The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1927. THE COLOUR OF LABOUR

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 164, 1 October 1927, Page 8

The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1927. THE COLOUR OF LABOUR

ONE of about a hundred questions to be discussed, at the British Labour Party’s annual conference which opens at Blackpool on Monday for a session of five days is literally; What shall be the colour of Labour? Hitherto, in most countries where Labour has political aspirations and a feverish desire to control State treasuries, the hue of the party has been red, shaded here and there to the colour of spilt blood. This, in the public fancy, has been accepted or asserted as symbolising danger. Many thoughtful representatives of Labour in Great Britain now seek the adoption of a definite colour, fixed, official and, presumably, guaranteed not to fade either in adversity or success.

Quite seriously a choice from three colours or combination of colours has been recommended to the National Executive of the party by different trade Unions and district Labour parties. For example, two organisations, in no way afraid of seeing red, want a national Labour Party colour to be established, and suggest that the colour should be red. Another union, possibly influenced by the fashion in Parisian neckties, desires to go in for something more artistic and more symbolic of Labour’s dreams, and proposes the addition of yellow, not suggesting by any means that the Labour Party is fond of gold, but “symbolising through fire into sunshine.” The workers of Bristol prefer a rainbow effect and urge that the Labour colour should be red, white and green. Those with experience of political Labour in different countries have observed that Labour administrators, irrespective of party colour, are just as fond of the ceremonial black frock coat and glossy tile hat as are the representatives of Whigs and Tories whose traditional colours are supposed to symbolise loyalty, and undisturbed prosperity. They favoured red only for the colouring of the world map. After all, pigmentation is of less consequence in party polities than is policy. In this feature, the forthcoming conference at Blackpool promises to reveal a change for the better. Neither the programme of the Labour Party nor the representation of the unions is to he Red. Members of the Communist Party are not eligible to attend the conference as delegates of constituency Labour parties. All resolutions dealing with highly-coloured aspects of Communism and party relations are to be excluded. It is to be expected, however, that long before the comprehensive agenda paper has been exhausted, the old hue of ruddy extremism will tinge the policy of the party. It is of speeial interest to note that the National Executive of the British Labour Party has abandoned its former policy of brigandage known as the “Capital Levy.” The party deplores that the nation “missed the tide for securing a massive redemption of debt.” A new idea has caught the party’s restless mind. Instead of commandeering capital in a lump, it is to be taken piecemeal in the form of a special surtax oil all incomes over £.500 a year derived from property and investment. This tax on the people who would have been hit by the Capital Levy would be graduated, averaging about two shillings in the pound, and estimated to yield at least £85,000,000 a year—-a tidy sum for a Labour Government with which to get things done.

If full consideration be given to all the schemes propounded by the Labour Party in Great Britain for adoption and development by “the next Labour Government,” the unbiased observer will come to the conclusion that, whether the party’s colour be red, or such as to symbolise sunshine through fire the effect of the ambitious programme would make politics black and give taxpayers a -jaundiced colour.