Waihi, "American Tactics"

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 91, 13 December 1912, Page 13

Waihi, "American Tactics"

By F. HANLAN (I

From tho moment the Federation conference endorsed the 1.W.W., a continuous stream of abuse and deliberate misrepresentation tins flowed through the editorial and other miliums of the daily pwss. fi has been directed against the J.W.W., tho Waihi miners, and Industrial Unionism generally, the "New Zealand Herald" even going so far as to state that the "Infamous 1.W.W." favors "wholesale dynamite outrages," a falsehood consciously utterod in an editorial of November 13.

By carefully manipulating the cables and hows items from America, they hope, by an association of ideas, to create a general impression that the I.W.W.'s activities consist of blowing up buildings, creating riots, wholesale machine-smashing, etc.

If during an I.W.W. strike, the paid thugs of the employers mix with the st/rikers and mintage to create a riot —an in Lawrence —the cable item is inserted U)id:?r tlit , heading "I.W.W. tactics" or "The I.W.W. again," and while it is true that members and officers of the A.V. of L. —a conservative craft organisation, whose policy and whoso leaders are entirely opposed to the I.W.W.— have been indiewd for being conreriU'd in an alleged dynamite conspiracy, every effort is being made to take advantage of the ignorance of a section of our class here so as to confuse , them into connecting these alleged plots with the I.W.W. in America.

If, on the other hand, a group of employers are found to have entered into a wide conspiracy and planted dynamite under their own factories, intending it to be "discovered" just in time by private detectives hired for the job— as was done recently by the millionaire textile employers of Lawrence —the object being, of course, to manufacture a "charge," throw the blame on the strikers, poison public sentiment, "get" the leaders, and discredit and smash the rapidly-growing 1.W.W., then the half-inch cable announcing the confession and suicide of one of the capitalist conspirators and the arrest of others is placed where it will be least noticed and no further comment made.

This section of the press has kept up a continuous howl against the introduction of "I.W.W. tactics and American methods." The "New Zealand Hcrnkl," for instance, published letters obviously from ignorant and bitterly-biassed persons, letters containing the wildest of misstatemonts against the 1.W.W., and asking that "this society bo declared illegal" or that the "same treatment be meted out to its members as in San one man's flesh was branded with hot irons, another was kicked to death, and several were bludgeoned and left to die in the desert for nothing worse than insisting on the right of free speech— but refuses to publish anything written ill defence of industrial unionists, no mat tor how well composed or how mild in language. "While striving to give their readers an entirely false idea of industrial unionist tactics, they also strive hard to cover up the truth, that it is really the employing-class of this country, the powers that be, who are introducing American strike methods and Russian repressive measures.

This kind of thing is only to be expected, especially from the gutter press, and can be taken as a. high compliment to the I.W.W. Nevertheless, there is a considerable portion of the workingclass, the least intelligent portion, happily growing smaller, who are content to swallow these statements without questioning their truth. They must be constantly undeceived and given to understand that the 1.W.W., the industrial unionists, have nothing to gain by a campaign of violence, that w© depend rather upon sound industrial organisation and the rousing up of the rest of our class to a realisation of their economic position as workers —to raise them up to class-consciousness, to point out where our real power lies, to learn how to handle that powerful weapon of the proletariat, the strike, to use it intelligently—passively on the job, if necessary, limiting the output by going slow —to counteract the tendency to "speed-ing-up," thus compelling the boss to employ more labor, and helping to rob him of his most valuable ally, the scab;

and the I.W.W.

Lessons o! the Strike

.W.W., Auckland),

but always holding that life and limb are sacred.

Anyone having even a slight knowledge of (he. tricks reported to by large American employers during strikes will have noticed a startling similarity in the methods employed ut Waihi—the truculent attitude and open flaunting of firearms by paid thugs; the underhand movements of the "intellectual" strikebreakers or scab organisers; the attempt early in the struggle to divide the workers on the question of religion, made by men who have no religion at all; the desperate attempt to work up and utilise the Union Jack sentiment by men who know no patriotism ; the repeated attempts to CREATE violence amongst a body of unionists who were admittedly the most self-restrained in Australasian strike history; the riding down of women and children by mounted police ; the cowardly attacks made by bands of scabs on isolated strikers; the marked partiality of the police ; the successful pl<)1 to take tlu> Union Hall by force when only a small body of strikers were present; and finally the vicious clubbing of strikers and chasing them out of the district under threat of death —these are the methods of the employ-inn-class wherever capitalism is, especially in America, and it is but a step to the wholesale clubbing and shooting of working-men in order to keep our class in subjection; it is a manifestation of the development) of capitalism in New Zealand.

The N.Z. branch of the I.W.W. takes off its hat to the Waihi strikers. They have fought sturdily in the interests of their class ; with all the powers of capitalism arrayed against them, they have not hesitated to sacrifice all in order to uphold the principles of unionism, and for many months have manfully borne the brunt of the class struggle in New Zealand, until literally overwhelmed by sheer physical force. They may or may not have made mistakes; they know beat themselves. They may have suffered temporary defeat, but they have raised the status of unionism in New Zealand in the eyes of the international proletariat, and the education they, as well as all thinking unionists, have received through the Waihi strike has brought the working-class so much nearer to ultimate victory, for a valuable lesson has been learned —not to rush panic-stricken to the other extreme from Industrial Unionism, not to be tricked by "Labor" politicians who will seek to ride into place to the tune of "Remember Waihi," not to drop the strike weapon like a child who has touched a red-hot poker, but to steadily push forward our industrial organisation, remembering that as babes we learnt to walk by putting one foot before the other and stepping out, even though we fell, thai? to learn to swim one must boldly enter the water, and that to learn to strike effectively we must—STRIKE.

It would not be extravagant to say that the old Waihi Union probably contained a larger number of well-educated, capable and determined men than any union of its size in Australasia, and that if every other organised group of workers, every other body of unionists, was only half as intelligent, militant, and class-conscious as they were, there would be no room, no use at all for the boss, except to take his coat off along with the rest of us and become a really useful member of society.

Thse who wenti through the struggle and came out clean will be more determined and more capable battlers for Industrial Unionism than ever; all the blacklisting will only benefit the work-ing-class in the long run, for the education and experience previously centred in Waihi will be diffused throughout the country, so that the tyranny of victimisation eventually recoils on those who exercise it.'

By each struggle and apparent defeat we improve our organisation and our tactics; the tap at capitalism becomes a knock, the knock becomes a thump, and the thump develops into a heavy blow, until the Inst staggering blow will be struck which will destroy capitalism, and the working-class will emerge triumphant, the owners of the earth; and the boss will have to take his medicine, poor fellow, but it will be for his good—lie will have to go to work.