History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Stations/2KY Sydney/Notes

3 Transcriptions and notes 1920s 1921 1921 Q1 THE NEED FOR A LABOR INFORMATION BUREAU. A LESSON FROM THE WAR. During the war, after several years of ineffective and sanguinary fighting, it was at last borne upon the intelligence of the Allied Governments that in spite of their great numerical superiority in men and armaments, no progress was being made, and that there was indeed great danger of the war being lost. The disadvantage suffered by the Allied armies, which completely nullified their vast superiority in men and guns, was LACK OF UNITY. To achieve that unity, the Allied Governments formulated and carried out a scheme of CO-ORDINATION, unifying the command of the French, British, and Belgian forces under Marshal Foch. The results speak for themselves. The Australian Labor Movement is in the same position as were the Allied Governments before they coordinated their forces. It is faced by an enemy smaller in numbers, but solidly united. The Movement itself is disunited. It has half a dozen General Staffs in the field, each operating independently, and not a single one of which possesses an INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT. Is it to be wondered at therefore if Labor is getting badly beaten? Capitalism learned its lesson five years ago during the war. It applying that lesson in the fight against Labor. Labor must also learn the lesson quickly, or go under. Unity of command and coordination of forces are now necessities of existence, for Labor the world over HAS ENTERED UPON A PERIOD OF ACTION. The forces, of Labor cannot efficiently be coordinated without the establishment of a Central Intelligence Department — a Labor Information Bureau. There is hardly a single capitalist State that does not possess its own Information Bureau. Nor are there any advanced Labor Movements outside the Commonwealth without their Labor Information Departments, for such bureaux exist in Britain, U.S.A., France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Austria, and, of course, in Russia. MAIN FUNCTIONS. The main functions of such a bureau in connection with the Australian Labor Movement would be:— 1. To collect and file press-cuttings from the daily newspapers, the Labor papers, and employers' journals. 2. To collect and index all journals and reports published by Trade Unions, Labor Councils, etc. 3. To read and summarise many Government periodicals (including Hansard), Bills, Acts, Orders, and Reports, and prepare questions to be asked in Parliament. 4. To study foreign papers, particularly where the Labor Movement is undergoing radical or revolutionary change. To file and index the foreign Labor press and reports of Labor abroad. 5. To arrange for exchanges of information with Labor organisations all over the world. A Labor Information Bureau would keep in touch with important books and pamphlets and with the work of other societies, in order that the Australian Labor Movement should not waste time in doing what has been done already. A CENTRAL LABOR NEWS SERVICE. One of the main endeavors of the Bureau should be the co-ordination of the activities of the Labor press through the establishment of a Central News Service which every Labor journal in the Commonwealth could draw upon for outside Labor news, in place of having to rely upon such scraps as it can cull from the capitalist press. It is not difficult to imagine the advantages that would accrue from a coordinated Labor press. The Movement in each State would be kept au courant with all happenings and developments in the remaining States, as well as with those cyclonic changes that are vitally affecting the Labor Movement throughout the world. OVERSEAS NEWS. As the field of industrial and capitalist enterprise extends more and more beyond national frontiers, and as home political questions become more and more dependent upon the whole foreign political situation, it becomes increasingly necessary that there should be a full, accurate service of International Information. Organisations in the Commonwealth want to know about movements and developments abroad affecting their position, and organisations abroad want to be put in touch with kindred movements in this country. International news has been too much in the hands of capitalist press agencies, which distort Labor news. If organised Labor is to act with full knowledge of the whole field of the Labor Movement, IT MUST HAVE ITS OWN SERVICE OF INFORMATION for keeping abreast of the international position. TO KEEP OFFICIALS INFORMED. Then, again, TRADES UNION OFFICIALS require a variety of information. If they are proposing to amalgamate two societies, or to form a new one, they re-quire to know the exact state of the law in order that their new society may be legally formed, and may possess all the powers the law allows it. If they are initiating a general wages movement, they want to know what advances have been secured in other trades AND WHAT PROFITS THE EMPLOYERS HAVE BEEN MAKING. If a strike is contemplated, they require to know the exact financial and industrial position of the employers affected in order that the strike may take place at a time favorable to the workers, and not to the employers. Australian workers have recently had one or two illuminating lessons in this regard. TRADES COUNCILS, LABOR PARTIES, AND BRANCHES have their own special problems. They want a whole mine of information to fight effective local and municipal elections, for which a Labor Information Bureau would be invaluable. CONTROL OF INDUSTRY. As the Labor Movement grows in strength and importance, as the demand for the control of industry becomes more and more a part of the everyday life of the country, so Labor's need for accurate information and research upon every conceivable subject becomes more and more urgent. The business of running an industry — still more of running a country — is not one that can be done without complete and accurate information. The time is past when workers have only to consider what immediate improvements in their condition could be secured. Today Labor is taking administration and government into its own hands. And if it is to do this effectively, it must have readily available the fullest possible information for its officials, for its local movements and branches, and for its individual members. That can only be attained by the establishment of a central clearing-house for general information — a Labor Information Bureau. E. R. VOIGT.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145769446 THE NEED FOR A LABOR INFORMATION BUREAU. The Australian Worker 30, 10 New South Wales, Australia 10 March 1921 5 November 2018 5 National Library of Australia GERMANY. Congress of Revolutionary Unions. The Free Workers' Union (Freie Arbeiter Union), while condemning the Amsterdam Trade Union International, hesitated to join the Trade Union International of Moscow, under the hypothetical fear of placing Trades Unionism under the guidance of a political party. For this reason the Union convened in Berlin during the middle of December an International Conference of Unions "of all the anarchist Unions of the world" and all the revolutionary Labor organisations. At this conference were represented organisations from America (I.W.W.), Argentine (Transport, Agriculture, Santa Fe Federation), France (C.S.R.), Britain (Shop Stewards), Holland, Czecho-Slovakia, and Sweden; those of Spain, Italy, and Denmark were unable to send delegates. A delegate of the Russian Central Union took part in the conference in a consultative capacity. After declarations and resolutions by the French and German delegations, it was decided unanimously to participate in the next congress of the Moscow International, to be held in May, 1921. Another Labor Information Bureau. A feature of the conference was the recognition by the various delegates of the vital need of the formation of a Labor Information Bureau for the purpose of coordinating the activities of the various newspapers of the movement for collecting and docketing the mass of news that passes through the press, and for setting up a centre of information for propaganda purposes. Before the Congress rose an International Labor Information Bureau was constituted, and the secretariat of the Bureau confided to B. Lansink, Nassaukade 101, Amsterdam.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145770310 GERMANY. The Australian Worker 30, 11 New South Wales, Australia 17 March 1921 5 November 2018 19 National Library of Australia 1921 Q2 LABOR RESEARCH AND INFORMATION BUREAU. ESTABLISHED AT SYDNEY. For many years the Labor Movement in Australia has felt the pressing need of a central clearing department for Labor information. Those, particularly who have been faced with the necessity for taking responsible action, often without adequate information, will be interested to learn that a Labor Research and Information Bureau has been established under the auspices of the N.S.W. Labor Council, with headquarters at the Trades Hall, Sydney, for the purpose of collecting and supplying all manner of data and information that may be of service to the Labor Movement. This development will bring the Australian Labor Movement into line with the Labor Movements in Britain, America, France, Germany, and elsewhere, where determined efforts are being made to free Labor from its thraldom of dependence for information upon anti-Labor sources; for it is a curious anomaly that not only does Labor depend upon anti-Labor press agencies for general information, but even Labor information, especially from overseas, is mainly obtained through these hostile channels. CO-ORDINATING FACTOR IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT. The Australian Labor Research and Information Bureau will arrange for regular exchanges of information with the various organisations, both within the State and Interstate. The importance of the Bureau, therefore, as a co-ordinating factor in the Labor Movement can hardly be overstated. In assisting the Unions to avoid hopeless strikes, or to conduct successful strikes, in this activity alone the Labor Research and Information Bureau should save the Australian Labor Movement many thousands of pounds yearly above its cost. The time is past when workers have only to consider what immediate improvements in their conditions can be secured. Today Labor is taking administration and government into its own hands, and if it is to do this effectively it must have readily available the fullest possible information for its officials, for its local movements and branches, and for its individual members. That is now provided for in the establishment of a central clearing house for general and specific information, the Labor Research and Information Bureau.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145773000 LABOR RESEARCH AND INFORMATIONN BUREAU. The Australian Worker 30, 19 New South Wales, Australia 12 May 1921 13 November 2018 19 National Library of Australia 1921 Q3 SHOP TALKS. At the All Australian National Congress of Trades Unions, held in Melbourne, June 20-25, 1921, a motion was carried for "the setting up of Labor Research and Information Bureaux and of Labor Educational Institutions." No. 1. THE LABOR BUREAU. Jim: "Say, Bill, what's this Labor B'r'u they're all talking about at the Trades Hall?" Bill: "Kind of general clearing house for Labor information, I take it, Jim." Jim: "But what's the good of it? Aren't there bags of information in every Union Secretary's office?" Bill: "Sure thing, there are, Jim; but what's the good of information in bags? You might as well search for a needle in a haystack, as for the particular information you want, unless it's properly classified and indexed." Jim: "Well, don't the Secretaries classify and index? If they don't, I'll raise hell at the next —" Bill: "Steady on, Jim. Some do. Most don't. And if they had the time to classify properly they don't possess any publicity department to make use of their information." Jim: "What, no publicity department! What about our 'Monthly Toiler'?" Bill: "Oh, that's all right so far as it goes. But it don't go far. How am I to get that information? I don't belong to your Union." Jim: "Why should you want information from our Union?" Bill: "Because we've information that might be valuable to you. Your Sec.'s up now in the Arbitration Court, and you blokes would stand a much better chance of winning that award if you had the benefit of our Union's experience." Jim: "My oath, Bill, you're right." Bill: "And while I've got me top gear in, Jim, let me tell you that if every Union pooled its experience and information the Australian Labor Movement would develop a punch that would put its enemies to sleep in record time." Jim: "Seems to me, Bill, that what we want very badly, then, is some sort of B'r'u where Union information can be pooled and swapped." Bill: "Right on the solar plexus! And that swapping office has already been started in Sydney. Tell your Sec. to get busy and join the Labor Research and Information Bureau."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145774510 SHOP TALKS. The Australian Worker 30, 33 New South Wales, Australia 18 August 1921 13 November 2018 6 National Library of Australia FAREWELL DINNER TO SIMONOFF. Before he sailed, Peter Simonoff called together a few of his old friends, and on Monday evening there met at a dinner about twenty, to sum up things and say farewell. Invitations were accepted by C. W. Baker, Norman Jeffrey, Arthur Rae, Norman Freebery, Mr. and Mrs. J. Mailal, of Fiji, J. B. King and a friend, S. Gorsky, Mrs. Houghten, Miss Smith, J. S. Garden, Wm. Wolstenholm, H. Ross, Tom Glynn and Mrs. Glynn, Adela Walsh, E. R. Voigt, E. Callard, H. L. Denford, and a few other friends of Simonoff. The evening was an enjoyable one, and Comrade Simonoff will leave Australia knowing that he has left many good friends behind, most of them wishing they could go to Russia with him.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209256817 FAREWELL DINNER TO SIMONOFF. Communist 1, 40 New South Wales, Australia 23 September 1921 5 November 2018 4 National Library of Australia 1921 Q4 WORKERS' PARLIAMENT. DECISION OF UNIONISTS. Trades Hall Conference. Officials connected with the conference of trade unionists, which is now sitting at the Trades Hall for the purpose of discussing the future policy of industrialists, are pleased with the decisions so far reached. Conference yesterday carried the following motion:— That this conference declares in favor of and recommends to the trade union movement of New South Wales the formation of an organised workers' group to control the political representatives of the working class. The motion, it was stated this morning by Mr. Voigt, secretary to the conference, and also secretary to the Labor Information Bureau, was almost unanimous, only two voting against its adoption. He added that there was unanimity amongst the delegates in regard to the general representation of the workers, which, conference declared, called for alteration. The impression prevailed, however, that the interstate conference of unionists and representatives from the Australian Labor Party to be held in Brisbane this month would turn down the proposals. CHAIN OF LABOR PAPERS This morning conference decided to support the establishment of a chain of Labor newspapers throughout Australia. It was also agreed that the general management and policy of each State Labor daily paper should be vested in a board of management, the same to be elected by an annual referendum of members of the unions who are shareholders in each State. The motion was carried by 52 to 15.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223491386 WORKERS' PARLIAMENT The Sun 3411 New South Wales, Australia 5 October 1921 5 November 2018 2 (FINAL RACING) National Library of Australia INTERSTATE CONFERENCE AT BRISBANE. MACHINERY FOR THE NEW OBJECTIVE. A SUPREME ECONOMIC COUNCIL. The Interstate Labor Conference resumed its sittings at the Trades Hall, Brisbane, on Thursday morning, October 3 last. . . . . . THE NEW PLATFORM. Conference discussed the report of the committee, presented by Mr. Theodore, which was as follows: OBJECTIVE. The socialisation of industry, production, distribution, and exchange. METHODS. Socialisation of industry by (a) The constitutional utilisation of industrial and Parliamentary machinery; (b) The organisation of workers, along the line of industry; (c) Nationalisation of banking and all principal industries; (d) The municipaIisation of such services as can be operated in limited areas; (e) Government of nationalised industries by boards, upon which the workers in the industries and the community shall have representation; (f) The establishment of an elective Supreme Economic Council by all nationalised industries; (g) The setting up of Labor research and Labor information bureaux and of Labor educational institutions, in which the workers shall be trained in the management of the nationalised industries. FIGHTING PLATFORM. The cultivation of an Australian sentiment, the maintenance of a White Australia and the development in Australia of an enlightened and self-reliant community. An amendment, proposed by Mr. Blackburn, was defeated, and the report was adopted without alteration.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145772067 INTERSTATE CONFERENCE AT BRISBANE. The Australian Worker 30, 43 New South Wales, Australia 27 October 1921 13 November 2018 15 National Library of Australia THE RESULT OF THE EMPLOYERS' CONFERENCE. The final result of the Employers' Conference is just what we anticipated; we had no doubts what the final outcome would be. It amused us when we read of organisers of Unions, etc., writing to the Capitalist Press, believing that the employers would solve the question of unemployment. The reply of Mr. McMahon and others should now clearly demonstrate to those people that the employers cannot solve the problem of unemployment. Before our visit to Mr. Dooley we informed the employers' delegates that all the things they had mentioned — viz., the starting of the City Railway, Sewerage, Water Conservation, Silo, etc. — had been brought before the Government previously by the Labor Council, and they had informed us that they were willing to start all those works, but they had no cash. The employers then put the case up to Mr. Dooley. Afterwards the Labor Council's representatives gave their side of the case, wherein they stated — 1st. Unemployment was an international question. 2nd. It could not be solved under Capitalism. 3rd. We will not oppose any scheme that will give work to the unemployed under the present system, no matter where the money comes from, but we shall not cease to point out to the workers that these are only palliatives, and will not prevent the intensification of the unemployed evil. We were pleased at Dooley's reply. He just said what we informed the employers would say. He asked them for the cash, and he was right; he was their servant, they were his boss, and he could not carry on without the wherewithal. We are pleased to record the great services Mr. Voigt, of the Labor Information and Research Department, rendered the Conference. The information supplied by him was of great value, with the result that the Labor Council's delegates were able to put it all over the employers. The Council representatives dealt with the question from the International working class viewpoint, and were able to show to the employers that the present system was tottering, and was liable to turn over any minute. The Conference furnished us with material for future use.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209256973 Industrial Notes Communist 1, 49 New South Wales, Australia 9 December 1921 5 November 2018 5 National Library of Australia 1922 1922 Q1 Long Distances. SPEAKING AND RUNNING. Labor Has Olympic Champion. Mr. E. R. Voigt rises. He is one of the Labor delegates at the Economic Conference. He speaks till the chairman's watch ticks the time-limit. "A long-distance speaker," someone says. "I'll bet he could go on till to-morrow morning." Maybe he could. But what most people don't know about the wiry little Mr. Voigt is that besides being a long-distance speaker he is a long-distance runner. If the Conference developed homicidal tendencies Mr. Voigt could be safe in his home at Dee Why before the first assassination. For he has four track championships to his credit. He won the five miles world's championship at the Olympic Games in 1908 for Great Britain; the four miles British championship in 1908-9; the one mile British championship in 1910; and the one mile championship of Victoria in 1912. So he can run. Back Again. He has been off the track lately, but as soon as he can move his home from Dee Why to the city side of the harbor he will start training again. Mr. Voigt is a Manchester man, 39 years old. He is a master engineer, and has owned workshops in England and in Melbourne, but now he has definitely switched all his energy on to the Labor movement. At present he is organising the Labor Research Information Bureau of the Sydney Trades Hall Council. Sensational Jump to Prominence. Before he came to Australia in 1911, Mr. Voigt travelled round a bit and followed sport in most countries of the world. In fact, it was due to his efforts that at least two countries — Sweden and Finland — jumped to athletic prominence. In the 1908 Olympic Games Sweden and Finland also ran. They would have done better in a hopscotch competition. But in 1909 Mr. Voigt introduced scientific method of training to them and coached them so successfully that at the next Olympic meeting in 1912 they beat Great Britain and America in many of the athletics, and thus sensationally won a place in the sporting world. "Talking of the Olympic Games reminds me that I must get down to training again," Mr. Voigt told the "Evening News"reporter to-day. "Where I'm living at Dee Why there's no suitable ground, but as soon as I can get across the harbor I'll be on the track again." (Photo) MR. VOIGT.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118869588 Long Distances Evening News 17,069 New South Wales, Australia 2 March 1922 20 October 2018 8 National Library of Australia STRAIGHT AUSTRALIAN. MR. VOIGT AND THE "SUNDAY TIMES." RECENTLY W. A. Holman contributed an article to the Sydney "Sunday Times" on the wages question, and used up a great deal of space to help the employer' conspiracy for the reduction of wages. Mr. Holman alleged, amongst other things, that the present principle of the basic wage is wrong in its conception, and unjust in its incidence, and more than inferred that if the existent prescribed wage is sufficient for a man, his wife, and three children, then the single workers are being overpaid. It was a woefully illogical article, but its arguments were typical of those advanced by the Employers' Federation; and, of course, Mr. Holman, the one-time Laborite and eloquent special pleader for the Bottom Dog, was the obliging chap to come forward and attack the class which gave him his first and greatest chance to pose in the limelight on the political stage. When the article mentioned appeared Mr. E. R. Voigt, director and secretary of the Sydney Labor Research and Information Bureau — and one of the men who made the employers' representatives at the recent Round Table Conference look ridiculous — replied, and in a much shorter article than the one published under Mr. Holman's name. It was a concise statement of the working-class position, also the capitalistic position, and contained logic, facts, and figures, showing beyond all doubt that Mr. Holman's inky harangue was unsupported by anything more substantial or convincing than mere meretricious assertion. Mr. Voigt showed, for instance, that Australia's exports for the six months ended December last exceeded imports to the extent of £13,557,394, and that the total deposits in the cheque-paying banks during the June quarter of last year amounted to £282,556,351, as against £149,827,568 in the year before the war — 1913. In other words, the deposits in the private banks — representing, in the main, the monetary wealth of the employers — increased by nearly 100 per cent. It was a quiet, well-considered fact-and-figure-backed statement of the case for the wage earners. But how did it fare at the hands of the "Sunday Times"? Scraps of it, torn from their context; were quoted, and running commentary on, and criticism of, each portion interlarded with the matter. As a matter of fact, there was more "Sunday Times" comment and criticism than there were scraps of Mr. Voigt's article. It would have been bad enough, from the viewpoint of ordinary newspaper decency, if the comment and criticism, not to mention the cutting down, had been done editorially. But in a communication in reply to a protest from Mr. Voigt, Editor-in-Chief McCay, after pleading pressure of space, etc., confessed that Mr. Voigt's article had been PASSED ON TO MR. HOLMAN, and that the so-called summary and running comment and criticism were the work of that gentleman. Thus the position was that Mr. Holman made his assertions (presumably without any editorial interference) in an article, and when Mr. Voigt replied, his reply was ruthlessly mutilated and lengthily interpreted by none other than Mr. Holman himself. Could anything more grotesquely unfair be conceived? Yet the "Sunday Times" professes to be a fair-minded newspaper, and even succeeds in deluding some workers into a sort of belief that it really is. If those misguided workers need any disillusionment — and very evidently they do — surely the facts cited above should be more than sufficient.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149526927 STRAIGHT AUSTRALIAN. The Australian Worker 31, 13 New South Wales, Australia 29 March 1922 5 November 2018 11 National Library of Australia 1922 Q2 BLOODLESS AND PEACEFUL. Maligned "Revolution." A DEFINITION BY ITS ADVOCATES. That bloody revolution postulated in the Domain of Sundays is not the means of working-class emancipation. In other words, it is not what it's "cracked up to be." The revolution of proletarian design is an eminently respectable, bloodless affair, lacking any element of combustibility. Almost we might describe it as anaemic. And it is devoid of most ultra-democratic vices. Such as strikes, short weeks and go-slowism. It is working all the time, this revolution, like any honest capitalist or wage slave. Why, then, does it survive? What's its function and necessity? Those very natural questions, Messrs. W. A. Holman and D. Hall, asked Messrs. E. R. Voigt and C. W. Baker last night in the Union Hall of the University. The occasion was a debate in which Messrs. Voigt and Baker argued: The workers can secure emancipation only by revolutionary action and not by constitutional reform. Both affirmed the bloodless revolution, working all the time, as indicated, but their opponents were not content with that. They gave them blood, from the Slavic wars to the French revolution, and on to the Russian shindy. Messrs. Voigt and Baker seemed a trifle amazed and greatly disapointed at that, for they came apparently to debate respectable revolutions. Indeed, Mr. Voigt led off with the affirmation: "By revolution we mean the transferance of political and economic power from one class to another." There was no mention of red flags, bombs or wire-whiskered Russians. But where the proponents of emancipation ???? and the astute Mr. Holman was quick to seize on it — was that neither remembered to substitute something for what they had displaced. They razed Capitalism to its foundations and cut off the lights and the water supply, then left it — the world that is — in a parched state of ????. Mr. Voigt gave a thoughtful address on the class struggle and the economic interpretation of history from the age of tribal communism on to the lately closed era of Dooley-M'Girr. And he closed Capitalism vehemently, picturesquely and enthusiastically. He traced the source of caste and presented its 20th century climax. All this was extremely interesting, as Mr. Holman conceded. But, again, how was revolution going to alter things? What system was to be substituted? Corns and Capitalism. "Corns," said Mr. Holman, "I can show you how, by affirming anything you can get people to believe it. My friends say capitalism is wrong. I say corns are wrong. I say further, that my soothing syrup will cure them. Don't forget my syrup kills corns Napoleon would have won the Battle of Waterloo only for corns. He wouldn't use my syrup." "And so on," proceeded Mr. Holman. "I can get you to believe that corns are wrong, but you do not get any guarantee that my syrup will cure them. You accept the statement by my insistence." "Capital Wrecking Itself." Mr. Voigt made a big point of the fact, as he said, that capitalism was economically wrecking itself by producing surpluses; in other words, by over-production. The workers who were sellers of their labor in the making of those goods were called on to buy them. They had not the money to do so, he argued. Mr. Hall did not venture into the realm of academical discussion, leaving that to his more eloquent colleague; but there was a rare piquancy about his remarks, for all that. "I'm against revolution," he said, "because it means imposing the will of the minority on the majority. Otherwise where's the necessity for revolution? Once a revolution succeeds the only thing for the wise worker to do is to think the same as the boss of the show." Mr. Baker was better equipped with phrases than arguments — his idea'ology was submersed in his phraseology, if it may be put that way. He would not accept the fundamental principle of Democracy, that one man one vote gives political equality. "There can never be any equality between the exploiter and the exploited," he declared; and turned to Germany to prove his case, he also quoted Russia. Mr. Holman exercised the fear that some reformers were inclined to mix up the affairs of other countries with those of their own. Revolution, for example, might have saved Russia. Would it serve Australia? That was the question. Mr. Baker's admission that only a percentage of the workers could be educated to the advantages of the doctrine of revolution, provided Mr. Holman with ample scope for dialectical play. "We are going to have government by a new aristocracy; a condescending minority," he said. "It is not a prospect that appeals to me with any delirium of ecstasy. Suppose the unenlightened majority don't wish to be emancipated by the enlightened minority?" Perhaps the soundest argument, and the finest piece of philosophy was expressed by Mr. Hall. "Get a majority," he said, "and you can get anything." There was no doubt about the large audience understanding that; for it put all the destructive argument of the evening into a constructive sentence. Neither Mr. Holman nor Mr. Hall thought to accuse their opponents of stealing Sir George Fuller's thunder — of advocating evolution.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118860530 BLOODLESS AND PEACEFUL Evening News 17,095 New South Wales, Australia 1 April 1922 5 November 2018 2 National Library of Australia DEBATE ON REVOLUTION. NO GOOD FOR THE WORKERS. Revolution or constitutional reform? Such was the issue of a keen debate at the Sydney University last night, under the auspices of the Sydney University Union. Messrs. E. R. Voigt and C.W. Baker, of the Sydney Labor Council, defined revolution, and said it was inevitable. Messrs. W. A. Holman, K.C., and D. R. Hall argued that revolution was no good for the working man or anybody else, and that all permanent reform must come from constitutional action. The parliamentary standard was deplored by the chairman (Mr. N. Cowper), who blamed educated men of character for not having done their duty. Every University man should, he said, resolve to remove the reproach. This year's debates held by the union would be conducted on the parliamentary system.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246447651 DEBATE ON REVOLUTION The Daily Telegraph 13,382 New South Wales, Australia 1 April 1922 5 November 2018 12 National Library of Australia LABOR RESEARCH AND INFORMATION BUREAU. Plan for Organised and Co-ordinated Effort. A. C. Willis, as Secretary of the Council of Action, has issued to the unionists of Australasia the following draft of a plan for the formation of Labor Information bureaux: The 1921 All-Australian Congress of Trade Unions instructed the Council of Action to prepare a scheme, for the organisation of Labor Information Bureaux on a Commonwealth basis. Herewith I submit draft outline as a basis for discussion at the next Congress of Trade Unions to be held in June. DRAFT OUTLINE. 1. That the existing Labor Research and Information Bureau, Trades Hall, Sydney, shall constitute the Commonwealth Labor Information Bureau. 2. That there shall be constituted a State Labor Information Bureau in each State. 3. That each State Bureau shall have a board of management, to be elected by general annual meeting of affiliated Union delegates. 4. That a board of management for the Commonwealth Bureau shall be appointed by the General Council (or Council of Action). 5. That each State Bureau and the Commonwealth Bureau shall employ a full-time State and General Commonwealth Secretary respectively. 6. That each State Secretary shall act under the supervision of the Commonwealth General Secretary. 7. That each State Labor Council shall through the medium of its board of management organise to secure direct affiliation to the Bureau from those Unions outside the Council on the basis of ½d. per capita per quarter, and shall arrange to secure a pro rata increase of sustentation fees to Council from affiliated Unions, sufficient to provide for the running of the State Bureau and the necessary quota for the upkeep of the Commonwealth Bureau. 8. That one-third of the income of each State Bureau be remitted as received to the board of management of the Commonwealth Bureau for the upkeep of the latter. 9. That in order to constitute the Labor Information Bureau as integral working parts of the Union movement, the Commonwealth General and each State Secretary shall be ex-officio members respectively of the General Council (or Council of Action) and the State Labor Council Executive, having deliberate but no voting rights. ACTIVITIES. That the Commonwealth Bureau shall conduct the following activities: (a) The distribution to each State Bureau for issue to affiliated sections a monthly synopsis of all important Labor data and information passing into the Commonwealth Bureau from the State Bureaux and from overseas Bureaux, correspondents and press. (b) The issue to each State Bureau for publication of a list of financial reports of companies operations. (c) The issue for publication in the Labor Press of the Commonwealth of a weekly International Labor News Service. (d) The publication of a monthly review, covering the activities of the Labor Movement throughout the Commonwealth, as well as labor, social, and capitalist developments abroad. That each State Bureau shall prepare and forward each week, to the Commonwealth Bureau a report of the activities of the Unions in its respective State, and shall compile monthly card tables of Union, etc., data, as directed by the Commonwealth General Secretary. Knowledge is power. If the Labor Movement is to advance it must have the necessary knowledge to enable it to advance scientifically. Unionists, wake up before it is too late, and let us place the Australian Labor Movement upon a sound industrial basis at the All-Australian Congress in June next. A. C. WILLIS, Secretary, Council of Action.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149531243 LABOR RESEARCH AND INFORMATION BUREAU. The Australian Worker 31, 22 New South Wales, Australia 1 June 1922 13 November 2018 6 National Library of Australia 1922 Q4 COAL CRISIS. Union Officials Take Pessimistic View. CAREFUL HOUSEHOLDERS. Union officials were pessimistic yesterday regarding the chances of a settlement of the coal dispute. Shipping interests are alarmed, and one oversea vessel has been recalled. There is a big demand for lamps, kerosene and candles. No decision was reached at the conference between the coalminers and the southern colliery proprietors. On behalf of the union Mr. A. C. Willis said: "The matter is not settled, but the employees will take such steps as they think necessary to get the matter dealt with before the Coal Tribunal. The official notice of strike will be given at our discretion." The trouble has now extended to the north. At Cessnock 2000 miners debated the situation for over three hours. It was decided to recommend that members resume work under normal conditions, with the exception of West Wallsend colliery, for a period of one week, pending the existing dispute at West Wallsend colliery being settled. Failing settlement the miners will revert to the system of level filling of skips. "The miners must give an undertaking that the resolution calling a one-day strike will be rescinded," said Mr. Weyland (secretary to the Southern Coal Proprietors' Association). "And if that undertaking is not given there will be no work on Tuesday." On receipt at Capetown of the disturbing industrial news from New South Wales the P. and O. branch liner Benalla was recalled to Capetown to load sufficient coal to take her to Australia and back to South Africa. A brisk business was compassed yesterday in substitute illuminants. Grocers all over the metropolitan area were besieged with orders for kerosene and candles. The Council of Action has carried the following motions:— That this council is definitely opposed to any increase of hours, and there-by decides to organise trade union resistance throughout the Common-wealth. That all unions be called upon to give effect to the policy of the council by such methods as shall be determined upon in connection with the governing bodies of the unions concerned in the dispute under review. That provided the iron trade unions are prepared to fight on the extension of working hours, this council endorses their action on the distinct understanding that they are prepared to leave the dispute in the hands of this council in accordance with the second resolution. The Iron Trades Union shall not take any action themselves that is likely to extend the dispute in any way without the approval of this council. That this council appoints a deputation to wait upon the A.L.P. executive in each State, and upon the A.L.P. Federal executive for the purpose of arranging a conference between the A.L.P., the Labor Councils, and other working class parties, with the view to arranging for the affiliation of such bodies with the A.L.P. in accordance with the decisions of the All-Australia Trade Union Conference. Mr. Voigt, on behalf of the press committee appointed by the Council of Action, denies the report that the Amalgamated Engineering Union had decided to refrain from giving the Council of Action absolute control of its affairs in the present crisis. Baddeley and Conference. NEWCASTLE, Saturday. Mr. J. M. Baddeley, M.L.A., stated that as yesterday's conference between owners and miners' representatives only referred to the southern district, he was not present as a representative of the northern district. "We were surprised indeed," he said, to learn that, although it was entirely a southern matter, Messrs. McDonald (representing the northern owners) and Bragg (secretary of the Western Owners' Association) attended. Mr. A. C. Willis, on behalf of the southern miners, strongly resented the intrusion of the owners' representatives. "The conference was abortive," concluded the miners representative, "as the representatives of the owners were adamant. Constitutional methods are to be used by seeking a compulsory conference." Trouble has again occurred at Seaham No. 2 Colliery, with the result that that mine has been laid idle. It appears that some of the wheelers have been served with summonses to attend court, and they have applied a darg of four skips to the miners. On Thursday the men had to come home early on account of the darg, there not being any more skips to fill. Lighting Grievance. WOLLONGONG, Saturday. "It is evidently the desire of Mr. Weyland to make the public believe that the present agitation by the miners of this district is something new," said the president of the southern miners to-day. "Mr. Weyland knows that the question of better light for underground workers was brought under the notice of the coalowners and the Government two years ago. It is over nine months since the owners were notified that at the expiration of six months, if some improved light was not introduced in the mines on the coast, the matter would receive further consideration by the men concerned. "Mr. Weyland refers to guarantees. Might we ask Mr. Weyland, on behalf of our members who are suffering from nystagmus, to give us a guarantee that upon the production of a certificate from the certifying surgeon, compensation will be made without having to invoke the aid of the law? "A lamp was approved by the miners in this district months ago, and electric safety lamps have been installed in at least one colliery in the northern district." "The introduction of the lamps," says an old miner, "was the outcome of the Mount Kembla explosion, and continued working in the defective light given off by the present oil lamps is beginning to tell on the sight of some of the older men, who in several cases have developed nystagmus." The Minister for Mines (Mr. Fitzpatrlck) announced yesterday that he had arranged a conference between representatives of the owners and the men on the lighting question. It will be held in Sydney next Friday.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224156809 COAL CRISIS The Sun 1018 New South Wales, Australia 1 October 1922 5 November 2018 8 National Library of Australia LABOR'S NEW OBJECTIVE. Mr. R. S. Ross concludes the very illuminating article commenced last week. NOW, Labor's Objective has never before been so explicit in one particular at least — namely, the Socialisation of Industry. If the socialisation of production, distribution and exchange has heretofore been stood for, that part of the process known as the ownership and control of industry has not been stated, even if applied. In the new phrase industry is specific — and FIRST. Our thought is thus directed to a clear and definite idea and thing. Nothing left to the ambiguities, and equivocations of argufiers, nor the idea and thing lost in the maze of terminological, windy and other high-browing or kite-flying. Simply stated — purposely so to get a particular mental concept and a practical grip — industry as the thing to tackle is set prominently before us, as though to suggest that, tackling it, all else will be added unto us. Industry, industry, industry! . . . . The socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange. METHODS. Socialisation of industry by — (a) The constitutional utilisation of industrial and Parliamentary machinery; (b) The organisation of workers along the lines of industry; (c) The nationalisation of banking and all principal industries; (d) The municipalisation of such services, as can best be operated in limited areas; (e) The government of nationalised industries by boards, upon which the workers in the industries and the community shall have representation; (f) The establishment of an elective Supreme Economic Council by all nationalised industries; (g) The setting up of Labor research and Labor information bureaus and of Labor educational institutions, in which the workers shall be trained in the management of the nationalised industries.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149525028 LABOR'S NEW OBJECTIVE The Australian Worker 31, 45 New South Wales, Australia 8 November 1922 13 November 2018 9 National Library of Australia WHERE LABOR STANDS. Fighting Speech by Senator Gardiner. Speaking at Redfern last Thursday night, Senator Gardiner referred to misrepresentations by "Nationalists" regarding Labor's objective. It was part of the hare-brained ravings of the disordered minds of those who published columns branding Labor as part and parcel of the Russian terror, and tried to link Labor with Bolshevism. In spite of all the misrepresentation and abuse they had a record to refer to in the State and Federal Legislatures which completely answered those criticisms. The methods laid down for the socialisation of industry were by the constitutional utilisation of industrial and Parliamentary machinery; the organisation of workers along the lines of industry; nationalisation of banking and all principal industries; municipalisation of such services as could best be operated in limited areas; government of nationalised industries by boards upon which the workers in the industries and the community have representation; establishment of an elective supreme economic council by all nationalised industries; the setting up of labor research and labor information bureaux and of labor educational institutions in which the workers shall be trained in the management of the nationalised industries. SAME AS 1905 OBJECTIVE. "Is there one word there," asked the Senator, "that looks like red revolution or red propaganda? The words are almost the same as those I wrote myself 18 years ago, when Mr. Holman and Mr. Watson, and many other leading spirits gathered together to draft an objective. We were dubbed dangerous Socialists then, and Mr. George Reid travelled throughout Australia to kill the socialistic tiger, but Labor came back with a majority in both Houses." "The objective of the Labor Party today is the same as the objective framed in 1905, to which Mr. J. C. Watson, Mr. A. Fisher, and Mr. W. M. Hughes were parties. The only difference is a difference of wording. In essence, the objective of 1905 remains unchanged. "We stand for Australia and peace," he declared, "and the 'Nationalists' stand for Empire and war. Let Australia look after its own business, and let every other nation do the same. Then we will have peace, and if war comes the nations of the Empire will be in a stronger position to meet the trouble. Mr. Hughes recently offered not only to send men, but an army as big as that of the Turks. We don't want all this flamboyant talk and buccaneering, but real work for the proper and full development of Australia." LABOR WILL MAINTAIN WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY. Continuing, Senator Gardiner explained the fighting platform for the development of an Australian sentiment and the maintenance of a White Australia, complete Australian self-government as a British community, no Imperial Federation, an unlimited legislative powers for the Commonwealth Parliament. He stressed the point that the Brisbane conference made the following declaration, proposing collective ownership: (a) For the purpose of preventing exploitation; (b) that wherever private ownership is a means of exploitation it be opposed by the party; and (c) that the Party does not seek to abolish private ownership, even of any of the instruments of production; where such instrument is utilised by its owner in a socially-useful manner and without exploitation.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149529816 WHERE LABOR STANDS. The Australian Worker 31, 49 New South Wales, Australia 6 December 1922 13 November 2018 9 National Library of Australia 1923 1923 01 WELFARE SCHEMES — FOR WHOM? J. A. MURDOCH, of Sydney, who these times seems to be a sort of official press agent for Capitalism, attacks E. R. Voigt, of the Labor Research and Information Bureau, for having stated that so-called industrial welfare schemes would not work except when run by big concerns holding virtual monopolies. Murdoch, in dealing with specific instances, declares that Ford's, Lever's, and Kanegafuci's schemes for a distribution of a share of the profits have been successful, and he further opines to the effect that if such schemes were more general the economic problem would be solved. Murdoch also states that he has tried the scheme in his own business with satisfactory results. But those who have the slightest grounding in economics will smile at Murdoch's sophistry, or simple faith — whichever of the twain it may be. It may be true that, say, Henry Ford's employees, and Lever's employees, and, to an extent, Murdoch's employees, are in receipt of decent wages, plus a small share of the profits, and for these reasons are considerably satisfied with themselves. But, after all, what is the position? Ford is a millionaire — one of the richest men in America. Lever (Lord Leverhulme) is one of the world's wealthiest men. And Murdoch himself is popularly supposed to be amongst the wealthiest men in Sydney. So it will be seen that even if their employees be a few shillings a week, or a month, better off, THESE BIG BUSINESS MEN — THESE APOSTLES OF PROFIT-SHARING — HAVE GROWN INORDINATELY RICH. Where did these vast fortunes of the proprietors, and the little extra wages of the employees, come from? The question is easily answered. THEY CAME OUT OF THE POCKETS OF THE REST OF THE COMMUNITY. These profit-sharing concerns have benefited at the expense of the non-profit-sharing public, and, so far as the wage-earners are concerned, if the system were made general the workers could benefit only by mutually robbing each other. And such sort of benefit would be the equivalent of that of the community which tried to live by taking in each other's washing. Co-operation, even in a capitalistic world, may have something to recommend it, but profit-sharing — which postulates a Boss hogging the profit trough, and allowing his employees to lick up the splashings — ought to, and must, be anathema to those who genuinely desire to solve the social problem instead of merely trifling with it. Incidentally — and perhaps more than incidentally — it is worth remembering that under the new Industrial Arbitration Amendment Act, when employees accept a share of their bosses' profits THEY AUTOMATICALLY BECOME PROPRIETORS, and then, if their employers apply to the Court, THEY MAY HAVE THE EXISTENT WAGES' AWARD RESCINDED OR CANCELLED. It would be interesting to know if this clause in the Act is responsible for the sudden symptoms of generosity on the part of Murdoch and certain other employers. R.J.C.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145794053 WELFARE SCHEMES—FOR WHOM? The Australian Worker 32, 2 New South Wales, Australia 10 January 1923 14 November 2018 9 National Library of Australia Australian Labor's New Objective. The Socialisation of Industry. In June 1920, the All Australian Congress of Trade Unions, held in Melbourne, decided to adopt as the objective of the Trade Union Movement the Socialisation of Industry. Since the Federal Election Campaign started, many enquiries have been made by Labor Unions, and A.L.P Leagues, to the Labor Research and Information Bureau, for information concerning the meaning of the Socialisation of Industry and its bearing on existing industrial relations. Mr. E. R. Voight, Director of the Bureau, in answer, has contributed the following article: Capitalism not Eternal. There is a hazy idea in the minds of those who have given no particular thought to social problems that the present system of production termed capitalist production, we have always had with us, and that the institution of production for private gain will continue throughout all eternity. They forget that production for profit covers comparatively a very small period of economic history, and that the modern capitalist system is a mushroom growth, according to all the laws of biology must pass away as quickly and completely as it has arisen. Before the minds of the people can be made receptive for any new system of society, they must be made to realise that the present system of society, like all others, not only is in a state of constant change, but like all other organisms in society is subject to the operation of birth and death. Spencer, long ago, taught the world that all social institutions are fluid and not fixed. Karl Marx said in the preface to the first edition of "Capital": "The present society is no solid crystal, but an organisation capable of change, and constantly changing." Yet there are many people to-day who base all their actions and plans upon the assumption that the existing system of production for profit is a divine law which always has existed and will continue to the end of all eternity. The present structure of society (and this is now pretty generally conceded) is the creation of the ruling class. And the ruling class is the employing class — those who own and control the means whereby the people live. The merchant or employing class broke up the old feudal system and built upon its ruins, the capitalist order of society, the kingdom of free competition, of personal liberty, of equality of all commodity owners before the law, and of all the rest of the blessings of capitalism. CAPITALISM FREES THE SERF. On the other hand, the new product of the capitalist factory system was a "free" laborer, bound neither to his master nor the soil. He was "free" from the individual compulsion to work. He was "free" to be idle; "free" from ownership of the means of life; "free" often from employment because of competition or the whim of his masters; and at all times "free" to starve. The "freedom" of the wage-workers under Capitalism is however strongly qualified. His freedom to work is conditioned by his master's willingness or ability to accept the offer of his services. His freedom from individual compulsion to work is balanced by the economic necessity of working or dying of starvation, and his freedom to be idle has a similar drastic qualification. So long as the present economic system is able to provide work and an endurable standard of living for the masses, so long will capitalism continue. But it must be evident that should the system become disorganised to a point where millions of men and women, willing and able to work, cannot be found regular employment or sustenance, then that system will require either to be modified or superseded. A few people may be induced to accept intermittent starvation. Millions of people will not starve for long, with the granaries and storehouses filled to repletion and the factories for producing in abundance the means of life, idle before their eyes. No power on earth will then be able to keep the workers separated from the vital essential of their existence; the means of production, distribution, and exchange. Unemployment has today reached a stage, unparalleled in the world's history. In U.S.A., there are, according to official figures, 5,735,000 unemployed in the towns alone. The British Government on an admittedly conservative estimate, confesses to 1,750,000 unemployed. There is no civilised community (except Russia) where unemployment has not become chronic. SOCIAL PRODUCTS. Under capitalism, production changed itself from a series of individual into a series of social acts. The products were likewise changed from individual to social products. The yarn, the cloth, the metal articles that now come out of the factory, were the joint product of many workers, through whose hands they had to pass successively before they were ready. No one could say of them "I made that. This is my product." When the working class of the various capitalist countries came slowly to the realisation that all wealth was the social product of the workers, it was inevitable that sooner or later the demand should arise that the product of their labor should be socially owned and controlled, and socially distributed. Socialism is the objective of modern working class organisations throughout the world. That does not signify that every member of the organised workers understands and is a conscious advocate of the principle of socialisation. What this statement however does imply is that:— 1. Working-class theorists and economists are agreed that socialisation is the inevitable outcome of the present industrial and social order. 2. So far as there exists among the rank and file of the working-class any common opinion upon the economic and social problem, such opinion whatever its racial, religious or geographical location converges unerringly upon a single point — the Socialisation of Industry. 3.The declared objective of the organised working class in practically every civilised country is the Socialisation of Industry. RISE OF SOCIALIST THEORY. Socialism or Communism means that the machinery of production, distribution and exchange shall become the property of the community, and shall be managed by the community for the benefit of the community. In short, this means that the people shall own and control its means of life, — an eminently reasonable and sensible proposal, but one of far-reaching and revolutionary import. Under the present Capitalist system, the determining factor in production and distribution, is the exploitation by the few of the labor power and resources of the community for purposes of individual gain. That production and distribution, i.e., the means whereby the community lives, should be governed by and depend upon a dis-orderly scramble of the few for profit appears at first sight to be a most illogical procedure, and indeed it is, for individual gain bears no direct relation to production at all. Production to-day is therefore only incidental to the profit-taking of the few. (Note: It is the working-class which produces all value, including profits), and if those profits can be obtained without producing an ear of corn, so much the better. The "sumun bonum" of all good business, is not to exchange full service for like measure, but to get something for nothing. Every penny of the colossal profits of the bourgeoisie is unearned and taken from the surplus value produced by the workers. Under capitalism, a more or less efficient stage of social production in the individual factory has been reached. Each department dovetails its operations in with those of the other sections of the factory; the office staffs act in harmony with the works staffs, each individual workshop unit produces in a social manner in conformity with the operations of the other units. The whole factory is a fairly, efficient social organisation. WHERE CAPITALISM FAILS. But in general production, anarchy reigns. Each firm is ready to beggar or ruin its neighbor in the scramble for pro-fits. The seeds of the community are never inquired into, never ascertained, and never met. Production in the individual factory is generally well organised and systematised. The needs of the workers in production, individually and collectively, are ascertained and met along scientific or well order-ed lines. In general production under capitalism, the reverse is the case. There is no organisation or plan. Nor is there any general social harmony. Should any concerns amalgamate, they do so in order to prosecute more intensely and effectively the anti-social plundering of their own workers, their competitors and the consuming public. The antagonism between social production in the individual factory and anti-social anarchy in general production is not lessening with the times. Having no adequate understanding of the economics of its own system, and having no plan or organisation whatever for dealing with production and distribution as a whole, the classical political apologists (they can hardly be called economists) of capitalism seek to account for the dis-parities that exist in human society that they term "the law of supply and demand." The "law of supply and demand" is the scapegoat of capitalist economy for its historical and organic inability to organise and control general production and distribution. It will be noticed that capitalist schemes designed in times of stress to stabilise their system — such reform schemes as those of Henry George and Major Douglas — however much they may borrow from Socialist theory, are one and all obsessed by that great fetish, the "law of supply and demand." THE LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND. The so-called law of supply and demand, is supposed to regulate the affairs of capitalist society. Curiously enough, this free and gratis regulation dovetails nicely in with the fundamental principle underlying all modern business — i.e., something for nothing. The law is accordingly very attractive to capitalism and its bourgeois thinkers, for on the surface, it saves much money, thought and organisation. It is hardly to be wondered therefore that bourgeois reformers of the Capitalist system base their plans on the stable operation of this "law." Yet it should be clear to every student who has devoted any serious consideration at all to the subject that the so-called law of supply and demand is a very unstable principle indeed and one which is exceedingly unjust in its incidence. Supply and demand are governed by the particular circumstances surrounding them at any given moment. And as these relations are constantly changing, supply and demand often operate in a most erratic and — for a "law" — hardly respectable manner. Speculation is a well-known feature of modern business. Supply and demand accommodates itself obligingly to the speculator. It is "modified" almost beyond re-cognition by trade agreements, federations, trusts, cartels, and monopolies. Upon sufficient inducement, the law of supply and demand will stand on its head or walk backwards. Even under the most favorable operation of the law, it works with extreme in-justice, for if any commodities happen to be scarce, under the working of supply and demand, the price increases. Then, while the wealthy can amply satisfy their needs, the poor (i.e. the bulk of the working class) have to go without, whereas in equity the available supplies should be rationed out, so that each gets a fair share. Supply and demand operate like a night-mare upon the working-class and will be superseded under communism where the nation will be the sole producer and the sole wholesale purchaser. CAPITALISM'S ROLE ENDED. Primitive Communism lasted over 100,000 years. Modern Capitalism has been in operation some 150 years, and is now showing those acute symptoms which indicate old age and decay. Yet during its mushroom growth, capitalism has confuted Malthus and solved the problem of production, thus accomplishing its historical destiny. Capitalism's apologists are however endeavouring to infuse new life into the veins of the moribund by restricted applications of Socialist theory. The bastard Socialist operations of the various belligerent Governments in the recent European war, will be readily re-called. The land reformers, tariff reformers and credit reformers, these reformers — like the misogynist and the temperance advocate — are obsessed with a single idea. To the misogynist — Woman, to the temperance advocate — drink, to the land reform-er — land monopoly, and to the credit re-former, credit monopoly is the root of all evil. Each reckons he has discovered a panacea. Each clearly recognises that the other fellow's cure-all is merely an incomplete remedy and covers only one of the ills which afflict the system. Each is blind to the one-sidedness of his own theory. Socialism is the only theory which deals comprehensively with the problems in all its aspects. Socialism alone replaces the vague unstable and unjust law of supply and demand of the business men by the direct and scientific methods of the technician. It ascertains the needs of the community, producing and distributing accordingly. To-day the present order of production, distribution and exchange is rocking on its foundations, and the organised workers of Australia, and of the whole civilised world, are faced with the necessity of taking upon their shoulders the salvation of society. LABOR'S HISTORICAL TASK. In Europe, ten millions of men and women are workless; a hundred millions lack the barest necessities of existence. Starvation is by instinct revolutionary, and revolution knocks at the door. What is the reply of the master class? It is to restrict and sabotage still further the production of those prime necessities without which the Workers must starve or revolt. Capitalism can do no other. It is forced on to self-destruction. Time after time the greatest political, financial and industrial magnates of the world have met and virtually confessed their impotence to stabilise the tottering edifice. In every civilised country, the old order is passing. Demands for wages are turning into demands for "Control of Industry," In Russia, Italy, Britain, Germany, France, Austria and Belgium, the Great Working Class Movement is proceeding inexorably to the fulfilment of its historical destiny. The apparatus of Labor Organisation in the Commonwealth, is designated only to deal with conditions of employment under the existing order. If the great change is to take place with a minimum of disorder and misery, the Labor Movement must take cognisance of those cyclonic changes that are taking place in the old world and prepare itself, by the creation of new machinery, for the great task that lies before it; the Socialisation of Industry.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209257827 Australian Labor's New Objective Communist , 95 New South Wales, Australia 12 January 1923 14 November 2018 2 National Library of Australia WHY I PUBLISH "SMITH'S WEEKLY." Class-Conscious Comedy. WERE it not for wags like Mr. E. R. Voigt life would indeed be dull. IN giving him space in which to score off its pet pose, the Sydney "Daily Mail," the most deliciously comic of Australian dailies, brightened one day last week. The "Daily Mail," let it be remarked, is a joy to all who can appreciate unconscious humour. Its painstaking efforts to be "radical" make it so. Mr. Voigt quite obviously sensed its somewhat laborious intent. And with admirable gravity he argued in "The Mail" that welfare schemes in industry had a fell purpose. They meant a return to feudalism! To get away with a joke like that puts Mr. Voigt in a class by himself among comedians. HIS happiest stroke was in selecting "The Mail" to run his witty spoof. The mock earnestness of his argument could, of course, only catch a paper zealously striving to achieve a reputation in radicalism. BY pioneering this form of fun, Mr. Voigt has given Sydney a new pastime. "The Daily Mail" columns now offer a virgin field to practical jokers. It is a pity Wilkes or Titus Oates, or Guy Fawkes couldn't come back to life to exploit the possibilities of the sport. All their old gags could be worked over again in the columns of the "Daily Mail." However, Mr. Voigt is doing very well. Next week, no doubt,, he will attack the social work of the Salvation Army, and prove that it is a return to the system the monasteries had of housing the indigent in the time of Henry VIII. Australia might be stirred by riots such as occurred at the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace. If Mr. Voigt could only work in the name of Cromwell, the "Daily Mail" would probably confuse the figure of Henry VIII's. reign with the Protector, and get wildly excited about him. AGAIN, given a working knowledge of history, he could work up a good "Daily Mail" scare on socialism. Mr. Voigt could demonstrate that the advocacy of socialism was an attempt to put the clock back to the Middle-Ages. In actual fact, the socialistic idea then prevailed in practice. For feudal customs and guilds regulated-the status of each man, and controlled every detail of his life. The church ordered his worship and belief. There were sumptuary laws which didn't permit of his habit being as costly as his purse could buy or his taste dictate. If there did come a revolt against these restrictions in favour of individual liberty, Mr. Voigt could use the fact as one of the "Daily Mail's" favourite "bombshells." It could be thrown into the A.L.P. camp with startling effect. And he could dramatically accuse socialists of an impulse to feudalism, and again horrify the ingenuous readers of the "Daily Mail." FOLLOWING this up, Mr. Voigt could next "expose" some ghastly cases of philanthropy. Examples could be given of men whose interests had been disturbingly served by their quixotry. After casting bread upon the waters it has returned to them an hundredfold. Somerset Maugham in one of his recent stories relates how doubts assail a man "who, with altruistic motives, builds model dwellings for the poor, and finds he has made a lucrative investment." Shocking instances of this might be used by Mr. Voigt to make "Daily Mail" scandals out of. The plight of a philanthropist so stung with shame would make the feudal welfare artist pale into insignificance. OTHER enemies of society crowd into one's mind as adaptable to the subtle humour of Mr. Voigt. In the columns of the "Daily Mail" he will surely have a fling at those who share profits with employees. These rapacious scoundrels are criminally bent upon making their workers contented. To this end they feloniously refuse to take the full reward of labour. The scheme has wrought appalling consequences. Industries have flourished as a result of the incentive given employees to acquire shares and make them yield dividends. Mr. Voigt should certainly warn "Daily Mail" readers against this insidious evil. In one of his inimitable spoofs he should caution workers against thrift. The habit of saving may lose them their sacred class-consciousness. Would they but spend all they earn they could remain righteously — even riotously — poor. Thus would be hastened the rule of the proletariat. ISN'T it all pitiful twaddle, this "radicalism", of the "Daily Mail"? By what crazy gauge does the paper measure the intelligence of the Australian worker? THE average Australian, fortunately, has fairly decided ideas about saving and bettering his and his family's lot. Savings Bank and Life Assurance figures put that beyond doubt. ALSO, the workers knew the bad employer and the good employer, and they prefer to work for the latter. Factory improvements in the way of hygiene and healthful recreation, call it "welfare work" or what you will, are welcomed by any man or woman shrewd enough to value physical fitness, and who isn't? Profit sharing and co-operative schemes may not suit the agitator who battens on discontent. But it would be a blessed state if every agitator found himself at a loss for something to agitate about. UNHAPPILY, there will always be enough mean employers to keep the agitator busy. If, however, he contented himself with them and used the good employers to illustrate what he would have all, the agitator would be more worthy of his hire. What's more, he would be a power in the land, instead of the joke he mostly is. ANY time the agitator has a few hours to spare he would be better occupied making an inspection of hovels rented to workers by slum landlords than in talking balderdash about welfare schemes being a return to feudalism. It should be part of every union official's duty to see how workers are housed. FEUDALISM could show nothing half as evil in housing as the class-conscious Sydney toiler is forced to submit to to-day. And the union official who is really on his job would be busy awaking the public conscience to the ill-conditioned oppression rent-racked workers suffer. JOYNTON SMITH.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234285818 WHY I PUBLISH "SMITH'S WEEKLY" Smith's Weekly IV, 47 New South Wales, Australia 13 January 1923 14 November 2018 14 National Library of Australia 1923 02 MR. HOLMAN IS ANNOYED. A COUPLE of weeks ago. W. A. Holman and Thomas Courtney were engaged in the columns of the "Daily Telegraph" in a controversy in connection with France's present dictatorial attitude towards Germany. Courtney made Holman, who was defending France, look very foolish indeed, whereupon Holman complained that his statement of the case had been mutilated. The reply was that only errors in grammar and composition were corrected (the "D.T." having a journalistic and literary reputation to think of.) Holman's complaint of having his manuscript interfered with brings to mind what happened when E. R. Voigt, director and secretary of the Trades Hall Labor Research and Information Bureau, got into newspaper holts with the ex-Labor Premier. The newspaper which staged the controversy was the "Sunday Times." Holman wrote and had printed in its columns a long and bitter tirade against Voigt. Voigt replied — in an article which, if it had been printed in full, would have taken up about the same space as Holman's inky outburst. But what happened? This: The article was cut down to a mere scrap — the most telling passages being slashed right out. Voigt wrote a protesting letter to the editor-in-chief, Adam McCay, and that gentleman, in the course of his reply, stated that the article was passed on to Holman, and that he (the latter) had fairly summarised its contents! And now W. A. Holman, who, being one of the principals in a controversy in which his own outpourings were given lengthy space, had the bad taste to mutilate his opponent's reply, is actually found to peevishly complain when a few words of his own in another paper are altered — and altered not in an antagonistic, but in a friendly spirit! No wonder Courtney made Holman look foolish!http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145794333 MR. HOLMAN IS ANNOYED. The Australian Worker 32, 7 New South Wales, Australia 14 February 1923 14 November 2018 13 National Library of Australia 1923 04 A.L.P. UNITY CONFERENCE. The Editor. Sir,— It is gratifying to learn that H.E.B. is breaking the circle of capitalist papers which are venomously attacking the Executive of the A.L.P. It is however to be regretted that this action was not taken on the question of executive control of Parliamentary members, for the Executive is the only machinery which exists whereby the organised workers, whose organisations are affiliated to the A.L.P., can exercise anything in the nature of effective control over their parliamentary members. But the point in H.E.B.'s article to which most advanced workers will take objection is that which discriminates against the Communist Party, and which, I venture to state, is (1) opposed to the democratic principles of working-class organisation, and (2) is opposed to the movement courageously launched by the A.L.P. Executive to achieve a united working-class front against the employers and their parliamentary executive — the "Nationalist" party. Now, whatever may be the reasons of H.E.B. in declaring against the affiliation of the Communist Party with the A.L.P., this declaration nevertheless remains contrary to the expressed will of the Trade Union Movement of Australia, for it contravenes the principal resolution adopted by the last All-Australian Congress of Trade Unions, which "calls upon the A.L.P. to make provision, along the lines of the British and N.Z. Labor Parties, for the incorporation of all schools of genuine Labor thought and activity, with the freedom of propaganda and organisation, while at the same time requiring a LOYAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE DECISIONS OF REPRESENTATIVE CONFERENCES." This was more than a resolution; it was a compact between the militants and the moderates. The subcommittee appointed by Congress which drew up that resolution comprised three members of the party which H.E.B. now proposes to keep outside the A.L.P., and three others. The A.L.P. now declares its intention of honoring that compact, for it is becoming increasingly evident that there can be no effective working-class unity in Australia which does not include the militant elements. It is to be regretted therefore that it is precisely at this moment, when a definite and courageous movement towards unity is being made by the A.L.P. Executive — a move which is in harmony with the expressed will of the Australian Trade Union Movement — that H.E.B. proposes in effect to outlaw the Communist Party. Let us examine the reasons of H.E.B. for the prescription of the Communist Party. He states: "It is a monstrous claim that we should open our ranks to those who declare they will join the A.L.P. with the express purpose of destroying it, or at any rate of diverting it into courses that will fundamentally transform it." This is an amazing statement, and I venture to hope that H.E.B. will recognise and freely admit its unsoundness. Must the A.L:P. not take part in Parliament because finally Parliament as we know it will be either "destroyed" or "fundamentally transformed" to meet the needs of the changing. times? May not an O.B. Unionist take part in any craft organisation because he hopes craft Unionism eventually will cease to exist or be transformed? May the Australian Trade Union Movement not enter the framework of the competitive social order which it hopes to transform and finally destroy? No progress would be possible were advanced elements kept rigidly out of those organisms, which they finally transform and replace. It is a fundamental law of nature that every social order, every organisation, every individual, and every atom contains within itself the seeds of its own transformation and destruction. The point need not be labored. Let H.E.B. admit his error frankly, and fall into line loyally with the decision of the All-Australian Congress and the action now being taken by the A.L.P. Executive towards its realisation. E. R. VOIGT, Director and Secretary, Labor Research and Information Bureau. [Mr. Voigt must think H.E.B. a very simple person. We are all aware that the capitalist system carries within itself the elements of its own destruction, and the seeds of the better social system that is to succeed it. But how does knowledge of that fact oblige H.E.B., or any other Laborite, to facilitate the funeral of the A.L.P.? In H.E.B.'s opinion the A.L.P. re-presents the forces which will burst the framework of Capitalism and create the New Order. He has therefore not the slightest intention of assisting the Communists to destroy it, or fundamentally change it, which is the same thing, with the object of substituting for it their own movement, which he is convinced would, in this country at least, defeat the natural progress of events, and lead to the establishment of an oligarchic despotism the like of which the world has not yet seen, but which many wise men have feared and foretold.]http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145796551 A.L.P. UNITY CONFERENCE. The Australian Worker 32, 15 New South Wales, Australia 11 April 1923 14 November 2018 14 National Library of Australia 1923 05 THE UNITED FRONT. The Editor. Dear Sir,— H.E.B.'s continued attack upon the "affiliation" policy laid down as a basis for Parliamentary unity by the 1922 All-Australian Trade Union Congress and endorsed by the All-N.S.W. Trade Union Congress on April 28, 1921, is causing uneasiness to many Trade Unionists who are sincerely desirous of presenting a united front to the attacks of the employers against the standard of life of the workers. H.E.B. commences with a eulogy of the idea of the United Front, and optimistically states, "There's no difficulty in the way, once the wish is formed." There are of course immense difficulties in the way of unity, as the Australian Workers' Union found out when considering the merging of its organisation into the One Big Union. In The Worker (June 30, 1921) H.E.B. wrote: "To talk of unity is the easiest thing in the world. The hardest thing in the world is to accomplish it." Precisely. The unity of lip-service gets us nowhere. It is organic unity that counts. Moreover the fight is on. Labor is being beaten all along the line. We cannot afford to wait for some ideal organisation. We have to deal with all the different sections and schools of thought as they exist and will continue to exist under capitalist society. The All-Australian Trade Union Congress found the question of unity a great deal more difficult and complex than does H.E.B. The Parliamentary unity of Labor was the knottiest problem of Congress, which spent practically three out of the five and a half days in its discussion. The result of the deliberations of one of the most representative congresses ever held in the Commonwealth was the proposal embodied in the "affiliation" resolution adopted by the N.S.W. Trade Union Congress. H.E.B.'s attack on this resolution indicates not only that he has little confidence in the judgment of his fellow-unionists, but also that he does not desire either the Australian Labor Party or the Unions to accept the scheme of Greater Unity decided upon by the All-Australian Trade Union Congress. This is an amazing position for a man to take up to-day, who, after the 1921 All-Australian Trade Union Congress wrote: 'It remains for the rank and file of the Unions and the Leagues to endorse the resolutions reached, and accept the schemes of Greater Unity to be submitted to them." How can H.E.B. reconcile that recommendation of loyalty to the great Congress he has so eulogised with his antagonism of to-day? H.E.B.'s scheme for unity, i.e., for all other schools of thought to dissolve their organisations (for that is what is implied), and all to join up individually with the A.L.P., is so visionary and impracticable that I will not attempt any reply unless H.E.B. wishes it. But let me state this in conclusion: When H.E.B. writes that— "The door of the Australian Labor Party stands wide open, they (the Communists) can enter without knocking," he is wrong. The rules of the A.L.P. lay it down clearly that the drastic price of admission to this exclusive body for any other school of Labor thought is the prompt dissolution of its organisation. Unity under these draconian conditions is possible. Are we to dream and do nothing except praise our own school of thought and excommunicate every other genuine Labor school? The All-Australian Trade Union Congress spoke clearly and decisively. It gave no lip-service, but outlined a practical basis for unity. It is the duty of every loyal Trade Unionist to do what he or she can to give effect to this decision, so that the actual operation of the proposals can demonstrate their effectiveness or otherwise in the pressing need of Labor unity. E. R. VOIGT, Labor Research and Information Bureau. [Mr. Voigt entirely overlooks or ignores the central contention of the article he criticises, and his letter is for that reason only another example of the ease with which the most alert amongst us may miss the bus. You cannot have a United Front except on the basis of an undivided allegiance and a uniform propaganda in essentials. The claim of the Communist Party to come into the A.L.P., and still retain its own organisation, and carry on its own propaganda, which in some vital respects is irreconcilably opposed to that of the A.L.P., is therefore incompatible with unity, and would be more than likely to lead to internal clashes and ultimate disintegration. It is in the interests of the United Front that H.E.B. opposes this claim, which he holds to be both impracticable and perilous. As for the All-Australia Congress, to accept its scheme of organisation does not involve acquiescence in every resolution that it carried. The Victorian A.L.P. Conference has already rejected the particular resolution referred to. H.E.B. has no doubt that every A.L.P. Conference in the Commonwealth will do the same.— Ed.]http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145794581 THE UNITED FRONT. The Australian Worker 32, 19 New South Wales, Australia 9 May 1923 14 November 2018 14 National Library of Australia THE UNITED FRONT. The Editor. Dear Sir,— H.E.B. can do justice neither to himself nor to the subject by attempting to meet my arguments in a short footnote. It is not surprising therefore that H.E.B. makes no attempt to meet the bulk or the case presented to him. While ignoring the beam in his own eye, H.E.B. discovers a mote in mine. I overlook the "central contention" of his argument, he states. That central contention is: You cannot have a United Front except on the basis of an undivided allegiance, and a uniform propaganda in essentials. I had not overlooked this statement; but it was so vague, so lacking in precision, that I regarded it merely as a rhetorical embellishment. I now learn that it is a "central contention." Well, let us analyse it. "Undivided allegiance" — absolute and unqualified — is of course ridiculous. H.E.B. divides up his allegiance very considerably, and I have no doubt the A.L.P. by no means retains the bulk. Possibly H.E.B. means undivided "political" allegiance. If so, then the A.L.P. is not the bell, book, and candle of political action, and there is ample room for other schools of Labor thought. What matters is undivided "parliamentary" allegiance, and that would be given by the Communist or any working-class party under the terms of the "affiliation" proposal submitted by the Melbourne and Sydney Trade Union Congresses. H.E.B. has no right to assume that working-class parties in general, or the Communist Party in particular, will not honor such an undertaking if given. As to the other alleged prerequisite: "Uniform propaganda in essentials." This phrase is as vague and illogical as its predecessor. If any affiliating organisation, whether it be Labor Council, Socialist Labor Party, Communist Party, or Co-operative Society, subscribes to the objective, platform, and policy of the A.L.P., and agrees loyally to abide by the decisions of representative conferences, what more in Unity's name does H.E.B. want? Evidently H.E.B. wants the various schools of thought and the medley of organisations which comprise the Australian Labor Movement to accomplish a sudden metamorphosis into an all-inclusive undivided ideal body, where 700,000 minds have but a single thought and 700,000 stout hearts beat as one. If there were any truth in H.E.B.'s "undivided allegiance" obsession, the British Labor Party, the New Zealand Labor Party, the A.L.P., and every Trade Union centre or conference are pure undiluted futility, for their composing elements include differing schools of thought and propaganda, very divided "allegiances," and in some cases actually differing objectives. Meanwhile let me knock on the head once and for all H.E.B.'s tarradiddle about the door of the A.L.P. standing wide open for individual Communists, Socialists, etc. Rule 52, A.L.P., states: "No Labor candidate or member of the A.L.P. shall sign the pledge or undertaking of any other group, organisation, or party." As an example of comprehensiveness this is a gem of the first water. Not only individual members of the Socialist or Communist Parties could be ruled out under it, but also any member of a Trade Union, Freemason or Hibernian Society, religious body, or football club who might have the temerity to give an "undertaking," even if only to pay his subscription. The employers and their parliamentary executives are beating down the workers all along the line and in every country. We have got to get together, with all our faults and failings, and form some sort of a United Front. If H.E.B. can suggest nothing (and he has not suggested any practical alternative) let him stand aside and help those who can. E. R. VOIGT. May 11, 1923. (Mr. Voigt complains of the shortness of the reply to his previous letter. The briefest footnote is quite sufficient in which to deal with an argument that refutes itself. The reference to football clubs and other non-political bodies is too infantile to call for comment. As for Trade Unions, they may at any time affiliate with the A.L.P., because they have no official doctrines conflicting with those of the A.L.P. The Communists have. The difference is a fatal one. Moreover the Communists themselves exemplify the soundness of H.E.B.'s contention. No organisation holding principles in direct opposition to theirs can join up with their Party and retain the right of propaganda and separate entity. H.E.B. has no need to prove his case against their claim for admission to the A.L.P. They prove it for him. When Mr. Voigt has converted the Communists to his views on political tolerance it will be time enough to try his hand on other people in their behalf.— Ed.)http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145796862 THE UNITED FRONT. The Australian Worker 32, 20 New South Wales, Australia 16 May 1923 14 November 2018 8 National Library of Australia 1923 06 MAIN ISSUES IN DOUBT. Labor's Parliament. SURPRISING CROSS VOTING. Opening Day Business. (By Our Labor Representative.) The annual conference of the New South Wales branch of the A.L.P. opened at the Trades Hall on Saturday, and, although much of the time was spent in the taking of counts and divisions upon motions and amendments, it is impossible to forecast the poll upon the red-hot issue of executive domination of Parliamentarians and other big questions. The manner in which the voting fluctuated is evidence that there is a strong army of independents present, scattering their support according to their personal views. These are sufficiently strong to hold the balance of power. For the time being it is an open conference, and it is clear that many delegates will not commit themselves to any policy, until they have heard the evidence in the case of the Executive v. Dooley, et al. The biggest vote polled during the day was that which placed Mr. J. Howie, the well-known Trades and Labor Council militant, at the head of the poll for election to the agenda committee. Subsequently, when Mr. Howie presented a minority report from that committee, on behalf of himself and Mr. Graves, the motion for adoption was crushingly defeated. This reversal would have been impossible with clear-cut factions established. Another obstacle in the way of calculators is that 20 or 30 more delegates may be present to-day, or to-night. There were about 274 there on Saturday evening, as against 251 in the afternoon. Many alternate delegates, and members of the public — admitted by resolution — occupied places at the rear of the hall, outside the railing. The room was uncomfortably crowded, and seating accommodation was unequal to the demands. On the motion of Mr. Cecil Last, the press was admitted for the first time since the breakaway conference, of 1919. Such industrialists as Mr. Willis, Mr. Jock Garden, and Mr. Howie also returned from four years absence. Conference Officers It was resolved that the Federally-appointed credentials committee (Messrs. Arch. Stewart, G. Rowlands, and J. Tyrrell) should act throughout the conference. Senator J. Grant was elected minute secretary, defeating Mr. Cecil Last. There were 12 nominees for the agenda committee of five. The voting was: J. Howie (Coopers), 177; A. Blakeley, M.P. (A.W.U.), 160; E. C. Magrath (Printers), 149; J. Graves (Stovemakers), 148; J. O'Brien (Painters), 132. The foregoing were elected. Mr. Blakeley's was the first vote taken, and Mr. Howie's the seventh in order. The seven defeated candidates were: J. F. O'Reilly (Hairdressers), 131; W. Ely (Parramatta and Minority A.L.P. Executive), 121; J. F. HIggins, M.L.C. (Majority Executive); 115; G. Sutherland (Majority Executive), 102; J. Kelly (Majority Executive), 96; B. Cross (Letter Carriers), 16; J. Connolly (Trolly and Draymen), 9. Of the five elected, Messrs. Howie and Graves represented the industrialists; Messrs. Magrath and O'Brien were regarded as having industrialist sympathies, while Mr. Blakeley is understood to favor the politicals. However, at a later stage, the last three brought in a majority report, while Messrs. Howie and Graves presented one in opposition. Correspondence Mr. D. R. Voigt forwarded the minutes of the Industrial Congress, held on April 28, relative to Labor's objective.— Proposals to be included in general business. Paddington branch wrote, requesting that the case of Ald. Jones, who had been expelled for opposing the amalgamation of Paddington with Sydney, be reconsidered in the alderman's favor. On the motion of Mr. R. R. Stapleton (Paddington), the request was referred to the agenda committee. Politicals' Close Shave. Mr. Arch. Stewart (Federal secretary of the A.L.P., and chairman of the credentials committee) made the following communication by letter:— 'I am directed to inform you that the special committee appointed under the terms of the agreement between the Federal and State executives holds that to prevent the admission of members of. Parliament who are not delegates to conference is a distinct breach of the understanding arrived at between the two bodies, as contained in clause 1 of the agreement. It decides, therefore, that in accordance with the customs previously established, members of Parliaments are to be admitted, but they must be accommodated in a portion of the hall set apart from the delegates. It is recommended that they shall not be permitted to take part in the debates before conference unless they are directly affected individually or personally. Mr. Denford (Ironworkers) moved: "That the recommendations of the credentials committee be adopted. Mr. Howie supported. He opposed the creation of a privileged class for parliamentarians. Mr. George Rowlands (Farriers and executive) observed that he had moved the resolution at the executive meeting for the exclusion of the parliamentarians. His reason was that people from the country coming to previous conferences had failed to get a hearing themselves or to have their business brought forward, owing to the time expended in listening to parliamentarians without credentials. Mr. Bell (Albury), as a country member, said that in this conference he hoped politicians would be permit-ted to take part, owing to the special circumstances that all knew to exist, but that henceforward they should be excluded. After further debate, the resolution was defeated on a show of hands by 129 votes to 127. A division was called for, and again the resolution was defeated, the count being: Ayes, 121; noes, 130. This means that parliamentarians are permitted to sit among the delegates and speak as they wish, but without voting power, unless they are delegates. First Open Clash. The first clash between the "Reds" and the old school occurred when the agenda committee reported back to conference. Mr. E. C. Magrath, as chairman, presented the majority report from the committee. This was that:— 1. The standing orders should be established, and arrangements made for the election of officers for the coming year. 2. Election of returning officer. 3. Appointment of scrutineers. 4. President's address. 5. The report of the Federal officers (Messrs. R. Sumner, president; F. Hannan, vice-president; and Arch. Stewart, secretary). "We think," said Mr. Magrath, "that these officers should make an early statement as to the reasons which caused them to intervene in the Federal dispute, and explain why they are attending this conference now." Mr. Howie asked conference to adopt the minority report. He complained that he and Mr. Graves had found themselves over-ridden by a brutal majority in the other three. The minority agreed with the majority until they had come to the matter of the Federal officers' report. They wished, said Mr. Howie, that the report of the Federal executive upon intervention and the Dooley matter be taken together. and that all portions of the State executive's report be dealt with then, too. Mr. Harris (Tramways Union) seconded the adoption of the minority report. In the form of a question, Mr. Howie charged the majority section of the committee with having determined that the report of the central executive would be the last of all the Dooley matters to be placed before conference. The majority report was carried, up-on division, by overwhelming odds, so that a count was quite needless. Undoubtedly Mr. Howie had tried to make this an issue, but the support was so ridiculously poor as to show that it was not a faction poll. Not half of the avowed 120 anti-politicals supported it. Parliamentarians Present The leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party. Mr. Matt. Charlton, early in the evening session entered, and took a seat on the platform, amidst rounds of applause. Mr. Power welcomed the leader, congratulating him upon his restoration to health. Mr. Charlton said that the Labor movement had been going through a difficult period, owing to the war, but the tide had turned. He asked the members of the movement to stand shoulder to shoulder, and to spend their energy not in fighting one another, but upon their opponents. (Cheers.) Were that done, he had no doubt but that what had occurred in Queensland would be repeated in the Federal arena at the next elections, and Labor would come into its own. (Cheers.) Senator Gardiner (the Federal deputy-leader) was present throughout the proceedings on Saturday and the acting-leader of the State Parliamentary.. Party (Mr. W. F. Dunn) paid a quiet visit in the afternoon. An unusual number of politicians were present, some of them attending as delegates. Yesterday afternoon the delegates were the guests of the State executive, at a harbor picnic. To-day's Business When conference re-assembles at 10 a.m. to-day, the first business will be in connection with arrangements for the election of the next executive. Both the "Reds" and the parliamentary faction desire this to be on a much broader franchise than in the past. The "Reds" desire a big representation to be elected by industrial groups, while the parliamentaries wish the movement throughout the State to have representation either upon electoral or other territorial bases. Between the two, there may be a decision that will make a reconstruction of the executive inevitable, either at next conference, or by the election of a provisional executive now, with instructions to complete a general ballot within a specified time.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245813557 MAIN ISSUES IN DOUBT The Daily Telegraph 13,748 New South Wales, Australia 4 June 1923 15 November 2018 5 National Library of Australia ABOLISH SELECTION. TRADES HALL ADVICE. The abolition of selection ballots is advocated in a manifesto issued by the Labor and Research Bureau at the Trades Hall, controlled by Mr. E. R. Voigt. "Trades unions are not likely to be satisfied with the discovery and destruction of two faked ballot boxes, and the fall of the executive which never used them," says the manifesto. "The only way to eliminate faked ballots for all time," it says, "is to abolish selection and permit all eligible candidates to go to the poll." This would eliminate the disgruntled unsuccessful candidates for selection, and would ensure an aggregate poll from the various schools of thought and from all the personal followers of the Labor candidates. "More important even than this, the all-in elections will eliminate completely the possibility of corruption and machine politics in the endorsement of parliamentary candidates."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245807601 ABOLISH SELECTION The Daily Telegraph 13,753 New South Wales, Australia 9 June 1923 15 November 2018 21 National Library of Australia MR. DOOLEY RE-ADMITTED. OLD LABOR EXECUTIVE SWEPT OUT OF OFFICE. FURTHER ACCUSATIONS OF CROOK BALLOTS. Last Wednesday night the N.S.W. Annual Conference resumed the debate on the question of Mr. Dooley's expulsion and the appointment of Mr. Suttor to the Upper House. After preliminary business had been disposed of, Mr. J. O'Brien (Painters' Union) said that Mr. Dooley had been expelled for exercising the sacred right of free speech. Delegates would remember the things said by Mr. McGirr against Mr. Dooley at the last Conference. A Committee which investigated the charges made found they were not true either in substance or fact. If ever a man deserved censure it was McGirr, yet the Executive took no action. It appointed him leader of the Parliamentary Party. The Executive had allowed personal animosity to outweigh all consideration for Mr. Dooley, and it was due to the Conference to see that injustice in the Movement should not triumph, and that every person should receive the consideration that he or she was entitled to. He trusted that the time would never come when it would allow any section or faction to allocate powers to itself, and use them in a desperate manner. And they would not allow any faction to do just as it liked and risk the integrity and honor of the Labor Movement, just as the majority Executive had done. The Executive should set a high standard of morality and efficiency. He was satisfied that the members of the Executive had not done their duty, and had succeeded in tearing the Movement asunder. It was now the duty of the Conference to bring the factions together in one whole. There was a great necessity for closer organisation, and he, as an industrialist, would say that it was absolutely necessary that the industrial side should join forces with the political Movement. . . . . IMMIGRATION AND LAND SETTLE-MENT. When Conference resumed on Saturday afternoon (June 9) Mr. M. A. Davidson, M.L.A., secured the suspension of the standing orders and moved a motion to appoint a committee for the purpose of supplying Mr. Wignall, Labor representative of the British Overseas Settlement scheme, with information in relation to defects in the "Nationalist" land policy and particulars regarding land available and the nature thereof. Mr. Davidson de-tailed the nature of the information he considered should be supplied so that Mr. Wignall could inform the British Labor Party what the true position was. Mr. Bell (Albury), in seconding the motion, said that the immigration scheme engineered by the "Nationalist" Government was a fraud, as far as the workers were concerned, and could only benefit large landowners. Because of resumptions to be made, an enhanced value was being given to land. The immigrants being put on the land were bankrupt the day they started, and must fail and go to swell the labor market. The motion was carried. Messrs. Loughlin, Dunn, Davidson, Bell, Baddeley, Holloway, Bodkin, Trefle, Garden, and Voigt were appointed members of the committee.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145798698 MR. DOOLEY RE-ADMITTED. The Australian Worker 32, 24 New South Wales, Australia 13 June 1923 15 November 2018 5 National Library of Australia A.L.P. CONFERENCE. . . . SHIPPING BUREAU DECLARED BLACK. SHIPPING BUREAU. Mr. Mills (Wharf Labourers) seconded the motion, and moved that the following addendum be made to the motion:— "That the Oversea Shipping Bureau is herewith declared black, and that it is a distinct menace to the trades-union movement, and that any working man at the Oversea Shipping Bureau not being a member of the Waterside Workers' Federation be declared ineligible and outside the Labour movement." Mr. Mills complained that the Labour Government when in power had not carried out its duties by doing its utmost to uproot the bureau. They had had a lot to contend with so-called returned soldiers, but he was prepared to say that every "dinkum" soldier on returning from the front rejoined his old union. Mr. Hadfield said he was in accord with Mr. Mills's proposal, but he thought the two matters should be considered separately by the conference. (Hear, hear.) It was decided to consider Mr. Hadfield's motion and Mr. Mills's motion separately. Mr. Knight (Northern Miners) spoke in support of Mr. Hadfield's motion. Mr. J. J. Hudson (Northern miners) said the miners' fight was the fight of every trades unionist, and the miners wished to appeal to them for support. It was moved, "That the question be now put." This was carried. Mr. Hadfield's motion was then put to the meeting and carried. Mr. Mills's motion was then debated. Mr. Seale (Waterside Workers) supported the motion, and said that the "scab" bureau, as organised by the Oversea Shipowners' Association, was a menace to the unionists' interests, and should be abolished. It had been said that the Labour politicians had failed in their duty. The old executive had not been so eager to expel those politicians who had failed in their duty as they had been to expel Mr. Dooley. If the politicians had failed to take definite action, so had the industrialists. If the owners went further and forced all the miners into the fight the waterside workers would remain loyal to the miners, and stand behind them. (Hear, hear.) Mr. J. Howie (Coopers' Union) said that he endorsed the views expressed in the motion, but he thought it might be better If they could go further, and make some more definite proposals. They must devise some means of bringing all the workers on the waterfront into their movement. Mr. Howie, continuing, said that the seamen, waterside workers, and the miners should endeavour to bring together the two sections on the waterfront. He alleged that it was to a certain extent due to the officials of certain unions that the trouble on the water front had not been brought to finality. Mr. D. Murray, M.L A., said that his father had for 35 years worked on the waterfront, and today was victimised and not permitted to follow his calling. The Labour Bureau was established by the Nationalist Government during the 1917 strike. A delegate from the Coal-lumpers' Union stated that some time ago the Trades Hall had put forward a scheme to his union to the effect that the union should admit "the scabs" on the waterfront. He said that the union could not for one moment think of such a proposal. Mr. J. S. Garden (secretary to the Labour Council) said that some time ago he had addressed the returned soldiers engaged on the water front employed through the Shipping Bureau. Those men had agreed to come into the Waterside Workers' Federation, but the then secretary (Mr. J. Woods) refused to admit them to his organisation. Mr. Seale said that Mr. Voigt was deputed by the Labour Council to go down to the Shipping Bureau. Mr. Voigt subsequently reported back: "It is no use going to those fellows, as they are absolutely hopeless." The bulk of the returned soldiers, said the speaker, were members of the Waterside Workers' Federation. Mr. Mills, in reply, said that the Labour Council was not acting in the best interests of organised Labour. The council, which should be at the head of the industrial movement, was only being used for the purpose of propagating something that was foreign to Australia. He further alleged that the council devoted most of its attention to "Red Russia." Mr. Howie, he added, during his speech said that he was supporting the motion, and at the same time he spoke in opposition to it. The Labour Council and Mr. Howie, it would appear, were trying to place the onus on the Waterside Workers' Union in regard to the Shipping Bureau employees. The Labour Council had "simply sat on the job and did nothing." The motion, on being put, was declared carried.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16073784 A.L.P. CONFERENCE. The Sydney Morning Herald 26,658 New South Wales, Australia 14 June 1923 17 November 2018 10 National Library of Australiahttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16073785 THE TERRITORY. The Sydney Morning Herald 26,658 New South Wales, Australia 14 June 1923 17 November 2018 10 National Library of Australia LAND SETTLEMENT. LABOUR'S ATTITUDE. The special committee appointed for the purpose by the A.L.P. Conference has drawn up a lengthy report regarding immigration and land settlement for presentation to Mr. Wignall, the Labour member of the House of Commons and the British Labour representative on the delegation touring Australia to inquire into the dominions' land settlement scheme. The report is signed by Messrs. G. C. Bodkin, secretary, railway industry branch, A.W.U.; W. F. Dunn, ex-Minister for Agriculture, and deputy leader Parliamentary Labour party; J. S. Garden, secretary of the Labour Council; P. Laughlin, ex-Minister for Lands; C. B. Trefle, agricultural expert; M. Davidson, M.L.A., chairman of the committee; and E. R. Voigt director of the Labour Research and Information Bureau. The report states, inter alia:— The preliminary development work essential to providing the 6000 blocks in New South Wales under the scheme will take some years to complete, comprising, as it does, extensive railway construction, roadmaking, water conservation, surveys, etc., practically none of which has been commenced. Since there are estimated to be 25,000 to 30,000 unemployed in Now South Wales, it is difficult to credit the New South Wales capitalist Government with serious concern for the settlement, a number of years ahead, of 6000 workers from Britain. The committee believes that this land settlement scheme is a camouflage behind which the Governments concerned intend to work for the artificial stimulation of general immigration. The committee contend that while the New South Wales Government is willing to spend millions to settle a few inexperienced British workers on Australian land, thousands of experienced Australian land workers are making unsuccessful applications for the few blocks that become available, and the following figures are quoted as "an example of land hunger amongst Australians, which the New South Wales Government has apparently not noticed in its enthusiasm for immigration." The applications are stated to have been made in 1921: No. of Blocks, No. of Applicants. Coonamble 1, 247; Parkes 1, 497; Murwillumbah 3, 398; Lismore 1, 326; Wagga 1, 593; Corowa 1, 377. The report further states: "There is already a surplus of labour in the rural industries, and the New South Wales Government, which now contemplates inducing further supplies of labour from Britain, has deprived the local rural workers of what benefit they had secured under the Board of Trade minimum wage determination. With the exception of those working under the Federal arbitration award, the rural workers are now defenceless, and the keen competition for rural work has left them the worst-paid workers in the State, and only for specified seasonal operations, such as harvesting, are wages paid that in any degree approach wages paid under Industrial awards, These better-paid periods only last for a few weeks, and those engaged then set out once again on their search for temporary jobs to take them along week by week. In the considered opinion of the committee, the outcome of the land settlement scheme in question will be the probable failure of the settlers, the inevitable drift of unemployed towards the city, and the flooding of an already overstocked labour market."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16067654 LAND SETTLEMENT. The Sydney Morning Herald 26,662 New South Wales, Australia 19 June 1923 17 November 2018 7 National Library of Australia 1923 07 CONTROL OF INDUSTRY. Problems Discussed. A meeting to discuss problems relating to the control of industry was held under the auspices of the Workers' Educational Association in the Assembly-room at the Education Department's building yesterday afternoon and last night. During the afternoon session Mr. D. Stewart, general secretary of the W.E.A., read a paper on "A Building Guild, for Australia," in which he advocated the benefits of the guild system as against the co-operative society system. At night Mr. Voigt, director of the Labor Research Bureau, submitted arguments for the replacing of the arbitration system by a scheme of industrial councils. The Attorney-General (Mr. Bavin), who was unable to be present, but who had perused Mr. Voigt's paper, forwarded a critical reply, which was read by Professor Peden.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224101273 CONTROL OF INDUSTRY The Sun 1058 New South Wales, Australia 8 July 1923 17 November 2018 5 National Library of Australia INDUSTRY. SYSTEM OF CONTROL. "IDEAS OF THEORISTS." Referring to the paper read by Mr. E. R. Voigt, director of the Labour Research Bureau, on the control of industry, Mr. L. Napier Thomson, vice-president of the Metal Trades' Association, said it was time that employers and business men generally took note of the fact that there was an increasing tendency for academic theorists to lay down various systems of industrial control, quite regardless of the fact that their training was lacking in any intimate knowledge of the subject. The whole tendency of the various academic schemes put forward was to run industry on socialised lines, something similar to the lines on which Government departments and Government enterprises were controlled at present. Every business man realised that this tendency struck at the root of all progress in industry. The control of industry, as Mr. Bavin had said, could never be taken out of the hands of the people who put their hard-earned capital into it without that industry failing. If unions wished to control industry they must own it, and if they spent the money they were now wasting on strikes and propaganda they could own it. At the same time, if employers did not wake up, men like the director of the Labour Research Bureau would have an opportunity of landing industry in chaos and confusion.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16079872 INDUSTRY. The Sydney Morning Herald 26,681 New South Wales, Australia 11 July 1923 17 November 2018 14 National Library of Australia HOW THE W.E.A. WINS. Fighting From Within. Would it not be possible for all Trade Union debaters to forego for a time their hair-splitting arguments in favor of various industrial and political utopias and concentrate upon the winning of the working class to the practical militant ideals of to-day? This question arises out of witnessing a debate between two Trade Union representatives at the W.E.A. rooms last Saturday night. That the W.E.A. can induce members of the Trade Unions to come on to their platform and make it the battlefield of a fight which belongs within the Labor movement shows that the W.E.A. has a grasp of the tactics necessary to social success. Last Saturday night Mr. Voigt, of the Labor Research Bureau, and Mr. McGrath of the printing trades, held each other up to ridicule on every possible occasion. It was unfortunate that the capitalist minister, Mr. Bavin was not present, he would have enjoyed the proceedings and would have added to the general merriment of the W.E.A.-ers. To conduct our fight along such lines is not only bad tactics, but is the essence of stupidity. The process must be reversed. Let the W.E.A. send its men to the Trades Hall, and there compare their bourgeois political and industrial theories with the working class position as it is. A United Front does not mean that we should go out of our way to prove to our opponents that there is no United Front.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209411812 HOW THE W.E.A. WINS. The Workers' Weekly , 4 New South Wales, Australia 13 July 1923 17 November 2018 4 National Library of Australia PARS ABOUT PEOPLE. Voigt and Vegetables. Emil Voigt, who has been in charge of the N.S.W. Labor Council Research and Information Bureau, and who "put it over" Billy Hughes at the Round Table Conference last year, leaves for America to-morrow, where, if he likes the country, he will make his home. Voigt, besides being a successful inventor, was one of the world's best long-distance pedestrians — a fact rendered very obvious by his remarkable collection of cups, medals, and other trophies. As far back as 1908 he won the five-miles championship at the Olympic Games in London. Incidentally, he bars meat, and achieved all his triumphs on a vegetable diet.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145798469 PARS ABOUT PEOPLE The Australian Worker 32, 29 New South Wales, Australia 18 July 1923 17 November 2018 1 National Library of Australia LABOR WORLD. UNION NEWS. TRADES HALL. INDUSTRIALIST'S DEPARTURE. Mr. E. R. Voigt, Research officer to the Labor Council, left by the Maunganui for America yesterday. He was farewelled by a party of prominent industrialists, including Mr. J. Howie, who, during Mr. Voigt's absence, is filling the latter's office. Mr. J. S. Garden was unable to be present, he being a member of two deputations to Ministers.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246065723 LABOR WORLD The Daily Telegraph 13,788 New South Wales, Australia 20 July 1923 17 November 2018 6 National Library of Australia 1923 10 TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS AND CANCER. Writing from San Francisco, Mr. E. R. Voigt, Director and Secretary of the Labour Research and Information Bureau, at Sydney, states that he was fortunate in securing an interview with Dr. Albert Abrams, who gave him every opportunity to investigate his revolutionary discoveries in the treatment of disease. Mr. Voigt states: "In his clinic, I saw many oases of cancer, tuberculosis, and other hitherto incurable diseases, treated, and heard doctors and physicians pronounce improvements and actual cures. As a layman, I could not substantiate these medical diagnoses, but I could not fail to be impressed. Dr. Abrams has a particular interest in the condition of health of the workers, and I was given many demonstrations not usually accorded to the clinic. Once, after having been engaged with a well-known physician and a nurse for a whole afternoon in an experiment to produce anasthesla (unconsciousness) through one of Abrams's vibratory machines, I asked the physician if he really believed Abrams could cure cancer and tuberculosis. He replied that be had been forced to believe it, because no less than seven of his patients had been cured of consumption or cancer."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16100354 TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS AND CANCER. The Sydney Morning Herald 26,766 New South Wales, Australia 18 October 1923 17 November 2018 6 National Library of Australia 1924 1924 01 1924 02 1924 03 1924 Q2 1924 Q3 MR. ESMA HIGGINS. The Labor Research Department is again setting to work. Mr. Esma Higgins (a nephew of Mr. Justice Higgins), who has just arrived here from the London Labor Research Bureau, has now joined the staff of the Sydney bureau. In London, he had considerable experience, preparing matter for Labor members and other speakers, on all subjects of interest to the Working Class Movement. With the installing of Mr. Higgins and the approaching return from America of Mr. E. R. Voigt (director of the bureau), activities will assume new life, and the bureau will become one of the main factors in the industrial history of the country. Though a new phase of the movement, the services of the bureau are now being much sought after.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236539685 MR. ESMA HIGGINS w:Labor Daily 182 New South Wales, Australia 21 August 1924 17 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia 1924 Q4 WIRELESS FOR WORKERS. Why should all persons who buy or make a "listening-in" set have to pay a license fee of 35/ to Farmer's or Broadcasters, of which 30/ goes to these advertising stunt firms? In Britain the license fee is only 10/, and the service is infinitely superior. Any ingenious schoolboy can make a good receiving set in a matchbox at a cost of 2/. Yet he breaks the law if he does not promptly hand over 35/ to Farmer's or Broadcasters. Messrs. Anthony Hordern, David Jones, New System Telephones, Marcus Clark, Mark Foy, Harrington, and Lassetter's Limited objected to the outrageous monopoly created, and were treated by Mr. Bruce as if they were children. These "Associated Seven" advocated one independent non-profit making Company as the controllers of broadcasting, but the Post Office is surely a sufficient lesson. The "one independent non-profit-making Company" should be the Government of the continent. That Government should make listening-in either free or so cheap that every worker, in country or city, could receive from radio all that radio can contribute to the enjoyment, instruction, and education of mankind. No greater wrong was ever committed against a community than the commercialisation of broadcasting, and the monopoly created by the egregious Mr. Bruce and his colleagues. This journal, therefore, demands wireless for workers, and suggests the immediate cancellation of the present scandalous arrangements. Did not the whole of the Sydney Press, with the exception of "The Labor Daily," suppress the recent Report from Mr. George A. Taylor, President of the Association for Developing Wireless in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, written from Geneva, because that luminous Report denounced the stupidity of Mr. Bruce about the "Beam System," and advocated the scrapping of the Amalgamated Wireless Company, or, in the alternative, the appointment at once of an independent Commission to investigate the value of the patents, and alleged "goodwill," of the Amalgamated Wireless Company, for which Australia has paid £500,001? Of that arrangement the "Argus" wrote that it was "a dangerous debasement of political procedure," and the "Age" that it was "haste and its results," with Mr. Hughes as the "hastener" then, just as Mr. Bruce has been the hastener today. THE BEAM IN HIS EYE. Britain is erecting a Beam Station costing £58,024 entirely at the risk of Signor Marconi and his profit-greedy company, but Australia is erecting a Beam Station costing £125,000 entirely at the risk of the Australian taxpayers. The public would like the little difference explained, and also a clear elucidation of the mystery of the Poldhu Talk last June, for Mr. Fisk, of Vaucluse, Sydney, is reported in the London Press to have declared that it was "along a beam," and Signor Marconi, then of Poldhu, Cornwall, says it was not. It would really seem that Mr. Bruce has a beam in his eye, and that quite a number of others have the beam on the brain.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236544661 WIRELESS FOR WORKERS The Labor Daily 233 New South Wales, Australia 20 October 1924 10 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia THE RIGHT TO RADIO. To arouse workers to the importance of radio would be a great service to the working-class. Radio means much more than wages, which, in truth, are only a mirage. There are already 3,000,000 "listeners-in" in Great Britain, and for a maximum fee of 10/ a year they can "pick up" the whole of Britain, Paris, Berlin, and all other Continental capitals, and America, but here nobody can "pick up" anything, from a service of the poorest character, unless he pays 35/ a year in advance to Farmer's Limited or Broadcasters. Those favored firms did not broadcast the leading article in this journal on Monday, on "Wireless for Workers," yet it would be tor the public good to broadcast the truth. But next day they broadcasted "Rule Britannia," "The Story of Nelson," "Ye Mariners of England," "Admirals All," an address by his Excellency, "the Democratic de Chair," and a speech by the interesting Mr. Albert Bruntnell, M.L.A. The advocates and defenders of child conscription, who punish little boys for not attending drill, now propose to prosecute them if they are sufficiently ingenious to make a receiving set at a cost of two shillings. Of course, it will be replied that all can avoid trouble by contributing 35/ to the tills of Farmer's or Broadcasters, of which 30/, remains there. But why should they be called upon to do anything of the kind? Radio does not belong to two favored firms, but to man. Not even the benediction of Mr. Bruce can make radio theirs, yet the law dares to declare that they are to levy a tribute of 30/ a year on the use of the ether. There is much mummery about the supposed mystery and cost of radio, yet radio is simple and cheap, Farmer's broadcast on 5000 watts, but many big stations in the United States broadcast on 500 watts, which is equal to ten house electric lights, and New Zealand has been reached from Sydney on one-tenth of an amp. Already the Bruce Government has commercialised radio, and the stunt advertising firms, granted such unwarranted concessions, are utilising radio as a means of capitalist propaganda. THE LABOR COUNCIL. The Labor Council is a live body, and it should become alive to the rapid development of radio and its immeasurable importance to workers. Radio means more than "listening-in." The control of radio means the control of public opinion. The Press will not pass, but radio will mould opinion more. The Labor Council of this State could initiate a policy, by means of a well-considered Report, which would result, eventually, in workers' control of radio. Now and at all times they have a right to radio, and should assert it.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236553542 THE RIGHT TO RADIO The Labor Daily 236 New South Wales, Australia 23 October 1924 10 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia THE WORKERS ARE WIRELESS-WISE. Radio is Big Publicity Weapon — At Present a Capitalist Monopoly. LABOR COUNCIL INTERESTED. Sydney Labor Council is to consider establishing a workers' radio service in this State. At last night's meeting of the council a letter from Mr. E. R. Voigt, secretary of the Sydney Sydney Labor Research Bureau, was read out. Mr. Voigt is in Los Angeles at present, but will return to Australia at an early date. The letter reads: "Is the Labor Council alive to the rapid development and the importance to the workers of radio? "In Britain radio has grown to great power. There are approximately 3,000,000 listeners-in in Britain, and probably 5,000,000 in U.S.A. "Each political speech is broadcasted, and relayed to millions of listeners-in, long before the newspapers can print the news. "At first the newspapers in Britain and in U.S.A. fought radio, and re-fused to print the programmes. Today they have accepted the inevitable, and in Los Angeles, for instance, the newspapers are the most powerful broadcasters. "Each evening we get the following day's news, musical entertainments, capitalist economics, language instruction, lectures from the Bible Associations, and the Ku Klux Klan. RADIO IS INEXPENSIVE "There is a lot of bunkum about radio. The authorities like the workers to believe that it is mysterious, complicated and expensive. It is simple and inexpensive. Farmer's at Sydney broadcast on 5000 watts. Many of the big stations in U.S.A. use only 500 watts (equal to 10 electric house lamps only). A Sydney amateur reached Melbourne recently with only one amp, and later sent a message to New Zealand with less than a tenth of one amp. "Can you see the possibilities? The unions and the A.L.P. should have broadcasting stations in every district, and a big general broadcasting station in every State. "The expense would be ridiculously small, especially when compared with running a newspaper. "Each trade union member should buy a receiver with his membership; cost would be about 5/ to 10/. They could be made cheaper by the unions themselves. "Meetings could be called by radio, and strikes and strike news, too. Capitalist lies could be nailed daily to the workers sitting comfortably in their own homes. WORKERS SHOULD ACT "Lectures could be given on Marxian economics, Russia, trades union organisation, the O.B.U., industrial health, or international events at practically no cost at all. "The boss wants to keep the workers divided. The Press is his big weapon. Radio threatens the Press. "We must get some control of radio. Already the Australian Government plays into the hands of the capitalists by demanding a bond of £1000 for each broadcasting station. "I have been building a few radio receivers myself, and selling them. Recently I built one of the simplest and cheapest valve sets made. We got 1000 miles, including San Francisco and Seattle without difficulty. "Our kiddies won't go to bed without radio, and receive capitalism's imprint each night in the Children's Hour." Council decided to refer the matter to the executive to inquire into the possibilities of a scheme.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236542916 THE WORKERS ARE WIRELESS-WISE The Labor Daily 237 New South Wales, Australia 24 October 1924 10 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia PUBLIC PROTEST OVER WIRELESS. Meeting at Bondi Junction Vigorously Supports "The Labor Daily's" Attitude — Monopoly Condemned RADIO FOR WORKERS "The Labor Daily's" leaders of Monday and Thursday on "Wireless for Workers," and "The Right to Radio," formed the subject of a public meeting at Bondi Junction last evening. Mr. Walter Humphries, the principal speaker, blamed the Federal Government for placing broadcasting in the hands of two great monopolies in Sydney to the detriment of the people of Australia. The local Federal member — Mr. Marks, for he stood firmly behind the Government, which had voted half a million of the people's money as half of the share capital for goodwill, and then charged the citizens 35/ for the right to listen-in." Out of this amount the Government only received 5/, while the big firms who broadcasted mainly for the purpose of advertising themselves took the balance. No Use to People "Of course Mr. Mark would naturally feel elated over the fact that he could sit in ease at home and hear how the share market was going." he said, "but the unfortunate who had the license fee dragged out of him did not receive any benefit from such transmission." The people had, during the week, been startled to read of the whole business in the two able leaders of "The Labor Daily." He felt he was voicing the opinion of the people of Wentworth when he hoped the newspaper would not let the matter drop. (Applause.) "If you people take the paper it can deal very fully with other matters as well as wireless, and the underground work in connection with the wireless business will receive its just reward in such a worthy champion of the people."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236549664 PUBLIC PROTEST OVER WIRELESS The Labor Daily 238 New South Wales, Australia 25 October 1924 10 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia LABOR'S HISTORIC CONFERENCE BEGINS IN MELBOURNE TO-DAY. FORMULATING NATIONAL AND DOMESTIC POLICIES. BIG SCHEME OF CHILD ENDOWMENT — SUPREME AUTHORITY ISSUE — FINANCE BY LEVY ON WEALTH — GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF WIRELESS — DEFENCE PROBLEMS. MIGRATION QUESTION. THE TENTH Interstate Political Labor Conference will assemble in Melbourne this morning and will beyond doubt be an historic gathering. . . . Broadcasting and Aviation. The South Australian branch of the A.L.P., proposes the adoption of three interesting new planks, under the heading of National Work, namely:— Government control of wireless broad-casting. Development of commercial aviation. ??/ship service between Australia and Europe. The unification of the railway guages, co-operative farm pools, etc., Commonwealth Produce Marketing ???me, the restoration of the Plimsoll Mark on ships, development of the Commonwealth Line, and development of the Northern Territory, are amongst the matters which South Australia also desires discussed.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236557642 LABOR'S HISTORIC CONFERENCE BEGINS IN MELBOURNE TO-DAY The Labor Daily 239 New South Wales, Australia 27 October 1924 17 October 2018 1 National Library of Australia POPULARISE THE WIRELESS. I have been greatly interested in the case you have made out against the present system of excessive fees for the right to listen-in. It appears to me that a great mistake has been made in not taking radio material sellers and makers of outfits instead of the present arrangements. We who have the interest of the worker at heart would like to see "The Labor Daily" set up a wireless station for broadcasting news and general service. Our blind folk should be allowed to listen-in as they sit at their work, our sick should be allowed to hear singing and musical items without fear of being punished for so doing, and the men, women and children of the lonely bush should be allowed the priceless boon of wireless. This would be possible with receiving stations at various towns. We feel sure there are hundreds of good Australians who would gladly offer their services free to sing to the blind and sick. Places of amusement can only hold their complement, so that they will lose nothing by people listening-in who are living too far away to attend. Also the man at Woop Woop is entitled to hear a description of a race as it is being run, or a boxing contest as the argument proceeds. The question arises, can people be prosecuted for listening-in to other stations than the two subsidised, or must these two places be paid for the right to listen-in to others? C.R.M.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236540475 POPULARISE THE WIRELESS The Labor Daily 240 New South Wales, Australia 28 October 1924 10 October 2018 3 National Library of Australia OPINIONS OF READERS. TO CORRESPONDENTS. To ensure publication in "The Labor Daily," letters must be accompanied by names of the writers (not necessarily for publication), and their correct addresses. THE NATIONALISATION OF WIRELESS. Should Farmer's, or for that matter any company, be allowed to monopolise the ether for the purpose of hurling programmes at an over-charged audience? Most assuredly no. The granting of a monopoly to Farmer's by our Government is a betrayal of the public cause. Surely our fine country is not so far behind the other countries of the world that we cannot draw up a suitable scheme of broadcasting and support that wonderful convenience, which, in a properly controlled country, ranks second only to the Press in importance! We should not let this stand as a blot on our country, to be pointed to by every truly progressive country. In America, the most advanced country in the world, the public would not stand for an instant any encroachment on its liberty to use the ether. The Secretary for Commerce only last month emphatically declared: "I am absolutely opposed to imposing a charge on radio listeners by law." "Look at this picture and on that." In America the Comptroller of Wireless is opposed to charging the radiocast listener. In Australia (surely not an immeasurable distance behind the States) the comptrollers charge the public the monstrous sum of 35/ — without a flick of their eyelashes. No! I err not in saying "the Comptrollers of Wireless," for Mr. J. Malone is as nothing compared to Farmer and Co., when it comes to a matter dealing with the making of regulations. Did not that firm refuse to join in the conference when something opposed to their interests was proposed? And so they virtually dictated to the authorities, since because they were not present the conference was not representative of wireless in Australia which it had to be before any laws could be passed. The real way to deal with the question is for the Government to take up complete control and not charge a fee, but divert some of the revenue of the country to pay for it, as is done in America. It is quite evident that no half-hearted dealing with the matter can avail anything. There should not be even a small charge, as in England. As an example of the efficiency of this system, we have only to look at U.S.A. There the performers are the best in the world, and yet the concerns which keep the matter on the air do so at their own cost, and are amply repaid by the publicity and advertising facilities which radiocasting gives them.— "NO BROADCAST FEE." http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239885449 OPINIONS OF READERS The Labor Daily 245 New South Wales, Australia 3 November 1924 10 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia ARE WE SACRIFICING RADIO IN AUSTRALIA? A Correspondent Wants the Duty off Radio Apparatus — Also Purely Governmental Control of Wireless. "Finis" writes:— Is radio in Australia to be sacrificed to the interests of Amalgamated Wireless, Farmers', and their respective agents in the present Government? For surely we cannot deny that this great public utility is being sacrificed to these firms. Why is there the exorbitant duty of 40 per cent. on all radio apparatus imported into Australia from overseas, when manufactories are incapable of producing comparable articles here? This fact is best shown by reason of the fact that the radio public is prepared to pay the 40 per cent. higher prices rather than put up with the inferior apparatus locally produced. Is it not madness to impose this duty to protect an industry which gives no valid reason for its existence by producing marketable apparatus? Farmers' has arranged with the Government to obtain a monopoly of broadcasting, and also of 70 per cent. of the 35/ paid for a license. The license itself is a big joke, for who, looking at other countries like U.S.A., where radio is a tried and proven public convenience, and where no registration fee is charged, is prepared to pay this ruinous price to listen to two stations, whereas our cousins across the pond have hundreds of stations at their disposal and no fee to pay? Surely it is time that a movement was set on foot, firstly, to remove or at least reduce to a reasonable figure the duty on radio apparatus, and secondly, to remove the broadcast listeners' fee, and, last, but by far the most important, to agitate for thehttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239886511 ARE WE SACRIFICING RADIO IN AUSTRALIA? The Labor Daily 251 New South Wales, Australia 10 November 1924 10 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia SPREADING LABOR VIEWS BY MEANS OF WIRELESS. WOLLONGONG, Sunday.— The articles recently appearing in "The Labor Daily" have impressed trades unionists and Labor supporters generally with the importance of wireless, and the opportunities it provides for the broadcasting of Labor propaganda. The principal drawback to the universal ownership of a set to the great number of men who are on the basic wage, is the extortionate license fee demanded. It is held the fee could be quite easily reduced to 5/- per annum, and still allow the broadcasting companies a handsome profit. Two of the large unions in this district, the A.W.U. and the Enqinedrivers and Firemen — have carried resolutions protesting against the prosecutions for non-payment of the fee, which they consider extortionate, especially to workers and juniors, who mostly have only crystal sets. The Port Kembla section of the A.W.U., realising the possibilities of wireless, at its last meeting carried a further resolution urging the calling of a conference of the A.W.U., the Trades and Labor Council, unions and Labor supporters generally, to discuss the establishing of wireless broadcasting stations in each State capital for the issuing of Labor propaganda and news.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239891381 SPREADING LABOR VIEWS BY MEANS OF WIRELESS The Labor Daily 263 New South Wales, Australia 24 November 1924 11 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia WIRELESS CONTROL. SO THAT wireless may be run in the interests of the people, Mr. Davies asked the Premier last night if he would consider the taking over of the whole of the wireless stations, thus following the lead of the Labor Government in Queensland. The Premier is so out of touch of things that he did not even know of Queensland's action. However, he thought the proposal a good one, and promised to go into the matter with his colleagues.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239882598 WIRELESS CONTROL The Labor Daily 284 New South Wales, Australia 18 December 1924 10 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia A "CORNER" IN AIR FOR TWO YEARS! BRUCE THROTTLES WIRELESS WITH GREAT MONOPOLY. BROADCASTERS, BROADCAST THIS! "SIGNALS STRONG" — the message that listeners-in should love to hear — daily gathers an actually uglier significance in Australia as daily the press of wireless enthusiasts grows, their difficulties increase, their chagrin intensifies, and the profits of the wireless monopolists accumulate. OUR KIND NATIONALISED Post Office submissively collects the great rake-off arranged by the Bruce-Page Government for a few gentlemen who have banded together and cornered the air over 3,000,000 square miles of land and three-mile-limit water. IN RETURN FOR THIS tribute to monopoly, listeners-in get poor programmes and advertising matter. In this respect the buyer directly pays the seller to advertise — so directly that he wonders now how the put-over was arranged! HERE FOLLOWS the complete story of the Federal Government's imposition on the people. A PEOPLE IN TRIBUTE. When the Federal Government, on July 17, 1924, published regulations under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 05-19, it achieved certain typical ends, as follow:— 1.— It placed a big and ever-increasing percentage of the people of Australia under tribute to eight firms by compelling the owner of every receiving set to register and pay 35/ (or 30/ and 25/ in the more distant zones). Other classes of wireless user are compelled to pay varying sums. 2.— It turned the Post Office into an account-collecting agency for the Wireless Trust, to whom it pays all but 5/ per license of the entire sums collected. 3.— It ensured that broadcasting would remain in the hands of "right-thinking" people, who held capitalistic views. Conversely it prevented any attempt being made to educate and uplift the workers by utilisation of this vast field for propaganda. 4.— It established a corner in air. REMARKABLE REGULATIONS. For public enlightenment the more remarkable of these regulations certainly should be quoted. Part III. of the regulations under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, vide Statutory Rules, 1924, No. 101, states, inter alia:— Reg. 45.— There shall be two classes of broadcasting stations, namely:— (a) Class A Stations, the licensees of which will, in accordance with the provisions of this division, receive pro-portions of the available revenue. (b) Class B Stations, the licensees of which shall not receive any portion of the available revenue. Reg. 46.— Subject to the provisions of this part, the maximum number of licensees to operate Class A Stations in each State respectively shall be:— (a) In New South Wales and Victoria, two; and (b) In all other States, one. Rule 60 provides that Class A and specially approved Class B Stations may broadcast advertisements. Rule 62 provides that a licensee shall be entitled to receive the following proportion of revenue obtained in the State in which the stations are situated, viz.:— (a) The existing licensee of the high-power station in New South Wales (Farmer and Co. Ltd.) or Victoria — seventy per cent. of the available revenue; (b) The other licensee in New South Wales (Broadcasters Ltd.). or Victoria — thirty per cent. of the available revenue; and (c) The licensee in any of the other States — the whole of the avail-able revenue. In order thoroughly to entrench the monopolists the following remarkable regulation is inserted: AUDACITY'S LIMIT. Reg 69 (a) Subject to the continuance of a broadcasting service to the satisfaction of the Postmaster-General, these Regulations, so far as they relate to the number of Class A Station licensees, and the amount of available revenue apportioned to the broadcasting licensee, shall not be altered within a period of two years from the date of their commencement. Reg 72 provides:— The license fee in respect of the first class A Station to be operated by a licensee shall be £15 per annum, and for any subsequent station operated by that licensee in the same State shall be £5 per annum. This year listeners have the small satisfaction of knowing that 5/ out of the 35/ they pay for their licenses went to swell Government revenue. Next year the fee will be reduced by 5/, and the whole of the balance of 30/ (it will be 25/ and 20/ in distant zones) will go to the monopolists. The fee of 35/ charged to owners of receiving sets is probably a world's record for high charges. In England the maximum charge is 10/ and in the United States it is nil. Moreover the programmes supplied in these two countries are incompar-ably superior to those kindly donated in Australia, and are generally free of advertising matter for which we pay. WORKERS SUFFER. This direct attack by the predatory interests, kindly conducted by the Federal Government, naturally falls heaviest on the workers, of whom, per-haps the eager boys and apprentices feel it most. Although almost anybody can con-struct a crystal set for a few shillings, after buying headphones, the license fees are absolutely prohibitive to many. Thus the workers are denied even the relaxation and measure of enjoyment provided by the existing (mostly poor) programmes. People must pay Farmer and Coy. Ltd. and Broadcasters Ltd. for the right to receive ether vibrations, which they are not allowed to obtain from other sources. It is the nearest step to selling the air we breathe that has so far been achieved by monopolists. LISTEN HERE, BRUCE! Since it is the order of the day an-other vast field for exercise of patron-age and profits to his friends is suggested to Mr. Bruce. That is, the ??? might be granted to Lord Inchcape (or his deputy, Sir Owen Cox) with exclusive right to levy toll on all users of boats — big or little. Sir George Fuller, too, might profit by the example and grant an exclusive franchise to some group of capitalists to exploit the Sydney water supply. Such tactics would only be in accordance with those displayed by the promoters of the Great Wireless Grab. PENALTIES. But the worker who seeks diversion in jazz music and singsong in market reports and bedtime stories, must pay his tax. Here is the warning:— Reg. 82 reads: The user of receiving equipment shall be in possession of a current license. And Reg. 91 provides for the penalty:— "Any person who acts in contravention of any provision of these regulations or fails to comply with any condition of a license shall be guilty of an offence against these regulations. "Penalty: Twenty pounds." SNUBBED, Other firms have tried without success, to secure the rights held by Farmer's and Broadcasters. The so-called Associated Seven made big efforts a few months ago to get Mr. Bruce's consent for them to receive broadcasting licenses, and were treated in very cavalier fashion, terminating in blunt refusal. The Associated Seven comprise Anthony Hordern and Sons, David Jones Ltd., New System Telephones, Marcus Clark and Co., Mark Foy's, Harringtons, and Lassetter's. For two years the monopolists are safe. Even a Labor Government will find it hard to overcome Regulation 69 (a) providing for no alteration of regulations affecting monopolists. LABOR'S CHANCE. But, in due course, an unfettered Labor Government, will have a wonderful opportunity to help the workers. By arranging for Governmental control of wireless, and the arrangement of high-class musical and educational programmes (special lectures, special news service, etc.), much enlightenment and healthy amusement for the workers may be provided. Moreover, fees can be reduced to a minimum. Communication with workers in foreign lands will be possible, and the lot of the workers in the isolated country districts will become more bearable. Truly, much hope for the workers is to be found in the sky.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239898494 A "CORNER" IN AIR FOR TWO YEARS! The Labor Daily 294 New South Wales, Australia 31 December 1924 10 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia 1925 1925 01 WIRELESS MONOPOLY WELL ENTRENCHED. SOMETHING ROTTEN SOMEWHERE. BUT FIRMS WON'T TALK. A BROADCASTED SILENCE. (No. 2.) FEAR OF PROFITS to be lost, and hope — for future favors — seems to tie the tongues of the Sydney wireless dealers. A PROFOUND (Broadcasted ?) silence in the "trade" is broken only by whispers ending, "but that must not be published." Or perhaps the trader faintly murmurs the words of the old song, "If you talk in your sleep, please don't mention my name!" THIS VERY CURIOUS position makes the broadcasting monopoly a greater menace than ever to the workers. WHEN MEN TALK in whispers, evil stalks abroad. Probing . . . . . . profit from broadcasting is the strong-est of all. TENTACLES OF TRADE The tentacles of trade are now embedded and intertwined in every strand of the fabric of commerce. Heavy in the minds of the directors of many big companies a fierce desire to tell they know about the other fellow is silenced by fear of reactions on their trade. One gentleman, who stands high in the commercial life of the city, holds the opinion that there is some secret agreement between the Federal Government, Amalgamated Wireless, and Farmer and Co. Ltd., whereby the last-named firm secured its extraordinary privileges to exploit the people of this State. On the other hand another equally well-known city man expressed the view that there was no secret agreement, but that the Government felt "in honor bound" to agree to Farmer's special privileges as this firm had been early in the field. TO SELL MORE SETS Where one man stated that the firms who supported the co-operative idea did so because they wanted to improve broadcasting for its own sake, by devoting profits to that end, and thus give all traders a "fair go", another quite frankly made the statement that the object of the "co-operators" was certainly a better service, but this was designed to make wireless more popular AND THUS ALL DEALERS COULD SELL MORE SETS. Whether it was altruism alone, or altruism that would serve self-interest, the public may judge for themselves. DOES IT PAY? There is a strong expression of opinion in certain quarters that Farmer and Co., Ltd., and Broadcasters, Ltd., are on a splendid wicket. Again, some traders take the view that the service is so uneven in quality that people everywhere are becoming disgusted and that the monopolists may ultimately own a white elephant. Still another view in the trade is that the service is as good as could be expected thus . . . . Sometimes only was a little information given for publication, and then usually with the injunction, "But you must not mention our name." In wireless circles there is evidently a broadcasted silence. Meanwhile, as the "Labor Daily" has pointed out, the monopoly is entrenched for two years by Reg. 69 (a), but it is possible that this period may be extended to five years, as broadcasting licenses are issued for that period. LASSETTER'S VIEW One of the few firms that was prepared to frankly discuss the matter is F. Lassetter and Co. Ltd. Mr. Frederic Lassetter, who was actively connected with the "Associated Seven," in the course of an interview with a "Labor Daily" representative yesterday spoke quite freely. "The monopoly," said Mr. Lassetter, "is contrary to public policy altogether. The idea held by the associated seven was to promote a co-operative concern, which would seek no more than a bare five per cent. profit. All other profits in excess of that amount would be devoted toward the improvement of the service and lessening listening-in fees, etc. "All dealers would be expected to take up shares proportionately to stocks held, and the public also were to be invited to subscribe. "However, the Government's agreement with Farmer and Co. Ltd. prevents the co-operative idea taking effect."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239888501 WIRELESS MONOPOLY WELL ENTRENCHED The Labor Daily 295 New South Wales, Australia 1 January 1925 17 November 2018 5 National Library of Australia FEDERAL LABOR PLATFORM. (The following is the Federal Labor Platform, which was decided on at the last Interstate Conference: OBJECTIVE. The Socialisation of Industry, Production, Distribution and Exchange. METHODS. Socialisation of Industry by: (a) The constitutional utilisation of Industrial and Parliamentary machinery. (b) The organisation of worker's along the lines of industry. (c) Nationalisation of banking and principal industries. (d) The municipalisation of such services as can best be operated in limited areas. (e) Government of nationalised industries by boards, upon which the workers in the industries and the community shall have representation. (f) The establishment of an Elective Supreme Economic Council by all nationalised industries. (g) The setting up of Labor Research and Labor Information Bureaux, and of Labor educational institutions, in which the workers shall be trained in the management of the nationalised industries.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145954970 FEDERAL LABOR PLATFORM The Australian Worker 34, 2 New South Wales, Australia 14 January 1925 17 November 2018 15 National Library of Australia WELL WARNED. A WIRELESS WORD. MR. LANG INDICATES COMING EVENTS. WHEN Labor gets control of the Government there will be a vast improvement in the services given by the wireless broadcasting station. "I think," said Mr. Lang, Leader of the State Parliamentary Labor Party yesterday, "the time has arrived for me to warn the public concerning the uses to which the authorised wireless broadcasting services are being put to in relation to controversial politics. OVER THE BORDER. Occasionally information is broadcasted from the Conservative newspaper offices which to my mind crosses the border line of news and enters the arena of political propaganda. "The other night some claims of Sir Arthur Cocks regarding alleged economies in his department. and some references to the waterside trouble, sounded distinctly one-sided. I have not listened to any reference to the men's side of the question, nor has any comment been made on the Government's action in enormously increasing the salaries of the Railway Commissioners and some favored under secretaries. NEVER A LINE. "As far as I am aware," continued Mr. Lang, "There has never been a line of Labor news broadcasted by these privileged distributing agencies and the time may soon arrive to deal drastically with their operation if they intend to allow their channels of publicity to be used for party purposes. "I will say no more at present, but can assure the broadcasting companies that the Labor Party is not going to tolerate the air being used for Nationalist propaganda unless equal opportunities are afforded to the Party to which I belong. "If the broadcasting stations are prepared to send out political and departmental information culled from Conservative newspapers, I think they should also be prepared to broadcast views from Labor.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239883974 WELL WARNED The Labor Daily 321 New South Wales, Australia 31 January 1925 12 October 2018 1 National Library of Australia 1925 02 RADIO FOR LABOR. ITS AMAZING POSSIBILITIES POWERFUL METHOD OF PUBLICITY. BROADCASTING FROM TRADES HALL. By E. R. VOIGHT (Labor Research and Information Bureau). "IN 1897 MARCONI was asked: "How far do you think a radio despatch could be sent?" "Twenty miles," was his reply. TO-DAY RADIO COMMUNICATIONS are passing between Australia and America, and wireless telephone conversations are conducted between London, New York, Paris, and Honolulu. BUT LITTLE MORE than a year ago. there was not a single radio store in Sydney. Today radio is a thriving trade supporting scores of well-stocked shops and factories. One Sydney factory alone employs over 800 workmen. At first the fact that radio communication could not be carried out with privacy was regarded as a very serious limitation to the development of wireless telephony. Today it is clearly recognised that what was once regarded as a serious disability is now a great advantage. Radio has progressed with giant strides. General news, stock quotations, cricket scores, weather reports must ???? political pronouncements ???? broadcast into the air to be picked up by scores of thousands, nay millions of listeners-in. Radio is rapidly developing into the most powerful engine of publicity ever discovered. In the United States political candidates no longer travel around the country ???? miles addressing a few hundreds each day and working themselves into a state of physical bankruptcy. President Coolidge his rivals for ???? ???? RADIO AND PRESS In Great Britain and Europe and in America, the Press was at first inclined to look with some disfavor on the rapid rise of radio publicity. Foreign cables, local news, stock quotations, weather reports etc., were broadcast by wireless long before they could be published by the news-papers. It was to radio that cricket and football fans turned for quick and progressive news of the games. In U.S.A. all the important baseball and football games have long been broadcast every few minutes during the progress of the matches to scores of thousands of followers of sport at home, and in the streets. In American cities, the traffic is often blocked by thousands of fans congregated round the newspaper offices, following with rival cheering, the progress of the games by radio. The Press was, however, quick to recognise the irresistible power of radio, and in every country is now co-operating with its development. In the United States, the Press controls a large number of the most powerful stations, from which music, lectures, and news are broadcast at intervals throughout the day. In Los Angeles, for example, every daily newspaper has its own broadcast station. It should also be mentioned in U.S.A., no license whatever is charged by the Government to users of receiving sets. The broadcast stations have, therefore, no income from license fees. They are run as voluntary institutions, the artists give their services free, and are only too willing to take advantage of the publicity offered by radio broadcasting. RADIO AND LABOR It is futile to imagine that such a powerful method of publicity as radio can long be kept out of politics. The advantages offered by wireless for the dissemination of political news and views are irresistible. Nor is it possible to maintain "impartial" broadcasting stations. The protest of Mr. Lang a few days ago in the Press, against the use of the broadcasting stations by the Nationalists and also against the ???? ???? against the waterside workers in the present dispute, brings this point into clear relief. In Parliament and in the Press the Labor movement in Australia and throughout the world, has found after most bitter experiences, that impartiality is a myth. In Parliament, Labor has been favoured to establish its own independent Radio station. In the Press, the same expectations were encountered, and in ???? to secure expression for the hopes and opinions of the worker the Labor movement of Australia has at own newspapers. Can anyone doubt that the same op-???? wireless? In U.S.A. a number of stations have already established their own broadcast stations. There is little doubt that in the next few years, wireless communication between the various widespread sections of the Labor movement will be a regular and indispensible feature. UNIONS TO ACT What are the principal advantages to the organised workers of Australia offered by radio? Here are a few. 1. The cost of the erection of broadcasting stations in the six capital cities of Australia is a comparatively inexpensive matter, well within reach of the workers 2. The use of wireless at election times by Labor would represent an immense saving in time, energy, and health, and would considerably nullify the advantages to the Nationalists of the Capitalist Press. 3. Trade union meetings could be called by radio, and the members kept in closer touch with the operations of their organisations. 4. Regular daily communication could be established between the Labor organisations in the different States of the Commonwealth, thereby establishing that regular contact which is the basis of unified action. The Trades Unions are already beginning to realise the immense advantages which radio offers to the Labor movement. The matter has already been discussed by the Sydney Trades and Labor Council in full session, and at its next meeting a concrete scheme will be put forward for the erection of a broadcast and receiving station at the Trades Hall. If the scheme is adopted, there is but little doubt that the erection of broadcast and receiving stations by the Trades Unions in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Hobart, will quickly follow. The great weakness of the Labor movement always has been, and still is, the extended nature of its organisation, and the difficulty in maintaining communication between its widespread sections. Radio, with its amazing possibilities of quick and cheap communicntion, offers already a practical solution of the problem, and the Labor movement must leave no stone unturned to secure its share, unhampered by outside interference, of the wireless wonder that has arisen from the turmoil of Labor activity.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239896975 RADIO FOR LABOR The Labor Daily 326 New South Wales, Australia 6 February 1925 13 October 2018 3 National Library of Australia UNION NEWS AND A.L.P. NOTES. Personal Items. Mr Emil Voigt who is director of the Labor Research Bureau at the Sydney Trades Hall, has returned after an absence of 18 months in America. While away he closely studied the development of the Labor movement in other lands. Mr. Voigt proposes to permanently settle in Australia.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239895911 UNION NEWS AND A.L.P. NOTES The Labor Daily 334 New South Wales, Australia 16 February 1925 17 October 2018 8 National Library of Australia WIRELESS FOR WORKERS. LABOR BROADCASTING STATIONS. QUICK AND EASY SOLUTIONS OF MANY PROBLEMS. ANOTHER FIGHT TO BE WON. . . . . . (vast majority of text of long article illegible)http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239883673 WIRELESS FOR WORKERS The Labor Daily 340 New South Wales, Australia 23 February 1925 17 November 2018 8 National Library of Australia 1925 03 SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR. RADIO FOR LABOR'S RANK AND FILE. ITS INDUSTRIAL USES. BROADCASTING FROM LABOR CENTRE. THERE is no other field which offers so much scope for the rapid and widespread development of wireless communication as does the Trades Union Movement. ON THE OTHER HAND, there is no invention that gives forth such promise for the development and consolidation of the Trades Union as does radio. A FEW YEARS AGO no one dreamed of the possibilities of broadcasting. To-day the manufacture of radio equipment is classed amongst the fourteen principal industries of the United States, and is progressing at a rate far in excess of that of any other industry. MANY PEOPLE still regard radio as a toy, and this view is fostered by the authorities for their own peculiar purposes. In most countries where radio is established, the capitalist Government combines with the big vested interests which control the radio patents, and between the two the radio-using public is most systematically and thoroughly fleeced. Such Governments as the British and Australian Federal Governments are torn between the desire to facilitate the sale of as many wireless sets as possible for the profit of their monopolistic bedfellow, and at the same time to maintain control of this new powerful engine of publicity. The installation and operating of wireless broadcasting and reception is so inexpensive, the advantages in trade union organisation are so striking, and its political uses so apparent and illimitable, that no capitalist Government can be blamed for taking steps to prevent the serious adoptlon of wireless communication by Labor. We do not expect the leopard to change his spots or the tiger to eat grass. We expect the acts of any capitalist Government to be anti-Labor acts. The wireless regulations framed by the Nationalist Federal Government are anti-Labor, and the Government-cum-combine control of "commercial" broadcasting they have established is an anti-Labor measure. The organised workers will demand that their Parliamentary representatives refuse to be guiled by the fiction of "impartial" broadcasting stations, and claim the free and unhampered use of their own stations. A glance at a few of the many advantages which radio offers to working-class organisation will readily explain the anxiety of the capitalist Governments for a monopoly of broadcasting. State Labor Plan A radio broadcasting scheme for Labor would first include the erection of a broadcasting and receiving station at a recognised centre of Labor activity. The necessary complement of the broadcasting station would be the provision of a simple receiving set, manufactured by the workers in their own shops, and provided by the unions free, or at nominal cost to their members. All those unions which thus equipped themselves with wireless would be in a unique position to develop and to consolidate their organisation. One of the reasons why union secretaries and organisers cannot preserve closer contact with their members is owing to the considerable expense and time involved by communicating through the post with each individual member. The cost of broadcasting a call to members of a wireless-equipped union is practically nil. The call can be made to ten thousand members with no more trouble, time, and expense than it takes to send a telephone call through to one person. The possibilities here are immense. Meetings can be called by wireless that in the ordinary case would be prohibitive. The efficiency of any union depends largely upon the co-operation of its individual members. Wireless for the first time offers a medium well within reach of the funds of the union, whereby every member can be kept in the closest touch with the operations and the plans of their organisation. Wireless Publicity. It is the desire or the aim of every union to have some organ of publicity through which it can reach its own members, and, where it is ambitious enough, through which it can send forth its news, views, and propaganda to the trade union movement in general, and to the general public. Very few unions can afford the luxury of a monthly, weekly, or daily organ. Wireless broadcasting at once solves this difficulty. The smallest union can command as big an audience as the most powerful union, or the largest capitalist daily newspaper. Arbitration and Strikes. The establishment of a broadcasting and receiving station in Sydney would naturally lead to the installation of smaller stations throughout the State, and a similar chain of stations in the other States of the Commonwealth. The advantages of being able to establish oral communication be-tween distant sections of a union or between the various State trade union centres will at once be apparent. In the conduct of Arbitration Court cases, and in the prosecution of strikes, wireless communication will set up entirely new standards and procedure. The consistent abuse and misrepresentation issued by all sections of the capitalist Press during a strike are well known. They prejudice the case of the strikers, and constitute one of the employers' most powerful weapons. Radio offers a means well within reach of the workers for countering this propaganda as it appears; and radio will reach an audience that in the ordinary course would never read a Labor paper. Again, radio provides a striking union with the ready means of preserving contact not only with its various sections, but also with the other unions and organisations upon whose support it so often must depend. Education by Wireless. The average worker has a capitalist mentality. Were it otherwise, there would be no capitalist system. While capitalism controls the schools, the pulpit, and, above all, the Press, this mentality will persist. It is the great stumbling block to the workers in their class struggle, and will continue until the overthrow of the capitalist system itself. It should, however, be the object of the leaders of the workers to dissipate as far as possible this capitalist ideology. In the matter of publicity and the dissemination of working-class education, the workers have been under an overwhelmingly heavy handicap, owing to the complicated machinery and heavy expenses involved. Wireless broadcasting offers a new, extensive, and inexpensive means of disseminating working-class news and views among the masses. We can broadcast our news and views daily to scores of thousands inside and outside the Labor Movement. We can broadcast the mass of facts and figures concerning the work, wages, and conditions of the workers in this and other countries, which is now lying useless in our Research Bureaux and in every union secretary's office. Our lectures on economics, history, etc., from the working-class stand-point, in place of an audience of a score or so, could be broadcast to many thousands, who could never be reached by any other method than wireless. But it must not be forgotten that wireless broadcasting offers too many advantages to the organised working-class ever to drop into their hands without a struggle.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239892379 SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR The Labor Daily 349 New South Wales, Australia 5 March 1925 17 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia RADIO FOR LABOR. HOW IT CAN HELP AT ELECTIONS. CUTTING DOWN EXPENSES. FICTION OF IMPARTIALITY. IT IS, OF COURSE, contended that the existing broadcastinging stations are impartial organs of publicity, and that, in any case, they are not used for political purposes. That statement need not be taken too seriously. The leader of the State Parliamentary Labor Party has already drawn attention in the Press to statements broadcasted over the air, statements which have all the appearances of Nationalist and anti-Labor propaganda. If this is happening at the very inception of wireless, at a time when the friction of "impartial" broadcasting stations is being stressed, it will not require much imagination to forecast fairly accurately the part such stations will play when there is a big industrial or political issue at stake. The workers have no fault to find with this situation, provided always that the issue is clear and unmistakable. There is no half-way house in the daily struggle of the workers towards their objective — the control of industry. Those who are not for us are against us. We desire that to be clearly understood by all. Non-Labor is anti-Labor. Non-Labor broadcasting stations may propagate on the air what news, views, or educational programmes they may wish, Labor claims the right to do likewise. POWER OF PUBLICITY. The most powerful force in government today is publicity. In the vital matter of publicity the balance of power has always been, and still is, overwhelmingly in favor of the opponents of the workers and against Labor. Should there be an industrial dispute between the employers and the workers, the case for the employers is given full publicity, with the best arguments that can be brought forward to support it, while the case for the workers is distorted, ridiculed or suppressed. Again, in the case of the elections, the mask of impartiality is dropped by the anti-Labor Press, and the great weakness of the workers in publicity compared with their opponents, is brought into clear relief. If we glance down the course of modern history, there is one fact which stands out clearly for all to see. It is this: That no Government, whether Capitalist, Labor, Socialist or Communist, can long maintain itself in power unless it has the goodwill of, of controls, the great organs of publicity. Wireless Publicity With the advent of wireless, a new world-force has arisen, which threat-ens to upset completely the balance of power now held by the opponents of the workers. No one who regards the amazing strides made by wireless communication in this and other countries during the past eighteen months can fail to recognise the fact that in a year or two radio will constitute one of the most powerful engines of publicity that exists. Perhaps the most interesting and hopeful factor in wireless communication is that this new method of publicity is so simple and so inexpensive that it is well within the reach of the resources of the organised workers. The Australian Labor movement can establish a chain of broadcasting and receiving stations in every important industrial centre and in every State of the Commonwealth, and the advantages of wireless broadcasting at election times are many and striking. For the average Parliamentary candidate the election campaign is a gruelling, nerve-wracking affair. It means addressing many scores of more or less sparsely-attended meetings, and often travelling hundreds of miles. In the engaging of suitable halls, travelling, and other expenses, it is altogether an expensive affair. The recent Presidential elections in the United States show the modern trend. In place of travelling many thousands of miles and addressing many scores of meetings, President Coolidge, his supporters and his opponents strolled comfortably over to the microphone and broadcasted their messages and propaganda to the mightiest audience known in history. In the same manner President Coolidge's presidential speech was broadcast to every State in the Union and relayed to millions of listeners-in. His message was picked up thousands of miles away by many thousands of listeners-in using the simplest and most inexpensive crystal sets, costing but a few dollars each. What is done in the United States and in Europe can be done here and now in Australia and there is no section of the community that can use radio to more advantage than can the Labor movement. After a day of hard or monotonous toil, the average worker is too dog-tired to take the journey to some cheerless meeting hall to hear a parliamentary candidate. But sitting comfortably at home with the crystal set provided by his union, he will readily tune in to anything that is on the air. Through the radio, propaganda, lectures, and instructions can be broadcast to many thousands who in the ordinary course would not be reached. Government Sabotage. Of course, it is only natural that an anti-Labor Federal Government, acting openly in collaboration with big vested interests, should leave no stone unturned to prevent, the Labor movement in Australia from taking advantage of wireless communications. Government restrictions on the use of radio are more repressive in Australia than in any other civilised country, and that is because the Australian Labor movement is relatively more powerful, more homogeneous, and better organised than in most other countries. Wireless communication in the hands of such a movement will constitute a turning point in the history of working-class organisation, and by providing quick and easy daily contact between the distant sections of the trade union movement, radio will stimulate powerfully the process of unification, which is the basis of success in action.— E. R. VOIGT.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239882049 RADIO FOR LABOR The Labor Daily 352 New South Wales, Australia 9 March 1925 17 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia WIRELESS AND THE WORKERS. LABOR would do well to pay more attention than it seems inclined to pay to the matter of wireless and its uses. That wireless could be made of immense propaganda value is plain. What Labor has to guard against is the probability of its enemies getting such advantages as would enable them to poison, with ease and impunity, the minds of the people. What possession of the Press by the enemies of the people has done is well-known to every well-informed Laborite. Capitalism rules everywhere; and it does so by means of the Press. Labor has been once in office in Britain, but it would never have achieved even this had it not been for the existence in London of Labor's daily newspaper, the "Daily Herald." In the eighteenth century and the early half of the nineteenth, the pulpit was more powerful than the Press; now the latter is more powerful than the former. A serious rival has, however, sprung into existence, which may prove, in the long run, to be more powerful than even the Press. It is wireless. Let Labor beware of the uses that may be made of wireless by its enemies. Let it not be "caught napping." The great interest that was taken by the public in the broadcasting of the speeches in Parliament on the Ne Temere Bill should be an indication of the uses to which this new device of science could be successfully put — and probably will be put — by Labor's enemies. Labor should, as has again been suggested by one of our contributors, DETERMINE UPON THE ERECTION OF A CENTRAL WIRELESS STATION, from which might be broadcast the truth as to the nature of Labor's aims and the activities of its leaders. Without even leaving their homes, the electors could hear, on their little crystal sets, the whole of that truth. They could be warned of conspiracies against them; urged, for reasons given, to attend important meetings; and be made acquainted with the refutation of malicious and damaging slanders or libels.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239882228 WIRELESS AND THE WORKERS The Labor Daily 371 New South Wales, Australia 31 March 1925 13 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia 1925 04 WIRELESS! WILLIS URGES ACTION. LABOR MUST GET IN FIRST NO TIME TO BE LOST. COMMENTING, yesterday, upon the leader in our columns, entitled "Wireless and the Workers," Mr. A. C. Willis, general secretary of the Miners' Federation, said that it was time for Labor to take action, itself, for the utilisation of wireless. Usually, Labor lagged behind its enemies in making use of means of propaganda, but it must now get in first. Labor should have a central wireless station in Sydney, added Mr. Willis; and there should be a local receiving station in connection with each lodge of the Miners' Federation, or other local industrial or Labor body. From the central station information could be broadcast daily to the lodges. The members of the organisation as a whole could, thereby, be kept poised as to matters of importance to the Federation and the Movement. The cost would not be heavy, added Mr. Willis, as the price of a two-valve set with a loud speaker would be anything from £10 to £40, for the most efficient device. LESSON FROM AMERICA. If the receiving set could be fixed in a committee room, somewhere or other, a member of the committee, or some other member, could arrange to be in attendance in order to note down messages. Wireless is extensively used in the United States in connection with Labor matters, said Mr. Willis, and should be as extensively used here. There are tremendous possibilities in connection with wireless, and Labor must avail itself of those possibilities. An important point to be noted in connection with wireless is that what is transmitted may be received in the quietude of one's own home, where the things that distract the attention at a public meeting are not present. As the listener gives all his attention to the message being conveyed, the information is, undoubtedly, more effective. LABOR MUST GET IN. During the Ne Temere debate in the Legislative Assembly, wireless enabled the listeners-in to hear from Mr. Lang, the Leader of the Labor Party, a remarkably good speech. It may be possible for listeners-in to sit in a Labor hall in every centre and there hear information of value and advantage. Eventually, indeed, H. G. Wells' prophecy of news and propaganda being freely poured out to the people from great speaking machines may be realised. Of course, this could be utilised by capitalism to mislead the people; and therefore Labor MUST GET IN FIRST, concluded Mr. Willis. We shall be pleased to receive suggestions at this office in connection with the matter thus referred to.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239953138 WIRELESS! The Labor Daily 372 New South Wales, Australia 1 April 1925 13 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia RACIAL RIOTS IN THE NORTH. LAST WEEK'S RUMORS WERE TRUE. HOW NAVY SUPPRESSED THE NEWS. RADIO SILENCED AND GUNBOATS READY. EXACTLY A WEEK AGO the Defence authorities in Melbourne pulled off a remarkable coup in concealing the news of a riot that occurred at Innisfail, Queensland. IT IS NOW LEARNED a disturbance had occurred at a town inland from Townsville, which was judged to have been sufficiently serious to warrant the Navy Office ordering the sloops Marguerite and Geranium to be prepared to go North at a minute's notice. FOR the first time since the War, wireless operators at sea and all round the Australian coast, heard the ominous H.M. in Morse, which puts the stopper on all transmitting, indicating that something is wrong and the Navy wants the air clear for the transmission and reception of messages. For hours Pennant Hills and all the other sending stations were silenced while messages were being flashed to and from Garden Island and the Navy Office, Melbourne. Then the Margeurite, which was north of Sydney at Hawkesbury was spoken. Her commander got an urgent instruction, and immediately ordered the ships to be prepared for a long cruise. Next day the men on the Marguerite were alongside the Geranium, lying off Garden Island. Geranium Gets Steam Up Curious to know what all the fuss had been about, they found that the Geranium, although she has just re-turned from a six-months' survey cruise, and is in an unseaworthy state, had been ordered from Melbourne to get all steam up during the night and proceed, "in company with another warship," due north. The disturbance was handled by local police, but it was a near thing all the same. That the whole of Northern Australia is a volcano which may burst into an eruption of racial feud at any moment now is known to all the papers in the Commonwealth. All For the North. North Queensland during the past six months has been fairly inundated with the sweepings of middle Europe. Week after week, boatload after boat-load comes into Sydney — and goes away again. "Where are all your passengers bound for?" asked a curious bystander of one of the sailors of an Italian line of steamers recently. "They're going to Brisbane," was the reply. A deliberate lie — as the figures in the possession of the Port authorities in both Sydney and Brisbane can prove. The destination of the hordes of new arrivals is much further north than Brisbane. It is at Townsville that most of them are unloaded. There they are consigned in batches, like so many cattle, to unload at towns where they are gradually distributed among the canefields. Whites Incensed. Naturally the brazen importation of this cheapest of cheap labor has incensed the whites in the North, who can look forward to a not very distant future in which their living standards will have to be reduced to conform to those of the majority. Official communications from responsible men in the North to the Federal Government are being suppressed. They confirm the reports that have reached the "Labor Daily" from Independent sources that the outbreak of fierce quarrels between groups of Italians threatens to participate a grave crisis. At first it would be confined to the foreign element. As the whites interfered, in an endeavor to put a stop to the trouble, personal feeling would be dropped between the foreigners and a united frontal attack made upon the detested Australians, whose country they have been tipped into. What May Happen. Various disturbances on a small scale have paved the way for an out-break of such magnitude that the news of it will instantly arouse furious racial riots. If the facts are not as stated, and the position is not so serious as presented, perhaps the Prime Minister might say why the Defence Department has issued certain instructions to be followed in the event of trouble breaking out?http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239946929 RACIAL RIOTS IN THE NORTH The Labor Daily 373 New South Wales, Australia 2 April 1925 13 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia WORKERS WIRELESS. BY WORKERS' EFFORT. Wireless for workers! Yes, and as soon as possible. How shall we contrive to get it? In view of the election drain, one is loth to suggest a collection, writes Mr. B. R. Childs, of Mosman. But why not? For, after all, the workers will be "emancipated" only by their personal efforts and sacrifice. So what about "Doing it now?" One shilling from every worker each pay-day until the necessary amount is in hand. Any seconder? Yes! All in favor, say "Aye." The "Ayes" have it! Let us remember that it is people that "hear the inaudible that see the invisible, and think the unthinkable, that do the impossible. Also, forget not that, "Labor omnia vincit" — Labor conquers all things. I am confident that this appeal will not be broadcast in vain.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239943649 WORKERS WIRELESS The Labor Daily 377 New South Wales, Australia 7 April 1925 13 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia BRANCH MEETINGS. . . . MOSMAN The Mosman branch held their fortnightly meeting on April 1. In the unavoidable absence of the president (Dr. H. V. Evatt), the chair was occupied by Mr. J. E. Byrne, V.-P. Reports were received from the organising committee and E.C. delegates. Mr. Dessaix was elected minute secretary. It was decided that a letter of thanks be forwarded to Mr. Frank Anstey, Visitors from St. Leonards branch were cordially welcomed by the chair man. The branch meets again in Anzac Memorial Hall on Wednesday, 15th inst. The chairman announced that one of the selected Labor candidates, Mr. Enge, had signified his intention of withdrawing from the contest. Mr. J. E. Byrne, senior vice-president, was unanimously elected for recommendation to the executive to fill the vacancy. On the motion of the secretary (Mr. Childs), seconded by Mr. Humphries, the following resolutions for conference agenda were carried unanimously, viz.:— "(1) That the question of the establishment of a workers' wireless plant be given immediate consideration. "(2) That Esperanto be made a compulsory subject in Australian schools. (3) That the question of improving workers' education and organisation — more particularly in rural parts — be given immediate consideration. This to include establishment of local workers' libraries." http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239947188 BRANCH MEETINGS The Labor Daily 379 New South Wales, Australia 9 April 1925 13 October 2018 8 National Library of Australia WIRELESS AND THE WORKER. ITS VALUE TO LABOR. AMERICAN LESSONS. (By E. R. VOIGT.) IN times to come we shall wonder how it is that a country like ours, which prides itself in being in the forefront of capitalist democracies, has allowed a public utility of such amazing potentialities as wireless to fall under the blight of a cotere of profit-seeking monopolies. We shall then fully appreciate the resentment that is now stirring among the workers of Australia against a Government servile to big vested interests at home and abroad. We shall understand their indignation at being subjected to a license fee seven times higher than that of any other nation. And we shall justify the anger of the organised workers at the Bruce Government for its gross betrayal of a great public trust in conniving at the bleeding of the Australian listening-in public through copyright fees and patent royalties that have elsewhere been declared at law to be invalid. AUSTRALIAN AMATEURS. There recently arrived in Sydney, on the Ventura, a well-known American wireless expert — Mr. J. P. Quam, President of the Quam Radio Corporation, of Chicago. Through the courtesy of the technical manager of a firm of wireless distributors, I placed before Mr. Quam the wireless situation as we see it in Australia to-day, and invited his comment. The comments of Mr. Quam were given frankly, and what he said is of vital interest to working-class listeners-in in Australia. "The Australian wireless amateurs," said Mr. Quam, "have a reputation throughout the United States second to none other in the world." I pointed out that the Nationalist Federal Government had at first wanted to abolish amateur transmitting stations, but was forced to abandon its intentions. Mr. Quam's comment on this piece of would-be government folly agreed with Josh Billings — that when God makes a fool He means it. "The fact that wireless has developed with such giant strides," pursued Mr. Quam, "is largely due to the tireless activities and experiments of the amateurs. It is the boundless faith and enthusiasm of the 'Hams' that has helped to put radio on the map. It would be criminal folly for any Government even to contemplate jettisoning the amateur stations." WORTHLESS PATENTS. But we have other troubles, I said; there are the monopolies grafted on to us by our beneficent Federal Government. First there is the Patent monopoly . . . "Young man," said Mr. Quam, "everywhere I go I bump this patent slug. Everybody suffering under this burden seems to think it a dispensation of God Almighty, to be accepted, not questioned. "They resent it, they grumble, they kick, but they know nothing. What they know about the actual claims of the patents for the use of which they pay out big sums annually could be written in very few words. "Take, for instance, the valve patents. Are you aware that these patents expired at midnight on February 17 last? I suggest that you co-operate with your Wireless Association, and at once test the validity of the valve patents in Australia." WORTH SEEING TO. That's worth seeing into, I said. But what concerns us also very closely are the Armstrong patents. Most of our valve sets are of the Armstrong regenerative type. "The so-called Armstrong patents for the regenerative or feed-back circuit," replied Mr. Quam, "are not worth the paper they are written on. "I am amazed at the ignorance I find everywhere concerning the Armstrong 'patents.' Armstrong never was the originator of the feed-back circuit. This has now been established at law in the U.S.A., and the collection of colossal sums from the radio public for royalties on worthless patents is one big bluff. "In view of the cancellation of the so-called Armstrong patents in the United States, if the wireless public of Australia is willing to continue paying out big sums on royalties for patents that are worthless, then the Australian people do not exactly live up to their reputation." HELPLESS PREY. I reminded Mr. Quam that the Australian public and any other public is the helpless prey of the vested interests so long as it remains unorganised. But a large section of the Australian people is organised in the Australian Trade Union Movement, and a small but concentrated section is organised in the Wireless Association. For some time the Wireless Association has been trying to buck the Federal Government and its monopolist bedfellows. Just now the powerful Australian Labor Movement, which already controls five out of the six State Governments, and which is determined to control the sixth as well as the Federal Government, is starting to take an interest in this monkeying with the workers' wireless. I informed him that we intend to make Free Wireless an issue in the next Federal Elections. We intend to wipe out that iniquitous license fee. We are determined to abolish completely the unwarranted fees of the Copyright Combine. . . . Mr. Quam here stated that if ever there was an empty bluff worked off on an innocent public, it was these copyright claims. "We don't need to have a strong Labor Movement to help abolish copyright fees in the U.S.A.," he said. "We never allowed them to be instituted." I told him that this parasitic Combine bleeds us to the tune of two shillings and tenpence on each annual license fee, and that, according to Mr. George A. Taylor, President of the Wireless Association, the Combine raked in £6000 the first year. They must be raking in a good deal more now. You can imagine the extent of their takings if allowed to continue until wireless becomes general. This Combine has contributed neither time, energy, nor money for the development of wireless. It grabs those fat copyright "fees," and gives nothing in return. LABOR'S WIRELESS PLAN. But what do you think of the wireless plan of the N.S.W. Trades and Labor Council — do you think it is practicable to operate an interstate chain of wireless broadcasting stations on 500 watts? I asked. "You should do all you plan with 500 watts," replied Mr. Quam. "Practically all our stations in the U.S.A. operate on 500 watts. KFI, Los Angeles, which is 500 watts, can be heard comfortably clear across the American Continent. "With a properly designed station of this power, you should be able to broadcast without difficulty to crystal sets with a radius of 20 miles, and very considerably over that under favorable conditions. "If you provide your State branches and your organisers in the field with portable valve sets, you could readily maintain daily telephonic contact through your broadcasting station to any distant point in the State of New South Wales." "With super-sensitive receivers in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and New Zealand, substantially regular contact could be carried out with these centres also. Your scheme is practicable. It is exceedingly interesting, and should give great impetus to the development of wireless communication."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239956990 WIRELESS AND THE WORKER The Labor Daily 382 New South Wales, Australia 13 April 1925 13 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia RADIO FOR LABOR. CAPITALISM HAS SECURED CONTROL. HOW A STRIKE WAS BROKEN. COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL SCHEME. (By E. R. Voight) THE PRESENT IS THE ERA of the machines. During the past century the machine technology has changed the face of the globe beyond recognition. IN THE DOMAIN of the machine, no development has been so rapid or spectacular as that of wireless communication. THIS development has taken place under the guiding hand of capitalism. It is but natural therefore that such development should favor those who exploit for their own profit the labor of the masses. Legally, commercially, and technically, capitalism has secured control of wireless communication to the exclusion of Labor. The completeness and the drastic nature of that control lead us to wonder just what the Labor movement was doing to allow this move to be made unopposed by its enemies. In Australia we have a set of wireless regulations so stringent in their nature, so restrictive against the free use and development of wireless, and playing so obviously into the hands of profit-making monopolies as to constitute a standing menace to the working-class. There is little excuse for the apathy of the Australian Labor movement in this matter. Eighteen months ago, before there was a single radio store in Sydney, the dramatic defeat of the printers in New York signalled its lesson to the workers of the world. NEW YORK PRESS STRIKE. When the New York pressmen walked out not a single capitalist newspaper appeared on the streets of New York the next day. The most powerful weapon in the armory of the capitalist class — the Press — was struck from its hands. Only one newspaper appeared, the Labor organ, the "Call." SINISTER DEVELOPMENT. The striking Pressmen thus could maintain their own communications and morale unimpaired; they could preserve sympathetic contact with the surrounding working-class organisations on whose moral and material support they must finally depend, and they could place their case fairly and squarely before the public at large. There appeared to be all the signs of a working-class victory, when a new and sinister development occurred. The employers, in collaboration with the International Printers' officers, who had opposed the strike, took charge of the wireless broadcasting station. Through the microphone they accomplished what they could not do through the Press. They issued harrowing tales of the sufferings of the striking pressmen's wives and families, they reported that the strike was broken and the men returning to work; they endeavored to create divisions in the strikers' ranks; they sought to discredit the men's leaders by stigmatising them Reds, I.W.W., anarchists, agitators, and Bolsheviks; they said the strike was financed by Russian gold. This stream of misrepresentation and abuse, broadcast forth to the four winds of heaven, told heavily. In eleven days the strike was broken. NEWSPAPERS CONTROL. The striking part which wireless broadcasting played in the defeat of the New York pressmen was not lost on the newspaper bosses of America. Quietly and deliberately the big newspaper combines and companies set out to secure control of broadcasting throughout the United States. Today practically every big daily newspaper has its own broadcasting station. Since there is no license fee to pay on receiving sets in U.S.A., none of these broadcasting stations enjoys any Government subsidy. The cost of the same falls upon the shoulders of the newspaper companies concerned. There is no direct advertising by the newspapers concerned. Ostensibly the broadcasting stations appear to exist for the sole purpose of providing the public with free jazz music, news, and lectures. In reality, they constitute the news-papers' insurance against strikes. They are held in reserve for strike-breaking weapons. With the advent of wireless a newspaper strike does not hold any of the terror for the newspaper bosses which it formerly had. If the newspapers cease to function, then the wireless broadcasting stations will be mobilised against the strikers. Recollect that it only requires two men to operate a broadcasting station, or only one man in an emergency. It is as easy to broadcast to 1,000,000 people as it is to telephone to one person, and the cost is next to nothing. LIGHTNING NEWS. The speed of broadcasting is phenomenal. It takes but a fraction of a second to receive a broadcast wireless message clear across the Australian continent, or from one side of the world to another. The listening-in circle is doubling, trebling, and quadrupling its numbers every year. It is already a mighty audience. The newspaper bosses know all this. So do our capitalist political bosses. During recent political and industrial crises in Europe and America, wireless broadcasting has been used against the working-class. It will be used more and more openly and effectively as the capitalists consolidate their power and control. Can you imagine what will happen in the next big industrial crisis? Capitalist propaganda and publicity will be broadcast against the workers, not only in the immediate vicinity of the strike but also throughout the State, across the continent and abroad. It will be relayed and rebroadcast to the ends of the earth. The latest expedition to the north or south pole will pick up capitalist propaganda regarding the daily struggles of the workers. And this mass of capitalist propaganda will produce its deadening effect upon the minds and activities of the workers, for large masses of the workers are still inert and subject to its influence. If they were not, we should not have the phenomenon of masses or workers voting for anti-Labor candidates, whose sole aim is to secure profits of their own class by smashing down wages, lengthening hours, and riveting the chains of wage-servitude ever more securely upon the limbs and lives of the workers. WORKERS TO ACT. Capitalism is learning fast the advantages of control over wireless broadcasting. It has already seized and is busy moulding radio to its own anti-Labor uses. Working-class organisations, are moving much more slowly. But they are moving at last. Here and there, in different countries, trade unions are installing or about to install broadcasting stations for their own use. In Australia, and in New South Wales particularly, the question of wireless communication bulks large in the deliberations of the Trade Union movement. The first move has been made by the Trades and Labor Council of New South Wales. A comprehensive scheme has been planned, tenders for the erection of a high-power station on the Trades Hall have been called for, and there is little doubt that the time is not far distant when the Australian Labor movement will create industrial history in the establishment of an interlocking chain of Labor broadcasting stations throughout the Commonwealth. When this is accomplished, Labor will have taken a great stride forward in its struggle against the capitalist class, for it will have counteracted largely the immense advantage now held by its enemies in propaganda and publicity. It will do more. With the installation of instantaneous wireless communication. It will for the first time in its history have made possible the establishment of a complete network of communications within its own ranks. The Labor movement is an industrial army organising its forces in the class struggle against the employers entrenched in the capitalist system. LABOR'S ARMY. The maintenance of communications between its several parts is a vital factor in any army. It is no less vital in the ranks of Labor's organisations. Today there are rifts, schisms, and divisions in the ranks of the workers which render successful action against the employers' industrial and political forces exceedingly difficult or impossible. The most promising method of breaking down these schisms and divisions and attaining a measure of effective working-class solidarity against capitalism is to establish a regular daily communication between the different sections of the movement. Wireless broadcasting places this opportunity readily and easily within the power of the workers' organisations. It is a fact worthy of notice that in spite of the division and factions now operating in the Labor movement of New South Wales the vital question of the erection of Labor broadcasting stations is now recognised to be of paramount importance in the defence of working-class interests by all sections of the movement, industrial and political alike. Let us work together for its speedy consummation.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239952305 RADIO FOR LABOR The Labor Daily 383 New South Wales, Australia 14 April 1925 14 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia RADIO FOR LABOR. Sir,— With many other working men, I have read your articles on "Radio for Labor," from the pen of Mr. E. R. Voigt, with the greatest interest. The establishment of a chain of Labor broadcasting stations is of the highest and most vital importance to the Labor Movement of Australia, and our Parliamentary parties have been remiss in allowing the Bruce Government and the monopolists to get such a stranglehold upon this powerful new weapon of publicity and education. Mr. Voigt is to be congratulated for his able articles and fighting attitude which reminds us of the splendid publicity he obtained for Labor in the "Daily Mail" period. We are glad to see Mr. Voigt has "come back fighting" for Labor and a better cause than "Wireless for the Workers" could not have been chosen.— Yours, etc., "T.J.G." Manly.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239954882 RADIO FOR LABOR The Labor Daily 391 New South Wales, Australia 23 April 1925 17 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia RADIO FOR LABOR. Sir,— For the information of myself and other working men and women, who have followed your articles, "Radio for Labor," with great interest, may I ask Mr. Voigt, through you, to outline the scheme of wireless broadcasting which, we understand, is now being undertaken by the Sydney Trades and Labor Council. I understand a wireless committee has already been established with Mr. Voigt as chairman. How far has the scheme advanced, and how soon is it likely to be before we have the first Labor Broadcasting Station in Australia? What a splendid accomplishment if the Broadcasting Station could be erected in time for the State elections.— Yours, etc., F. O. TATLOR. Randwick. (Mr. Voigt will, from time to time, deal with all developments in this connection in the "Labor Daily."— Editor.).http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239943349 RADIO FOR LABOR. The Labor Daily 393 New South Wales, Australia 25 April 1925 14 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia 1925 05 LABOR POLICY TO-NIGHT. LANG AT AUBURN TOWN HALL. WIRELESS FOR OVERFLOW MEETING. SOUND CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAMME. LABOR'S campaign will be opened at the Auburn Town Hall by Mr. Lang, leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party, tonight, when he will announce the Labor programme for the coming elections. The speech will disclose a courageous policy of construction, and will be in striking contrast to the vague and indefinite statements which the Premier and Mr. Bruxner used to build up their policy speeches. There will be a wireless installation at the meeting. It is expected the crowd, which will be anxious to hear the speech, will be much larger than the hall can accommodate. Arrangements have been made for the erection of a broadcasting centre at a shop on the opposite side of the street, round which an overflow meeting can gather and listen to the speech just as if they were in the hall. MR. LANG'S speech will be a message of hope to the thousands who have been able to see nothing but despair since they read the Nationalist policy speech. It will be shown that Labor is the only party which has a thorough grip of the needs of all sections of the community, and that it is the only party which is prepared to give the fullest Government assistance to those classes of the community which need it. The most needed thing in politics just now is a Government which has the courage to deal firmly with the many serious problems which the Fuller Government has been deferring, or tinkering with during the past three years. Mr. Lang's speech will show that the Labor Party has the courage, the determination, and the ability to deal with these matters, as they affect both the country and the city. Party Unity. It is anticipated that the platform will be crowded. Practically every member of the Parliamentary Labor Party who is not campaigning in the country has indicated his intention of supporting the Leader on the stage. In addition, Federal and Interstate members will be present, as well as all the leading members of the organisation of the A.L.P. The campaign will be opened under the most auspicious circumstances. There is complete unity in the party, the greatest of confidence in the Parliamentary leader, and a wonderful feeling of goodwill towards Labor in the country. These factors, coupled with a very sound policy of construction, must turn the scales in favor of Labor at the election. An Innovation. A new departure will be made by the wireless company to-night. Instead of it being necessary to get another team of speakers to address the overflow, which is sure to gather outside the hall, the company has decided to install a broadcast station in a shop opposite the hall. This system has never been tried In Australia before, as it has not previously been necessary to arrange for an overflow meeting in connection with a political campaign. The tide is turned towards Labor. It is confidently expected that the enthusiasm and appreciation which will be shown for Mr. Lang and his policy tonight by his supporters and colleagues will be reflected throughout the State, culminating in a great Labor victory at the polls on May 30.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239949265 LABOR POLICY TO-NIGHT The Labor Daily 398 New South Wales, Australia 1 May 1925 14 October 2018 1 National Library of Australia RADIO FOR LABOR. ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE WORKING MAN. FREE WIRELESS IN U.S.A. WHY NOT IN AUSTRALIA? THERE is no country in the world where more progress has been registered in the field of wireless communication than in the United States of America. ABOUT a year ago, there were over 600 high-power broadcasting stations operating throughout the United States. FROM these stations are broadcasted excellent concerts, lectures, news, market reports, political speeches, and propaganda of all kinds. MOST of the important newspapers, have their own high-power broadcasting stations, from which they send out on the air the latest cable news and local items. Many of the broadcasting stations are connected with some theatre, or with one or other of the principal orchestras. In this way operatic and orchestral music are broadcast to the listening-in public. In America wireless communication is revolutionising the average man's manner of spending his leisure time. The working man, with his five dollar crystal set, has a choice of entertainment which, a few years ago, was outside the means even of the wealthiest persons. MAKING LIFE EASY. Sitting comfortably at home with his pipe and his glass of milk, he can make the rounds of the city's principal entertainments with no more physical exertion than required to adjust his set. If it is inconvenient to go to the ball game, he can obtain progressive information every few minutes. At election-time all the "big guns" in the political world broadcast their speeches to millions of listeners throughout the continent. Even the churches, which often oppose new ideas, or consider their use "irreverent," are quickly recognising the immense value of wireless broadcasting. Many churches are finding a use for their tall spires, and the gear of the broadcasting aerial is becoming a common sight among the churches. One big church in Los Angeles, which runs many scores of mission tents throughout Southern California, broadcasts its sermons, which are picked up in each of the numerous mission tents, and given out to the congregation through a loud speaker. WIRELESS TELEPHONE SERVICE. Between the island of Catalina and the mainland, the Telephone Company has established a wireless telephone service, which functions daily. By this means, residents on holidays in Catalina can hold a wireless telephone conversation with their friends and relatives in Long Beach and Los Angeles. Whether there is a slump in progress or not, the development of wireless in U.S.A. proceeds space, doubling or trebling, its sales every year. The ether is a veritable babel of sound-waves, each confined to its own path, so as not to interfere with the others. Not many months ago, the wireless authorities were wondering how it would be possible to grant any more permits for broadcasting stations without causing widespread interference between one station and another. But the domain of the broadcasting stations has been enlarged almost to infinity, by the discovery of a vast range of frequencies above 2000 kilocycles (below 150 metres). Short-wave transmission has solved the problem. There is practically no limit to the number of broadcasting stations that can operate without undue interference one with another. FREE WIRELESS IN U.S.A. Now the point that should be emphasised is that all this phenomenal development in wireless broadcasting and receiving has been attained without the aid of, or without the incubus of Government licensing fees to listeners-in. In America you can purchase or build your receiving set, fix up your aerial, and tune in to all that's on the air, without going to the trouble and expense of securing Government permits and paying heavy license fees. It might be objected that it must be impossible to secure good artists for wireless concerts without paying for their services. It must be said in reply that most of the concerts the writer has listened-in to in America have been quite up to the musical standard of those broadcast in Sydney, and undoubtedly more varied and more interesting. Many of the artists are paid for their services; many give their services free, and are only too glad to do so for the advantage of the immense publicity thereby attained. If a license fee was not necessary in U.S.A., it is not necessary in Australia. If good concerts can be provided without license fees in San Francisco, Kansas City and New York, equally good concerts can be so provided in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne without the arbitrary imposition of any 35/ annual slug on wireless users. FLEECING THE PUBLIC. Why is it that the Commonwealth Government, hand-in-glove with the Marconi Combine, has saddled wireless users in Australia with this unwarranted license fee? It certainly is not in order to stimulate the development of wireless communication. U.S.A. has proved conclusively that no license fee whatever is necessary or desirable for that purpose. It certainly is not in order to ensure adequate wages being paid to wireless artists, for the Commonwealth Government has clearly indicated that it will leave no stone unturned to smash down the wages of the workers whenever opportunity presents itself. And, moreover, the Commonwealth Government pours its annual stream of gold into the pockets of the capitalist monopolies it has deliberately created, and allows it to rest there. Its only concern with wages is in reducing them. The reason why the Commonwealth Nationalist Government has forcibly imposed upon the helpless listeners-in of Australia an exorbitant license fee, far in excess of anything else in the wireless world to-day, is clear and unmistakable. It is in order to facilitate the flow of money into the pockets of its monopolistic bedfellow, the Marconi Combine. And how does an exorbitant license fee accomplish that purpose? It accomplishes that purpose by acting as a drag on the sale of simple crystal sets, on which the Marconi Company has little or no royalties. In favor of the complicated valve sets, on which the Marconi Company holds the bulk of the patent rights and royalties. Think of it. A man who owns a 5/ crystal set must pay 35/ license fees each year. The owner of a £100 super-heterodyne set pays no more. The result is to discourage the sale of crystal sets, and encourage the sale of the more expensive valve sets. The public pays, and by a curious coincidence, the Marconi Company benefits. BREEDING LAWLESSNESS. It would amaze the radio-using public if they know the extent to which they are bled for using the Marconi patents. The royalties charged on a 90? valve set amount to no less than 25/. But the exorbitant 35/- license fee brings its own nemesis. It makes hitherto law-abiding people break the law. In Britain, where the license fee is only 10/, it is stated that there are over a million users of unlicensed sets. In Australia the proportion must be still greater. The number of wireless licenses issued in New South Wales is approximately 32,000. One Sydney firm alone claims to have sold over 35,000 sets! The inference is clear. The bulk of the listening-in public refuses to be bled. They treat the law with the contempt they consider it deserves. Wireless communication is as much a public trust as the post office. Farmer's Broadcasting Service cheerfully admits a profit of £85,164 for the past twelve months. That is a scandal. The wireless policy of the Australian Labor Party must be to ensure that this public trust is co-ducted in the public interest, and without profit. The wireless license, if any, must only be such that will ensure adequate wages to the artists who entertain us. E. R. VOIGHT.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239947545 RADIO FOR LABOR The Labor Daily 401 New South Wales, Australia 5 May 1925 14 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia RADIO FOR LABOR. Trades Hall Station. SENDING AND RECEIVING. It is the plan of the Labor Council of New South Wales to erect on the Trades Hall a 2500-3000 watt radio broadcasting station, together with a receiving set capable of receiving telephone communication from the furthermost station of the Commonwealth, and on special occasions from Europe and America. The cost of this broadcasting and receiving station will be approximately £1500 installed. The upkeep will be approximately £700 to £1000 a year. Radio will be used for "regular communication between union centres and their branches; communication between union offices and organisers in the field; regular daily communication between union organisations in the different States; communication between unions and their members; Parliamentary election propaganda; working-class education; strikes and arbitration matters." A special committee has been appointed to address affiliated and other unions and solicit their support for the scheme. B CLASS STATION WANTED Application was made to the postal authorities a week ago on behalf of the Labor Council of N.S.W., for permission to erect and conduct a B class transmitting station. The application is now being considered by the Director of Postal Services (Mr. Brown). There are two A class stations in Sydney — 2FC and 2BL. They receive different proportions of the revenue received from fees paid by listeners-in, after a deduction has been made by the Postal Department. B class stations receive no revenue, except what they may obtain as the result of broadcasting advertisements. Should the application be granted, the wave length of the new station will be fixed by the Postal Department.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224045454 RADIO FOR LABOR The Sun 4533 New South Wales, Australia 15 May 1925 17 October 2018 9 (FINAL EXTRA) National Library of Australia BEHIND THE A.L.P. TRADES COUNCIL. BIG DEMONSTRATION. The Sydney Trades and Labor Council last night reconsidered the request from the A.L.P. that it co-operate in connection with the mass Labor Demonstration in the Domain on Sunday, May 24. This matter came before the council at its last meeting, but after lengthy discussion, the delegates decided not to do anything in the matter. Last night, however, the council resolved to call upon all trades unions and workers to fall in behind the Labor Party in its attempt to put the Fuller Government out of office. LABOR'S WIRELESS. A report in connection with the proposed wireless broadcasting station, to be used in the interests of Labor, was made by Mr. Voigt, who told the council that everything was now in readiness to proceed with its erection so soon as the license was received from the Postmaster-General. The proposed station, when erected, will be the most powerful in the Commonwealth, and will be capable of being used for either voice or code broadcasting. It will have all the latest improvements. The council unanimously decided to adopt Mr. Voigt's report. This means that as soon as the license is received from Melbourne the erection of the station will be proceeded with. ASSISTING PERTH STRIKERS. In response to a communication from the Hotel, Club and Restaurant Employees' Union in Western Australia, the members of which are at present on strike because of the refusal of the employers to grant the preference clause in their award, the council decided to issue an appeal to all unions for funds to aid the strikers.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239957902 BEHIND THE A.L.P. The Labor Daily 410 New South Wales, Australia 15 May 1925 14 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia LABOR WIRELESS SCHEME. SPECIAL STATION MAY BE ESTABLISHED. SYDNEY.— The Sydney Labor Council on Thursday night decided to proceed at once with a comprehensive scheme of broadcasting in connection with trade union propaganda. Broadcasting and receiving stations are to be installed at the Trades Hall at a cost of about £1500. The upkeep, which is estimated at from £700 to £1000 a year, will be provided by individual trades unions. It is suggested that radio should be used for the following purposes:— 1. Regular communication between union centres and their branches; 2. communication between union offices and organisers in the field; 3. regular daily communication between union organisations in the different States; 4. communication between unions and their members; 5. Parliamentary election propaganda; 6. working class education; 7. strikes; 8. arbitration matters. This scheme has been received with a good deal of enthusiasm by members of the Labor Council, and the only possible obstacle in the way is stated to be the chance of the Federal Government refusing a licence. A licence has already been applied for. A deputation of Federal members will wait on the Postmaster-General to impress upon him the right of the Labor movement to have its own broadcasting station.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155767790 LABOR WIRELESS SCHEME. The Age 21,876 Victoria, Australia 15 May 1925 17 October 2018 11 National Library of Australia LABOUR'S APPLICATION. Broadcasting Licence Wanted. An application for a B class broadcasting station has been received by the Postal department from the Labour Council of New South Wales. In making this intimation yesterday the secretary to the department (Mr. H. P. Brown) pointed out that the application was on the usual lines, and that the idea entertained in some quarters that the station could be used for regular communication between union centres and their branches and for the issuing of instructions to officers of the organisations or the members of unions was erroneous. To employ wireless broadcasting for such a purpose would not only be against the regulations but would be a direct offence against the Telegraph Act which vested the Postmaster-General with the sole right of regulating and charging for communication between individuals. So far as B class stations are concerned, the only revenue derived by them is that which they collect from advertisers. Even that is limited, for the Postal department will only allow a certain proportion of advertisements to be interspersed between the entertaining and instructional items. The transmission of propaganda is not permitted though exceptions may be made such as last week when the Sydney station broadcast short speeches by the leaders of the three political parties in New South Wales.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2117441 LABOUR'S APPLICATION. The Argus (Melbourne) 24,577 Victoria, Australia 16 May 1925 18 November 2018 36 National Library of Australia BROADCASTING. LABOR COUNCIL APPLICATION. WHAT IS NEWS. MELBOURNE, Sunday. The application from the Trades and Labor Council of Now South Wales for a B Class broadcasting license is being considered by the Postal Secretary, Mr. H. Brown. The council, when making the application, stated that it was prepared to expend about £1500 a year on its upkeep. A perusal of the regulations makes it appear that the station will be of little, or no, use as a means of communication between the various unions or for propaganda broadcasting. In the first place, the Postmaster-General claims the right to control all charges of communication between individuals under the Telegraph Act. Secondly, the wireless regulations will not a allow the broadcasting of propaganda. The Postal Secretary has pointed out that permission given to party leaders in New South Wales recently to transmit their speeches was an exception. Wireless could, of course, be employed for broadcasting arbitration cases or industrial items, which would be news.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239951258 BROADCASTING The Labor Daily 412 New South Wales, Australia 18 May 1925 14 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia SHALL MOSCOW RULE? Last night's magnificent rally at the Town Hall is a sufficient reply to the question "Shall Moscow rule?" If the local branch of the Labour Communist party, ostensibly led by Mr. Lang, is returned to power at the coming elections, this State will be governed by agents of Moscow. There can be no doubt on that point. Moscow rules the Trades Hall, and the Trades Hall rules Mr. Lang; and the A.L.P., just as recently in Queensland ruled Mr. Theodore. Mr. Theodore would not accept the Red objective; Mr. Lang will not even mention it. But it controls them both; and if we have not seen here in Sydney the same illustration of Cabinet Government from the Trades Hall, it is because Mr. Lang has not been Premier since the Red objective was adopted. The extraordinary way in which this foreign influence, through the Trades Hall, has acquired control over Labour politicians is exemplified in Brisbane and our own City Council. Mr. Lang denies his master; but Mr. Garden, like his own master, the illustrious Zinovieff (alias Apfelbaum), will not be denied. Mr. Lang affirms that he has nothing to do with the Communists; meanwhile, Mr. Garden, their local leader, rides like an Old Man of the Sea on Mr. Lang's back. He cannot be dislodged, for he and his colleagues control important trade unions. Mr. Lang will get the Communists' first preference votes, and if any foreigner is returned to Parliament it will be by reciprocal aid of the first preference votes of Mr. Lang's followers. It is treachery these fanatics are preparing, and the Labour party as a whole is their helpless instrument. The treachery can be scotched by the will of the electors, if they have the will. Meanwhile, we are concerned to point out the hypocrisy of the means adopted to pervert that will. It is the same in many other countries. The means which succeeded with the poor ignorant Russian peasants are, by order of the murder-gang which calls itself a Government in Moscow, to be applied to all the world. We have seen its results in Hungary, Italy, Korea, China, and, during the last few weeks, in the Balkans. We have seen it in Ireland. Zinovieff (alias Apfelbaum, anglice Appletree) tried it last year in England. Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, leader of the British Labour party, has confessed that he begins to descry the nigger in the woodpile. The Secretary for Home Affairs in the present British Government announced, in our cable messages of yesterday, that the Government is tired of the influx of men to our mother country who come to arouse class hatred and destroy the Constitution. Another message today reports a story from Berlin in the Labour-Communist newspaper of London that the British Government proposes an Allied Note demanding repudiation by Moscow of the Communist International and its campaign of violence. The aforesaid newspaper declares that such a Note would be an affront to the Soviet. It may be; but what else is the Soviet's attitude towards Britain? We can well believe that the British Government would take any steps to get rid of the spurious Soviet "Embassy" in London, which is a refuge, under diplomatic privilege, for a stream of Communist agents of violence. The Soviet has already declared war on the British Empire, and does not disguise the fact. Only the appeal to the electors last year in Britain saved the country from ugly trouble. The same fight is on here. For the present New South Wales is the field. But it is no passing skirmish, and it will be renewed next year all over the Commonwealth in the Federal elections. Meanwhile a challenge is to the Australian people in the most important of the State electorates. The hypocrisy of political Labour is expressed in its public attitude, both towards the Communists, and towards the electors, before whom it pretends freedom from Communist dictation. What hope is there for that small capitalist, the farmer, from this combination which is out "to smash capital?" The whole Trades Hall policy is one of bluff and sham. It expresses itself in the complaint of the Melbourne Trades Hall to the Federal Government about the immigration of aliens to this country, when the extremists themselves are either aliens or in the service of Moscow. If Mr. Garden, Mr. Howie, Mr. Johansen, Mr. Walsh and their colleagues are not in the direct pay of Moscow, then they must do Moscow's behest for sheer love of the service and hope of future reward. We observe with pleasure that the naive application of the Sydney Trades Hall for a wireless broadcasting license is not likely to succeed; it would, of course, serve the Trades Hall's purposes admirably to have its own communication with Moscow, and to be able to disseminate Moscow's propaganda in this country. The genuine Labour adherents — and we can assure Mr. Lang that he is vastly distressing many of them — are left reflecting bitterly on the wreck of their principles and their once-decent Australian political objective; wrecked by the same foreign hand which rules the party executive. The condition of the Commonwealth Line of steamers is a foretaste of the general desolation which is assured from the Communists' wider activities. The "leader" of the party, which still calls itself a Labour party and Australian, is justly blamed for his helplessness, although he is now powerless to exert himself while remaining "leader." His opportunity to cut through his bonds faded away some time ago. Today he must be merely the temporary instrument of a temporary pretence. He cannot carry out any beneficial Government, even if his promises disclosed the prospect of such. His masters are sworn to a campaign of anti-British violence — anti-British in every sense of the phrase.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16229859 The Sydney Morning Herald. The Sydney Morning Herald 27,260 New South Wales, Australia 19 May 1925 9 October 2018 8 National Library of Australia LABOR'S WIRELESS. WILL OBEY THE LAW AND CONFORM TO RULE. The statement by the Postmaster-General regarding the application from the Sydney Labor Council for a B class broadcasting license, in which he remarked that the wireless regulations will not allow of the broadcasting of propaganda, was criticised by Mr. E. R. Voigt, chairman of the Labor Council Wireless Committee, yesterday. "It is intended to operate the broadcasting station projected by the N.S.W. Trades and Labor Council in conformity with the law and the wireless regulations," said Mr. Voigt. "Our formal application for license clearly indicates this. "The wireless regulations are, however, rapidly changing to meet the phenomenal development of radio, and in planning the council broadcasting station we confidently expect a continuance of these changes which will widen the restricted limits within which wireless is at present permitted to operate. BUSYBODIES. "It would appear that some confusion has been caused in the mind of the Postmaster-General by irresponible parties who have mixed up our present demands with our ultimate aims."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239950667 LABOR'S WIRELESS The Labor Daily 413 New South Wales, Australia 19 May 1925 14 October 2018 8 National Library of Australia RADIO FOR LABOR. "ALTHOUGH Australia may be younger in wireless development than the United States, the conduct of our wireless services is better," said Mr. A. Watt, in proposing the toast of the Wireless Institute of Australia at the annual dinner of that Institute. We are getting used to this kind of Nationalistic claptrap. When the bosses boost "Australia First," you can bet your bottom dollar there's a nigger in the woodpile somewhere. We are going to find that nigger before we finish, for he is after Labor's chickens. The fact of the matter is that the conduct of our wireless services in Australia could not very well be much worse, from the point of view of Labor and the listeners-in. In the first place, the development of wireless amongst the workers is clogged with a mass of regulations and red tape which, on the face of it, simply must restrict, and hamper its progress. And that is a fact. The development of wireless and the conduct of its services in U.S.A. are greatly in advance of those in Australia. With twenty times the population of Australia, U.S.A. has no less than sixty times the number of high-class broadcasting stations. Wireless has developed therefore three times as far in the States. Moreover, in U.S.A. wireless is as free as the air we breathe. There are no license fees to pay, and no permits to secure when you instal a wireless set. There is no Patent Combine to bleed you for worthless patents, nor any Copyright Combine to hold you up for 2/10 per year, as in Australia. Broadcasting is on a much higher and efficient plane, in U.S.A. American stations can be heard in Australia, but not Australian stations in America. American exporters have been amazed at the failure of their best receiving sets in Australia. On investigation they state that this is due to the low efficiency of Australian broadcasting stations. Why, then, do these local boosters kid us about Australian wireless services being better than those of U.S.A.? It is because wireless in U.S.A. is free and efficient, and because the Labor Movement in Australia is beginning to make odious comparisons and demand to know why the workers should be bled by extortionate license fees, patent fees, and copyright fees, in the interests of two big combines, when its wireless services are no better, or worse, than in other countries where no such burdens are imposed. That is the nigger in the woodpile.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145953407 RADIO FOR LABOR. The Australian Worker 34, 21 New South Wales, Australia 27 May 1925 17 October 2018 11 National Library of Australia Wireless. LABOR’S APPLICATION. BROADCASTING LICENCE WANTED. An application for a B class broadcasting station has been received by the Postal department from the Labor Council of New South Wales. In making this intimation last week the secretary to the department (Mr. H. P. Brown), pointed out that the application was on the usual lines, and that the idea was entertained in some quarters that the station could be used for regular communication between union centres and their branches, and for the issuing of instructions to officers of the organisations or the members of unions was erroneous. To employ wireless broadcasting for such a purpose would not only be against the regulations, but would be a direct offence against the Telegraph Act, which vested the Postmaster-General with the sole right of regulating and charging for communication between individuals. So far as B class stations are concerned, the only revenue derived by them is that which they collect from advertisers. Even that is limited, for the Postal department will only allow a certain proportion of advertisements to be interspersed between the entertaining and instructional items. The transmission of propaganda is not permitted, though exceptions may be made such as recently, when the Sydney station broadcast short speeches by the leaders of the three political parties in New South Wales.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173261517 Wireless Shepparton Advertiser 4347 Victoria, Australia 28 May 1925 14 October 2018 3 National Library of Australia 1925 06 WIRELESS MONOPOLY. Sir,— The refusal of the Postmaster-General's Department to grant a license for a broadcasting station to the New South Wales Labor Council on the grounds of its possible use for propaganda purposes is about the limit in autocracy. If the organised Labor movement stands for this it will stand for anything. The danger to the workers of leaving this powerful instrument of publicity entirely in the hands of their enemies is so vital that, in my opinion, the question transcends in importance anything that trade unionism has hitherto faced in this country. Meetings of protest should be organised in every industrial centre in Australia. The assertion of the Post Office authorities that the Posts and Telegraphs Act stands in the way may be taken at its face value. The importance of wireless to the working-class movement of the future is so far-reaching that in no case was it ever more vital than "the law" should conform to their demands than in the present instance.— Yours, etc., TOM GLYNN, Surry Hills.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239953877 WIRELESS MONOPOLY The Labor Daily 424 New South Wales, Australia 1 June 1925 15 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia GREAT FORWARD MARCH. LABOR AND ITS OWN WIRELESS '2ic' STATION. MOST UP-TO-DATE. POWERFUL INFLUENCE IN WORKERS' EDUCATION. (By E. R. VOIGT, Chairman and Organiser of the Wireless Committee, Trades and Labor Council.) APPLICATION of the New South Wales Trades and Labor Council for permission to erect in Sydney a high-power broadcasting Station has been approved by the Postmaster-General, and work is now proceeding on the erection of the first Labor Broadcasting Station, not only in Australia, but in the world. IT IS NO EXAGGERATION to state that the eyes of the world will follow with interest the development and use of the Sydney Labor Broadcasting Station, which constitutes a new departure in broadcasting, and which, if successful, will give great impetus to wireless development, both in the Commonwealth of Australia and in other countries. THE SYDNEY STATION will be the last word in broadcasting design, and will contain novel features not comprised in any other broadcasting station. It will have an input capacity ofapproximately 4000 watts, with provision to increase to double that power if necessary, which will make the station one of the most powerful in tho Southern Hemisphere. CONTACT WITH BRITAIN, AMERICA. EUROPE. The Postmaster-General has allocated a wave-length of 280 metres, with the call sign, "2IC." This short wave-length will place the Sydney Station in the van of wireless development, the whole trend of which is, and must, continue to be towards shorter wave-lengths. Speech and music broadcast by this powerful station will be received throughout the Commonwealth and in New Zealand without difficulty. The station will be fitted with an automatic break-in system for the transmission of Morse Code, with which it will be possible to maintain contact with Britain, America and Europe. The possibilities and effects of this can hardly be over-estimated. The First Chain. It is confidently expected that 2IC will be the first of a chain of inter-locking Labor Broadcasting Stations connecting every State Labor organisation in the Commonwealth. When these are completed, it will be possible to relay news and programmes from any Labor broadcasting station to the furthermost centres of the Commonwealth where it can be picked up by thousands of the simplest and most inexpensive receiving sets. The plans include the provision of microphones situated in different parts of the Trades Hall, from which speeches, debates and decisions of general interest may be broadcast to many thousands of listeners-in. Parliament's Activities. Since there is apparently nothing in the Wireless Regulations which prohibits the use of broadcasting stations for political purposes, and particularly since it is understood that the Postmaster-General has granted a license for the erection of a station by the N.S.W. Nationalist Association, it will be seen that 2IC may constitute an important development not only in political campaigning, but also in broadcasting to the masses the daily activities of Parliament. No one who has had any intimate connection with the Labor Movement can doubt that the Labor Broadcasting Station will be used largely for educational purposes. The Labor Movement in this and other countries is profoundly dissatisfied with the existing education system. In Australia, as in Europe, and America, Labor Colleges have been established by the workers to provide that measure of working-class education which is essential to the progress of working-class organisation, and which can never be attained in any orthodox capitalist institution. Advantages Apparent. The immense advantage of wireless in education will at once be apparent. In place of addressing a few scores of listeners, the new Labor Broadcasting Station will make it possible for our lecturers to reach many thousands of listeners-in. Orthodox education has never gripped the worker, because it is divorced from the realities of life; it only serves to dope his mental activities. The masses are not interested in the exact date when William the Conqueror landed in England, or Tennyson's poems, or algebra, or parsing and analysing, or even the French for, "It is the pen of my wife's aunt." What more concerns them is bread and butter education; education that deals with their relation to the means whereby they, their wives and children, live. Education, too, which equips them in their struggle for the means of life and for their ultimate historical destiny. Reaching the Workers This is the kind of education which when once absorbed by the masses is rarely forgotten. Unfortunately, working-class educators have never had the means to get this knowledge to the workers. A chain of Labor broadcasting stations, extending throughout the Commonwealth, of which 2IC is the first, will open up the way. There is another section of Labor activity that will benefit greatly from the establishment of the Sydney Labor Broadcasting Station: that section is the Labor Press. Experience in America and Europe has proved conclusively that wireless does not compete to the disadvantage of the Press. Wireless has increased the power of the Press. So long as the Labor Press maintains its true position in the class struggle, its position will be immensely strengthened by the advent of the Labor broadcasting stations in Australia. It is precisely because large masses of the workers do not understand their class position that they support the capitalist anti-Labor Press. Thousands Will Benefit The Labor Press circulates only among the class-conscious minority of the workers, the majority support the capitalist Press. The great difficulty is for the Labor Press to reach the readers of the "Herald," the "Telegraph," etc. The Sydney Labor Broadcasting Station will be able to reach out daily to tens of thousands who do not sup-port the Labor Press. It will broadcast to them Labor news, views and education, and in so doing it will greatly strengthen every branch of working-class activity. There are a number of somewhat amazing restrictions on the free use of wireless broadcasting comprised in the Wireless Regulations of the Federal Government and also in the Telegraph Act. One of these regulations prohibits the use of wireless in competition with the posts, telephones or telegraphs. This regulation would prevent the unions from communicating with their branches or organisers by wireless. These and other anomalous regulations framed to restrict wireless in conformity with an Act like the Telegraphs Act, that was drafted before the advent of wireless broadcasting, are an anachronism. They are rapidly giving way before the forward march of wireless. It must be the duty of the Federal Labor Party to make the campaign for free wireless for the workers a plank in their platform for the coming Federal elections. A Wireless Store In connection with the Sydney Labor Broadcasting Station arrangements are being made for the launching of a Co-operative Wireless Store for the supply of wireless receiving sets and all manner of wireless parts to members of affiliated trades unions at cost price. It is calculated that the new Co-operative Wireless Store will give great impetus to the development and use of wireless in Australia. Further details in connection with the Co-operative Wireless Store will be made public at a later date. Meanwhile, all Trade Unions and other Labor organisations are invited to write to the Wireless Committee of the Trades and Labor Council, Trades Hall, Sydney, to secure particulars of the affiliation fees, and to take their part in the establishment of Labor's First Broadcasting Station. Members of the Wireless Committee will be pleased to address any union meeting, and provide full details concerning the station and its operation. All communications should be addressed to The Wireless Committee, N.S.W. Trades and Labor Council, Trades Hall, Goulburn Street, Sydney.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239944209 GREAT FORWARD MARCH The Labor Daily 426 New South Wales, Australia 3 June 1925 15 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia BROADCASTING. New Station. TRADES HALL PLANS. Details were made available yesterday by the wireless committee of the Trades and Labour Council respecting the high-power "B" class broadcasting station, which the Postal Department has approved. "A wave length of 280 metres has been allocated to the new station, which will be erected at the Trades Hall, with the call-sign '2IC,' reads a statement issued by Mr. E. R. Voigt, chairman and organiser of the committee. "The new Labour broadcasting station will be the first of its kind in the world, and is the first of a series of interlocking Labour broadcasting stations, which it is hoped will be established in every State trades union centre in the Commonwealth. "2IC will have an input capacity of approximately 4000 watts, with provision made to extend to double that power if necessary. This will make the new Labour station one of the most powerful and modern broadcasting stations in the Southern Hemisphere. "Labour news, lectures, debates, politics, and music will be broadcasted, and readily picked up in the farthermost ends of Australia and New Zealand. "A break-in system, using the Morse key automatically, will be fitted, so that communication may readily be established with Europe, America, and elsewhere. "Provision will be made in the new Labour broadcasting station for the addition of a special short-wave transmitter below 60 metres. "Work is now proceeding on the station, which is expected to be in operation within eight weeks."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16220980 BROADCASTING. The Sydney Morning Herald 27,273 New South Wales, Australia 3 June 1925 18 November 2018 13 National Library of Australia IN TOUCH WITH THE WORLD. N.S.W. LABOR'S WIRELESS. STATION LONDON, NEW YORK, PARIS AND TOKIO. LINKING UP ALL THE WORKERS. "2IC SYDNEY". An outline of the High-Power Broadcasting Station now in course of construction for the New South Wales Trades and Labor Council, which will be one of the most modern and powerful Broadcasting Stations in the Southern Hemisphere and which will constitute a new departure in Labor Organisation, not only in Australia, but throughout the world. (By E. R. VOIGT, Chairman and Organiser of the Wireless Committee, Trades and Labor Council.) IN considering the general layout and details of the Broadcasting station planned by the Trades and Labor Council, advantage has been taken, not only of Australian experience in broadcasting, which is somewhat limited, but also of broadcasting developments in other countries where wireless has attained a higher development. It was first planned that the broadcasting station should have a capacity of 500 watts. This is the average capacity of the high-power broadcasting stations in the United States. These stations come in clearly and strongly from coast to coast in U.S.A., that is, over a distance of some 3000 miles. A similar 500 watt broadcasting station would, under favorable conditions, reach from Brisbane, to Perth, or from Melbourne to Port Darwin, so it was calculated, which would amply cover the requirement of Labor's first broadcasting station. It was discovered, however, that American and Australian experience on this point did not agree in the least. In the first place Australian broadcasting stations are rated on input, while American stations are rated on actual output. This means that a broadcasting station rated at 1000 watts in Australia would be rated at something less than 500 watts in America. Importance of Statics. This is important. The listeners-in of Australia have a right to know it. For the Australian method of rating broadcasting stations on the amount of power that is received into the apparatus, and not upon the amount that is actually sent out through the aerial may create a false impression in the minds of the listeners-in. It may make the wireless public imagine they are getting much more for their thirty-five shillings license fee than is actually the case. As a matter of fact, there is in the opinion of the writer and also in the opinion of wireless experts, only one high-power and efficient broadcasting station in the Commonwealth; that is, Farmer's Sydney Station, 2FC. There is another factor in Australian broadcasting which necessitated a further increase in the power originally contemplated. That factor is statics. Statics is the bete noire of wireless everywhere. Statics is troublesome, particularly in the summer months. We have plenty of summer weather in Australia, and by a curious coincidence we have certain belts with particularly healthy and lively bunches of statics. 4000 Watts Safely. For these and other reasons it was decided to step up very considerably the power originally contemplated. In place of an input of 600 watts, the Labor Broadcasting Station will be constructed to carry 4000 watt safely. The power output of the aerial can be placed with confidence at 1500 watts, but provision will be made for its increase to double this quantity if desired. The wave-length upon which the station will operate will be approximately 280 metres. This is a matter of considerable satisfaction, for it will facilitate the operation of the station at the highest efficiency. One of the bugbears of the listener-in in Australia is that his set must be complicated by the necessity of tuning in to broadcasting stations of widely-differing wave-lengths. Broadcasters (2BL), for instance, is on 350 metres, while Farmers (2FC) is 1100 metres. Sets which are constructed to bring in Broadcasters may be quite unsuited for Farmer's. Where the set is designed to take in both wave-lengths, complications are introduced into both design and handling. In the Van of Progress American and European broadcasting stations operate almost exclusively on the shorter wave-lengths in the neighborhood of 300 to 500 metres. In designing the Labor Broadcasting Station to operate on a short wave-length such as 280 metres, we are right in the van of modern wireless development and practice. With this powerful equipment, the Labor movement in New South Wales will be able to broadcast to the farthermost ends of the Commonwealth and New Zealand. It does not need much imagination to picture the new lines of development that will be opened up by this immense power of publicity, a power in which Labor has in the past been woefully lacking. But in addition to being able to broadcast speech throughout the Commonwealth, the Sydney Labor Broadcasting Station will be fitted with a break-in system to broadcast in the Morse Code automatically through the use of the Morse Key. Morse will carry much further on the air than speech. With the aid of Morse, it will be possible with the new station to broadcast to London, New York, Paris, Moscow or Tokio. News Sent Everywhere. We shall be able to provide London regularly with the Statistician's latest unemployment figures in New South Wales, which at present are 14 per cent. as compared with 10 per cent. in Britain, and which will give the great mass of unassisted emigrants, which greatly outnumbers those brought in under any Government scheme, a fair and square idea of the industrial conditions obtaining in this State or throughout the Commonwealth. The new Labor Broadcasting Station will bring the workers of America, Britain and Europe closer to their fellow-workers in Australia, Russia will no longer be a sealed book to us, with the capitalist Press holding the key and telling us with shrieks and groans, especially at election times, what is in it. There is a common bond between the workers of all countries. All workers, outside Russia, are divorced from the means of life; the tools and factories, and are in consequence ruthlessly exploited by the inhuman, pro-fit-mongering capitalist system. Although that common bond exists, there has up to the present been no adequate means of giving expression to the aims and ideals of the workers, or of giving publicity to the conditions under which they live. Workers' Own Creation. Wireless comes like a gift from the gods. But it is not a gift, nor does it come from the gods. Wireless is the workers' own creation, which has arisen from the restless seal of Labor activity. With wireless, we can broadcast our news and views not only, to the workers of Sydney, nor even to the workers of New South Wales, but to the workers throughout the Commonwealth of Australia. Nor will the ether waves which carry Labor's message stop at the confines of Australia. They will spread their message of hope, brotherhood and working-class activity over the entire surface of the earth. Every trade union in New South Wales, irrespective of its sectional views and tendencies, is invited to affiliate with the Wireless Board of the New South Wales Trades and Labor Councll, and take its share in the management and use of 2IC, Sydney, the first Labor Broadcasting Station in the world.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239945538 IN TOUCH WITH THE WORLD The Labor Daily 428 New South Wales, Australia 5 June 1925 15 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia WIRELESS WEEK by WEEK. Our Budget of Broadcasting and Listening-in Lyrics — Of the Greatest Value to the Seeker after Knowledge. RADIOGRAMS. The Sydney Trades Hall is installing a B Class broadcasting station to work on 280 metres. A short wave transmitter using a wave length of 60 metres will also be operated. Both stations will be in action in about eight weeks. This is the first case of commercial interests being alloted wave lengths that come within the amateur wave band. The amateur fraternity will soon have to keep rigorously within their wave band, otherwise we can see them forfeiting the short wave lengths altogether.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58219489 WIRELESS WEEK by WEEK Sunday Times (Perth) 1431 Western Australia 14 June 1925 17 November 2018 8 National Library of Australia 1925 07 CALL FOR UNITED ACTION. LABOR'S WIRELESS POLICY. A LEAD WANTED. (BY E. R. VOIGT.) IN the midst of a series of rapid and important wireless developments, both within the Trade Union centres and within the State Labor Governments — developments that in the near future are destined vitally to affect the welfare and organisation of the working-class — the Labor Movement of Australia stands uncertainly with no wireless policy to guide it, or to co-ordinate its activities. In Queensland, the State Labor Government is proceeding with the construction of a 5000-watt broadcasting station, which will monopolise "A" class broadcasting throughout Queensland. In conjunction with this broadcasting station, it is understood that the Queensland Labor Government contemplates the establishment of wireless reception facilities in various departments of governmental activity. So far as can be gathered, the plans of the Queensland Government are not very comprehensive. Its broadcasting station will in the main be devoted to the provision of public entertainment, much the same as Farmer's and Broadcasters, in Sydney. Publicity Engine. But although its plans may at the present time be somewhat vague, and not very far-reaching, there is no doubt whatever that with the phenomenally rapid development of wireless broadcasting and reception, the Queensland State Radio Service will in a very short time be extended to all departments of Governmental activity, and will cover every important section of the State. When this happens, the Government will have at its disposal a great engine of publicity. Each Cabinet Minister will have comfortably installed at his elbow a means of lightning communication and publicity. We may feel no qualms while this immense power is in the hands of a Labor Government, but when at the turn of an election this power falls into the hands of the enemies of the workers the gravity of the situation can hardly be overestimated. In Hands of Trust. The Queensland Labor Government is to be commended for its action. It is noted, however, with some misgiving, that, unlike the Sydney Labor Broadcasting Station, the construction of the Queensland Government Station is in the hands of the Wireless Trust, with all the conditions and restrictions which the Trust attaches thereto. In New South Wales, wireless development within the Labor Movement is taking place along lines better calculated to stabilise the power of wireless publicity and communication in the hands of the workers. N.S.W.'s Second Line. The first step has been taken by the Trade Unions, and already a high-power broadcasting station is under course of construction that will provide a centre of industrial and political activity within the State, and will be a most valuable second line of defence should the Parliamentary see-saw again place Nationalism in office. Although neither the framework nor the details of a wireless plan of the N.S.W. Labor Government are known (a striking commentary of the unpreparedness of the Movement in regard to wireless development) it is safe to assume that these plans will be much more comprehensive and much more far-reaching than those of the Queensland Government. In the first place, the high-power broadcasting station projected by the N.S.W. Labor Government will not be an "A" class station, and consequently, unlike the Queensland station, it will not be forced to provide music, jazz and other entertainments for the people. The N.S.W. station will be devoted to serious business, and it is expected that its development and ramifications will extend far beyond those of the orthodox "entertaining" broadcasting stations. Chain of Sub-Stations. The establishment in New South Wales of a high-power Labor Broadcasting Station, as well as an equally powerful State Government Broad-casting Station, each of which must inevitably be linked up in the near future with a chain of sub-stations, spreading throughout the State, will undoubtedly give great impetus to the already rapidly-developing use of wireless receivers among the masses. Wireless distributing and manufacturing concerns already know this, and are preparing for it. It is up to the Labor Movement of N.S.W. to know it, and to prepare for it also. No Common Plan And in face of all these developments, destined in the very near future to become the crux of working-class industrial and political activity; in the face also of the mass of restrictions with which the opponents of Labor seek to obstruct the development of wireless in the service of working-class organisation, the Labor Movement of Australia has no wireless policy to guide it. Our Trade Union centres can establish their wireless stations without conforming to any common plan. The stations, when erected, may be efficient or inefficient. We may fall into the hands of the Trust, or out of it. The price we pay may be reasonable or unreasonable. Our wireless service may or may not technically correspond with those developing in other State Trade Union centres. We are bereft of any common plan to guide us. As a preliminary step, there should be a conference between representatives of the State A.L.P., the Parliamentary Caucus, the Trade Unions, and the sponsors of the Trades Hall Broadcasting Station for the purpose of outlining a provisional policy of Labor wireless development.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239943507 CALL FOR UNITED ACTION The Labor Daily 461 New South Wales, Australia 14 July 1925 17 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia RADIO CONTROL. Sir,— Re a statement by Mr. E. R. Voigt, "that the construction of the Queensland Government station is in the hands of the Wireless Trust, etc." Mr. Voigt and the public should know that the construction of the Queensland station is in the hands of Amalgamated Wireless (Aust.), Ltd. This company is controlled by the Federal Government, who hold the controlling number of shares, and, further, their directors are a majority upon the board of directors. The Queensland Government, in common with the proposed Labor broadcasting station, will be under exactly the same restrictions, i.e., they will pay royalty upon all patents used in the course of construction or operation, as is done in any other business, but in all probability there will be a little saving in this direction, as the Government-controlled Australian company will, wherever possible, put in equipment designed by Australian engineers. Any information required by the great Labor Movement with regard to wireless will be supplied gratuitously by the Radio Telegraphists' Institute of Australasia from professional wireless men of proved standing and ability in the Industry, and the Labor Movement will be wise to gets its information from this source,— Yours, etc., S. TOOMBS, General Secretary Radio Telegraphists' Institute, 79 Pitt Street.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239948708 RADIO CONTROL. The Labor Daily 464 New South Wales, Australia 17 July 1925 16 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia RADIO CONTROL, Sir,— It is amazing to see an ex-Labor man — and one who is secretary of a trade union, as is your correspondent, Mr. B. Toombs — writing on "Radio Control," and coming out brazenly in support of a profit-making trust started by the anti-Labor Federal Government. It is no less amazing for one who is general secretary of the Radio Telegraphists' Institute — and who has had neither the energy nor the vision to initiate or support any steps to secure the advantages and control of radio for the great Labor movement — to criticise Mr. Voigt, who has done, and is doing, more than any man in Australia to establish Labor's place on the air. Mr. Toombs stands for control by the Trust, and the Nationalist Federal Government; Mr. Voigt stands for Labor control. While Mr. Toombs talks Mr. Voigt acts. Labor does not require to be informed by Mr. Toombs that capitalism has its experts whose services can be bought on the open market by the highest bidder at any time. But Labor needs its own Labor radio experts just as urgently as it needs its own Labor Party, its own Labor unions and its own "Labor Daily." In Mr. Voigt, Labor has an engineer, an organiser and a practical wireless constructor. The fact that he is supervising the building of the new Trades Hall Broadcasting Station is proof that Labor can manage its own business.— Yours. etc., GEO. F. MANUEL, Hon. Sec. (pro tem), Labor Radio Institute of Australasia.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239954663 RADIO CONTROL. The Labor Daily 465 New South Wales, Australia 18 July 1925 15 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia RADIO FOR LABOR. INSTITUTE FORMED. A preliminary meeting was held on Thursday night for the purpose of establishing a Labor Radio Institute. The object of the movement is to form an association of individuals within the Labor movement interested in the development of radio broadcasting and reception. In view of the rapid growth of interest in radio on all sides, and the great activity now being displayed by the New South Wales Labor Government and the trade unions concerning radio broadcasting on a scale hitherto unknown, it is considered highly opportune that for all those Labor supporters who realise the great importance of radio in the daily lives and struggles of the workers, there should be provided a common meeting ground where the problems and possibilities of radio can be considered and developed. One of the principal objectives of the new organisation is to form a nucleus of a powerful centre for the protection from exploitation on the part of trusts and combines for private gain and anti-social purposes of perhaps the most unprecedented discovery of modern times. The meeting was a success. Those present unanimously decided to form a Labor Radio Institute. Office-bearers, pro tem, were appointed, pending the first general meeting, shortly to be held. Meanwhile, those interested in this project and desiring further information may communicate with Geo. F. Manuel.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239954750 RADIO FOR LABOR The Labor Daily 465 New South Wales, Australia 18 July 1925 16 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia WIRELESS WEEK by WEEK. Our Budget of Broadcasting and Listening-In Lyrics — Of the Greatest Value to the Seeker after Knowledge. RADIOGRAMS. By AERIAL. . . . 2L.C., The B class station of the Sydney Trades Hall, is now nearing completion, and it is anticipated that it will be in operation within seven weeks. A wave length of 280 metres has been allotted, and an input power of 4 kilowatts will be used.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58221984 WIRELESS WEEK by WEEK Sunday Times (Perth) 1436 Western Australia 19 July 1925 16 October 2018 11 National Library of Australia NEW SECRETARY. Mr. E. R. Voigt was yesterday appointed secretary to Mr. A. C. Willis, M.L.C., Vice-President of the Legislative Council. Mr. Voigt has been identified with research work in connection with the Labor Council, and was latterly in charge of research publicity. He was also in charge of the Labor Council's scheme for the installation of a wireless station at the Trades Hall but, according to a statement made by Mr. Willis, who is making inquiries concerning a proposed State wireless scheme, his appointment does not indicate that the Government contemplates taking over the Trades Hall undertaking.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239951130 NEW SECRETARY The Labor Daily 475 New South Wales, Australia 30 July 1925 16 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia "NOTHING AMAZING." VOIGHT'S POSITION. Commenting yesterday upon the appointment of Mr. E. R. Voigt as private secretary to the Vice-President of the Executive Council (Mr. A. C. Willis), an afternoon paper made the statement that it had given rise to "amazement in industrial and official" circles," because Mr. Voight had been identified with the Trades Council, "now entirety controlled by Communists." "I have appointed Mr. Voigt as my private secretary because I know of no man in the industrial movement who is more capable than he is of giving me the assistance I require, and of helping me to give effect to the platform and policy of the Labor Party, upon which we were returned to power," said Mr. Willis, yesterday. "It is, I understand, the prerogative of a Minister to appoint his own private secretary," added Mr. Willis. "I intend to, take full advantage of that, and in this regard will not be dictated to by anybody."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239949064 "NOTHING AMAZING" The Labor Daily 476 New South Wales, Australia 31 July 1925 16 October 2018 3 National Library of Australia 1925 08 THE RADIO AMATEURS. Sir,— The two letters of Mr. S. Toombs are just a back-handed slap at the radio amateurs of Australia. An immense amount of the tremendous development of radio is due to the tireless experimenting of the amateur stations, but, unfortunately, it is the wireless trusts and combines that are reaping the benefit. The record of the amateur in Australia has been a particularly brilliant one. It was the Australian amateur that first applied radio to moving trains in 1910; that first utilised radio for the explosion of guns and for other defence purposes; that first transmitted wireless drawings; that first transmitted radio photographs in natural colors; and that made the first-across-the-world experiments with short waves and low power. The amateurs do not, and never did, compete with the professional telegraphists. The amateurs experiment and invent, and in so doing provide more jobs for the telegraphists. In inviting the Wireless Institute to criticise the plans and construction of the new Labor broadcasting station, Mr. Voigt has taken a shrewd step, which will ensure the new station being one of the most efficient of its kind in the world, and a credit to the Labor Movement.— Yours, etc., J. GODFREY, Canterbury.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238116942 THE RADIO AMATEURS. The Labor Daily 477 New South Wales, Australia 1 August 1925 16 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia PLAINLY HEARD. VOICE FROM LOS ANGELES. Messrs. E. G. Beard and C. Eagle, engineers of United Distributors, Ltd., accompanied by Mr. E. S. Voigt, private secretary to Mr. A. C. Willis, vice-president of the Executive Council, were successful in logging the American Station KFI, Los Angeles, last night. The "Udisco" Super-Six was used for reception, and operated a loud-speaker with only a temporary aerial 15ft. high. A wire fence was used for the earth, and KFI was held from 6 to 7 o'clock last night. Among other items, the "Kashmiri Song" came over with wonderful clarity and sweetness.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238119956 PLAINLY HEARD The Labor Daily 479 New South Wales, Australia 4 August 1925 16 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia LABOR'S WIRELESS. SUCCESSFUL TESTS. SOUTH SEAS MESSAGE. WHILE testing out the new model Udisco-Six receiver, to be used in the Sydney Labor Broadcasting station, on Friday last, Mr. E. Gordon Beard, chief radio engineer of United Distributors, and Mr. E. R. Voigt, logged a number of amateur stations in America. They also intercepted a call sent out from the U.S. South Seas expedition, situated 4500 miles off the coast of America, in Mid-Pacific. Operating under the call-sign KFUH, the expedition called up Southern U.S.A., and was answered by an amateur station, R. De Cola, 424 Allison Street, Niles, Ohio. An urgent private message was then sent out on the air to Mr. De Cola, who relayed the same on to Florida. EXPLORING THE SARAGOSSA. The U.S. SS expedition conducting scientific investigations into marine life in the Saragossa Sea, but expanse of weeds and deadly calms, which has in the past lured so many sailing ships to destruction. A remarkable feature of this call from mid-Pacific to U.S.A. is the fact that it constitutes a distinct departure from Australian practice. Under the severe and archaic regulations of the Australian Telegraph and Telephone Act such private radio communication is forbidden. Wireless users may be interested to learn that the instrument on which KFUH, was logged was a commercial receiver, not a specially-constructed experiment set.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238112130 LABOR'S WIRELESS The Labor Daily 481 New South Wales, Australia 6 August 1925 17 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia TESTS WITH FLEET. RADIO DEVELOPMENT. WIDE interest is centred in the experiments which will be conducted by Mr. C. D. Maclurcan to-night in conjunction with the American Fleet at sea. This marks a new and important development in the construction of a commercial radio frequency amplifier for short waves. The test will be made on the new standard model Udisco-Six receiver, designed by Mr. E. Gordon Board, of United Distributors, to cover the remarkable wave-band of 20 to 2000 metres. Mr. E. R. Voigt, on behalf of Labor, will take part in the tests. Labor has a vital interest in short waves, since that is the only direction in which broadcasting can be developed into by 2IC (the new Labor broadcasting station) for the incorporation later of a special short-wave transmitter. When in Sydney Lieutenant Schnell, chief radio officer of the American Fleet, and several members of the American Radio Relay League, attached to the fleet, expressed interest in the new development, and arrangements were made to conduct the test on short waves with the fleet at sea.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238115723 TESTS WITH FLEET The Labor Daily 482 New South Wales, Australia 7 August 1925 16 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia Everyday and Everybody. . . . Mr. Voigt's Appointment. THE Federated Clerks' Union has expressed its appreciation of the action of Mr. A. C. Willis, M.L.C., Vice-President of the Executive Council, in appointing Mr. E. R. Voigt as Private Secretary in his department. The union congratulated Mr. Willis in having secured in Mr. Voigt the services of one who, as a student, an engineer and an organiser, has proved his great value to the Labor Movement by initiating the world's first high-power Labor Broadcasting Station, now under construction under Mr. Voigt's supervision, and in founding and organising a number of departments of Labor activity of great value to the Movement.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238111820 Everyday and Everybody The Labor Daily 483 New South Wales, Australia 8 August 1925 16 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia WIRELESS INQUIRIES. VOIGT IN BRISBANE. BRISBANE, Tuesday. Mr. E. R. Voigt, Private Secretary to Mr. A. C. Willis, M.L.C., arrived in Brisbane by the mail train last evening to make inquiries regarding the Queensland Government's wireless broadcasting station.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238121683 WIRELESS INQUIRIES The Labor Daily 486 New South Wales, Australia 12 August 1925 16 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia MR. VOIGT RETURNS. BRISBANE. Wednesday. Mr. E. R. Voigt, Private Secretary to Mr. A. C. Willis, M.L.C., leaves by the mail train to-morrow for Sydney. While in Brisbane, Mr. Voigt has acquired much useful information and made a most favorable impression in industrial circles. Among other matters, he has been investigating Queensland's State wireless project.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238112719 MR. VOIGT RETURNS The Labor Daily 487 New South Wales, Australia 13 August 1925 16 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia 2KY Trades Hall Calling! NEW RADIO STATION. The new B class broadcasting station at the Trades Hall will be known as 2KY. It will operate on a wave length of 280 metres. Mr. J. S. Garden said to-dav that arrangements were approaching completion, and it was hoped to start transmitting early in September. He said it was the intention of the Labor Council to manufacture wireless sets wholesale and sell them at cheap rates. These would be made by electricians who are members of the union.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223731361 2KY The Sun 4611 New South Wales, Australia 14 August 1925 16 October 2018 6 (FINAL EXTRA) National Library of Australia ON SEPT. 1 CALL 2KY TRADES HALL RADIO. MR. J. S. GARDEN announced at the Labor Council last night that all arrangements for the Trades Hall Wireless Station were practically complete, and that it would be opened probably on September 1. With the exception of the Queensland Government station, it would, he said, be the finest of the kind in the Commonwealth. The station will operate on a wave-length of 280 metres, and will be known as 2KY. It is the intention of the Council to manufacture wireless sets wholesale, and sell them at cheap rates. "Buzzers" will be installed in the Labor Council room and elsewhere to enable any special debates to be broadcasted, and a pianola and a gramophone will be made available. Mr. Garden paid a warm tribute to the services of Mr. Voigt, who had made the service possible; to Mr Wiles, who was giving his workrooms free for six months; and to the "Labor Daily."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238123689 ON SEPT. 1 CALL 2KY The Labor Daily 488 New South Wales, Australia 14 August 1925 16 October 2018 1 National Library of Australia LABOR'S WIRELESS. QUESTIONS FOR MR. VOIGT. (To the Editor.) Sir,— The announcement in your paper that the Labor Broadcasting Station will open fire on September 1 was a welcome one, and very many wireless sets will undoubtedly be tuned in to receive the first shots. It's time there was a counter-offensive to the nightly broadside of inspired anti-Labor propaganda, for which, ironically enough, its victims are compelled to pay a heavy tax. The number of first nighters would be considerably swelled if Mr. Voigt will, with your permission, state in the "Labor Daily" the required number of turns on the receiving coil, as the majority of workers are unlikely to have tuning condensers on their set. Another point: Much domestic friction may be avoided if "Dad" is enabled to listen to his politics without depriving Mum and the youngster of their accustomed music. Will Mr. Voigt tell us the best and simplest wrinkle he knows for employing a second aerial from the one pair of poles? Another length of wire and an extra crystal and coil would involve but a trifling additional cost, and save many an interruptive argument. There is also the advantage that one pair of 'phones connected with each aerial would receive the maximum strength of the respective signals, whereas when two or more pairs are attached to a set, the strength is proportionately diminished. This is obviously an important consideration to people who live at a distance from the broadcasting station. While there is so much buccaneering as at present in valves and their accessories, most workers will be obliged to make the best of crystal possibilities. In this respect, as well as in others, Mr. Voigt and his Wireless Publicity Department can render valuable service, as I have no doubt he will.— Yours, etc., "WELLWISHER." West Wollongong.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238123169 LABOR'S WIRELESS The Labor Daily 492 New South Wales, Australia 19 August 1925 16 October 2018 8 National Library of Australia IN OCTOBER. LABOR'S WIRELESS. Mr. E. R. Voigt stated yesterday that owing to the fact that some of the engineers working on the Labor Broadcasting Station have been called out of town, it is unlikely that the station will be erected in time to broadcast its programme on September 1. In any case, he explained, even after the Station is fully erected it will in all probability be necessary to reserve at least two weeks for experimental purposes before going on the air, in order that every part shall be working to the fullest possible advantage. It is unlikely that the station will be operating before October. Every effort is being made to expedite the work consistently with the production of a first-class broadcasting station that will do credit to the Labor movement.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238125897 IN OCTOBER The Labor Daily 494 New South Wales, Australia 21 August 1925 17 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia LABOR'S WIRELESS. MR. VOIGT EXPLAINS FOR WOLLONGONG READER. "ONE of the main objects of the wireless service which the trades unions in N.S.W. are undertaking is to bring wireless to the largest possible number of listeners-in," re-marked Mr. E. R. Voigt yesterday. "I can quite understand that many working men desire to get as much out of one simple crystal set as possible. Your correspondent, 'Well-wisher,' can utilise his existing masts and erect a second aerial separated from the first aerial by a six-foot spreader. From the second aerial a lead in can be made to a second crystal set. The only advantage in doing this would be to eliminate the cost of erecting another pair of masts. "On the other hand, it may be possible to secure enough volume on the existing aerial by raising the same another 20ft. or so.; but everything will depend upon local conditions. "Assuming that the length of the aerial now being used by your correspondent necessitates a hundred turn coil to bring in 2YK [sic], the new Labor broadcasting station, which will operate on a wave length of 280 metres, would require a coil of approximately 30 turns. "From a community standpoint, the most economical and satisfactory method of conveying music and information from the Sydney broadcasting stations to the inhabitants of Wollongong and district would be to erect a 500 watt broadcasting station in Wollongong, and make arrangements to relay the best of the programmes from Sydney, as well as any local additons that may be desirable. "Such a broadcasting station might possibly be erected at a cost of approximately £600 or less, according to local conditions. This would not only link up the population of Wollongong with that of the other parts of the State, but would provide a great centre of local development in wireless activity. With this station operating, your correspondent could probably run four or five pairs of 'phones from the same simple crystal set."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238125786 LABOR'S WIRELESS The Labor Daily 494 New South Wales, Australia 21 August 1925 17 October 2018 8 National Library of Australia RADIO NOTES. (By "Voltamp.") . . . . Early in September we are promised another B class broadcasting station, 2KY (Sydney) which will be operated at the Trades Hall, Sydney. Wonder if it will be opened to the strains of "The Red Flag."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195403140 RADIO NOTES Daily Examiner 17, 2543 New South Wales, Australia 27 August 1925 16 October 2018 1 National Library of Australia 1925 09 THE MAN IN THE STREET. (To the Editor.) WHERE HELL IS. Sir — When Mr. Walsh told Bruce to "Go to Hell," he simply meant go to Work for £9 a month and see how you get on. What more hell could a man want? I reckon Bruce would last quite easy for about one hour in a ship's stoke-hold.— Yours, etc., "TOILER." Balmain. EDUCATIONAL RADIO. Sir,— As a radio enthusiast, I want to know from Mr. Voigt whether the Trades Hall broadcasting station, about which we hear so much, is going to give educational sessions for children as well as industrial propaganda. Perhaps while on the subject Mr. Voigt will say also — or Mr. Willis might make an official statement — whether the State broadcasting station will give educational matter through the air. I do not want to catch Mr. Voigt nap-ping, so I state now my reason for ask-ing, which is this: If Mr. Willis as the Minister in charge of the State broad-casting scheme does intend to give out educational matter by radio, why doesn't the Government formally adopt the educational sessions now being sent out by 2FC?— Yours, etc., "RADIO FAN." Crow's Nest.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238113525 THE MAN IN THE STREET The Labor Daily 505 New South Wales, Australia 3 September 1925 17 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia WILL EDUCATE. LABOR'S RADIO. MR. VOIGT EXPLAINS. "Your correspondent, 'Radio Fan,' desires to know whether the Trades Hall Broadcasting Station 2KY, proposes to give educational sessions for children," remarked Mr. E. R. Voigt yesterday. "It is self-evident that any comprehensive working-class movement must be vitally concerned with the education of the worker, and since radio broadcasting is the quickest, the most economical and the most effective means ever devised for the dissemination of information, its activities will of necessity largely be devoted to education. "The important matter of instituting educational sessions for children will receive the attention of the organisers of 2KY, but in the meantime they are concentrating upon a comprehensive programme for the education of those who, perhaps, need it most — the adults, the average mentality of whom, so we are informed by competent authorities, is arrested at the tender age of thirteen. "With regard to the proposed State Radio Service, any such service would naturally be placed at the disposal of every department of State activity, and the onus will be upon such departments to take advantage or otherwise of the service in question."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238117146 WILL EDUCATE The Labor Daily 510 New South Wales, Australia 9 September 1925 16 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia THE MAN IN THE STREET. (To the Editor) THE YOUNG MIND. Sir.— Good luck to the Trades Hall broadcasting station and the lessons for children, which Mr. Voigt said are to be given through this medium. I was a little apprehensive lest the station be used only for economic and political propaganda. These are good but listeners-in would have to be enthusiasts already or they would soon tire, but the idea of instruction for the young people, provided it is of the right sort, will be the very thing to make the rising generation think along right lines in the future. As a matter of fact, the school sessions which are now being broadcast by Farmer's are very good for the young people because they tend to give them a wider outlook on life, and if Mr. Voigt can arrange for an extension in this direction he will be doing good work.— Yours, etc., "UNIONIST." Cabramatta.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238119219 THE MAN IN THE STREET The Labor Daily 511 New South Wales, Australia 10 September 1925 21 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia 2KY SYDNEY. LABOR'S NEW BROADCASTING STATION. The new Labor wireless broadcasting station in course of erection at the Trades Hall, Sydney, will soon be in active operation. A recent report states that broadcasting will be commenced during the current month. It was anticipated that the opening would take place on Sept 1st but a slight delay has taken place. With the exception of the Queensland State Government station, it will be the finest in the Commonwealth. The station will operate on a wavelength of 280 metres, and will be known as 2KY. It is intended to manufacture wireless sets, and sell them at cheap rates. Mr. Voigt, of the Labor Statistical and Research Bureau, has rendered great service in pioneering and supervising all arrangements. Beyond all doubt, radio will play an important part in moulding public opinion of the future. Already in Victoria there are something like 20,000 listeners-in, and the number is growing daily. Those who listen-in must obviously be influenced by the propaganda of radio, and the question arises as to whether each State should not have its Labor radio service. Possibly the results achieved in New South Wales will stimulate activities in the other States; but, whatever the result, the obvious fact stares us in the face, that Labor is sorely in need of more engines of publicity for propaganda purposes, and the time is ripe when the Movement should make a forward move.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article250181971 2KY SYDNEY. Labor Call XIX, 984 Victoria, Australia 10 September 1925 16 October 2018 8 National Library of Australia LABOR'S RADIO. WHAT IT SHOULD TEACH. A "FAN" ANTICIPATES. "I am glad to learn from Mr. Voigt (writes "Radio Fan," in a letter to the Editor), that it is the intention of the Trades Hall Broadcasting Station, to give educational sessions for children. I hope that the course will include the elements of economies and that it will be generally designed for the purpose of widening the child's outlook." "These are the impressionable years and the Trades Hall station will have a great responsibility upon it. I hope that the station will give the children something more than the 3 R's; that it will explain to them something of the value of music as a refining influence on the human mind; that they will learn history not merely in its relation to kings and battles, but as a story of the gradual development of the human race from barbarism to civilisation; that they will be given talks on travel by experienced observers to whom travel has been an education, and that generally they will learn to appreciate all that is good and goes for the beautifying of life. "If the Trades Hall station does these things — and such I gather, is the programme of Mr. Voigt — it will amply justify itself. "I am already a regular listener, particularly to the educational sessions that are already being broadcast by 2FC, but I can assure Mr. Voigt that I will be glad to tune in to 2KY as soon as he gets going. "I hope all the workers will get receiving sets so as to be ready for the Trades Hall broadcasting station, which starts next month, and the Station station."http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238119197 LABOR'S RADIO The Labor Daily 511 New South Wales, Australia 10 September 1925 16 October 2018 6 National Library of Australia 1925 10 USE WIRELESS IN THE CAMPAIGN. TRADES HALL RADIO. At the meeting of the Parramatta Federal Electorate Council at Cabramatta on Sunday, attended by over 50 delegates, it was resolved — "To urgently request the Central Executive and the Parliamentary Party to take immediate steps to utilise the Trades Hall radio equipment for propaganda purposes at the ensuing Federal elections." Both the mover of the motion (Ald. J. H. Stone, Liverpool), and Mr. J. E. Dean (seconder) strongly stressed the fact that the Movement would, by the use of the wireless, be brought into touch with a section of the voters who would not be reached by the ordinary political methods. Alderman Stone stated that the enemies of Labor had already commenced to operate through the air. A lecturer, with a foreign name, speaking from station 2BL, on Saturday night on "Life and Religion in Russia," made a deliberate attack on the Australian Labor Party, associating it with the alleged disruptive elements of other countries. The counter to such tactics, said the speaker, was a vigorous ???? of the Movement's own wireless station.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238114738 USE WIRELESS The Labor Daily 529 New South Wales, Australia 1 October 1925 16 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia LABOR TACKLES SPACE. MAKING HlSTORY. CALL SIGN 2KY. From October 15 the voice of Labor will officially take to the air. On that date 2KY will start to send, and from that date it will verily be a case of "he that has ears to hear, let him hear." The installation of the Labor Council's station is well on the way to completion. It will have a power of 1500 watts and a wave length of 279, and will cost £1250 — a paltry sum compared with only the benefits it should bring to Labor during the forthcoming Federal election — and is tribute to the council's sense of values. The mast that will in the near future constitute a feature of Sydney's Trades Hall-scape is not yet erected, but it will rise 60ft feet above the top of that building, making the total height about 130 feet. THE CEREMONY. Mr. J. Beasley (president of the Trades and Labor Council), will preside at the opening ceremony on October 15, at which the Premier Mr. Lang) and the Federal Leader (Mr. Charlton) will speak. The speakers will also include the Leader of the Upper House (Mr. A. C. Willis, the leader of the Senate (Senator Gardiner), the presidents of the council, of the Eight-Hour Committee, and the A.L.P. (Mr. E. C. Magrath), and one representative of each group of the Labor Council. Room 66 of the Trades Hall will be occupied by members of Parliament and their wives. Room 27 by delegates to the Labor Council, and their wives, and the Social Hall to presidents and secretaries of unions and their wives. The occasion will be of historical significance in the advance of the Labor movement. It is fitting that Labor should take the lead in such an industrial and political departure.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238108055 LABOR TACKLES SPACE The Labor Daily 532 New South Wales, Australia 5 October 1925 17 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia LABOR'S VOICE IN THE AIR. TO BE HEARD SOON. CALL SIGN, 2KY. THE magnificent high power broadcasting station under construction by United Distributors for the N.S.W. Trades and Labor Council is now nearing completion, and should be ready to go on the air in time to play a most important part in the Federal election campaign, Mr. E. R. Voigt. chairman and organiser of the Wireless Committee has invited the Labor Campaign Committee to make use of the station in broadcasting Labor's policy to the electors in the far-flung constituencies. "It may be asked," said Mr. Voigt in an interview with the "Labor Daily," "is it fair that Labor should have at its disposal during the elections such a powerful means of broadcasting its policy, while the opposition completely lacks such advantages? To the intelligent listener-in, this question is absurd. "Several times each day every one of the big "A" class broadcasting stations in Australia, with the sole exception of the Queensland State Stations, broadcasts to the four winds of heaven political propaganda against the Labor movement. "This propaganda takes the form of daily "news" from the anti-Labor Press. It is, of course, impossible effectively to censor all news during the elections which has a political bias, and no attempt is made to do so. But it tells heavily against Labor candidates all the same, for it reaches into many thousands of working class homes, whose occupants would not purchase an anti-Labor newspaper. "It is a striking fact that in N.S.W., Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, Labor news is barred from all the big broadcasting stations. BRISBANE INCIDENT. "It is true that the "A" class broadcasting stations cannot, except in the form of news and except on special occasions, broadcast political speeches. "There is some show of justification for this. The Postmaster-General's Department might say in effect: "We pour into your coffers a stream of money drawn from the pockets of listeners-in. You must, therefore, provide a fair return in cultural entertainment." "The Federal Government evidently considers that political pronouncements can hardly come under this heading, though jazz and betting can. "This, of course, explains why the Premier of Queensland last week was prohibited from broadcasting a political speech. The fact that the Premier, Mr. Gillies, ignored the prohibition indicates that he has a higher opinion of State activities than has the Federal Government. NOT REVENUE PRODUCING. "The Trades Hall will have a "B" class broadcasting station. It will receive no revenue from the listeners-in, and will therefore, not be bound to provide "cultural entertainment." "It is therefore permissible for 2KY to cut out the betting tipster whenever it is so disposed, and allow the rulers and the prospective rulers of the country to address the people. "That is just what 2KY proposes to do during the coming elections. The Nationalists applied for a license for a broadcasting station immediately following the application of the Trades Hall, and their application was promptly granted. A CHALLENGE. "If the Nationalists have not a broadcasting station directly at their service to-day, that is their own fault. Labor would welcome meeting the Nationalists on the air, and it is to be hoped that their principal speaker can be induced to meet those of the great Labor movement in the interim on 2KY." Mr. Voigt added that Labor had so much faith in the reason of its own case that it is not afraid to meet its strongest opponents on terms of equality. The powerful station now being erected on the roof of the Trades Hall will help to even up the great disadvantage under which Labor has suffered in the past in regard to Press and publicity. There is little doubt that the Federal campaign directors will have the imagination and the determination to use to the fullest advantage during the elections the great power of publicity now afforded.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238117478 LABOR'S VOICE IN THE AIR The Labor Daily 535 New South Wales, Australia 8 October 1925 17 October 2018 3 National Library of Australia TRADES HALL WIRELESS. (PHOTO OF TRANSMITTER) 2KY Broadcasting Station is now installed, and will be soon in full working order.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238117480 TRADES HALL WIRELESS The Labor Daily 535 New South Wales, Australia 8 October 1925 17 October 2018 3 National Library of Australia THE POWER BEHIND 2KY. (PHOTO OF A GENERATOR) One of the big generators installed at the Trades Hall in connection with Labor's Wireless Broadcasting Station.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238117470 THE POWER BEHIND 2 KY The Labor Daily 535 New South Wales, Australia 8 October 1925 17 October 2018 3 National Library of Australia RADIO WORKERS AND ELECTRICIANS' UNION PRESIDENT ISSUES CALL. Mr. Jack Beasley, president of the Trades and Labor Council issues an invitation to all employees in the radio industry to join the Electrical Trades Union, which is the properly accredited union to which radio workers should belong if they intend to pursue their calling as bona-fide trade unionists. "Australia is a trade union country," "where the low wages, bad conditions and victimisation inherent in the old method of individual bargaining have been replaced by collective bargaining between the big unions and those of the employers. "Not only does trades unionism raise the standard of living of the workers by establishing a series of standard wage rates throughout the industry, but it ensures each employer that he cannot be undercut so far as wages are concerned by any sweat shops in the trade. "Employers in the radio industry are therefore asked, in their own interests as well as in those of their workers, to place no obstacle in the way of the enrolment of the workers." In reply to queries Mr. Beasley wishes to assure all readers of the "Labor Daily" that every worker employed in the construction and installation of the new Trades Hall Broadcasting Station, 2KY, is a bona-fide trade unionist. Mr. Beasley, who for four years in succession has been elected president of the N.S.W. Trades and Labor Council, is one of the most popular presidents the Council has ever had, and has taken a keen personal interest in the development of the new Trades Hall Broadcasting Station. He is standing for selection as a Labor candidate for West Sydney. If selected, he will be a powerful and popular addition to Labor's team. (PHOTO) Mr. J. Beasley.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238117454 RADIO WORKERS The Labor Daily 535 New South Wales, Australia 8 October 1925 17 October 2018 4 National Library of Australia Illustrations. (Photo) Putting the finishing touches on 2KY, the new broadcasting station at the Sydney Trades Hall.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245053235 N.R.A. Meeting Opens at Liverpool The Daily Telegraph 14,303 New South Wales, Australia 12 October 1925 17 October 2018 10 National Library of Australia GOING UP. (Photo) At work on one of the poles to support the aerial at the Trades Hall Wireless Station (2KY), which will be broadcasting very soon.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238112352 GOING UP The Labor Daily 538 New South Wales, Australia 12 October 1925 17 October 2018 1 National Library of Australia ARE YOU READY FOR 2KY? (Photo) 2KY — the first Labor Broadcasting Station in the world — is nearly ready for you. So get your "sets" in working order, so that you may be able to listen in for the Sydney Trades and Labor Council programmes in the near future.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238112391 ARE YOU READY FOR 2KY ? The Labor Daily 538 New South Wales, Australia 12 October 1925 17 October 2018 5 National Library of Australia STATION ESTABLISHED AT TRADES HALL. SYDNEY.— The Trades and Labor Council has established a radio station at the Trades Hall under the control of Mr. Beasley, president, and Mr. J. S. Garden, secretary of the Trades and Labor Council. Labor supporters in possession of loud speakers have been asked to send their names to the campaign committee. If that committee proposes to use wireless for electioneering purposes its action may be in defiance of the ruling of the Postmaster-General. The Commonwealth authorities agreed that broadcasting should be limited to speeches of Mr. Bruce, Mr. Page and Mr. Charlton, and it will be interesting to see what the P.M.G. has to say about the use of wireless by the Trades and Labor Council, presuming they adopt it.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155660372 STATION ESTABLISHED AT TRADES HAL