*THE
WORKER*
Brisbane June
3, 1893
TO THE PEOPLE
OF QUEENSLAND.
Manifesto of
the Queensland Labour Party.
At the
commencement of the campaign the Labour party laid before you a
manifesto criticising their political opponents and setting forth the
objects of the party. It was then recognised, as it is now, what the
party has to contend against in its efforts to permanently ameliorate
the condition of the people. The labour party are evolutionists
seeking to attain the welfare of the people by legitimate agitation
and education. Even our opponents cannot but admit that the late
elections have passed over as a model of sobriety and orderliness,
and in that respect afford a striking contrast to those of previous
years. We do not wish to take any credit for that, for we believe it
is only right that the strictest order should be maintained when
appealing to the sense of a reasonable people; but we rather wish to
emphasise the fact because it was the first time the Labour party
contented for the suffrages of the electors throughout the whole
province. And we are proud of the success that attended our efforts
whilst struggling against such stupendous odds as confronted us in
the late political contest.
We had arrayed
against us the greater portion of the press of Queensland
particularly in the metropolis, where it is wholly the bonded servant
of our political opponents; as the presence of deeds, mortgages,
debentures, overdrafts &c., fully prove. We recognise the power
of a Free Press for good, and maintain that no newspaper can be
politically free that is under monetary obligations to institutions
in which the interests of those occupying prominent positions in our
political life are involved. This state of affairs accounts for the
gross misrepresentations of the Labour Party that appears in most of
the unfortunate newspapers of the province which are compelled to
voice, not the opinions of their writers, but the opinions of those
who control them and fool the people. We had arrayed against us the
great majority of the ecclesiastics of the province who, true to
their order as in all ages, insidiously strove to retard the
Progressive movement. We were called by them the godless and
atheistical party who wanted to disturb and upset religions. We
remind them that in the first and second centuries of our era the
members of the living and fighting church were called by the
ecclesiastics of the older and what were considered the more
respectable churches of the day by names similar to those applied to
the Labour Party now.
We tell them
that the latter day ecclesiastics will become extinct, giving place
to a better and nobler one; that the real essence of Christianity is
brotherhood; that the object of the Labour movement is not to dole
out a beggar's charity, but to effect that brotherhood by giving the
de-serving poor and down-trodden the rights which their very;
existence is a warrant for. We had arrayed against us generally
speaking, the “pillars of society” and the propertied class, who
mostly receive their politics from the newspapers referred to –
persons who have been deluded by the “heroes of civilisation”
into believing that progress is destruction and they registered
their votes wherever an unjust electoral law allowed and cast them
solidly against us. The trustees for dead men's children claimed
votes for the latter's property and cast them against us. Those who
were qualified as freeholders on the rolls, but whose freehold
estates were so encumbered as practically left them no interest in
them, did the bidding of their masters and voted against us. The 4s.
per week leaseholder who rents a wooden kennel for his place of
business was lured on by the catch words of “ law and order” to
vote against us. Some wage-earners got the hint and had to take it
that it would please their employers if the Labour Party was not
supported, and some others voted against us because they have not as
yet thought out the question that is before all civilised nations
clamouring for solution.
Votes were cast
against us by land gamblers in polling booths hundreds of miles out
of the electorates for which they were recorded. Yet in spite of all
this in our first effort as a party we stand erect today with many
sympathisers and fifteen representatives to voice our thoughts and
desires on the floor of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. People
of Queensland, think of this our first stand against such odds, and
when you consider the history of great political movements you cannot
but say that we have had a grand support. Then investigate what we
advocate. Come amongst us with honest intentions to either array
yourselves on our side if you think we are going the wrong way prove
it to us by convincing reason and we will listen to you. This we say
in order that all animosities may be interred in the grave of the
past for the common good.
Out of the
total votes on the rolls approximately 10 per cent belong to persons
who have more than one vote, consequently there can only be 75,005
individuals as voters. Assuming that the adult male population of the
province has been stationary since the census was taken, and from the
total number subtract 2700 persons prevented from voting through
being Government officials, in gaol, &c., there would still
remain in the province 105,416 persons eligible to vote if the
electoral laws were just. This clearly shows that there are 30,411
adult males who are disfranchised, and we have every reason for
believing that nearly all of them are supporters of the Labour Party.
In the face of this analysis the most despondent followers of the
Labour Party cannot but lay aside their pessimistic feelings. But the
Labour Party must never forget what it has to contend against.
“Organise! Educate! Agitate!” must ever remain our motto. We must
command a press free from the enthralling influences of capitalism
to plead our cause before the people and to counteract
mis-representations. The Labour Party in other countries have
successfully grappled with greater difficulties than will ever
confront us in Australasia, and as they are progressing so will we if
we have but a sincere desire to overcome difficulties.
In the
industrial disputes of the past the Labour Party of Queensland has
appealed time after time for peaceful conferences, and such
conferences have been refused us both in and out of Parliament. We
claim along with Sir Thomas M'Ilwraith's colleague for North Brisbane
that the “laws of supply and demand” should not regulate the
conditions under which the wage-earners are employed. We go now to
advocate in parliament that which has been refused outside, in order
that the vexed question that permeates the civilised world may be
guided through the peaceful paths of legislation to a happy
conclusion and we ask all to support us to this end. Our members in
parliament cannot effect this unless our opponents are willing to
agree to reason and if it is refused us by force of numbers alone
theirs will be the blame and the shame. Our re-presentatives will
strongly advocate all measures that are just to employed and
employers, that will insure industrial peace. Adversity has been a
hard task master, but we have learned some good lessons through it.
And no matter what our adversaries may do to keep the Labour Movement
back in Queensland the result of the elections of 1893 proves that -
“ it moves”
THOMAS GLASSEY,
President
Central Executive
Queensland
Labour Party.
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