CHRISTCHURCH COMMENTS.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 50, 23 February 1912, Page 10

CHRISTCHURCH COMMENTS.

There are many people in the City of Churches (and, incidentally, pubs.) who believe you should vote for oven a capitalist if he is branded labor and run by some little clique styled a Labor Party, regardless of his economic knowledge. Consequently, when thoy find one of these creatures (with apologies to Semple for the use of this word) going back on their class, then these people began to howl and say workers are not to bo trusted. Wo have had an incident in this city's Council that will illustrate what I mean. Great dissatisfaction was caused in the ranks of labor by the autocratic manner in which the City Council treated their employees, especially tho bottom dogs—i.e., the laborers and the drivers —so tho General Laborers' Union decided to challenge their seats, .and got a committee going, which eventually was swamped by a certain clique. The result was that five Labor men wcro returned to tho new Council, but it is a fact that only one out of tho five understood that there was a class war on. So we find the other four doing what is termed in vulgar kuirruago "ratting," but what I would prefer to call answering to their masters' whip. Recently a few Socialists began to murmur about the awful price or fruit and fish, and so one of them bought a cart and started in to sell these articles on. tho streets. Others followed, and so the ring got "busted," and tho workers got fruit, fish, and meat at a reasonable price This didn't suit tho landlords and the shopkeepers, who had been used to sending cases of fruit and other vegetables to the destructor rather than bring down tho price, arguing that once tho worker got into the bad habit of buying cheap good fruit, lie wouldn't buy it when it was dear. So a deputation, headed by a prominent Salvation Army officer, who, as a side line, sells fruit, lends money, and deals in laud, waited upon tho Council and requested that these hawkers should be wiped off tho faco of tho earth because they wcro demoralising tho workers by selling them cheap fruit. Now, one would expect to find the Labor men fighting for their class, but instead of that wo find one of these Gentlemen (capital G, please) leading off against the hawkers in favor of the landlords, and advocating the sending of theso fellows to tho baekblocks; and when the division was taken, no fewer than three of theso so-called Labor men were found voting on the "ido of Fat and against the class that put them there. Vanity I Vanity! AH is vanity I The officers of the tramways, the spies (otherwise inspectors) are all drawn from tho working-class, and tho "bobbies," tho soldiers, and even tho scabs come from the working-class. You never find theso peoplo being drawn from tho "uppah" classes. You very seldom find the upper classes scabbing on one another. Why? Simply because they are ''class-conscious," and as soon as tho workers become classconscious thoy will drop soldiering, spying, and cheating one another, and get into one union, and make that union a revolutionary hotbed. I believe tho Revolution is coming. <T don't think it will start in tho Flat City—we are too religious), but I clso think there is a lot of spado work to bo done yet. One of tho comrades was doing some figuring tho other evening, and he suddenly let mo into this: That if all tho organised workers of Nov.' Zealand joined tho Federation of Labor and decided to bring about tho Revolution, they couldn't do so, becMise they are only 10 per cent, of the population! If that's a fact—and on paper it looks true—it appears as if we will have to keep tho Socialist Party going to do the spado work, and let those comrades who are past tho kindergarten stage get out and organise, tho workers in the Industrial Army. Wo want moro Hartleys in this country; wo want more in this town, to get out and talk to tho people, not from the high pinnacle of Direct Action, the let-hor-rip kind of talk, but tho A HO of Socialism. Wo get into ruts, and consequently get rusty; wo rush ahead and look round and wonder why so tew are following. The only way to get Socialism is to make Socialists'. 1 h< lieve we are making headway, great headway, but still wo have, a long way to go, and i<) should cub tho paco according to the distance. Wo ere going to have a lot to contend with, and the nearer we get tho harder tho road will become. Our enemies are awake to every move, and they aro putting "articles" into our ranks to break us up, to create dissensions, and to cast suspicions on all sides. Why should wo have two sec- ! tions growing uu in our ranks? .We

all want tho same end! Wo all want it as soon as we can possibly get it. All we differ on is whether it would be bettor to capture the law-making machinery first or the factory machines first. My opinion is we should capture both and set out and keep on with that purpose. Yet we find tho strict Industrial Unionist beginning to look with suspicion on the Political Industrial Unionist, and vice versa. And tho breach seems to be widening. How the devil (capitalist) must laugh — THE VAG.