Ed. notes: this is the second part of the article commenced in Vol. 2 No. 56
The militant industrial unions were in the rival Trade Union Congress, which was routed by the Government in the lockout. This meant that the F,0.L. has been unopposed ever sirfte. Scab 'unions' were formed by the Government to replace those it had defeated. It has taken some time for the genuine unionists to regain power and turn these Government-sppnsored unions into real working class organisations. Ironically, it was the same Tory Government which materially assisted in this process. It abolished the statute making unionism compulsory by law. This meant, in effect, that the 'rotten borough' unions had difficulty in retaining their membership, and , conversely that the rank-and-file strength of the militant unions conid make itself felt. These latter unions began to affiliate to the F,0.L., if they had not already done so, with the result that the balance of power in that organisation shifted to the left. In addition to this, many of these militant unions have re-affiliated to the Labour Party.
As in Britain, the Parliamentary party is not bound constitutionally to adhere to decisions of conference. While the Parliamentary party is almost exclusively right wing, it is by no means a coherent group, since, like the right wing amongst the rank and file, it has a tendency to become divided on regionalist lines, and there exist several power groupings based on personalities and ambitions, rather than on principles and politics. The left, while not free from such disunity, is not plagued by the clash of ambitious personalities and regionalism to the same extent.
Perhaps the greatest contradiction in the New Zealand labour movement at. the moment is that between the party and the F.0.L. The latter recently proclaimed forcibly its belief that 'all history is the history of class struggle", and that it recognised the existence of the present class struggle between capital and labour. Nor does the F.0.L. intend to try Semain "neutral" in the struggle, as its most recent statements give evidence of its determination to prosecute the_struggle on behalf of the workers. And, at the same time, the Labour Party is desperately trying to gain the confidence = and the votes - ef the petit bourgeoisie. Unfortunately, the working class is in a minority in this country. White collar elements cannot be relied upon, and as captialism in New Zealand is commercial, rather than industrial, by nature, these form a sizeable proportion of the work force. Further, approximately 37% of the factories employ less than six workers, and this again seriously reduces the number of workers who are class conscious, since they tend to regard their employers as an individual (he usually works alongside his employees in these circumstances) rather than as a representative of 2 sociel class.
However, any sharp adverse change in New Zealnd's overseas markets for its primary produce could well effect a radical shift in the situation. the New Zealand economy is almost exclusively based on such exports, and the economy thus relies on the farming community. The New Zealand farmer is neither an impoverished pensant, nor a latifundist, but can perhaps be considered as a rural equivalent to the urban petit bourgeois. Thus if his standard of living were to be drastically lowered, he would move radically left - or go fascist. It is certain that the toms would turn to the left for leadership. Such a change would, then, heighten class consciousness.
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