THE WORLD PEACE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10296, 3 June 1919, Page 9

THE WORLD PEACE

ANOTHER OPEN LETTER TO REAL LABOUR. SOME QUESTIONS FOR MR BLOODWORTH. (By J. T. M. Hornsby, AI.P.) The President of tho New Zealand Federation of Labour is much exercised in mind because I have, he says, deliberately attempted to arouso the political prejudices of tho electors against the Labour Party. Let mo say at once that I do not recognise any authority on the part, of. Mr Bloodworth to speak for Die Labour Party. I do acknowledge that he, as president, has a perfect right to speak authoriatively for and on behalf of the revolutionary body known as the Lanour Federation. In that jiarty There are those who belong to the I.WAV., and there are also those in its ranks who not only defend btit applaud Bolshevism and all it stands for. But with such revolutionary and anarchistic propaganda real Labour has nothing to do. If Mr Bloodworth really means that I am out to expose the actual aims of the people who have, unfortunately, persuaded a goodly number of workers to join them in their wild and recklessly evtrnvagani demands, then most assuredly he is right. Indeed, nothing would Rive me greater satisfaction than to be enabled to go on the public platform with others and, inland wide, explain the essential difference between real and spurious Labour. With real Labour's aims and aspirations I am in fullest accord; I have boon an advocate of Labour’s ideals for now nearly forty years. 1 have seen grow up (helped in the spade work) and come to fruition many great Labour trees. With pen end voice I have adduced arguments which I believe to be sound in favour of the legitimate claims of all men who live by labour. But I refuse to be associated witb those who aim at the destruclitm of our present civilisation, backward though it. be. There nro many reforms that" must and will have to be made: there are many old ideas and ideals that will havo to ho brushed out of the wav; thero are many abuses which must be wiped out; there are selfish and bowelloss people who will have to be taught that monopolies and robberies must go. But I believe that all the reforms so greatly needed and top long delayed can le brought about in a fuller and better way under our Flair than under the Red Clout which so many of Mr Blood worth’s friends .are, anxious ~tp. hoist. So,, now that wo have, fixed upon a basis wo , can go on understandingly. Really Mr Bloodworth’s letter is no reply to my contentions. Thero is always a lack of courage apparent in these revolutionaries, whether : be in allegedly replying to criticism or answering a charge before any of our tribunals. This was the sort of thing that occurred when I replied through the press to tho demands (that was the word ‘ used) made upon me as* a. hiember of Parliament by The Federation of-Labour that I should use my position and influence to have inleased from gaol and (together with the several thousand deserters still at large) relieved from the penalty of disenfranchisement. Not one point made by roe was refuted, not one argument was answered. Tho .same sort of subterfuge occurred as a result of Mr R. Semple. M.P., giving utterance in Christchurch ■to a statement which ho -and. his friends .sooilsJpawA lK9Md, j; kill , _ the "ReputahieiChonest; and -fully.--.qualified stenographers took down the words, end, worst of all (!) published them. Then Mr Semple and his alarmed friends tried to wriggle out of the awkward corner But even if you accept Mr Semple’s s'" called explanation what better position is he in? According to his explanation" he said “If 1 were in Russia (under the circumstances) I would be a Bolshe vile. If I were in Germany (undev the circumstances). I would ,be.f..a-! • Spartacist. If I were in Ireland .. (under the circumstances) I would be a Sinn Feinor."

The parentheses are Mr Semple’s—as are the sentiments; and there need have been no apology, because those who have loilowed Mr Semple’s career are well aware that his "ideals” are revolutionary. Indeed ho hud never tried to .hide the fact until after the executive of the Federation remonstrated with him and begged of him to moderate his enthusiasms! And now, we have the president (Mr Bloodworth) asking the real Labour men of -New Zealand to accept the statement as honest that the words “Peace celebrations’’ did not occur in his telegram to Mr Hunter It is worth while to hero repeat the message:

Inquiry from Mr Hunter, secretary of the Federation, to its president, Mr Bloodworth: “What is Labour's attitude towards the Peace Celebra-

tions? The unions wish to know immediately.” Mr Bloodworth’s reply was as follows: “Wo (Labour) can trike no part in the (Peace) celebrations. . .

The parentheses are mine—but not the sentiment. And if Sir Bloodworth was not referring to the “Peace celebrations,” in the name of the Prophet (‘figs!’’) what was lie referring to? Guy Fawke s Day perhaps! To the president and secretary, no doubt, the telegrams in the newspapers had an imposing appearance the authors plumed themselves! But when the decency of the thing was chal longed—subterfuge again! Of course the real Labour men of New Zealand realise this. Their acknowledgments and their'many congratulations are be fore me as I write. One of these comes from a man I knew many years ago in Hnwko’s Bay. Ho was a pioneer—a real Labour man—and I feel honoured by his confidence. The real Labour men know quite woll that in. the New Zealand Federation of Labour there are men (unci they are the leaders) who are in sympathy, often strongly expressed, with all revolutionary movements;' some of its members are members of tho I.W.W. It is because of the presence of such men in tho Federation that the real 'Labour men will have nothing to do with it. It is woll known that in tho Federation are men whose ultimate object it is to tear down the British flag and put in its {dace the Bed Flag of Anarchy. Just lore, lot me put a question to Mr Bloodworth : (Does ho, as president, -subscribe to that portion, of the Federation’s platform which aims to destroy our present constitutional conditions—and all that they mean to men of tho British race—and substitute therefor the provisions oi the Internationale? This question demands an answer, and for tho good and sufficient reason that within tho next few months candidates chosen by the Federation, of which he is president, will be' seeking the suffrage.? of the electors Mr Bloodworth declines to follow me through the accusations 1 have made against, the federation because of its acts of omission and commission throughout the whole of tho war period. But 1 do not propose that he should escape in- that way. Ho declares that his federation is an industrial organisation, and that it has been instrumental in preventing strike.-,—flint New Zealand has been freer of strikes during the war period than any other country! But that is not tho point, even if it Were true. The real Labour men know that during tho war period the federation of which Mr Bloodworth is president openly advocated refusal of all military duty, and it Was not until some of its more prominent members' were sent to jail and a stringent law was passed, aimed at tho prevention of public manifestations of disloyalty, that pause was given to tho wild public utterances-of those, who, among other things, declared that

the men who went away as soldiers were fools, and worse. Mr Bloodworth admits that the war was fought for democracy. Bid he, or any of the men associated with him in the federation, ever once seek to induce men to join the coiours? 1 know that the leaders of the federation sought by every means to discourage men irom joining up. Let mo hasten to say, however, that but for you, the real Labour men, we could not have played our part. in thousands of New Zealand homes today you, the real Labour people, are mourning your loss of dear ones. I had the honour and the great privilege of knowing personally many “boys” who heard and answered the call of duty who will never come homo again. 1 saw them leave their many avocations; 1 saw them, w T ith head erect and a smile upon their bright young faces, march away from the camps. They had but one bitter feeling in their hearts; that feeling was held against the man who stayed behind too long and those who sneered at our brave lads and called them "fools and tools of the capitalist class."

What manner of men were they who gave up all that life held dear; who abandoned careers which had ojiened up before them while yet they were young and full of hope; who looked' their last upon the babe that had come into their young married lives and upon the young wife whose heart was breaking’, but who was yet brave enough to encourage her man to go and do his duty? What manner of men were they? Idols? The dupes of , capitalists? Eeokless and bloodthirsty? Surely not. And yet members of the federation of which Mr Bloodwdrth is president said so. What manner of men were they then? Let Philip Gibb answer: “Tncv were gallant to the end, hating the war for the hell it was, but going through with it. and drinking to the very dregs its cup of agony, for the name and honour of the British race and for their own pride of manhood, which would allow no surrender. 1 ’ Mr Bloodworth has quoted with much appreciation the scribblings of a wretched London editor. I pass it by with the remark that there are and always have been unworthy men in every walk and condition of life. Therewere traitors even in France. But Ido question (ho right of the Press Association to disseminate such treacherous and traitorous outpourings. 1 turn from the wail uttered on behalf of people who have violated every law, committed crimes hitherto unknown to civilised or uncivilised humans, and X ask your attention while we consider Mr Bloodworth’s plea for poor Germany! He asks you. to toll him how that country is to pay. He loaves out of sight all her deviltries, the attacks upon open and defenceless towns, the outrages, the unspeakable offences, the deportations of women and girls to a fate worse than death, the sinking without warning of passenger ships and peaceful merchants men, the torpedoing of hospital ships and the drowning of wounded men and their nurses. And then he asks you to ioin with him in being-sorry for Germany; that Germany that 'caused a medal to be struck to bo .worn by the German people in commemoration of the sinking of the Lusitania. Mr Bloodworth. is dreadfully concerned about what he terms the enslavement of the German people because they are to continue to labour for many years to provide the means towards reparation. Why has it become necessary to demand this act of reparation? Listen: From the great factories of., .Belgium and Franco the Germans stole awhy,’ millions of pounds' sterling worth of. ' the best machinery in the world. Where they could not remove the machines they destroyed ‘ the vitally essential parts. In the coalmining districts they put the mines out of action, in some for ten years, in some twenty, in some for all time. The plan, worked out in detail years before war was declared, was to absolutely destroy France and enslave her people for ever. Meanwhile. Germany having obtained the mastery, possessed itself of all the means of production; ing nil the sources of supply -of- rhw'.’material. would have turned her to the task of enslaving not only France, but Britain. and all her possessions, Belgium, Italy, and finally the United States of America. Wo have not to appeal to mir authorities for confirmation of all this, and more if it were needed. No: the whole story is extant and proved by the official records of the country for which Mr Bloodworth is so powerfully sorry 1 , Mr Bloodworth is equally • unhappy when he attempts to compare ' the Peace terms of to-da.v with .those .made in Napoleonic times. Let me toll him—and I trust he will profit by the information —that in Napoleonic days and for- long generations before him, Peace treaties, so-called, resolved themselves into a redistribution of thrones and prin-cipal;t;,-<v while territories were dis:r\: ~ (a become the footstools

of emperors, kings and princes—men for the most part devoid of every other desire save that of self-aggrandisement; What have wo to-day ? A' peace which emanates from a conference presided over by a great republican, M. Clemonceau, the Premier of Republican Prance, and largely influenced bv Woodrow Wilson. the President of the American Republic; counting also as its moving spirit David Lloyd George, the greatest Prime Minister Britain has ever known, and one of the greatest champions of democracy in this or any other age. Tho Peace terms free not only the small nations which have been held in thrall far too long, but break the rule of tyrants and free the people who have so long walked in fear and dread. The damnable rule of the unspeakable Turk has been smashed, never again to be repaired. while militarism—the curse of Efurono and tho world—is crushed out of existence. A final word: The League of Nations, together with the force behind, tho peace terms, may not prove able to abolish war altogether: but the world may well believe that such a war as we have seen waged these past fivq years, or nearly so, will never again plunge n whole world into blood, miserv and agony.