WAR & CAPITALISM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 November 1940, Page 7

WAR & CAPITALISM

MR WEBB’S WEST COAST SPEECH MINISTER DENIES AIMS OF DISRUPTION. ADJUSTMENT TO NEW ORDER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH. November 3. “Any report intimating that it is the Government’s intention to take advantage of the war situation to disrupt the capitalist system is wrong. It was never mentioned by me. The Government’s policy has been quite definite. In the words of Mr Savage, ’Where private enterprise can manage best that field will be left to private enterprise and will receive all the assistance the Government can give to perfect its organisation.’ ” This statement was made by the Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, in an interview on his return to Christchurch from a 12 days’ tour of the West Coast, Mr Webb discussed his recent reference to capitalism as a world operating system and its attendant injustices and likely modifications and changes in the social order when the war was victoriously over, but he declined to comment on the inclusion in the agenda of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, of the question of the "mooted early liquidation of the capitalist class,” merely describing the statement as nonsensical. "What I said was that a capitalism which allowed a few to accumulate millions and condemned millions of human beings to be in want or in need of work would be as dead as Julius Caesar when the war was over, and that criticism against the British Government that this was a war of imperialism and capitalism was ridiculous and absurd," said Mr Webb. “It is definitely a war of principle, one part of the world, the western democracies, especially Britain, standing for the democracy that took huridreds of years to evolve and is sacred to every trades unionist and socialist in the world. Because of that the whole of the progressive and Labour forces of the world were united behind Britain and her war- effort. MR CHURCHILL PRAISED. “Mr Churchill is doing magnificent work and has focussed attention on the weak spots. He immediately invited to his Cabinet men like Messrs Bevin, Atlee and Morrison, who hold the same political opinions as myself and handed them portfolios of great importance in the British War Government. These men have co-operated excellently with the Churchill Government without one sacrifice of principle, and, in their own language, they were most emphatic that, following a war in which everything was pooled, the aftermath must inevitably lead to a reflection of that community of interests in the national life of the people. “To dream of going back to an economic and social condition that gave the right to accumulate millions while millions were in want of food, clothing and shelter, is simply unthinkable, and with that I agree 100 per cent,” said Mr Webb. “Irrespective of what our own personal feelings may be as to the form of society to be evolved after the war, the important thing in my mind is that the democracy which wins the war will, as a result of its war conditions: and war experiences, be in a better position to shape the destiny of the human race than a few prophets or pessimists can ever hope to be.” A STATEMENT DENIED. Denying that he had said the Government’s aim was to destroy private enterprise and capital, Mr Webb said evidence was available for all to see that many industries, privately owned, had been and were receiving assistance from the Government more economically to equip them to produce the nation’s income. His own department, Labour, had been responsible for transferring more than 4000 men from relief and Public Works jobs to the cleaning up of private farms. Last year more than 50,000 additional acres were brought into production by labour subsidised to the extent of 75 per cent. The Government had also subsidised the training of men for industry and had co-operated whenever that cooperation had been desired. “This policy I am sure will continue so long as industries are organised to produce the people’s needs,” Mr Webb said. “In fact, there is hardly any private institution which the Government has not assisted or is not assisting in one form or another, but this has little or no bearing on the general or international situation. To attempt to prophesy what is going to take place after the war is like making a prophesy or speculation as to when the war is going to end. I have been simply amazed at the amount of political bias that has been introduced over this matter.”