The Root of the Matter

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 87, 15 November 1912, Page 3

The Root of the Matter

FUNDAMENTAL SPEECHES BY

WEBB, FRASER & SEMPLE.

DANGERS AND REMEDIES

CAPITALISM THE ENEMY,

On November 3, at the Sunday evening meeting the Miners' Hall was packed, and yet unable to hold the crowd. The speakers were Messrs. Webb, Fraser and Semple, and Mr. H. Kennedy presided.

Mr. WEBB said that from what he ha*l observed during his stay in Waihi, it was evident enough that the police and scabs were trying to promote disorder, as they were using every possible means to incite the strikers to violence. The men of Waihi were too well under control, however, to lend themselves to such tactics, no matter how great tho provocation. The days of winning fights by violence were relegated to the past. Violence was no part of our programme; we would leave that part to the police and scabs, while using our weapons of knowledge and organisation we marched on to that victory from which no power could deter us.

The speaker then went on to deal brioflv with the part played by the workers through the ae;es from chattel slavery to serfdom, and from serfdom to capitalism, showing that the workers of to-day wer<i as much slaves as their progenitors of the misty past. All the efforts of the. working-class in the world's progress had been used to keep them in subjection by the class in power. But an awakening was at hand. The exploited class were just to slowly but surely concentrate their attention on securing the full product* of their toil. The awful indignities to which the workers were daily subjected were rousing the proper spirit of antagonism. The growing concentration of capital was also comnelling the workers to form an organisation capable of with the chanced conditions, and any form of unionism not having for its objective the overthrow of capitalism was to be avoided.

All tho side issues that had served tho masters' purposes so well in the past were to be steered clear of. Sectarianism had been a terrible blight on the working-class movement, but he was pleased to know that the workers of Waihi did not allow it to enter into their fight.

The workers had also teen made the playthings of the Parliament existed only as an institution in the masters' hands, which recorded the changes that had been effected on tho economic field, and to-day Mr. Massey was using the power delegated to him to crush the New Zealand Fed-c-ition of Labor at the dictation of Messrs. Rhodes and Co. Tho opposing side were quick to use all their forces in the endeavor to crush any form of organisation that threatened their existence, and the only form of organisation possessing this attribute was a sound industrial one, which cast aside all the issues that do not* count and never Inst sight of the fact that administering tho affairs of capitalism is not waging the class struggle.

Mr. PAT. FRASER, in a brief address, said that Messrs. Webb and Semple, on their departure in the morning, would be able to give the rest of New Zealand some idea of the happenings; in the storm-swept centre of Waihi, and went on to say that while the workers mighh observe the law and order of the capitalist class, they would never respect it. The only law and order they would ever respect would be the law and order they would establish when capitalism was overthrown. Up till the present all laws and ethics had been made by the masters to serve their own purposes; for the laws and ethics of ©very age were those of the ruling class in that age.

It had been asserted by some that New Zealand would be immune from some of the severities imminent in capitalist production by reason of tho geographical position of this country, and other reasons, but the present struggle in Waihi had dispelled this fallacy. The class struggle could not be confined to any country or group of countries, but would manifest itself in every nook and cranny of the globe.

Mr. SEMPLE said that, although the struggle was fierce in Waihi, yet it was a mere bagatelle to what was going on in older countries.

The countries that were highly developed industrially were the scenes of the greatest persecution.

We could expect that course to follow here, for as Marx said: "The country that is more highly developed industrially only shows to the less developed The image of its own future."

The hopes of the individual who hoped that in this young country he might rise to some position of eminence by his own efforts would be dispelled,

and he would be forced to recognise that his only hope of uplifting himself lay in the emancipation of his class. Much ground required to he broken first, however, before this state of things could be realised, for here in Waihi, despite all the educational work that had been done, we had tho awful spectacle of seeing young men going into the mine scabbing.

Most despicable of all was the notion of those who, prior to scabbing, had taken tho strike pay which our militant fellow-workers throughout Australasia had contributed out of their own scant pay, because they realised that a victory in Waihi meant a victory for them also.

Referring to the police, the speaker said that while he had no quarrel with the police force as a whole, yet the actions of the police in Waihi were indescribable, especially that of the individual who had galloped along tho pavement the previous evening and did his utmost to ride down women and children, also expressing his wish "to put the lead into them."

At Waikino on Friday evening he was waiting, along with Webb and a few more, for the train, when, at the instigation of the police, they were mobbed by a howling crowd of scabs, who only refrained from doing them personal violence because, like all scabs, they were cowardly curs.

We would not emulate the horrible example shown us, however, for wo knew we had them beaten by continuing the peaceful tactics we had used all along.

He had heard that a statement was made in the hall some time ago to tho effect that if working a popper drill single-handed shortened a man's life, it would be wise to reverse the position and shorten the life of the popper, so that the boss would find it unprofitable to use these machines. When this statement reached the ears of the mas-ter-class of this country and their lickspittles, they set up a howl that was heard from the North Cape to the) Bluff. In pulpit, press, and Parliament was heard the yelp of the satellite protesting nnd threatening because a man had raised a protest against introducing Kaffir conditions in New Zealand.

The following week five men died in Roefton from • miners' complaint. The oHnst of th«m was only 37 yet not one word of protest was heard against the murder, nnd no Crown Law Office investigated the matter.

After reported warnings, of which no notice bad been taken, the lives of hundreds of minors had been sacrificed at Mt. Lyell, Stockton. Brunner and Kaitangata, and when the workers ask for humane conditions they are ridden down nnd batoned by the police.

Why does the boss safeguard his machinery so carefully and neglect the safety of his slaves so that they are mancrled in their hundreds? Because when a piece of machinery is broken, it rcouires to replace it, but when a slave is killed there are « hundred Twdv to take his place without any additional outlay. The condition for eani f s>lism is the competition among the sellers of labor power. Cannot you see that to combat this state of affairs you must trustify your commodity, labor power, so that you will transfer the competition from the sellers to the buyers?

Workers, when will you arise, realise that you are human beings, realise your position and by your economic organisation take what' is yours?

And so ended a memorable meeting, -SUBSTITUTE FOR THE REBEL.