Black in 1910 and Black in 1912.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 79, 13 September 1912, Page 2

Black in 1910 and Black in 1912.

The Blackest Infamy of all is Apostacy.

SOMERSAULTING STUPENDOUS.

By "THE REBEL." The more intelligent and therefore the more militant workers in New Zealand are fully aware of the class character of the capitalistic newspapers. That they are owned and controlled by a class for a class is as well known as the Class Struggle. AYe can expect nothing favorable to the workers' cause from them. But what should be said of so-called Labor papers, parading in bold colors and headlines as the mouthpieces of organised Labor, doing all the foul arte 1 evil-smelling deeds against Labor that even the master-class press will not stoop to? That this is being done in New Zealand is only too painfully true. A weekly organ of the United Labor party called the "Voice of Labor," edited by one W. P. Black, and published in Auckland, stands condemned by every honest-minded working-man as tihe most scurrilous and labor-hating sheet in New Zealand. This W. P. Black, some two years ago, edited a paper called the "Leader," in Auckland, and the depths of editorial prostitution in which he is now wallowing will be gauged from this article. The Waihi strike has been condemned in' no uncertain manner, the vilest language has been unloaded on the backs of tho Federation of Labor, the strikers have been called dupes, fools, etc., the scab engine-drivers have been the recipients of full editorial praise from this so-called "Voice." "Syndicalists, bomb-throwers, Tib-stickers, revolutionary red-raggers" are only a few of the epithets gratuitously bestowed. The Trades Councils are now the direct opposite of what the "Leader" editor called them in 1910. Then they were 'blood-sucking parasites, political assassins, and vipers, a gang of blacklegs, double-dyed traitor 9, hollow hypocrites, tlie most pestilent panderers that ever polluted the ranks of Labor," etc., etc. The "Weekly -Herald," the Wellington organ of the Labor party, was denounced by "Leader"-editor Black as "the official organ of organised scabbery, a -reptile sheet, and a decaying rag." The same editor now edits an organ of the same Trades Hall Labor party I The "Leader" of October 14, 1910, in reference to the Waihi Union cancelling its registration from the Arbitration Court, said, inter alia: "Wo have great pleasure in congratulating these brave, self-sacrificing fighters in the Labor movement on the splendid results achieved at the ballot." "The class-conscious workers at Waihi havo worked hard to arouse their more apathetic fellow-workers to the necessity of declaring for Industrial Unionism as against Arbitration Courts, class judges, organised scabbery and other chloroforming paraphernalia. This is ns it should be." And now the same editor condemus the ''class-conscious workers" ns "rabid revolutionaries, anarchists, syndicalists," etc. "The strike is only to smash up the Arbitration Act," says the "Voice of Labor," August 9, 1912. Praise in 1910 and condemnation in 1912 for doing the same thing. "Progressive unions" vas the name applied to all organisations which joined "the only class-conscious industrial organisation in New Zealand, the N.Z.F.L." in the "Leader" of 1910; the "Voice" now shrieks of "anarchy, red-ragism," etc. When the ''Weekly Herald" once slandered the Federation, "Leader"editor Black wrote in reply, and called the "Herald" "a parasitical rag " and "a literary abortion." In no uncertain manner did he apply to the "political job-hunters" all the terms capable of being laid on a man's head. The Federation of Labor was defended; but now in the editorial columns of tho "Voice," all the epithets that fell to the lot of the Labor party's "Weekly ftf-Wl-* , *». -_*•<_ S®' » .^vuwtf

led, cringed, and did everything that j dirty hirelings of capitalism will do," ! are bestowed upon the Federation. What, Editor Black in the "Leader" of 1910 condemned the Labor party's official organ ior doing, the. same Editor Black now does himself. The party which Black in 1910 denounced and which he declared, as a Socialist, "must 'never come into existence.as a. political party," "a party dominated by office-seekers aud middleclass politicians," a party which was "a fraud,-a delusion and a fake," has come into being, and W. P. Black edits its organ. How true and how applicable to Black himself to-day are the words he hurled at the Labor party in tho "Leader" of September, 1910: "No words, no language, can be strong enough to denounce these wolves in sheep's clothing, who are at this moment .... plotting, planning, and scheming to prostitute the Labor mow*menu to their own vile and material ends. And to-day we find them leaving no stone unturned, hesitating at no treachery, pausing at no lie in order to prevent the industrial organisation of Labor in New Zealand." The "Leader" ol 1910, after referring to the -"frothings of the Labor clique" regarding the Federation, asked the following question: "Is there any professedly capitalist paper in New Zealand, however bitter against Socialism, that has aplied such terms to the classconscious workers who are fighting for their emancipation ?" It*lias remained for the "Voice 'if Labor," official organ of the same Trades Council Labor party, edited by ''Leader"-«ditor Black, to "win" that "honor," and also answer the question in the affirmative.