Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

10 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

The -Triumph of Reaction.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

The Triumph of Reaction. By PHILIP FRANKFOUD. The ar e rage man and woman is so busy with decrying the Germans and their atroci- ties" that they never dream of asking them- j selves. What is coming to our own country? j What sore of bed a,re we making for our- solves, for our children and for our children's ch I ld i,e n The nation to-day collectively is acting like a madman. The people are now al- I owing their rulers to carry them to the edge of the precipice; they are within an inch of being hurled into the awful abyss of rum and reaction. No sane individual in his private life would allow or countenance the things that are taking place nationally to occur within the limits of his own family circle. No loving pa- rent would plan such a heritage of ruin and disaster for his children and his grandchildren as the nation is piling up for posterity to-day. Forsake all, leave all, sacrifice everything you possess-love. honour, home, freedom, liberty. LI-I III!, you most desire. What for? In order that our land mav be economically frc* P Or to clear the slums.of our great cities? To feed the starving school children ? To cloth the naked? To stamp out poverty? To make this land of vours more of a pleasure house of the poor, and less of a treasure house for the rich? To achieve some worthy object? To ■ accomplish some lasting good for our people by rescuing them from the thraldom of landlord- ism and capitalism? Not for one of these ob- jects is the war. Not one of these rjaueli- to-be-desired things will this sacrifice accomp- lish. On the other hand the war will make, and is making, the poor poorer and the pri- vileged few richer. It is trampling upon the slowly gathered harvest of right; it is giving the reactionists an excuse for sweeping a-gjdewith the stroke of a pen all that our noble forefathers have fought and died for. Habeas Corpus and Magna Ohalrta have been Swept away. The right of trial by his peers for every suspected Britisher; the voluntary System of enlistment; free speech a free press— all gone. Then on the industrial fields the slowly gathered rights of Trades Unions, all swept away. The triumph of the reactionists is complete. There remains nothing for which the most ardent reformer fought for during the 19th century—even free trade—that has not been swept away. And all this without hardly a murmur. Eagerly have one and all surren- dered #he best traditions and the noblest herit- age of a nation, at the behest of the most Unscrupulous gang that ever ruled a people stricken with war madness. Perhaps the saddest sight of all in this iiiid of war fever was the complete surrender first of all of the Trades Unions and then of the La- hour Party. Or perhans we may say first of all of the Labour Party, and then of the Trades Unions. The entry' of the so-called Labour Riftmbers into the Cabinet was a signal for the complete sacrifice of all we who love freedom hold dear. The day Henderson, Brace and Roberts entered the ministry, the doom of Trades UnionislTn, of the voluntary system of recruiting, and of freedom generally was seal- ed It is true the Trades Union Conference Condemned Conscription by over one million votes in Januarv last. It is true also that after this event Henderson, Brace and Roberts of- fered their resignations, but the rulers per- suaded them not to throw away their £ 4,000 Manual salaries, and in return for this favour those "Labour" leaders" were expected to 8e?uro the complete surrender of Labour. And this task they set themselves to accomplish, J^th what results we now know. And never h?vp the workers of any country been more ruthlessly betrayed than by these men. The Plot to enslave Labour, to build up the mili- ar ism we were; out to destroy, and to reduce the working classes for generations under the thumb of the master class, is more vile than the history of any nation ever had to chroni- cle. To-day the masses think all is well; to- morrow. when the strife is over. the eyes of the blind will lie open. But to-morrow we shall he under military rule. to-morrow your masters can call you back as Conscripts when you Ko out on strike; to-morrow, when the war is over. you will be faced with millions from the disbanded armies and from the munition finns. who will be thrown into the overcrowded Labour market. Yet a market in which the Existence of female lanour will still further reduce wages. The darkest hour is the hour before the dawn. Is there vet hope that La- hour will -see that every country has its real onemy. and that enemv is not the foreign foe. but the enemy -within the Œat<? Is it possi- ble that the blood of those who have died for Liberty, and the sufferings of those brave ^nti-militarists who have braved the tyrants' Wrath may vet not be in vain? Is it possible that Labour may even at the eleventh hour. rise in spite of the betrayal of its leaders like k giant refreshed with wine, and with one •ound drive back the reactionists, and save the unborn from the misery, enslavement and Poverty which the capitalists and militarists are Ilow preparing for them? Labour, united m its Unions, can yet save us. Let them remem- W that an injury to one is an injury to all. Let them know that their real enemies are within the gates, who are preparing to bind them hand and foot with military and indus- trial cords from now onwards. Let not the [fascination of killing Germans bind not only us. hut unborn generations. To-day there is yet time. Is it possible Labour will rise to-morrow wll(,n it, is too late?

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