TREACHERY

TO LABOR

"Is that a dagger which I see before me? Come, let me clutch thee!!"

With apologies to W. SHAKESPEARE, but with no apology to J. T. LANG.

Lang and His Confederates Form a Renegade Labor Party.

Treachery to Labor is nothing new. It's slimy trail goes writhing through the whole history of our Movement, both here and abroad.

It's a crime against the working class as old as it is sordid and foul.

Yet every time the Labor traitor reveals himself in our midst we get a fresh shock, as though the unprecedented and the unexpected had suddenly confronted us in the vilest shape imaginable.

It is true that in New South Wales, for years past, we have had trouble involving some degree of treachery to our cause.

For all that, there were many among us who never for a moment believed that the Lang factionists would push their mischief-making so far as to form a renegade Labor Party.

They have done it, nonetheless.

A traitorous section of Lang's henchmen, under J. A. Beasley, in the House of Representatives, murdered a Labor Government in 1931.

That should have Warned us that there was no limit to the perfidy of which Lang and his yes-men were capable.

Unfortunately, it didn't.

They were readmitted to the fold, without even the infliction of the smallest penalty.

And this generous treatment they repaid by immediately setting to work to undermine the solidarity of the Party that had treated them so well.

Both openly and in secret they engaged in disruptive schemes and actions.

They were guilty of the basest intrigues, deliberately designed to further their disintegrating aims.

Why, then; are so many of us distressfully surprised at the Culmination of their treachery in what good Unionists will not hesitate to brand as a "scab" party?

What has happened was bound to happen.

Knowing the Lang faction, its leader and its component parts, as we do, the most unsophisticated in our ranks should have been fully prepared for this latest exhibition of their perfidious character.

According to Mr. Lang the Labor Party in New South Wales is under the control of Communists.

The Red Bogey having been dragged out of the cupboard once more by Labor's unscrupulous enemies, Mr. Lang rushes it eo add his yell to theirs in condemnation of a "Communistic influence" in ugbor's affairs which he and they are well aware does not exist.

What a trick! First they invent a lie, and then start howling at their own invention.

The so-called "Hands off Russia" resolution carried at the Easter Con- ference in Sydney they viciously distorted, and whipped themselves into a frenzy over it.

And the Mr. Lang who joined in that babel of faked fury was the same Mr. Lang who wrote in his book, "Why I Fight," the following pregnant pass- age:

"There are those in the community who develop hysteria at the very mention of the word 'Russia,' and there are also the astute politicians who regard the development of that hysteria as their passport to a parliamentary seat, and who are prepared to sacrifice national interests to the maintenance of that hysteria!"

How true, Mr. Lang!

And how scathingly condemnatory of the man you see in your mirror, and of those associated with you in YOUR hysterical misrepresentation of the Party you have now deserted!

The leader of the treacherous breakaway from Labor realises full Well why the charge of "Communist influence" is trumped up by Labor's maligners.

Addressing a meeting in the Granville Town Hall on September 13, 1934, he said:

"This 'Red menace' and Communist bogey is made an election catch-cry by Labor's opponents in an endeavor to create a stampede among the electors, and thus divert attention from the real issues."

He knows, you see!

It was a false cry at that time, when Mr. Lang spoke against it.

It's a false cry to-day, when Mr. Lang shouts it louder than anyone else.

In a statement to this paper last week, Mr. C. G. Fallon, President of the Federal A.L.P. Executive, said:

"I say most definitely that the Federal Executive made a most careful and painstaking inquiry, but failed to find any evidence that Communistic influ- ence exercises any control in the A.L.P. in New South Wales."

Mr. Lang, Mr. Beasley, and all the rest of the breakaway plotters, were unable to convince the Federal Executive that the State A.L.P. was Com- munistically influenced, though they had every opportunity to do so.

They submitted no evidence proving their allegations, They couldn't.

There is no such evidence.

The "Red menace" is just a clumsy scarecrow, fabricated for the purpose of justifying a long-planned act of treachery.

In this connection it would be interesting to be told when Mr. Lang's chief confederate, Mr. Beasley, first felt himself called to the anti-Communist crusade, and how the "light" was vouchsafed to him, for not a great many years ago, at the Annual Labor Conference, he advocated that Communists be permitted to join up with the Labor Party.

What a change of mind and heart he has undergone since then!

To be able to follow the processes that led to his conversion would be a most absorbing study in political topsy-turvyism.

In other respects, however, there has been no overturning of Mr. Beasley's mentality.

Who doesn't remember that in 1931 he played the directing part, as a member of the House of Representatives, in the cold-blooded assassination of the Scullin Labor Government?

In stabbing Labor in the back again, he is not belying himself, but acting true to form.

What's the inward meaning of it all?

Why can't Lang and his satellites be loyal to the Party of the working class? Why are they continually hailed by the enemies of the people as the "best asset" they ever had?

The answer is: Because of their election-losing activities.

The "Big Fellow" himself is the most persistent election loser this country has known in our time.

Over and over again, when Labor should have won, he led it to shattering defeat, and in the camp of the moneymongers and profiteers there was loud jubilation.

He is no longer Labor's leader, but his deplorable habit of helping the wage-reducers and price-raisers to win to power still obsesses him.

As the head of a breakaway fragment running candidates against Labor's banner-bearers at the polls, and refusing to exchange second preference votes with them, he may yet continue to give Labor's foes good reason to bless his name.

With the craft of a political counterfeiter he has named his crook concern the "Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist)."

As the true Australian Labor Party is also non-Communist, and requires a non-Communist pledge from all its representatives and its rank-and-file members, it will be seen that the labels are practical identical.

But whatever name he may use to confuse and deceive the electors, J. T. Lang and his fellow deserters will soon come to be known and spoken of as the Renegade Labor Party, and the A.L.P. will stand out unmistakably distinct from the R.L.P. in the thoughts of all.

H.E.B.

Lang's Calamitous Record

While the Labor Party in New South Wales was under the control of Mr. Lang, exercising the powers of a Dictator, it suf- fered one long series of defeats. Read the awful Lang record:

The Federal Labor Government was wrecked in 1931.

The N.S.W. State Labor Government was wrecked in 1932.

The Federal elections were lost by Labor in 1931.

The Sydney City Council elections were lost in 1931.

The N.S.W. State elections were lost in 1932.

The N.S.W. Legislative Council Referendum was lost in 1933.

The Federal elections were lost in 1934.

The Sydney City Council elections were lost in 1934.

The N.S.W. State elections were lost in 1935.

The Federal elections were lost in 1937.

The Sydney City Council elections were lost in 1937.

Also, because of Lang's intrusion, Labor Governments were defeated in South Australia and Victoria.

As the Leader of the Renegade Labor Party to-day, see to it that he doesn't lengthen the list.

But Note This:

When the Lang Dictatorship was smashed and the control of the Labor Movement in New South Wales was wrested from the Lang-Beasley gang, the result was SMASHING LABOR VICTORIES EVERYWHERE.

In New South Wales, Hurstville and Waverley were won from the U.A.P. In the Upper Hunter, a Country Party majority of several thousands was almost wiped out. This seat would also have been won by Labor had time permitted more effective organ- isation.

the Federal arena, Wakefield (S.A.), Wilmot (T.) and Covio(V.)—three seats held by former U.A.P. Ministers—were won by Labor. Griffith (Q.) by-election also resulted in a victory for Labor.

THESE ARE FACTS THAT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

"GET INTO THE FIGHT!"

General Secretary Grayndler urges members of the A.W.U. and all Labor men and women to strenuously combat Labor Renegade Lang and his Fellow Wreckers.

The developments in the Labor Movement of the last few days must be looked upon by all true Laborites, both men and women, with the greatest feelings of disgust and disappointment that can be imagined — disgust that those who had been taken to Labor's heart, and acclaimed super-men and paragons of virtue, should have descerted to the enemy at a crucial moment ; and disappointment to know that, when all was set in the political arena for a Labor victory at the Federal and State polls, the cup should be so suddenly dashed to the ground.

No one could have foreseen the treachery that has been practised in the Labor Movement in the formation of a bogus Labor Party, unless it be myself and officers of my Union, who prophesied many years ago that Lang would not ring true, and would eventu- ally wreck the Labor Movement.

HE CERTAINLY HAS NOT RUNG TRUE, BUT WHETHER, HE WILL WRECK THE PARTY IS ENTIRELY A MATTER FOR THE RANK AND FILE THROUGHOUT THE STATE.

If they assert themselves, and refuse to be again bulldozed and led into the wilderness, and stand steadfast and true to the A.L.P., the schemes of the wreckers will not be achieved, but if, on the other hand, they lack interest, and remain unconcerned, then indeed the result may be a bad one for the working class.

The Labor Movement can be saved, but the immediate benefits that would result from a Labor victory may be withheld because of the base treachery of Lang and Beasley and a few misguided followers.

Never had the prospects of Labor looked brighter than in the early months of this year, following upon the Unity Conference of 1939. Apart from a number of disgruntled people, and a few dis- appointed leaders, Labor, after a dark period of internecine warfare, was united and eagerly awaiting the chance of contesting the polls with the reactionary forces of Capitalism, and were assured of a, victory that had been withheld from them too long.

On every hand the people were extolling Labor and condemning the Governments, both Federal and State, and the victories in Wilmot, Wakefield, Griffith, Corio, Hurstville and Waverley were undeniable pointers to Labor's return to the Government benches.

On the very eve of victory, no doubt with the substantial back- ing of the traditional enemies of Labor, and certainly with their acclaim, and also with the blessing of Menzies and Mair, deserters have turned against the hand that fed them, and in the weeks to come will do all they possibly can to defeat the cause they once espoused.

THEY ARE ENEMIES OF THE WORKING CLASS AND TRAITORS TO THE LABOR MOVEMENT, AND LIKE ALL SUCH WILL GO THEIR WAY AFTER THE DIRTY WORK HAS BEEN DONE.

Their actions have got to be nullified, and this can only be achieved by SOLIDARITY.

To the members of the great Australian Workers' Union, which has always played a foremost part in the politics of the Common- wealth of Australia, I say, "Get into this fight as you have never fought before ; rally to the cause of Labor with greater vim than in the past, and despite the deserters and tile traitors, return Labor Governments to power in Australia.