IS DANCER AHEAD?

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 48, 9 February 1912, Page 14

IS DANCER AHEAD?

Sir, —T read with very great interest your very able article in "The Worker" of January 19, under the above heading. It sounds a very timely warning nnd I heartily congratulate you upon the line of caution which your articleoontains. I am an Industrial Unionist, and should very much like to see every xtnion brought into lino and under the Federation principle of_ One Big Union. If this were accomplished the. workers would become a power that would be irresistible; and if your warning cry is heeded now it will safeguard the'work and interests of the N.Z.F.L. in the immediate future. I am ploased' to observo tho progress made by the Federation during the past year. Now the question arises— Has overy unionist who has joined tho Federation comprehended and aooepted for himtelf tho of th»,Fwl-

oration? If not, then there is a real danger in the near future. I hold that, before any union joins the Federation every individual member should be required by his union to give a definite answer to this question, either in the affirmative or the negative, simply because the responsibilities and also, the possibilities are of such a fur-reaching character. Speaking of the country workers generally, the.re is a tusk of a stupendous nature to be undertaken before the country unions oan with any degree of success join the Federation of Labor. Organisation and education must be considerably advanced before they can entertain the remotest idea of entering the ranks of the Federation. The members must be educated sufficiently to gauge the situation and the exact position that they would occupy. I endorse your view that education must be the continual watchword before the workers can achieve a permanent victory, as there is always a danger of the rank and file—or a considerable percentage of them —being led to a decision otherwise than by the exercise of thoir reasoning faculties. The only alternative to this danger is the process of education, and we must await trie development of practical results by evolution of the mind. And it's a slow process. Mark the extent of the opposition to the compulsory military system, and yet this obnoxious scheme of conscription is practically established in spite of all the agitation ap-alnst its institution. Has education accomplished its overthrow? Not a bit of it I (But it will. —Ed.) On the same line of reasoning, the task I referred to above is a stupendous one, but agitation and education must go on unceasingly in the hope that the near future will bring better results and finally the coming into operation of One Big Union in this Dominion of New Zealand. —I am, etc., Waimate. A UNIONIST.