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<"FITS" FOR THE EDITOR. Some "Socialist"> | | | <"Socialist.">

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Dear Comrade, - I venture to address | to you a few words in reply to Com. Curtin's article on | the so-called calumniators. I preface my remarks in | quoting the following motto, | Com. Curtin is one of those who only | feed themselves on such wisdom as others have already | digested. Criticism has been and must be the essential | point with any Socialist, provided, of course, that it | is fair and sincere. Comrades like myself hailing from | the old world are accustomed to criticise, and I know | full well that the term "calumniator" is directed | against us. We know what we are talking about, and we | have met not one man, but dozens who were opportunists, | as this was for them the only way of getting a billet. | They pretend and profess to represent the people, but | are only hypocrites. I could mention a score of names, | but, I presume you know them yourself. As a member of | the party, I claim the right, nay, I assert I have the | duty to know and control the actions of our officials, | so far as it is possible for me. I thus want to know, | what has happened at the interview between Mr Delprat | and our "god," Tom Mann. Why does Tom Mann not speak | about it in his official report about Broken Hill and | Port Pirie? If there is nothing he must conceal, why | does he not speak out? All Socialists are very | interested in that remarkable interview. The fate of | thousands depended on that interview. I don't believe in | a thing because it is done by a person who has a | well-known name. I want facts. If the facts are kept away | from us, one is bound to get suspicious, and if we of | the rank and file are getting suspicious, can one wonder | that the outside is coming to all kinds of conclusions? | We are domineered by the capitalists, but it seems that | we are domineered, too, by our so-called leaders, who | expect us to blindly trust them without taking us into | their confidence. We cannot get the motives of the | capitalists, but the actions of our leaders ought to be | open and above board. Members have a right to form their | own opinions without being compelled to swallow | second-hand opinions, even if the manufacturers of those | opinions call themselves leaders. To call a person, who | dares to make use of his rights as member, a calumniator | does not strengthen the case. If you have a weak case | abuse your opponents seems to be the maxim of Jack | Curtin. The party seems to be anxious to create tinpot | gods (Australian make, and not of Brum. origin). The | last copy of your paper is a case in point. You quote a | report culled from the | "Age," but instead of offering your | comments on that note, you use your valuable space to | give us a photo of somebody, who likes to be considered | a leader. There is little difference between Mrs Asquith | arranging an exhibition of her dresses and a Socialist | paper carefully describing the frills and ribbons of the | wife of a leader.

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We seem to be entirely in the hands of a clique, who | imagine that they can boss the members. There was a | great cry of "downing tools" when Tom Mann was at | Albury, but now that he got away one hears very little | about it. Harry Holland does not happen to be Tom Mann | - that seems to be the whole difference. | A show of heroism was displayed when Tom Mann was before | the judge, but now where are the oily-tongued | heroes?

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Let us be sincere, let us be frank, let us criticise | not only our opponents, but let us criticise fairly and | squarely our own ranks. If we shunt criticism, if we | declare our leaders infallible; if we declare, that it | is taboo to say anything against our leaders our | movement cannot survive; for the sake of humanity, let | us deal with the social problem in the way we think it | best, let each member say what he likes as long as he is | in earnest and sincere. Open criticism will not harm | anybody, but it will do a lot of good. Abuse on the | other side will never induce anybody to give up his | opinions for that of somebody else. - | Your comrade,