WHY ARE WE DIVIDED?

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 80, 20 September 1912, Page 7

WHY ARE WE DIVIDED?

Aa I hinted last week I have seen brieke hurled at all governments, and while the bricks were being hurled I have sat quietly watching whence they came. In the case o£ the Australian Labor members, 1 have been pleased to see , that those of tho workers who denounce them have no chance of usurping their seats. lv Maoriland to-day these bricks are freely flying. Some are marked "Socialist," others plaiu "Labor," while again others just carry the "union" label. They are flying in such large numbers that if they wore all going the one way with a bit of force behind them the strike at Waihi would soon be at an end, providing they hit the right party. Tho moral is to get together, you workers, and stay the fight in your own ranks. Ask yourselves what it is all about, as I have, been doing for more than two years, and never yet met the man who could tell mc. The fact of a man telling mc that he is a class-conscious Socialist counts for little, and the one thing that I do not fear is a collision with the millennium in the near future. Let us get together, and the good cash which we are wasting fighting each other will enable us to run co-operative stores, buy land, and enter into competition with those from whom we are now forced to seek jobs. If the United Labor Party is out; for just what tho Socialist Party wants, though it gives it a different name, and if the objective of the Shearers' Association is to be taken seriously and the Federation of Labor is not only joking (and I do not think it is), then I say I wonder what the light is all about. To-day in New Zealand I find myself on the other side o£ the fence from men whom I know to be true to Labor's cause; and why? I can mention many —and still the fight goes on and will while the rank and file tolerate it. To mc it appears silly to see two bodies of workers fighting each other while we have a party holding the reins of power that will make hay while the sun shines. Geb together, workers, and "out" thean, and jump on the bos seat and stay there. This is easy of attainment if you will but make an effort. Workers of New Zealand, ask yourselves what we. could do in the way of running a Labor paper or papers if we so willed. Furthermore, is it not the advertisements that keep other journals out of the bankruptcy court, and is it not, in the majority of cases, we toilers and our wives who keep those advertisements going ? Have a think and see what we are going to do about it, for such is tho position and will be while the present division exists.