Discipline of Various Sorts

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 2, 8 December 1911, Page 6

Discipline of Various Sorts

By ERNEST JONES.

Discipline, like charity, is made to cover many sins.- To discipline one's self might rank as a virtue., but the discipline that is used to cow the spirit, blind 1 the eyes, and numb the senses is ; not a virtue to aspire after. ' The scientist, inventor or thinker generally has' had to become a stem taskmaster to himself. Obstacles and obscurities have had to be got over and seen, through, and he has become disciplined by his task. Vastly different is the discipline for military organisation. Its one work is destruction —to maim, mutilate, and kill, to devastate and destroy. It is subtly hinted' its purpose is defence,-but the unit's of its organisation axe simply regarded 1 as atoms of material and not atoms of mhid and intelligence: The oath of a militarist to serve a king is grotesque, because history in the main proves that all kings were creatures of circumstance, as - fallible as other • mortals: When '"The boy stood: on the burning deck, l Whence all but he had fled," >the generous reader can only suppose he Was lacking, in human intelligence, and for that reason to be pitied. Cerftainl;-/ there was nothing heroic in-his shiftless 'attitude. If such acts c*n be pointed to as meritorious and creditable ';s&> discipline, I' say in all earnestness and-sincerity/,; spare my boy from such ignoble sacrifice 1 It is splendid dis|;cipline to: know the right thing to do, and' Be one of maiiy or few to do it, i but there is nothing glorious in going •;like sheep tfr the slaughter because ■•someone had blundered!" The coming Labor organisation will ;regard each individual as a thinking 'and- responsible being, and its execuH itive officers will be selected frosi the ,most intelligent of its metrtoers: The discipline of \ such an organisation would rest with the wiiV of the members. A I strike wo-i_l_: ! be entered upon with the of a majority of the members, ' *fiid when entered upon the will of the corporate body would still decide what should or what should not be | done. The commander-in-chief of an army is subject to nobody, and nothing can stay hishandor alter his plans. _ For the time being he is regarded as infallible, and what a bloody and cruel record these human butchers and gloryseekers have left them 1 It is regarded as possible that Lord Kitchener might be secured by a foreign Power if Britain does not utilise his services, and it is accepted as a fact that Major-General Hector Macdonald is drilling the forces of China. As patriots, we might ask "For what?" Surely not to come in force here, to wage war against Major Godley and his New Zealand Army? Workers of New Zealand 1 There are many things requiring your serious consideration. Passive resistance ofj immoral laws will result in your absolute subjection, to violence, to tyranny, unless you strive against it. Your daily work, with its wage, large or small, s not going to better your material or moral condition, unless you act in co-operation with others and make some little sacrifice' for the common good: You have got to wake up, you have got to help, you have got to march with us or be left behind. The birth-throes of a new state are being endured, and to Mother Nature, which sustains us all, we have to show reverence and obedience. Too long have we submitted to the discipline of king's rule and tyrant's command. Anew voice calls us to_ service. The. voice of Humanity, afflicted and oppressed, is calling us. Shall we answer with the arms of war or the helping hand of fellowship ?