In Our Opinion.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 20, 21 July 1911, Page 11

In Our Opinion.

W E sta,rtt on another page a svmpos- » ium dealing with "Dogmatisms" memorable article entitled "bocial lievoluiion: Is it near." On the appearance of the article we sent out letters to a number of men and women each to offer comments, ajuu to c . & an opinion as to whether the bocial H volution is practicable in our time. / xminoer of instiuctive contributions hay. been received and will appear ir on>pages from time to time. We trust our readers will be interested in tiio - cussjon, for no subject is of such vital import to aD the people as the ot Socialism and the morrow of its coming. • ♦ _ that Walter Thomas Mills has "V completed the tour of N-Z. arranged for him, and now that he has agreed to remain for a further term in the Dominion, we should like to say that the half a dozen and more lectures heard us were as good and as sound Socialism as uttered by any speaker we have met. and the matter of them was spl>ndi<:]oaleuJated to arrest attention and make {Socialists. As sin-'ple, tediug aid ho ding expositor of economics we doubt if Professor Mills could be ecliosed iv th~world s movement. No one "could hear Mr. Mills and regard political economy as a dismal science. Really, it is the m ost .attractive and brightest of sciences —and the workers are beginning to see it- We are pleased to know that the Ppmxnion is to have further opportunities of hearing the talented Professor Mills, and of experiencing his skill as organiser. Our visitor is a great mind of the legislative and constructive order, and nothing he says can be wis<dv ignored. We await with interest the tabulation of his practicable proposals for winning New Zealand for the workers, and we shall give them our keenest ecrutiny and study. _____ - • —. Cornish, of Brooklyn » V, Wellington, is in jail—No.l of our XCoil of Honour, but a prisoner in the degrading garb of the prison ! And when he leaves jail he may be re-arrest-ed and again jailed and re-arrested; and the procedure continue until he be lifelong prisoner. If he isn't re-rrested it will only be because the law dare not be logical—and. in any case, he will be disfranchised for life and never be given government employment. To such pass has N.Z. "democracy" come in the hands of a clique of titled betrayers of cracy It is gratifying to note some symptoms of uneasiness on the part of the public with what is taking pW<-> in their midst. Anti-Co-i«eT-i-ntior. Leagues have been formed at Wellington and Christchurch. and other bodies ar.-< bestirring themselves. If ever there was o time when every person or .?.. °I?P° se <J fo militarism—compulsory nnlitans^i—should ass°rf manhood it i"<= bow. There will be other jailings, or iryilitary training be mnde tiv« or abolished. And if New Z-aland is going to make wholesale convicts of its boys because they will not be conscripts then of a certainty New Zealand s ' last word in democracy"' will strengthen the world's capitalism for generations. Dare we do this? TTPTON SrNOAm in his "Manifesto tV- A^!i n Nt5 t TS K writes: "Comrades.— It is nothing but deeds that will help xm m this crisis; it is nothing but a resolute determination for deeds that win in the least affect our enemies. SociaJlsrn is not a theory of government but an oot of will; if it comes to be it will be- because we create it; and if we permit ourselves to hesitate and doubt then the power to create it i« gone from Us. It is this conviction which weighs upon me—this vision which haunts mc » ni Phtmare, and will not «et mc r*«t: that the Socialist movement has power at this hour to prevent war between civilised nations if it will only resolve to prevent it. You, a Socialist

—who permit yourself to deny, to say, Yes. we might, if others would—you youi-self are a cause of War. Wairs 'are wag-d because men are willing to die to wage them; and wars will continue to be waged until men are willing to die to prevent them. Just as gladiatorial combats ceased when Christian monks were willing to throw themselves into the arena, so the pageantry of militarism will advance until lovers of humanity are willing to throw themselves beneath the hoofs of the cavalry.'" ♦ TTfeEAR Worker,—When the proposal -*-* for cornpnlsory military service was hist launched, the Jingo promoters appealed to the youth of the country to stand forth and train for the defence of their homes, mothers a.nd sweethearts, etc., and lurid pictures were drawn of what would hanpen if a Jap army landed in New Zealand. It turns out that the real object was to provide a force for capitalistic British wars in any part of the world. The Governor let the cat out of the bag the other day at Hawera, when he discoursed on the glory of our forces marching side by pid- with T. Atkins to fight the battles of the Empiah. Taking that atrocious infamy the Boer war as an example, how do the mothers of New Zealand like the idea of their boys being compelled to burn farm houses, and turn helpless women and children out of their homes, or els° be shot fo~ refusing to do the degrading work.—Yours. CITIZEN. « npHE capitalist system is held together -*L by the boycott and by coercion. Its foundation is Exploitation, and its purpose Profit. Tn the name of Profit it condones and unholds swindling and robbery incalculable; it maintains wretchedness and poverty anions' the -workers in order to be masters of the bread. All its and luxury come of "Unpaid Labor. The strike is the tried and tested weapon of the working-class. To surT " > nder the rieht to 6trike is not only folly, hut madness and treachery. The need of the hour is that scientific organisation by which the strike can be made unerringly conqueror. And out of the strike may come that revolutionary spirit which will create the closer organisation of labor, and utilise such for gaining ooi behalf of the strikers and their fellows the full product of their labor. Success to the strike! » THE Socialist Party offers to tho peonle everywhere groaning under exploitation, everywhere descending deeper into the abyss of degradation, and everywhere incres«ingly robbed of the product of their labor —the Socialist Party offers as cure for growingly intolerable hardships— Kevolutionarv Socialism, Industrial Unionism. That is to say, the Socialism which peeks a Complete Change here and now; the Unionism which coai soli dates per industries rather than crafts, and scientifically organises to control. the economic processes. Our candidates and propagandists will speak fully of these great ideas. They mean Emancipation. It is folly to sneer at the term, foi none other describes the objective and destiny of the working-clasis. To the Socialist Party, the test of politicians and parties is their attitude to Emancipation, or release from wage-slavery. This is as Greek to the older parties, and they are, therefore, to be derisively dismissed as unwoirthy of working-claes trust or attention. -* ADMTITiNG the grave dangers of the Parliamentary plan, may we emphasise that all plains have equally their grave dangers—that with all defecte, and with all the play of complex human emotions and passions in and about Parliamentary activity, yet is Parliament the protective point in the Capitalistic btstem. The capture of Parliament, and also the control of the industrial processes—is the pathway to working-class dominion. • — REPRESENT ATI VKR of the workers must walk ©fcraight or walk out. Socialists stand for plain speaking and honest avowal of their principles and

"No man ever forked his passage In a dead calm. Let no man wax pale, therefore, because of opposition." — NealCm