THE RED PARTY’S DECEIT.

Shannon News, 3 October 1922, Page 3

THE RED PARTY’S DECEIT.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—We call the party tu which Mr Munro, M.P., belongs urn Red Party because we do not consider it has any right to the- name ■ m.bciu”; second, because its leaders say definitely that they subscribe to the Red Flag of the Revolution, and its conferences close with the singing of “The Red

; Flag”; these are absolute facts. In ; your issue of the 26th inst., Mr J. W. : Thompson throws up a smoke screen >to evade our definite charges, which i are:—

1. That his party’s policy of denying tlie right of any landown w to dispose of his property by sale or transfer except to the State is pi am confiscation, and is both anii-Lihei at and anti-Labour in principle.

1 2. That Ballance and Seddun never 1 supported such a principle, and Mr i. Thompson can quote no words of ! theirs which would bear any such construction. We contend that to use Ballance’s name in support o! such a principle of spoliation is a mo-t gross deceit. It is not one individual who is responsible tor the League's letters and articles, theveiore your correspondent's personal gibes have no application. Coming now to Mr Munro’s reierences to the League, lie says “both Dunedin papers publish about a column a week each irom the League, and this has to be paid lor.” Now, a man in his position should have found out if that was true LeJoio making the statement. The 1 fact, is, the League does not pay any of the papers for publishing its matter. We are pleased to read in Mr Corson's question an admission that: tire present Russian system is “a dictatorship imposed on trie prole.ariat of Russia by the Bolsheviks.” Leading members of Mr Muuro’s parly have hitherto contended that- Russia is a Socialist State on a, democratic basis, and Mr P. Fraser says “l.euin is one of the greatest statesmen ol modern times.” The general laudation of Russia, witli tlie admission that it is a dictatorship imposed on the workers must leave the people in doubt as to whether our Red Party is supporting dictatorship or opposing ii; their attitude is a yes-or-no one. Mr Munro infers that the League has suggested his party “favours a dictatorship, and would set up a bloody revolution to bring that about,” then he adds: “H- is a lie.” Where he is entirely wrong is in this, that the League does not indulge in suggestions, but says plainly what it means. It is a lie to say that the League; has 'ever suggested that his party declares lor dictatorship and a bloody revolution. It is beyond question true, however, that ins party does declare for class domination and revolution, and pleads ffiat these can be effected without physical violence or bloodshed. We contend that class domination (even by the workers) leads to dictatorship, and revolution generally leads to violence and bloodshed. Of course, this party may believe in the cause and not tlie effects, but the effects will not wait on men’s beliefs. Where tlie New Zealand Red Party is deceiving the people is in this, that it has two programmes—one for publication and the other for private use. To the electors it seeks

to present tlie lace of a. progressive Liberal following on the lines of Ballance and Seddon. Apart from it? published platform it has adopted these revolutionary principles.—

1. The establishment of classconstituted Councils of Action. 2. The abolition of Parliament on a basis of citizenship, in favour of a

Parliament representative of occu

pations. 3. The nationalisation of all the principal industries. 4. Appointment of a Supreme Economic Council to have charge of the industries of the country. The four principles were adopted at the party’s conference, but are no! inserted in the published platform. No. 1 is a challenge to our constituted system of representative government. No. 2 is the Bolshevik system of Soviet government. No. 3is the present Russian economic system, and No. 4 is exactly the method by which it controls its economic system. Mr Mtrnro cannot deny that his party has endorsed these principles, as we can

quote-the reports of its conferences given in the Maoriland Worker. Our ground of condemnation is that' this party is opportunist and deceptive, wearing two faces and speaking with two voices .therefore, it cannot be trusted.—We are, etc., N.Z. WELFARE LEAGUE.