[OOD]|
For years we have told the [OOD]| people that we wanted the Referendum because it [OOD]| enabled us to get round the plutocratic barriers [OOD]| of the Tory Councils.
For years we told [OOD]| the people that these Councils were the [OOD]| impenetrable fortresses of reaction.
Now [OOD]| we tell them to expect that those reactionary [OOD]| agencies will give to the people all the [OOD]| advantages of which those agencies have been the [OOD]| perpetual foes.
And we expect the Demos to [OOD]| believe us. And if there be raised a protestant [OOD]| voice we will smother it with cries of loyalty [OOD]| and solidarity.
It is all one great fraud, [OOD]| a gigantic sham, a shameful mockery, a miserable [OOD]| mirage; the politicians delude with false hopes [OOD]| all those they profess to serve.
There is [OOD]| nothing new under the sun. History is one [OOD]| perpetual repetition, perpetual delusion, crushed [OOD]| hopes, apples of Sodom, that crumble at the [OOD]| touch.
Nigh two centuries ago Horne Took, [OOD]| sturdy Radical, told the working men of England, [OOD]| Whigs and Tories are much alike in baseness. Both [OOD]| profess when out of power what they never attempt [OOD]| to realise when in power. And as it was, so it [OOD]| is.
Nobody expects the Tory Councils to [OOD]| pass the proposals, but every opponent and bogus [OOD]| supporter of the Referendum is delighted with its [OOD]| funeral.
How much Labor is to profit is to [OOD]| be measured by the unstinted jubilatons of the [OOD]| bitter opponents of Labor.
Labor has been [OOD]| consoled and cajoled with the statement that if [OOD]| nothing is done the Commonwealth Parliament will [OOD]| be called together after Christmas and the [OOD]| Referendum forced through.
Then Parliament [OOD]| adjourns for six months ~~ till next June ~~ [OOD]| that's after Christmas.
And if the [OOD]| incredible should happen, and the Tory Councils [OOD]| pass the measures, what then?
Nothing. [OOD]| Passed or not passed, the result will be the same [OOD]| ~~ Nothing.
Miles Ferricks in the Senate [OOD]| (November 13th) suggested that an early sitting [OOD]| of Parliament was necessary to put into force the [OOD]| new powers to be conferred.
And the
[OOD]| Minister of Defence retorted.
[OOD]|
Later on that Minister [OOD]| rose to explain that Parliament need not meet if [OOD]| it had not the powers, and need not meet if it [OOD]| had. Legislation based on the powers to be [OOD]| conferred should be well thought out.
[OOD]|Four years in power and not yet thought [OOD]| out.
Mr Hughes would be absent from [OOD]| Australia, and we must wait for his return, wait [OOD]| for him to form his ideas as to what legislative [OOD]| enactments were needed.
The query arises: [OOD]| Did Parliament and the Labor party stand still [OOD]| when Mr Fisher made his trip to England and South [OOD]| Africa?
[OOD]|
said Pearce,
[OOD]|
Four years in power and [OOD]| time wanted for further consideration. Good [OOD]| business.
How long did it take to [OOD]| establish laws that penalised men for saying that [OOD]| this war was a capitalists' war?
How long [OOD]| did it take to enact legislation that gave a [OOD]| woman thirty years' pension in a lump sum and [OOD]| barred every other woman from a like [OOD]| privilege?
It does not matter whether the [OOD]| Tory Councils confer upon the Commonwealth the [OOD]| much spoken of powers or not, the result will be [OOD]| the same. Nothing will be done. The fact will [OOD]| eventually be irresistibly pressed upon the [OOD]| organisations of Labor that the politicians have [OOD]| reached the limit of their democratic [OOD]| performances.
A party that refuses to take [OOD]| one step in Fire Insurance, Life Insurance, [OOD]| Banking, Supervision, Public Ownership in matters [OOD]| over which it has unquestioned power and a clear [OOD]| path is a party that has gone as far as it [OOD]| wishes, and as far as it intends to go, unless [OOD]| pushed hard by the organised democracy [OOD]| without.
When Stock Exchange jobbers and [OOD]| the Bosses of the Banking Corporations and the [OOD]| political chiefs of the Labor party bestrew each [OOD]| other's paths with the flowers of mutual [OOD]| compliments, we can rest assured that Demos is [OOD]| not overloaded with blessings.
The [OOD]| political Liberals are useful to the forces of [OOD]| financial and industrial Capitalism, but not so [OOD]| useful as a Labor party that can leave Capitalism [OOD]| in possession of its old-time perquisites, and [OOD]| bulldose its adherents with the idea that the old [OOD]| faith is still propounded.
Knox, of the [OOD]| Sugar Trust makes no complaint. His crowd are [OOD]| doing well.
Dalgety's, and Gibbs Bright [OOD]| and Co. are on a good wicket.
Bowes Kelly [OOD]| and fellow magnates of the mining world are [OOD]| satisfied. Their perks are well preserved.
[OOD]|John Darling, of the Wheat Ring, goes home [OOD]| smiling from the Wheat Conference. He is well [OOD]| satisfied. Never did he have such a high opinion [OOD]| of the Labor party ~~ a new heaven and a new [OOD]| earth has been opened to him.
Who can say [OOD]| we are not progressing. Look at the Labor [OOD]| programme; read it, grip it, note how it is being [OOD]| daily realised ~~ mit a book.
Power they [OOD]| say. Power they want. Bah! Enormous power they [OOD]| have, and enormous power they use ~~ in the [OOD]| directions their inclinations trend.
Note [OOD]| the latest. The Commonwealth, in conjunction with [OOD]| the States is to ~~
Receive wheat.
[OOD]|Buy wheat.
Ship wheat.
Sell [OOD]| wheat.
Government agents are to issue [OOD]| certificates on wheat.
Store wheat.
[OOD]|Consign it to the ports of shipment.
[OOD]|Control the ships, and
[OOD]|
Then they say [OOD]| they have no power. Yet, when it suits they can [OOD]| receive, store, buy, ship, sell, do anything.
[OOD]|They don't want a Referendum ~~ they do [OOD]| it.
Drummond, of Riverina, said [OOD]| (
[OOD]|
What has been done [OOD]| with wheat can be done with meat or anything [OOD]| else. What has been done for millers, bankers and [OOD]| shipping agents can be done for the consuming [OOD]| public. What has been done for the owner of [OOD]| products can be done for the laborer of those [OOD]| products and the consumer of those products.
[OOD]|They don't want a Referendum. If they want a [OOD]| thing, they do it. If they don't want to do it, [OOD]| they want a Referendum. No! Not a Referendum. Not [OOD]| that. They want a consent they know they won't [OOD]| get ~~ from the Tory Legislative Councils. Mark [OOD]| time, my boys, mark time! That's the way to stop [OOD]| where you are ~~ and get to nowhere.
[OOD]|