another thing to administer it. Hundreds, yes, thousands, of young men who if we permit it, become victims of t/js unjust law, arc protesting against it. Dozens of boys have come to mc urging that something should be done to protect them from the harsh treatment of military squibs, which they undoubtedly will receive. We appeal to the comrades to rally around the boyhood of this country. Remember, they wili be the men of to-morrow. The emancipation of humanity depends upon them. They require drilling in the field of thought. 'Remember, there is a great danger in allowing these boys to bo drilled by the enemies of the working class. When they are wanted to protect their own class against the exploiters wo may find them upon the exploiters' side, carrying out their orders to shoot the slaves of industry for rebelling against brutal conditions! This will be nothing new—simply history repeating itself. Look at Australia in the '90 strike, when THE MILITIA WERE CALLED OUT to shoot the strikers down. My advice to you young men, who are called upon to surrender your liberty to the agents of the master class is to BOLDLY REFUSE. Defy such an immoral law! Let them send you to gaol. Better suffer yourselves than to assist in perpetuating a system which has caused your class to suffer all the wrongs possible for human beings to suffer, through all countless ages. I have

boys of my own. I -would rather go to gaol than allow those boys to .be torn aAvay from their mother's side. She is quite capable of looking after them, as are thousands of other mothers of their OAvn sons.

Let tiiem start imposing penalties, or taking away the rights of the boyhood oi this country, and the people Avill give . their verdict when election day comes round ; and I venture to say that those individuals -will be cast into the backwash of political oblivion. We appeal to YOU WOMEN, who have penormed the sacred duty of motherhood. You have struggled and are to-day struggling to rear a family. You have been torced to make a shilling go where a £1 would do nicely; .your nic has been one of self-denial. and your boys, who are just budding into manhood, are to be taken from your s.ue by some military squib, and ail you- teaching of love and fellowsiiip will be destroyed and your boy infected with tne lust to kill. Women, you have played a great part in the history of the world, and tnei-e is a great and noble work in front 01 you still, and I feel sure, when you reahse your position in society, you wm rise in your wrath and declaro agams- a system that has, and is. today, robbing millions of your se_c of their womanhood, and forcing them to live lives worso than death. We appeal to each mother to teach her son that he has NO QUARREL with other sons of toil. Object to him being transtormed into a murderer; teh nm\ his place is in the Industrial Army, well drilled in economics, with a full knowledge of his mission in life, wed prepared lor the great intellectual batue yet to come. _"cs, mothers, there is a higher ideal for your sons tnan to be drilled for the purpose of blpwing some other mothers' Sons' heads off or spill their own b.ood lor the class who have been the bct>_\ers of mankind. In conclusion, 1 a.pp_ai once more to this great audiencj __ cast aside all petty differences, supers ~i_ion and militarism, and join m Liie great __^ A--_u.i <__v INDUSTRIAL SOLDI__RS, now numbering over 8,000,000, whose cmef object in lite is to sever the ciia.ms oi wage slavery. This work wai oe accomplished as sure as the l vmes to-morrow. There is no forco can s<.op it, and when that glorious mission is fuimled, the -workers w_Ti stand forth the Sovereigns of the i_ar_n. There will be no such thing as unemployed, no master, no slave,, no low nor degraded woman, no igneraait or unloved child. As the grand reformer of America, Eugene Debs once said: ' 'This will be the beginning; of ivian."