POSER FOR COMMUNISTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19472, 6 May 1925, Page 7

POSER FOR COMMUNISTS.

PLEDGE OF LOYALTY TO LABOUR. (From On.u Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 6. Communists in the Labour Party who are faced with the alternatives of—(1) signing a pledge which means that they will not advocate or resort to unconstitutional measures for establishing their beloved “dictatorship of the proletariat” or (2) expulsion from Dio Labour Party, are stated to bo feeling their position very keenly at present. Copies of the new pledge adopted at, tho Easter Conference of the Labour. Party have now been received in Christchurch, and it is expected that at tho meeting of the Labour Representation Committee on. Saturday night the delegates will bo called upon to sign the pledge, or get out of the movement. This is almost certain to lead to a clash between the advocates of Moscow Sovietism and tho* less extreme elements of Die party. . . The opinion is held in Labour circles that the “die hard” Reds will not submit to expulsion without making a pretty big fuss over the matter. The position is further complicated by the fact that certain unions affiliated to tho Labour Party have deliberately appointed Communists to represent them on the Labour Representation Committee, and there is a possibility that the unions concerned may resent being told who shall and who shall not represent them. The majority of the delegates on tho Labour Representation Committee, are, however, expected to take up a firm stand and carry out the decisions of the conference. The new pledge, which is causing tho Communists so much anxiety is as follows: “I hereby pledge myself to tho New Zealand Labour Party to faithfully unhold and whole-heartedly work for its objective, constitution, platform and decisions and no other, and to work and vote for tho selected candidates of tho party.