1912!

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 44, 12 January 1912, Page 10

1912!

We would that every Industrial Fnionist and Socialist in New Zealand would make a definite and tremendtm. resolution that 1012 shall witness the unrivalled ascendency iv the- workingclass _i.a-avoma.nt of the New Zealand l-'i-deraii'in of Labor aud the Socialist Parly. From all appearance*!, the year upon which we have entered will be something of a pivotal year amid a group immediately behind it and before it. i''or a few years past, beginning with the advent of tlie Miners' Federation, the now development thus typified lias steadily, yet speedily, added strength and influence- to itself, ko powerfully challenging tho forcos of the foes as to set tlie same fighting for iifc. That light is on, and last year was waged with .such earnestnes. and capacity as never before, making safe the prediction that 1012 would be a determining period vastly affecting tho future. In regard to the Federation of Labor it has arrayed again?', it not only the Trades. Councils' Federation of Labor and tho Labor Tarty, but the mereih'_. power of tho interests and institutions of capitalism, now bent upon aiding Trade. Unionism and Arbitration, as against Industrial Unionism and tho .Right to Strike--bent upon doing so not from any love of Trades Unioui'mii, but preferring the unionism of "a •'air dav",s pay for a fair day's work" 'and stopping short at that) to tlie unionism ot "tho abolition of tho wages system," pins the other. fn r.-g.ird to the Socialist Party, its antagonists within the Labor movement bop-a to overwhelm It by stain-p-li-ag Liberalism' ft. Hl& Labor Party an I bringing the latffey into line with A'!-.ir-;iha. And a* fcti be brought into im- f.-oh Australia in this respect -M'-teiy moan, a'v-eptittg liaborism io •j.-1; le** than Liberalism has _;,Vcn-~ an.! .Wo ..apprises the. evolutionary mandate ivliith events and wouoMiics have impelled th<. mandate to march into emancipation over <.-vmoiistr-;.b>y-futile p:*lb .tio.i - t-hw. doesau't soem rhyme ■or senw m pti.tiri'-g back the c':><:k of pro-grew. On fieb .If of Trade - * nut! Lft'b. r OmmorlH Fed<wt.iOi_ and I'/rtlVot fiiir.y a LatVftr ootifctrcnoo is b&itt£ "boomed"

with shrewdness and shouting. WV shall be surprised if the bizarre and garish self-advertisement, display and pompoiisiioss resorted to delude even tho arbitration-loving unions of New Zealand, although on the principle of winning at .all costs [he said unions may swallow anything rather than defeat. 13c tin's as it may. T.he fact remains that the opponents of the Labor Federation and Socialist Patty are showing astute and bitter activity in the attempt to "hold the fort" against the militants and revolutionists. So it is urgently necessary that all flic workers for the Labor Fedora thin and its Socialist, basis, spirit and objective, shall understand that as between them nnd their comparatively conservative fellow-toilers the year ]f>l_ is likely to decide into whose hands shall be given tin- sacra-d custody of organised labor. As victory for Labor Federation and Socialist Party (or Industrial Socialism, otherwise tinproduct to the producer! means the surer and swifter emancipation of the tricked .and twisted working-class il vill be soon how solemnly and grandly serious is the call. Tho forthcoming conferences of Socialist Party and of' Labor Fa-deration ought to be regarded as vital events of the year, and quick action started towards perfecting the machinery of both organisations, so as to give us in realty a linked-up power sturdy and strong beyond estimation aud invincible in its truth and supremacy. This is the crying need. And in working for it wo should not only consider industrial organisation and political action equally important, but equally inviolate. To "split" on this issue will be to put us back for years, then pathetically—having learned tbe lesson of the essential unity of industrial and political action—but to get hack to whore, we stand to-day. Is a "split" worth while. There madness lies.