*THE
WORKER*
BRISBANE,
JULY 13, 1895.
The
Editorial Mill.
Our
Motto: “Socialism in our time.”
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” Those
wage-earners who, a year ago, watched with sanguine expectations for
the result of the New South Wales Parliamentary general elections for
1894, were plunged into the deepest vexation and disappointment when
the numbers went up. To find, after years of persistent agitation,
after nightly propaganda in the metropolis, and weekly reform
meetings in all parts of the colony, the Labour Party returned with
diminish instead of increased numbers, was a blow for which no
unionist was prepared. But within a short year, hearts beat high and
spirits rise again. The N.S.W. Legislative Assembly have come into
conflict with the legislative Council over the question of direct
taxation; Premier Reid quivers in uncertainty, but only for a moment.
The Labour Party having, in a previous Parliament, secured One Man
One Vote by a policy of “Support in return for concessions,” had
recently refused to support Dibbs and Parkes in a contemptible try to
steal back the Treasury benches, Premier Reid feels secure in his
seat, and courageously decides to go to the country on a programme
comprising a land and Income Tax, the Referendum, Electoral Reform,
and Reorganisation of the Legislative Council.
* * *
Not by the number of Labour candidates returned to
Parliament can we estimate the good work done by a Labour Party. Five
years ago such a programme as that which the New South Wales Premier
goes to the country upon would have been impossible But as the
beating of the waves breaks down the coast-line, so the continued
agitation of the altruistic reformer overthrows the barriers of
ancient prejudice and works its way unconsciously to heights undreamt
of. The appeal of men with a real grievance cannot always remain
unanswered. Say it loud and say it often, and the truth will strike
on somebody's ears, to be re-echoed throughout the land. It is only a
few years since Henry George, in response to the efforts of a few
enthusiasts, visited the colonies for the purpose of delivering
lectures on the justice and equity of land taxation. It is only a few
years since a word was spoken in New South Wales as to the necessity
for the establishment of the Referendum, and the abolition of the
Legislative Council. Then only so called “cranks” sired their
eloquence at the cold corners and in stuffy reading rooms and meeting
places. Then only here and there a scattered and obscure print voiced
the aspirations of the multitude. Now we have the Premier of a great
colony thundering forth his determination to stand or fall by a
radical policy, and the two leading newspapers with a combined
circulation of 100,000 copies daily, backing him up.
* * *
And not only backing him up but most unexpectedly asking
the electors of New South Wales that as the Parliamentary Labour
Party have supported the Government in their direct taxation
proposals every man of the party should be re-elected, one journal
thus heading an appeal, in which are included the names of the Labour
members: “Ex-members to be voted for. They voted straight. The
electors should vote straight for them.” When it is considered that
since the arrival of the “first fleet” in New South Wales, in
1787, there has been built up a landed aristocracy with ten times the
wealth and equal in unscrupulousness to the Queensland “gang” -a
landed aristocracy which, owing to the easy political virtue of
certain Governors, and the scandalous perfidy of the Governments
succeeding them – has acquired as freehold some thirty millions
(30,000,000) of acres and as leasehold at a low rental some hundred
and fifty millions (150,000,000) of acres of land – that this
landed aristocracy is prepared to bribe, cajole, and threaten in
order to defeat the attempt to tax land and incomes – that this
landed aristocracy is sure to bring all its influence on press and
Premier to keep the burden of taxation on the shoulders of the
working classes – the change of attitude on the part of the SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD, the DAILY TELEGRAPH, and Premier Reid should inspire
hope in the heart of a universal Pessimist.
* * *
Last year the giant Sydney dailies ridiculed the
pretensions of the Parliamentary Labour Party. No term was too
opprobrious to apply to Labour's candidates. All the old tales about
New Australia were resurrected. “Labour is a house divided against
itself” they said, “and a house divided against itself cannot
stand.” This year it has been found advisable to alter the tone,
for the Parliamentary Labour Party have proved their solidarity, and
country and town unionists, profiting by experience, bury the
dissension of last year and join forces in preparation for a supreme
effort. Premier Reid has surprised us all. From a lazy, useless
politician, whose total work for ten years in Parliament was a short
simple measure, he has developed into a statesman who evidently
proposes to take up the role of an Australian Balance. Speaking at a
meeting held in the School of Arts, Sydney, on the 1st of
July, he said: “The wage-earning class has an income estimated at
£28,000,000
a year. The propertied and professional class – a few in number –
have an income of £26,000,000
per year. On the Government system of taxation, with all the
exemptions, they would pay as nearly as possible 4 per cent each. Who
can say that is a policy of confiscation when the wage-earning class
will pay as much pound for pound as the propertied classes of the
community? Now, in my system of taxation, and it is a fair thing,
there is this great advantage, and I am prouder of it than any scheme
I propose – that under the new tariff there is no item that a man
struggling with bitter poverty cannot escape from. You can give up
your smoke when you want bread for your children; you can give up
your grog when you want bread for your children. With the fiscal
system of the present Government, the man who is in bitter poverty,
who is struggling to keep the wolf from the door, can escape entirely
from taxation. I ask, what is there in that circumstance to excite
the hatred and contempt of the man of many estates, or the
corporation of many dividends? Don't you think a man with a fair
degree of this world's wealth should hail a fiscal system which would
enable the unfortunates of humanity to live free from taxes? But this
Upper House, which hates the idea of a tax of ever so little on ever
so much will pass a bill to put a tax on the poor man's tea or his
moleskins, or on the navvy's pick and shovel, or on the widow's
thread and needles.”
* * *
And, again, at the
same meeting, “I may say a word or two for the members of the
present Parliament. Those gentlemen were elected, as you know, in the
ordinary course of events for period of something like three years.
They stood by us loyally. They have lost their seats loyally. They
come with us without a frown or scowl. . . . I want to say this:
There are some constituencies in this country where labour
predominates and labour elects its men. In such cases – and you
will find a good many – where the labour man has stood loyally to
the Government – mind you they knew what it meant; they knew that
in sticking to us it meant a dissolution soon. . . . It is only
common fairness and justice to make this announcement to the country,
and I say that in the labour electorates, where there is a
Protectionist against a labour man who stood loyally to us, let the
Freetraders of those electorates show their recognition of his
loyalty by voting for
the Labour candidates.”
* * *
It must not be
thought from the above that the N.S.W. labour Party have in the
slightest degree sacrificed their independence or modified their
platform, which, by the way, is more advanced than the Queensland
1893 Labour programme some people are so anxious to modify. They have
preserved their integrity, and they stand alone as an advanced party
forcing reform by holding over the heads of the Government the
Damoclean sword of withdrawal of support in the event of the
Government refusing to go on with the Forward movement. As they say
in their Labour manifesto, through a tempestuous and difficult
session, in spite of the utmost efforts of enemies to sow dissension
in their ranks, they have preserved their unity unshaken and entire.
They stand today as strong to the last man as when they entered
Parliament. As the result of their presence and their unity, the
Government of the day have been compelled to do what no Government
has done before, not merely to pass a large instalment of reform
through the Legislative Assembly, but also to call upon the people to
enforce the acceptance of such reform by the Council.
* * *
The workers of New
South Wales have now an unprecedented opportunity. This is the tide
which, taken at the flood, will lead on to a large measure of reform.
This is a chance which, if availed of, will be far reaching in its
effects. Far beyond the borders of New South Wales, far over the deep
seas will the news travel, and unhappy Queensland, with its scurvy
Cabinet of human tigers, will benefit with the rest. Reform in New
South Wales means Reform in Queensland. The money-grubbing despots of
this country must give in to the demands of the Democracy, or go the
way of the Dibbses, to whom they bear such a resemblance. Wage
earners of New South Wales, the WORKER pleads with you earnestly to
nobly forget your jealousies and sectarian differences, and for once
unite with a common purpose to send back to Parliament the Labour men
who have so faithfully represented you in the past, and strengthen
their ranks by such an addition in numbers that you, who have been
oppressed by unjust taxation and cruel laws, may have some of your
burdens removed, and that your action may stimulate the working
classes in other lands to follow your example.
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