Red Feds

In 1913 the militant Red Federation of Labour tried to smash the system of compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes by means of a general strike. Both the strike and the Federation were smashed by the use of state power under the direction of Massey's Reform Government. As a result of the defeat in 1913 most unions did not have the organisation and spirit necessary to carry out the kind of independent struggle that was needed to protect the interests of the working class. Their secretaries were for the most part merely advocates Because they relied on the skill of their advocates to effect settlements in compulsory arbitration, when compulsory arbitration was abolished many unions were rendered ineffective.

There was little unity within the trade union movement. The depth of division is reflected in the fact that in 1925 some unions had passed resolutions which supported Massey as Prime Minister. In 1931, the union movement organised a No Reduction In Wages Conference. But the unions attending could not achieve unity around the proposal to defend their members by strike action. The net result of the condition of the union movement was that as the economic crises developed, the unions lost members rapidly.

At the same time as the decline in the unions, the influence of the Communist Party and the Labour Party was growing. Members of both parties played an active part in organising the Unemployed Workers Movement. Through its work in the Movement the CP enjoyed some influence amongst the working class.

The Unemployed Workers Movement was active in organising workers in their struggle with the state for improved relief payments and improved conditions of relief work. They organised demonstrations, hunger marches, and strikes by relief workers. In 1932, the political ferment erupted into rioting in Auckland. Wellington and Dunedin. The riots were suppressed by the methods of 1913—special constables and police mounted and patrolling the streets, and regular armed forces guarding strategic points. The fright that the growing struggle of the unemployed caused the bourgeoisie, many parliamentarians and state officials can be gauged by their reaction to the Communist Party. In 1933, for example, the entire Central Committee of the CP was sentenced to six months in goal for reprinting a work of Marx that had been legally available for many years.