THE WAIHI STRIKE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10713, 4 October 1912, Page 6

THE WAIHI STRIKE

A LAIIOUH PAPKK'S VIEWS. EXPOS UK K OF STJiIKK AIKTIT- i ()!)S. ■ The "Voice of Labour." which is described its tho only Labour Newspaper in New Zealand." in its last issue says:— On behalf of the groat moderate and' intelligent majority of workers which this paper represents, we congratulate the Government on the linn vet tactful, stand taken in eonMoetion v.-itk the I.W.W. Federation's lawlessness in Waihi. We have not the slightest doubt tliat i!" the Government bad not taken steps to ensure law and order being preserved at Waihi, loss of life would have occurred, a.s the I.W.W. Kederati.onists proceeding from excitement l to excitement under the incitement | of their crai'tv and unscrupulous ; ' leaders, were rapidly becoming Tilled [ with the irlen that the assertions of these lenders ; that they had society and the Government terrified, were not mere empty bluff hut solid fact. . and were daily growing more and mo-e bo'd in dssolnys of hnstJutv to the momhovs of the Arbitration' Union: and v.v are convinced, that if. the Government harl failed in its sworn duty to the peonle. and left the Arbitration Union worker* to j the mercies of the I.W.W. Kcdorabeen plugged into civil war nr.d massacre. We <•:<■! quite ui'dorstaiul the I.W.W. Federation lenders intr against the maintenance of 'aw and onbv in Waihi. or nnywbmelse. Thei-' i<r-ntos L is bur a levied .or'jiV-onic. «f the >b'''b-oiN. philosophy of the I.W.W. as folk- •u.in'-e.l f in the last h*ue ' pf THE YOfCK; but whnf -u-i> we to Miink '>!' respoasible Members of Parim"-"*>t. men -sworn to mai'niin | :) m 1 -"il.-r, and one an ev-,"\[ini''";• '■" ■'he '••"•.-.. taking ev-er> f; "n to the Goverrmeiu'.-: attitude? W-" "''US* »rbv>t V o '-- j two conclusion's in oxohiP" - : e.n of J their shr.rge re/otc.;:--(!) T:.?.'i [])oy are fullv" v-'vire of the ''Ca 1 V; /-v.!v'* of the Wiiib; r.h"' C( . nnd tb" •> t-wd-ant attempt at I:iv, h'ssucr.r. h>>< pthe sake of hoped for political or I party advantage have deliberately tried to obstruct the Government; ' or ('2) that they acted in ignorance of | the real nature and .seriousness of j the situation in Wnihi, and from a j sincere conviction that any iuierfcr- | enco in tho interests ei.' jaw and j order was unnaccs.-yiry. If thv former. then we have no nedi-atm:; L. j saying that the sooner these gentlemen are out of tho House the better., We can conceive of no lower stage' of j.alilba! depjre-'l'tion than that which would prompt men for the i sake of politically obstructing their opponent to place human lift: m f jeopardy, and that is what it would j mean for the Government to .have withdrawn the police frun Waihi. Uut we will be charitable, and prefer I to think that the protestor.', spoke in I ignorance, but if "ignorance oxcus- } eth no ma'.i" in law, though he be j denied oil opportunity of acquiring | knowledge, how much less excuse is j there for ignorance in the law-maker? | and if it is,'as we prefer to think it I is, that these men elected- by the pco- ■ pie to make laws liave been too ap;sJ the tie io makcv themselves fully 'J acquainted with the situation in J W|;ii.hi before rising to protest against a course of action that was absolutely iipce<v>ar.y to safeguard human life and liberty, then again most assuredly tho sooner such men are out of the. House the better. Tt was stated by thes;> gentlemen as it is. of course, stated by the I.W. W. Koderntion, that the sending of police to Waihi was not only unnecessary but that there was no lawlessness till the police arrived—that, infaet, it was tho presence of the - police irritated the sensitive .voided syndicalists to lawlessness. These assertions a.ro not merely unrepresentative, they are as entirely opposite to farts; they are deliberate untruths—deliberate, that is, as far as the I.W.W. Federation leaders are concerned. (As we say, we prefer to think that the protesting members were too apathetic to acquaint themselves with the real situation, and preferred to accept the T,W,W, statements as facts, though to the YOTCF the idea of any intelligent person accepting anything the T.W. W. Federation -says sis fact is one of the most laughably ridiculous things conceivable.) The real facts are: (l)Thar. all the lawlessness in Waihi occurred before the police were sent. (2) That it was merely to protect themselves against that lawlessner.s 1 that the Unionists asked tlv: G/j-.-vn-ment to send police. (3) Thar ther:. • has been no lawlessness since the ] police -arrived. So we see that, far | from having an irritating effect on j the syndicalists, the presence of the police lias had. a most unmistakably soothing and sedative effect; so much so that as a matter of fact -any member of the Arbitration Union can now walk along tho. street without any int-or fere ii.ee whatsoever, whereas previous to the arrival of the police even ;i little child of an Arbitration Fr>:->-! worker's family couldn't pass t'"c rtreets without being subject to , while the presence of jiii Arbitration worker in t-he street was the signal for the gathering ef a crowd of T.W.W. Federation hooligans, who would fellow their victim j along, hooting, jeering, cursing, and blowing their .noses oji his clothes. ! _.ln the face of one of facts, j isn't it worse than absurd |'o;. ~,„v one In .assort that the presence of j the police- was responsible for the law. ! lessuess that oraired before the no'iue i arrived. From the 1.W.W., of course, ! we expect- nothing but lies', fe r don't j their leaders openly teach that, even [ on oath the true T.W.W. should , swear false if 'he thinks the truth

would injure the "cmse." Their I | whole propaganda everywhere is aI £ lying propaganda, the loaders live by I lying, lying is their profession. In ] j t'he philosophy of the I.W.W. perjury >. I is a virtue, telling the truth a crime. .' t People don't- know this yet; they \ don't know that just as the f.W.W. | wants to turn society upside down j and put those below on top and those i [ on top below, so have ihey in their | philosophy inverted tho whole, existing moral code, to lie is to be honourable in the ethics of T.W.W.-ism, to tell the truth is a criminal offence, and renders the teller liable to expulsion and to be. pointed to by the j elect as a "scab." who has "deserted his class." iience the VOICE doesn't expect any truth from the I.W.W. Federation, but it most certainly doos from thoso who profess the ordinary moral code, an! nothing but ignorance of tho facts or a deliberate refusal to see the truth can account for any man or woman ->rntesting against the action of the Gov- . <>rnme'nt in maintaining law and order i n Waihi. As for the jailing of the law-brenk-ers the T.W.W. Federation pay it is u'.j'usfc, ami according to their inverted idea of things, it is of course on- j just for do we not see that everything that is iustice according to the 1 WW and everything tha is unjust ~'cco'rding to the ordinary idea is j„ s tice according to the I.W.W. .den, According to them it was si most un- , inst thing that their members should l, ; -ve been asked to promise not to •tnnov end threaten the members ot the Arbitration Union and their wiv-ps ~( 1 children. According to their Wn allowed to. forcibly if -t were requirKl. pccv.ru the Wadu _ winders Z\ drivers registering a Union under he Irbitration Act; evd when tney •;;aMrotin-cvor,tic. then, according t tleir id.a of "euhl have been allowed to I ,")m jl.v Union working, aod even , ,t hn,)ened that every one of 'tJio Lmon lomtrs-hndtolK-killodto senire thou- olmvt, v.-e.H it was only pvstce ■ !;ibt.hey should be Mlk-d;- :r he \\v\{, J''?d;r".t:o! ,, s c:.H: f M_!tb t n d ■ •";;'; In o'V.t The IS', sSnoncd to tlui Wt fcVhaNi»'.«r calculated to nvovoke n • of the peace, wore s.m, h. . sI.- • cd to find sur.>ty f-.r ton pound, 1, . t t U would net «;g; a J; TrXVomr,;! and the Court wa3 ' • , prottv well anynrenared to a.f.i'i i' . ti h ,-^ mc-'r bond for the ten noumil.H. hud ■- I *" s '. " i , ..,f tt'-'". . r , lr le- the lii.vtruclHJi.s Wl lenders, point-blank re fused to wx* ' the offered so foicec .K object i» *'ttii-.K their iat.i ( i;li | w „, that tliey, reahsmg t, t tkeir bluffing att-mpt i" the Arl.itratio" Aet (the real cause of the st»ik") hnd fniVd. "»'-v w l "' a ( ' lialU ' ( ' .', vcrv slim chance, hut stiU a chance, to save their faces nml arovx- utter rout hv troinu: up and down the country raving, with that infernal misrepresentation, which hi their stock-in-trade, that "workers had been jailed in Waihi for going on strike," hoping by this lying assertirm to arouse the sympathy and support of the Trade' Unionists, whom in the dnvs of the boasted invulnerability of the "onlv class conscious militant 'nro-let-aviet organisation in Now Zealand." these same leaders habitually referred in as "organised scabs." Tt was with this obiect in view that 1 they induced their dupes to force the law to imprison them, -and r>o sooner wore they imprisoned than the lenders proceeded to carry our. this typical T.W.W. plan, rushing from one end of N. Z." to the other shrieking that "the workers in Waihi v.w goalcd because f.hey went on strike.'' and similar lying assertions. Tho crafty :.nd unscrupulous leaders tried to gull tlie workers into '.-importing them in a proposed genera] strike, but the workers of New Zealand as a mass are too- sensible to be gulled thus easily, and when a handful of I.W.W-ites mot in a hnll in this city hist week and solemnly called on the working to "down tools" until the T.W.W-ites were released, the working clns'.; only laughed at them as a collection of scntterbraiu.freaks, and mock heroic noseurs. for everyone knows the "martyrs" can walk out of goal anv time thev like hy nrbrnising not to molest the Arbitration Union men. and sensible workers only laugh as they would at the buffoonerv of circus clowns when the T.W.W.'s ask- the-m to march up and smash down- the prison gates. '