Industrial Workers of the World

By Violet Clarke Wilkins
Card No. X216219

No doubt you will have read about our recent federal elections here in Australia. The farce and futility of the whole business was very apparent in states like Western Australia, where we have a so-called Labor Government in office.

The present gang of labor fakers have been in power here just over four and one-half years, yet we find on their own official figures that there are over 5000 men on relief work, and likely to remain on it permanently.

The Labor Party when it won the state election in 1933, introduced a relief work scheme which is based on an allowance of one shilling per day per head in each family. They allow a man to earn one pound per week over and above that, to pay to the landlord for rent. For example, a man with a wife and three children is allowed to earn 35 shillings per week plus 20 shillings for rent.

The maximum that a relief worker is allowed to earn is 59 shillings per week, so any of them who are unfortunate enough to have more than five to feed must feed the surplus ones out of the allowance of the others.

The Labor government also amended the police act so as to make it a criminal offence for anyone to "obtain relief work under false pretences."

For example, men have been sent to prison for failing to notify the relief department that one of their children had died, and continued to work for and draw as wages 7 shillings per week more than the Labor Party reckons they are entitled to do ! The Labor ministers who enforce these conditions draw on an average 30 pounds per week in salary; and ordinary members of Parliament draw 12 pounds per week; and yet, whenever they are asked to increase the relief work scale their inevitable answer is, "We would like to do it, but there is no money to make it possible."

Any sane person knowing the conditions the relief workers have had imposed on them by the State Labor government would realise the utter futility of wasting time and energy trying to have the same party elected to the Federal Parliament as a means of getting better conditions for the workers, but the commies, as you fellow workers in the U.S.A. call them, or the comics, as we call them here, came out in full support of the Labor party, even though the Labor Party turned them down with contempt!

One gratifying thing about this election was the large number of informal votes cast, showing that large numbers of workers are now alive to the humbug and hypocrisy of the politicians.
When these people are ready to take the next step, line up with the I.W.W., and fight on the industrial field, then we workers will be able to get some, or all of the good things in life for ourselves instead of for the slimy politicians, as at present.

At the beginning of this campaign we were honoured by a visit of Mr. J. B. Mills from Sydney, the boss of the Communist Party of Australia.
At a public meeting here when our members criticised the policy of the comics in supporting the Labor Party, Mr. Miles got very abusive and after refusing to debate the subject, made the astounding statement that the I.W.W. had "scabbed" scores of times in America.

Our members demanded that he produce proof of his statement or withdraw it. He would do neither, so he was called a dirty, rotten liar, and the meeting was held up. He then said that he didn't mean that members of the I.W.W. had worked when there was a strike on, but that the I.W.W. had gone against the line of the Communist Party in regard to the seaman's strike and elsewhere.

Of course he was made to look like a fool but we all know that politicians have hides thicker than a rhinocerous, and little things like being proved to be dirty liars do not seem to worry them.

Perhaps many workers in the U.S.A., although they know that it makes not the least difference whether the Democrats or the Republicans are elected, may be under the impression that the election of "Labor" or Communist politicians would make a great improvement to the standard of living. The example of how "Labor” governs in Australia should help to dispel any false hopes in this direction.

As long as the present system of wage-slavery is allowed to continue, it makes no difference whatever as to how the boss labels his puppets who run the State machine for him. He may label them Labor, as in Australia; Popular Front, as in France; National Socialist, as in Germany; Fascist, as in Italy; Republican and Democrat time about as in the U.S.A. The system by which the workers are exploited is the same regardless of the label under which the exploitation is carried on.
So away with the crook politicians, "labor" or Comic, Republican of Democrat. Line up with the I.W.W. and fight for the good things in life where they are produced.

Violet Clarke Wilkins,