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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


3  1822  01328  5077 

l/l/l/A 


I4~di/u^x- 


A. 


Central  University  Library 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 
Note:  This  item  is  subject  to  recall  after  two  weeks. 

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UCSDLib. 


A  STUDY  OF  BRITISH  LABOR 


BY 

ARTHUR  GLEASON 


NEW  YORK 

HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND   HOWE 

1920 


COPYKIQHT,     1920,    BY 
HARCOURT,    BRACE    AND    HOWE,    INC. 


THE  OUINN  ft  BODEN  COMPANY 
RAHWAV.    N.  J. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

[NTRODUCTION 3 

SECTION  ONE 
CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

CHAPTER 

I.    CHANGE          5 

II.    A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY 9 

III.    LABOR  THE  UNREADY 25 

SECTION  TWO 
THE  YEAR 

I.  THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION 33 

II.  ROBERT  SMELLIE 56 

III.  THE  NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE 70 

IV.  YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP. — THE  LABOR  PARTY  CONFERENCE  AT 

SOUTHPORT 79 

V.  THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW 112 

VI.    THE  RAILWAY  STRIKE  AND  THE  FOURTEEN      ....     136 

SECTION  THREE 
THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

I.    THE  WAY  THEY  Do  IT 147 

II.    GENTLE  REVOLUTION.    1 152 

III.    GENTLE  REVOLUTION.    II. .  161 


I.    WORKERS'  CONTROL  (BY  FRANK  HODGES,  SECRETARY  OF  THE 

MINERS'  FEDERATION) 169 

II.    THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  AND  WORKERS'  COMMITTEE  MOVEMENT 

(BY  J.  T.  MURPHY) 184 

III.    THEIR  IDEAS  (BY  J.  T.  MURPHY) 201 

v 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

IV.    SELF-GOVERNMENT    BY    RAILWAYMEN    (BY    C.    T.    CRAMP, 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  NATIONAL  UNION  OF  RAILWAYMEN)    .    212 
V.    THE    ENGLAND    THE    WORKERS    WANT — WHEN — How    (BY 

ROBERT  SMILLIE,  OF  THE  MINERS'  FEDERATION)   .      .      .    215 


SECTION  FIVE 

PROBLEMS 
I.    WOMEN 223 

II.     BOTTOMLEY 240 

III.    WARBLINGTON.— THE  OLD  ENGLAND 243 

SECTION  SIX 
THE  SUMMING  UP 249 

APPENDIX 

SECTION  ONE 
THE  EMPLOYERS 

I.    FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES. — THE  CONTROL  OF  IN- 
DUSTRY.— REPORT  OF  THE  NATIONALIZATION  COMMITTEE    .    281 

II.    EVIDENCE  OF  THE  RIGHT  HONORABLE  BARON  GAINFORD  OF 

HEADLAM  TO  THE  COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION     .      .       .    302 
III.    MY  DREAM  OF  A  FACTORY  (B.  SEEBOHM  ROWNTREE)      .      .    306 


I.    NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  REPORT  (APRIL  4,  1919)  317 

II.    THE  BUILDERS'  PARLIAMENT  ........  339 

III.    JOINT  STANDING  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS  (THE  WHITLEYS)    .  358 

SECTION  THREE 
THE  WORKERS 

I.    MEMORANDUM  ON  THE  CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  LABOR 

UNREST 37* 

II.    THE  NATIONALIZATION  OF  MINES  AND  MINERALS  BILL  .       .  304 

III.    PRECIS  OF  EVIDENCE  (G.  D.  H.  COLE) 409 


CONTENTS  vii 

SECTION  FOUR 
THE  JUDGMENT 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT,  1919  (THE  SANKEV  RE- 
PORT)      422 

II.    GOVERNMENT  OFFER  TO  RAILWAYMEN 441 

SECTION  FIVE 
THE  PUBLIC 

I.  THE  ENGLISH  MIDDLE  CLASS 446 

II.  ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM 455 

III.  THE  NEW  CLASS  OF  GOVERNMENT  SERVANT      .      .      .      .477 

IV.  WHAT  PEOPLE  SAY 487 

INDEX  ...  507 


INTRODUCTION 

THIS  book  tells  what  the  workers  want,  in  their  own  words. 
It  is  not  an  interpretation  by  an  intellectual  of  what  he  thinks 
labor  ought  to  want.  It  is  the  human  record  of  British  labor 
as  it  goes  to  victory,  reported  by  an  American  for  Americans. 
It  tells  what  the  explosive  ideas  are  which  have  long  lain  un- 
discharged in  human  consciousness.  It  tells  in  their  own 
words  who  the  leaders  are,  what  the  strikes  meant,  what  the 
workers  have  won,  and  what  they  seek.  Labor  at  home  is  an 
agitation;  in  Britain  it  is  forming  public  opinion.  The  trade 
unions  are  an  integral  part  of  the  State.  The  great  trade- 
union  Socialists  are  successfully  fighting  the  sweep  of  anarchy 
from  Eastern  and  Central  Europe  and  the  murderous  bitter- 
ness of  American  industrial  relations. 

In  this  book  the  writer  completes  a  five  years'  study  of 
the  British.  He  attended  the  conferences,  met  groups  of 
trade  unionists,  talked  personally  with  the  leaders.  He  sat 
through  the  two  sessions  of  the  Coal  Commission,  attended 
the  National  Industrial  Conference. 

One  of  the  chapters  in  the  book  is  by  Robert  Smillie,  miner, 
founder  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  most  powerful  trade-union 
leader  in  Europe.  Mr.  Smillie  answers  for  American  readers 
the  questions  which  millions  of  people  have  been  asking: 
"What  kind  of  England  do  the  workers  want?"  "When? 
How  soon  ?  "  "  How  ?  By  bloodshed,  universal  strikes,  or 
votes  ?  By  public  opinion  or  organized  pressure  ? "  Mr. 
Smillie  describes  the  revolution  now  under  way,  how  the  vic- 
tory will  be  won,  and  the  date  of  the  achievement.  He  says, 
"  It  is  a  race  between  Socialism  and  revolution.  Socialism 
is  the  only  program  of  reconstruction  that  is  offered." 

The  Appendix  gives  in  full  the  important  documents  of  the 


4  INTRODUCTION 

social  revolution.  It  gives  the  famous  memorandum  of  the 
trade  unions  to  the  National  Industrial  Conference — sup- 
pressed by  the  Government.  It  gives  the  profit-sharing 
scheme  of  the  Coal  Owners ;  the  payment-by-results  scheme  of 
the  16,000  leading  firms,  known  as  the  Federation  of  British 
Industries.  It  gives  the  Report  of  the  Builders'  Parliament, 
signed  by  three  employers  and  the  workers,  calling  for 
the  abolition  of  "  the  owner,"  and  the  end  of  profit-making. 
It  gives  the  demands  of  the  Miners  for  full  workers'  con- 
trol. It  details  the  evidence  of  the  Coal  Commission  on 
the  new  type  of  Government  servant  which  nationalization 
demands  and  which  Sidney  Webb  produces.  It  places  the 
Middle  Class,  and  shows  the  origins  of  British  Socialism 
in  the  revolutionary  mind  of  the  British  people. 

The  old  British  industrial  system  is  dying.  It  was  decaying 
long  before  1914.  It  was  killed  by  the  War.  It  was  the  system 
of  private  enterprise,  directed  by  the  profit-making  motive 
of  the  ruling  group,  and  operated  by  the  mass  of  workers, 
driven  by  fear  and  hunger.  Through  organization  the  work- 
ers have  obtained  such  control  over  industry  as  to  render  it 
unworkable  at  their  will.  They  refuse  to  give  high  produc- 
tion except  on  their  own  terms.  Their  terms  are  a  new 
industrial  system — the  Socialist  State,1  with  workers'  control. 

They  have  presented  their  ultimatum.  Step  by  step  the 
new  order  is  being  established.  It  is  being  done  without 
armed  insurrection,  or  bloodshed.  It  is  gentle  revolution  of 
the  good-humored  British  brand.  It  may  appeal  at  one  or  two 
points  to  America,  torn  by  hysteria  and  bitterness.  England 
for  centuries  has  created  the  institutions  which  other  nations 
perforce  copied  in  order  to  survive. 

England  to-day  is  creating  a  new  great  society  while  the 
rest  of  the  world  is  swaying  in  class-combat,  or  sunk  in 
despair,  or  menaced  by  reaction. 

defined  by  the  Labor  Party. 


SECTION  ONE 
CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

CHAPTER  I 
CHANGE 

BRITAIN  is  faced  by  universal  unrest  in  the  working  class 
and  by  a  demand  that  economic  power  shall  be  shifted  from 
the  owners  of  capital  to  the  workers.  In  good  faith  many 
men  are  stating  that  this  social  revolution  (which  is  world- 
wide) is  the  work  of  Marx  and  Sorel,  or  of  a  handful  of 
"  middle-class  politicians,"  "  intellectuals,"  "  agitators,"  and 
"Jew  Bolshevists."  In  short,  that  the  conquest  of  human- 
ity's thinking  which  Jesus  and  his  eleven  disciples  and  his 
multitude  of  later  followers  in  nineteen  hundred  years  could 
not  accomplish,  has  been  wrought  in  one  generation  by  a 
small  self-seeking  incompetent  group;  and  that  the  masses 
of  people  everywhere  (exactly,  the  human  race)  has  been 
led  astray  like  sheep.  But  the  causes  lie  deeper  than  "  Bol- 
shevik gold." 

Britain  is  the  text  of  the  world  revolution  because  her 
history  promises  that  she  will  devise  staunch  channels  for 
this  new  impulse  of  the  human  spirit,  as  she  has  done  down 
the  generations.  With  many  failures  she  has  maintained  a 
tradition  of  freedom  of  speech,  and  of  liberty  for  the  indi- 
vidual, which  gives  a  temperate  climate  for  social  revolution. 
And  she  possesses  a  political  instinct  for  compromise  and  ad- 
justment, which  enables  her  to  construct  the  machinery  for 
profound  change.  I  venture  to  predict  that  England  will 
make  an  adjustment  early  and  sane,  and  that  she  will  be  the 
first  country  to  enter  the  new  age  equipped  and  unembittered. 

The  ideas  which  are  now  remolding  institutions  in  Eng- 

5 


6  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

land  and  in  Europe  have  lain  hidden  in  the  heart  of  hu- 
manity through  the  ages.  They  are  "  high  explosives."  They 
are  dangerous  to  established  things.  They  mean  the  over- 
throw of  privilege.  They  have  a  long  history.  They  rode 
the  imagination  of  several  of  the  Hebrew  prophets.  They 
reappeared  in  a  few  passages  of  Plato.  They  took  shape 
in  the  "  natural  law "  of  the  Latins  and  the  Churchmen. 
They  were  reborn  in  the  beginnings  of  England,  and  flared 
and  flickered  from  John  Ball  to  the  Chartists.  They  flashed 
briefly  in  action  a  few  times  in  France.  It  is  naive  to  confuse 
their  origins  with  the  researches  of  a  German  exile  in  the 
British  Museum,  or  with  a  middle-class  Bergsonian  in 
Boulogne.1 

But  they  never  received  a  trial.  They  welled  up  from 
man's  suffering  and  aspirations  only  to  be  forced  back  to 
the  deeper  regions  of  his  unconscious  life,  where  they  con- 
tinued their  subterranean  tunneling,  a  stream  seeking  the 
light.  The  instinct  for  freedom,  the  desire  for  equality,  never 
died. 

These  ideas  have  taken  on  the  expression  of  each  period 
in  which  they  struggled  for  mastery.  The  expression  of 
them  to-day  is: 

The  workers  wish  to  be  the  public  servants  of  community 
enterprise,  not  the  hired  hands  of  private  enterprise. 

They  refuse  to  work  longer  for  a  system  of  private  profits 
divided  in  part  among  non-producers. 

They  demand  a  share  in  the  control  and  responsibilities  of 
the  work  they  do  (not  only  welfare  and  workshop  conditions, 
but  discipline  and  management  and  commercial  administra- 
tion). 

They  demand  a  good  life,  which  means  a  standard  of  living 
(in  terms  of  wages  and  hours)  that  provides  leisure,  recrea- 
tion, education,  health,  comfort,  and  security. 

Or,  putting  these  desires  into  the  compact  phrases  of  agi- 
tation: The  workers  are  using  their  economic  and  political 

1The  statement  of  these  ideas,  historically,  and  their  pedigree  are 
given  in  the  Appendix,  Section  5,  Chapter  II. 


CHANGE  7 

power  to  obtain  nationalization  of  key  industries,  joint  con- 
trol in  the  management  of  them,  a  minimum  wage,  a  basic 
wage,  a  shortened  working  week,  a  capital  levy  on  war 
profiteers. 

Before  the  War,  these  ideas  about  property,  profits, 
privilege,  freedom  in  work,  equality,  public  service,  the  State, 
were  rapidly  approaching  their  time  of  testing  in  action. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  a  revolutionary 
period  was  in  swing.  The  War  speeded  up  the  pace. 

The  War  weakened  Government  by  Parliament  or  Con- 
gress. It  left  naked  and  unashamed  a  little  inner  group  of 
executives  ruling  the  State,  which  was  Government  by  inner 
Cabinet.  We  have  even  learned  (from  such  partial  revela- 
tions as  Henderson  and  Barnes  have  made)  that  not  all  of 
this  tiny  group  were  fully  consulted.  Accordingly  we  saw 
Government  by  Lloyd  George.  For  the  possession  of  his 
person,  the  great  organized  groups  struggle.  Disregarding 
the  debating  society  of  Parliament,  and  going  directly  to 
the  sacred  presence  of  the  chief  of  the  State,  financiers, 
business  men,  the  press,  and  trade  unions  present  their  de- 
mands. Public  opinion  is  the  timorous  cry  which  the  middle 
class  and  the  unorganized  fringes  of  society  make  at  the 
spectacle  of  the  struggle. 

Labor  was  weakened  politically  by  the  War.  Its  elected 
representatives  were  powerless  on  policy.  Its  manifestoes 
were  scraps  of  paper. 

But  its  industrial  action  was  amazingly  strong — an  as- 
tonishment to  itself.  It  needed  but  the  threat  of  a  strike 
for  swift  redress  in  the  scale  of  living.  One  gesture  from 
Smillie,  and  Asquith  reversed  Government  policy  on  coolie 
labor.  Labor  had  only  to  shake  its  puissant  locks  to  see  a 
ripple  of  respectful  wonderment  pass  over  the  face  of  so- 
ciety. It  was  not  the  only  factor  in  production.  But  it 
learned  that  it  was  one  of  the  indispensable  factors.  The 
poor  began  to  dream  dreams.  From  the  chambers  of  their 
buried  life  ancient  hopes  rose  again. 

For  the  first  time  in  history  partly  conscious  of  their  power, 


8  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

the  workers  now  determine  to  create  a  social  order  in  which 
they  share  the  benefits,  the  responsibility,  and  the  control. 
Huge  arrears  of  ignorance  and  incompetence  remain  to  be 
overcome  before  this  new  estate  can  administer  deftly  and 
smoothly.  In  the  transition  period,  much  hangs  on  the  de- 
cision which  individuals  of  the  possessing  class  will  make. 
If  the  experts,  the  men  of  directive  capacity,  the  managerial 
group,  and  other  useful  members  of  the  middle  class  are 
surly  at  the  change,  and  refuse  to  work  the  machinery  of  pro- 
duction, there  will  be  more  trouble  than  the  western  world 
has  yet  seen.  Only  by  determined  good-will  can  the  next 
ten  years  be  made  even  tolerable. 


CHAPTER  II 
A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY 

THE  "  arbiters  of  contemporary  events  "  are  the  workers,  but 
they  do  not  fully  know  it.  The  center  of  authority  is  in  labor, 
but  it  exercises  its  authority  only  in  spurts  and  spasms. 
Failure  to  recognize  this  latent  power  of  labor  is  to  lose 
track  of  where  "  the  ball "  is  and  to  whom  it  is  being  passed. 
It  is  to  concentrate  attention  on  the  blanketed  figures  at  the 
side  lines,  who  madly  dance  up  and  down  and  scream. 

Mr.  James  A.  Farrell,  president  of  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation  (at  the  sixth  National  Foreign  Trade  Convention, 
April,  1919),  said:  "Production  is  always  a  question  of 
profit,"  and  he  called  it  "  a  fundamental  law." 

Fundamental  laws,  like  general  principles,  have  a  way  of 
escaping  under  sharp  analysis,  like  a  netted  jellyfish. 

That  he  meant  "  profit "  in  its  meaning  of  reward  for 
private  effort  is  proved  by  his  preceding  and  qualifying 
sentence  in  which  "  he  called  for  such  legislation  on  com- 
merce as  to  render  the  enterprise  competitive." 

The  luxury  of  an  incentive  of  unlimited  rewards  to  induce 
idle  capital  to  invest  has  been  purchased  in  Britain  by  low 
wages  to  manual  workers  and  low  salaries  to  managers, 
technical  men,  and  men  of  directive  and  administrative 
ability.  This  gamble  and  adventure  of  sliding  scale  returns 
to  capital  have  been  proved  to  be  a  luxury.  What  is  more 
needed  is  an  incentive  to  managers  and  to  manual  workers 
to  give  high  production.  Private  enterprise,  private  owner- 
ship, which  aims  at  profits  for  shareholders,  has  failed  to 
give  the  needed  incentive  to  workers  by  hand  and  brain. 
Large  sections  of  workers  refuse  any  longer  to  operate  the 
system  of  private  enterprise:  that  treadmill  of  muzzled  oxen 
which  grinds  out  profits  for  shareholders.  The  social  revolu- 

9 


10  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

tion,  now  under  way  in  Britain,  has  been  hastened  by  this 
fact  that  the  capitalists  and  employers  *  have  lost  control  of 
labor.  Labor  in  certain  of  the  key  industries  refuses  longer 
to  work  for  a  system  of  "  private  enterprise "  and  "  private 
profits."  In  America  "  private  enterprise  "  is  a  religious  idea, 
closely  interwoven  with  the  ideas  of  "  God "  and  "  Coun- 
try." To  challenge  it  is  to  pass  under  such  scornful  censure 
as  met  the  atheist  in  the  days  of  State  religion.  But  in  Britain, 
war-profiteering  destroyed  the  last  vestige  of  reverence  for 
"  private  enterprise "  as  a  religious  idea.  And  intellectual 
respect  for  "  private  enterprise "  was  undermined  by  the 
Coal  Commission,  where  the  coal  owners  were  unable  to 
construct  a  case  against  the  naive  questioning  of  Mr.  Smillie 
and  Mr.  Sidney  Webb. 

The  lords  (a  Duke,  an  Earl,  and  some  Marquises)  made  a 
better  showing  in  their  defense  of  royalties  (for  which  they 
give  no  work,  but  receive  5^  pence  on  every  ton  raised  in 
Britain)  than  the  coal  owners  made  in  their  defense  of 
profits.  The  reason  was  simple.  The  coal  owners  waged 
their  combat  on  facts,  and  were  routed  because  facts  were 
against  them.  The  lords  fell  back  on  mysticism — the  great 
tradition  of  the  upper  class — religion,  morality,  the  sacred- 
ness  of  property.  The  voice  of  each  of  them  rang  with 
conviction  (except  the  voice  of  the  very  charming  Marquis 
of  Bute,  who  lisped).  To  state  a  belief  in  things  unseen  is 
an  act  of  faith,  and  always  inspires  respect  among  intelligent 
persons.  So  when  an  engaging  red-haired  youth,  named 
the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  uttered  his  conviction  that 
England  would  go  down  if  his  unearned  income  was  touched 
the  King's  Robing  Room  rang  with  applause. 

The  very  moderate  and  minor  amendments  which  the 
workers  have  already  obtained,  arouse  a  loud  cackle  of  dis- 
may. When  the  knife  really  enters  there  will  be  a  cry.  To 
obtain  a  standard  of  well-being  which  merely  puts  them  on  a 
level  with  that  of  corresponding  American  workers  in  pre- 

1  With  the  good-will  of  labor  withdrawn,  their  "  property "  loses 
in  value. 


A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY     11 

war  days,  the  British  workers  have  had  to  take  determined 
action,  which  is  described  as  revolutionary,  and  which  will 
dislocate  the  industrial  system  as  it  existed  before  the  War. 
It  will  take  many  years,  perhaps  a  generation,  to  work  out 
these  demands  for  a  decent  minimum,  and  meanwhile  pro- 
duction will  suffer,  prices  in  competitive  foreign  trade  will 
go  against  the  British  exporter.  It  now  requires  a  revolution 
to  accomplish  what  in  a  country  of  richer  natural  resources, 
of  higher  wages,  of  modern  machinery,  would  have  taken 
place  automatically.  So  long  has  justice  been  denied  that 
the  simplest  changes  mean  drastic  reconstruction,  with  an 
upset.  So  simple  and  elementary  a  step  as,  for  instance,  the 
transfer  of  the  key  industries  to  public  ownership,  will  be 
bitterly  fought.  Britain  was  a  29-shilling-a-week  country. 
Year  after  year  and  up  to  the  day  of  the  War,  men  were 
underpaid.  Britain  conducted  her  business  (commerce  and 
industry)  on  a  wage  scale  so  low  as  to  give  no  well-being 
to  the  mass  of  manual  workers,  and  primary  poverty  to  a 
considerable  proportion  of  them.  Now  there  is  going  to  be 
poverty  for  all.  The  upper  classes  put  off  paying  the 
score.  They  played  their  system  of  underpay  till  it  was 
over-ripe.  Now  there  isn't  enough  machinery  ready  to  ease 
them  into  plenty.  Labor  is  at  the  door  and.  demands  the 
greatly  higher  wage.  Too  late  for  gentle  adjustment.  Now 
it  is  pay  the  wage  and  lessen  the  hours,  and  lose  the  mo- 
nopoly grip  on  foreign  markets.  It  is  poverty  for  all. 

The  price  Britain  paid   for  building  an  economic  system 
on  a  foundation  of  human  misery  is  this: 

1.  Her   men    of    directive   managerial    administrative    ca- 
pacity loafed  on  their  job.     They  failed  to  install  sufficient 
modern    standardized   machinery   in   industry.      They   saved 
costs  by  cheap  labor,  instead  of  saving  costs  by  high  pro- 
duction through  modern  machinery  and  high  wages. 

2.  Sections  of  the  upper  middle  class  and  the  upper  class 
lived  on  the  community  through  the  ownership  of  land,  royal- 
ties, wayleaves,  speculative  shares.     A  more  equalitarian  so- 
ciety would  have  driven  them  into  the  ranks  of  the  producers. 


12  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

To-day  they  are  being  forced  to  work.  As  M.  Jouhaux,  sec- 
retary of  the  French  Federation  of  Labor,  said  on  June  26: 
"  The  world  stands  before  the  bankruptcy  of  the  (middle 

class." 

3.    Low  wages  affected  the  British  working  class: 

(a)  by   leading  to   the   emigration  of   some   of   their 
sturdy,  adventurous,  ambitious  stock; 

(b)  deterioration  in  physique  of  sections  of  the  indus- 
trial population; 

(c)  the  lessening  of  efficiency  not  alone  through  di- 
minished vitality  but  also  by  breeding  bad  habits  of 
ca'  canny,  i.e.,  of  slack  work,  or  restricted  produc- 
tion. > 

(This  wide-spread  system  of  trade-union  restrictions  was 
of  course  necessary  as  a  protection  against  overwork,  long 
hours,  the  strain  of  speeding  up  on  impaired  reserve 
strength.) 

There  was  a  hot  time  coming  to  Britain,  and  it  has  come. 
There  is  nothing  that  can  stop  the  tumble,  for  the  mass  is 
in  motion.  The  day  of  reckoning  would  have  come  if  there 
had  been  no  war. 

The  middle  class  are  protesting  vigorously  at  being  auto- 
matically abolished.  They  do  not  turn  their  wrath  upon  the 
economic  system  which  in  its  ebbing  has  left  them  high  and 
dry,  as  the  tide  leaves  a  boat  on  the  beach.  They  turn  their 
wrath  upon  labor,  whose  high  wages  are  to  them  the  visible 
sign  of  their  own  decay,  and  therefore  seem  to  them  the  cause 
of  that  decay.  But  they  fail  to  ask  why  their  own  incomes 
have  not  lifted.  If  they  had  asked  the  question,  they  would 
have  found  the  answer.  They  cannot  better  their  incomes 
because  they  do  not  "  strike."  And  the  reason  they  do  not 
strike  is  because  they  cannot.  If  they  struck,  nothing  would 
happen.  The  crops  would  still  grow,  the  harvesters  would 
still  come  bringing  in  their  sheaves.  Engineers  would  roll 
the  Liverpool  trains  into  Euston  Station.  Coal  would  be 
hewn.  Girls  would  still  stitch.  Folks  would  continue  to  be 
be  fed  and  clothed  and  transported.  The  solar  system  would 


A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY     13 

revolve,  and  the  little  wheels  of  industry  would  revolve.  Life 
and  the  human  race  would  go  on  untroubled,  without  blinking 
an  eyelash  if  the  middle  class  rose  in  a  splendid  'fury  and 
established  a  soviet  and  the  dictatorship  of  the  respectable. 
Theirs  would  be  a  heroic  gesture,  but  a  gesture  in  the  void. 
They  are  not  of  the  stuff  to  make  earth  tremble. 

Their  difficulty  is  that  they  do  not  perform  a  function 
which  is  any  longer  essential.  As  their  function  fails,  their 
"  rights  "  fade  away. 

The  Nineteenth  Century  was  the  last  century  of  the  middle 
class — "  that  portion  of  the  community  to  which  money  is 
the  primary  condition  and  the  primary  instrument  of  life."  1 
They  were  the  individual  middlemen,  and  that  function  is 
being  taken  over  by  the  vaster  organization  of  distribution, 
by  chain  stores,  by  co-operative  societies,  by  great  emporiums. 
They  were  the  collectors  of  little  individual  pools  of  capital, 
and  that  function  is  being  taken  over  by  the  big  trusts  and 
nationalized  industries,  which  use  their  own  productive  effi- 
ciency in  terms  of  present  profits  to  accumulate  for  reserves, 
extensions,  and  new  embarkations.  As  the  process  of  col- 
lective expropriation  proceeds,  through  the  capital  levy,  death 
duties,  profits  tax  and  income  tax,  this  section  of  the 
middle  class  is  going  to  be  gently  and  almost  painlessly  elim- 
inated. 

But  there  are  groups  in  the  middle  class  who  do  perform 
a  function.  What  of  them? 

A  large  section  of  the  "  salariat,"  the  black-coated  pro- 
letariat, are  already  forming  their  associations  and  trade 
unions  and  getting  into  the  game.  Britain  has  the  Railway 
Clerks'  Association  of  station-masters,  agents,  and  chief 
clerks.  The  Post  Office  and  Civil  Service  has  a  Postmen's 
Federation  of  65,000  members,  a  Postal  and  Telegraph  Clerks' 
Association  of  27,000,  the  Fawcett  Association  of  6,000,  the 
new  Society  of  Civil  Servants,  the  Association  of  Staff 
Clerks,  and  others.  The  National  Union  of  Teachers  has 
100,000,  and  is  so  thoroughly  organized  as  to  call  strikes 

1  No  definition  of  the  middle  class,  yet  devised,  is  adequate. 


14  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

and  win  wage  advances.  There  is  a  Union  of  Engineering 
Foremen  and  a  Federation  of  Brain  Workers.  The  Associa- 
tion of  Engineering  and  Shipbuilding  Draughtsmen  is  a 
trade  union  and  a  part  of  the  labor  movement.  The  Associa- 
tion of  Industrial  Chemists  is  on  the  way. 

While  the  useless  and  festering  mass  of  the  middle  class 
can  be  extracted  without  damage  to  the  body  politic  (without 
any  notice  even  being  taken,  except  for  the  momentary  cry 
at  the  peak  of  the  operation),  the  same  swift  skilled  treatment 
is  not  possible  or  desirable  for  these  living  members,  just 
listed.  Neither  hot  air  nor  gas  could  disguise  the  loss,  if 
anything  rude  were  done  to  managers,  deputies,  supervisory 
grades,  professionals,  superintendents,  foremen,  brain  work- 
ers. Many  of  their  associations  have  joined  and  are  joining 
the  labor  movement.  Others  are  resolute  in  keeping  clear. 
The  miners  have  often  kept  themselves  clear  of  the  labor 
movement.  Thus,  when  Lloyd  George  harnessed  in  the  Brit- 
ish trade  unions  to  the  unified  purpose  of  the  State  (includ- 
ing later  the  execution  of  the  secret  treaties),  the  miners 
refused  to  sign  away  their  power.  Being  a  key  industry,  they 
could  enforce  their  will.  It  is  possible  that  in  these  next 
five  years  we  shall  witness  similar  behavior  on  the  part  of 
powerful  professional  associations  like  the  doctors.  They 
could  not  go  down  to  extinction  like  the  bulk  of  the  middle 
class,  because  they  perform  a  supremely  important  function, 
and  it  is  conceivable  that  they  may  prefer  a  lone  Guild — or 
Soviet — role  to  that  of  affiliation  to  the  Labor  Party. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  teachers  in  recent  annual  confer- 
ence frankly  confessed  their  debt  to  labor,  and  a  section  of 
teachers  from  the  Rhondda  Valley,  avowedly  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  miners'  example,  successfully  led  the  confer- 
ence to  demand  workers'  control. 

I  heard  the  drowned  voice  of  the  technical  expert  at  the 
National  Industrial  Council;  Sir  Robert  Home  and  Lloyd 
George  had  got  their  industrial  community  nicely  lined  up 
into  two  neat  compartments — employers  and  workers.  And 
suddenly  out  of  the  dim  hall  came  a  small  voice  of  protest, 


A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY     15 

and  the  protestant  walked  to  the  platform  and  spoke  his 
piece  of  how  he  represented  a  large  group  of  technical  em- 
ployees.1 He  was  promptly  squelched  by  the  Government 
officials,  who  implied: 

"Why  is  life  full  of  these  alien  particles?  They  tear 
through  paper  programs.  They  poison  the  pipe  of  peace." 

At  any  moment  this  pathetic  invaded  little  neutral  may 
become  the  Serbia  that  precipitates  the  class  war,  or  the  Bel- 
gium over  whose  dead  body  as  a  moral  emblem  the  Big  Ones 
fight.  Always  the  fight  is  said  to  be  on  behalf  of  the  Little 
Nation.  The  royalty  owners  and  coal  owners  pleaded  that 
rich  rewards  should  go  to  directive  capacity.  Then  the  rec- 
ords were  dug  up  and  it  was  found  that  a  large  percentage  of 
colliery  managers  received  £400  a  year. 

These  lively  remains  of  the  middle  class  will  have  to  be 
incorporated  in  the  new  social  order. 

The  Guild  of  Insurance  Officials  numbers  10,000  and  in- 
cludes all  branches  of  insurance  staffs  from  branch  man- 
agers to  junior  clerks.  There  is  the  Bank  Clerks'  Union.  The 
Professional  Workers'  Federation  numbers  174,000,  and  in- 
cludes the  National  Union  of  Teachers,  the  Incorporated 
Association  of  Assistant  Masters,  the  Customs  and  Excise 
Federation,  the  Second  Division  Clerks'  Association,  the  As- 
sociation of  Assistant  Mistresses.  The  National  Union  of 
Journalists,  which  met  in  delegate  meeting  on  Good  Friday, 
represented  4,000  members,  out  for  "  salaries  and  hours."  A 
representative  said :  "  The  gentleman  who  turns  out  the  gas- 
lamps  in  front  of  my  house  is  paid  more  than  my  colleague; 
the  other  gentleman  who  calls  to  record  the  figures  on  my 
gas-meter  is  paid  more  than  I  am." 

These  organizations  range  from  group  meetings  to  trade 
unions,  but  they  are  alike  in  their  consciousness  of  function 
and  in  their  demand  to  win  representation  in  the  State  be- 
cause of  that  function.  Organized  management,  organized 
technical  and  scientific  knowledge  and  skill  is,  then,  in  some 

1  The  Society  of  Technical  Engineers. 


16  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

instances,  joining  the  labor  movement.  In  other  instances,  it 
is  an  independent  force  in  industry. 

These  organizations  are  of  more  importance  than  the 
Middle  Classes'  Union,  recently  formed,  which  will  not  be 
effective,  because,  failing  to  represent  function,  it  will  be 
unable  to  exert  industrial  pressure.  So  its  resolutions  will 
pass  into  the  Morning  Post,  instead  of  into  law.  It  has  no 
power  to  combine,  because  it  does  not  perform  essential  serv- 
ices. If  it  attempts  to  break  strikes  by  black-legging,  it  will 
create  disorder  and  will  be  eliminated  by  any  Government 
which  seeks  law  and  order. 

The  organizer  of  the  Middle  Classes'  Union  is  Kennedy 
Jones,  M.P.  He  says: 

In  almost  every  country  in  Europe  to-day  the  middle  classes 
are  being  attacked,  i.  Who  are  the  middle  classes?  2.  What  can 
the  middle  classes  do,  even  if  they  organize  and  combine?  The 
middle  classes  are  all  those  unorganized  citizens,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  voting  power,  who  stand  between  the  organized  and 
federated  worker  on  the  one  hand  and  the  smaller,  but  almost 
equally  powerful  class,  who  stand  for  organized  and  consolidated 
Capital  on  the  other.  The  middle  classes  are  that  large  body  in 
the  nation  who  work  with  their  heads  rather  than  their  hands, 
and  in  whom  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  national  brain  is  con- 
centrated. They  comprise  all  the  professions,  learned  and  other- 
wise, shopkeepers,  and  clerks,  and  those  who  help  to  manage  in- 
dustries and  businesses  of  every  sort.  To  these  classes  belong  both 
the  soldier  and  the  sailor,  the  stockbroker  and  the  clergyman,  the 
barrister  and  the  architect,  the  grocer  and  the  solicitor,  the  author 
of  great  works  and  the  men  and  women  whose  writings  are  con- 
fined to  ledgers. 

At  question  time  a  lady  asked  if  there  was  any  objection 
to  younger  branches  of  the  aristocracy,  "  who  are  as  poor  as 
church  mice,"  joining  the  Union. 

The  chairman  replied  that  if  any  impoverished  earl  wished 
to  join  the  Middle  Classes'  Union,  they  would  be  glad  to 
welcome  him. 

In  advertising  for  members,  the  Union  announces : 


A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY     17 

The  Union  has  been  formed  to  protect  the  great,  hitherto  unor- 
ganized, Middle  Classes,  against  the  insatiable  demands  of  Labor, 
the  Power  of  Capital,  the  indifference  of  Governments. 

There  are  many  definitions  of  the  middle  class  as  seen  by 
itself.  Here  are  a  few: 

Those  members  of  the  Community  who  work  with  brain  and  pen. 

Lying  between  Capital  and  Labor. 

Every  one  between  the  artisan  and  the  aristocrat. 

A  state  of  mind. 

People  with  small  fixed  incomes. 

Bernard  Shaw  says  that  a  middle-class  man  is  a  man  who 
would  refuse  anything  less  than  a  five-pound  fee. 

The  Middle  Classes'  Union  is  amusing,  but  unimportant. 
It  is  unimportant  because  all  that  is  effective  in  it  will  seek 
expression  through  other  groups — the  professional  associa- 
tions and  trade  unions. 

To  sum  up  what  has  been  said  on  the  middle  classes.1  (i) 
The  non-functioning  sections  are  being  squeezed  out  of  ex- 
istence. (2)  Some  of  the  supervisory  grades  are  joining  the 
labor  movement.  (3)  Some  groups  of  managers  and  other 
brain  workers,  such  as  doctors,  are  keeping  themselves  clear 
of  either  armed  camp  of  capitalist  or  labor.  They  are 
likely  to  find  themselves  in  the  position  of  a  neutral  State, 
lying  between  two  great  powers.  (4)  The  artist,  research 
scientist,  creator  of  values,  will  have  the  same  lot  in  these 
next  few  years  as  he  has  always  known.  The  swaying  of 
forces  in  combat  cannot  make  him  more  lonely  than  he  has 
been  in  the  modern  world.  He  will  not  be  less  lonely  until 
a  free  humanity  is  able  to  enjoy  creative  work.  His  sym- 
pathies run  with  the  disinherited  who  now,  at  long  last,  climb 
to  power.  But  he  has  no  illusions  that  their  sympathies  will 
be  with  him. 

Certain  theorists  profess  to  see  in  the  British  labor  move- 
ment pure  syndicalism.  Thus,  I  quote  from  J.  W.  Scott, 

1  See  Appendix,  Section  Five—"  The  Middle  Class." 


18  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

lecturer  in  moral  philosophy  in  the  University  of  Glasgow: 
"  Syndicalism  and  Philosophical  Realism  " : 

Much  current  philosophy  [by  which  he  means  the  evolutionism 
of  Bergson  and  the  realism  of  Bertrand  Russell]  would,  if 
true,  essentially  justify  what  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  new 
philosophy  of  Labor.  Syndicalism  is  the  voice  of  the  failure  of 
something.  The  placing  of  the  chief  end  of  men  in  economics 
and  in  the  salvation  of  a  class  is  of  the  nature  of  a  relapse.  It 
is  the  failure  of  the  long  effort  to  achieve  the  good  for  man  as 
such — the  good,  not  of  one  class,  but  of  all  classes.  Syndicalism 
is  the  failure  of  the  socialistic  idea  to  prove  its  fitness  for  po- 
litical power.  It  is  the  very  voice  of  socialism  at  the  confes- 
sional, confessing  its  inability  to  do  what  it  set  out  to  do,  namely, 
run  a  State. 

It  is  true  that  a  few  extremists  talk  in  Bergsonian  terms 
of  the  change.  "  The  march  of  events."  "  The  revolutionary 
moment."  "  The  instinctive  movement  of  the  masses."  They 
have  gone  on  from  Marx  to  Bergson.  In  the  old  patter,  the 
economic  conditions  were  going  to  ripen  inevitably  till  the 
proletariat  took  over  power.  Now,  "  the  march  of  events  " 
is  "  an  instinctive  movement "  of  the  people. 

But  to  imply  that  British  labor  is  syndicalist  is  an  intellec- 
tualistic  feat  which  could  only  have  been  carried  through  an 
entire  book  by  a  very  young  philosopher  living  in  the  Clyde 
area.  In  general,  British  labor  has  no  philosophy,1  no  general 
outlook,  but  deals  in  piecemeal  gains  by  compromise  and 
opportunism,  with  a  floundering  sureness,  like  the  land- 
progress  of  a  seal.  It  has,  however,  determined  on  those 
gains  (such  as,  for  instance,  to  consolidate  the  wage-gains 
made  during  the  War),  and  those  gains  are  ripping  the  old 
order  into  small  bits.  Labor  is  at  the  beginning  of  the 
changes  which  it  will  put  through  in  the  next  ten  years.2 
Those  changes  seek  to  obtain: 

L  Minorities  have  a  philosophy.    The  passage  refers  to  the  mass. 

2  And  a  full  generation  at  least  will  be  required  to  "  constitution- 
alize"  and  stabilize  the  changes.  The  next  few  years  will  see  more 
unrest  than  Britain  has  known  in  a  century. 


A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY     19 

1.  A  higher  standard  of  living  than  the  average  wage  of 
any  industry  yet  affords. 

2.  More  leisure  than  the  working  day,  as  set  in  any  in- 
dustry, yet  allows. 

3.  Housing  (actually  in  brick,  not  on  paper). 

4.  A  regulation  of  private  profits. 

5.  The  nationalization  of  public  utilities. 

6.  Joint  control  in  management  throughout  industry. 

7.  Taxation  to  distribute  the  wealth  of  the  community. 

8.  The  elimination  of  unemployment. 

9.  The  creation  of  a  good  life  by  education. 

The  common  people  are  seeking  a  cure  for  what  their  bril- 
liant young  champion,  R.  H.  Tawney,  calls  "  the  sickness  of 
acquisitive  society."  They  are,  as  Arthur  Henderson  puts  it, 
in  "  moral  antagonism "  to  national  effort  for  private  gain. 
They  are  literally  sick  to  death  of  the  life  they  have  known, 
as  organized  and  governed  by  the  owners  of  land  and  capital, 
the  instigators  of  war,  the  manipulators  of  peace  with  public 
phrases  and  private  promises.  With  them  in  their  quest  for 
a  good  life  are  the  noblest  of  the  Church,  such  as  William 
Temple.  With  them  are  many  of  the  trained  economic  and 
industrial  minds  of  England's  elite,  such  as  J.  A.  Hobson, 
Tawney,  Webb,  Cole,  Brailsford. 

But,  for  all  that,  the  task  is  gigantic  because  the  status  quo 
has  an  immense  specific  gravity,  all  its  own.  Inertia  is  woven 
into  the  fiber  of  human  nature. 

Because  of  some  brilliant  pamphlets  the  friends  of  labor 
looked  to  it  for  a  cavalry  charge  through  the  disorganized 
hosts  of  privilege.  They  hoped  for  a  flying  squadron,  in 
perfect  battle  formation,  led  by  some  plumed  champion,  to  go 
spurring  and  prancing  towards  a  clearly  seen  objective,  while, 
falling  back  before  them,  the  old  order  would  be  shouting  its 
surrender.  Nothing  of  the  sort  has  happened.  The  imme- 
diate gains  of  labor  are  being  made  sectionally  and  not  by 
the  unified  movement.  They  were  largely  made  in  1919  by 
the  power  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  headed  by  Robert  Smillie, 
the  miner.  He  is  the  greatest  leader  of  labor  in  this  gen- 


20  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

eration.1  He  is  simple  and  homely,  of  rugged  integrity, 
of  a  devotion  to  his  followers  unmatched  since  Keir  Hardie 
and  Alexander  Macdonald.  But  he  and  his  Triple  Alliance, 
in  1919,  acted  alone,  and  then  waited  for  the  other  millions 
of  labor  to  catch  up  and  receive  the  distributed  gain.  Labor 
is  weaker  in  influence  and  slower  to  act  than  was  anticipated. 
The  clue  has  not  been  found.  The  leader  of  all  is  not  in 
sight.  The  organization  is  not  perfected.  So  the  mass 
movement  drives  on  under  the  urge  of  its  instinct  to  a 
series  of  next-steps,  after  the  path  has  been  broken  by  the 
miners  and  railwaymen. 

There  is  an  utter  absence  of  central  government  in  British 
trade  unionism.  If  trade  unionism  had  a  punch  mated  to  its 
bulk,  it  would  have  knocked  out  some  of  its  enemies  before 
this.  But  its  punch  must  be  made  through  the  Parliamentary 
Committee  of  the  Trades  Union  Congress,  and  the  P.  C.  is  so 
perfectly  balanced  with  historical  characters,  leaders  with  a 
past,  forlorn  hopes,  and  men  to  memory  dear,  that  it  is  rever- 
ent in  the  presence  of  authority,  and  eminently  solid  and  safe 
in  an  age  of  crisis.  It  is  sometimes  in  part  a  blend  of  bar- 
tered votes.  The  ancients  are  occasionally  on  it,  the  dis- 
credited, the  defeated.  All  the  lazy  kindliness  of  English 
nature  wreaks  itself  on  the  P.  C. 

There  is  J.  B.  Williams,  who  wails  that  the  littlest  union 
is  never  listened  to.  So  on  to  the  P.  C.  he  goes. 

There  is  W.  J.  Davis,  the  oldest  active  trade  unionist.  It's 
a  pity  not  to  give  it  to  the  fine  old  man. 

There's  Havelock  Wilson.  We  swatted  him  proper  in  three 
votes.  We  hate  his  policy.  So,  like  good  fellows,  we'll  shove 
him  aboard.2 

Then  a  dashing  young  leader  of  British  Bolsheviks  prances 
down  the  aisle  and  swaps  votes  for  one  or  two  more 
places.  And  by  the  time  the  consolation  prize  and  auction 
features  are  cared  for,  the  membership  is  buried  deep  in 

1  In  personality,  Smillie  is  much  like  Eugene  Debs.    But  the  British 
democracy  has  not  yet  sent  him  to  jail. 
8  Until  1919,  when  they  pushed  him  into  the  sea. 


A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY     21 

cotton  wool,  and  there  is  little  decisive  action  for  another 
year. 

But  not  only  is  there  this  temperamental  slowness  of  the 
British,  there  is  at  the  moment  a  climate  of  disillusionment. 
Most  of  the  Government  program  of  reconstruction — hous- 
ing, land,  education — has  temporarily  fallen  down.  Some  day 
it  will  greatly  eventuate,  but  not  to-day.  The  people  after  the 
War  had  looked  for  a  logical  fourth  act  to  the  drama,  with 
stern  justice  meted  to  the  wicked,  rewards  and  happiness  to 
suffering  innocents,  and  a  general  sense  of  well-being.  But 
they  found  that  a  fever  had  burned  them  till  they  were  rest- 
less instead  of  satisfied.  They  found  that  they  had  fed  on 
poison  so  that  they  were  mortified  instead  of  purged.  A 
weariness  set  in,  a  carelessness  of  what  comes  after,  and,  as 
undertone  to  the  celebration  of  p'eace,  "  the  quiet  weeping 
of  the  world."  A  suppressed  bitterness  of  suffering  long 
endured,  inequalities  of  sacrifice,  the  nag  of  old  wounds, 
unemployment,  and  hate — these  are  the  deposits  of  the  heady 
tonic  of  war.  One  has  the  sense  of  a  gathering  doom,  some- 
thing slowly  cumulative  through  the  four  years  of  prelude, 
and  now  thickening  for  the  crash  and  chaos.  The  face  of  the 
sun  is  darkened  over  the  earth  that  is  black,  and  the  veil  of 
all  the  temples  is  rent.  Faith  has  died  with  the  death  of  the 
young  men.  "  Only  within  the  scaffolding  of  these  truths, 
only  on  the  firm  foundation  of  unyielding  despair,  can  the 
soul's  habitation  henceforth  be  safely  built."  Belief  and 
hope — we  are  beyond  those  eager  projections  of  man's  de- 
sires. This  sadness  and  despair  condition  all  efforts  of 
group  or  individual.  For  the  moment,  the  full  devastating 
vision  of  the  futility  of  human  effort  has  fallen  on  Europe. 
England  shares  in  this.  Why  believe  in  the  power  of  labor  to 
redeem  a  world  where  all  things  come  to  dust? 

I  have  a  friend  in  the  Ministry  of  Labor,  who,  falling 
under  this  disillusionment,  and  seeing  with  Scotch  acumen 
the  limitations  of  labor,  frankly  questions  its  right  to  rule. 
He  said  to  me :  "  I  am  a  little  doubtful  about  accepting  labor 
as  the  coming  power.  So  I  have  been  putting  two  questions  to 


22  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

myself  recently.  Which  side  would  I  have  been  on  at  the 
time  of  the  French  Revolution?  And  in  an  earlier  day,  would 
I  have  been  in  the  mob  that  cried  '  Crucify  him '  ?  I  wonder 
now  if  I  am  making  the  refusal  to  accept  a  gain  of  the 
human  spirit." 

But  it  has  become  academic  to  debate  whether  we  shall 
accept  life  and  labor.  The  only  matter  for  practical  men  now 
to  consider  is  the  system  to  be  erected  on  the  ruins  of  pri- 
vately owned  and  controlled  industry.  Which  industries  shall 
be  immediately  purchased  by  the  community  ?  How  many  and 
which  of  the  functions  of  management  shall  immediately  pass 
under  the  control  of  the  workers?  How  shall  this  power  of 
the  producers  register  itself  in  Parliament?  Shall  there  be  a 
Special  House  of  Producers  inside  Parliament?  Or  a  Na- 
tional Industrial  Council  outside?  And  what  shall  be  the 
relation  of  that  to  Parliament? 

As  soon  as  trade-union  organization  passes  50  per  cent  (of 
male  adult  manual  workers),  the  power  of  it  is  so  great  that 
it  must  function  directly  upon  Congress  or  Parliament,  if  the 
State  is  to  remain  under  constitutional  Parliamentary  author- 
ity. Only  because  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  con- 
tains a  minority  of  workers,  has  Mr.  Gompers  failed  to  recog- 
nize the  subversive  character  of  his  teachings.  If  labor  does 
not  possess  a  political  party,  it  must  by  the  law  of  its  own 
growth  break  out  in  unlawful  demonstrations. 

Mr.  Gompers,  the  syndicalists,  and  the  revolutionaries  of 
Switzerland  and  Italy  do  not  believe  in  the  political  expression 
of  labor.  But  British  labor  prefers  to  work  along  constitu- 
tional lines,  and  does  not  desire  to  be  forced  to  make  its 
democratic  gains  by  direct  action.  It  was  driven  to  its  recent 
powerful  and  victorious  use  of  the  industrial  weapon  by  the 
failure  of  Parliament  to  carry  out  its  pledges.  The  miners 
believe  that  such  theories  as  Mr.  Gompers  holds  will  lead  a 
State  to  destruction.  Let  labor  organize  for  the  ballot,  and 
vote  in  the  measures  it  desires.  That  is  why  the  miners  sent 
some  25  representatives  to  the  House.  That  is  why  Mr. 
Smillie  has  always  devoted  a  large  portion  of  his  time  to 


A  REVOLUTION  WITHOUT  A  PHILOSOPHY     23 

political  propaganda.  He  believes  that  the  State  should  rule 
industry,  and  that  the  will  of  the  workers  should  express 
itself  constitutionally.  Occasionally  the  miners  jog  the  State 
into  remembering  some  of  its  promises,  by  a  pointed  resolu- 
tion. 

In  the  mass  of  resolutions  passed  by  labor  gatherings,  it  is 
sometimes  difficult  to  tell  which  are  significant. 

There  are  pious  resolutions. 

Moderate  pressure. 

And  direct-action-if-you-disregard-it. 

Conscription  is  in  the  third  category.  Sending  British  boys 
to  Russia  has  recently  passed  over  from  the  temperate  zone  of 
Number  Two  to  the  hair-trigger  of  Three.  It  is  the  anger 
and  fierceness  of  the  voice,  the  fervor  of  the  Hear,  Hears, 
that  betray  whether  the  nerve  has  been  touched  that  vibrates 
to  action.  Labor,  as  a  mass,  is  ignorant  of  foreign  affairs  in 
general,  and  its  policy  is  often  the  skilful  and  sane  head-work 
of  its  recognized  intellectual  leaders.  Whereupon  the  Con- 
gress or  Conference  dutifully  but  dully  votes  Yes,  and 
straightway  forgets  what  manner  of  policy  it  thundered  to 
a  waiting  world.  It  is  doubly  hard  for  an  outsider  to  tell 
the  difference  between  a  blank  cartridge,  noisy  but  impotent, 
and  a  smokeless  Maxim-silenced  bullet.  Sometimes  the  poli- 
ticians go  wrong  and  think  that  a  stick  of  dynamite  is  a 
stick  of  candy.  Mr.  Lloyd  George  picked  up  conscription 
and  thought  it  could  be  chewed.  If  any  other  man  had  been 
equally  playful,  it  would  have  blown  his  head  off.  At  that,  it 
jarred  him. 

The  British  prefer  not  to  face  a  thing  ahead  of  time.  They 
rely  on  their  reserve  strength  to  see  them  through.  So,  right 
now,  they  are  working  a  greater  change  than  their  talk  about  it 
reveals.  And  it  is  going  to  be  done  with  an  accompaniment 
of  severer  suffering  than  they  let  themselves  realize.  The 
impulses  and  desires  of  millions  of  individuals  are  finding 
expression.  Innumerable  transient  particulars  are  drifting  in 
the  stream  of  tendency.  We  speak  of  "  labor  "  as  if  it  were 
a  static  thing,  when  often  what  we  mean  is  a  certain  fierce- 


24  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

ness  of  some  of  the  younger  men,  or  a  flicker  of  brief  group- 
unity  in  aspiration  or  resentment.  But  in  spite  of  all  those 
separate  particles  of  unique  disposition,  there  is  a  common 
direction  in  their  striving.  Pushed  on  by  the  movement  itself, 
they  drift  toward  the  sea,  and  already  they  are  caught  in 
the  groundswell  of  the  storm. 


CHAPTER  III 
LABOR  THE  UNREADY 

THE  War  caught  British  labor  unprepared.  It  required  three 
years  for  the  workers  to  find  themselves  and  begin  to  shape 
a  policy.  So  it  is  with  the  coming  of  peace.  The  post-war 
world  demanded  a  policy,  and  labor  was  unready.  If  there  had 
been  a  determined  program  backed  by  6,000,000  convinced 
workers  (and  their  families)  it  would  have  won  its  way 
against  the  Government,  Parliament,  the  middle  class,  and  big 
and  little  business. 

And  by  a  program  I  do  not  mean  a  political  pamphlet,  like 
Labor  and  the  New  Social  Order,  however  brilliant  and  well- 
balanced.  The  authentic  aims  of  labor  were  stated  in  that 
eloquent  document,  but  they  are  clothed  in  the  terms  of 
political  change  and  Government  administration,  and  their 
appeal  is  to  the  political  consciousness.  Now  the  political 
consciousness  of  labor  is  undeveloped,  because  its  political 
experience  is  slight.  Instinctively  it  turns  to  industrial  action, 
because  its  desires  and  impulses  have  long  gone  out  along  that 
track. 

A  labor  program  would  have  carried  the  day,  had  three 
"  if  s  "  been  granted. 

(1)  If  British  labor  had  been  united. 

(2)  If  the  leaders  had  been  agreed. 

(3)  If  the  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the  Trades  Union 
Congress  were  a  central  executive  of  trade-union  govern- 
ment. 

Actually  labor  was  in  disarray,  with  war-weariness,  chronic 
inertia,  large  conservative  blocs,  and  little  revolutionary  cliques 
moving  in  various  directions. 

Its  leaders  were  at  loggerheads  on  aim  and  method  (from 
"more  production"  to  "direct  action"). 

25 


26  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

The  Trades  Union  Congress  is  "  an  unorganized  public 
meeting  unable  to  formulate  any  consistent  or  practical 
policy,"  and  its  Parliamentary  Committee  represents  very 
perfectly  the  inertia,  the  weariness,  the  conservatism  of  the 
membership. 

A  year  has  gone  since  peace  of-a-sort  came  to  the  British 
Isle.  With  the  beginning  of  the  year  sectional  strikes  broke 
loose.  The  aim  of  the  workers  was  to  hold  war  wages  with 
reduced  hours.  The  miners  went  further  and  aimed  at  a 
slightly  better  standard  of  living  than  that  of  pre-war  days. 
But  so  well  tutored  in  misery  and  servility  were  all  the  work- 
ers of  Britain  that  no  industry  asked  for  an  average  that 
should  exceed  $800  a  year,  and  even  these  faint-hearted  de- 
mands for  a  wage  of  from  $600  to  $800  a  year  were  called 
revolutionary.  And  the  same  cries  of  ruin  came  from  the 
owners  of  land  and  capital  as  had  come  from  their  God- 
fearing ancestors  when  it  was  proposed  to  remove  tiny  chil- 
dren and  pregnant  women  from  heavy  work  underground  in 
the  mines. 

Then  followed  the  Coal  Commission  and  the  National 
Joint  Industrial  Conference;  extra-Parliamentary  extempo- 
rized devices  to  save  the  face  of  Parliamentary  Government, 
when  the  power  had  moved.  The  Coal  Commission  was  the 
tribunal  before  which  the  old  order  humbly  appeared.  The 
National  Joint  Industrial  Conference  was  an  affair  of  em- 
ployers and  workers  where  the  Government  figured  in  the 
position  of  referee,  second,  and  sponger-off.  It  mopped  up 
the  spilled,  received  blows,  congratulated  each  side,  and  noted 
how  many  points  had  been  scored.  It  finally  announced  "  No 
decision,"  and  another  great  expectation  faded.  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  appeared  at  that  conference  with  all  the  irrelevance 
of  a  beautiful  woman  on  a  battlefield. 

England  is  slowly  building  new  organs  of  government  (both 
in  legislation  and  administration)  outside  of  Parliament. 
Political  questions  will  still  be  handled  at  Westminster,  but  the 
economic  life  of  the  nation  will  largely  function  through 
trade  unions,  industrial  councils,  and  shop  committees.  A 


LABOR  THE  UNREADY  27 

political  Parliament  is  powerless  to  grapple  with  these  eco- 
nomic questions,  because  it  is  not  present  where  these  vital 
forces  are  visibly  active.  What  the  Russians  grabbed  for 
too  swiftly  in  Soviets  and  workers'  committees,  England  is 
attaining  step  by  step  stumblingly  in  the  Shop  Stewards' 
Movement  and  shop  and  pit  committees.  It  is  control 
of  industry  by  the  producers  (including,  of  course,  foremen, 
managers,  draughtsmen,  directors,  technical  advisors). 

If  by  revolution  is  meant  general  economic  paralysis  or 
riot,  the  British  worker  does  not  wish  revolution.  If  by  revo- 
lution is  meant  the  transfer  of  economic  power  from  the 
middle  class  to  the  workers, — an  organic  change — that  change 
is  slowly,  sectionally,  painfully  being  made.  And  the  worker 
does  not  mean  to  watch  this  process  eventuate  in  the  fullness 
of  time,  himself  standing  by  as  a  casual  spectator.  He  is 
determined  to  see  the  process  fulfilled  in  this  generation.  He 
plays  his  part  in  bringing  it  to  pass.  He  prefers  settled  order 
to  wholesale  experimentation,  but  he  does  not  prefer  settled 
order  to  piecemeal  experimentation. 

The  British  are  trying  to  include  all  the  revolutionary 
aims  at  once:  the  conquest  of  power,  the  suppression  of 
counter-revolution,  and  the  smooth  working  of  the  new 
order.  (And  yet  take  them  one  step  at  a  time.)  Their  method 
is  the  persuasion  of  the  intellectuals,  the  winning  over  of 
the  salariat,  the  splitting  of  the  middle  class,  and  the  conse- 
quent inclusion  of  useful  middle-class  members  in  the  .Labor 
Movement.  The  upper  class  is  negligible.  It  has  never  been 
sharply  differentiated.  There  are  few  old  families.  Most  are 
like  Smithson,  who  to  his  amazement  became  Duke  of  Nor- 
thumberland. Those  who  have  not  been  graduated  from  mid- 
dle-class groceries,  tea,  beer,  and  soap  are  a  small  group  as 
compared  with  the  community. 

The  Government  has  been  caught  as  unaware  by  peace 
as  it  was  by  the  German  Army  pounding  down  on  Paris  in 
August,  1914.  Its  "schemes,"  and  "approved  sites,"  and 
"  strongly  worded  circulars,"  are  to  the  tidal  rip  of  the  mass- 
in-motion,  as  the  British  Naval  Reserves  that  went  to  save 


28  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

Antwerp  were  to  the  Prussian  legions  and  the  1 6-inch  guns. 
I  have  seen  both  exhibitions.  They  are  the  twittering  of 
sparrows  in  a  thunderstorm.  In  the  London  Sunday  Times 
for  June  8th,  Frederic  C.  Howe  is  quoted  as  saying :  "  Great 
Britain  has  not  carried  through  a  single  one  of  the  great 
ideas  included  in  her  reconstructive  program."  He  is  cor- 
rect. No  houses.  A  few  hundred  soldiers  settled  on  the 
land.  The  acquisition  of  land  at  landlords'  prices. 

The  "  literature  "  of  any  of  these  subjects  is  voluminous, 
the  schemes  multitudinous.  Of  action  there  is  little.  Of 
determined  policy,  none.  .  Everything  is  left  to  drift.  It  is 
the  first  two  years  of  war  over  again.  Then,  there  were  the 
French  to  hold  the  pass,  while  England  groped  instinctively 
toward  final  resolute  action.  God  has  always  granted  Eng- 
land time  to  grope.  He  is  a  slow  and  constitutional  worker 
Himself,  using  trial  and  error.  The  devil  is  a  fiery  revolu- 
tionary. Who  will  win? 

The  owners  of  land  and  capital  have  made  large  conces- 
sions inside  the  old  social  structure.  These  will  not  suffice. 
Labor  demands  a  radical  change  in  the  division  of  the  prod- 
uct, and  in  the  terms  of  ownership  and  management.  Until 
this  is  granted,  there  will  be  increasing  unrest,  recurring 
strikes,  and  diminished  production,  leading  ever  nearer  to 
national  financial  disaster.  To  save  their  country,  the  own- 
ers of  land  and  capital  must  make  a  sacrifice  comparable  to 
that  of  the  volunteer  soldiers.  The  first  signs  of  trouble 
were  manifest  last  winter,  and  within  three  years  they  will 
begin  to  force  the  issue.  I  believe  that  the  change  will  be  made 
peaceably  and  constitutionally.  I  believe  that  the  Coal  Com- 
mission will  be  the  precedent  for  reorganizing  the  great  in- 
dustries. In  short,  Smillie  (backed  by  the  industrial  pressure 
of  the  Triple  Alliance)  was  an  arbiter  of  event,  and  labor  or- 
ganization is  the  instrument  of  the  British  constitutional  social 
revolution. 

The  change,  now  being  wrought,  will  break  into  revolution  * 

^he  orthodox  revolution  of  force,  with  paralysis,  riot,  and  blood- 
shed. 


LABOR  THE  UNREADY  29 

if  it  is  thwarted  by  the  employers  and  the  Government.  B.ut 
if  the  ruling  class  yield,  the  change  will  be  made  constitu- 
tionally. The  leaders  of  labor  wish  to  make  the  transition  to. 
the  Socialist  State,  managed  by  the  workers,  without  loss 
of  life  or  loss  of  productive  power.  The  first  step  only  has 
been  taken  in  this  change.  The  far  greater  steps  remain  to  be 
taken.  The  younger  men  wish  to  take  them  in  the  next  two 
years.  The  older  men,  say,  five,  ten,  fifteen  years. 

The  change,  in  any  case,  is  being  made  within  the  frame- 
work of  a  huge  debt,  worn-out  plant,  a  falling  volume  of  pro- 
duction, fatigue,  and  bitterness.  The  sooner  the  workers 
share  the  knowledge  and  the  responsibility  of  these  menacing 
fundamental  conditions  the  safer  for  the  structure  of  society. 
The  War  has  brutalized  and  embittered  all  relationships  from 
family  life  to  political  procedure.  Violence  and  immorality 
are  temporarily  embedded  in  the  consciousness  of  some  of  the 
nation.  So  any  wildness  is  possible,  but  I  think  bloodshed  is 
improbable.  I  think  the  overwhelming  force  of  the  trade 
unions  will  awe  the  possessing  classes  into  submission.  The 
workers,  once  in  power,  will  realize  for  the  first  time  that,  as 
the  legacy  of  the  War,  they  are  faced  with  primary  poverty 
for  the  next  twenty  years.  No  nationalization,  nor  workers' 
control,  nor  shop  committee,  can  devise  a  machinery  for  escape 
from  the  iron  law  of  diminished  wealth,  lessened  productivity. 
But  for  the  first  time  the  workers  will  sit  in  at  the  banquet 
which  now  will  be  dead-sea  fruit. 

The  financial  situation  is  the  most  serious  of  any  since  the 
years  following  1815.  The  debt  approaches  £8,000,000,000. 
A  daily  expenditure  of  nearly  £4,000,000  goes  gaily  on.  Hours 
are  decreased  and  wages  increased  on  a  falling  market.  Un- 
employment benefit  was  paid  to  half  a  million  persons.  Be- 
tween 10,000  and  20,000  rich  persons  are  spending  £50,000,000 
or  more  a  year  in  luxury.1  And  all  this  orgy  is  being  written 
off  against  future  productivity.  The  Government  postpones 
the  day  of  liquidating  the  War  by  creating  more  debt. 

1This  is  a  pre-war  estimate,  and  is  probably  to-day  an  under- 
estimate. 


30  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

Within  three  years,  two  things  are  inevitable : 

A  capital  levy. 

Hard  work  and  greater  production  from  all  the  community. 

But  labor  will  not  give  its  fullest  effort  until — 

The  system  of  private  profits  is  altered. 

Workers'  share  in  control  is  granted. 

Full  facts  of  industry  are  revealed  by  share  in  management. 

There  is  no  use  in  beating  the  big  drum  of  high  production, 
as  Professor  Bowley  and  W.  L.  Hichens  and  the  rest  are 
doing,  unless  the  division  of  the  product  of  industry  is  organ- 
ized on  a  new  basis.  As  long  as  the  Dukes  and  Marquises 
take  royalties  from  every  ton  of  coal,  and  Lord  Tredegar's 
"Golden  Mile"  of  railway  (3  double  tracks,  I  mile  long) 
pays  him,  taxes  not  deducted,  £19,000  a  year  on  an  original 
outlay  of  £40,000,  labor  will  not  speed  up  to  pay  the  interest 
on  war  debt.  These  facts  from  the  Coal  Commission  are 
reverberating  through  the  island. 

The  temper  of  the  returned  soldier  will  be  the  determining 
factor  in  all  this.  The  sacredness  of  life  and  property  no 
longer  deters  him  from  an  impatient  rush  to  the  thing  he 
wants. 

Britain  has  the  "  Young  Men  in  a  Hurry  " — the  10  to  25  per 
cent  of  the  workers  who  demand  a  new  social  order  without 
delay.  She  has  the-not-more  than  1,000  wild  men  (in  all 
Britain)  who  would  destroy  the  present  order  at  a  stroke  by 
tying  up  industry,  and  would  establish  a  dictatorship  on  the 
lines  of  Lenine. 

She  has  the  20  or  25  per  cent  of  "  Old  Timers  " — the  older 
order  of  trade  unionists,  who  desire  gradual  amelioration  in- 
side the  existing  order.  These  men  (Walter  Appleton,  Have- 
lock  Wilson,  Sexton,  Tillett,  Seddon,  Stanton,  Roberts,  Clem 
Edwards)  rank  much  as  Gompers  does  in  America. 

In  between  these  strata  lie  the  50  per  cent  of  silent  voters, 
with  whom  the  final  decision  rests.  Whether  they  move  con- 


LABOR  THE  UNREADY 


31 


stitutionally  step  by  step,  or  instinctively  in  a  swoop,  will 
set  the  history  of  the  next  five  years. 

The  giants  of  the  year  have  been  Smillie,  Hodges,  Clynes, 
and  Henderson.  Clynes  is  the  consummate  voice  of  the  elder 
labor  statesmen.  Hodges  is  the  one  young  man  of  British 
labor  expressing  the  aspiration  of  workers'  control.  Smillie 
is  the  rugged  personality  of  the  order  of  Lincoln,  who  by 
moral  authority  and  human  sympathy  is  the  greatest  figure  in 
labor  of  this  generation.  Henderson  is  the  adept,  honest  poli- 
tician who  thunders  common  sense.  He  is  less  gifted  than 
Clynes,  but  he  has  a  policy.  He  is  a  battering  ram  of  the 
center,  where  Clynes  is  a  brake. 

The  "  private  enterprise  "  type  of  young  man  is  pretty  sure 
to  emigrate  in  these  coming  years  to  some  one  of  the  busi- 
ness republics. 

The  socialized  miner,  railwayman,  engineer,  shipbuilder, 
cotton  operative,  will  be  the  governing  class  of  Britain- 
national  service,  good  wages,  workers'  control. 

The  rate  of  exchange  will  be  determined  between  a  business 
republic  (Canada,  United  States)  and  the  socialist  state1  of 
Great  Britain;  and  the  relative  general  level  of  well-being 
will  then  determine  the  number  and  quality  of  emigration. 

It  is  safe  to  predict  that  a  million  or  more  persons  will  in 
any  case  emigrate.  But  that  is  only  the  accumulation  of  the 
average  rate  (200,000  a  year  for  five  years  of  damming  up). 

My  trips  to  the  North  of  England  and  to  the  Midlands 
have  convinced  me  that  the  situation  is  more  disturbing  than 
Government  officials  realize.  They  receive  their  information 
from  the  old-line  trade-union  officials,  and  they  sit  in  their 
barracks  at  Whitehall  exchanging  memoranda,  writing  de- 

1  The  word  "  socialism  "  is  used  throughout  this  book  in  the  British 
sense.  It  means  a  progressively  changing  social  organism,  where  key 
industries  pass  one  by  one  under  public  ownership,  where  public 
utilities  are  municipalized,  with  areas  of  industry  under  voluntary 
co-operation,  and  other  areas  in  private  hands,  and  with  private  prop- 
erty widely  distributed.  The  British  mind  is  neither  syndicalist  nor 
communistic.  It  will  seek  to  preserve  all  that  is  useful  in  the  old 
order,  and  is  sure  to  preserve  religiously  much  that  is  obsolete. 


32  CHAOS  AND  ASPIRATIONS 

tailed  reports.     They  rarely  talk  with  the  militant  leaders, 
with  the  rank  and  file,  or  with  the  returned  soldiers. 

Thus,  at  Coventry,  I  heard  George  Morris,  District  Or- 
ganizer of  the  Workers'  Union  (350,000),  say  of  a  certain 
major,  who  was  head  of  a  jam  manufactory : 

He  received  so  much  a  head  for  sending  the  boys  out  to  the 
front,  and  now  I  suppose  he  is  buying  back  their  dead  bodies  for 
his  jam. 

The  official  and  upper  class  tendency  is  to  underestimate 
the  volume  of  the  currents  now  running.  At  present  they  are 
running  under  the  surface.  They  are  largely  instinctive  and 
subconscious.  But  with  an  obstacle  to  dam  them,  they  would 
swirl  up  through  the  crust.  They  can  still  be  canalized  con- 
stitutionally. God  is  very  good  to  the  English,  and  he  may 
give  them  a  moratorium. 


SECTION  TWO 
THE  YEAR 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION 

THE  sessions  were  held  in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  scene  is 
a  beautiful  high  chamber,  of  gold,  blue,  and  red — the  King's 
Robing  Room — with  scenes  from  the  Round  Table  on  the 
walls.  Fronting  each  other  in  informal  but  dramatic  way 
are  the  two  systems  of  financial  control  (private  enterprise 
and  nationalization)  and  the  two  theories  of  management 
(autocratic  and  democratic).  There  are  twelve  commission- 
ers and  a  judge.  Three  commissioners  are  coal  owners,  three, 
miners,  three  are  "  impartial "  representatives  of  allied  great 
industries,  three  are  "  impartial "  economists,  representative 
of  democratic  ideas.  Mr.  Justice  Sankey  is  of  the  new  order 
of  judge.  He  gives  liberty  to  the  witnesses  to  tell  their  story 
in  their  own  way,  and  full  scope  to  the  commissioners  for 
cross-examination.  There  are  no  restricted  areas  into  which 
Dwners  might  pass  with  their  profits  discreetly  cached  or 
syndicalists  with  loose,  destructive  theories  of  minority  con- 
trol. Sankey  has  a  brisk  suavity,  with  a  delightful  smile, 
ind  a  firm  will.  He  is  a  thorough  gentleman,  and  in  sweet 
and  patient  fashion  rescues  an  unlettered  and  muddled  witness 
and  states  the  worker's  case  for  him.  He  never  employs 
his  rich  humor  against  simple  persons,  ignorant  and  sincere. 
But  he  shakes  with  judicially  suppressed  laughter  when  Sid- 
ney Webb  goes  to  the  mat  with  a  protesting  statistician. 
Quite  right,  you  are  quite  within  your  right  in  putting  the 
question."  When  there  was  wrath  at  one  witness,  and  the 
twelve  commissioners  raised  their  voices  together,  the  justice, 
who  is  a  large  man,  rose  and  in  his  blandest  tone  said,  "  Thank 

33 


34  THE  YEAR 

you,  gentlemen,  thank  you  for  all  contributing  at  once." 
And  when  labor,  in  herd  formation,  trampled  one  famous 
expert  to  the  flatness  of  his  own  shadow,  Sankey  subdivided 
for  them  the  limits  of  their  death-dealing  function :  "  For 
questions  of  the  industry,  Mr.  Smillie;  statistical,  Sir  Leo; 
policy,  Mr.  Webb,"  said  he.  And  he  implied  that  treatment 
from  one  of  them  was  enough  for  any  particular  authority 
who  wandered  into  the  witness  chair,  which  itself  began  to 
take  on  the  atmosphere  of  the  electric  chair  at  Sing  Sing. 
I  saw  one  owner,  Mr.  Thorneycroft,  waiting  his  turn,  eying 
it  with  a  grizzled  gloom.  No  such  latitude  of  questioning 
has  ever  before  been  permitted  in  an  official  industrial  inves- 
tigation. Here  you  had  a  miner  cross-examining  a  million- 
aire employer,  and  driving  him  into  a  corner  from  which  he 
did  not  escape.  And  an  owner  asking  a  miner,  "  What  do 
you  really  want?" 

Of  the  three  miners,  Robert  Smillie  will  be  dealt  with  in 
the  next  chapter.  Herbert  Smith  is  the  vice-president  of 
the  Miners'  Federation.  Frank  Hodges  is  the  secretary;  he 
is  a  brilliant  young  miner,  associated  with  the  Guild  Social- 
ists and  their  ideas.  He  is  clean-shaven,  brown-eyed,  lean, 
and  forceful — a  workingman  with  education,  and  touched 
with  the  hope  of  workers'  control.  To  such  a  man,  represen- 
tative of  the  youth  of  the  labor  movement,  wages  loom  less 
largely  than  the  vision  of  a  spiritual  freedom  through  widen- 
ing functioning.  If  Smillie  is  the  greatest  personality  thrown 
up  by  the  labor  movement  and  the  summation  of  a  century 
of  struggle,  Hodges  represents  the  promise  of  the  coming 
generation,  which  will  inherit  the  power.  The  Guild  Social- 
ists of  the  miners,  the  industrial  unionists  of  the  railwaymen 
and  transport  workers  (fed  on  the  propaganda  of  the  Labor 
College),  and  the  shop  stewards  of  the  metal  workers  are 
some  of  the  youth  of  the  labor  movement.  Already  cotton  is 
beginning  to  stir  to  the  same  winds  of  doctrine.  And  when 
these  five  industries  move,  Britain  alters  its  center  of  equi- 
librium. The  young  are  about  to  be  heard. 

Typical  of  the  views  of  Mr.  Hodges  are  the  following : 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  35 

The  miners  have  been  excluded  from  management,  although 
they  offered  a  plan  for  increasing  the  output.  I  assure  you  that 
is  the  root  of  unrest.  We  have  submitted  hundreds  of  instances 
of  mismanagement — ineffective  clearance,  want  of  trams. 

We  have  the  changing  ideas  of  one  million  men  in  relation  to 
their  industry — their  wish  to  be  taken  into  confidence,  their  wish 
for  directive  control.  What  alternate  scheme  do  you  suggest? 
Do  you  propose  to  cast  that  aspiration  away? 

Of  the  three  keen  friends  of  labor  at  the  table,  "it  is  a 
work  of  supererogation "  (as  President  Hadley  says)  to  in- 
troduce Sidney  Webb,  the  greatest  mind  in  the  Labor  Move- 
ment. 

Sir  Leo  Chiozza  Money  was  a  Coalition  Liberal  in  the 
last  Parliament  (he  is  now  of  the  Labor  Party).  He  was 
on  the  Blockade  Committee,  and  the  War  Trade  Advisory 
Committee,  and  associated  with  the  Ministry  of  Munitions. 
Later  he  became  Parliamentary  secretary  to  the  Ministry  of 
Shipping.  His  writings  are  well  known.  His  facile  manipu- 
lation of  statistics  gives  him  the  uncanny  prestige  of  a  Sher- 
lock Holmes.  Sir  Leo  is  a  little  Diabolo — of  Genoese  blood; 
his  black  eyebrows  against  the  pallor  of  his  face  make  tiny, 
incipient  horns.  He  has  darting  eyes.  He  is  efficient  in  every 
motion,  selecting  his  pamphlet  out  of  a  pile,  and  turning  the 
pages  with  his  left  hand,  doing  everything  the  one  best  way. 
He  grows  impatient  with  the  muddle-headed  witnesses,  flicks 
his  wrists,  crosses  his  legs  and  drywashes  his  hands,  irritably 
implying,  "Is  this  the  sad  lot  we  have  to  deal  with?"  A 
little  man  like  a  lightning  bug. 

R.  H.  Tawney  is  fellow  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford,  a  pro- 
moter of  the  Workers'  Educational  Association,  was  director 
of  the  Ratan  Tata  Foundation  of  the  University  of  London, 
is  a  writer  of  studies  in  economics.  His  hand  is  visible  in  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Adult  Education  and  the  Report 
of  the  Archbishop's  Fifth  Committee  of  Inquiry:  on  Chris- 
tianity and  Industrial  Problems.  He  is  in  the  line  of  the 
long  English  tradition  of  the  governing  class — university 
training  and  established  church  affiliation.  And,  like  many 


36  THE  YEAR 

of  the  church  and  the  twin  universities,  he  has  aimed  the 
tradition  at  social  change.    A  main  drift  of  his  thought  is: 

An  acquisitive  society  reverences  the  possession  of  wealth,  as 
a  functional  society  would  honor,  even  in  the  person  of  the 
humblest  and  most  laborious  craftsman,  the  arts  of  creation.  To 
recommend  an  increase  in  productivity  as  a  solution  of  the  indus- 
trial problem  is  like  offering  spectacles  to  a  man  with  a  broken 
leg,  or  trying  to  atone  for  putting  a  bad  sixpence  in  the  plate 
one  Sunday  by  putting  a  bad  shilling  in  it  the  next.  As  long  as 
royalty  owners  extract  royalties,  and  exceptionally  productive 
mines  pay  20  per  cent  to  absentee  shareholders,  there  is  no  valid 
answer  to  a  demand  for  higher  wages.  For  if  the  community  pays 
anything  at  all  to  those  who  do  not  work,  it  can  afford  to  pay 
more  to  those  who  do.  A  functional  society  would  extinguish 
mercilessly  those  forms  of  property  rights  which  yield  income 
without  service.  There  would  be  an  end  of  the  property  rights 
in  virtue  of  which  the  industries  on  which  the  welfare  of  whole 
populations  depends  are  administered  by  the  agents  and  for  the 
profit  of  absentee  shareholders.  [The  Hibbert  Journal,  April, 
1919.] 

Abounding  in  good  humor,  Tawney  hazes  each  witness, 
and  chortles  with  merriment  when  the  gentleman,  still  smil- 
ing back,  sinks  in  the  bog.  Thus,  an  owner  testified  that 
profits  were  needed  in  order  to  reward  good  management. 
"  I  know  nothing  of  these  things,"  said  Tawney ;  "  I  sup- 
posed that  profits  were  paid  to  the  capital  invested.  Tell 
me,  do  profits  go  to  the  manager  ?  " 

No  one  seeing  this  care-free,  lovable  young  person  would 
guess  that  two  years  ago  he  lay  for  thirty  hours  in  No  Man's 
Land,  bleeding  his  life  away.  What  saved  him  was  the 
fact  he  had  previously  drunk  his  canteen  of  water,  and,  being 
parched,  the  blood  so  thickened  as  to  form  its  own  protective 
clot.  When  the  statement  is  made  of  labor  conferences, 
"These  are  graybeards  and  fathers  in  Israel;  where  are  the 
young  and  coming  leaders?"  the  answer  would  include 
Tawney  and  Hodges. 

The  three  members  of  the  commission  representing  em- 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  37 

ployers  generally  are  Arthur  Balfour,  Sir  Arthur  Duckham, 
and  Sir  Thomas  Royden.  The  three  coal  owners  are:  J.  T. 
Forgie,  R.  W.  Cooper,  and  Evan  Williams.1  These  three 
coal  owners  make,  each  in  his  own  way,  an  impression  of 
sincerity  and  staunch  character,  with  human  compassion.  The 
inquiry  reveals  simply  that  they,  like  the  miners,  are  caught 
in  an  obsolete  organization,  functioning  creakily  in  this  new 
century.  On  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  inquiry,  like  the 
French  nobles  they  died  as  gentlemen  should,  with  Justice 
Sankey,  of  old-world  courtesy,  officiating  at  their  last  rites. 

One  witness  said,  "  I  give  my  opinion  without  hesitation  " ; 
but  he  had  not  yet  crossed  the  zones  of  fire.  To  state  it  in 
terms  made  popular  by  a  world  war:  The  heavy  emplace- 
ments were  broken  by  the  1 6-inch  gun  of  the  miners'  presi- 
dent. There  was  no  brushing  away  the  plump  of  those  shells. 
Then  followed  the  clean  long-distance  hits  of  the  middle- 
calibered  Hodges  gun,  carefully  aimed,  effective  at  any 
range. 

Herbert  Smith  wheels  up  about  once  every  eight  hours — a 
short,  squat  howitzer,  which  rumbles  in  heavy  Yorkshire 
till  it  has  cleared  its  throat,  then  drops  a  single  fat  charge, 
messing  the  whole  landscape,  and  retires  for  the  day  still 
smoking  and  grunting. 

Sidney  Webb  is  the  machine-gun,  shooting  three  sharp- 
nosed  ones  before  the  first  has  sunk  into  soft  flesh — a  rat-a- 
tat-tat  which  mows  down  everything  in  sight,  with  a  bright, 
eager  innocence.  Smokeless  and  well-camouflaged,  it  seems 
to  say,  "  I  am  only  a  little  one,  and  I  wouldn't  hurt  a 
fly." 

Tawney  isn't  a  big  gun  at  all.  He  is  the  song  the  sirens 
sang,  that  wooed  ships  to  the  rocks.  He  is  the  pied  piper  that 
leads  astray.  With  rumpled  hair  and  the  boyish  charm  of 
Will  Irwin,  he  lures  the  witnesses  to  a  Peter  Pan  chase  in 
the  forest  far  away  from  their  safe  home — and  "  Now  you 
are  lost,"  he  says.  Then  he  smiles  up  at  Sir  Leo  Money, 

1  Later,  the  places  of  Sir  Thomas  Royden  and  Mr.  Forgie  were 
taken  by  Sir  Allan  Smith  and  Sir  Adam  Nimmo. 


38  THE  YEAR 

that  lonely  sniper  in  a  tree  who  picks  out  the  fat  heads  and 
cracks  them. 

By  the  time  the  tired  business  man  or  tangled  statistician 
has  received  the  attentions  of  labor's  Big  Six,  he  is  carried 
away  on  a  stretcher  while  the  half-dozen  kindly  non-combat- 
ant financiers,  across  the  table,  look  distressed,  and  either 
Mr.  Balfour  or  Mr.  Cooper  rushes  forward,  too  late,  with  a 
bandage  and  a  stimulant.  They  had  not  expected  to  attend 
a  slaughter.  Then  Mr.  Justice  Sankey  with  the  Olympian  in- 
difference to  the  presence  of  death  of  a  General  Headquar- 
ters Staff,  calls,  "  Next." 

The  collapse  of  the  coal  owners'  witnesses  was  best  de- 
scribed by  Mr.  Alexander  M.  Thompson  of  the  Daily  Mail: 

First  comes  Mr.  Smillie,  who  glares  at  the  poor  gentleman 
from  under  his  shaggy  eyebrows  like  a  Yorkshire  terrier  looking 
for  a  nice  fat  part  to  get  a  bite  at.  There  is  Mr.  Hodges,  the 
terrier's  young  apprentice,  who,  whenever  his  turn  comes  round, 
gets  his  teeth  in  playfully  but  usefully.  There  is  Mr.  Herbert 
Smith,  bluff  and  burly,  bull-dog  type,  who  does  not  intervene 
much,  but,  when  he  pounces,  sticks.  Next  sits  Mr.  Webb,  of  the 
suave  smile  and  velvety  voice,  a  fox  in  lamb's  clothing,  who  purrs 
on  the  witness  till  he  has  hypnotized  his  suspicions  and  then 
proceeds  to  snap  bits  out  of  him. 

Mr.  Tawney  has  the  public-school  accent,  and  rumpled  hair  of 
the  predestined  Fabian,  and  he  confuses  the  witness  to  the  verge 
of  distraction  by  running  round  and  round  him,  as  if  looking  for 
a  chance  to  spring  at  the  back  of  his  calves.  Finally  there  is 
Sir  Leo  Chiozza  Money,  black  and  white,  sharp  as  a  needle,  with 
painfully  visible  teeth,  who  gets  very  angry  and  snarls  most 
fearsomely. 

Altogether  the  wtiness  has  a  nasty  time.  He  begins  usually 
with  a  very  self-satisfied  air — an  air  of  "  I've-not-come-to-argue- 
I'm-telling-you."  He  oozes  facile  economic  platitudes  and  looks 
round  for  applause.  But  he  doesn't  utter  many  words  before  he 
begins  to  sit  up  and  metaphorically  jump.  Bit  by  bit  he  loses 
his  sweet  complacency  and  gets  annoyed.  Then  the  pack  severely 
rebuke  him,  tell  him  not  to  lecture,  and  bait  and  badger  him 
till  he  fidgets  wrath  fully  and  looks  inclined  to  gibber. 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  39 

As  one  of  the  witnesses  for  the  coal  owners  said: 

We  haven't  prepared  any  case.  We  have  come  prepared  to 
answer  your  questions. 

And  the  past  of  these  witnesses  fluttered  into  the  King's 
Robing  Room  like  the  forgotten  wives  of  a  bigamist.  Thus 
Mr.  Webb  reminded  one  that  he  had  once  prophesied  the 
ruin  of  the  industry  if  an  eight-hour  act  was  passed,  but 
that  the  output  actually  equaled  under  the  act  what  he  had 
said  it  would  be  without  the  act. 

Over  all  the  conferences  presides  that  spirit  of  keep-your- 
shirt-on  which  is  a  national  characteristic.  The  authentic 
voice  of  Britain  spoke  when  (with  800,000  men  voting  a 
strike)  Sir  Arthur  Duckham  queried,  "  Is  there  any  real  un- 
rest in  the  coal-fields  or  does  friction  exist  only  in  this 
room?"  Just  so  I  saw  bored  British  officers  adding  up  ac- 
count books  in  Ypres  (on  November  i,  1914,  the  "  first  bat- 
tle of  Ypres  ")  when  eight-inch  shells  were  breaking  in  the 
city. 

The  unrest  that  created  the  Coal  Commission  is  buried  deep 
in  more  than  a  century  of  suffering.  It  dates  back  to  days 
when  miners  were  slaves,  bound  to  their  pit  for  a  lifetime. 
It  passed  on  to  the  little  children  who  spent  their  childhood 
in  darkness  at  hard  labor.  It  came  through  fiercely  during 
the  War.  In  the  early  months  of  the  struggle,  300,000  miners 
volunteered  with  an  eager  patriotism.  They  volunteered  in 
such  numbers  as  to  limit  seriously  the  supply  of  coal.  Then 
came  the  revulsion  of  feeling  when  some  of  their  overlords 
conducted  business  as  usual.  It  is  well  reported  in  the 
words  of  Vernon  Hartshorn,  miners'  agent  in  South  Wales, 
and  member  of  the  executive  of  the  Miners'  Federation  of 

Great  Britain.    On  November  27,  1916,  he  wrote : 

i 

Our  experience  of  the  desire  of  the  coal  owners  to  make  undue 
profits  at  all  costs  while  the  nation  has  been  at  death  grips  with 
the  enemy  has  resulted  during  the  War  in  the  feeling  of  the  mass 
of  the  workmen  towards  the  owners  hardening  into  positive  hatred 
and  contempt.  In  normal  times  it  will  be  as  impossible .  for  the 


40  THE  YEAR 

miners  and  coal  owners  of  the  South  Wales  coal-fields  to  work 
together  on  the  old  lines  as  it  will  be  for  the  Entente  Powers 
ever  to  resume  relations  with  Prussian  militarism. 

With  the  War  ended  victoriously,  with  the  least  danger  of 
injury  to  the  export  trade  of  the  last  two  generations,  the 
miners  pressed  their  case  for  redress.  So  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
had  Parliament  set  up  this  Coal  Commission. 

Many  commissions  have  come  and  gone,  in  a  hundred 
years,  with  nothing  left  of  their  findings  except  fat  bluebooks 
in  the  northwest  aisle  of  the  British  Museum,  where  young 
Fabians  come  and  browse.  Several  governments  have  turned 
hot  agitation  into  tired  minutes,  and,  smiling,  put  the  ques- 
tion by.  In  fact,  there  has  been  no  better  device  by  which 
embarrassed  cabinets  could  evade  action  and  satisfy  an 
angrily  buzzing  electorate  than  to  call  a  royal  commission, 
sitting  for  six  months,  with  a  gentle  body  of  recommendations 
which  come  so  long  after  the  uproar  that  no  one  remembers 
that  any  commission  has  sat  with  the  patience  of  a  hen  in 
the  barn-loft.  In  this  way  has  been  built  up  the  literature 
of  the  British  social  revolution.  H.  G.  Wells'  young  friend, 
Frederick  H.  Keeling,  who  fell  in  France,  found  it  "a  great 
sensation  to  feel  the  stream  of  British  bluebooks  flowing 
through  one's  brain."  But  the  effects  of  the  radical  mind 
working  through  a  royal  commission,  though  far-reaching, 
were  slow.  What  was  immediately  needed  with  a  million 
miners  about  to  strike  was  not  a  nugget  of  radicalism  for 
Graham  Wallas'  next  book,  but  a  policy,  swiftly  enacted,  for 
a  basic  industry.  So  these  innovations  were  made: 

1.  This  commission  was  made  statutory.    "A  royal  com- 
mission  would   not  answer  the  purpose,"   said   Mr.   Lloyd 
George ;  "  it  would  not  have  the  necessary  powers.    We  have 
decided  to  have  a  statutory  commission  with  authority   of 
Parliament  behind  it,  with  the  same  power  as  now  rests  in  a 
court  of  justice." 

2.  Its  findings  on  wages  and  hours  become  law,  instead  of 
(in  the  words  of  Bonar  Law)    "making  reports  which  in 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  41 

ordinary  circumstances  might  be  put  in  the  waste-paper  basket. 
We  are  prepared  to  adopt  the  recommendations  in  the  spirit 
as  well  as  in  the  letter."  x 

3.  On  other  commissions,  impartial  persons  had  been  se- 
lected from  the  governing  class,  men  committed  to  "  private 
enterprise."     Mr.  Smillie  insisted  that  equally  impartial  per- 
sons in  equal  numbers  should  be  selected  from  groups  whose 
economic  theories  were  not  based  exclusively  on  the   1830 
school.    In  short,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  impartial  per- 
son, therefore  hold  the  balance  even. 

4.  The  wide  area  of  the  terms  of  reference.     In  a  study 
of  the  coal  trade  (in  Tracts  on  Trade)   made  in  1830,  the 
statement  appeared: 

The  coal  owner  receives  twelve  shillings  and  ninepence.  This 
sum  he  receives  to  remunerate  him  for  the  labor  and  capital 
employed  in  winning  the  colliery,  to  insure  him  against  the  risk 
of  the  accidents  attendant  upon  this  hazardous  trade  (such  as 
the  vicissitudes  of  explosions  and  inundations). 

Such  impertinent  and  extraneous  questions  as  the  effect  of 
those  expensive  "  explosions  "  on  the  lives  of  the  miners  have 
in  this  commission  intruded  into  the  conference.  The  trade  is 
now  regarded  as  "  hazardous  "  for  the  miner  as  well  as  for 
the  money. 

Those  old-time  commissioners  used  to  be  rebuked  by  wit- 
nesses, when  the  commissioners  overstepped  the  terms  in 
which  a  great  landholder  or  industrial  captain  should  be  inter- 
rogated. Such  matters  as  wages  and  the  personal  habits  of 
workers  were  proper.  But  profits  were  not  the  concern  of  the 
community  or  the  Government.  For  instance,  in  the  Report 
of  the  JSelect  Parliamentry  Committee  on  Coal  (1873)  we 
read: 

Your  committee  have  not  entered  into  an  examination  of  the 
profits  of  colliery  proprietors  since  the  rise  in  prices. 

1Mr.  Lloyd  George  rejected  the  findings  of  the  Commission  on  na- 
tionalization. Almost  the  entire  labor  movement  has  pledged  itself  to 
"compel"  the  Government  to  enact  those  findings. 


42  THE  YEAR 

But  they  accepted  unsupported  statements  from  coal  own- 
ers of  the  miners  feasting  on  champagne  and  making  a 
pound  a  day.  In  that  Parliamentary  committee  of  1873,  the 
owner  was  asked,  "If  it  is  a  fair  question,  what  were  your 
profits  ?  "  The  owner  felt  it  was  not  a  fair  question  and  did 
not  answer  it.  Those  were  days  before  the  Webbs,  the  Ham- 
monds, Charles  Booth,  and  Seebohm  Rowntree  had  educated 
Britain.  So  we  find  the  1873  committee  reporting : 

As  no  standard  can  be  laid  down  to  fulfil  the  conditions  of 
health,  social  comfort,  or  moral  existence,  it  must  be  left  to  the 
general  feeling  of  the  workmen,  improved  by  education,  to  pre- 
scribe the  proper  limits  for  their  labor. 

Never  has  so  much  of  mere  human  stuff  entered  into  the 
consideration  of  important  officials  as  in  this  1919  Coal  Com- 
mission. Bonar  Law  summed  its  work  of  the  first  fortnight 
as :  "A  bigger  advance  at  one  time  by  far  towards  improving 
the  conditions  of  the  men  engaged  in  industry  than  has  ever 
taken  place."  What  is  that  advance  ? 

1.  An  Easter  egg  present  of  $35,000,000  in  back  pay. 

2.  "  Seven  hours  "  of  work  underground. 

3.  Six  hours  in   1921   "probably."     ("Probably"  is  the 
official  word  in  the  report.) 

4.  The  distribution  of  an  additional  sum  of  $150,000,000 
as  wages  among  the  colliery  workers  (2  shillings  a  day). 

5.  Voice  in  management. 

6.  Condemnation  of   "the  present  system   of   ownership 
and  working." 

7.  Raises  the  standard  of  living,  shortens  the  hours  of 
work,  and  converts  into  responsible  public  servants  1,100,000 
men  and  youths  employed  in  3,300  mines  (comprising  with 
their  families  between  four  and  five  million  persons — one- 
ninth  of  Great  Britain). 

In  1913,  the  1,100,000  miners  received  £82  a  year  (about 
$400).  With  the  cost  of  living  increased  by  115  per  cent, 
their  wages  have  gone  up  to  £169  a  year,  which  was  an  in- 
crease of  106  per  cent.  To  this  £169  a  year  is  now  to  be 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  43 

added  about  £27  a  year,  making  £196  a  year  (about  $650, 
at  present  exchange).  A  seven-hour  day  will  mean  that  the 
men  are  underground,  taking  the  average,  7  hours  and  39 
minutes.  Small  wonder  that  the  representative  business  men 
of  the  commission  have  ordered  these  improvements;  $650 
is  not  extravagant  pay  for  the  father  of  a  family.  Seven 
and  a  half  hours  of  some  of  the  hardest  and  most  dangerous 
work  in  the  world  is  enough.  What  was  the  evidence  that 
swung  public  opinion  against  "  private  enterprise "  in 
mining? 

1.  Royalties  paid  to  the  owners  of  the  soil  (who  do  not 
own  the  mines  or  work  them)   are  $30,000,000  a  year.     A 
pure  "  property  "  tax  at  the  expense  of  the  miner  and  the  con- 
suming public.     Steadily  it  was  emphasized  that  on  every  ton 
of  coal,  on  every  article  of  manufacture,  "  there  was,"  in  Mr. 
Webb's  words,  "  a  tribute  due  to  property,  exclusive  of  any 
service  rendered  to  the  article." 

2.  Profits  for  1916  were  $185,000,000. 

3.  In  June,  1918,  2  shillings  sixpence  a  ton  added  to  the 
price  of  coal  to  lessen  the  loss  to  weaker  collieries,  thus  en- 
hancing the  profits  of  the  prosperous  collieries ;  an  instance  of 
"  economic  rent."    The  coal  controller  tacked  on  this  figure 
at  a  guess.    Sir  Arthur  Lowes  Dickinson,  chartered  account- 
ant, Government  witness,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Webb  said,  "  If 
profits  had  been  pooled  it  would  not  have  been  necessary  to 
put  prices  up." 

4.  The  need  for  pooling  of  wagons. 

5.  The  need  for  the  sinking  of  new  shafts  and  improve- 
ment of  old  ones. 

6.  A  divisional  inspector  of  mines  said  he  "  had  been  down 
into  pits  where  the  roads  were  very  low  and  inconvenient, 
and  he  had  told  the  managers  they  ought  to  have  bigger  roads 
and  bigger  tubs."    But  they  usually  said  they  "  could  not  do 
it  and  make  a  profit." 

When  asked  if  this  implied  that  if  they  got  greater  produc- 
tivity, and  the  nation  got  more  coal,  they  would  get  less 
profit,  the  witness  replied  it  was  so. 


44  THE  YEAR 

Sir  Richard  Redmayne,  chief  inspector  of  mines,  the  head 
of  the  Production  Department  of  the  Control  of  Coal  Mines, 
technical  adviser  to  the  controller  of  coal  mines  and  chairman 
of  the  Imperial  Mineral  Resources  Bureau,  said: 

That  the  present  system  of  individual  ownership  of  collieries 
is  extravagant  and  wasteful,  whether  viewed  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  coal-mine  industry  as  a  whole  or  from  the  national 
point  of  view,  is,  I  think,  generally  accepted.  This  is  a  some- 
what daring  statement,  but  I  am  prepared  to  stand  by  it.  It 
conduces  to  cut-throat  competition  between  owners  selling  coal, 
and  is  preventive  of  the  purchase  of  materials  necessary  for  the 
carrying  on  of  the  separate  enterprises  at  prices  favorable  to  the 
coal  owners.  Advantages  which  would  result  from  collective  pro- 
duction would  be  (a)  enhanced  production;  (b)  diminished  cost 
of  production;  (c)  prevention  of  waste. 

These  advantages,  he  explained,  would  be  due  to  the  fol- 
lowing factors: 

(1)  Prevention  of  competition,  leading  to  better  selling  prices 
for  exported  coal  being  secured. 

(2)  Control  of  freight. 

(3)  Economy  of  administration  by  curtailment  of  managerial 
expenses. 

(4)  Provision  of  capital,  allowing  of  quicker  and  more  expen- 
sive development  of  backward  mines. 

(5)  More  advantageous  purchase  of  materials. 

(6)  Reduction  of  colliery  consumption.     This  is  very  high  in 
some  mines.    The  average  for  the  United  Kingdom  is  6  per  cent, 
and  the  consumption  altogether  about  16  million  tons. 

(7)  More  harmonious  relations  between  the  workmen  and  the 
operators,  due  to  steadier  work  and  adequate  remuneration  of 
workmen. 

(8)  Obliteration  to  a  great  extent  of  vested  interest  and  of  mid- 
dlemen.   From  the  collective  production  of  essentials  it  is  a  very 
small  step  to  collective  distribution.    This  would  hit  hard  at  the 
middleman,  who  is  a  serious  item  in  the  cost  to  the  consumer. 

(9)  Unification  of  the  best  knowledge   and  skill,   leading  to 
greater  interchange  of  ideas  and  comparison  of  methods.    If  good 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  45 

results  were  obtained  at  one  mine  and  bad  in  another,  these 
results  would  be  open  for  all  to  benefit  therefrom. 

He  added  that  he  had  approached  the  whole  question  from 
these  points  of  view — the  greatest  possible  production  of  coal 
at  the  least  possible  cost  with  the  greatest  possible  safety,  the 
health  of  the  workmen  with  the  highest  standard  of  life,  and 
an  increasing  standard  of  life.  It  was  a  great  mistake  to  sup- 
pose that  a  lower  standard  of  efficiency  followed  a  higher 
standard  of  comfort.  Mr.  Smillie  then  questioned  Sir  Rich- 
ard Redmayne : 

The  miners  love  their  children  as  much  as  other  people? 

I  have  known  cases  of  families,  orphaned  by  mining  explosions, 
whose  children  have  been  adopted  by  other  miners  who  have  for- 
gotten who  were  their  own  children  and  who  were  the  adopted 
children. 

From  your  own  experience  in  mining  districts  do  you  feel  that 
the  time  has  come  when  there  ought  to  be  a  revolution  in  the 
housing  of  the  working-class  population,  especially  amongst 
miners  ? 

As  a  house  is,  so  is  the  individual ;  as  is  the  individual,  so  is  the 
state. 

Have  you  in  Scotland  seen  houses  owned  by  mine-owners  worse 
than  anything  you  have  ever  seen  in  Durham  or  Northumber- 
land? 

I  visited  one  village  in  particular  in  Scotland,  and  I  have  seen 
no  houses  in  any  part  of  the  United  Kingdom  comparable  in  bad- 
ness to  those  particular  houses. 

Take  it  from  me  that  the  average  earnings  of  the  adult  mining 
population  prior  to  the  war  were  under  253.  a  week.  Is  it  pos- 
sible to  raise  a  family  in  the  state  that  it  ought  to  be  kept? 

It  would  be  hard. 

Mr.  Smillie  remarked  that  a  number  of  mine  owners  had 
assisted  the  Government  during  the  War  in  various  ways. 
He  asked  Sir  Richard  if  he  believed  they  had  given  as  honest 
service  to  the  Government  as  they  gave  to  their  own  business. 

The  witness  answered  yes. 


46  THE  YEAR 

May  I  take  it  that  if  the  nation  take  over  the  mines  we  might 
expect  the  same  gentlemen  to  give  the  same  service  to  the  nation  ? 

I  can  only  express  the  pious  hope  that  they  would. 

In  answer  to  Frank  Hodges  (representing  the  miners),  the 
witness  said  there  were  three  alternatives  to  the  present  state 
of  affairs.  One  was  nationalization;  another  was  ownership 
by  the  owners  in  combination;  the  third  was  ownership  by 
owners  and  workmen.  He  dared  say  there  was  a  fourth, 
which  was  known  as  syndicalism,  and  which  meant  owner- 
ship of  the  mines  by  the  miners. 

Mr.  Smillie,  in  a  series  of  questions,  submitted  that  thou- 
sands of  lives  had  been  sacrified  before  mine  owners  had 
been  compelled  to  introduce  life-saving  machinery,  such  as 
winding  controllers  and  apparatus  for  changing  air  currents. 

7.  Accidents,   John   Robertson,  chairman   of   the   Scottish 
Union  of  Mine  Workers,  said,  killed  55,000  persons  in  the 
mines  in  fifty  years.     In  the  last  twenty  years,  160,000  per- 
sons were  injured  each  year,  or  a  total  of  3%  millions.    One 
in  every  seven  is  injured  each  year.    "  Mining  is  more  deadly 
than  war.     The  miner  is  always  on  active  service.     He  is 
always  in  the  trenches." 

8.  Mr.  Roberston  gave  as  an  instance  of  housing  Hamilton, 
with  a  population  of  38,000,  of  whom  27,000  lived  in  one- 
or  two-room  houses.    Some  of  the  miners  live  in  some  of  the 
worst  houses  in  Britain.     With  sincere  feeling,  Mr.  Arthur 
Balfour  said,  "  If  the  situation  is  as  you  describe,  it  must  be 
put  right." 

Mr.  Forgie  questioned  a  witness  about  the  five-days-a-week 
policy  adopted  by  the  Lanarkshire  miners,  and  asked  if  the 
Lanarkshire  miner  was  not  unpatriotic  in  so  reducing  his 
work.  The  witness  repudiated  the  suggestion. 

He  declared,  "  The  Lanarkshire  miner  is  not  unpatriotic. 
He  gave  14,000  men,  at  a  bob  a  day,  to  fight  the  Germans. 
He  considers  that  in  working  five  days  a  week  he  has  done 
his  duty  by  the  State,  and  people  who  complain  of  miners 
not  working  more  ought  to  get  their  own  coal  out  and  have 
five  days  underground  themselves." 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  47 

9.  Better    conditions    increase    production.      In    Durham 
there  is  the  greatest  profit  in  Great  Britain,  and  in  Durham 
there  is  a  shorter  working  day  than  the  present  act  of  the 
miners  proposes.     It  was  alleged  that  brains  and  machinery 
could  double  the  production.     Low  wages  and  long  hours 
lessen  production. 

10.  The  life  of  a  miner.    Vernon  Hartshorn  said: 

The  miner  never  gets  more  than  two  hours  a  day  of  sun.  Every 
movement  he  makes  in  his  pit  clothes  leaves  its  mark.  Twelve 
years  I  worked  so.  I  would  come  home  so  tired  that  I  lay  down 
on  the  hearth-stone  in  front  of  the  fire  for  hours.  In  the  early 
morning,  to  be  hauled  out  of  bed  was  like  going  to  the  gallows. 
One  man  in  seven  is  injured  every  year.  I  have  seen  six  men 
go  out  from  a  little  home  in  the  morning,  and  the  six,  father, 
son-in-law,  and  four  sons,  brought  back  charred  corpses  at  eve- 
ning. Men  are  blown  to  pieces.  The  miner  can  never  ask  for 
an  armistice.  The  miners  will  no  longer  consent  to  be  regarded 
as  hands,  to  turn  out  profits  for  idle  shareholders.  They  wish  to 
be  useful  public  servants.  State  ownership  is  inevitable.  Unless 
the  demand  for  state  ownership  is  granted,  syndicalism  or  bol- 
shevism  will  take  the  place.  If  this  is  not  conceded  at  this  time, 
a  movement  will  be  under  way  that  will  take  another  form  than 
nationalization.  If  an  increase  in  the  standard  of  living  cannot 
be  obtained,  the  miners  say,  "  We'll  change  jobs." 

In  rebuttal,  the  coal  owners  submitted: 

1.  There  is  a  desire  to  ruin  coal  owners,  and  so  create 
nationalization. 

2.  Machinery   exists   for  dealing  with  questions   of   dis- 
pute. 

3.  Best  management  in  the  world  in  British  coal  mines. 

4.  Success  spread  by  private  enterprise. 

5.  Where  will  capital  come  from? 

6.  Sterilize  all  the  knowledge  of  the  directors  of  collieries. 

7.  Would  give  miners  preponderant  representation.     Mr. 
Evan  Williams  said,  "  Do  you  think  any  Government  would 
dare  appoint  any  minister  of  mines  without  consulting  Mr. 
Smillie?" 


48  THE  YEAR 

8.  The  gigantic  scale  of  collective  bargaining  was  given 
as  one  of  the  causes  of  unrest. 

9.  Kill  the  export  trade. 

10.  Put  up  the  price  of  iron  and  steel. 

11.  The  good  manager  will  say,  "Why  should  I  worry  to 
keep  my  neighbor  going  ?  " 

12.  No  poverty  among  the  miners. 

13.  Conditions  for  them  are  being  improved. 

If  this  rebuttal  seems  meager  to  the  reader,  it  is  not  so  slim 
as  the  case  of  the  coal  owners  appeared  to  a  visitor  at  the  in- 
quiry. The  Daily  News  in  a  special  article  has  expressed  it 
thus: 

No  one  who  attends  its  proceedings  can  help  coming  away  with 
the  impression  that  it  is  the  mine-owners,  and  not  the  miners, 
whose  case  is  on  trial.  So  skilfully  have  Mr.  Smillie  and  his 
colleagues  managed  the  proceedings  that  they  have  become  vir- 
tually a  labor  tribunal,  before  which  the  coal  owners  and  mag- 
nates from  other  industries  have  to  plead  their  cause.  More  than 
once,  especially  when  Mr.  Smillie  or  Mr.  Webb  has  let  himself 
go,  I  have  been  reminded  of  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  revo- 
lutionary tribunals  in  France  or  in  Russia.  No  wonder  that  one 
employer,  at  the  end  of  a  long  cross-examination,  remarked,  "  I 
am  not  at  all  happy." 

This  atmosphere  arises  largely  from  the  frankly  challenging 
attitude  which  the  miners'  representatives  are  taking  towards  the 
existing  industrial  system  as  a  whole — an  attitude  which  is  in- 
creasingly prevalent  throughout  the  world  of  labor.  Mr.  Smillie 
confiscates  mining  royalties  with  a  wave  of  the  hand;  they  are, 
he  says,  "  stolen  property."  To  arguments  about  the  danger  to 
British  trade  of  granting  higher  wages  and  shorter  hours,  the 
miners  reply  that  the  first  necessity  is  that  a  reasonable  standard 
of  life  and  leisure  should  be  secured  to  the  miner.  In  short,  if 
the  present  industrial  system  will  not  bear  higher  wages  and 
shorter  hours,  they  suggest,  not  low  wages  and  long  hours,  but 
a  change  in  the  industrial  system.  This  attitude  clearly  puzzles 
some  of  the  employers'  witnesses.  They  do  not  want,  they  ex- 
claim, to  keep  down  wages,  provided  only  that  they  can  be 
assured  that  trade  will  not  suffer.  They  cannot  understand  Mr. 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  49 

Smillie  when  he  claims  that  the  workers'  demand  for  a  reasonable 
standard  of  life  takes  precedence  of  the  "  rights  of  property." 
"  But  that  is  property,"  said  one  witness  representing  the  iron  and 
steel  trades — and  he  said  it  with  such  an  air  of  puzzled  finality 
that  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  said. 

Fighting  desperately,  but  too  late,  the  owning  class  pressed 
into  the  second  session  of  the  coal  inquiry.  The  Commission 
ceased  to  be  a  laboratory  for  the  collecting  and  classification 
of  facts,  and  became  the  battleground  of  angry  opinion.  Econ- 
omists, statisticians,  owners,  Earls,  Marquises,  a  Duke  chal- 
lenged, pleaded,  and  defied.  Frank  Hodges,  the  miner,  said 
to  Harold  Cox,  the  individualist,  "  Your  philosophy  wouldn't 
count  much  against  the  determination  of  a  million  men." 

All  layers  of  society  were  probed — strata,  imbedded  in  Eng- 
lish life  since  Henry  VIII.  England  passed  in  review :  classes 
and  castes.  One  learned  what  they  look  like,  how  they  talk, 
and  what  philosophy  of  possession  cheers  them. 

The  first  session  dealt  with  advances  in  wages  and  a  re- 
duction in  hours.  The  second  session  dealt  with  the  future 
organization  and  government  of  the  industry.  At  the  close 
of  the  second  session,  the  chairman,  Justice  Sankey,  declared 
for  nationalization  of  the  mines,  with  a  form  of  joint  control. 
Throughout  both  sessions,  the  capitalist  system  was  on  trial. 
It  was  condemned. 

The  most  dramatic,  though  the  least  important,  witnesses 
were  the  noble  lords — Durham,  Dunraven,  Dynevor,  London- 
derry, Tredegar,  Bute,  Northumberland.  It  is  easy  to  show 
why  Smillie  was  right  in  summoning  these  lords.  Their  ex- 
amination was  a  farce.  They  were  bored  or  surly.  Questions 
on  their  titles  were  absurd.  But  the  fact  that  they  had  to 
come  when  summoned  by  a  miner  was  a  moral  victory.  And 
the  word  of  it  ran  through  Britain.  Smillie  was  the  lord 
high  executioner,  the  judge,  the  people's  man,  and  in  the  name 
of  the  people  had  issued  orders  to  the  privileged  class,  which 
they  unwillingly  but  humbly  obeyed. 

What  one  felt  in  the  examination  was  that  Mr.  Smillie  was 
the  gentleman,  and  that  they  were  just  a  little  caddish.  His 


50  THE  YEAR 

wider  social  experience,  knowing  the  many  lives  of  men,  his 
gentleness  of  conscious  power,  his  sense  of  equality,  letting 
pass  for  a  man  even  a  millionaire  parasite,  all  these  enabled 
him  to  be  scorned  and  patronized  and  outwitted  without  at  all 
being  defeated,  or  ceasing  to  be  the  head  of  the  table.  Smillie 
let  them  outplay  him  and  wound  him,  because  every  blow  they 
dealt  him  was  aimed  at  the  working  class,  and  revealed  their 
animus.  So  he  was  defeated  by  the  lords  in  the  King's  Rob- 
ing Room,  but  won  a  victory  over  them  in  the  nation.  Their 
retorts  to  his  simple  questions  were  swift,  skilful,  at  times 
witty,  and  scored  a  brief  success  with  the  immediate  audience. 
But  when  those  answers  passed  out  into  the  larger  audience 
of  the  nation,  it  was  found  that  in  winning  the  skirmish  they 
had  lost  the  War.  Such  a  word  was  Tredegar's  when  he  said 
that  the  military  service  of  the  soldiers  did  not  entitle  them 
to  land. 

The  Earl  of  Durham  is  gray-haired,  with  gray  mustache 
and  tight-packed  lips;  a  tall,  alert  man.  He  owns  the  coal 
under  12,411  acres  of  land.  He  takes  5  pence  a  ton  in  royal- 
ties and  a  penny  a  ton  for  wayleave. 

DURHAM  :     No  one  has  disputed  my  ownership. 

SMILLIE:  We  are  disputing  it  now.  I  am  trying  to  be  as  fair 
as  possible,  to  examine  without  bitterness.  We  allege 
that  no  title  deeds  exist  that  justify  your  ownership. 
The  State  is  the  owner. 

So,  one  by  one,  entered  and  passed  the  representatives  of 
ancient  families:  Lord  Dynevor,  scholarly,  pale,  shy,  with 
spectacles,  stone  deaf  in  the  right  ear.  Lord  Dunraven,  feeble, 
on  a  cane,  white  hair  at  sides,  and  bald  top,  white  mustache, 
ruddy  face.  The  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  in  khaki,  with  a 
long  head,  and  a  high  forehead. 

TREDEGAR:  [Lord  Tredegar,  over  six  feet  tall,  broad-shouldered, 
reserved,  handsome,  bald,  smooth-shaven,  lean — a  quite 
royal  person] :  "  I  am  rusty  about  titles  because  I  have 
been  four  and  a  half  years  at  war,  and  haven't  gone 
into  family  history." 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  51 

Later: 

I  don't  see  why  service  to  the  country   entitles  a  man 
to  land. 

SMILLIE:  Landlords  claim  land  because  the  King  gave  it  for 
services  rendered  in  war.  We  wish  a  more  equitable 
division  among  those  who  served  hi  this  war. 

The  Marquis  of  Bute,  a  small,  dark  man,  like  a  Latin,  with 
an  abundant,  lively  mustache,  shy,  and  attractive.  He  was 
told  that  he  governed  more  coal  than  New  Zealand. 

The  Eighth  Duke  of  Northumberland  is  a  small,  homely, 
freckled,  sincere  man.  He  has  red  hair,  which  makes  a  rusty 
leakage  upon  his  neck,  inset  eyes,  a  red  mustache.  He  is 
lean,  hard-working,  with  a  well-concealed  but  intense  core 
of  mysticism.  His  mysticism  blends  religion,  royalty,  prop- 
erty. 

"  I  shall  do  my  utmost  in  the  House  of  Lords  to  oppose 
nationalization,"  he  said.  "  The  Miners'  Federation  don't 
want  nationalization  of  minerals.  I  think  they  want  complete 
control  of  land  and  all  industries." 

"  I  am  out  for  taking  over  land,"  said  Mr.  Smillie. 

"  This  plea  for  nationalization,"  went  on  the  Duke,  "  is  only 
a  step  to  something  more  drastic  and  revolutionary — the  con- 
fiscation of  land,  and  so  on.  I  don't  think  it  will  stop  at 
nationalization.  Joint  control  isn't  the  thing." 

Sir  Leo  Chiozza  Money  asked  the  noble  Duke :  "  What  par- 
ticular service,  as  coal  owner,  do  you  perform  ?  " 

"  As  owner,  no  service." 

He  further  said :  "  I  object  to  miners  having  the  monopoly 
of  coal." 

"  Is  it  right  for  one  man  to  have  such  a  monopoly  as  you 
have?" 

"  I  think  it  an  excellent  thing." 

To  the  Duke  of  Hamilton's  agent,  Mr.  Smillie  said :  "  Just 
outside  the  wall  of  the  Duke's  palace  on  the  west  side  are 
some  of  the  most  miserable  homes  in  Great  Britain.  From  the 
Hamilton  estate,  a  large  number  of  miners  went  to  war  from 


52  THE  YEAR 

the  collieries.  This  is  their  country  in  what  sense?  The 
Duke's  royalties  were  defended  by  miners.  Is  it  not  his  duty 
to  watch  out  for  miners'  families  ?  " 

Ways  and  Means  saw  most  clearly  of  any  paper  that  every 
clever  answer  given  by  an  Earl  to  Mr.  Smillie  was  a 
coffin  nail  in  private  property,  private  enterprise,  the  profits 
system.  Ways  and  Means  is  E.  J.  Benn's  organ  of  concilia- 
tion, backed  by  enlightened  employers.  It  said : 

Peer  after  peer  has  been  made  to  confess  that  he  is  the  owner 
of  a  fortune  by  reason  of  the  foresight  of  an  ancestor  three 
or  four  hundred  years  ago.  Lord  Durham,  for  example,  is  draw- 
ing an  income  of  a  thousand  a  week  out  of  ancient  land,  most 
of  which  was  acquired  by  various  means  by  his  ancestors  in  a 
long  past  century.  Lord  Dunraven  is  a  more  interesting  case. 
He  is  drawing  an  income  from  coal  secured  under  common  land; 
the  surface  appears  to  belong  to  the  public  and  the  mines  to 
Lord  Dunraven. 

Those  like  ourselves  who  are  interested  to  preserve  the  basis 
of  society  and  to  save  this  country  from  the  terrors  of  anarchy 
and  syndicalism  will  do  well  to  recognize  that  there  is  a  good 
deal  more  behind  the  cross-examination  of  these  dukes  than  the 
mere  question  of  the  future  of  our  coal  mines.  Mr.  Smillie,  and 
more  particularly  Mr.  Sidney  Webb  and  Sir  Leo  Money,  with 
whom  he  is  acting,  are  engaged  in  the  first  serious  round  of  an 
organized  onslaught  upon  property  of  all  kinds.  These  mineral 
rights,  wayleaves,  and  other  relics  of  mediaeval  barbarism  will  be 
held  up  to  the  world  as  representative  of  property,  and  the  case 
having  been  established  for  restoring  to  the  public  the  property 
in  the  coal  under  common  lands  will,  if  great  care  is  not  taken, 
be  skilfully  twisted  into  the  case  for  robbing  the  owners  of  other 
forms  of  property,  such,  for  instance,  as  industrial  capital. 

It  therefore  seems  to  us  that  the  interests  of  industry  are  very 
definitely  opposed  to  those  of  the  present  owners  of  land,  andj 
the  best  way  to  preserve  the  rights  of  capital  employed  in  useful 
industrial  pursuits  is  to  disown  any  association  with  dukes  and 
landowners. 

Here  in  this  second  commission,  we  have  God's  plenty.  Not 
only  do  all  social  classes  come  stumbling  in  and  plead  for  lease 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  53 

of  life,  but  all  kinds  of  knowledge  and  opinion,  the  dogmas 
of  the  privileged,  and  the  aspirations  of  the  disinherited. 
Here  for  sheer  competence  of  fact-knowledge,  held  in  easy 
mastery  and  control,  we  have  the  incomparable  two — Sidney 
Webb  and  Sir  Richard  Redmayne.  For  the  delicate  hesitations 
of  the  academic  scientist,  we  have  a  group  of  economists,  with 
opinions  tentative,  qualified,  unready  for  a  choice  of  action. 
Workers'  control  is  debated  by  Hugh  Bramwell,  Sir  Hugh 
Bell,  Frank  Hodges,  Evan  Williams,  and  William  Straker. 
Lord  Gainford  states  that  the  coal  owners  prefer  nationaliza- 
tion to  granting  any  executive  control  to  the  workers.  Lord 
Haldane  tells  the  need  of  educating  a  new  type  of  public 
official — an  administrator,  who  will  find  his  expression  in 
serving  the  community.  Miners'  wives  testify  to  the  condi- 
tions under  which  they  live. 

On  June  6th,  with  regard  to  the  112  witnesses  who  had 
been  called  on  this  particular  part  of  the  inquiry,  the  analysis 
of  the  classes  of  witnesses  was  as  follows: 

Coal  owners,  exporters,  merchants,  and  factors,  fifteen  wit- 
nesses ; 

Mine  managers  and  surveyors,  five  witnesses; 

Miners  and  miners'  wives,  six  witnesses; 

Consumers,  on  behalf  of  employers,  seven  witnesses;  on 
behalf  of  the  workers,  three; 

Scientific  economists,  twelve; 

Finance,  three; 

Costing,  two; 

State  control  and  Civil  Service,  three; 

Safety  and  health,  six; 

Mechanical  and  electrical  improvements  in  mines,  three; 

State  ownership  abroad,  five ; 

And  the  most  numerous  class  of  witness  listened  to — the 
royalty  owners,  twenty-five. 

The  balance  making  up  the  1 12  are  miscellaneous  witnesses, 
who  cannot  be  conveniently  grouped  in  any  particular 
class. 

The  New  Statesman  (June  28,  1919)  said : 


64  THE  YEAR 

What  at  present  distinguishes  the  mining  industry  from  most 
of  these  other  cases  is  not  that  it  is  more  inefficient,  but  simply 
and  solely  that  the  miners  are  strongly  enough  organized  and 
determined  enough  to  make  the  continuance  of  the  present  system 
impossible.  As  fast  as  the  workers  in  other  vital  industries  take 
up  the  same  attitude  as  the  miners,  and  are  strong  enough  to  do 
so  with  effect,  national  ownership  is  bound  to  follow  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence,  and  Sir  John  Sankey,  or  his  successors  on 
future  commissions,  will  be  bound  to  recommend  national  owner- 
ship as  the  only  way  out  of  the  impasse  resulting  from  private 
capitalist  control. 

But  the  wisest  word  on  the  Coal  Commission  is  that  of  Mr. 
Justice  Sankey  in  his  final  report: 

A  great  change  in  outlook  has  come  over  the  workers  in  the 
coalfields,  and  it  is  becoming  increasingly  difficult  to  carry  on 
the  industry  on  the  old  accustomed  lines.  The  relationship  be- 
tween the  masters  and  workers  in  most  of  the  coalfields  in  the 
United  Kingdom  is,  unfortunately,  of  such  a  character  that  it 
seems  impossible  to  better  it  under  the  present  system  of  owner- 
ship. Many  of  the  workers  think  they  are  working  for  the 
capitalist,  and  a  strike  becomes  a  contest  between  labor  and  capi- 
tal. This  is  much  less  likely  to  apply  with  the  State  as  owner, 
and  there  is  fair  reason  to  expect  that  the  relationship  between 
labor  and  the  community  will  be  an  improvement  upon  the  rela- 
tionship between  labor  and  capital  in  the  coalfields. 

Half  a  century  of  education  has  produced  in  the  workers  in 
the  coalfields  far  more  than  a  desire  for  the  material  advantages 
of  higher  wages  and  shorter  hours.  They  have  now,  in  many 
cases  and  to  an  ever-increasing  extent,  a  higher  ambition  of 
taking  their  due  share  and  interest  in  the  direction  of  the  industry 
to  the  success  of  which  they,  too,  are  contributing. 

The  attitude  of  the  colliery  owners  is  well  expressed  by  Lord 
Gainford,  who,  speaking  on  their  behalf  as  a  witness  before  the 
Commission,  stated:  "I  am  authorized  to  say  on  behalf  of  the 
Mining  Association  that  if  owners  are  not  to  be  left  complete 
executive  control  they  will  decline  to  accept  the  responsibility  of 
carrying  on  the  industry,  and,  though  they  regard  nationalization 
as  disastrous  to  the  country,  they  feel  they  would  in  such  event 
be  driven  to  the  only  alternative — nationalization  on  fair  terms." 


THE  BRITISH  COAL  COMMISSION  55 

It  is  true  that  in  the  minds  of  many  men  there  is  a  fear  that 
State  ownership  may  stifle  incentive,  but  to-day  we  are  faced  in 
the  coalfields  with  increasing  industrial  unrest  and  a  constant 
strife  between  modern  labor  and  modern  capital. 

I  think  that  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  the  certainty 
of  the  continuance  of  this  strife  in  the  coal-mining  industry  out- 
weighs the  danger  arising  from  the  problematical  fear  of  the 
risk  of  the  loss  of  incentive. 


CHAPTER  II 
ROBERT  SMILLIE 

THE  Coal  Commission  was  Robert  Smillie.  He  created  it. 
His  miners  nominated  four  of  the  twelve  members  and  had 
the  "  refusal "  or  acceptance  on  approval  of  two  more.  It 
was  Smillie  who  demanded  that  the  first  findings  should  be- 
come law  (instead  of  being  gently  shelved,  as  has  been  the 
way  with  royal  commissions  for  a  century).  It  was  he  who 
made  sure  that  the  questions  discussed  would  include  profits. 
It  was  he  who  held  the  witnesses  fronting  the  costs  and  gains 
of  the  industry  in  terms  of  the  human  welfare  of  the 
miners. 

What  can  a  statistician  say  when  he  is  asked,  "  Is  it  right  ?  " 
And  what  becomes  of  a  coal  owner  who  has  his  profits  ex- 
posed in  one  moment,  and,  in  the  next,  the  tuberculous  one- 
and  two-room  homes  in  which  he  houses  his  workers?  The 
inquiry  was  outrageous  and  unfair.  What  chance  had  a  man 
who  had  never  been  questioned  as  to  his  profits,  and  the  ab- 
sentee incomes  of  his  stock-holding  friends — who  had  dwelt 
in  the  secure  and  favoring  play  of  upper-class  conditions, 
where  intimate  details  are  not  discussed  between  gentlemen — 
against  representatives  of  the  miners  whose  houses  have  been 
visited  by  welfare  committees,  whose  budgets  have  been  scru- 
tinized by  expert  accountants,  whose  wives  have  been  taught 
thrift  by  the  resident  Duchess?  What  fair  spirit  of  sport 
was  it  to  pit  an  owner  who  confessed  he  could  not  keep  order 
and  good-will  among  a  few  hundred  of  his  "  hands,"  against  a 
man  who  had  organized  800,000  two-fisted  fighting  men  into 
an  unbreakable  brotherhood,  a  man  who  inside  of  three  weeks 
can  change  an  overwhelming  strike  vote  into  a  greater  major- 
ity for  industrial  peace?  In  future  inquiries,  it  will  be  de- 
sirable in  the  interests  of  fair  play  that  the  captains  of  in- 

56 


ROBERT  SMILLIE 


57 


dustry  shall  put  forward  representatives  who  are  measurable 
to  the  labor  leaders. 

Sir  Daniel  Macaulay  Stevenson,  ex-chairman  Scottish  Coal 
Exporters'  Association,  chairman  of  the  Committee  for  the  Sup- 
ply of  Coal  to  France  and  Italy,  member  of  the  Controller  of 
Coal  Mines  Consultative  Committee,  and  head  of  the  firm  of 
Messrs.  D.  M.  Stevenson  and  Company,  was  called: 

SMILLIE:  I  suppose  you  will  agree  with  me  that  about  80  per 
cent  of  the  colliery  houses  in  Lanarkshire  owned  by 
the  mine  owners  are  not  fit  to  live  in  and  ought  to 
be  destroyed. 

WITNESS:  I  have  not  seen  them  lately,  but  they  were  a  disgrace 
to  any  country. 

SMILLIE:  Then  they  are  worse  now  if  you  have  not  seen  them 
lately. 

WITNESS:    I  did  wonder  whether  any  new  ones  had  been  put  up. 

SMILLIE:  No.  No  new  ones  have  been  put  up.  If  any  new 
houses  are  put  up,  unless  there  is  some  government 
subsidy,  they  will  be  out  of  the  reach  of  the  miner 
with  a  small  family.  Would  you  tell  us  as  a  social 
reformer  in  what  way  you  are  going  to  improve  the 
conditions  of  our  people  if  it  is  not  by  giving  higher 
wages  and  shorter  hours.  That  is  our  method.  What 
is  it  you  propose? 

Witness  appealed  to  the  chairman  on  the  ground  that 
the  question  was  hardly  fair. 

SMILLIE:  But  you  endeavor  to  get  this  commission  to  report 
against  the  miners  on  the  ground  that  it  would  kill 
the  export  trade. 

Said  the  Times: 

There  will  be  no  difference  of  opinion  among  dispassionate 
readers  on  one  point,  which  is  that  of  the  three  parties  concerned 
the  miners  come  out  far  the  best.  Their  case  was  better  pre- 
sented, but  it  was  also  a  better  case  than  that  of  the  Government 
or  the  mine  owners.  We  do  not  say  that  the  miners'  demands 
are  justified  in  full,  but  the  coal  controller's  department  and  the 
mine  owners  cut  a  sorry  figure. 


58  THE  YEAR 

Ways  and  Means,  E.  J.  Benn's  organ  for  enlightened  em- 
ployers, said: 

Any  one  who  takes  the  trouble  to  read  the  case  of  the  miners 
as  explained  by  Mr.  Smillie  to  the  prime  minister  must  agree 
that  there  is  no  answer  to  it.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  argue 
that  sudden  changes  in  wages  cause  dislocation  and  have  effects 
far  wider  than  those  who  ask  for  them  probably  understand,  but 
that,  after  all,  is  only  the  argument  of  expediency  and  does  not 
affect  the  bare  justice  of  the  case.  Mr.  Smillie  shows  that  the 
miner,  upon  whom  the  whole  of  industry  depends,  has  hitherto 
lived  a  life  of  great  hardship  on  a  poverty  wage,  and  he  is  not 
prepared  to  continue  on  those  terms.  It  is  as  well  that  these 
root  facts  should  be  recognized  and  that  it  should  be  generally 
understood  that  very  radical  changes  must  be  made.  To  this 
extent  we  are  all  with  the  miners. 

It  is  important  that  the  American  reader  should  get  Smillie 
into  his  mind,  because  the  knowledge  will  make  present  hap- 
penings and  the  events  of  the  next  five  years  intelligible. 
Robert  Smillie  is  the  spear-head  of  the  British  labor  move- 
ment. Let  me  briefly  introduce  him  in  picture-postcard 
fashion : 

PUBLIC  LIFE 

1.  Has  helped  to  build  up  the  strongest  industrial  union  in  the 
world  (800,000  miners). 

2.  Was  head  of  it. 

3.  Was  head  of  the  strongest  industrial  combination  yet  made, 
one   and   a   half   million  men   of  the  miners,   railwaymen,   and 
transport  workers — the  Triple  Alliance. 

4.  Is  the  most  powerful  labor  leader  in  Great  Britain. 

5.  Has  been  three  times  offered  a  governmental  position. 

6.  Member    of    the    statutory    government    Coal    Commission, 
whose  findings  became  law. 

7.  Forced  the  government  to  appoint  half  the  members  subject 
to  the  miners'  approval. 

8.  Obtained  for  his  miners  the  largest  single  wage  increase 
in  amount  ever  granted  in  Europe. 

9.  Ended   the   system   of    private   ownership   of   minerals   in 
Great  Britain. 


ROBERT  SMILLIE  59 

PERSONAL  LIFE 

1.  Was  born  in  Ulster,  63  years  ago. 

2.  Came  to  Scotland  as  a  lad  and  has  lived  there  ever  since. 

3.  Began  work  in  a  shipyard  on  the  Clyde  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 

4.  Became  a  collier  at  sixteen  years. 

5.  Supported  a  family  of  six  in  the  year  1888  on  16  sh.  6d.  a 
week. 

6.  Is  a  Socialist. 

7.  Can  not  be  bought  by  money,  or  place,  or  flattery. 

8.  Has  great  prestige  to-day  in   Britain,  but  will   destroy  it 
to-morrow  if  he  sees  an  uncompromising  unpopular  course  to 
steer  which  he  believes  will  bring  a  democratic  gain. 

9.  Has  taken  part  in  many  commissions  of  inquiry  into  serious 
mining    accidents — fires,    explosions,    floodings.      Has    gone    into 
many  pits  for  examinations. 

10.  Takes  his   relaxation  with   an   old   pipe   and  a  game   of 
billiards. 

11.  Has  seven  sons — two  of  whom  went  into  the  army,  two 
were  conscientious  objectors,  three  worked  in  the  mines.    One  is 
now  a  shop  steward. 

Speaking  for  the  old  order,  Viscount  Esher  writes  a  book, 
After  the  War,  and  addresses  it  to  Robert  Smillie  (instead 
of  to  the  public)  because  "  he  represents  and  leads  the  most 
advanced  sections  of  the  Labor  Party."  He  says : 

I  have  not  the  honor  to  know  you,  but  here  in  Scotland  they 
say  you  are  an  honest  and  good  man.  Your  aims  I  assume  to 
be  pure.  You  have  enjoyed  the  experience  of  intelligent  par- 
ticipation in  improving  the  lot  of  your  fellow- workers.  You  see 
before  you,  stretching  into  immeasurable  space,  a  new  prospect 
for  those  upon  whom  the  labor  of  the  world  has  fallen  heavily. 
Your  sense  of  duty  impels  you  to  take  a  lead  in  bringing  into 
relation  your  considered  opinion  and  the  law  of  the  land.  You 
wish,  perhaps  in  arbitrary  fashion,  to  supply  the  driving  force 
that  is  required  to  bring  about  political  and  social  change,  that 
you  believe  to  be  beneficent.  I  do  not  share  your  faith  in 
democracy  as  a  form  of  government.  But  we  agree  in  love  of 
our  country  and  fidelity  to  the  men  of  our  race.  For  their  sake, 
use  your  influence,  to  bid  your  friends  and  associates  pause  at 


60  THE  YEAR 

the  threshold  of  these  undetermined  issues,  and  to  make  sure 
before  sweeping  away  any  institution  deeply  rooted  in  historic  soil 
that  it  is  in  truth  an  obstacle. 

And  later,  Esher  added :  "  An  eminent  authority  expressed 
surprise  that  the  prefatory  note  should  have  been  addressed 
to  a  person  of  whom  he  had  never  heard.  He  has  heard  of 
him  now.  I  selected  Mr.  Smillie  as  being,  so  far  as  I  could 
judge,  the  leader  of  the  new  democracy  into  whose  hands  the 
supreme  control  of  the  destinies  of  our  country  was  about  to 
fall.  I  see  no  reason  to  change  my  opinion." 

Speaking  for  the  Liberals,  the  Nation  said : 

There  are  only  two  personalities  in  the  British  trade-union 
movement  to-day  round  which  legend  grows  and  flourishes.  One 
is  Mr.  J.  H.  Thomas;  but  Mr.  Thomas  suffers  as  a  legendary 
figure  from  making  too  many  speeches  for  much  of  him  to  remain 
unknown.  He  is  a  personality,  beyond  a  doubt;  but  his  force 
depends  upon  constant  expression.  He  is  a  powerful  speaker,  and 
an  extraordinarily  able  manager  of  men;  but  no  one,  except 
perhaps  Mr.  Garvin,  could  think  of  him  as  a  "  hero."  Robert 
Smillie  counts  as  the  biggest  man  in  the  labor  movement  by 
virtue  of  just  that  touch  of  the  "  heroic "  which  Mr.  Thomas 
lacks.  He  speaks,  and  speaks  well;  but  his  silences  count  for 
more  than  his  speech.  He  has  the  power  of  making  his  presence 
felt,  and  exerting  his  influence,  often  without  doing  or  saying 
anything  at  all.  He  can  do  this,  not  only  because,  where  he  does 
speak,  it  is  usually  to  the  point,  but  also  because  his  personality 
can  be  felt  as  soon  as  the  man  himself  is  present. 

What  manner  of  man  is  this  leader  of  the  miners  who,  holding 
no  official  position  outside  his  own  federation,  has  become  the 
real  leader  of  the  industrial  labor  movement  in  this  country? 
He  is  a  Scotchman,  and  he  still  lives,  on  the  mere  occasions 
when  he  is  able  to  be  at  home,  in  a  small  mining  town  of 
Lanarkshire. 

He  approaches  all  problems  first  as  a  miner,  and  seems  as  if 
he  widened  his  view  to  take  in  other  things  by  a  conscious  effort. 
That  effort,  however,  he  almost  always  successfully  makes.  Other- 
wise he  could  not  feel  or  retain  his  commanding  position  not 
only  among  the  miners  but  in  the  whole  trade-union  world.  He 


ROBERT  SMILLIE  61 

belongs,  of  course,  to  the  "left  wing,"  quite  apart  from  any 
question  arising  out  of  the  War.  He  has  been,  from  the  beginning, 
a  Socialist,  and  has  played  his  part  in  labor  politics  without  los- 
ing his  grip  of  industrial  affairs  or  his  close  touch  with  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  trade-union  movement.  He  is  not  loved 
by  the  old  school  of  trade-union  leaders,  because  his  conception 
of  trade  unionism  is  essentially  active  and  constructive,  whereas 
they  often  desire  nothing  better  than  to  continue  in  the  old  rut. 
He  is  thus  a  man  of  ideals  as  well  as  a  patient  worker  for  their 
accomplishment. 

Those  observers  who  knew  only  of  his  newspaper  reputation 
have  been  surprised  at  his  skill  and  alacrity  in  cross-examination 
on  the  Coal  Commission.  He  has,  no  doubt,  consciously  used  his 
chance  for  purposes  of  public  propaganda.  But,  in  addition,  he 
has  shown  an  amazing  power  of  asking  pertinent  and  searching 
questions  of  every  witness.  This  is  no  novel  development.  He 
has  long  ago  built  up  a  great  reputation  by  his  work  on  other 
commissions  of  inquiry,  especially  commissions  on  great  mining 
disasters  such  as  the  Senghenydd  inquiry  a  few  years  before  the 
War.  He  has  an  excellent  technical  knowledge  of  mining  and 
mining  law,  reinforced  by  the  lessons  of  a  long  personal  expe- 
rience. His  mind  is  orderly  and  logical,  and  he  can  be  relied  on 
not  to  lose  his  clearness  of  head,  no  matter  how  difficult  the 
matter  in  hand.  He  knows  his  job  thoroughly,  and  he  never  allows 
his  propagandist  zeal  to  get  the  better  of  his  cautious  judgment. 

He  is  growing  old,  of  course;  and  often  he  gives  the  impres- 
sion of  being  ill  and  tired.  For  years  he  has  been  constantly 
overworked  endeavoring  to  deal  at  once  with  the  affairs  of  the 
Scottish  miners  in  Lanarkshire  and  with  those  of  the  Miners' 
Federation  in  London.  Now  he  will  be  fixed  permanently  in 
London,  and  his  vigor  and  power  of  work  should  be  largely  in- 
creased. His  absences  in  Scotland  have  always  prevented  him 
from  taking  the  place  in  the  administration  of  the  labor  move- 
ment nationally  which  belongs  to  him  by  virtue  of  influence  and 
personality.  In  the  future  he  will  probably  play  a  much  bigger 
part,  not  only  in  the  affairs  of  the  miners,  but  in  those  of  labor 
as  a  whole.  That  he  is  needed  no  one  can  well  doubt — the  labor 
movement  requires  above  everything  the  force  of  a  personality 
strong  enough  to  co-ordinate  its  isolated  groups  and  infuse  it  with 
a  clear  vision  and  a  common  policy. 


62 


THE  YEAR 


The  Observer  in  a  special  article  says,  "  One  of  the  great- 
est barristers  of  the  time  has  said  that  Robert  Smillie's  cross- 
examinations  have  been  brilliant."  Speaking  for  the  landed 
Tories,  the  Morning  Post  says,  "  Unquestionably  the  two  most 
powerful  figures  on  the  Coal  Commission  are  the  chairman, 
Mr.  Justice  Sankey,  and  Mr.  Smillie,  the  dour,  sour,  and 
moody,  but  very  able  leader  of  the  miners." 

Benjamin  Talbot,  of  the  National  Federation  of  Iron  and  Steel 
Manufacturers,  is  on  the  stand:  Mr.  Smillie  elicited  from  the 
witness  that  the  wages  of  the  iron  and  steel  trade  were  largely 
regulated  by  a  sliding  scale,  and  that  since  the  outbreak  of  war 
wages  had  been  increased  100  per  cent,  while  the  working  hours 
were  now  being  reduced  from  twelve  to  eight. 

SMILLIE  :     Did  you  ever  hear  of  the  wonderful  phrase  "  scien- 
tific management"  in  America? 
TALBOT:      Yes. 

"  Scientific  management "  means  the  largest  possible 
output  at  the  smallest  possible  cost? 

Cost  per  ton. 

The  smallest  possible  cost  means  the  smallest  wages 
to  the  worker? 

No,  they  get  higher  wages  in  America. 

It  requires  four  tons  of  coal  to  produce  a  ton  of  steel. 
Can  you  tell  me  what  the  royalty  on  coal  is? 

Sixpence  per  ton. 

So  that  the  idle  class  gets  2sh.  out  of  every  ton  of 
steel  manufactured.  Have  you  any  idea  of  asking  that 
that  burden  should  be  taken  off? 

That  is  property. 

Oh,  yes,  property  is  sacred,  but  life  is  not  sacred.  You 
are  anxious  to  prevent  miners  from  having  shorter 
hours  and  higher  wages,  because  it  will  ruin  the  coun- 
try, while  the  idle  class,  who  have  never  been  down 
a  mine  to  produce  coal  at  all,  and  have  never  seen  a 
mine,  are  getting  2sh.  for  every  ton  of  steel  produced. 
Is  that  not  a  burden  on  the  steel  manufacturer? 

Yes,  but  I  say  it  is  their  property.  You  cannot  con- 
fiscate it. 


ROBERT  SMILLIE  63 

Well,  it  is  stolen  property. 

That  is  a  matter  of  argument. 

Which  is  the  more  humane:  the  abolition  of  royalties 
or  the  granting  of  better  conditions  to  miners? 

The  humane  part,  of  course,  would  be  the  miners. 

I  do  not  say  for  a  moment  that  the  workers  in  the 
iron  and  steel  trade  are  too  well  paid,  but  is  it  fair  to 
come  here  and  say  that  your  own  workers'  wages  have 
been  increased  by  100  per  cent  and  their  hours  reduced 
one-third,  and  then  oppose  any  claim  so  far  as  the 
miners  are  concerned?  Is  that  altogether  fair?  Are 
you  happy  in  coming  here? 

I  am  not  happy  at  all. 

You  are  representing  a  very  large  number  of  share- 
holders, directors,  and  people  of  that  kind? 

Not  many  directors,  but  two  or  three  times  as  many 
shareholders  as  workmen. 

Do  you  know  if  any  of  them  have  an  income  of  less 
than  £500  a  year? 

I  cannot  tell. 

Are  there  any  of  them  who  have  an  income  of  £20,000 
a  year? 

I  do  not  know. 

Do  you  know  anything  at  all  about  them? 

I  do  not  know  their  private  affairs. 

Do  you  think  it  fair  to  keep  practically  in  starvation 
and  housed  worse  than  swine  people  that  you  admire? 

I  hope  it  is  not  starvation,  Mr.  Smillie. 

It  has  been  in  the  past. 

It  is  with  amusement  that  the  trade-union  world  reads  of 
this  "  discovery  "  of  their  leader.  They  have  known  for  ten 
years  that  they  had  a  representative  who  could  match  the 
leaders  of  any  group.  And  the  discovery  matters  not  at  all 
to  Bob  Smillie,  who  walks  unrecognized  to  his  day's  work 
down  Southampton  Row,  buys  matches  of  the  paralyzed  sol- 
dier in  front  of  the  Imperial  Hotel,  smokes  his  aged  pipe,  and 
listens  to  what  the  other  man  tells  him.  He  is  still  the  simple 
miner,  though  president  of  the  federation  of  the  "  God  Al- 


64  THE  YEAR 

mighty  Miners" — the  roughest,  strongest,  merriest  of  the 
workers  of  Britain,  who  take  their  pleasures  fiercely,  not 
seeing  much  of  the  sun.  He  has  given  a  new  set  to  the  labor 
movement  of  Britain.  He  converted  his  miners  to  nationali- 
zation, preached  workers'  control,  and  yet  steered  them  clear 
of  the  syndicalist  myth.  He  won  the  eight-hour  day  for  them, 
has  just  won  the  seven-hour  day,  and  by  1921  will  have  for 
them  the  six-hour  day.  He  is  a  hater  of  war  who  can  silence 
a  mob,  and  who  is  believed  in  by  the  largest  following  any 
labor  leader  has  yet  had. 
The  Herald  says : 

You  see  these  things  as  Smillie  sees  them,  quick  and  vivid, 
and  anger  rises  in  your  throat  at  the  horror  of  perils  unaverted 
and  the  shame  of  reward  unpaid.  When  he  speaks  it  is  as  if 
the  inarticulate  millions  spoke  through  him.  He  insists  not  on 
the  profit  or  loss  of  high  wages  but. on  the  shame  of  not  paying 
them;  not  on  the  wisdom  or  unwisdom  of  good  conditions  but 
on  the  crime  of  not  conceding  them.  He  does  not  argue — he 
states,  and  each  statement  stabs  like  a  sword-point.  He  asks  no 
mercy  and  shows  none.  I  think  his  eyes  have  always  before 
them  the  sordid  lives  and  heartbreaking  labor  of  those  men  in- 
the  dark  underground  who  breathe  the  fetid  air  in  which  horses 
may  not  live  and  men  must. 

I  have  been  told  by  those  who  have  followed  him  around 
in  the  lodge  meetings  how  a  hush  falls  on  the  group  when  he 
comes  in;  the  little  mark  of  respect  of  strong  men  for  the 
greatest  leader  of  their  time.  The  rank  and  file  has  had  two 
recent  opportunities  to  register  its  opinion  of  Smillie.  One 
was  in  electing  a  full-time  president;  Smillie's  majority  was 
overwhelming.  The  other  was  in  electing  representatives  for 
the  Royal  Coal  Commission,  men  who  should  determine  the 
policy  and  future  of  the  industry;  Smillie  and  two  men  in 
sympathy  with  his  ideas  were  chosen.  On  recent  figures,  "  Bob 
wishes  it"  gives  a  vote  of  75  to  90  per  cent  in  favor;  "Bob 
will  not  like  it"  totals  90  per  cent  against. 

The  Weekly  Dispatch  says: 


ROBERT  SMILLIE  65 

In  his  dress  and  general  appearance  Smillie  is  plain  to  the  verge 
of  shabbiness.  In  an  old  gray  suit,  a  heavy  top-coat  and  light 
felt  hat,  he  presents  anything  but  an  uncommon  figure.  It  is  only 
on  looking  closely  into  his  face  that  one  realizes  the  great  char- 
acter behind  the  grim,  set  face.  It  is  no  secret  that  when  public 
control  of  the  mines  takes  place  Smillie  will  have  a  leading  part 
in  whatever  executive  is  established. 

The  head  of  300,000  transport  workers,  Robert  Williams, 
writes,  "  The  one  man  who  can  above  all  others  inspire  us 
with  confidence  and  therefore  direct  the  storm  is  Smillie — 
the  man  with  the  proletarian  instinct." 

The  "  unofficial  rank  and  file  "  movement,  which  has  torn 
the  engineering  trades  into  temporary  disarray,  helped  to  sup- 
ply driving  force  to  the  Miners'  Federation  because  their 
chief  was  not  an  isolated  official  but  a  humble-minded  member 
of  the  movement,  who  keeps  in  step  with  the  young  genera- 
tion. 

A  writer  in  Ways  and  Means  (June  14,  1919)  says: 

The  feature  which  commands  the  homage  paid  to  him  is  his 
class  temperament  and  the  enduring  fealty  which  springs  from 
it.  He  has  not  merely  sympathy  with  the  proletariat;  he  has 
fellow  feeling.  He  can  be  trusted  implicitly;  he  is  constitutionally 
incapable  of  defection. 

There  is  one  trait  in  Smillie  which  the  workman  most  reveres. 
He  has  attained  to  high  distinction,  has  become  a  power  in  the 
land,  and  still  he  lives  in  the  little  house  in  Larkhall  which  was 
his  home  in  the  days  when  he  was  an  obscure  working  miner. 
It  is  a  neat  wee  house,  now  his  own  property,  built  for  about 
£70  many  decades  ago  by  a  building  society,  its  original  two  rooms 
multiplied  by  extensions  to  four  as  the  family — after  the  fashion 
of  miners'  families — increased  to  seven  or  eight  children.  The 
house  stands  in  the  village  street,  a  clean  respectable  "  row,"  but 
unmistakably  a  "  row."  Here  Smillie  may  still  be  met  of  a  week- 
end, playing  the  homely  host  to  his  multitude  of  local  friends. 
He  signalizes  his  escape  from  the  Robing  Room  atmosphere  by 
discarding  cigarettes  and  briars  for  the  plebeian  clay  pipe,  and 
assumes  the  garb  proper  to  the  miner  seated  at  his  own  fireside 


66  THE  YEAR 

at  the  close  of  his  day's  work — the  old  pair  of  trousers  and  vest 
with  the  shirt  sleeves  rolled-up. 

He  is  the  canniest  negotiator  on  conciliation  boards  whom 
the  owners  have  to  face.  He  can  outpoint  them  on  knowledge 
of  the  industry,  and  he  has  an  instinct  for  knowing  when  to 
yield  and  when  to  hit  hard.  His  alone  of  the  thirty-three 
great  unions  of  Britain  kept  its  workers  clear  of  the  Treasury 
Agreement  of  March,  1915,  when  Lloyd  George  induced  the 
labor  leaders  to  sign  away  their  power.  Again  he  struck 
hard  in  the  name  of  the  Triple  Alliance  when  the  Government 
was  going  to  introduce  coolie  labor.  He  warned  Mr.  Asquith, 
and  the  cheap  labor  did  not  come.  With  the  same  skill  he 
accepted  the  decisions  of  the  Coal  Commission  and  held  the 
miners  from  striking. 

His  instinct  as  a  trade  unionist  is  greater  than  his  instinct 
as  a  politician.  His  judgment  in  politics  lacks  the  long  ex- 
perience of  his  industrial  life.  So  he  sometimes  takes  extreme 
positions  which  offend  the  middle-of-the-way  Briton.  His  at- 
titude on  the  War  would  have  wrecked  another  public  man 
in  Great  Britain  but  it  did  not  lose  him  one  follower. 

He  has  a  curious  modesty;  perhaps  it  is  timidity.  He  does 
not  like  to  enter  new  activities ;  he  likes  to  move  in  the  areas 
of  his  proved  competence.  Thus,  he  has  in  time  past  refused 
election  to  the  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the  Trades  Union 
Congress.  And  yet  he  could  have  made  that  body  into  a  fight- 
ing force,  instead  of  letting  it  continue  year  after  year  a 
respectable,  powerful,  useful,  but  slow-moving  group.  Mr. 
Smillie  said  to  me,  "  Some  of  the  trade-union  leaders  have 
thought  their  function  is  that  of  brakeman,  to  lessen  the  speed 
of  the  movement.  But  I  think  that  the  leader's  job  is  that 
of  stoker,  to  bring  fire  and  driving  power." 

He  has  a  native  gift  of  simple  English  that  rises  to  "  rugged 
eloquence,"  as  the  Daily  Mail  says.  When  he  protested 
against  the  blockade  because  it  was  starving  German  children, 
I  heard  him  say,  "  It  was  a  disgrace  for  Germany  to  kill  by 
hellish  machines  of  war  our  women  and  children.  It  is  a 
disgrace  for  us  now  to  starve  the  babies  of  Germany.  All 


ROBERT  SMILLIE  67 

children  are  our  children.  Yea,  and  I  think  of  the  aged  peo- 
ple; the  rank  and  file  who  are  like  ourselves."  When  Smillie 
forced  Lloyd  George  to  act,  he  said,  "  The  mine  owners  say, 
'  We  invested  our  money  in  those  mines  and  they  are  ours.'  I 
say  we  invest  our  lives  in  those  mines.  .  .  .  We  say  the 
miner's  time  should  start  when  his  risk  starts.  .  .  .  When 
we  are  burning  coal,  either  in  the  domestic  grate  or  for  steam- 
raising  or  for  any  other  purpose,  we  are  really  burning  the 
lives  of  men.  As  the  old  song  '  Caller  Herrin '  says,  '  Ca' 
them  lives  o'  men ' — because  of  the  risk  in  getting  it." 

Burns  and  Scott,  Dickens  and  Shakespeare,  have  been  his 
reading.  He  knew  Keir  Hardie,  and  has  felt  his  influence 
through  many  years.  Smillie  is  a  Socialist  of  the  "  left,"  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Labor  Party,  an  untiring  preacher 
of  the  new  economics.  Thus,  "  I  found,"  he  commented, 
"  that  we  were  cutting  coal  at  10  pence  a  ton  while  a  certain 
Duke  was  drawing  a  shilling  a  ton  royalty,  and  making 
£210,000  a  year  out  of  it.  It  occurred  to  me  there  must  be 
something  wrong.  ..." 

When  a  witness  at  the  coal  inquiry  spoke  of  the  high  cost  of 
building  a  ship  being  due  in  large  part  to  wages,  and  there- 
fore that  the  immense  profits  to  shipowners  were  justified, 
Mr.  Smillie  pointed  out,  "  But  the  wage-earner  receives  only 
one  chance,  and  the  profits  of  the  ship  continue  to  come." 
Said  a  dapper  witness,  a  city  man,  "  Oh,  the  Miners'  Federa- 
tion and  the  miners  are  not  the  same,"  and  said  it  with  a 
giggle  and  a  smirk  to  the  side.  "  The  Miners'  Federation 
are  the  miners,"  said  Smillie,  looking  straight  at  the  man. 
He  squirmed,  blushed,  and  went  silent.  One  does  not  contra- 
dict a  natural  forc^. 

Mr.  Smillie  leans  over  the  table  and  watches  a  witness 
testifying  to  the  conditions  in  which  miners  work  and  live, 
seeing  his  own  past  days.  Particularly  as  he  listened  to 
Vernon  Hartshorn  and  to  John  Robertson  (of  the  Miners' 
Executive),  he  seemed  to  glow  till  he  was  incandescent.  He 
gathers  himself  slowly,  his  voice  husky  as  he  opens  his  cross- 
examination,  then  booming  at  its  height,  but  always  with  a 
refrain  in  it  of  sad  and  bitter  experience :  something  ominous, 


68  THE  YEAR 

and  yet  something  tender,  in  the  tone.  He  is  tall  and  gaunt. 
His  frame  is  stooped  from  threescore  years  of  struggle. 
There  is  an  overhanging  quality  to  him — in  his  position  at 
the  table,  in  his  shoulders,  his  nose,  his  eyebrows.  His  face 
is  seamed  from  early  hardship,  with  a  line  down  the  forehead, 
and  the  nose,  strong  and  large,  slightly  aslant.  His  is  the 
saddest  face  I  have  ever  seen,  but  it  is  rugged.  No  one  is 
awkward  who  has  no  self-consciousness,  and  there  is  a 
rhythm  of  natural  motion  to  him  in  every  gesture  and  as  he 
walks.  After  the  first  day,  no  one  doubted  who  was  head  of 
the  Coal  Commission.  The  pity  of  it  is  that  he  isn't  twenty 
years  younger;  great  power  has  come  to  him  when  he  is  old 
and  is  indifferent  to  it. 

The  whole  personality  is  full  of  suffering,  and  the  voice 
has  a  cadence  of  wistfulness,  but  the  man  is  set  in  granite, 
with  a  fighter's  jaw.  He  talks  to  premiers  as  man  to  man, 
and  no  mob  has  yet  howled  him  down.  He  is  the  voice  of 
a  million  and  a  half  men,  and  he  will  be  heard.  When  he  is 
talking  quietly  along  with  you,  he  suddenly  sinks  into  a 
silence.  And  then  in  a  moment  he  will  come  up  to  the  sur- 
face out  of  that  deep  still  pool  in  which  he  lives  his  real  life. 
When  I  see  him,  I  think  of  that  line  of  Carlyle's  about  the 
inner  life  of  the  old  warrior  king,  "  a  great,  motionless,  in- 
terior lake  of  sorrow,  sadder  than  any  tears  or  complainings." 

To  the  miners,  Smillie  is  a  symbol  of  their  dark  life  un- 
derground, and  of  their  climb  to  the  sunlight  and  to  power. 
"  Bob  will  not  like  it,"  says  a  miner  at  a  lodge  meeting,  and 
the  proposal  is  squelched.  There  was  a  meeting  where  a 
famous  labor  leader  was  making  an  attack  on  the  miners, 
because  the  leader's  union  had  lent  money,  as  yet  unpaid,  to 
the  miners.  Smillie  rose  from  the  balcony  over  the  speaker's 
head,  walked  to  the  balcony  rail,  and  said,  "  What  the  miners 
owe,  the  miners  will  pay."  It  was  as  effective  for  the  flam- 
boyant orator  and  the  audience  as,  "  I  bring  you  peace  with 
honor."  The  moral  authority  of  Lincoln  or  Mazzini  was  not 
in  the  words  spoken  or  the  acts  achieved.  It  rested  in  the 
deeper  and  unconscious  being  below  the  threshold.  So  it  is 
not  possible  to  chart  the  slowly  gathering  force  of  Robert 


ROBERT  SMILLIE  69 

Smillie,  which,  day  by  day,  asserts  itself  increasingly  over 
keen  minds  like  the  leaders  of  industry  and  the  Government 
experts  at  the  Coal  Commission.  It  has  taken  him  sixty  years 
to  burn  his  way  with  a  slow  fire  into  the  consciousness  of 
Great  Britain.  The  moral  authority  can  be  very  simply  ex- 
plained. He  speaks  from  a  deeper  level  of  being  than  other 
men.  He  was  fortunate  in  being  born  a  man  of  the  common 
people,  who  would  understand  him  and  follow  him.  He  is 
misunderstood  by  the  "  general  public,"  which  wishes  a  facile 
opportunism.  Speaking  of  tragic  things  (of  1,200  deaths  a 
year  in  the  mines,  of  150,000  accidents)  he  troubles  our 
lighter  moods.  But  to  those  that  know  him  by  shared  ex- 
perience, his  leadership  is  unshakable.  Keir  Hardie  had  the 
quality  of  making  large  masses  of  men  follow  his  lead  be- 
cause he  believed  in  men,  and  Keir  Hardie  is  dead.  Of  the 
living  labor  leaders  of  England,  Smillie  is  most  like  him. 
The  future  is  hearer  in  Britain  than  elsewhere.  It  is  just 
over  the  horizon  line.  I  heard  Smillie  say  to  a  labor  group, 
"  I  am  hopeful,  aged  as  I  am,  to  see  a  free  electorate.  With 
us  are  all  the  best  of  the  thinkers  of  the  country."  This 
sense  of  a  coming  emancipation  is  strong  in  him.  He  believea 
he  is  leading  men  in  the  last  charge  of  all.  And  with  that  is 
the  knowledge  that  he  cannot  be  touched.  The  day  is  gone 
forever  when  a  champion  of  democracy  can  be  jailed  or  si- 
lenced. Smillie  is  like  Debs  in  his  fierceness  for  justice,  his 
forthright  speech.  But  he  lives  in  Britain,  not  in  America. 
Some  millions  of  men  would  rise  if  hands  were  laid  on  him. 
As  they  say  in  Scotland,  "  The  heather  would  blaze,"  and  out 
of  Scotland  and  Wales,  Durham,  Northumberland,  and  the 
3,000  mines,  a  fire  would  come  that  would  not  die  down.  He 
carries  always  this  sense  of  the  multitude  that  backs  him  and 
the  promised  land  just  ahead. 

Toward  the  end  of  March,  1920,  the  cable  brings  word 
that  Smillie  has  resigned  from  the  presidency  of  the  Miners. 
But,  living,  he  can  not  remove  his  personality  and  influence 
from  the  movement.  And  not  even  death  would  undo  his 
work,  nor  utterly  quench  the  forces  released  by  his  prevail- 
ing will. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE 
FEBRUARY  28,  1919 


YESTERDAY  the  peace  parliament  of  employers  and  workers 
convened  by  the  British  Government  met  in  the  Central  Hall. 
Five  hundred  workers  were  present  and  three  hundred  em- 
ployers. The  workers  represented  general  workers,  the 
Triple  Alliance  of  miners,  transport  workers  and  railway 
men,  the  engineering  trades,  shipbuilding,  cotton,  and  also 
those  trades  which  have  been  gathered  in  under  the  Whitley 
council  scheme.  Of  the  Whitley  councils  Sir  Robert  Home, 
the  new  Minister  of  Labor,  said,  "  The  great  positive  reform 
to  which  one  looks  with  the  most  hope  for  the  prevention  of 
industrial  disputes  in  the  future  is  the  scheme  which  Mr. 
Whitley's  committee  submitted  to  the  country  not  long 
ago.  There  can  be  no  question  at  all  that  the  whole  move- 
ment of  modern  life  is  in  favor  of  the  workmen  being  al- 
lowed some  share  in  the  control  of  industry  in  future."  But 
it  was  noticeable  at  this  parliament  of  producers  that  the 
Triple  Alliance  brought  in  its  own  separate  proposals,  and 
that  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers  refused  to  be 
bound  by  any  action  taken  at  this  conference. 

The  Whitley  councils,  in  other  words,  while  they  have  al- 
ready been  set  up  in  twenty-six  organized  trades  and  are 
about  to  spread  out  over  twenty-four  more,  so  that  already 
they  are  covering  the  working  activities  of  two  and  a  half 
million  persons,  have  nevertheless  failed  to  prevail  in  the 
storm  centers  of  the  industrial  world.  They  have  not  taken 
hold  of  the  miners,  railway  men,  shipbuilders,  engineers,  and 

TO 


NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE       71 

cotton  spinners  and  weavers.  Conciliation  has  only  been  ac- 
cepted as  the  necessary  climate  of  these  next  months  in  those 
smaller  occupations  which  are  not  the  pivotal  industries  of 
Great  Britain. 

The  conference  may  be  the  result  of  a  suggestion  which 
Mr.  Clynes  has  been  pushing  ardently  in  recent  weeks  for 
what  he  calls  an  industrial  council — a  council  of  all  the  trades 
employers  and  unionists.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  gathering 
together  of  all  producers  in  industry  amounts  to  a  super- 
Whitley  council.  We  have  the  shop  committee,  the  works 
committee,  the  district  council,  the  joint  standing  national 
council  in  the  given  industry  which  has  come  in  under  the 
Whitley  scheme,  and  now  finally  we  have  this  collection  of 
all  the  trades  which  have  come  in  under  that  scheme.  Thus 
gradually  some  sort  of  organization  is  being  attempted  in  the 
industrial  arena,  comparable  to  the  organization  of  the  State 
for  matters  political. 

The  resolution  passed  by  the  conference  reads : 

That  this  conference,  being  of  opinion  that  any  preventable  dis- 
location of  industry  is  always  to  be  deplored,  and  in  the  present 
critical  period  of  reconstruction  may  be  disastrous  to  the  interests 
of  the  nation,  and  thinking  that  every  effort  should  be  made  to 
remove  legitimate  grievances  and  promote  harmony  and  good  will, 
resolves  to  appoint  a  joint  committee,  consisting  of  an  equal  num- 
ber of  employers  and  workers,  men  and  women,  together  with  a 
chairman  appointed  by  the  government,  to  consider  and  report  to 
a  further  meeting  of  the  conference  on  the  causes  of  the  present 
unrest  and  the  steps  necessary  to  safeguard  and  promote  the  inter- 
ests of  employers,  workpeople,  and  the  state,  and  especially  to  con- 
sider (i)  questions  relating  to  hours,  wages,  and  general  condi- 
tions of  employment;  (2)  unemployment  and  its  prevention;  and 
(3)  the  best  method  of  promoting  co-operation  between  capital 
and  labor. 

As  industry  draws  nearer  to  organization  and  a  constitu- 
tion, it  is  interesting  to  see  its  constituent  parts.  Those  in- 
vited to  yesterday's  meeting  were: 


72  THE  YEAR 

(1)  ALL  JOINT  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS.    These  bodies,  which  are 
created  in  pursuance  of  the  Whitley  scheme,  are  established  only 
in  industries  in  which  both  the  employers  and  the  workpeople  are 
well  organized  in  their  respective  associations,  and  they  consist  of 
equal  numbers  of  representatives  of  associations  of  employers  and 
trade  unions.    They  cover  26  industries. 

(2)  ALL  INTERIM  RECONSTRUCTION  COMMITTEES.     These  com- 
mittees have  been  formed  in  industries  where,  owing  to  various 
reasons,  progress  towards  the  formation  of  joint  industrial  coun- 
cils has  been  slow.    They  also  consist  of  equal  numbers  of  repre- 
sentatives of  associations  of  employers  and  trade  unions,  and  they 
cover  35  trades. 

(3)  ALL  TRADE  BOARDS.    These  are  composed  of  representatives 
of  the  employers  and  workpeople,  with  several  nominees  of  the 
minister  of  labor.    Their  primary  function  is  the  fixing  of  legal 
minimum  rates  of  wages,  but  they  also  deal  with  industrial  condi- 
tions generally.    They  number  13. 

(4)  THE  PARLIAMENTARY  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  TRADES  UNION 
CONGRESS.    This  represents  more  than  4,000,000  members  of  British 
trade  unions. 

(5)  THE  PARLIAMENTARY  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  TRADES 
UNION  CONGRESS.    This  represents  about  250,000  members  of  Scot- 
tish trades  councils,  Scottish  sections  of  British  trade  unions,  and 
trade  unions  with  a  wholly  Scottish  membership. 

(6)  THE  GENERAL  FEDERATION  OF  TRADE  UNIONS.    This  repre- 
sents about  800,000  members  of  trade  unions  federated  mainly  for 
financial  purposes.    Most  of  the  unions  are  also  affiliated  to  the 
Trades  Union  Congress. 

(7)  THE  NATIONAL  ALLIANCE  OF  EMPLOYERS  AND  EMPLOYED. 
A  body  formed  at  the  end  of  1916  to  promote  co-operation  of  em- 
ployers and  employed  for  the  welfare  of  the  workers  and  the 
efficiency  of  industries. 

(8)  THE  FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES.    This  organiza- 
tion comprises  over  800  individual  manufacturing  firms  and  about 
170  trade  organizations,  representing  over  16,000  firms  in  many 
trades.    It  was  formed  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war  to  promote 
the  interests  of  the  manufacturing  industry,  and  it  is  allied  with 
the  British  Empire  Producers'  Organization,  the  British  Imperial 
Council  of  Commerce,  and  the  British  Manufacturers'  Corpora- 
tion. 


NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE       73 

(9)  EMPLOYERS'  FEDERATIONS  AND  TRADE  UNIONS  COVERING  THE 
FOLLOWING  TRADES:  Coal-mining,  iron  and  steel,  engineering  and 
shipbuilding  and  ship-repairing,  cotton,  boot  and  shoe,  railways, 
docks,  and  other  transport,  printing,  explosives,  lace,  tinplate,  heat- 
ing and  domestic  engineers,  and  general  workers  and  women 
workers. 

Among  the  eight  hundred  delegates  it  was  impossible  to 
discriminate  between  workers  and  employers,  except  for 
"  Bob  "  Williams  in  a  class-conscious  flannel  shirt  and  muffler. 
Sir  Allan  Smith,  president  of  the  Engineering  and  Employ- 
ers' Federation,  might  have  been  taken  by  a  visitor  from 
Mars  for  a  pale,  intense,  sincere  Clyde  revolutionary.  And 
the  traveler  from  New  Zealand  would  have  selected  Thomas, 
Brownlie,  and  Stuart-Bunning  as  millionaire  proprietors, 
shrewd,  far-seeing,  conscious  of  power. 

Yesterday,  just  across  the  street  from  the  Central  Hall, 
Princess  Pat  was  being  married.  A  large  crowd  was  outside 
the  Abbey  as  the  delegates  emerged  from  the  grim  debate; 
and  Princess  Pat  appeared,  a  princess  no  longer,  having 
stooped  to  a  union  with  the  second  son  of  a  Scottish  earl 
instead  of  mating  with  the  son  of  a  royal  house.  It  was  the 
final  gesture  of  royalty,  coinciding  with  the  advent  of  the 
workers  to  a  share  in  power. 

II 

The  first  half  of  this  chapter  is  left  with  the  date  line  and 
the  text  as  it  was  then  written.  So,  a  truer  picture  (moving 
picture)  of  changing  events  is  given.  The  conference  was 
born  in  hope.  An  excellent  report  was  issued  by  the  sub- 
committee. It  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix.  And  a  strong 
statement  was  made  by  the  trade-union  half.  This  also  will 
be  found  in  the  Appendix.  But  of  results  the  summer  saw 
none.  Labor  began  to  suspect  that  the  conference,  like  the 
Coal  Commission,  was  one  more  of  Mr.  George's  flashing 
improvisations — a  way  of  getting  rid  of  difficulty  by  post- 
ponement 


74  THE  YEAR 

In  October  the  trade-union  side  of  the  Provisional  Joint 
Industrial  Committee  issued  this  statement: 

Apart  from  the  proposal  to  form  the  National  Industrial  Coun- 
cil, the  most  important  of  the  recommendations  unanimously 
agreed  to  by  the  employers  and  Trade  Unionists  were  those  deal- 
ing with  hours  of  labor.  It  was  agreed  that  a  Bill  should  be 
introduced,  laying  down  a  maximum  48  hours'  week,  with  provi- 
sions under  strict  safeguards  for  variation  of  the  hours  in  either 
direction,  and  that  this  Bill  should  "  apply  generally  to  all  em- 
ployed persons."  This  recommendation,  together  with  others,  was 
unanimously  accepted  by  the  Second  Industrial  Conference,  which 
met  on  April  4th. 

The  whole  time  between  April  and  now  has  been  spent  in  a 
vain  endeavor  to  get  the  Government  to  accept  these  joint  pro- 
posals. The  main  difficulty  has  arisen  in  connection  with  the 
Government's  desire  to  exclude  altogether  from  the  Hours  Bill 
certain  classes  of  workers,  of  whom  the  most  important  are  agri- 
cultural workers,  seamen,  and  supervisory  workers. 

Apparently  this  Industrial  Council  is  to  fade.  But  indus- 
try immediately  and  imperatively  needs  some  sort  of  func- 
tional representation.  The  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the 
Trades  Union  Congress  is  too  feeble  a  body. 

A  careful  Government  study  of  the  Whitley  councils,  as 
now  operating,  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix.  It  will  be  seen 
that  they  are  serving  a  purpose  in  establishing  wages  and 
hours.  "A  case — a  very  real  case — can  be  made  out  for 
them  in  the  matter  of  wages  and  hours/'  said  J.  J.  Mallon 
(in  November,  1919). 

But  they  have  not  functioned  in  "workers'  control"  to 
any  such  extent  as  the  creators  of  them  hoped.1  Such  per- 
sons as  Mallon,  J.  A.  Hobson,  and  F.  S.  Button  fashioned 
them  to  be  a  training  ground  in  responsible  administration  of 
working  conditions,  the  processes  qf  production,  "  discipline 
and  management,"  the  allocation  of  raw  material.  Instead  of 

1  The  Builders'  Parliament  has  been  the  finest  flower  of  the  Whitleys 
as  well  as  one  of  the  roots  from  which  they  sprang.  The  Builders' 
Report  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 


NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE       75 

expanding  in  these  directions,  the  councils  have  tended  to 
concentrate  on  wages  and  hours.  They  have  been  tardy  in 
forming  District  Councils  and  Workshop  Committees.  In 
certain  instances,  they  have  left  all  the  stiffer  work  to  the  old 
Conciliation  Boards,  and  have  regarded  their  own  function 
as  a  sort  of  welfare  committee.  In  other  instances,  such  as 
the  Woollen  Board,  the  vital  questions  have  been  handled  by 
a  group  outside  the  Whitley  council  in  which  the  workers 
were  a  minority  and  steadily  voted  down.  In  other  instances 
(such  as  the  Packing  Case  Makers  and  the  Bakers)  one 
side  or  the  other  has — at  least,  temporarily — withdrawn. 

For  all  that,  sections  of  labor  have  found  a  redress  in 
Whitleys  which  they  never  knew  before.  The  fair-minded 
student  will  give  them  at  least  two  years  more  of  experimen- 
tation, before  ruling  them  out  as  impotent.  They  are  now 
serving  as  slightly  improved  Conciliation  Boards. 

If  the  Whitleys  survive,  they  will  demand  an  all-inclusive 
body,  to  tie  together  their  activities.  They  will  demand  some 
such  body  as  this  half -realized  Industrial  Council. 

Harold  Laski  (in  Chapter  I,  Section  7,  of  Authority  in 
the  Modern  State)  writes: 

Provision  must  be  made  for  some  central  authority  not  less 
representative  of  production  as  a  whole  than  the  state  would 
represent  consumption.  There  is  postulated  therein  two  bodies 
similar  in  character  to  a  national  legislature. 

The  extremist  view  is  always  of  value  in  shapening  the 
issue.  Mr.  Tom  Mann,  secretary  of  the  Amalgamated  So- 
ciety of  Engineers,  was  quoted  in  the  Daily  Express  of  No- 
vember 14,  1919: 

I  do  not  want  to  attack  Parliament.  It  is  too  silly  a  game. 
When  we  have  in  our  own  hands  what  we  want,  Parliament,  so 
far  as  I  am  concerned,  will  be  welcome  to  go  on  dealing  with 
what  is  left  over.  Do  not  forget  that  we  are  90  per  cent  of  the 
crowd,  and  when  we  get  going  Parliament  will  be  left  high  and  dry. 

My  type  of  man  does  not  expect  to  see  any  parliamentary  insti- 


76  THE  YEAR 

tution  improved.  I  am  in  agreement  with  those  who  contend  that 
Parliaments,  as  we  have  known  them,  have  served  their  purpose. 

Present-day  evolutionary  developments  in  industry  demand  at 
least  the  supersession  of  the  existing  sectional  trade  unions,  and 
the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  for  concerted  action  to  be  really 
effective  the  whole  field  of  a  given  industry  must  be  the  area  on 
which  action  must  be  taken. 

Our  power,  when  it  is  obtained,  would  be  primarily  one  of 
organization,  and  in  many  instances  that  would  manifest  itself 
at  the  discussion  table,  and  the  manifestation  would  suffice.  If 
not,  organization  by  industry  implies  a  co-relation  of  all  such  in- 
dustrial organizations  with  a  common  understanding  among  all 
workers  in  the  country. 

I  am  not  anticipating  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  big  crash. 
There  would  not  be  much  chance  for  any  alternative  policy  by  the 
time  our  organization  was  complete. 

National  Industrial  Council,  the  Whitleys,  the  Parliamen- 
tary Committee  of  the  Trades  Union  Congress,  are  all  part 
of  the  one  problem:  How  shall  the  forces  of  production — 
the  trade  unions  as  they  become  all-inclusive  of  the  workers 
— function  through  a  central  authority? 

Industry  has  been  a  lawless  affair  in  Great  Britain.  The 
trade  unions  have  grown  in  power  until  they  include  in  their 
ranks  over  60  per  cent  of  all  wage-earning  men.  Keeping 
step  by  step  with  this  growth  in  numbers  has  come  an  in- 
creasing consciousness  of  power.  It  is  the  power  of  pro- 
ducers. But  unfortunately  the  modern  State  has  only  worked 
out  its  machinery  for  the  representation  of  consumers.  As 
a  result  the  worker  has  had  to  act  lawlessly  outside  the 
channels  of  government.  Thus,  the  bankers  and  business  men 
have  formed  their  local  Soviets,  known  as  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce, and  through  them  have  brought  pressure  to  bear  on 
Parliament.  Similarly,  when  Mr.  Robert  Smillie,  representing 
the  Federation  of  Miners,  numbering  800,000,  wanted  to  get 
something  done  he  did  not  go  to  his  parliamentary  represen- 
tative. He  went  and  called  on  the  Prime  Minister  and  got 
it  done. 


NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE       77 

The  employers  had  become  as  anarchistic  as  their  employees 
and  many  of  them  were  speaking  of  the  business  or  factory 
"as  my  business,  my  factory."  These  employers  had  gotten 
the  idea  that  both  the  worker  and  his  work  were  a  com- 
modity to  be  bought  and  sold  in  the  open  market.  They 
failed  also  to  realize  that  the  product  when  finished  by  the 
factory  did  not  actually  belong  either  to  the  so-called  owner 
nor  yet  to  the  workers,  but  that  it  is  the  product  of  the 
community,  on  which  the  first  charges  to  be  levied  are  those 
for  the  labor  spent  in  its  creation,  both  of  hand  and  brain. 

The  year  1913  and  the  first  half  of  1914  saw  these  two 
lawless  forces  of  employer  and  employed  marching  up  ever 
closer  to  a  battle  which  would  have  tied  up  England,  would 
have  destroyed  the  power  of  production  and  lessened  the  na- 
tional income.  Then  came  the  War,  and  with  it  a  great  wave 
of  patriotic  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  workers.  So  keen 
were  they  to  help  that  they  signed  away  the  rights  and  pro- 
tections which  it  had  taken  them  a  hundred  years  of  struggle 
to  create.  The  employers  were  able  to  temper  their  own 
patriotism  with  a  due  measure  of  self-regard  and  obtain  the 
right  to  an  increased  profit  of  20  per  cent  over  the  piping 
days  of  peace.  The  workers  responded  to  this  class  con- 
sciousness on  the  part  of  the  great  owners  with  the  Shop 
Stewards'  movement  and  the  ever-growing  demands  for 
workers'  control. 

As  Frank  Hodges,  secretary  of  the  miners,  says: 

A  careful  and  far-seeing  statesman  would  foresee  the  whole  of 
the  possible  developments  along  these  lines  for  the  next  ten  or 
fifteen  years;  and  he  would  make  provision  for  creating  institu- 
tions which  would  give  a  natural  outlet  to  these  desires.  So 
keenly  is  this  aspiration  feared  by  the  employing  classes  that  they 
would  willingly  declare  an  armistice  in  this  fight.  They  have,  in 
fact,  offered  an  armistice  in  certain  industries,  and  they  propose 
a  remedy  which  will  give  the  workmen  some  outlet  for  their  de- 
sires. They  come  forward  with  the  proposition  of  Whitley  Coun- 
cils, co-partnership,  profit-sharing.  A  thousand  and  one  schemes 
are  afoot  which  purport  to  give  the  workers  some  form  of  con- 


78  THE  YEAR 

trol,  but  which,  upon  careful  analysis,  only  make  them  more 
amenable  and  more  useful  in  the  prolongation  of  the  capitalist 
system.  There  can  never  be  any  equality,  there  can  never  be  har- 
mony (whilst  we  do  not  quarrel  with  individuals),  there  can  never 
be  any  real  brotherhood  existing  between  those  who  buy  our 
labor  and  those  who  have  to  sell. 

But  the  institutions  have  not  yet  been  created. 


CHAPTER  IV 

YOUTH  AT  THE   STIRRUP.— THE  LABOR   PARTY 
CONFERENCE  AT  SOUTHPORT 

[Historically,  diplomacy  has  been  the  last  phase  of  civil 
government  to  yield  to  democratic  control.  With  the  rise  of 
social  and  economic,  no  less  than  dynastic  and  military,  factors 
in  international  relations,  we  are  witnessing  a  shift  through- 
out Europe  to  what  President  Wilson  called  the  "  counsels  of 
common  men."  Since  the  days  when  a  group  of  British 
textile  operatives  sent  their  message  to  Abraham  Lincoln 
that  they  were  with  the  North  on  the  slavery  issue,  what- 
ever the  effect  of  the  blockade  and  the  stand  of  the  British 
cotton  trade,  British  labor  has  groped  towards  some  part  in 
foreign  policy.  At  the  close  of  June,  at  Southport,  the  British 
Labor  Party  broke  the  precedents  of  twenty  years  in  the  po- 
litical labor  movement  in  England,  and  called  on  the  trade 
unions  to  prepare  to  bring  direct  action  (strikes)  to  bear  on 
a  political  issue.  That  issue  was  one  of  foreign  affairs — 
self-determination  in  Russia.  What  direct  action  on  the 
British  plan  means — as  distinct  from  revolutionary  strikes  on 
the  Continent — is  interpreted  in  these  dramatic  debates  on 
nationalization  of  the  mines  (political  interference  with  a 
primary  industry)  and  Russian  intervention  (industrial  inter- 
ference in  political  policy).  They  registered  a  new  stage  in 
the  relations  of  the  political  and  industrial  arms  of  the  British 
labor  movement.] 


THE  first  annual  conference  of  the  British  Labor  Party  since 
the  armistice  has  built  its  program  for  the  coming  year. 
The  conference  moved  decisively  to  the  left,  but  it  is  a  left  of 

79 


80  THE  YEAR 

the  British  brand.  British  labor  is  not  a  revolutionary  mi- 
nority European  sect;  it  is  a  great  organized  group  that  ex- 
pects to  take  over  the  Government  within  a  few  years.  It 
made  its  fighting  issues: 

1.  To  nationalize  the  mines   (as  the  first  step  in  the  na- 
tionalization of  all  the  great  public  utilities). 

2.  To  end  intervention  in  Russia,  by  direct  action  (of  the 
British  brand). 

This  conference  was  held  at  Southport — that  summer  city 
on  the  western  coast — on  June  25-27.  The  conference  moved 
to  the  left  because  Smillie  and  Hodges  moved  it  (stated  in 
terms  of  personality).  Or,  stated  in  terms  of  economic  power, 
it  moved  to  the  left  because  the  Triple  Alliance  drove  it 
Smillie  has  given  the  lead  to  labor,  politically  and  industrially, 
by  his  victories  in  the  Coal  Commission.  And  only  second  to 
him  is  the  brilliant,  moderate  young  miner,  Frank  Hodges, 
who  in  a  speech  of  five  minutes  spitted  Ben  Tillett,  the  old 
dockers'  leader,  who  preceded  him,  and  overthrew  John 
Robert  Clynes,  former  food  controller,  who  followed  him. 
Hodges  pleaded  for  direct  action  (of  the  British  brand)  on 
Russia,  and  carried  the  convention  by  a  majority  of  958,000 
votes.  Henderson,  through  a  cold,  had  lost  about  three- 
quarters  of  his  voice,  which  reduced  his  volume  of  tone  to 
that  of  other  delegates.  And  with  the  passing  of  his  cast-iron 
bass,  he  seemed  to  have  lost  a  little  of  his  alertness  and 
strategic  intuition.  He  and  the  others  of  the  Labor  Party 
Executive  were  ill-advised  in  not  immediately  accepting  the 
Hodges  statement  as  party  policy.  The  vote  rolled  over  them 
as  it  rolled  over  the  right.  And  now  they  must  accept  it. 
There  is  an  accent  to  victorious  youth  that  ought  to  be  recog- 
nized at  the  first  hearing.  The  young  are  not  in  the  saddle, 
but  their  foot  is  on  the  stirrup. 

A  year  ago,  in  a  time  of  division  that  split  the  middle-class 
parties,  Clynes,  Henderson,  and  Thomas  represented  the  heal- 
ing and  concessionary  elements  which  made  labor  cohere. 
This  year  Cramp  (with  his  450,000  railwaymen),  Smillie  and 
Hodges  (of  the  miners)  were  the  forward-pushing  leaders 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  81 

behind  whom  two  million  out  of  the  three  million  men  repre- 
sented took  up  the  new  lines. 

When  the  conference  turned  to  such  issues  as  conscription, 
Russia,  the  blockade,  the  peace  treaty,  it  became  clear  that  so 
far  as  the  British  workers  are  concerned  the  War  is  over. 
The  old  wounds  dealt  and  received  by  "  jingo  "  and  "  pacifist," 
"  knock-out-blow  "  and  "  negotiation  "  are  healing.  Indeed 
that  was  evident  before,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trans- 
port workers,  when  the  scarred  warrior,  Ben  Tillett,  made  a 
brave  speech  calling  off  his  feud  against  the  German  people. 
And  the  Labor  Party  now  gave  great  applause  to  Ramsay 
MacDonald,  for  the  best  speech  he  has  made  in  five  years, 
when  he  urged  a  real  league  of  nations  and  the  acceptance  of 
Germany  within  it,  and  the  cure  for  hate,  and  the  healing  of 
the  nations.  Only  one  dissentient  to  an  anti-blockade  resolu- 
tion among  nearly  a  thousand  delegates  was  heard — the 
staunch  and  famous  leader  of  the  dockers,  James  Sexton. 
But  the  conference  refused  to  listen  to  him,  and  he  subsided 
into  that  grim  humor  which  carries  him  through  these  piping 
days  of  peace  when  he  is  left  stranded  on  the  extreme  right — 
the  last  of  the  Die-Hards  and  Bitter-Endians. 

Then,  in  the  true  English  tradition,  to  balance  all  that 
thrust  and  dynamic,  the  delegates  elected,  at  the  head  of  the 
poll  for  the  Executive  Committee,  Sidney  Webb,  sane,  con- 
stitutional, who  works  to  have  the  social  revolution  come  as 
gently  as  a  change  of  clothes. 

The  British  Labor  Party  has  added  a  half  million  to  its 
paid  membership  and  now  numbers  3,013,129.  The  trade 
unions  send  2,960,409.  There  are  389  trade  councils  and 
local  labor  parties,  and  4  Socialist  societies.  The  member- 
ship of  the  Socialist  societies  is  52,720;  but  of  that  member- 
ship 80  per  cent  is  trade  union.  Ben  Tillett  estimates  the 
trade-union  membership  of  the  British  Labor  Party  to  be  99 
per  cent  of  the  total  membership.  In  1914  the  membership 
was  1,612,147.  In  the  four  years  of  war,  the  party,  instead 
of  splitting  like  the  Liberals,  has  almost  doubled  its  member- 
ship. At  the  recent  general  election  it  polled  a  vote  of  2,244,- 


82  THE  YEAR 

945.  Its  earlier  election  vote  was  505,690.  W.  H.  Hutchin- 
son,  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers,  was  elected 
chairman  of  the  party  for  the  coming  year.  He  has  a  well- 
balanced  trade-union  record  for  a  generation. 

Ramsay  MacDonald  received  forty-six  separate  nomina- 
tions, and  was  unanimously  re-elected  treasurer.  Arthur 
Henderson  remains  secretary,  the  leader  of  the  party.  The 
elements  of  right,  center,  and  left  are  so  blended  in  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee,1  that  all  one  can  say  is  that  it  is  represen- 
tative of  the  entire  labor  movement. 

The  European  right  has  been  waiting  for  the  lead  from 
British  labor  to  quash  the  Eastern  left  that  takes  its  inspira- 
tion from  Lenine.  And  the  Italian  and  French  left  have  been 
waiting  for  a  strike  lead  from;  the  British  left.  Neither  side 
got  satisfaction.  British  labor  agreed  to  join  Italian  and 
French  labor  in  holding  demonstrations  against  Russian  inter- 
vention on  July  20  and  21.  That  is  the  British  substitute. 
"  Demonstrations "  meant  orderly  meetings  on  Sunday  and 
Monday,  as  a  constitutional  release  for  wrath. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  conference,  a  loud-lunged  group  of 
ex-soldiers  in  the  gallery  bellowed  the  proceedings  to  a  stand- 
still till  they  received  the  promise  that  their  friend,  Bob 
Williams,  should  address  them  on  pensions  and  wages.  The 
episode  is  one  of  many  hundreds  that  reveal  the  state  of  mind 
of  a  type  of  returned  soldier.  He  demands  immediate 
changes.  To  get  them  "he  will  resort  to  direct  action.  The 
War  has  imbedded  violence  in  his  consciousness.  This  is  a 
dangerous  element  in  the  State;  it  will  require  all  the  tact 
and  the  fundamental  sanity  of  the  labor  leaders  to  canalize 
this  unruly  force.  During  the  War  it  could  be  aimed  against 
the  enemy;  now  it  is  being  aimed  against  institutions,  con- 
ventions, and  persons.  In  private  life,  it  has  taken  expres- 
sion in  crimes  in  so  large  a  number  of  cases  that  one  police 
commissioner  has  issued  a  public  warning.  Williams  is  at 

1The  women  members  are  Dr.  Ethel  Bentham,  Mary  Macarthur, 
Mrs.  Philip  Snowden,  and  Susan  Lawrence  (a  member  of  the  London 
County  Council). 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  83 

this  moment  busy  on  a  program  with  the  Ministry  of  Labor 
to  meet  the  demands  of  discharged  disabled  soldiers.  It  is 
interesting  that  the  Government  has  to  call  on  labor  leaders  of 
the  left  to  save  constitutional  government  from  grave  dis- 
turbance. 

Labor's  vote  for  direct  action  on  Russia  means  a  series  of 
steps  through  the  Labor  Party  Executive,  Parliamentary  Com- 
mittee of  the  Trades  Union  Congress,  delegate  meeting  of  the 
Triple  Alliance,  the  Trades  Union  Congress  itself,  and, 
finally,  through  the  rank  and  file  vote  of  each  union.  Labor 
is  well  aware  that  minority  action  could  hold  up  the  business 
of  any  government.  But  the  Labor  Party  does  not  wish  to 
be  scuttled  later  by  its  own  mutineers.  So  as  it  draws  near 
to  its  day  of  power,  it  quits  thumbing  its  nose  at  authority, 
and  calculates  the  distant  effect  of  its  present  action. 

Such  is  a  summary  of  the  conference.  There  was  nothing 
wild.  But  there  was  profound  feeling  concerning  Russia,  a 
feeling  which,  should  the  Government  disregard  it  and  con- 
tinue to  send  supplies  to  the  anti-Bolshevik  generals  and 
admirals,  will  (not  immediately  but  ultimately)  lead  to  sec- 
tional strikes.  There  was  a  "  feeling  "  that  a  general  election 
will  come  fairly  soon,  and  that  the  miners  have  supplied  a 
fighting  electoral  issue  in  "nationalization."  There  was  a 
demand  for  radical  leadership,  as  expressed  in  the  greeting  to 
such  men  as  Cramp,  Smillie,  Hodges,  and  Williams.  It  is  in 
the  main  the  trade  unionists  who  are  heading  the  swing  to 
the  left,  and  not  alone  the  political  Socialists  (as  in  the  past). 

But  underneath  this  shift  one  feels  the  caution  of  the  British 
temperament.  At  least  one-quarter  of  the  leaders  are  of  the 
old  wages-and-hours  type,  to  whom  swift  change  is  distressing. 
In  addition,  there  is  that  immense  mass  of  silent  voters  who  go 
only  as  fast  as  they  are  convinced.  The  result  will  be  no 
sudden  political  overturn.  Election  by  election  the  workers 
will  continue  to  gain  seats,  till  one  day  the  half-way  mark  is 
crossed  and  the  balance  of  political  power  has  passed  to  them. 


84  THE  YEAR 

ii 

The  nineteenth  annual  conference  of  the  British  Labor 
Party  gathered  in  the  Palladium  Theater — a  "  palace  of 
varieties  " — a  large  modern  building  with  a  red-glowing  in- 
terior, which  seated  delegates  on  the  main  floor,  and  over  five 
hundred  visitors  in  the  gallery.  The  last  half  hour  before  the 
leaders  arrived,  carpenters  and  electricians  were  tinkering 
with  the  press  tables.  A  local  musician  sat  at  the  great  organ 
and  filled  the  building  with  his  music  from  the  Offenbach 
Barcarole  and  from  Italian  opera,  submerging  us  in  deep 
chords.  As  the  delegates  gathered,  one  was  impressed  by  the 
success  of  the  movement.  It  is  a  long  stride  from  the  day 
when  labor  met  in  the  gloom  of  the  Lambeth  Baths.  The 
free  gift  of  the  Palladium  was  one  instance,  the  presence  of 
Southport's  mayor  in  full  blue  regalia  another. 

J.  McGurk,  of  the  Miners'  Federation,  sought  as  chair- 
man to  set  the  keynote  by  his  address,  which,  like  a  king's 
speech,  is  supposed  to  be  a  composite  of  the  responsible  beliefs 
of  the  full  Executive  Committee.  McGurk  is  a  square,  burly, 
witty  Irishman.  He  would  shine  in  a  mass  meeting  or  a 
small  rough-house  group;  but  the  present  area  was  slightly 
beyond  his  range.  He  attempted  to  harmonize  differences, 
but  his  address  rather  served  to  reveal  the  temper  of  the 
conference  on  Russia,  conscription,  and  direct  action.  He 
said: 

We  all  deplore  the  Bolshevist  excesses.  We  all  decried  the 
czarist  excesses,  but  the  British  government  did  not  assist  the 
1905  revolution  by  sending  men,  munitions,  and  materials  to  those 
who  were  fighting  the  battle  of  democracy  against  autocracy, 
...  So  long  as  this  policy  of  intervention  in  Russia  is  pursued, 
there  can  be  no  question  of  disarmament,  and  the  alleged  need 
for  retaining  conscription  in  this  country  will  remain.  If  the 
government  counts  on  being  able  to  bluff  the  workers  indefinitely 
on  these  lines,  it  will  be  sadly  disillusioned.  I  do  not  say  this 
by  way  of  a  threat;  it  is  a  simple  and  common  statement  of  fact: 
the  workers  of  Great  Britain  will  not  have  conscription,  and  we 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  85 

shall  resort  to  every  legitimate  means  to  bring  about  its  with- 
drawal. 

In  the  reception  of  this  passage,  it  was  plain  that  the  chair- 
man was  playing  on  a  live  nerve  of  the  majority  present.  The 
feeling  deepened  as  he  went  on: 

A  movement  is  already  afoot  to  employ  the  strike  weapon  for 
political  purposes.  This  would  be  an  innovation  in  this  country 
which  few  responsible  leaders  would  welcome.  .  .  .  We  are 
either  constitutionalists  or  we  are  not  constitutionalists.  If  we 
are  constitutionalists,  if  we  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  the  political 
weapon  (and  we  do,  or  why  do  we  have  a  labor  party),  then  it 
is  both  unwise  and  undemocratic  because  we  fail  to  get  a  majority 
at  the  polls  to  turn  round  and  demand  that  we  should  substitute 
industrial  action.  ...  It  appears  to  me  to  be  less  likely  that 
they  will  be  ready  to  give  their  adhesion  to  industrial  action  to 
enforce  political  demands  and  ideas.  It  would  therefore  be  a 
misfortune  if  the  movement  were  to  be  torn  asunder  by  efforts 
to  force  the  adoption  of  the  strike  policy  for  political  aims. 

It  was  clear  from  the  buzz  of  comment  and  interruption 
that  the  delegates  were  determined  to  deal  with  Russia  and 
direct  action.  Their  repressed  feelings  began  to  come  through. 
The  liveliness  started  when  the  report  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee was  read.  A  paragraph  told  of  sending  a  telegram  of 
welcome  to  President  Wilson.  A  delegate  of  the  (anti-war) 
British  Socialist  Party,  William  McLaine,  protested.  He 
said: 

President  Wilson  is  the  commercial  traveler  for  American  capi- 
talism. It  is  necessary  for  him  to  speak  as  if  he  were  an  idealist, 
and  thus  to  be  used  by  the  Allied  imperialists  to  obtain  labor 
support  in  their  own  countries.  The  old  phrases  of  annexation 
would  not  have  availed.  In  America,  in  President  Wilson's  own 
country,  Socialists  and  labor  men  are  in  prison,  such  men  as 
Eugene  Debs  and  Victor  Berger.  Let  President  Wilson  speak 
when  his  house  is  in  order.  Labor  will  do  well  when  it  relies 
on  itself  instead  of  on  President  Wilson.  He  came  into  the  Wajr 


86  THE  YEAR 

when  American  capital  was  committed  and  ready  to  come.    His 
policy  is  opposed  to  that  of  the  working-class. 

Arthur  Henderson  here  intervened  with  his  note  of  au- 
thority : 

I  hope  that  this  debate  will  not  be  pursued.  When  we  sent  the 
telegram,  we  were  then  hopeful  that  President  Wilson  would 
translate  his  ideals  into  terms  of  the  treaty.  We  sent  it  in  the 
trust  that  his  ideals  might  be  realized  much  nearer  than  they  are. 

It  was  only  a  minority  of  the  delegates  who  were  so  mis- 
taken as  to  believe  that  Mr.  Wilson  had  acted  with  hypocrisy. 
The  large  majority  dismissed  the  matter  in  the  sympathetic 
silence  given  to  a  well-meaning  man  who  had  been  outplayed 
by  stronger  men.  And  Henderson's  requiem  closed  the  inci- 
dent. Wilson  will  not  again  figure  in  the  deliberations  of 
British  labor.  No  delegate  in  all  the  hall  applauded  his  name. 
A  sense  of  disillusionment  in  him  and  in  the  peace  is  wide- 
spread among  advanced  workers.  The  same  kindliness  that 
covers  the  Antwerp  and  the  Gallipoli  expeditions  will  surround 
the  sleep  of  the  Fourteen  Points.  One  lasting  result  the 
American  President  has  wrought — he  has  altered  the  vocabu- 
lary of  idealism.  At  this  labor  conference,  phrases  about 
"  open  covenants  "  and  "  democracy  made  safe  "  were  scrupu- 
lously avoided,  and  the  aspirations  of  the  workers  were  put 
into  pedestrian  and  realistic  words,  with  the  emphasis  on  ap- 
plications rather  than  on  general  principles.  Ideology  of 
language  has  now  been  relinquished  to  the  imperialists. 

One  issue  became  clear.  Should  British  labor  use  direct 
action,  industrial  pressure,  the  strike,  to  pull  the  troops  out  of 
Russia?  If  so,  should  the  Labor  Party  say  so?  Or  should  it 
be  left  to  the  Trades  Union  Congress  ?  Should  a  political  ques- 
tion be  settled  by  the  industrial  weapon?  This  is  an  old  and 
familiar  doctrine,  but  the  application  of  it  to  the  Labor  Party 
is  new  to  British  experience.  The  Executive  Committee,  in  its 
report,  took  the  ground  that  if  the  "  British  labor  movement 
is  to  institute  a  new  precedent  in  our  industrial  history  by 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  87 

initiating  a  general  strike  for  the  purpose  of  achieving  not 
industrial  but  political  objects,  it  is  imperative  that  the  trade 
unions,  whose  members  are  to  fulfil  the  obligations  implied 
in  the  new  policy  and  whose  finances  it  is  presumed  are  to 
be  involved,  should  realize  the  responsibilities  such  a  strike 
movement  would  entail  and  should  themselves  determine  the 
plan  of  any  such  new  campaign." 

Robert  Williams  rose  from  his  place  as  member  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  of  the  Labor  Party.  He  is  the  secretary 
of  nearly  400,000  transport  workers,  who  are  sailors,  dockers, 
riverside  workers,  ship  loaders,  and  vehicular  workers.  He  is 
a  giant  of  a  man,  over  six  feet,  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  with 
large  features — big  mouth,  a  jutting  nose,  a  loud  voice,  and  a 
gift  of  Kiplingesque  language.  He  wears  a  drooping  tie  like 
a  neck-bouquet,  and  has  huge  hands.  He  is  the  "average 
sensual  man,"  seen  through  a  magnifying  glass,  and  looks 
like  a  super-drummer.  In  speaking,  the  touch  of  charlatan- 
ism disappears,  and  the  strength  that  has  lifted  him  from 
poverty  to  leadership  comes  through.  He  chews  his  words 
with  vigor  and  accentuates  ch's  and  c's.  He  hisses  his  attacks, 
bitter  and  fearless : 

There  are  members  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee  who  are 
more  reactionary  than  the  House  of  Lords.  Their  action  has  been 
a  smoke  screen  to  protect  the  reactionaries  of  the  government. 
We  are  told  that  certain  forms  of  action  are  unconstitutional.  Is 
the  war  against  Russia  a  constitutional  war?  One  day  that  scion 
of  the  house  of  Marlborough,  Mr.  Churchill,  the  would-be  dic- 
tator, gloats  over  the  success  of  the  Koltchaks,  the  Denikines  and 
Manneheims,  who  seek  to  crush  the  Russian  workers'  republic. 
And,  then,  when  the  Red  army  wins,  Mr.  Churchill  says,  "  We're 
only  in  a  sort  of  war  with  Russia." 

Mr.  Churchill  has  thrown  down  the  challenge,  and  I  am  pre- 
pared to  say  that  at  least  one  million  of  the  pick  of  the  working- 
class  movement  will  accept  his  challenge  on  the  maintenance  of 
conscription,  and  the  crushing  of  a  working-class  republic.  If  the 
leaders  don't  take  action  constitutionally,  then  the  rank  and  file 
will  take  action.  As  a  trade  union  official,  I  wish  no  conscription. 
The  government  is  attempting  to  get  the  same  power  over  the 


88  THE  YEAR 

workers  industrially  as  in  the  war.     We  have  a  proof  in  the 
infamous  army  circular.     [Exposed  by  the  Daily  Herald.] 

But  the  military  cannot  be  relied  on  to  crush  a  working-class 
movement.  I  am  credibly  informed  that  the  navy  is  even  less 
reliable  than  the  army.  The  police  are  less  reliable  than  the  navy. 
Let  the  conference  decide  whether  it  is  possible  to  promote  indus- 
trial action  for  political  action — to  use  what  our  French  friends 
call  faction  directe. 

Then  followed  the  demonstration  of  the  three  days.  A 
gray,  bent  man  rose  in  the  center  of  the  hall,  and  acclamation 
grew  till  it  was  a  tidal  wave.  For  a  moment  or  two  the  dele- 
gates broke  into  song,  while  Robert  Smillie  walked  to  the 
front. 

He  came  to  them  from  his  long  battle  on  the  Coal  Commis- 
sion where,  with  the  equal  help  of  Hodges  and  Sidney  Webb, 
he  had  won  a  wage  gain  and  a  shortening  of  hours  that  give 
his  miners  a  good  life.  And  more  than  that  he  had  won;  for 
he  had  obtained  a  majority  decision  in  favor  of  nationalization 
and  workers'  share  in  management,  which  in  the  end  will 
make  his  miners  into  public  servants.  He  would  wrest  the 
minerals  from  the  Dukes  and  hand  the  mines  over  to  the  com- 
munity. As  the  foreign  delegates  testified,  he  had  given  the 
pace  to  the  labor  movement  of  Europe.  The  past  and  present 
of  the  man  were  about  him — his  almost  fifty  years  of  strug- 
gle and  his  part  in  the  march  of  labor.  He  stood  a  foot  away 
from  where  I  sat.  His  bent  figure  and  lined  face  are  pa- 
thetic, but  it  is  not  the  pathos  of  failure — it  is  the  pathos  of 
the  old  warrior. 

"  Don't  spare  'em,  Bob,"  came  a  voice  from  the  gallery. 

Smillie  said  in  part: 

The  Executive  Committee  has  taken  the  position  of  every  ex- 
ploiter, capitalist,  and  politician.  What  they  fear  more  than  any- 
thing else  is  direct  action.  Direct  action  may  be  constitutional 
action.  Labor  leaders  were  tied  up  under  the  munitions  acts  and 
the  strike  made  illegal.  The  rank  and  file  could  only  protest. 
The  actions  of  the  trade  unions  should  have  been  kept  free. 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  89 

[Smillie  kept  the  miners  free  by  refusing  to  enter  the  Lloyd 
George  Treasury  Agreement.] 

Where  do  political  questions  end  and  industrial  questions  begin? 
Politicians  say  that  the  nationalization  of  mines  is  political,  but 
does  the  conference  condemn  the  miners  who  made  up  their  minds 
they  would  strike  if  they  did  not  get  nationalization  of  mines? 
To  me  nationalization  is  a  great  labor  question.  Starved  and 
kicked  and  kept  in  miserable  houses  for  generations,  the  miners 
have  been  building  up  fortunes  for  the  privileged  class.  Are  the 
organized  miners  not  to  use  the  power  of  their  organization  to 
improve  their  conditions  by  nationalization  of  mines?  Yea,  and 
our  Executive  Committee  is  now  congratulating  the  miners. 

Is  the  action  of  the  government  constitutional?  The  present 
government  is  sitting  through  fraud  and  corruption.  They  have 
deceived  and  lied.  Is  the  labor  movement  to  take  no  action?  But 
no  person  proposed  a  stoppage  of  work  to  overthrow  the  govern- 
ment. .  .  .  We  want  to  take  constitutional  means  in  order  to 
prevent  later  the  taking  of  unconstitutional  means.  It  will  be 
safer  for  the  trades  unions  and  the  Labour  Party  to  meet  calmly 
and  constitutionally  than  to  wait  until  a  revolution  breaks  out 
in  some  part  of  the  country,  which  might  sweep  from  one  end 
of  the  land  to  the  other.  We  of  the  Triple  Alliance  wanted  the 
whole  labor  movement  to  have  a  voice  in  deciding  the  question. 
The  Parliamentary  Committee  has  denied  us  the  right  to  meet 
the  whole  of  the  trade  union  movement.  So  we  have  called  a 
conference  of  the  three  bodies  in  the  Triple  Alliance.  We  would 
have  preferred  a  wider  movement.  We  do  not  wish  to  fight  labor's 
battle  sectionally.  It  is  our  duty  to  let  the  workers  know  we 
are  behind  them.  I  appeal  to  the  Executive  Committee  to  with- 
draw this  paragraph,  because  it  is  a  slap  in  the  face  to  those  of 
us  who  are  working  for  what  we  believe  to  be  the  rights  of  the 
workers. 

James  Sexton  replied.  Sexton  is  head  of  the  50,000  dock 
laborers.  He  is  the  grizzled  veteran  of  many  battles  for  the 
better  condition  of  the  less-skilled  and  less-organized  work- 
ers. His  long  years  of  responsible  position  have  schooled  him 
to  patience  and  the  piecemeal  gain.  He  has  a  constitutional 
distrust  of  the  radical  mind.  He  has  a  large  forehead  with 


90  THE  YEAR 

beetling  brows  over  inset  eyes.  His  speech  is  jerky  but  forci- 
ble, given  in  a  rough  voice  of  sincerity.  He  is  respected  by 
labor  and  possesses  a  large  measure  of  influence. 

"  Hello,  Jimmy,  another  forlorn  hope,"  said  a  delegate  as 
Sexton  came  to  the  front.  Sexton  replied: 

It  may  be  a  forlorn  hope,  but  I  do  not  think  so.  My  friend  and 
colleague,  Williams,  has  put  the  case  for  direct  action.  I  agree 
with  Mr.  Smillie  that  it  is  difficult,  and  sometimes  almost  impos- 
sible, to  separate  political  from  industrial  questions.  Is  there  a 
man  or  a  woman  in  the  trade  union  movement  who  would  not 
take  industrial  action  for  the  nationalization  of  the  mines?  .  .  . 
Against  conscription  no  man  is  stronger  than  myself.  But  is  there 
not  an  easier  way  of  dealing  with  Mr.  Churchill  at  the  next  gen- 
eral election?  Four  years  of  good  sound  agitation  [Voice:  "How 
about  Russia?"]  is  better  than  the  risk  of  civil  war.  .  .  .  You 
are  letting  loose  an  element  now  rife  in  the  trade  unions  which 
you  cannot  control.  I  am  a  revolutionist  of  a  social  character, 
but  I  do  not  believe  in  letting  mad  dogs  loose. 

J.  Bromley  answered  him.  He  is  a  man  in  middle  life, 
head  of  40,000  men  in  the  Associated  Society  of  Locomotive 
Engineers  and  Firemen.  In  the  past  his  organization  has  been 
at  odds  with  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen,  but  he  and 
Cramp  have  reached  agreement.  They  and  their  rank  and 
file  are  as  radical  as  the  miners.  Bromley  said: 

I  am  not  going  to  call  men  mad  dogs.  The  organized  labor 
movement  will  have  to  blend  the  two — political  and  direct  action 
— to  save  itself  from  destruction.  I  compliment  the  Triple  Al- 
liance on  their  action.  Every  one  of  the  government  pledges  has 
been  broken.  Are  we  to  take  that  lying  down?  .  .  .  Unless  the 
intelligent  and  aggressive  minority  give  leadership,  the  trade  union 
movement  is  going  down  in  a  welter  of  inaction.  .  .  .  The  rank 
and  file  have  backed  us  in  our  strikes.  Let  us  show  them  that 
we  are  coming  at  last. 

He  was  followed  by  W.  Brace,  M.P.,  of  the  South  Wales 
miners.  Brace  (like  T.  Richards,  McGurk,  and  Adamson) 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  91 

represents  the  more  conservative  element  among  the  miners, 
just  as  Smillie,  Hodges,  Robertson,  Straker,  Hartshorn,  and 
Herbert  Smith  represent  the  majority  element.  Brace  is  "  a 
splendid  figure  of  a  man"  with  raven-black  hair,  big,  black 
mustachios  like  a  benevolent  pirate  of  the  Main,  and  a  power- 
ful physique.  Brace  regarded  the  use  of  industrial  action  to 
settle  political  questions  as  a  "  slippery  slope,"  but  agreed  with 
Smillie  that  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  between  industrial 
and  political  questions.  He  said: 

The  driving  power  behind  nationalization  of  mines  was  from 
organized  labor,  but  to  set  up  the  Coal  Commission  legislative 
enactment  was  necessary.  It  was  the  political  party  that  set  up 
the  statutory  commission.  These  paragraphs  in  the  executive 
report  suggest  that  the  question  of  direct  action  should  be  settled 
by  the  trade  unions  alone.  But  it  should  be  settled  by  both  the 
industrial  and  political  sides  of  the  movement. 

Then  Henderson  made  the  second  move  for  the  executive 
and  the  question  was  put  by,  to  be  fought  out  when  a  resolu- 
tion in  the  agenda  should  come  up  in  regular  course.  It  was 
to  return  twice  more  till  it  was  decided.  And  it  was  to  be 
decided  against  Henderson,  Brace,  Sexton,  Tillett,  and  Clynes, 
and  in  favor  of  Smillie,  Hodges,  Bromley,  Williams. 


in 

No  labor  conference  would  be  happy  unless  some  foreign 
delegate  had  been  prevented  by  a  government  from  attend- 
ing. This  time  two  Frenchmen  had  been  turned  back  by  the 
French,  or  the  Home  Office,  or  the  police.  They  were  Fros- 
sard  and  Jean  Longuet,  the  stormy  petrel  of  labor  meetings. 
The  conference  strongly  protested  and  gave  all  the  more  em- 
phatic applause  to  Ramsay  MacDonald,  himself  the  subject  of 
earlier  embargoes,  who  had  recently  returned  from  central 
Europe.  He  spoke  to  a  resolution  in  favor  of  admitting  Ger- 
many to  the  League  of  Nations  and  the  revision  of  the  harsh 
provisions  of  the  treaty.  MacDonald  has  a  personality  which 


92  THE  YEAR 

appeals  to  many  races  and  nationalities.  It  is  an  international 
personality,  possessed  also  by  Longuet,  Vandervelde,  and 
B ranting;  Jane  Addams  has  it  notably  among  women.  This 
means  that  he  talks  a  language  understood  by  humanity,  and 
carries  a  sympathy  which  crosses  frontiers.  Hindus,  Irish,  and 
Russians  are  as  much  attracted  to  MacDonald  as  French  and 
Italians.  It  "  takes  it  out  of  him  "  to  speak.  A  sob  broke 
from  him  after  one  of  his  passages.  Henderson  is  a  sincere 
politician  without  the  artistic  touch — he  persuades  and  man- 
ages people.  MacDonald  carries  overtones  and  moves  people. 
Both  men  have  a  quality  of  healing  that  banishes  hate  and 
division.  MacDonald  quoted  Bolingbroke  on  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht,  two  hundred  years  ago :  "  Each  of  our  Allies  thought 
himself  entitled  to  raise  his  demands  to  the  most  extrava- 
gant height.  They  had  been  encouraged  to  do  this  first  by 
the  engagements  we  had  entered  into  with  several  of  them, 
with  some  to  draw  them  into  the  War,  with  others  to  prevail 
upon  them  to  continue  in  it."  The  origin  of  war,  said  Mac- 
Donald,  was  the  stupidity  of  the  nations  that  made  peace, 
and  he  went  on: 

The  iniquitous  conduct  of  Germany  against  France  in  1871  is 
now  being  punished.  Let  it  be  punished  in  such  a  way  that  there 
will  be  no  nation,  twenty,  thirty,  or  forty  years  hence,  that  will 
rise  up  and  say,  "  We  are  going  to  wipe  out  the  peace  of  1919." 

We  could  say  that  if  Germany  were  in  our  position,  she  would 
do  worse.  I  agree  that  she  would.  I  have  never  said  anything 
else.  Neither  in  making  war  nor  in  making  peace  am  I  going 
to  copy  militarism.  A  peace  made  by  Germany  never  would  have 
been  acquiesced  in. 

Another  kind  of  peace  is  the  peace  of  punishment.  Germany 
must  bear  the  burdens  of  her  acts.  That  is  punishment,  but 
punishment  is  most  effective  with  a  reserve  of  justice.  The  man 
who  confuses  passion  with  punishment  is  not  punishing  as  a  judge 
delivering  justice,  but  as  a  man  destroying  his  enemy. 

There  is  a  third  peace  that  settles  the  problems  of  Europe 
and  tames  those  evil  passions. 

There  is  in  Europe  a  great  menace  of  militarism  created  by 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  93 

the  Scheidemanns  and  Noskes  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Churchills 
and  Paris  conferences  on  the  other. 

There  are  still  the  war-makers — old  people,  with  a  gouty  foot 
by  the  fireside,  who  wish  to  be  heroes  and  patriots. 

The  League  of  Nations  is  the  one  hope.  It  is  bad  as  it  stands, 
but  we  must  make  it  better — no  longer  a  league  of  national  execu- 
tives, but  a  league  of  peoples.  All  our  old  enemies  must  be  in  it. 

We  wish  a  peace  out  of  the  simple  heart  of  man,  out  of  the 
common  experience  of  man.  The  old  governing  order  gives  way 
before  the  simple  humanitarian  ideas  of  the  common  people.  They 
are  marching,  marching,  marching  to  conquer  the  land.  Over  the 
well-nigh  countless  graves  of  Europe  the  grass  is  growing.  Al- 
most one  can  hear  the  simple  soothing  murmur  of  the  growing 
grass,  a  music  rising  till  the  guns  are  stifled  and  stilled  by  it. 
In  our  own  hearts,  in  our  passions,  let  it  be  that  peace  shall  rule. 

An  added  proof  that  the  War  is  over  was  furnished  by  the 
London  Times  in  saying  of  this  speech :  "  He  perceptibly 
stirred  the  feelings  of  some  of  his  hearers.  On  the  whole  it 
was  a  moderate  utterance  from  such  a  quarter,  and  it  would 
probably  be  endorsed  by  men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  in  the 
party." 

On  a  Thursday  afternoon,  the  stage  rilled  with  friendly 
visitors  from  Europe  and  Asia.  McGurk  as  chairman  was 
gasping  for  breath  in  the  strange  tongues  that  broke  loose  at 
his  right  and  left. 

The  foreign  delegates  made  clear  seven  things : 

1.  They  voiced  the  desire  for  a  working-class  International. 

2.  They  expressed  the  wish  that  England  should  give  the  lead 
to  the  social  movement  of  Europe.     (This  appeal  to  England  as 
the  pace-setter  is  from  the  elder  constitutionalists  of  the  Berne 
conference,  like  Branting,  who  look  to  Henderson  and  Stuart- 
Bunning  to  keep  a  steady  keel  without  tipping  to  the  left.    It  is 
equally  felt  by  the  unrepresented  left  of  Italy  and  France,  who 
wish  the  younger  blood  of  England  to  shake  loose  from  the  step 
by  step  methods,   and   indulge   in   a   revolutionary   semi-Russian 
program,  looking  toward  a  new  International  of  the  Moscow 
order.) 


94  THE  YEAR 

3.  They  gave  assurance  that  the  Coal  Commission  had  rever- 
berated throughout  Europe  and  heralded  a  new  social  order.    The 
European  movement  has  been  stimulated  by  the  miners'  victory. 

4.  They  demand  that  Britain  should  join  Italy  and  France  in 
demonstrating  against  Russian  intervention. 

5.  They  testified  that  the  international  labor  movement  is  the 
nucleus  for  a  league  of  peoples. 

6.  They  testified  that  the  paramount  need  is  for  peace,  bread, 
and  work — credits  and  raw  material — an  end  of  the  twenty-three 
wars  now  raging. 

7.  Unconsciously  they  revealed  sadness,  almost  despair.    Some 
of  them  are  surrounded  by  chaos  and  look  ahead  to  bankruptcy 
and  disaster.    Europe  is  falling  to  pieces,  and  looks  to  England 
for  help  and  stability. 

One  speaker  advanced  like  a  priestess.  Annie  Besant  has 
returned  to  her  own,  after  her  twenty-six  years  in  India, 
where  she  has  traveled  far  toward  the  "  dweller  in  the  inner- 
most." Wherever  she  goes,  dusky,  turbanned  Hindus  guard 
her.  She  has  had  a  hand  in  three  deep-reaching  insurgencies. 
Far  back  in  the  '705,  she  and  Bradlaugh  stood  trial  for  mak- 
ing public  knowledge  to  lessen  the  birth-rate  of  Great  Britain. 
Years  later  she  was  one  of  those  first  Fabians,  with  Webb  and 
Shaw  and  Bland,  who  published  the  volume  that  "  permeated  " 
England,  and  helped  to  break  ground  for  last  month's  Coal 
Commission.  With  the  aid  of  the  Babus  she  has  given  trans- 
lations of  the  Hindu  writings,  including  the  "  rare  and 
precious  Lord's  Song"  of  the  Bhagavad-Gita.  From  time  to 
time  in  the  last  generation  the  East  has  stirred  with  aspira- 
tions and  the  whisper  of  her  name  has  flown  across  the  con- 
tinent. 

Annie  Besant  stood  quietly  under  the  greeting  of  the  dele- 
gates, an  old  woman,  with  thick  white  hair  in  waves  across 
her  head.  She  wore  a  rich  robe-like  dress  of  cream-yellow, 
gracious  to  the  eye,  and  cunningly  wrought  at  the  cuffs  and 
bodice  in  dyed  stuffs  of  many  colors,  patterned  of  tiny  threads. 

"  Comrades  of  the  long  ago,"  she  began.  Her  voice  caught 
up  the  gathering  with  its  rhythm,  every  sentence  taking  its 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  95 

full  curve.  The  effect  of  this  strange  presence,  returned  to 
the  West  for  what  unguessed  purpose,  was  compelling  on  the 
audience,  who  ceased  to  be  a  labor  conference  and  became  for 
a  moment  a  dumb  and  waiting  people,  expectant  of  the  word : 

! 

There  are  only  two  ways  from  serfdom  to  liberty — the  way  of 
reform  and  the  way  of  revolution.  Will  you  not  help  us  in  India 
to  reforms  that  will  avoid  revolution?  Mr.  Montagu's  bill  does 
not  give  us  a  central  government.  The  British  Labor  Party  at 
Nottingham  endorsed  India's  claim  to  self-government.  We  come 
now  to  ask  you  for  your  help  in  gaining  from  Parliament  that 
home  rule  which  you  have  already  declared  has  long  been  our 
right.  You  may  say  to  us,  "  But  you  have  the  blessings  of  British 
rule,  and  why  would  you  barter  that  for  the  winning  of  home 
rule?"  We  want  it  to  secure  those  things  that  make  a  people 
contented  and  prosperous — for  longer  lives  and  shorter  hours  and 
food  for  all.  But  why  should  we  seek  to  prove  to  you  why  we 
want  home  rule?  It  is  for  you,  if  you  deny  us  the  right,  to 
prove  your  right  to  make  the  denial. 

Home  rule  is  the  right  of  every  nation,  that  it  may  carry  out 
its  mission  in  the  world;  and  you  can  never  have  the  true  Inter- 
national until  you  have  nations  that  are  able  to  unite. 

We  would  plead  with  you,  the  mother  of  all  free  institutions — 
to  your  consciences,  your  honor,  your  traditions — to  you  who 
sheltered  Mazzini  and  welcomed  Garibaldi,  will  you  not  help 
us? 

The  League  of  Nations  is  a  league  of  white  nations  to  exploit 
colored  nations.  It  should  be  a  league  of  free  peoples.  In  India, 
there  is  the  last  autocracy  in  the  world.  But  when  you  went  out 
to  fight  for  freedom,  India  sprang  to  your  side.  She  has  an  autoc- 
racy still,  and  no  date  to  the  ending  of  it.  By  the  passion  of 
her  enthusiasm,  then,  Britain  may  judge  of  her  disappointment 
to-day. 

Give  us  some  power  in  the  center,  and  let  India  through  her 
councils  speak.  Help  us  to  drive  a  gap  in  that  citadel  of  autoc- 
racy, and  India  will  widen  the  gap  till  the  walls  fall. 

Some  of  her  children  are  still-born,  and  half  her  population  live 
on  one  meal  a  day.  You  are  sorry  for  your  starving  enemies. 
Will  you  not  also  be  sorry  for  your  friends? 

Give  us  freedom,  and  our  people  shall  not  starve.     Give  us 


96  THE  YEAR 

home  rule,  and  we  will  do  for  ourselves  what  you  are  unable 
to  do  for  us.  Give  us  a  chance  of  raising  a  mighty  nation,  a 
nation  of  glorious  traditions,  and  let  it  go  forward  with  you,  a 
free  nation  among  the  free  nations  that  make  your  common- 
wealth, and  Indians  will  bless  your  name  in  the  future,  and  be 
glad  at  last  that  you  landed  in  India  as  merchants. 


IV 

Henderson  and  Webb  believe  that  a  general  election  will 
soon  come,  and  they  are  pushing  nationalization  to  the  front. 
The  resolution  with  respect  to  it  was  therefore  one  of  the  two 
most  important  to  come  before  the  conference.  The  situation 
is  this:  the  Coal  Commission  by  a  majority  found  for  na- 
tionalization; Lloyd  George  and  Bonar  Law  have  pledged 
their  word  to  make  its  findings  law;  vested  interests  inside 
and  outside  of  Parliament  are  determined  to  prevent  this. 
Henderson  says : 

It  is  a  matter  of  enormous  significance  that  the  conference  is 
confronted  with  a  very  real  working-class  achievement  in  the 
majority  recommendation  of  the  Coal  Commission  in  favor  of 
nationalization  of  mines  and  minerals,  and  recognition  of  the  right 
of  the  workers  to  a  share  in  the  control  of  the  industry.  .  .  . 
They  are  calculated  to  hasten  the  dissolution  of  the  unnatural 
alliance  of  parties  that  masquerade  at  present  as  a  coalition  gov- 
ernment. They  provide  labor  with  a  first-class  issue  upon  which 
to  base  its  electoral  campaign.  I  hope  and  believe  that  the  con- 
ference will  seize  the  opportunity  presented  to  it  and  will  rally 
the  whole  of  the  forces  of  the  organized  movement  to  a  joint  effort 
to  carry  these  recommendations  into  effect. 

Around  this  issue  of  nationalization  the  fight  is  forming 
from  all  sides.  It  will  be  the  political  and  industrial  issue 
of  the  next  five  years.  The  Duke  of  Northumberland  and 
the  Morning  Post  see  it  as  clearly  as  Henderson  and  Smillie 
and  Webb. 

The  Morning  Post  for  June  27th  says: 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  97 

The  old  lines  of  party  cleavage  have  no  doubt  been  obliterated, 
but  only  to  range  in  a  less  artificial  antagonism  the  great,  endur- 
ing conservative  elements  in  the  country,  who  stand  for  reasoned 
progress,  based  upon  the  established  order,  and  the  revolution- 
aries who,  in  their  impatience  to  make  experiments,  would  put 
everything  that  is  worth  having  to  risk.  It  is  time  for  every  man 
to-day  to  decide  on  which  side  he  stands,  and  no  better  test  could 
be  afforded  than  this  issue  of  the  nationalization  of  the  coal 
mines. 

Havelock  Wilson  of  the  sailors  ranges  himself  with  the 
Post.  A  committee  of  conservative  members  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary Coalition  has  been  formed  to  fight  nationalization. 
Coal  will  kill  the  coalition,  the  coal  report  will  transform 
political  parties  and  will  force  Lloyd  George  to  make  his  de- 
cision as  to  his  own  future,  whether  he  shall  be  the  radical 
campaigner,  or  the  rising  hope  of  the  ancient  landowner. 
Such  was  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  resolution  on  coal  came 
before  the  conference.  John  Baker  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Trades  Confederation  (85,000  members)  moved  the  resolu- 
tion. H.  Nixon,  of  the  20,000  blast  furnacemen,  seconded 
it.  It  was  a  clever  device  to  have  these  metal  trades,  kindred 
to  coal,  line  up  behind  the  miners. 

A  resolution  on  national  finance  was  brought  in  by  the 
I.  L.  P.,  the  railwaymen,  and  four  local  labor  parties.  It 
called  for  a  graduated  system  of  conscription  of  wealth,  the 
taxation  of  land,  accumulated  capital,  incomes  and  profits,  a 
national  bank. 

Briefly,  the  situation  is  that  the  national  debt  amounts  to 
one-half  of  the  pre-war  total  capital  value  in  land,  mines, 
railways,  building  and  commercial  industry.  When  the 
troubled  and  disastrous  financial  condition  of  Britain  is  real- 
ized— as  it  must  be  within  three  years — this  plank  of  the  labor 
program  will  come  to  the  fore.  It  is  a  challenge,  (i)  to 
the  possessors  of  wealth  to  hand  over  a  larger  fraction  of 


98  THE  YEAR 

their  capital  and  income;  (2)  to  the  captains  of  industry  to 
mitigate  unchecked  "  private  enterprise "  and  "  private  prof- 
its "  in  order  to  win  the  co-operation  of  labor,  which  balks  at 
operating  under  the  old  system;  and  (3)  to  the  labor  leaders 
to  tell  the  rank  and  file  that  "  the  new  heaven  and  new  earth  " 
has  been  postponed  by  the  War,  and  that  hard  work  inside  the 
industrial  democracy  is  a  necessity  for  even  a  scanty  measure 
of  prosperity. 


The  morning  of  the  last  day  opened  with  Henderson's 
reading  of  a  statement  that  "the  delegates  of  the  labor  and 
Socialist  movements  in  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Italy, 
meeting  in  Southport,"  had  arranged  for  a  general  working- 
class  demonstration  on  July  20  and  21,  to  take,  in  each  country, 
"  the  form  best  adapted  to  its  circumstances  and  to  its  method 
of  operation."  This  meant  that  orderly  public  meetings  of 
protest  would  be  held  so  far  as  British  labor  was  concerned. 
The  foreign  delegates — d'Arragona,  Renaudel,  Jouhaux,  and 
Branting — all  of  them  belonging  to  the  right,  had  made  it 
clear  that  working-class  feeling  against  Russian  intervention 
had  grown  so  intense  that  organized  expression  must  be  found. 
These  middle-aged  conservative  men  had  sat  up  late  o'  nights 
with  the  British  Executive  Committee,  revealing  the  gather- 
ing storm,  and  devising  a  lightning-rod. 

Then  the  conference  passed  on  to  its  most  dramatic  piece 
of  business — the  resolution  on  direct  action.  Councillor  R.  J. 
Davies,  of  the  Manchester  and  Salford  Labor  Party,  moved 
it  and  seconds  came  from  G.  Deer,  of  the  British  Socialist 
Party,  and  C.  G.  Ammon,  of  the  Fawcett  Association  of 
7,000  post-office  employees. 

Neil  Maclean,  M.P.,  one  of  the  Scottish  members  from 
the  storm  center  of  the  Clyde,  said : 

No  war  has  been  declared  on  Russia.  No  war  credits  have 
been  voted.  The  war  is  unconstitutional  on  the  part  of  the  gov- 
ernment. We  are  in  the  war  because  1,600  millions  of  British 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  99 

capital  is  invested  in  Russia.  Three  cabinet  ministers,  Sir  Eric 
Geddes,  Austen  Chamberlain,  and  Walter  Long,  have  money  in- 
vested in  Russia,  and  wish  Koltchak  to  win.  Our  troops  use 
weapons  made  by  British  armament  firms  who  have  money  in- 
vested in  Russia,  the  Birmingham  Small  Arms  Company  among 
them.  In  the  House  of  Commons  men  who  call  the  Labor  Party 
Bolshevik  hold  shares  in  Russian  companies,  and  allow  the  boys 
of  the  working-class  to  be  sent  to  fight  for  their  capital.  The 
dowager  empress  of  Russia  can  enter  this  country  without  dif- 
ficulty, but  labor's  two  delegates  from  France  are  turned  back. 
As  between  the  czarist,  Koltchak  and  Bolshevik  regime,  I  stand 
by  the  Bolshevik  regime.  So  I  call  on  labor  to  assist  those  of 
us  who  are  in  the  House  of  Commons,  who  wish  to  withdraw 
our  troops. 

Up  to  this  point,  the  more  extreme  radicals  only  had  spoken. 
They  did  not  represent  a  voting  strength  of  more  than  per- 
haps 5  per  cent  of  the  conference.  Ben  Tillett  spoke  for 
the  other  extreme.  He  has  a  famous  history  from  the  days 
when  he  and  John  Burns  and  Tom  Mann  fought  the  dock 
strike.  Tillett  still  leads  the  dockers.  He  is  a  short,  clean- 
shaven, black-haired,  grim-lipped  fighting  man.  He  has  a 
square  chin  and  in  repose  is  like  a  small  hunk  of  granite.  In 
action  he  is  fierce  and  springy  with  a  panther-swiftness  of  at- 
tack. At  his  best  he  is  magnificent,  and  he  was  at  his  best. 
A  few  days  before,  he  had  carried  the  transport  workers 
in  his  plea  for  working-class  forgiveness  of  the  Germans — a 
noble  plea.  Now  he  was  brilliant  in  his  defense  of  the  old 
trade-union  way  of  carrying  on  the  class  war.  Tillett  said: 

For  thirty-five  years  I  have  been  a  direct  actionist.  From  the 
source  that  moves  this  resolution,  I  have  been  subjected  to  the 
bitterest  persecution.  This  is  a  political  conference.  It  has  no 
right  to  ask  the  industrial  movement  to  take  economic  action 
without  consulting  the  members — pit,  shop,  and  branches.  The 
words  of  the  resolution  are  camouflage  to  cover  the  sinister  intent 
of  the  resolution.  The  trade  union  movement  cannot  take  this 
action  without  exhausting  every  avenue  of  reason  and  argument. 
There  has  never  yet  been  a  revolution  of  the  workers.  Workers 


100  THE  YEAR 

have  gone  blindly  into  revolutions,  led  by  the  middle-class  and  by 
professional  politicians.  Then  the  workers,  like  Samson,  had  their 
eyes  gouged  out;  the  politician  benefited  and  the  workers  suf- 
fered. If  we  are  to  take  revolutionary  action,  it  must  be  organ- 
ized, and  it  must  offer  a  chance  of  success.  Always,  the  men 
who  have  been  most  blatant  for  bloodshed  have  skulked  out  of 
trouble.  The  lions  on  the  platform  have  been  rats  when  the  sol- 
diery turned  out. 

The  Triple  Alliance  can't  do  these  things.  There  is  too  much 
talk  of  the  Triple  Alliance.  It  is  a  body  subordinate  to  discipline. 
Miners  and  railwaymen  and  transport  workers  can't  be  led  by 
the  nose.  Their  constituents  must  be  consulted  before  action  is 
taken.  The  conference  should  hand  over  industrial  action  to  the 
proper  body. 

In  Russia  to-day  no  trade  union  meeting  can  be  held.  Under 
the  Trotsky-Lenine  government,  no  life  is  sacred,  no  property 
is  stable.  There  is  absolute  chaos  by  direct  action. 

When  we  go  to  war  for  our  class  rights,  we  must  know  what 
we  are  doing.  When  the  fighting  comes,  I  shall  not  be  far 
behind.  It  is  a  mistake  for  this  conference  to  insult  the  workers. 
The  trade  union  movement  will  not  allow  you  to  boss  them. 

Tillett  was  eloquent  and  witty,  throwing  his  invective  at 
high  speed.  His  was  a  white-hot  speech  of  deep  emotion  by 
a  man  of  native  gifts.  It  was  a  speech  that  might  have  won 
the  conference,  if  any  but  two  men  had  tried  to  reply. 

The  younger  of  the  two  rose,  and  a  thousand  men  broke 
into  applause.  Frank  Hodges  did  not  hear  the  applause. 
He  was  thinking  of  the  young  men — absent  from  this  con- 
ference of  the  elderly — whose  voice  he  was.  He  is  thirty- 
two  years  old,  grave  and  determined;  sharply-chiseled  with  a 
jutting  jaw.  The  young  miner  from  South  Wales  has  a 
deep,  steady  voice,  with  a  rolling  quality,  conveying  hints  of 
reserve  strength.  His  record  at  the  Coal  Commission  was 
known  to  every  man  in  the  hall.  And  as  he  spoke,  the  words 
of  Tillett  seemed  "  personalities,"  a  little  wild  and  touched 
with  hot  feeling.  Calmly,  but  with  a  sweep  of  conviction 
and  a  measured  force  of  considered  argument,  Hodges  lifted 
the  conference  above  bickerings.  He  said: 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  101 

The  resolution  is  an  expression  of  opinion  that  the  labor  move- 
ment, because  of  its  weakness,  has  not  accomplished  its  hopes 
with  regard  to  intervention  in  Russia.  And  it  says,  let  us  acknowl- 
edge our  political  weakness  and  approach  the  body  possessing 
industrial  strength  with  a  view  to  effective  action  being  taken. 
Those  words  must  not  be  misunderstood. 

They  mean  that  the  Parliamentary  Committee  would  be  invited 
to  call  a  Trade  Union  Congress  and  put  a  resolution  of  this  char- 
acter on  the  agenda.  The  experience  of  the  Labor  Party  Execu- 
tive and  of  the  Triple  Alliance  with  the  Parliamentary  Committee 
offers  no  hope.  But  we  hope  that  this  conference  will  succeed 
where  they  failed  in  influencing  the  committee.  It  is  not  sug- 
gested that  the  Trades  Union  Congress  can  make  a  declaration 
as  to  an  immediate  strike.  The  effective  action  may  be  such 
action  as  each  union  must  determine  according  to  its  constitution, 
but  the  conference  could  make  a  recommendation  to  the  unions 
leaving  them  individually  to  discover  the  way  of  carrying  it  into 
effect. 

We  have  got  beyond  the  discussion  of  whether  we  are  to  sup- 
plement political  action  with  industrial  action.  If  I  understand 
the  position,  the  parliamentary  party  would  welcome  that  kind 
of  industrial  support  which  would  add  to  its  authority  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  miners'  strike  found  its  way  on  to  the 
floor  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Do  the  opponents  of  the  reso- 
lution believe  that  at  no  time  is  it  right  for  the  trade  union  move- 
ment to  go  to  the  aid  of  the  political  Labor  Party? 

The  two  wings  of  the  movement  ought  to  be  in  harmony.  The 
parliamentary  party  must  not  only  represent  geographical  areas. 
It  must  represent  the  strength  that  has  accumulated  in  the  trade 
union  movement. 

If  the  resolution  fails,  we  in  the  Triple  Alliance  are  driven 
back  upon  ourselves.  We  do  not  wish  to  be.  But  if  there  is  no 
other  way,  we  must  use  within  the  constitution  of  the  Triple  Al- 
liance the  industrial  force  concentrated  there,  and  our  members 
will  have  the  authority  to  give  us  the  sanction  to  declare  what 
industrial  action  we  shall  take.  I  trust  the  members  of  the 
Parliamentary  Committee  will  heed  this  resolution. 

This  country  can  move  through  to  the  social  revolution  differ- 
ently from  any  other  country,  but  if  you  deny  it  the  right  to 
move  through  constitutional  channels,  provided  by  the  Labor 


102  THE  YEAR 

Party  and  trade  union  movement,  you  bring  into  being  those  ele- 
ments of  social  chaos  and  disaster  which  may  not  be  the  best  for 
the  country  in  the  long  run. 

This  was  a  clean-cut  exhibition  of  personal  power  put  out 
in  easy  mastery  of  a  group.  The  Executive  Committee  now 
made  its  fourth  attempt  to  turn  a  tidal  wave  into  a  pool.  It 
put  forward  Clynes. 

War-time  food  controller,  he  is  not  only  head  of  350,000 
general  workers  but  the  most  famous  representative  of  the 
million  unskilled  and  semi-skilled  organized  workers,  who  are 
approaching  more  and  more  to  amalgamation.  He  is  an  op- 
ponent of  direct  action  for  political  objects.  He  has  swung 
powerfully  to  the  right  as  the  Triple  Alliance  has  leaned  to 
the  left,  and  has  written  and  spoken  boldly  against  their  ac- 
tion. He  is  the  most  powerful  brake  in  Britain  on  their 
course.  Clynes  never  indulges  in  personalities.  He  has  a 
cold-chiseled  brain,  a  limpid  speech.  In  mental  equipment 
he  is  the  Elihu  Root  of  the  labor  movement,  with  consider- 
able physical  resemblance.  He  is  only  outreached  when  he 
meets  a  man  of  equal  moderation,  dignity,  and  clarity,  if  that 
man  has  youth  and  is  for  the  moment  at  least  the  voice  of  the 
aspirations  of  the  coming  generation.  Clynes  said  (to  a  ouzz 
of  interruption)  : 

I  have  always  believed  that  organized  labor  should  use  without 
limit  the  trade  union  weapon  for  industrial  ends.  When  it  is  a 
question  of  wages,  or  hours  of  labor,  or  workshop  conditions, 
there  must  be  no  restraint  upon  the  extremest  use  of  the  strike 
weapon.  But  I  refuse  to  use  that  weapon  for  so  clear  and 
obvious  a  political  purpose  as  that  mentioned  in  this  resolution. 
Mr.  Hodges  has'  put  a  very  generous  interpretation  on  the  reso- 
lution. Its  purpose  is  not  only  "  effective  action "  but  "  unre- 
served use  of  the  industrial  weapon."  [Here  came  a  question 
from  a  delegate.] 

I  was  in  the  government  for  work  I  was  not  ashamed  to  do, 
and  I  left  the  government  because  I  could  not  separate  myself 
from  a  movement  which,  even  when  I  believed  it  to  be  wrong, 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  103 

is  a  movement  I  want  throughout  my  life  to  be  associated  with. 

The  last  time  we  assembled  in  a  labor  conference,  we  were  be- 
ginning a  great  political  struggle  and  we  announced  that  we  had 
360  ready  for  the  fight.  We  went  to  the  constituencies  believing 
in  democratic  government  through  parliamentary  institutions.  In 
60  cases  only  were  our  candidates  returned,  and  300  rejected — 
and  rejected  in  the  main  by  the  great  working-class  constituencies 
where  most  of  our  propaganda  had  been  carried  on.  We  should 
not  deceive  ourselves  by  saying  that  workingmen  were  deceived 
by  designing  knaves  and  politicians.  The  true  explanation  is  that 
the  workingmen  were  not  ready.  Either  we  must  believe  in  par- 
liamentary government  or  reject  it  altogether.  We  must  not  say 
that  the  results  are  splendid  when  we  succeed  and  that  they  are 
not  to  be  recognized  when  we  fail.  We  have  heard  a  lot  about 
the  "  ruling  classes "  and  the  "  governing  classes."  The  class 
which  has  the  power  to  rule  in  this  country  is  the  class  represented 
by  this  conference.  There  are  twenty  million  working  men  and 
women  on  the  burgess  roll.  Are  we  to  say  that  those  twenty 
millions  are  foolish  enough  to  elect  only  the  weakest  of  the  labor 
candidates  and  to  reject  all  the  wise  ones?  In  any  case  those 
who  were  returned  represent  the  choice  of  the  rank  and  file. 

The  conference  ought  not  to  shirk  its  responsibility.  It  should 
not  throw  the  responsibility  back  upon  the  executives  of  the  dif- 
ferent unions.  We  are  for  the  moment  the  choice  of  the  rank 
and  file.  It  must  be  noticed  that  the  conclusion  of  the  resolution 
is  a  definite  piece  of  advice  and  will  be  interpreted  throughout 
the  country  as  a  suggestion  to  the  trade  unions  to  use  the  strike 
weapon  for  political  ends.  We  hope  to  see  the  day  when,  instead 
of  there  being  a  great  crowd  of  capitalists  and  non-Socialists 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  there  will  be  a  labor  and  Socialist 
government.  What,  then,  would  any  class  which  opposed  the 
action  of  that  government  be  entitled  to  do?  [A  voice,  "  Strike."] 
Does  that  mean  that  any  class  which  had  the  power  should  have 
the  right  to  terrorize  a  labor  government  by  using  whatever  means 
or  manoeuvers  were  at  its  command?  [A  voice,  "Let  them  try."] 
Is  that  admitted?  This  course  of  action  would  be  a  blow,  not 
at  a  government  but  a  blow  at  democracy.  It  would  do  a  greater 
and  more  permanent  harm  to  the  true  interests  of  the  working- 
class  than  to  those  of  any  other  class.  There  would  be  millions 
of  men  in  the  street,  with  riot  and  bloodshed.  Do  we  hope  by 


104  THE  YEAR 

creating  disturbance  in  this  country  to  secure  peace  in  the  world 
abroad?  The  more  turmoil  there  is  here,  the  more,  surely,  will 
continue  the  state  of  distraction  which  exists  in  other  lands.  It  is 
a  socialistic  principle  to  educate  people  to  the  acceptance  of  our 
principles,  and  I  am  prepared  to  preach  those  principles  until 
they  are  applied. 

We  are  stronger  now  than  the  rich.  We  do  not  want  our  peo- 
ple distracted  by  this  movement,  but  educated.  For  thirty  years 
I  have  been  a  Socialist.  I  remain  one.  I  was  taught  by  Keir 
Hardie.  I  am  willing  to  go  on  until  those  principles  prevail,  not 
by  blood  and  tears,  but  by  parliamentary  power. 

In  Hodges'  speech,  note  that  he  did  two  things.  He  threw 
the  question,  "  Do  the  opponents  of  the  resolution  believe 
that  at  no  time  is  it  right  for  the  trade-union  movement  to 
go  to  the  aid  of  the  political  Labor  Party  ?  "  This  was  the 
same  sort  of  challenge  which  Clynes  used  a  year  ago  when 
the  question  of  calling  the  labor  members  of  the  Government 
out  was  to  the  fore :  "  Are  you  for  the  war,  or  against  it  ?  " 
Because  the  question  demanded  an  answer  and  did  not  receive 
it,  Hodges,  like  Qynes  twelve  months  ago,  carried  the  confer- 
ence. 

The  other  keynote  of  Hodges'  speech  was :  "  The  Parlia- 
mentary Party  must  not  only  represent  geographical  areas. 
It  must  represent  the  strength  that  has  accumulated  in  the 
trade-union  movement."  The  philosophy  of  the  younger  ele- 
ments of  labor  is  in  that  passage.  It  is  a  statement  of  func- 
tional representation,  of  guild  socialism,  of  industrial  union- 
ism, of  producers'  share  in  control,  of  pluralistic  sovereign- 
ties, of  the  federal  principle.  The  whole  recent  impulse  and 
forward  thrust  of  labor  is  in  it.  The  National  Industrial 
Council  and  the  Coal  Commission  were  a  recognition  that  a 
geographical  Parliament  is  not  enough  for  groups  of  citizens 
with  special  interests.  The  old  British  State  shakes  with  the 
contest  between  vast  aggregations  of  capital  in  the  key  indus- 
tries and  the  new  "  iron  battalions "  of  organized  labor  in 
those  key  industries.  They  are  not  functioning  through  Par- 
liament, or  a  constitution,  or  a  community  organization.  It 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  105 

is   a  battle   of   powerful   minorities,  unrecognized,   unrepre- 
sented, rebels  and  franc-tireurs,  swaying  in  the  night. 

A  card  vote  was  taken  on  the  resolution  for  direct  action, 
and  1,893,000  were  in  favor,  and  935,000  against  it.  So  by  a 
majority  of  958,000  British  labor  had  swung  to  the  left. 

The  resolution  on  conscription  went  through  with  a  whizz, 
and  yet,  oddly  enough,  it  called  for  the  same  exercise  of  the 
power  of  organized  labor  as  the  resolution  on  Russia.  David 
Kirkwood  moved  it.  He  is  the  well-known  shop  steward  of 
the  Clyde  area,  who  was  deported  from  Glasgow  because  of 
his  activities.  One  would  expect  to  find  him  a  fire-eater,  of 
revolutionary  mind.  Actually,  he  is  a  sober,  restrained  fam- 
ily man,  of  open,  attractive  face,  and  with  the  richest  accent 
of  burring  r's  in  the  labor  movement.  I  have  encountered  him 
before,  and  always  he  is  the  quietest  performer  of  the  day.  ' 
Each  time  I  see  Kirkwood  I  have  the  feeling  that,  if  he 
followed  his  wish,  he  would  be  home  with  the  kiddies  out  of 
the  turmoil.  Fifty  years  ago,  the  sort  of  person  he  is  would 
have  been  a  pillar  of  the  kirk,  saving  money  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  bairns,  a  quiet  home-body.  He  has  been  forced 
into  his  rebellion  by  the  injustice  to  workers.  He  made  his 
stand.  Being  stubborn,  he  couldn't  back  down  once  they 
started  harrying  him.  They  seized  him,  deported  him,  and 
created  a  labor  leader. 

In  the  view  of  the  political  constitutionalist,  Philip  Snow- 
den,  the  votes  registered : 

Less  an  approval  of  the  use  of  industrial  action  to  attain  po- 
litical objects  than  an  intense  disapproval  of  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  Allies.  The  abstract  question  of  using  the  industrial 
weapon  for  political  purposes  was  not  really  under  discussion.  If 
that  had  been  the  issue  the  vote  probably  would  not  have  been 
so  decisive.  The  proposal  is  to  take  such  means  as  are  at  the 
disposal  of  labor  to  achieve  the  one  definite  object  of  stopping 
Allied  intervention  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Russia  and  Hungary. 

By  direct  action  the  British  workers  mean  first  of  all  a 
consultation  by  every  trade  union  of  its  rank  and  file.  This 


106  THE  YEAR 

is  a  process  requiring  many  weeks.  They  mean  consultations 
between  the  committees  of  the  Labor  Party  and  the  Trades 
Union  Congress.  They  mean  a  thrashing  out  of  the  matter 
on  the  floor  of  the  congress  at  Glasgow  on  September  8th. 
They  mean  a  house-cleaning  in  the  Parliamentary  Committee. 
They  mean  Clause  8  of  the  summarized  constitution  of 
the  Triple  Alliance,  which  reads:  "Joint  action  can  only  be 
taken  when  the  question  at  issue  has  been  before  the  members 
of  the  three  organizations  and  decided  by  such  methods  as 
the  constitution  of  each  organization  provides."  They  mean 
after  that  a  series  of  next  steps — action  in  support  of  this 
process  of  group  judgment.  In  taking  these  steps,  they  mean, 
to  safeguard  methodical  development,  freedom  of  speech  and 
of  the  press,  the  right  of  assembly,  suffrage,  a  Government 
responsible  to  Parliament,  the  traditional  institutions.  They 
would  regard  it  as  a  calamity  if  industrial  pressure  should 
lead  to  the  abandonment  of  the  political  labor  movement. 
They  desire  a  fundamental  structural  change  without  the 
shedding  of  blood  or  the  loss  of  productive  power.  But  they 
mean  that  British  troops  shall  not  longer  be  used  for  the 
numerous  and  growing  wars  of  the  continent.  They  mean 
that  the  pledge  to  soldiers  of  return  to  civilian  life  shall  be 
fulfilled.  They  mean  that  the  Government  shall  not  disregard 
the  voice  of  the  British  people  against  special  unconstitutional 
wars  as  expressed  in  three  recent  by-elections. 

If  the  war  against  Russia  continues  and  grows,  if  trade 
unionists  are  conscripted  and  retained  for  a  political  policy  on 
which  the  electorate  was  never  consulted,  then  the  threat 
of  direct  action  by  the  trade  unions  will  so  grow  in  volume 
and  menace  (through  the  constitutional  channels  listed  above) 
that  there  will  be  sectional  strikes;  and  in  the  end  a  general 
election  will  be  forced,  and  this  political  question  (Russia 
and  conscription)  will  be  solved  by  political  methods.  That 
is  direct  action  of  the  British  brand. 

The  situation  out  of  which  sprang  this  sugar-coated,  cotton- 
wrapped  bombshell  is  this:  Labor  in  the  key  industries,  or- 
ganized approximately  on  the  lines  of  industrial  unions,  have 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  107 

reached  for  power  in  the  chaos  that  followed  war.  The  for- 
ward movement  of  labor  issues  from  these  key  industries. 
The  craft  unions,  and  the  conservative  older  trade  unionists, 
are  troubled  by  this  forward  movement  Some  oppose  it. 
Some  seek  for  a  harmonizing  principle  inside  the  old  scheme 
of  things.  In  the  end  sectional  unionism  is  doomed,  and  there 
will  be  ever-closer  co-operation  between  the  industrial  unions. 
The  Triple  Alliance  is  the  focal  point  of  industrial  unionism, 
as  it  spreads  over  increasing  areas. 

There  will  be  many  defections.  Havelock  Wilson  has 
announced  his  intention  of  withdrawing  his  sailors  from  the 
Triple  Alliance  on  its  political  activities.  Ben  Tillett,  James 
Sexton,  and  James  Wignall  are  sure  to  oppose  this  pressure 
of  the  Triple  Alliance  on  the  State,  and  they,  with  Wilson, 
are  redoubtable  fighters,  with  the  honorable  scars  of  many 
battles  in  defense  of  the  working  class.  They  have  a  power- 
ful following. 

Few  women  even  rise  to  try  to  speak  from  the  floor.  It  was 
at  the  fag  end  of  the  opening  day  that  the  first  woman's  voice 
was  heard.  My  wife,  who  attended  this  conference,  writes: 

Like  the  weak  voice  of  a  drowning  person  pipes  through  the 
confusion  the  appeal  of  a  woman.  She  wails,  phantomlike — "  Mr. 
Chairman,"  over  and  over.  What  chance  is  there  for  a  woman 
in  a  man's  meeting?  None.  The  man  that  yells  hardest  wins 
out;  therefore  women  will  never  have  a  chance. 

Those  that  really  know  the  labor  movement,  like  Dr.  Mar- 
ion Phillips — the  organizer  of  women — tell  me  that  we  are 
wrong  in  this;  that  women  are  preferentially  treated. 

I  must  leave  it  as  my  impression  of  half  a  dozen  labor  con- 
ferences that  women  as  yet  with  difficulty  gain  a  hearing.  I 
believe  that  there  is  a  superiority,  a  subconscious  scorn,  on  the 
part  of  male  British  labor,  just  as  there  is  in  a  large  number 
of  the  middle  class.  Finally  on  the  last  day,  one  woman 
pleaded  in  despair: 

"  Is  a  woman  allowed  to  speak  ?  " 

It   was   still   largely   a   conference   of   middle-aged    men. 


108  THE  YEAR 

Young  Britain  was  heard  only  in  the  voices  of  the  soldiers, 
and  Cramp,  Hodges,  and  a  few  more.  Honesty,  sincerity, 
dogged  sure-footedness — these  are  the  qualities.  Insistent  on 
justice,  they  are;  one  voice  carries  above  all  the  hubbub,  car- 
ries and  is  understood.  A  group  who  cannot  be  hustled,  and 
cannot  be  frightened,  slow  to  anger,  but  dangerous  when 
roused  as  they  well  proved  in  Flanders.  Informal,  homely, 
these  men  take  their  calling  without  undue  seriousness.  Many 
were  smoking  their  pipes — there  was  pipe-lighting  all  over  the 
room,  one,  two,  three,  matches  flaring,  and  then  the  glow 
and  smoke-cloud  in  the  dusky  background.  It  was  an  effect 
like  the  lighting  of  miniature  camp  fires,  one  catching  from 
another  till  sometimes  it  swept  across  the  room.  All  sorts 
of  accents  filled  the  air — Scotch,  Welsh,  Irish,  and  the  fifty- 
seven  provincial  dialects.  Dozens  of  little  splits  broke  loose 
among  the  men.  Then  the  steam  roller  flattened  them  into 
harmony.  "  For  God's  sake,  unite,"  became  the  anxious  cry 
as  the  hours  waned. 

Henderson  is  a  constitutionalist,  moderate,  seeking  har- 
mony and  unity.  His  tactics  were  obvious.  He  hoped  by 
playing  up  mine  nationalization  to  divert  the  ardor  of  the 
miners  from  Russia,  and  so  avoid  the  question  of  direct  action. 
But  the  Triple  Alliance  is  ready  to  take  on  other  fights  than 
its  own,  and  tactics  do  not  avail  in  the  path  of  a  batter- 
ing ram. 

But  a  momentary  difference  on  method  is  not  unknown 
to  British  labor.  I  have  given  a  wrong  impression  if  any 
reader  thinks  that  the  leaders  of  the  center  and  right  will  not 
line  up  with  Smillie  as  he  forces  into  law  the  findings  of  the 
Coal  Commission.  Ben  Tillett  and  Sexton,  McGurk  and 
Brace,  Clynes  and  Henderson,  will  be  there.  On  July  2, 
Brace  informed  the  House  of  Commons : 

The  exigencies  of  the  war  have  made  the  nationalization 
of  railways,  mines,  and  all  the  key  industries  of  the  land  inevitable. 

Of  the  conference  as  a  whole,  Henderson  has  written,  "  In 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  109 

several  respects  it  is  the  most  important  gathering  in  the 
history  of  the  politically  organized  movement."  Of  those  who 
composed  it  and  those  others  in  the  movement,  the  Minister 
of  Labor,  Sir  Robert  Hprne,  said  on  June  23 : 

The  country  owes  the  position  of  victory  which  it  has  accom- 
plished to  the  efforts  of  the  trade  unions  of  Britain.  The  most 
steadying  influence  throughout  the  war  and  that  upon  which  the 
government  was  able  most  persistently  and  confidently  to  rely 
was  the  help  which  it  obtained  from  the  great  trade  unions  of 
this  country. 

It  is  of  high  political  importance  that  we  in  America  learn 
to  know  these  men  of  labor.  For  Curzon  and  Carson,  Milner 
and  Churchill  are  fast  becoming  spectral,  but  Clynes  and 
Thomas,  Gosling  and  Hodges,  will  one  day  be  among  the 
governors  of  Britain. 

SIGNOR  D'ARRAGONA'S  MESSAGE 

Secretary  of  the  Italian  Federation  of  Labor,  belonging  to  the 

right  of  the  movement.    As  such  his  speech  was  the 

most  disturbing  of  the  day.    A  responsible-looking 

elderly  man  of  fine,  Roman  features,  of  high 

dignity,  tall  and  spare: 

The  Italian  organization  of  labor  is  one  of  recent  formation, 
barely  a  quarter  of  a  century  old — the  product  of  Socialistic 
propaganda.  As  the  result  of  the  war,  Italy  is  almost  on  the  verge 
of  bankruptcy.  She  is  in  a  revolutionary  state  of  mind.  To  the 
masses,  only  one  solution  seems  possible — the  social  revolution. 
There  is  no  coal,  iron,  raw  materials.  Temperament  and  economic 
conditions  both  are  at  work.  The  Italian  Federation  of  Labor 
has  demanded  a  constituent  assembly  and  the  socialization  of  land. 
They  hear  that  the  English  miners  are  obtaining  nationalization 
of  mines.  Before  the  war  the  federation  numbered  300,000,  and 
now  800,000.  Before  the  war,  the  Italian  Socialist  Party  num- 
bered 50,000,  and  now  100,000.  The  Socialists  have  42  Deputies, 
and  control  300  communes,  including  Milan  and  Boulogne. 


110  THE  YEAR 

The  situation  is  so  grave  that  I  anticipate  in  a  short  time  an 
attempted  revolution — a  revolution  with  bloodshed.  The  results 
may  not  be  large,  but  a  rising  is  almost  inevitable.  I  belong  to  the 
right,  but  I  see  no  other  way  out. 

HJALMAR  BRANTING'S  MESSAGE 

One  of  the  useful  men  of  Europe,  a  Socialist  of  the  old  stock, 

anti-Prussian,  anti-Bolshevik,  pro- Ally.    He  is  of  heavy 

bulk,  and  looks  like  a  responsible  statesmanlike 

•walrus,  with  a  walrus's  mustaches. 

The  fall  of  the  Hohenzollerns  has  been  the  cause  of  a  demo- 
cratic gain  in  Sweden.  I  anticipate  that  both  houses  of  our  legis- 
lature will  be  social -democratic  for  the  majority  of  members  after 
the  next  general  election.  They  will  then  probably  enact  an  eight- 
hour  bill,  and  obtain  a  further  reduction  of  military  service.  The 
party  has  been  enormously  struck  by  the  report  of  the  British 
Coal  Commission,  and  the  step  forward  it  represents.  This  report 
will  have  an  incalculable  influence  over  the  world  wherever  the 
workers  struggle  against  capitalism. 

Our  Swedish  Socialist  Party  is  not  going  to  desert  the  old  lines 
of  Socialist  effort  for  the  new  formulae  offered  to-day  [the  Bol- 
shevik theory  of  dictatorship]. 

PIERRE  RENAUDEL'S  MESSAGE 

Ftench  Socialist  of  the  moderate  right.     With  vivacity  and 
mental  lightness,  an  inner  gleam,  he  speaks  at  ever- 
increasing  tempo,  till  it  becomes  the  roll  of 
a  mitrailleuse,  piercing,  shattering, 
inciting  to  action. 

Jaures  predicted  that  war  would  be  followed  by  revolution.  The 
revolution  is  taking  different  forms  in  the  nations  according  to  the 
nature  of  their  government.  In  the  autocracies  it  takes  the  most 
violent  form.  In  France,  of  an  older  democracy,  socialism,  pro- 
gressing, will  lead  to  revolution  in  forms  less  violent. 

The  peace  treaty  and  League  of  Nations  do  not  fulfil  the  ob- 
jects and  intentions  of  the  working-class.  Colonial  territories  have 
been  annexed  without  giving  Germany  a  share. 


YOUTH  AT  THE  STIRRUP  111 

M.  VAN  ROOSBROECK'S  MESSAGE 
Of  the  Belgian  Labor  Party. 

Here  chimneys  smoke.  There  they  are  dead.  Trade  union 
membership  has  increased  from  120,000  to  429,000.  In  politics  the 
situation  is  not  so  favorable.  We  are  on  the  eve  of  our  greatest 
electoral  battle  for  universal  equal  suffrage.  Hundreds  of  thou- 
sands are  out  of  work  for  lack  of  machinery  and  raw  materials. 

M.  JOUHAUX'S  MESSAGE 

Secretary  of  the  French  Confederation  Generate  du  Travail 

[the  C.  G.  T. — the  federation  of  trade-unions].    A  solid 

individual  with  a  ruddy  face  set  off  by  close 

cropped  chin  whiskers,  a  long  black 

mustache,  black  hair. 

The  world  stands  before  the  bankruptcy  of  the  middle-class. 
The  principles  of  labor  must  now  be  realized  to  save  the  nations 
from  bankruptcy.  There  must  be  such  a  manifestation  of  the 
power  of  the  proletariat  that  all  will  know  they  have  left  behind 
the  period  of  servitude.  The  C.  G.  T.  has  made  its  own  protest 
against  the  peace  treaty,  and  insisted  on  a  peace,  free  from  any 
annexations  however  disguised  with  phrases. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW 

THE  British  Trades  Union  Congress  at  Glasgow  in  September 
reaffirmed  the  stand  taken  by  the  Labor  Party  at  Southport  in 
June.  It  declared  overwhelmingly  for  nationalization  of  the 
mines  and  for  compelling  the  Government  to  enact  the  Sankey 
report,  which  called  for  nationalization.  The  congress  re- 
fused to  vote  against  direct  action  and  voted  itself  ready  to 
call  a  special  congress  if  the  Government  refuses  to  national- 
ize mines,  to  abolish  conscription,  and  to  withdraw  the  troops 
from  Russia — to  call  it  for  the  purpose  of  deciding  what  ac- 
tion should  be  taken  to  enforce  its  will  upon  the  Government. 

The  men  who  forged  and  welded  conference  opinion  on 
these  lines  of  nationalization,  direct  action,  Russia,  and  con- 
scription were  Smillie,  Hodges,  and  Clynes,  along  with  Hen- 
derson as  fraternal  delegate  from  the  Labor  Party. 

The  decisions  of  the  congress  are  the  result  of  the  Smillie- 
Hodges  policy  (as  definite  as  the  Henderson  policy).  They 
are  new  for  the  industrial  arm  of  the  British  labor  movement. 
A  struggle  is  near  between  labor  and  the  Government.  As  I 
brought  out  in  my  interpretation  of  Southport,  direct  action 
does  not  mean  a  general  strike.  It  means  the  threat  of  indus- 
trial pressure  in  order  to  achieve  aims  (nationalization,  Rus- 
sia, conscription)  through  the  constitutional  means  of  govern- 
ment and  Parliament,  forcing,  if  necessary,  a  general  election. 

Thus  history  is  in  the  making  at  this  moment  in  England, 
history  as  significant  as  the  Russian  Revolution.  Labor  is  at- 
tacking the  basis  of  the  old  British  order.  That  is  an  im- 
portant fact.  The  convention  was  the  little  funnel  through 
which  slowly  gathered  forces  of  the  past  flowed  through  into 
the  future.  The  labor  movement  has  no  more  unified  pro- 
gram or  central  government  than  the  Allies  in  1914,  but  it 

112 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  113 

forms  a  line-up,  and  the  events  of  the  next  five  years  are  al- 
ready determined  and  made  inevitable  by  the  Coal  Commis- 
sion, Southport,  and  Glasgow,  by  the  Triple  Alliance  and  by 
Smillie.  For,  the  policies  adopted  by  the  Glasgow  Congress 
mean  that  the  industrial  union  of  miners  is  the  strongest  single 
element  in  Britain  and  that  it  has  a  masterful  technique.  But 
there  follows  a  typical  British  touch.  Lest  any  one  should 
grow  unduly  excited,  the  congress  in  one  of  its  last  acts  drove 
the  miners  off  the  Parliamentary  Committee,  and  made  of 
this  committee  for  the  coming  year  as  safe  and  respectable  a 
body  as  in  its  days  of  stodginess. 

An  advanced  policy  and  a  slow-stepping  executive.  The 
British  worker  still  reserves  his  right  of  dissent  and  protest. 
He  wishes  his  revolution  to  come  as  organic  change,  gradually, 
with  footnotes  and  reservations.  As  yet  he  has  no  intention 
of  going  out  on  general  strike  for  a  political  end.  He  wishes 
to  use  the  threat  of  his  industrial  power  as  the  method  of 
forcing  government  to  go  to  the  country.  No  large  body  of 
British  labor  as  yet  considers  striking  on  a  political  issue  with- 
out first  testing  public  opinion  by  a  constitutional  election.  It 
is  perplexing  to  an  outsider  but  traditional  and  logical  to  the 
British.  Force  the  pace  but  don't  run  off  the  highway.  The 
motivation  is  the  desire  for  unity.  Labor  does  not  mean  to 
split  to  either  the  left  or  the  right,  but  to  move  only  so  fast 
as  will  hold  in  unity  over  five  million  workers. 

Eight  hundred  and  forty-eight  delegates  were  in  attendance 
in  St.  Andrews  Hall  on  September  8,  and  to  the  best  of  their 
ability  they  represented  5,265,426  working  men  and  women. 
In  general  it  has  been  true  that  there  is  nothing  slower,  surer, 
and  drearier  than  a  trades-union  congress.  It  has  always 
moved  like  a  tortoise — but  it  scrapes  along  in  its  hard-shell 
way  to  the  goal.  It  would  be  futile  to  run  down  the  list 
of  pious,  unanimous  resolutions  presented  in  the  agenda,  res- 
olutions on  pensions  for  mothers,  old-age  pensions,  free  trade, 
control  of  industry,  Parliamentary  procedure,  care  of  the 
blind,  amalgamation.  For  a  generation  some  of  them  have 
been  duly  moved  and  dully  seconded.  It  is  a  demonstra- 


THE  YEAR 

THE  CONGRESS 

Trade  Group  Delegates       Membership 

Building  Trades  35  265,092 

Clothing  Trades  38  235,886 

Cotton  Operatives 34  100,106 

Dock  Laborers  and  Seamen 69  308,660 

Engineering  and  Shipbuilding 42  575.253 

General  Laborers  97  M33.548 

Metal  Workers  101  39O,oo6 

Miners  172  683,900 

Printing  and  Paper  Trades 32  I37,57<> 

Railwaymen   22  545,531 

Weavers    93  362,584 

Miscellaneous  Trades  113  526,390 

848  5,265,426 

tion  of  the  soundness,  the  sanity  of  British  labor.  The 
Government  can  be  handed  over  to  them  to-morrow,  to-night. 
No  seismic  tremor  will  follow  their  advent.  They  will  in- 
herit the  power  with  all  the  sobriety  of  the  elder  tory 
rulers.  They  partake  a  little  of  the  nature  of  peasant  pro- 
prietors. They  do  not  wish  to  spill  the  beans.  Nothing 
rash,  they  seem  to  say;  we  have  a  living  wage;  hours 
are  no  longer  killing — let  us  build  our  tabernacle  in  this 
place. 

In  truth  the  young  men  are  not  here.  The  next  generation 
is  ten  years  away,  and  the  returned  soldiers  remain  to  be  heard 
from. 

Poverty  and  unemployment  and  cold  will  begin  to  strike 
in  with  the  next  three  years.  Events  may  disarrange  even  a 
level-headed  program.  Moreover,  British  labor  has  no  cen- 
tral government.  The  congress  has  no  direct  executive  power. 
Its  Parliamentary  Commitee  of  sixteen  members,  chosen  from 
as  many  trades,  is  not  a  central  executive.  Originally  it  was 
chosen  to  serve  very  much  as  later  the  Labor  Party  functioned. 
Congress  is  a  statement  of  the  mass  opinion  of  powerful, 
elderly  delegates,  and  its  Parliamentary  Committee  is  the 
resultant  of  the  ambitions  of  many  separate  trades. 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  115 

The  New  Statesman  on  August  30  said : 

The  total  trade  union  membership  in  the  United  Kingdom  now 
reaches  probably  n  or  12  per  cent  of  the  census  population  and, 
taking  males  only,  well  over  50  per  cent1  of  the  whole  of  the  adult 
male,  manual-working  wage-earners  of  the  nation.  The  accumu- 
lated funds  of  the  British  trade  unions  can  not  nowadays  fall  far 
short  of  ten  millions  sterling.  Until  the  Trades  Union  Congress 
takes  its  executive  duties  a  little  more  seriously  and  provides,  as 
its  steadily  growing  funds  easily  enable  it  to  do,  for  a  much 
stronger  secretariat,  the  trade  union  movement  and  every  separate 
union  will  continue  to  suffer  the  consequences  of  the  disorganiza- 
tion to  which  they  are  subject.  Trade  unionism  in  this  country 
as  an  industrial  force  is  suffering  seriously  from  lack  of  leader- 
ship. It  is  the  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the  Trades  Union 
Congress  that  so  far  as  industrial  policy  is  concerned  supply  that 
leadership. 

Furthermore,  while  the  labor  group  in  Parliament  has  been 
numerically  stronger  since  the  December  elections  than  ever 
before,  it  has  been  lamentably  v/eak  in  leadership,  ideas,  and 
the  fighting  edge  of  opposition.  (The  British  believe  in  the 
opposition  as  an  essential  element  in  government.)  The  ab- 
sence of  four  men  in  particular  left  labor  in  the  House  of 
Commons  as  a  feeble  voice.  W.  C.  Anderson,  that  much- 
loved,  sweet-tempered,  fearless  leader  of  the  left,  died.  Philip 
Snowden  and  Ramsay  MacDonald  were  defeated  because  of 
their  orthodox  Socialist  stand  on  the  issue  of  the  War.  Hen- 
derson was  defeated  in  December  in  a  constituency  where  he 
was  not  personally  known,  which  he  had  little  time  to  visit, 
and  where  accordingly  misrepresentation  could  be  used  in  a 
khaki  election.  But  the  mills  ground  fast  for  him,  and  the 
net  result  of  the  last  nine  months  is  that  his  position  in 
Parliament,  in  political  labor,  and  in  trade  unionism  is  stronger 
than  at  any  previous  moment  in  his  life.  He  radiates  power 
and  victory.  He  is  at  the  beginning  of  his  larger  career. 
Although  on  the  fourth  day  the  results  of  Widnes  were  not 

1  It  is  in  April,  1920,  60  per  cent. 


116  THE  YEAR 

known,  Henderson  came  before  the  congress  as  fraternal 
delegate  in  the  unmistakable  mood  of  triumph.  Of  opposition 
there  was  none.  He  is  at  the  center  and  heart  of  British 
labor,  the  very  loud  voice  of  their  common  sense. 

A  little  of  the  fervor  of  labor's  welcome  to  him  was  due 
to  the  talk  of  the  American  delegate,  J.  J.  Hynes,  who  pro- 
tested against  the  visit  of  British  labor  leaders  to  preach 
political  labor  and  reiterated  the  opposition  of  American 
labor  to  political  action.  This  fell  strangely  on  British  ears 
at  a  crisis  when  swift  and  large  political  expression  is  the 
only  lightning  rod  that  will  save  the  constitutional  structure 
from  being  scorched.  The  delegates  heard  him  courteously 
but  greeted  Henderson  with  great  enthusiasm.  Henderson 
will  not  be  unseated  by  the  A.  F.  of  L.  On  the  fifth  day, 
his  victory  at  Widnes  was  announced  to  the  clamant  joy  of 
the  congress.  Henderson  won,  first,  on  his  war  record,  which 
converted  a  tory  stronghold  into  a  labor  constituency.  Since 
Widnes  was  established  thirty  years  ago  as  a  constituency,  it 
has  sent  an  unbroken  representation  of  tory-conservative- 
unionist  representation.  Henderson  turned  the  large  Decem- 
ber coalition  majority  into  a  labor  majority  of  nearly  one 
thousand.  He  won  also  because  of  his  campaign  on  opposi- 
tion to  the  Government,  particularly  on  Russian  policy.  The 
day  is  over  when  lies  about  pro-Germanism  are  anything  but 
boomerangs,  and  when  a  British  army  can  be  retained  in 
Russia. 

As  a  fraternal  delegate  Henderson  said : 

It  is  time  we  cease  to  think  and  talk  in  terms  of  propaganda,  and 
begin  to  think  and  talk  in  terms  of  constructive  responsibility. 
There  are  three  things  I  want  to  ask  you  to  do.  First,  to  make 
up  the  leeway  between  the  trades  represented  at  the  congress  and 
the  numbers  represented  in  the  Labor  Party.  If  we  can  get  the 
two  and  a  half  millions  added  to  the  three  millions  it  would  tell 
at  the  next  general  election.  The  next  thing  is  greater  co-opera- 
tion between  the  congress,  through  its  Parliamentary  Committee, 
and  the  Labor  Party  through  its  executive,  so  that  we  can  go  to 
Geneva  next  February  and  bring  together  the  most  powerful  inter- 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  117 

national  that  has  ever  been  created.  Representation  of  the  pro- 
ducers through  the  Parliamentary  Committee,  representation  of 
the  consumers  through  the  Co-operative  International,  and  repre- 
sentation of  the  citizens  through  the  Labor  Party — then  we  shall 
have  a  force  standing  for  world  peace  such  as  we  have  never 
had  before. 

Finally,  I  ask  you  to  use  all  your  influence,  through  both  the 
industrial  and  political  wings  of  the  movement,  to  terminate  the 
life  of  the  present  government  as  speedily  as  you  possibly  can.  I 
make  that  demand  because  the  government  are  doing  things  with- 
out the  mandate  of  the  people,  particularly  with  regard  to  Ireland 
and  Russia.  We  ought  to  terminate  the  government's  existence 
and  have  an  appeal  to  the  country  on  conditions  much  more  nor- 
mal than  the  deceptive  conditions  that  prevailed  last  December. 

The  first  outstanding  action  of  the  conference  was  what 
amounted  to  a  vote  of  censure  (carried  by  a  majority  of 
710,000)  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee  for  refusing  to  call 
a  special  congress  to  decide  what  action,  if  any,  should  be 
taken  because  of  conscription,  Russian  intervention,  the  block- 
ade, and  conscientious  objectors.  In  moving  the  reference 
back  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee's  report  Robert  Smillie 
said: 

Personally  I  feel  that  the  Parliamentary  Committee  does  not 
have  the  confidence  of  the  trade  union  movement.  Take  the  ques- 
tion of  our  blockade.  Under  it  hundreds  of  thousands  of  old  men, 
women,  and  children  were  being  starved  to  death.  Whoever  were 
to  blame  for  the  terrible  war,  the  young  and  the  aged  could  not 
be  blamed.  These  were  done  to  death  by  our  blockade.  I  always 
have  it  in  my  mind  that  the  time  would  come  again  when  we 
shall  have  to  meet  the  fathers  and  brothers  of  those  people  in  the 
international  movement;  and  that  if  the  voice  of  British  labor 
was  silent  on  the  question,  we  could  hardly  raise  our  eyes  and  look 
into  the  faces  of  those  men  and  shake  them  by  the  hand. 

The  question  of  Russia  was  surely  of  sufficient  importance.  It 
might  be  said  that  that  was  a  political  question  with  which  trade 
unionists  ought  not  to  deal.  There  is  no  greater  labor  question 
in  the  world  than  intervention  in  Russia.  If  the  capitalists  and 
capitalist  governments — our  own  amongst  them — manage  to  crush 


118  THE  YEAR 

out  the  Socialist  movement  in  Russia  led  by  Lenine — which  God 
forbid — and  begin  to  develop  with  cheap  labor,  as  they  intend  to 
do,  the  enormous  natural  resources  of  Russia,  they  will  be  able 
to  flood  our  markets  with  cheap  commodities,  without  having  re- 
gard to  the  suffering  that  might  be  caused  here. 

Although  it  was  passed  with  little  discussion,  one  of  the 
most  important  resolutions  of  the  week  was  that  of  the  Ware- 
house and  General  Workers'  Union  for  the  setting  up  of  an 
industrial  parliament  of  labor.  The  Parliamentary  Commit- 
tee was  instructed  to  prepare  a  scheme  "  whereby  the  trade- 
union  movement  in  the  future  will,  on  all  questions  of  national 
and  international  importance,  adopt  a  common  policy  and 
speak  with  a  united  voice."  The  grounds  urged  in  support 
were  the  need  for  industrial  adjustments  on  a  national  basis ; 
the  co-ordination  of  labor  claims  made  through  existing  in- 
dustrial councils;  the  prevention  of  overlapping  and  under- 
cutting of  demands  and  "  the  desirability  of  reviewing  the 
decisions  of  industrial  councils,  such  as  those  that  may  aim 
at  the  ultimate  establishment  of  compulsory  arbitration  and 
the  riveting  upon  the  nation  of  a  wide  system  of  protective 
tariffs." 

The  second  victory  for  the  miners  came  in  the  passage  by 
an  immense  majority  of  a  resolution  reciting  that  the  Gov- 
ernment had  rejected  the  Sankey  coal  report  and  adopted  in 
its  place  a  "  scheme  of  district  trustification  of  the  industry," 
and  pledging  the  congress  to  "  co-operate  with  the  Miners' 
Federation  to  the  fullest  extent  with  a  view  of  compelling 
the  Government  to  adopt  the  scheme  of  national  ownership 
and  commission  "  and,  in  the  event  of  the  Government's  re- 
fusal, to  convene  a  "  special  congress  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
ciding the  form  of  action  to  be  taken." 

In  urging  the  nationalization  of  the  mines,  and  action  by 
the  congress  to  "  compel  "  the  Government,  Smillie  said : 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  trade  union  movement  has  acted  rashly 
on  this  question.  Since  1882  the  congress  has  passed  forty-two 
resolutions  dealing  with  the  general  principle  of  nationalization — 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  119 

sometimes  a  general  collectivist  resolution  calling  for  nationaliza- 
tion, sometimes  a  land  nationalization  resolution,  and  occasionally 
a  mines  nationalization  resolution.  It  is  over  twenty  years  since 
the  congress  affirmed  the  principle  that  the  minerals  lying  under 
the  surface  of  the  soil,  which  was  not  created  by  man,  ought  to  be 
the  wealth  of  the  state  and  not  of  individuals. 

I  want  our  fellow-workers  to  believe  that  we  are  endeavoring 
to  be  straight  and  honest  with  them.  We  do  not  desire  the  na- 
tionalization of  the  mining  industry  for  ourselves  alone.  There  is 
nothing  of  the  syndicalist  idea  in  our  claim  at  the  present  time. 
The  time  may  come  when  the  industries  of  the  country,  mining 
and  other,  may  advance  a  step  farther  than  we  are  asking  at 
present.  But  it  is  not  in  our  interest  alone  that  we  are  asking 
for  nationalization. 

The  miners  were  entitled  to  expect  that  if  the  commission 
recommended  nationalization  the  government  would  carry  out  its 
findings.  The  miners  were  twice  dissuaded  by  Frank  Hodges  and 
myself  from  acting  on  their  ballot  vote  and  declaring  a  strike. 
They  believed  that  the  government  would  carry  out  what  they 
thought  was  its  pledge.  The  government  and  the  press  thought 
that  when  the  prime  minister  made  a  statement  the  matter  was 
ended. 

This  question  can  only  end  with  the  nationalization  of  the 
mines.  I  have  no  desire  to  have  a  strike  in  any  industry.  I  hoped 
that  common  sense  would  secure  justice  for  them,  but  while  I 
hold  that  view  I  also  realize  that  a  time  may  arrive  when  it 
would  be  criminal  for  a  labor  leader  to  advise  anything  else  than 
a  strike.  I  have  advised  strikes  when  men  were  being  brutally 
treated  by  brutal  employers.  I  would  do  the  same  again.  The 
miners  knew  that  a  long  stop  of  their  industry  would  bring  poverty 
and  suffering  to  thousands  of  homes  outside  the  mining  industry. 
In  view  of  that  they  felt  it  was  their  duty  to  carry  with  them, 
if  they  could,  the  whole  trade  union  movement.  If  they  have 
established  the  justice  and  the  necessity  for  the  nationalization 
of  the  mines,  they  ask  trade  unionists  not  to  leave  the  fight  for 
it  on  the  shoulders  of  the  miners  alone.  I  have  no  doubt  that, 
if  the  miners  were  of  the  mind  to  do  it,  they  could  within  a  month 
stop  every  mine  in  the  country  until  the  mines  were  nationalized. 
That  would  lead  to  the  stoppage  of  the  railways  and  all  industries 
dependent  on  coal.  They  do  not  want  that.  They  believe  that 


120  THE  YEAR 

the  thing  ought  to  be  done  constitutionally,  as  it  was  called  by  the 
government. 

J.  H.  Thomas  followed,  and  put  his  450,000  railwaymen 
behind  the  miners: 

I  recognize  the  importance  of  output  and  the  seriousness  of  the 
situation,  but  the  country  is  not  going  to  get  output,  and  has  no 
right  to  ask  for  output,  if  there  are  people  whose  contribution  to 
output  is  nil,  and  who  receive  the  maximum  benefit  from  the  out- 
put of  other  people.  I  congratulate  the  miners  on  the  great 
service  they  have  rendered  to  the  trade  union  movement  by  the 
conduct  of  their  case  before  the  commission.  They  have  shown 
themselves  statesmen  in  coming  to  the  congress,  because  had  they 
attempted  to  take  action  "  on  their  own,"  I  should  have  been  the 
first  to  condemn  them.  I  believe  that  state  ownership  of  mines 
is  interwoven  with  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  and  because  I 
believe  that  the  country  is  greater  than  a  section,  greater  than 
this  movement,  I  second  the  resolution  wholeheartedly. 

The  solitary  delegate  who  opposed  was  Havelock  Wilson, 
head  of  the  Sailors'  and  Firemen's  Union  of  65,000  members. 
He  is  pathetically  ill  with  a  trembling  paralysis.  After  rising 
to  speak  he  had  to  sit  down,  and  from  his  chair  he  continued 
his  minority  talk  with  humor  and  lucid  statement.  He  has 
an  admirably  clear  and  resonant  voice,  with  perfect  enuncia- 
tion, a  rhythm  of  tone  and  language,  and  all  done  naturally 
and  without  apparent  effort  at  oratory.  But  in  reality  he  is 
an  artist,  a  master  of  the  spoken  word.  It  was  not  from  any 
lack  of  respect  for  his  great  gifts,  his  former  record  as  a 
labor  leader,  his  vigor,  his  courage,  that  the  congress  defeated 
him  in  his  candidacy  for  the  new  Parliamentary  Committee 
and  cheered  loudly  when  his  downfall  was  announced.  The 
defeat  and  the  demonstration  were  administered  because  his 
opinions  are  hostile  to  the  views  of  90  per  cent  of  the  workers, 
because  of  his  attempts  to  split  labor,  because  of  his  associa- 
tion with  wealthy  men,  because  of  his  use  of  the  anti-labor 
press  (such  as  the  Morning  Post),  because  of  his  employment 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  121 

of  direct  action  against  the  workers  in  refusing  to  carry  labor 
delegates  to  international  gatherings.  The  enemies  of  British 
labor  have  found  in  Wilson  one  of  their  staunchest,  boldest 
champions.  To  labor  he  seems  a  lost  leader,  with  something 
of  the  pathos  and  shame  of  Noah.  I  found  myself  saddened 
in  this  passing  of  the  stricken,  gallant,  old  man.  I  regretted 
that  any  one  rejoiced.  No  one  seeing  him  will  forget  that 
quivering,  forespent  figure.  No  one  who  heard  him  will  ever 
forget  the  rise  and  fall  of  his  voice,  those  unstrained  intona- 
tions that  went  winged  to  the  furthest  gallery. 

"  The  State  are  not  the  proper  people  to  manage  industry," 
he  said.  "  Can  you  point  to  one  single  thing  that  it  has  made 
a  success  of?" 

"  The  War,"  boomed  a  man,  and  the  congress  roared  its 
delight. 

Tom  Shaw  put  the  mighty  and  conservative  forces  of  cot- 
ton behind  the  miners,  and  William  Brace,  the  miners'  M.P. 
of  the  right,  followed  him.  Smillie  then  summed  up : 

Mr.  Thomas  said,  and  Mr.  Brace  agreed  with  him,  that  the 
government's  reply  is  likely  to  be  No.  Their  reply  depends  upon 
the  determination  of  this  congress.  If  we  approach  the  govern- 
ment in  that  spirit,  telling  them  that  we  believe  they  are  not 
going  to  move,  they  will  not  move.  That  is  not  the  way  to  move 
governments.  Over  5,000,000  members  are  represented  at  this 
congress.  People  say  that  those  5,000,000  have  no  right  to  dictate 
terms  to  the  nation,  but  what  do  the  5,000,000  represent?  They 
represent  a  large  part  of  the  nation,  and  I  want  the  congress 
to  pass  this  resolution  with  the  determination  that  the  govern- 
ment must  act  and  the  government  will  act. 

A  card  vote  was  demanded,  and  resulted  as  follows: 

For  nationalization   4,478,000 

Against 77,000 

Of  that  77,000,  Havelock  Wilson's  union  includes  65,000. 

The  debate  shifted  to  another  footing  when  Tom  Shaw, 
of  the  textile  workers,  moved  for  a  declaration  against  "  in- 
dustrial action  in  purely  political  matters."  He  said: 


122  THE  YEAR 

Every  one  in  this  country  knows  that  so  far  as  the  trade 
union  movement  is  concerned  there  are  two  outstanding  figures 
in  the  advocacy  of  industrial  action — Robert  Smillie  and  Robert 
Williams.  Their  idea  of  industrial  action  is  to  create  a  revolution 
in  this  country,  and  their  idea  of  government  is  the  soviet  system 
of  Russia.  We  were  told  only  yesterday  that  Lenine  was  the 
great  teacher  of  the  age.  I  say  that  Russia  is  not  free — her  peo- 
ple have  no  chance  of  determining  their  own  destiny.  I  say  she 
is  not  socialistic.  If  socialism  means  anything,  it  means  the 
nationalization  of  the  means  of  production,  distribution,  and  ex- 
change, and  their  administration  by  the  whole  nation  for  the 
good  of  the  whole  nation.  That  condition  of  affairs  does  not 
obtain,  and  never  has  obtained,  under  the  Lenine  regime  in  Russia. 
To  call  it  a  republic  is  a  misuse  of  terms.  I  cannot  understand 
the  mentality  of  any  man  or  woman  in  this  congress  who  pro- 
claims that  state  of  society  a  republic  in  which  the  people  are 
denied  the  right  to  decide  their  own  destiny  and  are  governed 
literally  at  the  end  of  a  rifle. 

Arthur  Hayday,  M.P.,  of  the  general  workers,  seconded 
Shaw's  resolution.  James  H.  Thomas,  head  of  the  railway- 
men,  rose  to  oppose  the  resolution,  but  he  did  it  so  skilfully 
that  half  of  the  newspapers  next  morning  said  he  had  favored 
it.  It  is  not  the  least  of  Mr.  Thomas'  faculties — this  of  walk- 
ing the  tight-rope  between  respectability  and  revolution.  He 
desires  to  hold  public  opinion  and  also  his  "  radical "  rank 
and  file,  who  are  increasingly  moved  by  Cramp,  Hodges, 
Smillie,  guild  ideas,  the  London  Labor  College,  and  other  in- 
fluences of  the  left.  The  vigor  of  his  personality  and  the 
volume  of  his  voice  disguise  the  delicate  balancing  which  he 
has  done  for  a  year.  Actually  he  saw  and  said  that  labor  could 
not  give  up  its  strike  weapon,  but  that  the  weapon  was  a 
dangerous  double-blade  for  the  wielder  as  well  as  the 
victim. 

Frank  Hodges,  secretary  of  the  Miners'  Federation,  fol- 
lowed, and  held  the  tense  interest  of  the  delegates  as  he  had 
done  at  Southport.  Later  in  the  sessions  Clynes  was  to  hold 
it  by  the  same  power  of  reasoned  statement— from  the  oppo- 
site angle.  They  are  separated  by  a  generation  in  years,  and 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  123 

their  addresses  put  the  case  for  and  against  direct  action  for 
political  ends  more  tellingly  perhaps  than  ever  before  in  the 
industrial  debates  that  are  stirring  all  England. 

Mr.  Hodges  has  within  the  year  become  the  voice  of  the 
young  radicals  of  the  movement.  His  influence  is  already  on 
a  level  with  that  of  Clynes  and  Thomas  of  the  center,  and  of 
Sexton  and  Shaw  of  the  right.  He  revolted  from  Ruskin  Col- 
lege, and  is  a  graduate  of  the  famous  Labor  College  (the  in- 
stitution of  Noah  Ablett  and  W.  Craik,  where  modern  Marx- 
ism is  taught  and  propaganda  frankly  exploited  as  an  element 
in  workers'  education).  Only  a  little  past  thirty  years  of 
age,  Hodges  has  learned  one  secret  of  influence — the  secret 
that  Clynes  once  gave  away  in  private  conversation.  Said 
Clynes : 

"  From  my  study  of  Mr.  Balfour  I  learned  the  lesson  that  bigoted 
raillery  can  never  prevail  against  the  carefully  cultured  self- 
restraint  of  a  truly  forceful  personality."  Then  Clynes  watched 
the  contrast  between  Mr.  Asquith  and  a  playful  literary  Parlia- 
mentarian.1 "  Never  once  had  I  heard  Mr.  Asquith  risk  a  wit- 
ticism for  the  sake  of  pleasing  either  the  House  or  himself.  Not 
once  has  he  allowed  himself  to  forget  that  the  safest  weapon  of 
leadership  in  so  polyglot  a  House  is  dignity,  and  that  the  constant 
exercise  of  this  weapon  covers  a  multitude  of  sins.  The  longer  a 
man  of  intellect  sits  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  more  certain 
does  he  become,  that  more  politicians  are  undone  by  their  jests 
than  by  their  somber  opinions." 

Mr.  Clynes  has  put  his  finger  here  on  one  of  the  sources 
of  his  own  power  over  multitudes  of  men,  and  that  of  Hodges, 
Henderson,  Thomas,  Cramp,  and  Gosling.  The  power  lies  in 
high  seriousness  of  tone,  moderation  in  statement,  absence 
of  "personalities,"  cheap,  clever  phrases,  mob  oratory.  And 
failure  in  this  has  led  to  a  diminished  influence  in  men  of 
such  commanding  ability  as  Ben  Tillett,  with  his  fierce,  un- 
trammeled  invective,  and  Robert  Williams,  with  his  fagade 
of  bright,  scarlet  phrases. 

1  Augustine  Birrell. 


124  THE  YEAR 

Mr.  Hodges  said: 

The  present  discussion  reminds  me  of  a  debate  which  you  can 
hear  every  week  in  the  average  debating  society.  It  is  academic: 
it  disposes  of  nothing.  It  simply  asks  this  Congress  to  come  to 
conclusions  on  an  abstract  question,  when  presently  you  will  have 
an  opportunity  of  coming  to  conclusions  on  concrete  questions 
which  raise  this  principle.  But  as  the  matter  has  not  been  dis- 
cussed, and  we  have  had  a  revelation  of  the  mind  of  Mr.  Shaw, 
it  is  just  as  well  that  the  discussion  should  proceed.  Mr.  Shaw 
has  revealed  what  I  had  suspected  was  in  the  minds  of  many  peo- 
ple who  oppose  those  whom  they  describe  as  direct  actionists.  He 
said,  to  my  surprise,  that  the  desire  of  the  direct  action  movement 
is  to  establish  the  Soviet  system  of  government  in  this  country. 
There  is  nothing  more  remote  from  the  truth.  /  do  not  believe 
that  with  the  characteristics  of  the  British  race,  and  with  our  tra- 
ditions and  institutions,  a  Soviet  system  of  Government  would  ever 
become  adaptable  to  our  country.  But  that  does  not  influence  me 
in  analyzing  to  what  extent  the  labor  movement  exercises  its  func- 
tions in  our  own  country,  and  whether  it  exercises  them  effectively, 
politically,  or  industrially. 

What  is  the  classic  argument  against  direct  action?  It  is  the 
election  of  November  last — the  new  Parliamentary  register,  which 
gives  twenty  million  people  the  vote.  Because  twenty  million 
people  have  the  vote,  and  had  the  opportunity  to  exercise  it  last 
November  and  failed  to  rise  to  the  occasion,  the  opponents  of 
direct  action  say,  "  Until  you  have  another  election,  you  must  not 
use  industrial  pressure  upon  the  instrument  you  yourselves  created 
last  year."  That  is  the  classic  argument.  Let  us  analyze  it.  That 
Parliament  was  brought  into  being  largely,  and  admittedly,  by  the 
vote  of  the  working  class,  but  a  working  class  that  had  been 
buried  in  ignorance,  caused  by  a  system  which  had  oppressed  their 
mentality  for  generations.  They  had  not  developed  a  political  con- 
sciousness sufficiently  to  see  the  value  of  returning  three  hundred 
or  four  hundred  labor  men  to  the  House  of  Commons.  Besides, 
they  had  no  history  of  achievement  to  teach  them  the  contrary 
on  the  part  of  the  Labor  Party  of  older  days.  The  greatest 
source  of  education  to  a  political  democracy  is  the  achievement 
of  some  power  or  party  which  alleges  to  represent  them.  If  one 
wished  to  be  vitriolic,  one  would  say  to  the  Labor  Party: 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  125 

"Where    are    the    goods   that    you    are    supposed    to    have    de- 
livered?" 

Having  elected  that  Government  to  power,  having  been  taught 
to  believe,  in  their  half-awakened  political  consciousness,  that  the 
Coalition  would  do  for  them  things  that  the  Labor  Party  said 
they  would  do  if  they  were  returned  to  power,  this  same  elec- 
torate, after  having  had  months  of  experience  of  the  work  of  the 
Government  they  created,  in  my  judgment  have  arrived  at  a  stage 
of  political  thought  and  experience  which  gives  them  this  new 
conclusion  that  "if  we  had  another  opportunity,  we  would  not  re- 
turn a  Coalition  Government  to  power."  But  the  electorate  are 
denied  the  opportunity.  A  by-election  here  and  there  will  not 
materially  influence  a  party  which  has  gained  power  by  a  misrep- 
resentation of  its  own  principles.  It  will  not  give  up  authority 
because  of  a  few  internal  political  dissensions.  Its  majority  sub- 
stantially is  what  it  was  in  November  of  last  year,  and  it  con- 
tinues to  act  as  though  it  represented  the  wishes  and  desires  of 
the  electors.  I  challenge  that  conception.  And  it  is  because  no 
political  constitutional  channel  is  opened  up  for  the  people  that 
men  have  to  resort  to  the  philosophy  and  concept  of  direct  action. 
The  Labor  Party  has  done  all  it  is  humanly  possible  to  do. 
I  am  astonished  that,  in  view  of  the  impotence  of  the  Labor 
Party,  caused  by  circumstances  over  which  it  has  no  control,  it 
does  not  more  frequently  come  to  the  industrial  movement  and 
say,  "  We  are  overweighted  and  crushed  by  a  great  political 
despotism.  Come  to  our  assistance  in  order  that  we  may  have 
power  at  our  elbow  to  shatter  the  institution  and  re-mold  one  on 
better  lines." 

Mr.  Thomas  can  find  no  definition  which  clearly  discriminates 
between  a  political  question  and  an  industrial  question.  Is  a  purely 
political  matter  one  which  seems  so  remote  from  industrial  mat- 
ters as  neither  to  influence  them  nor  be  influenced  by  them?  Let 
us  take  an  example.  Suppose  this  Government  comes  to  Parlia- 
ment and  says,  "  We  have  decided  to  embark  on  a  new  war." 
That  would  be  a  political  question,  but  it  would  have  industrial 
and  social  effects,  and  if  such  a  Parliament  did  such  a  thing  would 
it  not  be  morally  and  socially  right  for  the  Labor  movement  to 
test  its  capacity  for  resistance  to  the  project?  It  might  go  down. 
Its  capacity  for  resistance  or  attack  might  not  be  so  great 
as  some  of  us  fondly  hope  it  would  be,  but  to  challenge  this 


126  THE  YEAR 

right  to  make  the  attack  is  to  misunderstand  the  function  of  a 
Labor  movement,  whether  it  be  political  or  industrial.  The  con- 
tinuance of  the  Defense  of  the  Realm  Act,  and  the  continuance 
of  conscription,  are  purely  political  questions,  but  who  will  deny 
that  they  affect  us  in  our  industrial  lives  and  in  proportion  as  they 
affect  us  industrially  they  become  industrial  questions?  //  at  any 
time  in  the  history  of  a  political  institution  it  prevents  the  expres- 
sion of  force  and  power  which  can  be  found  in  an  institution  out- 
side it,  that  institution  is  responsible  for  the  concept  of  direct 
action,  and  not  the  Labor  movement. 

The  greatest  propagandist  of  direct  action  is  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  himself.  He  teaches  us  the  elements  of  direct  action, 
and  he  must  accept  the  consequences  of  perpetuating  a  political 
institution  which  we  believe  to  have  outgrown  its  functions  and 
become  anomalous.  On  the  abstract  question  of  the  rights  of  the 
workers  to  use  direct  industrial  action  for  political  purposes,  I 
hold  that  the  workmen's  rights  are  unchallenged  and  unchal- 
lengeable. Members  of  the  Labor  Party — I  would  warn  you — 
because  it  is  politicians  for  the  most  part  who  have  urged  their 
philosophy  against  us — I  would  warn  you  that  the  time  is  not  far 
distant  when  you  yourselves  will  have  to  come  to  the  industrial 
movement  and  say  "  we  must  have  your  assistance  and  support  to 
accomplish  something  which  to  us  is  fundamentally  right  in  the 
interests  of  humanity."  I  feel  sure  that  you  will  come,  because 
circumstances  will  compel  you  to  come.  For  these  reasons  I  ask 
the  Congress  not  to  be  led  into  a  decision  in  favor  of  this  resolu- 
tion because  of  its  academic,  abstract,  and  mischievous  character. 
If  you  want  to  express  your  views  on  direct  action  let  it  come  on 
conscription,  on  Russia,  on  military  intervention  in  trade  disputes. 
If  you  decide  that  you  will  not  take  industrial  action  on  these 
questions,  it  will  not  be  because  you  have  accepted  the  philosophy 
of  continuous  political  action,  it  will  obviously  be  because  you  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  conscription,  military  intervention  in 
Russia,  and  military  intervention  in  trade  disputes,  are  not  big 
enough  questions  to  justify  you  in  action. 

I  ask  the  Congress  to  turn  down  this  resolution.  When  in 
future  a  conference  is  called  to  give  its  decision  on  the  question 
of  direct  action  versus  political  action,  let  it  be  upon  a  concrete 
fact,  and  if  that  fact  is  big  enough,  if  it  is  unsocial  enough,  if 
it  is  sufficiently  in  antagonism  to  the  best  interests  of  the  working 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  127 

class,  I  have  no  fear  that  the  working  classes  will  not  say,  "We 
will  use  to  the  very  fullest  capacity  the  power  that  we  feel  we 
possess  to  rid  society  of  a  tradition  and  an  institution  which 
dwarfs  and  threatens  and  thwarts  the  working  class  wherever  they 
turn."  The  antagonism  between  political  and  direct  action  will 
grow.  It  wiU  reach  its  pinnacle  when  the  industrial  classes  chal- 
lenge the  existence  of  the  capitalist  system.  I  warn  you  in 
preparation  for  that  day,  which  may  be  far  distant  or  may  be 
near:  Do  not  create  a  new  tradition  which  will  effectively  prevent 
you  from  acting  at  the  great  historical  moment. 

It  is  wise  to  report  Mr.  Hodges  at  length,  because  he  is  the 
most  promising  and  already  the  most  powerful  young  man  in 
British  labor.  Unlike  most  of  the  older  leaders,  he  has  a  policy 
and  a  philosophy.  It  is  as  necessary  to  learn  his  mind  as  that 
of  Lord  Robert  Cecil  and  Sidney  Webb,  if  we  wish  to  under- 
stand modern  Britain. 

After  a  brisk  and  brilliant  debate,  the  previous  question  was 
put — which  means  "  passing  the  buck,"  an  evasion  of  the 
issue.  The  congress  refused  to  decide  against  direct  action. 
If  they  had  passed  this  resolution,  it  would  have  put  them 
in  this  position:  if  they  went  to  the  Prime  Minister,  and  he 
refused  their  request,  they  would  then  have  been  pledged  not 
to  exert  the  only  pressure  immediately  open  to  them. 

James  H.  Thomas,  in  moving  the  resolution  on  Russia  and 
the  military  service  acts,  and,  failing  repeal  and  withdrawal, 
the  calling  of  a  special  congress  to  decide  what  action  shall 
be  taken,  said: 

The  unfortunate  thing  in  discussing  Russia  is  that  those  who 
demand  some  clear  statement  of  policy  or  who  protest  against 
men  being  conscripted  for  one  purpose  and  used  for  another,  are 
invariably  met,  not  with  a  statement  of  the  case,  not  with  a 
defense  of  policy,  but  the  war-cry  that  they  are  sympathetic  to 
Bolshevist  rule.  I  will  only  answer  that  by  saying  that,  so  far 
as  this  congress  and  the  labor  movement  are  concerned,  we  refuse 
to  give  the  right  to  any  government  in  any  country  to  interfere, 
to  dictate,  or  attempt  to  mold  that  policy  which  must  be  the  duty 
of  the  people  themselves. 


128  THE  YEAR 

Smillie  supported  the  resolution,  saying: 

It  was  put  by  Mr.  Shaw  that  all  our  efforts  in  the  direction  of 
direct  action  were  for  the  purpose  of  endeavoring  to  bring  about 
a  revolution.  Personally  I  give  that  the  lie  direct.  I  am  pre- 
pared to  accept  that  sort  of  thing  from  dukes  and  capitalists,  and 
capitalist  newspapers,  but  it  is  too  mean,  too  contemptible,  for 
one  comrade  to  say  of  another.  We  have  been  charged  also  with 
conspiracy  and  sedition.  Any  man  who  at  all  times  keeps  before 
his  eyes  the  sufferings  of  his  class,  and  recognizes  that  capitalism 
is  the  cause  of  that  suffering,  will  always  be  charged  with  trying 
to  foment  revolution. 

I  have  for  thirty  years  preached  the  necessity  of  an  industrial 
revolution  in  this  country,  and  I  will  go  on  preaching  that,  so  long 
as  my  life  continues.  Life  at  the  present  time,  and  in  the  past, 
has  not  been  worth  having,  and  it  is  our  business  to  advocate  an 
industrial  revolution.  I  do  not  desire  to  see  an  armed  or  a  bloody 
revolution.  I  am  an  evolutionary  revolutionist. 

Tom  Shaw  himself  followed  in  support: 

On  the  vital  issue  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion.  Not  a  man 
in  this  congress  believes  in  intervention  in  Russia.  We  should  not 
shed  one  drop  of  British  blood  on  an  internal  Russian  quarrel. 
Conscription  is  bad  in  essence,  and  is  not  to  be  tolerated  in  peace. 
I  shall  welcome  the  time  when  we  come  to  grips  with  the  question 
whether  or  not  the  working  people  shall  adopt  direct  action.  Mr. 
Smillie  will  find  that  I  am  as  keenly  with  the  majority  as  he  can  be. 

Then  it  was  that  Clynes  answered  in  a  speech,  so  clear, 
reasoned,  and  moving,  that  the  congress  responded  in  round 
after  round  of  applause.  It  was  entitled  to  the  same  respect 
and  received  it,  as  the  statement  of  the  new  order  by  Smillie 
and  Hodges.  No  other  man  in  the  British  labor  movement 
is  comparable  to  these  three  in  reaching  the  mind  and  heart 
of  a  multitude  with  the  memories  and  traditions,  the  hope 
and  aspirations  of  their  group  inheritance,  projected  in  wide 
survey  and  touched  by  personal  suffering. 

Mr.  Clynes  said: 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  129 

I  do  not  mind  a  special  Congress  being  called  if  an  unsatis- 
factory answer  is  received  from  the  Government  in  regard  to  the 
great  questions  referred  to  in  the  resolution.  When  the  Congress 
is  called  we  shall  have  an  opportunity  to  see  what  the  desires  of 
the  rank  and  file  are.  Meantime,  I  hope  you  will  allow  some 
reference  now  to  the  other  subjects  referred  to  by  Mr.  Smillie. 
It  is  possible  for  one  to  get  into  a  habit  of  mind  of  believing 
that  he  is  the  only  just  man  in  the  movement;  that  when  he 
calls  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  all  other  men  will  follow;  that  when 
he  leads  the  lead  must  be  in  the  right  and  wisest  way.  Now  it  is 
possible  for  that  man  to  be  mistaken  and  not  know  it. 

I  go  as  far  as  any  one  in  the  desire  to  see  property  nation- 
alized which  should  be  the  property  of  the  nation.  The  mines, 
minerals,  waterways,  land,  the  whole  of  the  great  factors  which 
are  the  arteries  of  the  national  life,  ought,  in  my  judgment,  to 
be  nationally  owned  and  democratically  and  nationally  controlled. 
The  question  is  not  one  of  what  ought  to  be  done,  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  how  you  are  going  to  do  it,  and  it  is  possible  for  men 
to  have  quite  honest  differences  of  opinion  on  matters  of  policy 
and  questions  of  method. 

The  older  I  have  got  in  this  work  the  more  I  have  seen  the 
futility  of  methods  of  violence.  Mr.  Smillie  does  not  want,  of 
course,  violent  methods  at  all,  but  that  is  the  first  thing  that  direct 
action  will  get  for  us.  Bring  out  your  millions  of  men,  tell  them 
they  are  coming  out  for  a  day  only,  a  trifle,  a  strike  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  perhaps  it  will  run  into  forty-eight.  Having  got 
two  days  you  will  want  two  days  more.  It  is  far  easier  to  get 
your  men  out  than  to  get  them  back,  and  all  the  time  your  Gov- 
ernment and  the  other  remaining  parts  of  the  community,  you 
imagine,  will  be  doing  nothing.  They  will  simply  be  waiting  for 
the  moment  of  labor's  victory.  Surely  all  experience  is  against 
any  such  lame  and  impotent  conclusion  as  that.  You  cannot  bring 
millions  of  men  out  to  begin  a  great  struggle  like  this  without 
anticipating  a  condition  of  civil  war. 

Your  Government  would  not  be  standing  idly  by.  The  stop- 
page of  the  industrial  and  social  life  of  the  community  would 
require  on  the  part  of  the  Government  some  attempt  to  keep 
things  going,  some  attempt  to  get  food  and  supply  the  immediate 
needs  of  life.  In  the  comparatively  small  disputes  that  we  have 
had  in  this  and  other  countries  we  have  seen  how  soon  the  tend- 


130  THE  YEAR 

ency  to  violence  has  been-  manifested,  and  how  soon  riot  and 
bloodshed  have  been  the  consequences  of  action  of  this 
kind. 

Direct  action  is  blessed  in  the  possession  of  an  attractive  name ; 
it  is  blessed  in  nothing  else.  It  means  the  breaking  of  workmen's 
heads  and  the  breaking  of  women's  hearts.  It  would  give  to 
every  other  section  of  the  community  the  right,  in  the  days  of  a 
Labor  Government,  to  imitate  the  bad  example  which  Labor  had 
set.  We  fought,  and  have  been  fighting,  for  years  as  long  as 
the  oldest  man  in  this  Congress  remembers,  for  Labor  to  capture 
the  political  machine.  That  part  of  the  battle  has  been  won,  and 
as  soon  as  the  working  man  has  got  the  means  to  capture  it  we 
tell  him  that  the  course  is  without  hope;  we  allege  literally  that 
he  has  no  sense  how  to  use  the  enormous  voting  power  which 
he  possesses.  You  are  taking  a  line  which  weakens  the  hand  of 
the  Parliamentary  Labor  Party,  you  are  confusing  the  mind  of 
our  own  class  in  the  country,  you  are  alienating  the  sympathy 
of  the  great  masses  of  well-meaning  men  and  women  of  other 
classes  than  our  own,  without  whose  sympathy  and  support  you 
cannot  hope  to  capture  the  political  machine,  and  become  the  Gov- 
ernment in  place  of  the  Government  you  have  now  in  existence. 

Imagine  the  Labor  Government  in  power.  It  is  certain  that 
it  will  not  long  have  been  in  office  before  a  few  millions  of  people 
will  allege  against  it  that  it  is  exhausting  its  powers,  it  has  no 
mandate  for  this  and  no  authority  for  that.  Do  you  mean  that 
in  those  days  those  who  disagree  with  the  action  of  your  Labor 
Government  will  have  a  right  to  resist  your  laws,  to  trample 
on  your  decisions,  and  to  resist  by  unconstitutional  action  the 
administrative  and  legislative  acts  of  the  Labor  Parliament?  Are 
you  going  to  concede,  in  the  days  of  Labor's  power,  to  every 
other  class  which  is  put  under  your  authority  the  right  to  resist 
your  laws  as  you  say  you  have  the  right  now  to  resist  them,  by 
the  use  of  the  strike  weapon?  You  will,  I  say,  set  to  all  other 
classes  the  bad  example  that  you  ought  to  be  the  first  to  avoid. 
Having  got  your  political  power  your  next  step  is  political  agita- 
tion. Do  not  delude  yourselves  with  the  conviction  that  your  class 
is  united.  If  they  are  not  united  enough  to  go  willingly  and  intel- 
ligently to  the  ballot  box  you  deceive  yourselves  by  thinking  that 
you  can  drag  them  out  of  the  workshop  against  their  will,  or 
that,  having  got  them  out,  they  will  fight  as  an  intelligent  and 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  131 

united  body  until  victory  is  won.    That  is  the  mistake  which  the 
direct  actionists  are  making. 

Taunt  me  if  you  will  with  being  more  or  less  of  a  fogey,  if  I 
say  that  I  believe  enduring  and  sure  progress  must  be  slow  prog- 
ress. I  deliberately  assert  that  that  is  the  doctrine  of  all  history. 
Do  men  think  so  highly  of  themselves  as  to  believe  that  in  this 
their  time  they  somehow  have  been  ordained  completely  to  turn 
the  world  round,  and  change  the  condition  of  things,  so  that  when 
they  have  finished  nothing  more  remains  for  mankind  to  do?  This 
is  an  old  country.  It  is  only  within  the  last  half  century  that 
the  working  classes  have  got  any  power.  They  have  not  yet  got 
the  consciousness  of  it,  but  the  power  they  have  got — this  right 
to  vote,  the  hallmark  of  real  liberty,  the  stamp  of  the  free  man, 
which  makes  the  poor  equal  to  the  rich — nay,  which  would  make 
him  superior  to  the  rich  if  he  would  unite  and  use  his  right,  the 
right  of  education,  the  right  to  unite  and  collectively  apply  the 
great  constitutional  power  he  acquired.  All  these  things  are  new. 
We  have  not  yet  learned  how  to  use  them  wisely. 

I  am  well  content,  looking  along  the  centuries,  to  see  that  my 
class  in  the  day  in  which  I  happen  to  live  have  acquired  this 
enormous  power.  I  am  content  if  I  can  do  a  little  to  teach  them 
how  wisely  to  use  the  power.  Looking  ahead  I  can  see  Labor 
in  the  seats  of  power,  and  I  want  Labor's  laws  to  be  respected 
and  observed,  just  as  I  ask  Labor  to  observe  and  respect  them 
now.  I  agree  with  all  you  can  say  against  the  Government,  for 
I  have  said  it  to  their  face,  in  regard  to  conscription  and  Russia, 
and  each  one  of  our  other  grievances.  But  what  a  state  of  social 
turmoil  must  there  eternally  be  if  each  aggrieved  class  in  the 
country  is  to  claim  this  right  to  revolt. 

To  get  conferences  specially  arranged  in  order  that  we.  might 
deliver  speeches  to  each  other  is  a  waste  of  trade  union  money 
and  our  own  energies.  Are  we,  each  time  a  man's  head  is  full 
of  fine  language  he  would  like  to  hurl  at  some  Minister,  to  get 
together  a  special  platform  for  him?  Does  it  mean  that  our 
friend  Mr.  Robert  Williams  must  have  a  special  public  oppor- 
tunity of  selecting  the  particular  adjectives  with  which  he  will 
choose  to  call  Mr.  Churchill  a  liar?  We  have  more  important 
business  than  this  to  do.  Our  business  is  not  so  much  that  of 
converting  our  enemies,  as  of  converting  our  friends,  and  we  will 
not  convert  our  friends  by  threats.  Labor  is  only  beginning  to 


132  THE  YEAR 

learn  how  to  govern.  We  are  just  on  the  threshold  of  the  wise 
use  of  the  enormous  authority  we  have  acquired,  and  while  you 
are  asked  to  use  your  pressure  to  get  your  Government  to  con- 
form to  your  wishes  on  conscription  and  Russia,  I  beg  you  not 
to  go  further  and  challenge  the  existence  of  the  State,  and  claim 
the  right  to  a  class  dictatorship.  Workmen  who  say  they  cannot 
be  driven  but  can  be  led  must  also  concede  to  other  Britons  of 
other  classes  the  same  feeling.  You  must  lead  them,  persuade 
them,  guide  them,  convert  them,  and  when  you  have  done  that 
they  will  join  you  in  seeking  to  change  the  conditions  which  op- 
press them  equally  with  yourselves. 

This  is  the  most  comprehensive  and  exalted  expression  in 
the  past  year  of  the  philosophy  of  a  labor  leader  of  the  older 
generation.  There  is  perhaps  no  greater  debater  in  the  labor 
movement. 

The  resolution  was  carried  with  only  two  voices  raised  in 
protest. 

"  The  most  important  trades-union  congress  in  the  history 
of  the  British  labor  movement "  came  to  an  end  with  a  debate 
on  the  question  of  Ireland.  The  question  was  raised  on  the 
following  special  resolution,  moved  by  J.  H.  Thomas: 

This  congress  views  with  alarm  the  grave  situation  in  Ireland, 
where  every  demand  of  the  people  for  freedom  is  met  by  military 
rule.  The  congress  once  again  reaffirms  its  belief  that  the  only 
solution  is  self-determination,  and  calls  upon  the  government  to 
substitute  military  rule  by  self-determination  as  the  real  means 
whereby  the  Irish  people  can  work  out  their  own  emancipation. 
This  congress  expresses  its  profound  sympathy  with  our  Irish 
brethren  in  their  hour  of  repression. 

With  the  new  Parliamentary  Committee  inclining  toward 
the  earlier  conception  of  the  function  of  a  trade-union  move- 
ment, the  fighting  policy  (labor  is  nothing  if  it  is  not  militant) 
clearly  depends  for  its  dynamic  and  its  direction  on  the  chair- 
man. J.  H.  Thomas  was  elected  chairman  of  the  Parliamen- 
tary Committee  and  therefore  chairman  of  next  year's  con- 
gress, and  of  any  special  congress.  His  summing  up  of  the 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  133 

congress  is  of  importance  because  it  reveals  what  he  considers 
the  mandate  given  to  him,  and  shows  in  what  direction  he  will 
exercise  his  leadership.  He  says: 

The  congress  felt  that  after  the  appointment  of  a  royal  commis- 
sion to  consider  and  report  on  this  matter  (the  mines)  the  gov- 
ernment were  morally  bound  to  accept  the  findings  of  the 
commission.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  workers  are  behind 
the  miners  in  the  demand  for  nationalization,  not,  let  it  be  ob- 
served, because  of  any  benefits  to  accrue  to  the  miners  as  miners, 
but  on  the  much  broader  and  sounder  ground  of  a  proposition  of 
interest  and  benefit  to  the  state  as  a  whole.  The  principle  was 
clearly  put  that  no  section  of  the  state  is  greater  than  the  state 
as  a  whole,  and  it  is  in  that  spirit  that  the  proposal  was  carried. 

Considerable  confusion  exists  with  regard  to  the  vote  on  direct 
action.  There  was  no  vote  for  one  simple  reason,  that  the  word- 
ing of  the  resolution  submitted  could  have  been  construed  as 
giving  away  the  right  to  strike  under  any  circumstances. 

On  conscription  there  is  only  one  thing  to  say — we  succeeded 
in  crushing  German  militarism  and  we  were  told  that  among  the 
other  advantages  would  be  a  reduction  on  military  expenditure. 
This  year's  budget  gives  the  answer,  and  the  fact  that  the  number 
of  men — volunteers — in  the  army  to-day  is  greater  than  the  pre- 
war standard  is  sufficient  comment  on  the  situation. 

In  short,  the  labor  movement,  through  its  congress  at  Glasgow, 
is  not  only  alive  to  where  we  are  drifting,  but  intends  to  play 
its  part  to  save  the  country  from  ruin. 

Inside  the  Parliamentary  Committee,  in  these  years  of  crisis, 
Thomas  has  unflinchingly  given  his  vote  to  the  side  of  inter- 
nationalism. This  coming  year,  therefore,  the  Parliamentary 
Committee  can  be  counted  on  for  five  things : 

1.  To  work  in  closer  harmony  with  the  executive  of  the  labor 
party. 

2.  To  co-operate  in  the  labor  and  Socialist  international. 

3.  To  stiffen  up  and  strengthen  the  National  Industrial  Council. 

4.  To  get  a  move  on  the  Parliamentary  Committee  in  general 
business.     Thomas  is  a  hustler  in  execution  when  he  receives  a 
mandate. 


134  THE  YEAR 

5.  To  watch  carefully  the  currents  running  through  the  rank 
and  file,  and  not  seek  merely  to  suppress  them. 

It  is  probable  that  we  shall  see  either  a  general  election  or 
special  congresses  within  the  next  few  months.  Such  a  special 
congress  might  well  force  a  general  election.  The  congress 
will  deal  with  a  "  burning  issue,"  not  with  the  abstract  ques- 
tion of  direct  action.  It  would  prefer  a  general  election  to  a 
general  strike.  It  is  not  ready  to  substitute  the  congress  for 
Parliament.  But  it  showed  at  Glasgow  that  it  is  determined 
to  have  a  representative  Parliament  and  a  democratic  Gov- 
ernment. 

Any  one  reading  this  report  of  congress  would  gather  that 
Smillie,  with  the  organized  power  of  the  miners  back  of  him, 
was  the  chief  figure  of  the  congress.  He  was.  He  had  so 
carried  the  congress  in  his  stride  that  the  847  other  delegates 
could  do  no  less  in  their  British  self-respect  than  assert  that 
they,  too,  were  among  those  present,  and  defeat  the  miners' 
candidates  for  the  Parliamentary  Committee,  and  re-elect 
most  of  the  group  they  had  just  censured.  It  was  either  that 
or  make  him  the  lone  leader  of  all  labor.  This  is  something 
they  have  never  done  for  any  man. 

The  Glasgow  Herald  (an  anti-Smillie  paper)  said  on  Sep- 
tember 12,  "  Events  have  conclusively  shown  that  Mr.  Smillie 
is  the  dominating  personality  of  the  congress."  The  New 
Statesman  of  September  13  said : 

However  wrong  his  methods  may  be,  the  indisputable  fact  re- 
mains that  Mr.  Smillie  has  done  more  than  all  the  parliamentary 
labor  leaders  put  together  to  make  a  continuance  of  Mr. 
Churchill's  Russian  adventure  impossible.  Without  him  and  his 
direct  actionist  friends  it  is,  to  say  the  least,  doubtful  whether 
the  labor  view  on  this  vital  question  would  have  obtained  any  hear- 
ing at  all.  There  is  surely  something  there  to  be  remedied. 

Alexander  M.  Thompson,  the  labor  writer  of  the  Daily 
Mail,  says  of  the  vote  for  nationalization: 


THE  CONGRESS  AT  GLASGOW  135 

That  is  the  net  result  of  one  strong,  determined  man's  grim 
tenacity  to  one  fixed  and  unalterable  idea.  The  only  possible  end 
to  the  fight  on  which  he  has  entered,  Mr.  Smillie  solemnly  told  the 
congress,  is  the  nationalization  of  the  mines,  and  his  impassioned 
advocacy  of  that  end  carried  the  assembly  like  a  rushing  mountain 
torrent.  It  was  a  speech  of  great  eloquence,  evidently  intense  feel- 
ing and  persuasive  discretion.  The  result  of  the  vote  was  never  in 
doubt,  but  Mr.  Smillie's  oratory  made  assurance  doubly  sure. 

The  difficulty  of  disposing  of  Mr.  Smillie  was  that  no  leader 
was  more  in  control  of  his  rank  and  file.  Where  other  leaders 
have  split  their  following,  he  had  the  backing  of  his  miners. 
They  have  been  resolute  constitutionalists  in  their  trade-union 
and  congress  proceedings.  To  attack  Smillie  personally  is  im- 
possible. His  honesty  in  agreements  has  been  testified  to  by 
Lord  Askwith  in  the  House  of  Lords.  His  personal  life  is 
the  pride  of  Lanarkshire  workers.  He  is  attacked  politically 
by  most  of  the  press  of  Great  Britain.  The  wearing  effects 
of  such  criticisms  are  cumulative. 

All  sections  of  the  left  had  united  on  Smillie  in  making 
him  their  spokesman.  They  were  pushing  him  out  upon  every 
strategic  platform.  He  had  dominated  the  Coal  Commission, 
the  Southport  labor  conference,  and  the  Glasgow  congress.  In 
the  quality  of  his  utterances  I  feel  that  he  is  stretching  him- 
self beyond  the  power  of  his  physique,  that  he  is  at  the  end 
of  his  working  life  and  knows  it,  that  we  are  listening  very 
literally  to  the  "  last  words  "  of  one  who  will  be  a  tradition 
in  Britain. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  RAILWAY  STRIKE  AND  THE  FOURTEEN 

THE  railway  strike  resulted  in  a  settlement — not  in  a  victory 
for  either  side.  The  Government  has  stabilized  wages  for 
the  next  twelve  months,  and  has  opened  the  whole  question 
for  fresh  discussion.  What  is  called  its  "  definitive  "  offer  is 
thus  thrown  back  into  the  melting-pot.  The  railwaymen  will 
continue  at  their  war  wages  till  next  autumn. 

For  the  first  time  a  representative  body  of  trade-union 
leaders  acted  as  mediators  in  a  wage  dispute.  They  did  not 
make  the  terms  of  settlement,  but  they  continued  to  bring  the 
two  parties  into  negotiating  touch  with  each  other.  They 
made  the  railwaymen  and  the  State  "  behave." 

The  mental  attitude  of  the  committee  was  expressed  by  Mr. 
Clynes,  who  said  that,  like  all  trade-union  leaders,  he  re- 
garded the  terms  originally  offered  to  the  lower  grade  rail- 
waymen as  the  beginning  of  a  deliberate  attempt  to  bring 
the  general  subsistence  wage  back  to  the  1914  level,  and  this 
return  to  intolerable  conditions  he  emphatically  declared  must 
be  resolutely  resisted  by  all  classes  of  organized  workers. 

"  The  Prime  Minister  himself  has  urged  us,"  he  said,  "  to 
be  audacious  in  our  demands.  We  are  too  anxious  for  the 
prosperity  of  industry  to  follow  his  advice,  but  we  do  not 
think  we  are  showing  audacity  in  insisting  that  the  shameful 
industrial  conditions  of  pre-war  days  shall  not  be  restored. 
For  the  efficiency  of  the  nation  and  the  welfare  of  the  State 
we  think  it  our  duty  to  stand  firm  for  the  upward  progress  of 
the  people's  standard  of  life." 

The  fourteen  men  who  brought  about  peace  were  appointed 
by  the  conference  of  trade  unions  called  by  the  Transport 
Workers'  Federation. 

136 


RAILWAY  STRIKE  AND  THE  FOURTEEN     137 

Mr.  H.  Gosling  (President,  Transport  Workers'  Federa- 
tion). 

Mr.  R.  Williams   (Secretary,  Transport  Workers). 

Mr.  J.  R.  Clynes  (President,  General  Workers). 

Mr.  A.  Henderson  (Secretary,  Labor  Party). 

Mr.  Muir  (Electrical  Trades  Union). 

Mr.  E.  Bevin  (Bristol  Dockers). 

Mr.  J.  O'Grady  (Furnishing  Trades). 

Mr.  J.  T.  Brownlie  (Engineers). 

Mr.  J.  W.  Bowen  (Postmen). 

Mr.  T.  E.  Naylor  (Printing  Trades  Federation). 

Mr.  R.  B.  Walker  (Parliamentary  Committee,  Trades  Union 
Congress). 

Mr.  C.  W.  Bowerman  (Secretary,  Trades  Union  Congress). 

Mr.  F.  Hodges  (Miners'  Secretary). 

Mr.  G.  H.  Stuart-Bunning  (Postmen,  Parliamentary  Com- 
mittee, Trades  Union  Congress). 

The  Westminster  Gazette,  October  7,  1919,  says: 

To  us  the  experience  of  this  time  seems  to  be  something  like 
the  discovery  of  a  new  principle  which  ought  next  time  to  serve 
first  instead  of  last.  This  is  the  role  of  the  neutral  trades,  which, 
acting  as  mediators  between  the  Government  and  the  railwaymen, 
found  the  way  out  which  baffled  the  disputants.  The  eleven,  or 
the  fourteen,  as  they  subsequently  became,  played  a  new  part  of 
the  utmost  importance,  and  played  it,  by  common  consent,  with 
great  discretion  and  moderation.  If  they  became  a  permanent 
part  of  the  machinery  of  conciliation,  and  it  became  a  regular 
practice  to  consult  them  at  a  given  stage  in  a  dispute,  we  ought 
to  get  rid  of  a  great  part  of  the  suspicion  which  attaches  to  the 

ordinary  forms  of  conciliation  and  arbitration. 

i 

Mr.  Arthur  Henderson  handed  me  this  statement  on  the 
same  point: 

The  "  fourteeen  "  representatives  appointed  by  the  Trades  Union 
Congress  were  all  of  them  connected  with  Labor  Organizations 
whose  interests  were  affected  by  the  crisis.  They  held  as  between 


138  THE  YEAR 

the  Railwaymen  and  the  Government  a  position  of  very  great 
delicacy.  They  confined  their  efforts  mainly  to  bringing  the  two 
parties  together,  leaving  them  to  settle  the  dispute  for  themselves 
and  taking  very  little  part  in  the  discussion  upon  the  merits  of 
the  Railwaymen's  case  between  the  Railwaymen  and  the  Govern- 
ment. But  they  kept  in  close  touch  with  both  sides,  almost  from 
hour  to  hour,  making  suggestions  to  one  side  or  the  other,  re- 
starting negotiations  which  seemed  to  have  broken  down,  and  being 
present  at  the  joint  discussions  when,  as  a  result  of  their  efforts, 
these  discussions  were  resumed.  Because  of  the  vast  interests 
involved  they  were  anxious  to  avoid  an  extension  of  the  Strike 
which  would  have  had  incalculable  consequences,  but  as  the  nego- 
tiations dragged  on  they  became  more  and  more  convinced  that 
the  original  attitude  of  the  Government  towards  the  Railwaymen's 
claims  would  have  to  be  considerably  modified  if  a  catastrophic 
breakdown  of  industry  was  to  be  averted. 

It  was  a  peace  without  victory — a  peace  with  honor,  which 
in  my  judgment  did  essential  justice  to  the  Railwaymen, 
and  it  contained  a  promise  of  a  generally  satisfactory  solution 
of  the  whole  wage  question  which,  as  a  result  of  the  war, 
has  passed  into  a  new  phase.  I  am  not  sanguine  enough  to  think 
that  the  settlement  will  prove  a  millennium,  or  that  the  employing 
classes  have  undergone  a  miraculous  change  of  heart.  There  were 
many  activities  in  this  strike  which  showed  how  near  we  were  to 
a  real  struggle  of  class,  and  showed  also  how  destructive  that 
struggle  must  be.  Many  things  were  said  which  were  better  for- 
gotten, some  things  were  done  which  ought  never  to  have  been 
possible,  but  the  settlement  stands  as  a  prime  achievment  of  re- 
sponsible Trade  Union  leaders  who  intervened  in  the  struggle  not 
simply  in  the  interests  of  their  own  class  but  to  serve  the  best 
interests  of  the  community.  It  points  the  way  to  that  developing 
partnership  of  the  Trade  Unions  in  the  control  of  industry  which 
is  the  working  class  policy. 

Those  Trade  Union  leaders  who  have  been  closely  concerned 
with  important  industrial  events  during  the  present  year  are  com- 
pelled to  recognize  that  the  failure  to  secure  organization  of  a 
national  industrial  council  has  been  nothing  short  of  a  disaster. 
The  spirit  which  pervaded  the  discussions  between  employers  and 
Trade  Unionists  in  the  joint  committee  set  up  by  the  joint  Indus- 
trial Conference  called  by  the  Government  last  February,  en- 


RAILWAY  STRIKE  AND  THE  FOURTEEN     139 

couraged  the  hope  that  one  great  defect  of  our  industrial  system 
would  be  removed.  Had  the  National  Council  existed,  I  am  con- 
fident that  the  dispute  between  the  Government  and  the  Railway- 
men's  Union  would  never  have  developed  into  the  actual  stoppage. 
If  I  am  asked  why  the  unanimous  recommendations  of  the  Em- 
ployers' and  Workpeoples'  representatives  have  not  been  carried 
out,  I  can  only  reply  that  the  responsibility  does  not  rest  with 
them  but  rather  with  the  Government  which  has  been  unwilling 
to  regulate  the  hours  of  all  employed  persons  by  legal  enactment. 
It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  every  effort  should  be  made 
to  remove  the  bad  impression  thus  created  and  to  restore  the  con- 
fidence of  organized  labor,  which  will  make  it  possible  for  the 
producing  classes  to  feel  that  they  are  really  partners  in  in- 
dustry and  that  their  interests  lie  in  securing  the  conditions  of  its 
success. 

In  the  Daily  News  for  October  7  and  8  Mr.  Harry  Gosling, 
President  of  the  National  Federation  of  Transport  Workers, 
writes : 

What  men  like  myself  are  now  setting  ourselves  to  do  is  to 
construct  a  new  channel  by  which  the  force  of  the  movement  may 
be  regulated.  Already  a  proposal  has  come  out  of  the  strike  that 
we  should  form  a  central  executive  empowered  to  act  for  the 
whole  body  of  Trade  Unionism  in  negotiations  with  the  Govern- 
ment. At  present  each  unit  of  Labor  has  a  substantial  head,  but 
there  is  no  head  at  all  for  the  whole  Labor  movement  when  it 
comes  to  a  matter  of  industrial  action.  This  new  body  would  be 
similar  in  constitution  to  the  executive  of  the  Trade  Union  Con- 
gress but  more  closely  knit,  more  powerful  and  more  readily 
brought  into  action. 

You  may  argue  that  such  a  body  would  be  a  danger  to  the  State, 
because  it  would  be  a  rival  to  the  executive  of  Parliament,  which 
is  the  Cabinet.  My  reply  is  that  a  gigantic  movement  calls  for 
a  powerful  instrument.  If  no  such  powerful  instrument  is  in 
existence  the  movement  will  break  bounds  and  chaos  result.  To 
put  it  bluntly,  you  must  either  have  this  or  something  very  much 
worse. 

The  time  has  come  when  the  political  Cabinet  must  take  an 
industrial  partner.  The  young  men  are  demanding  it,  and  although 


140  THE  YEAR 

it  may  be  easy  enough  to  chloroform  old  men  like  myself,  you 
can't  chloroform  the  rising  generation.  Let  us  work,  then,  with 
all  our  might  to  establish  co-operation  rather  than  rivalry  between 
these  two  forces  within  the  one  nation. 

I  know  a  very  great  authority  who  has  worked  out  what  it  cost 
him  to  "  win  "  a  certain  dispute.  It  cost  in  the  first  year  after 
the  "victory"  something  like  30  per  cent  in  depreciation  of  out- 
put owing  to  discontent,  and  a  number  of  years  passed  with  a 
declining  loss  in  each,  till  he  got  back  to  the  normal.  A  "  vic- 
tory" for  capital  involving  an  unconditional  return  to  work  is 
always  at  bottom  a  defeat.  Lord  Devonport  beat  us  at  the  Docks 
in  1912.  He  won. 

But  ask  Lord  Devonport  to-day  how  much  he  won,  and  if  he 
replies  frankly,  you  will  get  a  surprising  answer.  Year  by  year 
ever  since  1912  we  have  been  "  getting  our  own  back."  It  had 
to  be  done,  but  nevertheless  it  has  been  a  bad  thing — for  Labor, 
for  Capital,  for  the  community. 

It  is  my  hope  that  the  railway  strike  will  induce  the  general 
public  to  think  along  these  lines.  Unless  they  do,  all  the  efforts 
of  the  mediators  cannot  prevent  the  coming  of  a  class  war.  Such 
a  war,  if  it  comes,  will  be  intensified  as  a  result  of  the  great 
European  war.  The  war  showed  a  great  number  of  men  that 
force  is  indeed,  a  very  effective  thing.  It  taught  them  to  think 
of  sheer  force  as  the  live  end  of  any  cause. 

Moreover,  these  men  who  have  come  back  from  the  war  do  not 
regard  mere  physical  consequences  quite  in  the  light  they  did 
before.  We  find,  therefore,  that  those  who  have  fought  at  the 
front  are  the  most  difficult  to  control  and  restrain  in  time  of  crisis. 
Let  the  nation  take  warning. 

During  the  crisis  the  State  laid  aside  its  sovereignty  and 
sacred  impersonality  and  became,  very  simply,  two  men,  Sir 
Eric  Geddes,  representing  the  employing  class,  and  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  representing  the  middle  class.  It  became  a  noisy, 
short-tempered,  clever  advocate,  scoring  points;  a  lively  fel- 
low— an  amalgam  of  a  grim,  strong  man,  who  clicks  his 
teeth  as  he  utters  ultimata,  and  of  a  charming  temperamental 
man,  enjoying  the  debate.  This  brisk  entity  of  the  State 
advertised  its  case  in  the  newspapers,  chalked  up  big  snappy 


RAILWAY  STRIKE  AND  THE  FOURTEEN     141 

posters  on  the  billboards,  and  flashed  jolly  controversial  state- 
ments on  the  movie  screens.  The  State  revealed  itself  as  a 
very  human,  likable,  one-sided,  rather  inaccurate  person.  It 
finally  came  as  a  relief  when  those  eminently  judicial  persons, 
Henderson,  Gosling,  Clynes,  Brownlie,  entered  and  lifted  the 
dispute  into  the  atmosphere  of  statesmanship. 

As  usual  of  late,  Parliament  did  not  act  in  the  crisis.  As 
the  British  Weekly  puts  it,  "We  have  had  on  the  one  hand 
the  inner  Cabinet,  and  against  them  the  trade  unions,  and  be- 
tween the  two  the  House  of  Commons  has  nearly  come  to  the 
ground."  Parliament  has  been  out  of  the  main  current  of 
events  during  the  War.  And  it  was  just  its  luck  to  be  in  re- 
cess at  the  time  of  the  strike.  It  would  not  have  been  able  to 
function  because  the  industrial  struggle  selects  committees  of 
producers  for  its  arena,  but  Parliament  could  have  talked. 

The  strike  showed  that  motor  transport,  as  developed  by 
the  War,  has  added  a  new  medium  of  communication.  The 
Government  had  secretly  organized  a  skeleton  service  for 
transport  of  food,  milk,  and  other  necessaries,  and  a  system 
of  civil  helpers.  As  the  result,  the  paralysis  of  the  railway 
service  was  not  a  paralysis  of  the  daily  social  life  of  the  com- 
munity. 

Of  this  new  organization  Mr.  Lloyd  George  said: 

I  have  to  take  this  opportunity  of  thanking  the  multitudes  of 
volunteers  who  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  State  in  these  circum- 
stances. They  have  come  in  their  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands. 
In  February  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  were  signs  that 
this  was  coming.  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  leave  the  Peace  Conference, 
because  matters  at  home  needed  our  attention.  Under  the  Home 
Secretary  the  Government  built  up  a  civilian  organization  to  meet 
the  situation.  The  organization  has  worked  well. 

Robert  Williams,  Secretary  of  the  National  Federation  of 
Transport  Workers,  says  of  this  organization: 

The  strike  shows  that  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  able- 
bodied  men  who  are  willing  to  assist  in  breaking  a  strike  and 


142  THE  YEAR 

contribute  some  temporary  useful  service  in  order  to  cling 
to  their  domination  over,  and  dependence  upon,  the  organized 
workers. 

The  loafers  from  the  Piccadilly  clubs  went  down  to  the  Under- 
ground Railways  in  order  to  break  Trade  Unionism,  and  then  to 
go  back  to  their  lotus-eating  existence  with  a  feeling  of  victory 
over  the  exploited.  That  is  no  new  thing.  The  one  encouraging 
feature  in  the  dispute  is  that  few  if  any  workers  blacklegged 
upon  their  fellow  workers.  The  blacklegs  in  the  main  consisted 
of  military  and  naval  units,  together  with  the  young  cubs  of  the 
middle  and  upper  classes,  who  hate  and  fear  Trade  Union  possi- 
bilities. 

Out  of  the  dispute  there  must  instantly  emerge  some  organiza- 
tion which  will  be  sufficiently  powerful  to  challenge  all  the  vested 
interests  organized  to  prevent  Labor's  steady  progress.  The  less 
one  says  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee  the  better. 

The  British  Weekly,  October  9,  said: 

We  must  get  hold  of  these  dukes  and  earls  who  helped  us  with 
the  railway,  and  set  them  to  work  in  some  other  manner. 

The  whole  experience  has  enormously  strengthened  labor, 
because  it  has  made  clear  the  fact  of  class  hostility  and  because 
it  has  emphasized  the  immediate  need  of  labor  unity,  central 
government,  a  general  staff,  and  a  mass  program.  A  "  light- 
ning "  strike,  unannounced  to  the  Triple  Alliance,  unexpected 
to  other  trade  unionists,  must  be  made  impossible.  The  effect 
of  the  dispute  is  that  trade  unionism  will  strengthen  its  cen- 
tral government.  This  will  be  done  in  one  of  three  ways, 
either  by  increasing  the  executive  power  of  the  Parliamentary 
Committee,  or  by  forming  a  special  sub-committee  of  the 
National  Industrial  Council,  or  by  making  permanent  such  a 
body  as  "  The  Fourteen,"  who  engineered  the  settlement  of 
the  railway  strike.1 

1  The  Trades  Union  Congress  of  December,  1919,  took  steps  toward 
forming  a  strong  central  executive  body. 


RAILWAY  STRIKE  AND  THE  FOURTEEN     143 

Further,  the  strike  has  revealed  the  difficulties  of  reaching 
public  opinion.  The  newspapers  mainly  represent  business 
and  middle-class  interests.  Their  handling  of  the  facts,  their 
emphasis  on  one  set  of  facts  as  distinct  from  another  set,  their 
appeals  to  herd  instinct,  rendered  their  accounts  of  the  strike 
ex  parte.  Of  the  persons  I  talked  with  I  found  that  their 
opinion  of  the  strike  was  made  up  50  per  cent  of  personal 
discomfort  and  50  per  cent  from  the  newspaper  which  they 
read.  The  atmosphere  of  these  days  of  crisis  was  passionate 
rather  than  temperate. 

The  Times  said,  "  Like  the  war  with  Germany,  it  must  be  a 
fight  to  a  finish." 

J.  H.  Thomas  said,  "  That  the  nation  was  nearer  a  civil 
war  than  it  has  ever  been  before  cannot  be  questioned." 

The  immense  difficulties  of  a  country  which  has  always 
paid  misery  wages  to  a  large  proportion  of  its  workers  and 
has  maintained  a  mean  standard  of  living,  can  be  realized  by 
the  wage-scale  offered  to  the  railwaymen  by  the  Government. 
Here,  for  instance,  is  the  "  definitive "  scale  sent  by  Sir 
Auckland  Geddes  on  September  19  to  the  National  Union  of 
Railwaymen  for  the  Goods  Department: 

Small 

Goods  Depot  Staff  London    Provinces    Places 

Porters,  Sidingmen,  Lift  Attendants, 

Gatemen,  Watchmen,  etc 47/~  44/~  4<V~ 

Callers-off,  Cranemen,  Loaders,  Gas 

Enginemen,  etc Si/-  487-  437- 

Checkers,     Storekeepers,     Gaugers, 

Warehousemen,  Timekeepers  . .  55/~"  52/~  4^/- 

Working    Foremen,    Searchers   and 

Tracers,  Senior  Checkers,  etc..  s8/-  ss/-  so/- 

Translate this  into  American  money.  A  wage  of  from  $8.40 
to  $12  a  week  was  offered  to  men  who  had  fought  the  War 
and  are  trying  to  rear  a  family.  The  men  struck  in  order  to 
keep  the  wage  which  they  had  gained  during  the  War,  and 
which  averaged  a  few  shillings  above  the  Government  offer. 
The  men  involved  included  porters  of  all  kinds,  ticket  col- 


THE  YEAR 

lectors,  conductors,  baggagemen,  shunters,  checkers,  carmen, 
platelayers. 
The  Right  Hon.  C.  F.  G.  Masterman  writes : 

An  attempt  was  made  to  force  a  large  reduction  of  money  wages 
upon  a  large  class  of  Government  servants.  It  was  made  in 
secret.  It  was  made  without  the  sanction  of  a  Parliament.  It 
was  made  without  any  public  discussion  whatever. 

And  he  speaks  of  "  the  curious  campaign  of  advertisement 
— a  campaign  in  which  the  railwaymen's  funds  competed 
against  taxpayers'  funds  in  part  forcibly  contributed  by  the 
railwaymen  themselves,  who  thus  paid  for  their  own  attempted 
defeat." 

As  high  an  authority  as  Mr.  Sidney  Webb  believes  that 
"  there  is  a  policy  of  generally  lowering  wages,  there  is  an 
intention,  in  some  quarters,  of  '  smashing  the  trade  union  by  a 
fight  to  a  finish/  and  this  railway  strike  was  deliberately  in- 
tended and  provoked." 

The  Government  attempted  to  reduce  wages  and  failed. 
The  settlement  is  a  compromise  and  a  postponement.  The 
real  fight  will  come  later.  "  The  railwaymen  have  checked 
the  first  attempt  to  reduce  the  wages  of  all  manual  workers." 

Labor  no  longer  trusts  officials  and  Government.  Labor 
believes  that  they  speak  in  a  Pickwickian  sense,  that  their 
promises  are  swinging  doors. 

The  New  Statesman  says : 

It  is  men  like  Sir  Eric  Geddes — clever,  strong,  fundamentally 
stupid  men — who  make  revolutions.  And  it  is  men  like  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  and  Mr.  Bonar  Law — men  who  do  not  tell  the  truth  and 
who  thus  undermine  the  foundations  of  public  confidence — who 
prepare  the  way  for  the  Geddeses. 

\ 

Mr.  Asquith  at  the  Lord  Mayor's  banquet  of  1911  laid 
down  the  three  principles  on  which  a  Government  might  act 
in  time  of  strike.  "  The  Executive  Government  must  provide 


RAILWAY  STRIKE  AND  THE  FOURTEEN     145 

the  machinery  and  facilitate  the  methods  of  conciliation.  It 
must  maintain  order,  and  secure  the  community  at  large  against 
the  stoppage  of  supplies  and  the  suspension  of  services  which 
are  indispensably  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  its  every- 
day social  life." 


SECTION  THREE 
THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

As  fast  as  full  pressure  is  brought,  the  opposition  gives 
ground.  That  is  why  there  are  not  any  jutting  flames,  and 
bloody  futile  riots,  and  the  other  theatricalities  of  orthodox 
revolutions.  Here  Ramsay  MacDonald  eats  breakfast  with 
Lloyd  George,  and  debates  direct  action  with  Mr.  Balfour. 
Tawney  goes  prancing  out  with  a  coal  owner  whom  he  has 
relieved  of  superfluous  gains.  Sir  Allan  Smith  and  Mr.  Ar- 
thur Henderson  spend  many  hours  in  hatching  a  plot  against 
autocracy  in  industry.  A  great  employer  begs  his  shop  stew- 
ards to  catch  up  more  of  the  slack  and  bite  off  a  bigger  share 
in  factory  management. 

It  seems  comic  opera  to  the  European  revolutionary  (like 
the  time  when  Arthur  Henderson  opened  a  banquet,  including 
international  reds  from  the  continent,  with  an  invocation  to 
the  Almighty).  But  it  isn't  comic  opera.  And  it  looks  like  a 
Dorcas  sewing  circle  to  the  American  business  men  and  the 
stalwarts  of  the  National  Civic  Federation.  But  it  isn't  a 
meeting  of  maiden  aunts.  It  is  neither  wild  nor  innocuous. 
It  is  British.  It  disguises  the  fact  that  a  vast  shift  has  been 
made.  That  famous  moment  of  history  has  come  when  a 
nation  ushers  in  another  class  to  power. 

What  will  happen  if  demands  are  not  granted  ?  I  heard  Mr. 
Sidney  Webb  one  evening  tell  what  would  have  happened  if, 
when  the  miners  pushed,  the  door  had  not  opened.  Then  I 
read  it  word  for  word  in  the  New  Statesman  (of  March  29, 
1919).  So  I  am  justified  in  stating  that  Mr.  Webb  says: 

147 


148  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

If  the  Miners'  Federation  had  rejected  the  terms  offered  by  the 
Government  and  had  withdrawn,  on  the  expiry  of  the  strike 
notices,  the  labor  of  their  eight  hundred  thousand  members;  if 
the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  and  the  Associated  Society  of 
Locomotive  Enginemen  and  Firemen  had  been  equally  recalcitrant 
with  regard  to  their  own  quarrel  with  the  Government,  and  had 
drawn  out  their  half  a  million  members ;  if  the  Transport  Workers' 
Federation,  which  had  its  own  claims,  had  cast  in  its  lot  with  the 
miners  and  railwaymen,  as  it  was  probably  bound  in  honor  to  do, 
Great  Britain  would  have  been  nearer  a  social  revolution  than 
any  one  had  previously  thought  possible.  These  organizations, 
united  in  what  is  called  the  Triple  Alliance,  comprise,  with  the 
families  of  their  members,  something  like  seven  million  persons, 
or  one-sixth  of  the  whole  population  of  Great  Britain.  A  struggle 
between  them  and  the  Government  must  have  been  fierce  and  re- 
lentless. It  must  have  been  short,  for  the  whole  country  would 
have  been,  in  a  week  or  two,  fireless,  foodless,  trainless,  and  wage- 
less.  The  Government  would  necessarily  have  stuck  at  nothing 
to  suppress  what  would  have  been — lawful  as  it  was — essentially 
an  act  of  civil  war;  within  twenty- four  hours  the  whole  country 
would  have  been  in  military  occupation.  The  Ministry  of  Food, 
which  has  in  its  hands  the  greater  part  of  the  supply,  here  or 
arriving,  of  the  principal  foodstuffs  on  which  the  whole  popula- 
tion depends,  must  necessarily  have  taken  in  hand  the  food  dis- 
tribution. Whilst  it  worked,  by  an  extemporized  staff,  such  at- 
tenuated train  service  as  would  have  been  possible,  the  whole  fleet 
of  motor  lorries  which  the  War  Office  has  at  its  command  would 
have  been  organized  as  an  auxiliary  transport  service.  The  min- 
ing districts  would  have  been  strongly  garrisoned  with  soldiers, 
and  the  Government  had  made  precautionary  preparation  for  other 
steps  of  which  we  prefer  to  say  nothing.  Never  in  the  whole  his- 
tory of  this  country  should  we  have  seen  such  a  display  of  force 
against  a  popular  movement,  itself  absolutely  unexampled  in  mag- 
nitude. 

The  miners,  railwaymen,  and  transport  workers,  on  their  side, 
would  have  commanded  great  resources.  In  withdrawing  their 
labor,  after  due  notice,  they  would  have  committed  no  illegality. 
Their  aggregate  accumulated  funds  amount  to  several  millions 
sterling.  More  important  even  than  their  corporate  funds,  and 
less  vulnerable,  are  the  very  considerable  individual  savings  of 


THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT  149 

their  members,  which  would  have  been  freely  advanced  in  support 
of  their  corporate  action,  and  above  all  the  credit  that  would 
have  been  at  their  disposal.  Up  and  down  the  kingdom  the  mining 
districts  and  the  great  railway  centers  are  the  special  strongholds 
of  the  Co-operative  Movement,  of  which  an  enormous  proportion 
of  the  million  and  a  half  strikers  would  have  been  members. 
Nothing  could  have  prevented  the  fifteen  hundred  Co-operative 
Societies  from  allowing  their  own  members  credit  for  their  weekly 
purchases,  and  this  would  have  been  freely  granted,  at  least  up  to 
the  amount  of  the  members'  share  capital  and  deposits.  No  action 
of  the  Government  could  have  prevented  the  English  and  Scottish 
Co-operative  Wholesale  Societies,  which  have  their  own  farms, 
their  own  flour  mills  and  bakeries  and  their  own  food  factories, 
from  supplying  their  own  constituent  societies.  And  the  million 
and  a  half  miners,  railwaymen  and  transport  workers  would 
probably  have  found  allies.  It  would  not  take  much  to  bring  out 
the  electrical  workers,  the  engineering  and  shipbuilding  trades,  and 
all  the  organized  vehicular  workers.  If  food  ran  short,  from 
whatever  cause,  the  men  would  have  marched  to  the  food — with 
unimaginable  consequences  if  they  were  stopped  by  the  carefully 
planned  military  cordons  which  the  War  Office  had  prepared.  If 
the  Government  had,  to  use  Mr.  Bonar  Law's  words,  used  all  its 
resources  to  put  down  what  it  would  have  regarded  as  civil  war, 
and  had,  in  some  unforeseeable  way,  succeeded,  it  would  probably 
have  kindled  such  a  flame  of  industrial  rebellion,  or  at  least  set 
smoldering  such  a  persistent  resentment,  as  would  have  had  po- 
litical as  well  as  industrial  consequences  that  no  man  can  measure. 
The  Government  should  remember  that  there  might  be  such  a 
thing  as  a  "  stay  in  "  strike,  to  which  beaten  men,  smarting  under 
a  sense  of  injustice,  are  apt  to  resort,  even  against  all  the  efforts 
of  their  Trade  Unions.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  whole  kingdom 
was  smitten  with  paralysis  by  a  month's  lack  of  coal — and  even 
an  omnipotent  Government  cannot  get  any  considerable  quantity 
of  coal  hewn  without  the  hewers — and  the  Ministry  had  been 
driven  to  accept  (as,  in  our  opinion, — which  we  expressed  last 
week — would  have  happened)  the  terms  dictated  by  the  workmen's 
Executive  Committees,  this  country  would  have  come  very  near 
to  the  end  of  Parliamentary  Government.  Once  the  strike  had 
started,  it  could  not  have  ended,  whatever  the  result,  without  the 
gravest  national  disaster. 


150  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

On  the  same  theme,  Mr.  Robert  Williams,  Secretary  of  the 
National  Federation  of  Transport  Workers,  and  therefore  one 
of  the  big  chiefs  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  speaks  with  authority : 

I 

The  Triple  Industrial  Alliance  is  by  far  the  greatest  attempt 
made  in  this  or  any  other  country  to  win  for  the  workers  "  Tem- 
poral Power."  One  can  hardly  say  whether  we  shall  see  it  in 
use  during  the  next  few  weeks:  that  is  a  matter  for  speculation. 
A  prominent  member  of  the  sub-committee  of  six  once  remarked 
that  the  Alliance  could  be  used  only  on  one  occasion.  He  meant 
that  if  it  failed,  it  would  be  useless  for  all  time;  whereas,  if  used 
with  success,  it  would  leave  the  working  class  masters  of  the 
industrial  and  political  situation. 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  am  quite  in  agreement  with  that  prophecy. 
For  instance,  the  Triple  Alliance  has  been  tested  during  the  war. 
It  is  fairly  well  known  that  the  politicians  had  made  up  their 
minds  to  introduce  300,000  colored  indentured  laborers  into  this 
country  in  1917  to  relieve  more  of  our  own  workers  for  the  or- 
ganized butchery  in  France  and  Flanders.  That  outrage,  connived 
at  by  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  was  thwarted  by  the  action  of  the  Triple 
Alliance,  and  ships  carrying  the  colored  workers  to  be  landed  at 
Southampton  were  diverted  to  Marseilles.  This  at  least  shows 
that  the  Alliance  can  be  used  with  some  effect,  although  strike 
action  was  avoided  by  the  capitulation  of  the  Government.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  can  readily  foresee  the  power  of  this  organization 
used  again  and  again  without  the  workers  establishing  for  them- 
selves economic  freedom.  Everything  must  depend  upon  the 
mental,  as  well  as  the  industrial  preparedness  at  any  given  time 
when  action  is  contemplated. 

That  quotation  shows  Mr.  Williams  in  one  of  his  two 
moods — his  mood  of  careful  statement.  As  in  Belgium  and 
Switzerland,  you  have  to  understand  two  languages  in  order 
to  know  what  the  shindig  is  really  about,  and  where  the  mean- 
ing lies.  Mr.  Williams  (like  many  another  Briton)  is  some- 
times loud  on  the  hustings,  but  always  cautious  in  committee. 
He  hangs  a  "  To  Let "  sign  on  Buckingham  Palace,  and  re- 
turns to  work  out  the  patient  details  of  a  wage  increase  for 
port  and  harbor  employees.  And  because  a  trade  of  his  fed- 


THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT  151 

eration  has  pledged  its  word,  he  helps  in  the  dreary  committee 
work  of  an  industrial  council  for  one  of  his  trades,  although 
he  has  no  great  faith  in  the  blessed  word  of  Whitley.  There 
is  Ramsay  MacDonald,  the  prize  orator  of  internationalists, 
than  whom  there  is  no  more  canny,  responsible  man  on  foreign 
affairs  in  Downing  Street. 

The  British  like  to  be  energized  by  loud  explosions  into  a 
dignified,  sure-footed  motion.  They  carry  a  shock  absorber 
which  lets  the  machine  bump  rocks  without  jarring  the  occu- 
pants. They  have  a  gyroscope  which  sucks  up  all  the  careen- 
ing and  holds  a  steady  keel.  But  do  not  think  that  the  tide 
isn't  running  with  a  brisk  wind  and  splashy  waves.  In  high 
excitement,  American  newspaper  correspondents  ferried  over 
from  France  when  the  British  miners  struck. 

"  The  big  show  is  on,"  they  said,  "  the  social  revolution  has 
come." 

And  then  I  saw  only  one  of  them  in  daily  attendance  at 
the  Coal  Commission,  where  the  social  revolution  was  taking 
place.  The  shock  absorber  and  the  gyroscope  were  at  work, 
so  that  Mr.  Justice  Sankey  did  not  seem  to  be  continuing  the 
tradition  of  Robespierre.  The  landowners  lost  their  minerals, 
but  nobody  lost  his  head.  Fires  still  burn,  though  the  miners 
have  taken  over  an  additional  $150,000,000  a  year. 


CHAPTER  II 
GENTLE  REVOLUTION 


THE  workers  have  the  instinct  for  property.  And  a  hundred 
years  of  experience  with  "  private  enterprise  "  has  led  them 
to  believe  that  under  it  there  is  no  reasonable  chance  of  prop- 
erty owning  for  the  majority  of  workers. 

They  desire  a  reasonable  reward  for  hard  work,  initiative, 
and  thrift.  And  "  private  enterprise,"  they  are  convinced,  fails 
to  give  that  reward  to  the  mass  of  producers,  because  it  ear- 
marks the  reward  for  the  small  group  of  financing  and  mar- 
keting agents,  and  for  absentee  capital.1 

They  claim  that  the  man  willing  to  work  should  be  permit- 
ted to  work.  And  they  know  that  the  organization  of  industry 
under  "  private  enterprise  "  has  carried  with  it  a  "  fringe  of 
unemployment,"  that  from  2  to  10  per  cent  of  willing  workers 
are  periodically  out  of  work. 

They  wish  production.  And  they  have  often  seen  "  private 
enterprise  "  defeat  their  energy  by  undercutting  in  piece  rates 

1  Management  has  been  shockingly  underpaid  in  many  British 
industries. 

The  following  figures  relate  to  57  per  cen  .  of  the  collieries  in  the 
United  Kingdom: 

Salary,  including  Bonus  and  Number  of  Managers 

value  of  House  and  Coal  1913  1919 

£  loo  or  less              4              2 

£101  to  £200     134      3 

£201  to  £300     280  29 

£301  to  £400     164  251 

£401  to  £500     81  213 

£501  to  £600     51  146 

£601  to  £700     27     75 

Over  £700       23  77 

152 


GENTLE  REVOLUTION  153 

the  increment  of  productivity  which  they  make.  They  have 
seen  "  private  enterprise  "  restrict  output — not  according  to 
the  need  of  the  consumer,  nor  according  to  the  laws  of  pro- 
duction for  use,  but  in  relation  to  the  prices  of  the  market — 
prices  based  on  a  system  of  private  profits. 

They  believe  that  prosperous  (that  is,  well-paid  producers) 
are  the  best  consumers,  and  are  themselves  the  best  market. 
They  believe  that  under-consumption  is  the  disease  of  "  pri- 
vate enterprise." 

In  short,  the  workers  will  no  longer  work  for  unrestricted 
"private  enterprise,"  with  its  profits  for  a  small  group,  its 
competing  interests  (and  consequent  lack  of  unified,  efficient 
management),  its  failure  to  instal  modern  machinery  and  to 
use  scientific  research,  its  underpay,  overwork,  bad  housing, 
preventable  accidents,  proletarian  disease,  and  its  negation  of 
constitutional  government  in  industry. 

As  the  Times  says : 

We  are,  in  truth,  in  the  throes  of  a  national  crisis  not  less 
fateful  and  in  some  respects  more  dangerous  than  the  war  from 
which  we  have  just  emerged  unscathed  as  a  nation.  This  crisis 
has  not  been  created  by  the  war.  We  were  drawing  towards  it 
before  the  war. 

And  again: 

The  truth  is  that  we  are  passing  already  through  a  social  revo- 
lution. Psychologically,  indeed,  it  has  been  accomplished,  not 
completely,  but  sufficiently  to  warrant  the  word  "  revolution." 
Most  people  perceive  that  a  social  turnover,  which  has  changed 
the  status  of  classes  and  their  relation,  has  occurred,  but  they  are 
puzzled  and  confused  about  it.  Some  regard  it  as  temporary  and 
expect  to  see  it  pass;  they  underrate  its  significance.  Others  mis- 
read it  in  another  way.  They  see  in  it  an  opportunity  for  realizing 
some  theoretical  form  of  society  which  happens  to  appeal  to  them. 
They  would  narrow  it  to  some  particular  end  of  their  own. 
Others,  again,  are  simply  bent  on  getting  as  much  as  they  can 
out  of  it.  The  labor  questions  are  part  of  these  confused  and 
half -conscious  aspirations,  which  imply  a  tremendous  clash  of 


154  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

interests.  The  process  of  settling  them  means  the  translation  of 
the  revolution  already  subjectively  half  accomplished  into  defined 
and  concrete  forms  which  will  possess  stability  and  permanence. 
It  is  a  gigantic  business,  needing  clear  vision  and  calm  thinking, 
for  it  is  all  new. 

What  is  the  nature  of  the  revolution? 
Mr.  James  H.  Thomas,  head  of  the  railwaymen,  has  an- 
swered : 

The  demands  of  the  workers  can  be  summarized  under  four 
heads — first,  shorter  hours;  second,  higher  wages;  third,  share  in 
control ;  and  fourth,  the  nation  to  own  those  things  that  are  essen- 
tial to  the  life  of  the  nation,  such  as  transport  and  mines. 

The  first  two  demands  are  to  abolish  poverty  and  its  ef- 
fects. The  last  two  are  to  establish  freedom. 

On  hours,  the  sub-committee  of  the  Industrial  Conference 
obtained  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  employers,  on  a  univer- 
sal forty-eight-hour  week.  The  miners  have  obtained  a 
seven-hour  day  (in  two  years,  with  certain  provisos,  a  six- 
hour  day).  Lord  Leverhulme  is  preaching  a  six-hour  day, 
and  installing  it  in  his  plant.  A  forty-seven-hour  week  has 
come  into  force  throughout  the  engineering  and  shipbuilding 
trades.  A  forty-eight-hour  week  is  not  an  eight-hour  day. 
An  eight-hour  day  is  a  forty-four-hour  week  (Saturday  half 
holiday).  This  will  be  the  second  step  of  which  the  Indus- 
trial Conference  demand  is  the  first.  Lord  Leverhulme's  six- 
hour  day  may  be  the  third  step  in  the  national  program.1 

On  wages,  the  sub-committee  of  the  Industrial  Conference, 
with  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  employers,  has  declared  for  a 
basic  minimum  wage.  The  workers  demand  that  war  wages 
be  made  permanent. 

As  regards  joint  control,  the  Government  is  committed  to 
the  principle  by  the  Whitley  reports.  The  workers  have  no 
desire  (after  the  war  experience)  for  bureaucratic  control  of 

1  But  hours  have  never  been  fully  studied — the  proper  da}',  not  for 
a  month  or  year,  but  for  the  working  life,  and  the  differential  accord- 
ing to  occupation. 


GENTLE  REVOLUTION  155 

capitalist  enterprise.  They  wish  public  ownership,  direct  ad- 
ministration, local  government,  and  joint  control.  It  is  worth 
while  to  define  exactly  what  is  meant  by  joint  control.  Mr. 
G.  D.  H.  Cole  was  chosen  Secretary  of  the  Trade  Union  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  Industrial  Conference.  In  the  report 
which  he  and  Arthur  Henderson  signed,  it  is  stated  that  "  the 
Whitley  scheme,  in  so  far  as  it  has  been  adopted,  has  done 
little  or  nothing  to  satisfy  "  the  demand  for  "  a  real  share  in 
industrial  control." 
Elsewhere  he  has  stated: 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  the  miners  or  the  railwaymen 
want  merely  the  adoption  of  the  Whitley  Report.  The  railway- 
men — including  both  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  and  the 
Railway  Clerks'  Association — have  rejected  the  Whitley  Report, 
and  the  miners  have  shown  not  the  smallest  desire  for  its  adop- 
tion in  their  own  case.  The  sort  of  control  which  these  bodies 
have  in  mind  is  something  different,  and  something  which,  to  the 
ordinary  business  man,  will  seem  far  more  "  revolutionary."  For, 
whereas  the  Whitley  .Report  merely  secures  the  full  recognition 
of  the  right  of  collective  bargaining,  without  in  any  way  changing 
the  status  of  the  parties  to  the  bargain,  the  miners  and  the  rail- 
waymen are  seeking  a  real  share  in  control. 

What,  then,  do  the  miners  mean  exactly  by  this  share  in  con- 
trol? They  mean  at  least  two  things,  and  to  each  of  these 
things  they  attach  the  greatest  possible  importance.  In  the  first 
place,  they  want  equal  representation  on  the  national  Commis- 
sion or  Committee  which  exercises  central  and  general  control 
over  the  mining  industry;  and,  in  the  second  place,  they  want 
equal  representation  upon  committees  exercising  control  over  par- 
ticular pits. 

It  would  be  wrong  to  regard  these  demands  merely  as  the  re- 
sult of  "  extremist "  agitation.  Indeed,  the  "  extremists "  are 
seeking  not  joint  control,  but  complete  and  exclusive  control  of 
the  whole  mining  industry  as  a  part  of  a  general  and  compre- 
hensive social  revolution. 

This  demand  must  be  sharply  distinguished  from  that  of 
exclusive  control  by  the  manual  workers :  a  demand  by  a  small 


156  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

percentage  only  of  the  workers.  Mr.  Smillie  has  made  this 
distinction  clear.  To  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  on  February  21,  1919, 
he  said: 

There  is  no  miner  in  this  Miners'  Executive  of  ours  who  has 
any  desire  to  do  anything  for  the  purpose  of  wantonly  interfering 
with  the  industries  of  this  country.  But,  although  the  newspapers 
pay  particular  attention  to  some  of  us,  pointing  out  that  I,  for 
one,  am  a  Syndicalist,  who  wishes  to  take  the  mines  over  for  the 
miners  and  work  them  for  the  interests  of  the  miners  and  not 
of  the  State,  that  is  absolutely  untrue;  neither  is  there  any  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  committee  of  this  Federation,  as  far  as  I 
know,  who  has  any  such  idea.  Our  desire  is  to  have  the  mines 
nationalized,  taken  over  and  worked  in  the  interests  of  the  State, 
in  order  that  there  may  be — and  we  know  there  can  be — not 
merely  an  enormous  addition  to  the  output,  but  a  considerable 
reduction  in  the  cost  if  the  State  were  working  the  mines. 

Mr.  Vernon  Hartshorn  is  miners'  agent  in  South  Wales, 
member  of  the  Executive  of  the  Miners'  Federation,  and  mem- 
ber of  Parliament.  On  this  point  of  nationalization  and  joint 
control  he  said : 

At  the  present  time,  the  miners  are  in  a  frame  of  mind  in  which 
they  are  prepared  to  treat  fairly  and  recognize  all  the  interests 
that  have  grown  up  in  industry.  But  if  these  demands  are  not 
granted,  Syndicalism,  or,  if  you  like  to  call  it,  Bolshevism,  will 
take  the  place  of  the  demands  the  miners  are  putting  forward 
at  the  present  time. 

This  demand  for  joint  control  must  be  equally  distinguished 
from  that  modified  control  which  would  begin  and  end  with 
welfare  devices,  social  outings,  and  working  conditions  in  the 
sense  of  lavatory  accommodation.  This  is  the  kind  of  "  joint 
control "  which  a  delegation  of  American  business  men  thought 
they  found  in  the  North  of  England. 

To  the  Coal  Commission,  Emil  Davies,  general  manager  of 
the  Banking  Corporation,  financier,  economist,  and  London 
County  Councilor,  testified  to  the  need  for  joint  control  as  a 
brake  on  the  revolutionary  movement: 


GENTLE  REVOLUTION  157 

I  think  the  psychological  effect  upon  the  miner  of  these  big 
dividends  and  of  these  capital  bonuses  is  bad  for  the  nation  and 
bad  for  the  industry.  I  think  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  the 
miners  or  railway  workers  might  ask  more  than  the  conditions 
of  the  industry  justify,  but  so  long  as  these  men  see  big  dividends 
and,  every  few  years,  a  lot  of  bonus  shares  which  makes  the 
dividend  look  smaller  than  it  really  is,  and  every  two  or  three 
years  they  see  new  shares  being  offered  below  the  market  price, 
and  they  find  a  lot  of  local  people  holding  a  few  hundred  shares 
making  hundreds  of  pounds,  they  think  naturally  that  the  industry 
is  making  millions.  Let  these  profits  be  pooled  over  the  whole 
industry,  as  they  would  be  if  the  industry  were  nationalized,  and 
let  the  men  have  their  representatives  on  the  Board  of  Manage- 
ment so  that  they  know  there  is  no  hankey-pankey,  and  it  would 
be  possible  to  show  the  miners  and  railway  workers  that  there 
did  come  a  point  when  they  were  asking  more  than  the  industry 
could  stand.  My  point  is,  and  I  am  thinking  of  the  trade  and 
industry  of  this  country,  that  so  long  as  the  present  state  of  things 
goes  on  you  will  not  get  the  men  into  what  you  would  call  a  rea- 
sonable frame  of  mind. 

Towards  nationalization  the  first  steps  have  been  taken. 
The  competitive  private  profits  system  has  been  three  times 
in  the  year  officially  condemned  by  distinguished  captains  of 
industry,  appointed  by  the  Government.  The  Coal  Commis- 
sion's report — as  accepted  by  the  Government — was  signed 
by  Mr.  Justice  Sankey,  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour  (managing  di- 
rector of  steel  works  at  Sheffield,  and  former  Master  Cutler), 
Sir  Arthur  Duckham  (engineer,  Director  of  Aircraft  Produc- 
tion, and  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions),  Sir  Thomas  Royc'en 
(shipowner,  railway  and  bank  director). 

Their  report  states : 

The  present  system  of  ownership  and  working  in  the  coal  in- 
dustry stands  condemned,  and  some  other  system  must  be  sub- 
stituted for  it,  either  nationalization  or  a  method  of  unification 
by  national  purchase  and  or  by  joint  control. 

Sir  Richard  Redmayne,  the  Government's  principal  coal 
official,  states : 


158  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

That  the  present  system  of  individual  ownership  of  collieries 
is  extravagant  and  wasteful,  whether  viewed  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  coal  mining  industry  as  a  whole  or  from  the  national 
point  of  view,  is,  I  think,  generally  accepted. 

Speaking  for  the  Government  on  the  system  of  transporta- 
tion and  the  supply  of  power  (railways,  waterways,  canals, 
roads),  Sir  Eric  Geddes,  Minister  of  Ways  and  Communica- 
tions, has  stated  to  the  House  of  Commons: 

In  the  past,  private  interest  made  for  development,  but  to-day, 
I  think  I  may  say,  it  makes  for  colossal  waste. 

We  must  forego  the  luxuries  of  competition,  we  must  forego 
private  interest  and  local  interest  in  the  interest  of  the  State. 

It  would  be  nothing  short  of  criminal  to  let  the  old  system  of 
competition  between  light  railways  and  roads,  railways  and  canals, 
and  between  different  docks  go  on.  You  must  make  one  block  of 
capital  do  the  work  now,  not  two.  You  cannot  afford  it. 

Of  course  this  will  come  as  a  shock  to  some  idealists  who 
believe  in  individualist  effort.  We  all  have  our  dreams,  and  many 
of  us  have  our  dream  islands  which  we  think  of  in  the  morning 
before  we  get  up.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  dream  island  of  the 
trader  is  full  of  courteous  railway  canvassers  offering  cheap  fares, 
light  rates,  and  fast  special  trains.  But  when  he  has  had  his  cold 
bath  in  the  morning  that  goes.  And  this  is  a  cold  bath  which  the 
country  has  got  to  take.  The  transportation  agencies  of  the  coun- 
try to-day  are  barren  and  paralyzed,  and  we  have  got  to  get  them 
right.  Therefore  I  feel  sure  that  if  the  House  decides,  the  era 
of  competition  is  gone.  It  must  logically  put  every  means  of 
transportation  under  the  one  control  and  you  must  not  leave  out 
anything,  otherwise  you  will  have  competition  immediately,  and 
you  have  got  to  trust  somebody  or  some  one  to  get  co-ordination 
and  the  fullest  possible  utilization  of  everything  the  country 
possesses. 

The  day  of  private  enterprise  and  private  profits  in  public 
utilities  is  ended,  because  the  workers  demand  a  higher  mo- 
tive for  production  than  the  creation  of  wealth  for  a  few. 
It  is  misleading  to  write  of  Whitley  Councils  and  the  Indus- 
trial Councils,  as  if  they  were  love  feasts  where  capitalist 


GENTLE  REVOLUTION  159 

employers  and  workers  have  seated  themselves  in  amity,  with 
a  common  aim  and  a  new  spirit. 

The  new  spirit  in  labor  is  to  abolish  poverty  and  to  win 
freedom.  Mr.  R.  W.  Cooper,  the  coal  owner,  asked  Mr. 
Straker,  of  the  Miners'  Executive,  the  most  searching  ques- 
tion since  Pilate's.  He  asked  the  miner,  "  What  is  freedom  ?  " 

And  Mr.  Straker  answered : 

"  So  long  as  men  are  what  they  are,  they  desire  to 
know  and  understand  that  which  affects  their  own  life 
so  closely. 

COOPER:  "You  will  agree  that  if  a  man  feels  he  is  getting  his 
fair  share  of  the  produce  of  his  labour  he  will  be  satis- 
fied from  the  domestic  or  comfort  side  of  the  question." 

STRAKER:  "I  suppose  that  would  satisfy  him.  If  he  were  get- 
ting his  fair  share  he  ought  not  to  have  any  more." 

COOPER  :  "  Is  there  any  other  aspect  of  the  matter  upon  which 
he  would  desire  to  be  satisfied  ?  " 

STRAKER  :    "  The  desire  that  every  true  man  has  to  be  free." 

COOPER  :  "  In  what  sense  do  the  men  desire  to  be  more  free 
than  now  ?  " 

STRAKER  :  "  There  is  a  freedom  of  the  mind,  ever  seeking  to 
understand.  Otherwise  a  man  would  be  no  better  than 
a  brute." 

COOPER  :  "  There  I  agree  with  you  that  his  mind  should  be 
free.  But  in  what  way  do  you  suggest  that  a  miner's 
mind  is  not  free  ?  " 

STRAKER  :  "  The  opportunity  for  knowledge  of  the  industry  they 
are  engaged  in." 

COOPER:  "What  knowledge  do  they  desire  to  have  of  the 
industry  ?  " 

STRAKER  :    "  The  commercial  side  of  it." 

COOPER  :       "  I  have  dealt  with  that." 

STRAKER:    "You  have  only  dealt  with  the  cost." 

COOPER  :       "  And  the  profits  ?  " 

STRAKER  :    "  How  those  profits  are  made." 

COOPER  :       "  What  else  is  there  ?  " 

STRAKER:  "The  men  object  to  these  profits  being  collected  by 
any  few  individuals." 

COOPER  :      "  What  difference  does  it  make  to  him  whether  the 


160  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

profits  are  made  by  the  few  or  the  many  or  the  collec- 
tive body  called  the  State  ?  " 

STRAKER  :  "  Because  he  realizes  now  that  he  is  a  citizen  of  the 
State." 

COOPER  :  "  Do  you  really  think  either  you  or  I  feel  our  citizen- 
ship any  greater  because  the  Post  Office  of  this  country 
is  run  by  the  Government  and  not  by  somebody  else  ?  " 

STRAKER  :    "  Most  decidedly." 

COOPER:       "You  surprise  me." 


CHAPTER  III 

GENTLE  REVOLUTION 

ii 

THAT  British  instinct  for  compromise  and  social  change  which 
has  often  saved  the  State  from  disaster  is  once  again  at  work. 
Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  recently  stated : 

Some  critic  has  finely  said  that  if  the  Day  of  Judgment  were 
to  come,  a  British  non-com,  officer  would  still  be  found  imploring 
his  neighbors  not  to  get  the  wind  up. 

\ 
Violence,    mental    excitement,    overstatement,    the    British 

shrink  from.  The  Latin  motto,  "  Nothing  that  is  violent  en- 
dures," could  well  be  their  motto.  They  wrangle,  and  at  the 
eleventh  hour  compromise.  But  the  compromise  will  not  be 
made  on  the  basis  of  the  status  quo. 

No  paper  in  England  is  keener  than  the  Daily  Mail  in  scent- 
ing where  the  chase  is  going.  After  the  Coal  Commission  it 
said: 

We  do  not  know  how  many  colliery  shareholders  would  be 
needed  to  do  the  work  of  a  million  miners,  but  we  imagine  that 
if  they  desire  to  maintain  the  principle  of  private  ownership  in 
national  necessities  after  this  crisis,  they  will  have  to  get  together 
and  dig  promptly  and  vigorously. 

National  ownership  does  not  necessarily  involve  Civil  Service 
management.  But  it  does  mean  the  elimination  of  what  the  men 
dislike  intensely — namely,  working  under  hard  conditions  and  at 
the  risk  of  their  lives  for  private  profit.  As  we  have  often  said 
in  these  columns,  the  contrast  between  the  lives  of  the  men  who 
get  the  coal  and  the  lives  of  those  who  get  the  profits  is  too  great. 

161 


162  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

Mr.  J.  R.  Clynes  writes: 

For  the  temporary  purposes  of  war  private  interests  had  to 
give  way.  For  the  permanent  purposes  of  peaceful  reconstruc- 
tion private  interests  must  also  give  way.  It  is  only  upon  this 
basis  that  real  and  beneficial  changes  can  be  effected.  The  com- 
munity must  have  means  to  protect  itself  against  personal  self- 
seeking,  and  if  State  supervision  or  co-operative  action  in  trans- 
port or  other  agencies  can  give  us  a  higher  level  of  efficiency  than 
we  now  have,  many  forms  of  competition  must  be  relegated  to  the 
stage  of  a  past  age,  and  must  no  longer  be  tolerated  upon  any 
ground  of  the  individual  profit  previously  enjoyed. 

That  excellent  organ  of  the  Unionists,  the  Observer  (on 
April  13,  1919),  says: 

Men  like  Clynes  could  have  been  kept  in  the  Government.  Men 
like  Mr.  J.  H.  Thomas  or  Mr.  Henderson  could  have  been  brought 
into  it,  or  brought  back  to  it.  How?  We  pointed  out  at  the 
beginning  of  December  and  before  the  General  Election  that  the 
proper  thing  was  to  face  the  inevitable  in  time.  Ministers  were 
bound  to  consent  to  the  nationalization  of  transport.  They  would 
find  themselves  compelled  to  nationalize  the  electric  power  to 
drive  the  transport.  How  then  could  they  avoid  nationalizing 
the  mines — the  fuel  which  provides  the  power?  These  things 
hung  together.  They  made  the  great  Triad  of  national  recon- 
struction after  war. 

Now  the  Government  is  doing  under  pressure  what  it  would 
not  do  for  political  reasons.  It  has  been  kicked,  pushed,  and  bun- 
dled towards  nationalization  of  the  inseparable  Triad — transport, 
driving-power,  fuel — without  being  able  now  to  gain  any  of  the 
political  advantages  that  timely  action  would  have  secured. 

And  again: 

They  (the  workers)  are  not  to  be  satisfied  even  by  the  largest 
sort  of  multifarious  program  not  stamped  by  any  leading  idea 
showing  in  its  greatness  some  proportion  to  the  upraised  and 
mighty  spirit  in  which  this  people  engaged  in  Armageddon.  They 
are  not  too  grateful  for  even  the  biggest  things  of  a  quite  in- 
evitable kind. 


GENTLE  REVOLUTION  163 

Housing  on  a  heroic  scale,  the  new  organization  of  public 
health,  the  unified  handling  of  national  transport,  land  settlement, 
land  acquisition  by  the  cheapest  and  most  rapid  processes  which 
can  be  devised  without  treating  the  land-owning  interest  more 
unfairly  than  any  other — all  these  necessary  things,  splendid  as 
they  are,  the  country  would  have  expected  from  any  Government 
whatever.  From  Mr.  Lloyd  George  the  country  expected  some- 
thing far  more.  It  wanted  a  policy  not  only  improving  vastly 
the  old  order,  but  laying  definitely  the  foundations  of  a  quite 
new  order. 

By  this  summary  of  quotations  from  conservative 
sources,  I  am  seeking  to  show  that  Britain  has  accepted  the 
"  social  revolution."  The  condemnation  of  private  enterprise 
in  public  utilities  is  widespread.  The  next  step  is  how  to  take 
over  these  vast  public  services. 

The  power  of  setting  the  pace  and  the  direction  of  social 
change  has  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Coalition  Govern- 
ment into  the  hands  of  such  men  as  Smillie,  Hodges,  Clynes, 
and  Henderson.  Smillie  has  been  the  indisputable  leader  of 
the  industrial  movement.  He  (because  of  the  organized  min- 
ers) was  the  driving  force  which  was  slowly  carrying  Britain 
over  from  a  society  of  classes  into  a  society  based  on  economic 
equality.  Henderson  and  Clynes  are  the  politically  minded 
leaders,  who  will  formulate  the  methods  by  which  that  change 
will  be  constitutionally  made.  The  men  are  complementary. 
Smillie  and  Hodges  will  occasionally  outrun  the  general  pub- 
lic (though  not  the  rank  and  file  of  labor).  Henderson  and 
Clynes  see  how  to  transmute  the  mass  momentum  into  legis- 
lative proposals  which  will  win  public  opinion.  The  loss  of 
any  of  these  men  would  be  serious,  because  it  would  tend  to 
throw  the  now  irresistible  but  wisely  moving  industrial  forces 
into  violence.  They  are  bulwarks  of  order,  and  against  Brit- 
ish order  and  method  and  constitutional  adaptation  the  Euro- 
pean storm  as  yet  beats  in  vain. 

"  Each  side  cares  more  for  order  than  for  its  program," 
said  Mr.  Bertrand  Russell  to  me. 

After  the  brilliant  pamphlet,  Labor  and  the  New  Social 


164  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

Order,  Americans  expected  an  evangelistic  sweep  by  British 
workers,  like  the  Victory  Loan  and  prohibition  and  Billy  Sun- 
day. But  the  British  believe  that  a  crusade  always  means  a 
slump.  So  they  go  on  permeating  the  community,  steadily 
gaining,  and  what  they  grasp  they  hold.  They  are  indifferent 
to  loud  applause  for  their  spectacular  hits  and  indifferent 
to  impatience  with  their  dour  slowness.  They  have  been  a 
hundred  years  on  the  present  task.  They  are  willing  to  de- 
vote a  few  more  years  to  the  job.  They  care  not  at  all  for 
comments  from  the  side-lines.  They  are  not  running  a  movie 
show  of  social  revolution.  They  are  patiently  on  the  way  to 
industrial  democracy. 

In  labor  conferences  there  is  a  flare  of  wrath,  and  then 
the  group  is  shaking  with  laughter.  All  the  time,  humor 
plays  over  the  gathering:  a  sharp  wrangle,  and  then  it  is 
emptied  of  intensity  by  a  jovial  thrust.  Thus,  the  delegate 
from  Paddington,  suffering  from  a  sense  of  grievance,  had  a 
voice  like  a  siren,  and  would  not  be  comforted.  Another  dele- 
gate said,  "  I  move  that  he  be  absolutely  eliminated,"  and  the 
incident  was  over. 

It  is  in  humor  where  the  English  nature  comes  through  to 
expression.  The  head  of  an  aircraft  factory  said  recently: 

A  smaller  explosion  than  the  Russian  may  occur  here,  but  it 
will  be  a  humorous  one  if  we  have  it.  It  is  not  fair  to  give  the 
show  away,  but  the  British  working  man  has  a  very  keen  sense 
of  humor.  He  is  realizing  it  is  not  a  difficult  matter  to  get 
what  he  wants,  and  I  think  he  will  get  it  quite  readily. 

He  went  on  to  describe  the  social  change  as  "  the  humorous 
revolution." 

British  workers  are  sometimes  like  small  boys  who  ring 
the  front-door  bell  and  from  an  area  watch  the  gouty  house- 
holder come  in  pajamas  and  with  a  candle.  And  when  they 
find  he  is  trembling  with  fear  and  rage,  they  never  let  him 
sleep  again. 

If  some  of  the  governing  and  employing  class  were  not  so 
deadly  earnest  about  the  sacredness  of  property  and  their 


GENTLE  REVOLUTION  165 

rights  as  a  master  class,  there  would  not  be  half  the  fun  in 
shocking  them.  When  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  and  the 
Saturday  Review  call  Mr.  Smillie  and  Mr.  Webb  robbers,  the 
joke  is  so  good  that  labor  goes  on  with  it.  If  the  titled  wit- 
nesses had  joined  in  the  laugh  on  themselves  at  the  Coal  Com- 
mission, that  part  of  the  joke  would  be  shorter  lived.  But 
when  their  organs,  the  Morning  Post,  the  Outlook,  the  Sat- 
urday Review,  and  the  Globe  (under  its  old  management),  de- 
clared that  the  Earl  of  Durham,  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry, 
and  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  had  proved  themselves  well- 
nigh  the  equal  in  wit  and  dialectics  of  Mr.  Smillie,  and  that 
noble  blood  could  produce  personalities  as  resourceful  as 
those  from  the  coal  pits  of  Lanarkshire,  there  was  a  Carroll- 
like  quality  that  called  for  more  heads  off.  At  least  a  flicker 
of  this  humor  will  be  needed  to  understand  the  British  social 
revolution. 

The  Government  is  learning  its  lesson  from  disastrous  by- 
elections  and  the  blows  of  the  Triple  Alliance  that  useful  de- 
vices for  conciliation,  slow-moving  bits  of  moderate  social 
reform,  and  modified  conscription,  must  not  be  used  as  sub- 
stitutes for  peace  and  a  new  social  order.  J.  L.  Garvin,  that 
responsible  Conservative  friend  of  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  de- 
scribes the  situation  more  severely :  "  He  has  let  his  genius 
get  itself  up  to  the  armpits  in  a  quagmire  of  opportunism  and 
contradiction,"  and  speaks  of  "the  Prime  Minister's  increas- 
ing absorption  in  practical  shifts  and  contrivances  to  serve 
the  immediate  emergency." 

The  first  compromises  have  been  made.  Better  machinery 
for  negotiation  has  been  set  up.  Some  employers  are  already 
enlightened.  The  trade-union  leaders  are  constitutionalists. 
Ninety-nine  per  cent  of  the  workers  desire  to  carry  through 
without  bloodshed  or  anarchy. 

1.  The  immediate  crisis  has  been  partially  met. 

2.  The  fundamental  causes  of  unrest  have  not  been  dealt 

with. 

3.  Means  have  not  been  devised  to  deal  with  these  funda- 

mentals. 


166  THE  WAY  THEY  DO  IT 

4.  Reasonable  time  will  be  required  and  granted  to  con- 

struct the  machinery  of  transition. 

5.  The  "  big  battle "  will  therefore  be  postponed,   while 

the  immediate   necessary   work   of   reconstruction   is 
carried  on.    Peace,  food,  and  work  are  wanted. 
The  present  extemporized  machinery  of  negotiation  is  use- 
ful for  two  purposes : 

1.  It  will  help  to  tide  Britain  over  the  present  crisis  of 

demobilization,  unemployment,  and  maladjustment. 

2.  It  will  afford  a  debating  club  and  a  technique  of  dicker- 

ing, when  (after  these  months  of  acute  strain)  the 
fundamental  questions  are  being  discussed. 
What  has  become  ever  clearer  in  war  days  and  the  unde- 
fined days  since,  is  a  nation's  need  of  political  capacity  as 
distinct  from  executive  capacity  and  business  capacity.  It  is 
not  what  is  the  most  efficient  thing  as  seen  by'  the  military, 
revolutionary,  administrative,  business,  or  scientific  mind, 
working  in  an  ideal  world,  but  what  is  the  possible  thing  in  a 
society  of  forty  million  human  beings.  Scientific  manage- 
ment, high  production,  industrial  conferences,  commissions, 
and  Whitley  schemes,  will  not  alone  solve  the  tangle.  Na- 
tionalization of  public  utilities,  joint  control,  the  limitation  of 
private  profits,  a  high  standard  of  living  for  the  producers, 
production  for  the  use  of  the  consumers,  the  elimination  of 
unemployment,  and  democratic  finance  are  the  solutions. 
These  fundamental  changes  are  in  their  nature  political.  It 
is  not  a  machinery  of  conciliation  that  is  chiefly  demanded. 
It  is  a  fundamental  economic  change  to  be  accomplished  by 
legislation.  The  day  of  reckoning  up  the  costs  of  the  War 
has  been  postponed.  When  the  cost  is  faced,  and  strikes 
recur,  there  is  only  one  method  that  will  save  England  in  con- 
stitutional government.  And  that  is  a  Parliament  obedient 
to  the  will  of  the  people,  enacting  laws  to  express  that  will. 
It  is  too  late  in  history  to  elect  Coalition,  Tory,  Reactionary 
ministries. 

Back  of  housing,  health,  and  education  lies  the  need  for  a 
more  widely  distributed  wealth.     It  is  the  poverty  of  the 


GENTLE  REVOLUTION  167 

workers  that  is  the  creator  of  bad  conditions.  The  remedy  is 
in  part  fiscal.  By  taxation,  wealth  must  be  more  widely  dis- 
tributed. Then  a  more  equal  society  will  demand,  create,  and 
receive  the  conditions  of  life  that  include  reforms  in  housing, 
health,  and  education.  The  British  will  submit  to  these 
changes,  because  they  see  it  is  better  to  work  a  change  con- 
stitutionally than  to  shatter  the  scheme  of  things.  They 
recognize  that  the  change  must  be  drastically  and  swiftly 
provided  for.  They  are  preparing  for  the  economic  change  in 
the  same  spirit  in  which  the  Parliament  of  last  century  voted 
a  franchise  extension  which  destroyed  its  own  majority.  The 
British  are  politically  minded.  They  will  carry  over  the 
bridge  that  leads  from  capitalism  to  an  equalitarian  society 
much  precious  freight.  They  mean  to  carry  economic  stabil- 
ity and  prosperity  across  with  them,  and  achieve  a  radical 
social  change  constitutionally  rather  than  by  violence.  In  the 
process  of  this  change,  taxation  will  be  an  instrument  of 
Government. 

To  the  Coal  Commission  Sidney  Webb  said: 

"  My  idea  of  a  Socialist  State  is  one  where  there  is  a  great  deal 
more  private  property  than  now.  Ten  million  families  would  have 
property,  and  therefore  there  would  be  more  accumulated  capital." 


SECTION  FOUR 
WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

CHAPTER  I 
WORKERS'  CONTROL 

By  FRANK  HODGES,  Secretary  of  the  Miners'  Federation  of 
Great  Britain 

[Frank  Hodges  is  the  most  powerful  young  man  in  Britain. 
He  is  Secretary  of  the  Miners'  Federation.  He  was  born  at 
Chepstow  in  1888.  At  fourteen  he  was  at  work  in  a  Mon- 
mouthshire colliery.  At  twenty  years  of  age  he  won  a  min- 
ers' district  scholarship  for  a  course  at  Ruskin  College,  Ox- 
ford. In  1909  he  and  other  young  class-conscious  students 
revolted  against  the  teaching,  and  founded  the  Central  Labor 
College,  where  the  revolutionary  germ  could  be  intensified. 
Later,  he  went  to  France  and  learned  the  language,  and  then 
he  studied  the  organization  of  the  C.  G.  T.,  the  Federation 
of  Trade  Unions. 

He  returned  to  his  life  as  a  Welsh  miner,  and  at  twenty- 
five  years  of  age  was  elected  miners'  agent — a  position  of 
power.  From  that  he  became  a  member  of  the  Executive  of 
the  South  Wales  Miners,  and  so  to  his  present  job,  where  he 
and  Smillie  have  ruled  the  most  potent  industrial  union  in 
the  world.  He  is  a  convinced  believer  that  the  industrial 
power  of  trades  unionism  is  so  great  that  the  change  to  the 
Socialist  State,  with  workers'  control,  can  be  made  peaceably, 
in  the  next  "  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  years." 

Hodges  has  the  culture,  the  manners,  the  background,  of  a 
university  man  of  the  upper  class.  But  he  carries  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  delegated  power  of  a  million  working  men. 

His  dangers  will  be  those  called  out  by  so  youthful  and  as- 

169 


170  ,  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

tonishing  a  career:  bitterness,  conceit,  the  flattery  of  the 
privileged  destroying  his  belief  in  his  mission  and  leading  him 
into  compromise.] 

I  PROPOSE  to  establish  a  case  for  self-government  of  the  coal 
mining  industry.  This  question  has  a  very  practical  import  at 
the  present  moment.  The  discussion  about  the  industry  has 
passed  beyond  the  mere  academic,  and  so  have  the  proposals 
for  its  reconstruction.  In  dealing  with  it  one  has  to  remem- 
ber it  is  rather  a  question  of  immediate  politics,  and  any 
scheme  that  one  would  initiate  has  to  bear  relation  to  prac- 
ticability. It  is  no  use  now  to  describe  broadly  the  industry 
under  Guild  Socialism.  That  would  savor  perhaps  of  an 
academic  smack.  What  we  have  to  do,  is  to  discuss  proposals 
for  the  government  of  the  industry  now,  in  the  light  of  our 
own  views,  as  to  how  the  industry  might  ultimately  be  gov- 
erned. The  coal  industry  is  the  most  important  in  the  coun- 
try, other  than  agriculture.  I  always  place  agriculture  in  the 
premier  position  because  it  carried  along  our  social  life  before 
coal  was  discovered,  and  it  will  do  so  after  coal  has  been 
fully  exploited  and  used  up,  so  that  strictly  speaking,  coal  oc- 
cupies the  second  place  in  our  national  life,  because  all  mod- 
ern industries  now  in  a  state  of  mechanical  development  de- 
pend upon  coal.  It  is  true  to  say  that  its  existence  as  an  in- 
dustry of  first-class  importance  is  to  some  extent  threatened. 
Oil  is  a  realized  fact,  and  if  there  are  sufficient  quantities  of 
oil  in  the  earth,  with  the  application  of  scientific  minds  to  the 
production  of  oil,  it  might  hasten  out  the  coal  era  in  a  shorter 
period  than  we  are  prepared  to  admit. 

It  is  an  industry  which  I  think,  on  the  whole,  has  been 
fairly  efficiently  managed  under  private  ownership.  I  say 
that  with  some  qualification,  because  an  industry  can  never 
be  thoroughly  efficiently  managed  under  private  ownership, 
but  within  its  limitations  it  has  been  to  a  large  extent  a  suc- 
cess. For  example,  on  the  productive  side,  it  has  managed 
to  produce  287  million  tons  per  annum,  a  remarkable  achieve- 
ment in  the  British  coal-field.  It  cannot  be  said  that  it  was  a 


WORKERS'  CONTROL  171 

failure,  if  production  reached  such  a  tremendous  figure.  Be- 
cause it  is  really  a  difficult  occupation.  Coal  is  not  easy  to 
exploit,  it  has  to  be  wrung  out  of  the  earth  at  great  cost.  We 
must  give  credit  to  private  capitalism  for  having  brought  the 
technique  of  the  industry  up  to  a  point  where  it  was  capable 
of  producing  such  an  amount  as  287  millions  per  annum. 

In  the  year  1913  it  apparently  ceased  to  expand,  and  that  is 
the  point  I  think  at  which  capitalism  broke  down  in  the  in- 
dustry. There  are  many  who  will  say,  "  Yes,  that  was  due  to 
the  War."  Well,  apparently  that  is  so,  because  the  War  has 
brought  into  existence  rather  new  factors,  or  given  point  to 
factors  already  in  existence,  which  have  made  for  this  de- 
parture from  expansion,  this  contraction  in  the  industry.  In 
six  years  we  are  down  in  this  industry  by  practically  70  mil- 
lion tons — a  great  decline.  Many  factors  have  contributed  to 
that  decline.  There  has  been  a  decline  in  technique,  a  decline 
in  the  physical  means  for  producing,  a  decline  in  machinery, 
in  rolling-stock,  in  the  character  of  the  underground  workings. 
There  has  not  been  the  same  maintenance  in  the  underground 
workings,  which  has  made  possible  the  continuance  of  output 
at  the  pre-war  figure,  but  what  has  been  the  most  marked  fac- 
tor since  1914  is  the  awakening  consciousness  among  the  men 
engaged  in  the  industry.  I  must  give  full  weight  to  all  con- 
tributory factors,  otherwise  I  should  not  be  a  proper  person  to 
discuss  the  matter.  But,  having  given  full  weight  to  all  fac- 
tors, physical  and  technical,  there  is  this  remarkable  factor, 
which  has  been  accentuated  during  this  War.  This  growing 
consciousness  that  all  is  not  well  in  the  industry:  that  the 
men  engaged  in  the  industry  now,  and  their  forefathers,  have 
been  bereft  during  the  whole  of  their  lives  of  anything  like  a 
voice  in  the  direction  of  the  industry.  That  fact  has  left  the 
workman  in  a  state  of  antagonism  towards  the  system  of  con- 
trol. I  would  emphasize  that  as  the  principal  factor  which 
has  made  for  the  decline  in  the  industry.  (True,  there  has 
been  a  reduction  in  hours,  the  output  per  unit  engaged  is 
down;  but  one  could  give  reasons  for  that,  apart  from  this 
growing  feeling  which  is  more  individual  in  its  character  than 


172  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

anything  else.)  It  is  the  feeling  of  lack  of  position  and  re- 
sponsibility in  the  industry  which  has  left  this  feeling  of  an- 
tagonism. If  you  cannot  have  co-operation  in  any  industry 
between  the  technical  people  and  the  manual,  you  cannot  ex- 
pect productivity.  That  feeling  has  been  expressed  very 
definitely  in  many  ways  for  some  time.  I  had  sent  to  me  a 
few  days  ago  a  copy  of  a  scheme,  a  very  remarkable  scheme, 
propounded  by  South  Wales  miners,  for  the  future  control 
of  the  industry.1  It  was  the  work  of  extremely  thoughtful 
men,  and  one  could  see  in  it  a  feeling  of  bitterness  because  of 
the  complete  detachment  from  the  control  of  the  industry  by 
the  men  engaged  in  it.  I  studied  that  scheme,  but  could  not 
accept  it.  At  the  same  time,  however,  we  have  there  an  expres- 
sion in  a  more  or  less  concrete  form  of  the  desires  of  men 
who  have  quite  a  distinct  ambition  for  effective  control  in  the 
industry  itself.  I  am  going  to  make  a  broad  generalization. 
Until  you  give  expression,  or  find  avenues  for  this  desire,  the 
output  will  not  materially  increase.  It  will  increase,  it  is  true ; 
I  think  it  must,  because  of  the  slight  improvements  that  must 
take  place  in  the  technical  and  physical  factors ;  but  the  indus- 
try will  never  reach  the  pre-war  position  until  the  avenues 
are  provided  for  this  desire,  which  is  very  manifest  among 
men  in  the  industry.  I  use  that  South  Wales  scheme  as  an 
illustration  of  what  is  going  on  among  the  men.  But  this  de- 
sire has  found  expression  in  broader  aspects.  It  has  been 
officially  expressed  by  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain, 
which  body,  naturally,  has  to  try  to  establish  a  scheme  which, 
if  put  into  actual  operation,  would  in  itself  create  an  avenue 
or  provide  means  by  which  their  known  desires  could  be  at- 
tained. As  most  of  you  know,  that  scheme  has  been  embodied 
in  a  definite  bill2  for,  sooner  or  later,  presentation  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  That  bill  has  been  given  a  sort  of  legal 
color  through  the  instrumentality  of  Mr.  Slesser,  barrister  at 

X"A  Plan  for  the  Democratic  Control  of  the  Mining  Industry." 
Published  by  the  Industrial  Committee  of  the  South  Wales  Socialist 
Society. 

2  The  Miner's  Bill  for  Nationalization.        See  Appendix. 


WORKERS'  CONTROL  173 

law.     Such  a  scheme,  sooner  or  later,  must  have  a  legal  col- 
oring. 

The  Miners'  Federation  has  refused  the  Government  offer 
of  workmen  on  the  board  of  directors,  under  the  capitalist 
system.  They  will  not  put  workmen  on  the  directorate  either 
of  a  national  council  or  of  a  district  committee.  They  do 
not  wish  minority  control  with  private  ownership. 

I  think  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  industry  we 
have  a  scheme  which  makes  provision  for  complete  govern- 
ance of  the  industry  by  the  people  engaged  in  it.  I  do  not 
know  of  any  other  industry  that  has  yet  evolved  as  complete 
a  scheme  as  this.  It  has  not  been  accepted  by  the  Govern- 
ment, it  is  true.  The  scheme,  which  was  agreed  to,  or  sug- 
gested, by  Mr.  Justice  Sankey,1  is  by  no  means  as  complete 
as  this  scheme,  but  it  is  a  step  towards  it,  and  in  order  to 
give  you  an  idea  as  to  the  character  of  it,  it  will  be  just  as 
well  to  make  a  comparison  between  this  and  the  Sankey 
scheme. 

The  scheme  for  the  future  governance  of  the  mining  in- 
dustry, as  expressed  in  the  Miners'  Federation  Bill,  was  a 
scheme  which  divided  the  industry  up  into  parts,  intended  to 
remove  it  entirely  from  the  domain  of  bureaucratic  influence. 
The  industry  is  national  in  its  character,  and  therefore  the 
machinery  for  its  governance  must  be  so.  It  is  suggested  that 
the  industry  shall  be,  in  the  first  place,  a  national  asset.  It 
shall  be  owned  by  the  nation.  Of  course,  the  Government 
themselves  have  decided  that  minerals  shall  be  owned  by  the 
nation,  presumably  because  that  did  not  conflict  with  the 
capital  interests  already  in  the  industry.  If  it  had,  I  do  not 
think  the  Government  would  have  been  quite  so  ready  to 
nationalize  other  people's  property  as  they  were.  But  they 
have  not  accepted,  in  fact  they  have  rejected,  the  scheme  for 
the  national  ownership  of  the  industry  as  an  asset  on  the 
productive  side.  That  was  the  basis  upon  which  the  whole 
of  our  scheme  rests — that  the  mines  as  well  as  the  industry 

1  The  Final  Report  of  Mr.  Justice  Sankey.  See  Appendix,  Section  Four. 


174  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

must  be  national  property.  Unlike  the  syndicalist  scheme,  it 
is  not  intended  that  the  industry  shall  be  owned  by  the  peo- 
ple engaged  in  it.  That  is  anti-social  in  character,  and  would 
sooner  or  later,  if  effected  by  force,  break  up.  For  Syndical- 
ism the  majority  of  British  workers  have  no  desire.  If  the 
workers  used  a  particular  commodity  (like  coal)  for  the  pur- 
pose of  holding  up  the  community  and  smashing  the  system 
at  one  stroke,  the  result  would  be  that  some  substitute  com- 
modity would  be  found.  The  workers  prefer  a  series  of  steps 
leading  towards  the  goal,  to  a  holocaust  that  would  cause 
universal  suffering.  The  social  aspect  of  this  scheme  is  seen 
in  the  fact  that  the  industry  and  the  raw  material — the  coal — 
must  be  national  assets,  but  the  production  must  not  be  con- 
trolled and  determined  by  the  Government.  On  the  contrary, 
the  Government  will  have  by  no  means  a  controlling  voice  in 
the  industry.  We  suggested  that  one-half  of  what  we  call  a 
National  Mining  Council  should  be  people  directly  appointed 
by  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain,  the  other  half 
to  be  composed  of  technical  experts,  commercial  men,  and  the 
remaining  one  or  two  to  be  the  nominees  of  Parliament  itself, 
so  that  there  will  be  a  definite  link  between  Parliament  and 
the  industry  through  the  Parliamentary  nominees  and  through 
the  Minister  of  Mines.  Now  that,  of  course,  presupposes 
a  good  deal.  The  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain  is  not 
at  present  sufficiently  powerful  or  comprehensive  to  have 
within  its  ranks  the  technical  workers  engaged  in  the  industry. 
It  has  only  made  provision  so  far  in  a  limited  way  for  a  man- 
agerial staff.  There  has  been  great  prejudice  against  the 
managerial  staff,  to  some  extent  warranted,  caused  by  pres- 
sure constantly  brought  to  bear  upon  the  managers  by  inter- 
fering boards  of  directors.  I  am  not  quite  sure  even  now 
whether  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain  are  suffi- 
ciently removed  from  that  old  influence  to  permit  of  the  tech- 
nical staff,  the  brain-workers,  having  complete  access  to  the 
federation  and  thus  to  become  members  of  that  organization. 
It  is  regrettable,  but  a  fact  which  must  be  taken  into  consid- 
eration. The  technical  workers  of  the  Mining  Council  could 


WORKERS'  CONTROL  175 

not  at  present  be  directly  appointed  by  the  Miners'  Federa- 
tion. It  is  a  fact  that  sooner  or  later  we  shall  arrive  at  that 
stage  when  technical  men,  men  of  great  ability  due  to  their 
natural  qualities  and  to  their  careful  and  elaborate  education, 
will  be  able  to  come  in.  When  we  make  provision  for  them 
to  come  in,  we  shall  be  jointly  in  a  position  to  nominate  our- 
selves the  personnel  of  the  National  Council.  Even  if  our  own 
scheme  came  into  operation,  we  should  have  to  leave  viery 
largely  the  appointment  of  the  technical  staff  to  the  Man- 
agers' Unions,  as  they  exist  to-day,  small  and  ill-defined  in 
character,  or  we  should  have  to  leave  their  appointment  to  the 
Ministry  of  Mines.  That  is  the  immediate  stage — we  shall 
have  to  go  through  that.  The  Miners'  Federation  Bill  made 
provision  for  that.  It  must  be  agreed  that  that  is  a  weakness 
in  any  such  scheme  if  the  technical  men  have  to  be  appointed 
by  bodies  outside  the  industry.  t 

The  Sankey  scheme,  on  the  other  hand,  does  not  permit  of 
anything  like  that  representation,  even  of  the  Miners'  Fed- 
eration, upon  the  council.  It  is  true,  the  Sankey  scheme 
makes  provision  for  the  National  Mining  Council.  It  would 
remove  from  the  industry  the  influence  of  capital,  sharehold- 
ers, etc.  It  is  true,  there  would  be  a  Minister  of  Mines 
under  the  Sankey  scheme,  but  as  the  Miners'  Federation  could 
not  appoint  the  technical  workers,  the  representation  on  the 
National  Mining  Council  would  not  be  as  to  one-half  the 
representatives  of  the  industry  and  the  other  half  represen- 
tatives of  the  nation;  less  than  half  would  be  the  representa- 
tives of  the  men  engaged  in  the  industry,  whilst  it  would  give  a 
preponderance  to  the  Government,  the  consumers.  The  Gov- 
ernment says,  if  we  appoint  people  to  act  on  the  National  Min- 
ing Council,  they  will  be  there  in  a  representative  capacity 
and  will  represent  the  consumers.  I  am  not  prepared  to  make 
that  inference  from  the  appointment  of  Government  nomi- 
nees. Anyhow,  even  under  the  Sankey  scheme,  which  we 
think  should  be  adopted,  there  is  provision  for  the  election 
of  representatives  of  the  workers  in  the  industry,  acting  on 
that  national  body,  both  on  the  manual  and  the  technical 


176  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

side,  which  if  realized  must  represent  the  greatest  step  for- 
ward yet  attained,  because  these  things  only  come  into  exist- 
ence upon  the  established  fact  that  the  influence  of  capitalism 
goes  out.  It  might  be  argued  that  the  Sankey  scheme  is  more 
social  in  its  character  than  even  the  Miners'  Federation 
scheme,  for  a  preponderance  of  the  consumers  or  Govern- 
ment's representatives  would  indicate  that  the  industry  itself 
was  controlled  by,  and  subject  to,  the  decisions  of  the  people 
not  engaged  in  the  industry,  and,  therefore,  of  a  very  definitely 
social  character. 

Well,  the  argument  I  would  level  against  the  criticism  that 
the  Miners'  Federation  scheme  is  anti-social  is  that  as  the 
workers,  both  technical  and  manual,  get  into  definite  control 
of  a  great  industry,  by  having  a  preponderance  of  power, 
they  would  realize  their  dependence  and  interdependence  upon 
other  industries,  and  they  would  realize  that  any  movement 
they  might  initiate  which  had  for  its  object  the  raising  of  the 
condition  of  the  men  engaged  in  this  industry,  at  the  expense 
of  men  engaged  in  other  industries,  would  be  fatal.  There 
would  be  a  growing  consciousness  of  that,  because  of  the 
growing  responsibility. 

After  all,  the  miners  cannot  consume  the  coal  they  produce. 
It  must  be  exchanged  for  the  material  things  that  go  to  make 
up  a  miner's  life,  and  I  should  say  that  if  the  miners,  because 
of  their  preponderance  of  influence,  wanted  to  take  a  rise  out 
of  the  community,  the  retaliation  would  be  so  immediate  that 
they  would  not  proceed.  They  would  realize  the  interde- 
pendence of  their  industry  on  other  industries  in  the  country. 
That  is  a  matter  of  education. 

If  the  National  Mining  Council  represented  all  the  control 
miners  were  going  to  have,  one  would  say  it  is  no  different 
from  what  they  have  now.  To  elect  five  people  out  of  over 
1,100,000  men  to  represent  the  rest  would  not  be  effective 
control.  You  will  find  that  the  delegation  of  their  responsi- 
bilities by  1,100,000  men  to  five  men  would  not  be  to  provide 
anything  like  a  personal  interest  to  the  1,100,000.  We  will 
find  that  in  any  scheme  we  may  propound,  what  we  are  up 


WORKERS'  CONTROL  177 

against  all  the  time  is  the  apparent  willingness  to  delegate 
responsibility  to  others,  and  it  is  natural  that  that  should  be 
so;  and  yet  one  deplores  it.  To  see  the  readiness  that  men 
have  in  them  to  delegate  responsibility  to  other  people,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  criticize  those  other  people  for  not  carry- 
ing out  the  work  efficiently,  often  makes  one  pessimistic. 
Happily,  that  is  not  all  the  control  contemplated.  If  that  were 
all  I  should  not  be  advocating  it.  There  is  devolution  in  the 
scheme  of  control  for  the  governance  of  this  industry.  Devo- 
lution, because  only  with  it  can  you  get  individual  freedom  to 
the  individual  man. 

Theorists  have  spoken  of  various  motivations  for  work — 
"  the  motive  of  public  service,"  the  "  incentive  of  citizenship 
in  an  industrial  democracy."  But  these  excellent  ideals  will 
only  be  realized  in  many  years,  through  universal  education. 
But  the  incentive  on  which  we  of  the  Miners'  Federation  rely 
is  more  practical  than  these.  The  miner  realizes  increasingly 
the  need  of  producing  coal,  in  order  to  exchange  it  for  other 
commodities  which  he  wishes  for  a  good  life.  His  interest  is 
not  in  raising  wages  with  prices  going  up  and  outdistancing 
wages.  His  interest  is  in  working  out  a  relationship  with  all 
other  workers,  which  will  bring  in  to  him  a  flow  of  goods,  in 
return  for  his  own  product.  The  maximum  of  production  (in 
relation  to  short  hours  and  health)  is  to  his  interest. 

What  the  miner  wishes,  if  I  understand  him,  is  a  moral 
relationship  to  his  fellows.  That  means  security,  status, 
where  his  work — the  product  of  it — goes  to  them  for  their 
use ;  and  their  products  come  to  him,  and  all  for  the  creation 
of  a  good  life.  For  true  property — the  property  which  a  man's 
personality  inhabits — home  and  heirlooms — the  miners  have 
a  strong  desire.  But  they  are  curiously  lacking  in  any  ac- 
quisitive instinct,  any  desire  for  heaping  up  possessions. 

The  second  stage  in  our  scheme  for  the  governance  of  the 
coal-mining  industry  is  to  create  district  councils.  The 
functions  of  the  National  Mining  Council  would  be  in  the 
direction  of  determining  how  the  industry  is  to  be  developed, 
to  determine  such  things  as  national  surveys  of  the  coal-fields, 


178  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

and,  through  the  medium  of  their  experts,  very  largely  of 
allotting  areas  in  the  country  in  which  new  pits  had  to  be  sunk. 
They  would  be  the  persons  to  determine  the  annual  output  of 
coal,  to  determine  the  price  of  the  coal,  and  to  determine  the 
various  qualities  of  the  coal  that  had  to  be  consumed  in  par- 
ticular ways.  They  would  also  deal  with  the  finance  of  the 
industry.  It  is  contemplated  that  the  finances  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  the  National  Mining  Council  as  distinct  from  the 
Exchequer.  It  is  also  suggested  that  a  sinking  fund  should 
be  founded  by  the  National  Mining  Council  to  meet  the  de- 
preciation of  machinery,  etc.  It  would  also  determine, 
through  representation  from  authorities  beneath,  what  econ- 
omies of  a  national  character  could  be  effected  in  the  indus- 
try. Also  what  surplus,  after  the  sinking  fund  had  been  es- 
tablished, could  go  into  the  National  Exchequer  to  provide 
social  amenities.  It  would  be  the  connecting  link  between 
the  industry  and  the  nation. 

But  in  the  District  Mining  Councils,  it  is  contemplated  that 
they  should  be  more  or  less  in  keeping  with  the  existing 
district  or  geographical  areas.  For  example,  there  would  be 
a  District  Council  for  South  Wales,  for  the  Midlands,  Staffs, 
North  Wales,  Derby,  etc.  These  District  Mining  Councils 
under  our  scheme  would  be  largely  composed  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  National  Mining  Council,  i.e.,  one-half  directly 
elected  in  that  district  by  men  engaged  in  the  district — and 
as  you  will  not  have  immediately  an  industrial  union,  the 
other  official  unions  would  expect  to  have  a  voice  in  deciding 
who  should  represent  them  technically.  There  would  also  be 
representatives  of  the  National  Mining  Council  on  the  District 
Mining  Council.  They  would  function  in  this  way.  They 
would  be  responsible  for  carrying  out  the  broad  policy  laid 
down  for  the  district  by  the  National  Mining  Council.  It 
would  know  the  output  expected  to  be  produced  from  its 
area;  it  would  know  the  different  classes  of  coal  in  these 
areas  which  were  to  be  directed  into  the  different  channels 
of  consumption.  There  would  be  no  interference  by  the 
National  Mining  Council  in  the  internal  administration  of 


WORKERS'  CONTROL  179 

that  district.  There  would  be  no  overbearing  interference 
from  the  central  authority  because  largely  the  general  terms 
agreed  to  by  the  National  Mining  Council  have  been  already 
agreed  to  by  the  people  in  the  District  Councils.  They  would 
be  left  largely  to  work  out  for  themselves  the  efficient  produc- 
tion of  coal  in  their  particular  area.  They  would  be  respon- 
sible for  the  mechanical  improvements  in  the  mines  in  their 
district.  They  would  make  suggestions  as  to  the  type  of  ma- 
chinery that  should  be  used,  and  would  have  regard  to  the 
adaptability  of  certain  positions  of  the  coal-field  to  certain 
types  of  exploitation  and  would  determine  where  central  pump- 
ing stations  or  central  generating  stations  should  be  erected. 
They  would  not  determine  wages,  but  see  that  the  wages  in 
their  areas  corresponded  with  the  wages  in  the  other  areas. 
In  fact,  wages  would  be  largely  co-ordinated  by  the  Central 
Mining  Council,  which  would  be  a  very  desirable  thing. 

The  same  criticism  applies  to  the  District  Mining  Council  as 
to  the  National  Mining  Council.  In  South  Wales  there  are 
250,000  men  engaged  in  the  mining  industry.  If  a  district 
council  was  comprised  of  ten  properly  elected  representatives 
of  the  workers,  exclusive  of  the  technical  representatives,  it 
would  not  be  quite  satisfactory,  I  am  sure,  if  that  were  to  be 
regarded  as  the  full  degree  of  control  that  these  250,000  men 
had  in  the  industry.  It  is  this  desire  to  get  away  from  the 
notion  that  other  men  should  govern  for  the  majority  that 
we  are  constantly  insisting  upon. 

Behind  the  District  Mining  Councils,  fifteen  of  which  I 
think  would  largely  cover  the  industry,  we  have  the  pit  or 
colliery  committees.  Now  the  colliery  committees  are  the  best 
means,  the  most  democratic  means,  by  which  the  mass  of  the 
workers  can  express  themselves.  The  miners  might  express 
themselves  only  once  in  five  years  or  once  in  three  years  when 
they  were  electing  their  nominees  to  sit  upon  the  National 
Mining  Council,  and  only  once  a  year  when  they  appointed 
their  representatives  on  the  District  Council.  Under  this 
scheme  they  can  express  themselves  every  day  at  the  colliery. 
For  at  the  colliery  it  is  contemplated  that  there  should  be  set 


180  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

up  a  Pit  Committee  comprised  exclusively  of  the  managerial 
and  manual  workers — the  technical  and  the  manual  workers. 

The  manager  by  legislation  has  been  made  legally  respon- 
sible by  the  Government  to  the  Government  for  the  "  govern- 
ance of  the  mine."  His  powers  and  duties  are  explicit  in  the 
matter  of  safety.  The  manager  under  workers'  control  would 
be  responsible  to  the  Pit  Committee.  On  a  disputed  matter, 
he  would  probably  have  the  right  of  appeal  against  the  work- 
ers to  the  District  Committee.  He  would  be  the  elected,  the 
delegated,  representative  of  the  workers,  in  executive  control 
of  them.  He  would  have  the  same  sanctions,  the  same  author- 
ity which  the  trade-union  official  has  to-day.  It  is  the  respon- 
sibility, the  authority,  of  the  delegated  person. 

Jointly,  they  would  be  responsible  for  the  good  governance 
of  that  mine.  They  would  work  to  try  to  get  their  particular 
pit  to  come  up  to  the  productiveness  under  the  regulations  laid 
down  for  it  by  the  District  Mining  Council.  Suppose  a  dis- 
trict council  were  to  say  that  Pit  A,  with  its  six  seams  of 
coal  in  operation,  could  produce  1,500  tons  of  coal  a  day,  and 
that  after  due  consideration  has  been  given  to  the  geographical 
position  of  that  mine,  the  disturbance  in  the  coal  seams  and 
strata  generally,  that  particular  mine  could  produce  coal  at  a 
definite  cost.  The  committee  at  that  particular  colliery  Would 
have  for  its  object  the  production  of  coal  up  to  that  amount, 
and  at  that  cost.  There  would  be  no  need  to  increase  above 
that  figure,  because,  if  so,  that  would  disturb  the  general  pro- 
ductivity for  that  particular  area,  and  the  result  would  be 
that  having  produced  an  excess  for  that  area  they  might  find 
the  cost,  later  on,  would  have  been  increased  per  ton  because 
of  the  depreciation  that  sets  in  as  a  result  of  having  unneces- 
sary idle  days  at  the  colliery.  They  would  be  a  joint  body 
responsible  not  only  for  production  but  for  their  own  safety 
in  that  mine.  Instead  of,  as  now,  the  Government  having 
to  appoint  mine  inspectors  to  see  that  a  mine  is  being  properly 
conducted  in  accordance  with  the  Mines  Regulation  Act,  and 
instead  of  the  managers  of  collieries  having  to  appoint  what 
are  known  as  deputies  or  examiners  to  see  that  a  mine  is 


WORKERS'  CONTROL  181 

working  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  maximum  security  to 
the  men  consistent  with  production  at  the  maximum  profit, 
it  would  be  the  business  of  this  committee  working  with  the 
men  to  see  that  every  man  should  be  responsible  for  his  own 
safety,  or  to  appoint  safety  inspectors  responsible  to  the  com- 
mittee. We  would  then  bring  into  our  circle  a  larger  and 
larger  group  of  men,  as  we  invest  them  with  that  responsi- 
bility. They  would  have  to  be  educated  to  understand  that 
in  an  ever-widening  circle,  they  had  a  particular  task  to  per- 
form, and  they  would  then  soon  understand  the  essential 
purpose  of  that  task.  They  would  see  that  it  was  their  busi- 
ness to  get  their  fixed  quota  of  coal  from  that  particular  col- 
liery, with  the  maximum  security  of  the  men  engaged,  at  the 
minimum  cost  of  production.  It  may  be  urged  that  this  is 
too  much  to  hope  for — that  the  men  are  only  interested  in 
drawing  their  wages,  that  they  do  not  mind  what  the  output 
is,  that  they  are  not  concerned  as  to  the  general  conditions  of 
safety,  that  they  do  not  mind  the  cost  of  production.  How 
can  we  expect  them  to  change  from  that  mental  attitude  to 
the  one  I  have  described?  To  elect  their  Pit  Committees,  to 
put  forward  ideals,  both  on  the  managerial  side  and  on  the 
manual  side — how  can  we  expect  such  a  change  can  take 
place  without  considerable  chaos?  I  do  not  think  the  jump 
will  be  quite  so  sudden,  because  of  the  lack  of  self-reliance, 
due  to  no  fault  of  the  miners.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are 
educated  to  the  average  point  of  working-class  education  if 
not  rather  above;  but  they  have  not  yet  been  blessed  with 
the  opportunities  of  getting  that  kind  of  education  which 
could  lift  them  out  of  the  influence  of  the  wage-system 
mentality.  That  will  all  be  a  question  of  time  before  we  can 
get  the  most  insignificant  man  at  a  colliery  to  take  an  active 
part  or  to  assume  active  responsibility  in  his  work.  That  will 
take  time — ten,  fifteen,  twenty  years,  but  after  all,  that  is 
not  much  in  the  history  of  the  working  class,  and  certainly  it 
is  a  short  time  as  compared  with  the  history  of  the  wage  sys- 
tem. First  of  all,  there  would  be  a  ready  willingness  to  dele- 
gate responsibility  to  their  Pit  Committee,  but  as  they  grew  in 


182  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

experience  of  the  work  of  their  Pit  Committees,  so  would  their 
social  outlook  grow,  and  as  that  grows  so  will  their  willing- 
ness grow  to  accept  responsibility;  so  will  their  interest  grow. 
Sometimes  I  feel  that  there  is  a  great  mountain  of  indiffer- 
ence even  in  the  mining  movement.  I  know  the  reason  for 
that  indifference.  But  it  can  be  reduced  to  smaller  and  smaller 
proportions,  even  though  men  act  blindly  in  the  initial  stages 
in  electing  men  to  control  their  pit.  Out  of  the  most  deplor- 
able willingness  to  delegate  responsibility  to  others  will  come 
an  increasing  reluctance  to  delegate  responsibility  to  others. 
You  will  never  have  a  state  in  society  where  you  will  not 
find  responsibility  delegated,  but  it  will  grow,  in  my  judgment, 
smaller  and  smaller.  We  must  expect  the  old  willingness  to 
delegate,  to  manifest  itself  under  this  scheme,  but  it  will 
gradually  disappear.  That  may  be  optimism,  but  it  accounts 
for  all  my  faith  in  the  labor  movement.  It  will  get  further 
away  from  the  slave  idea  of  delegating  responsibility,  but  as 
long  as  the  working  class  has  that  outlook  they  will  be  slaves. 

Workers'  control  is  a  means,  and  not  an  end.  Work  in  the 
modern  industrial  world  is  unpleasant  for  the  majority  of 
workers.  They  will  find  their  expression  as  human  beings 
outside  the  working  hours — in  the  use  of  leisure  for  family 
life,  education,  recreation,  a  hobby.  Control  they  will  use  to 
get  efficient  management  and  machinery,  with  which  to  shorten 
hours  to  the  minimum  which  is  consistent  with  the  essential 
work  of  high  production.  Control,  they  wish,  to  save  them 
from  the  waste  and  insecurity  and  long  hours  of  the  present 
system,  which  leaves  no  secure  and  creative  leisure.  A  mini- 
mum of  work  consistent  with  a  production  which  will  give  suf- 
ficient commodities  for  a  good  life  for  all  workers:  they  will 
use  control  to  obtain  that.  But  control  will  never  of  itself  be 
an  answer  to  the  instincts  thwarted  by  standardized  machine 
industry.  The  answer  will  be  found  outside  of  working  hours. 

I  am  quite  sure  that  in  this  scheme  for  control  of  industry 
which  I  have  had  to  sketch  in  very  general  terms  in  order  to 
give,  as  it  were,  a  general  grasp  of  it,  we  will  see  how  near 
that  is  to  a  concept  of  Guild  Socialism.  It  is  an  attempt  to 


WORKERS'  CONTROL  183 

establish  it,  but  it  would  certainly  not  result  in  Guild  Social- 
ism, but  in  a  Guild.  We  must  have  all  our  essential  industries 
as  guilds  before  we  can  have  Guild  Socialism.  Progress  will 
be  accelerated  in  the  other  industries  in  proportion  as  this 
scheme  is  successful.  It  must  inevitably  be  successful,  though 
we  must  go  through  much  trouble  before  we  reach  our  goal.  I 
would  have  people  consider  these  definitely  constructive  ideas 
as  applied  to  coal-mining,  because  they  have  for  their  object 
the  bringing  into  the  industry  the  active  participation  of  every 
man  engaged  in  it.  These  ideas  are  of  a  social  character,  not 
anti-social  in  any  way,  and  only  along  these  lines  can  we  have 
real  industrial  democracy. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  AND  WORKERS' 
COMMITTEE  MOVEMENT 

By  J.  T.  MURPHY 

[Mr.  Murphy  is  chairman  of  the  Sheffield  Workers'  Com- 
mittee and  has  been  one  of  the  dozen  leaders  of  the  shop 
stewards'  movement  in  Great  Britain.  By  general  consent  of 
those  in  the  movement  he  is  regarded  as  the  most  brilliant 
"  extreme  left "  interpreter  of  their  aims,  methods,  and  struc- 
ture. At  present,  the  unofficial  shop  stewards'  movement  is 
at  ebb  tide,  because  of  the  percentage  of  unemployed  in  the 
metal  trades.  The  man  at  the  gate  determines  the  status  of 
the  man  at  the  bench.  The  official  shop  stewards'  movement 
is  in  the  position  of  having  succeeded :  it  has  won  recognition. 

So  the  movement — official  and  unofficial — is  for  the  mo- 
ment non-militant.  It  will  resume  and  heighten  its  activity 
through  the  next  five  years.  The  shop  stewards'  movement 
is  "official,"  when  the  trade  unions  are  in  executive  power 
over  the  individual  shop  stewards  and  their  committees.  It 
is  "  unofficial "  when  it  is  elected  regardless  of  craft,  as  rep- 
resentative of  all  grades  of  workers  in  an  industrial  group, 
when  it  acts  extra-constitutionally  of  the  trade  unions,  refusing 
to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  national  and  district  union 
officials,  and  when  it  pursues  "  larger  ends  "  than  matters  of 
welfare,  output,  and  rates  agreements — namely,  "  ever-increas- 
ing control  of  the  workshp."] 

IT  is  very  questionable  indeed  whether  the  men  who  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  creation  of  the  position  of  shop  steward 
within  the  trade  unions  anticipated  the  important  part  the 
shop  stewards  were  destined  to  play  in  the  history 

184 


THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  185 

of  the  working-class  movement.  For  years,  the  shop 
stewards  had  been  performing  quite  a  subordinate  part  in 
their  organizations,  when  suddenly  they  were  swept  into  the 
limelight  of  great  events.  Statesmen  interviewed  them,  met 
them  in  conference,  and  addressed  meetings  under  their  con- 
trol. The  press  abused  them  as  agitators  and  the  official 
trades-union  leaders  looked  upon  them  with  reproach. 

These  incidents,  however,  were  but  the  outward  signs  of 
the  beginning  of  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  industrial  labor 
organizations.  Two  important  developments  followed  the 
outbreak  of  the  War — an  industrial  revolution 1  on  the  one 
hand  and  legislative  enactments  which  gagged  the  activities 
of  the  trades  unions  on  the  other. 

The  further  the  industrial  revolution  proceeded  the  greater 
were  the  demands  on  the  trades  unions  and  the  less  capable 
were  they  of  response.  Of  necessity,  the  problems  were 
thrust  back  for  solution  to  the  places  from  which  they  arose, 
viz.,  the  workshops,  and  hence  the  growth  of  the  shop  stew- 
ards and  workers'  committee  movement. 

The  outsider,  prone  to  think  in  static  terms,  usually  wants 
to  know  what  kind  of  "  organization  "  the  "  Workers'  Com- 
mittee" happens  to  be,  what  is  its  structure,  how  many  con- 
tributors there  are  to  its  funds,  and  so  on. 

The  student  of  labor  organizations,  however,  will  be  well 
advised  not  to  attempt  to  measure  the  righting  strength  or 
influence  of  this  "movement"  (I  say  movement  advisedly) 
in  these  terms  or  he  will  make  great  mistakes  in  his  estimates. 

There  is  a  definite  form  of  organization  advocated  and 
recognized,  it  is  true,  but  only  approximations,  more  or  less 
remote,  in  existence.  Briefly  expounded,  the  structural  as- 
pects of  the  movement  are  as  follows:  The  unit  of  organiza- 
tion is  the  workshop  or  industrial  group.  In  each  workshop 
a  committee  of  stewards  or  delegates  is  to  be  elected.  These 
delegates  should  be  elected  as  workers  and  not  by  trade,  etc. 
Each  workshop  committee  should  elect  a  delegate  to  a 

1  New  machinery,  the  scrapping  of  old  practices  and  processes,  the 
bringing  in  of  dilutees. 


186  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

works  committee.  All  the  workshop  committees  in  a  local- 
ity should  also  have  delegates  to  a  local  council  or  workers' 
committee,  which  is  departmentalized  according  to  industry. 

The  national  structure  would  be  similar  to  the  local  work- 
ers' committee  on  a  larger  scale,  thus  giving  national  industry 
departments  with  their  executive  committees  within  a  Na- 
tional Workers'  Council  or  congress. 

The  immediate  significance  and  power  of  the  committees 
varies  from  time  to  time  as  different  crises  arise.  •  But  the 
movement  as  a  whole  has  greater  significance  than  any  of  its 
immediate  manifestations  may  appear  to  indicate.  What  that 
"  greater  significance  "  is  will  be  clearer  when  we  have  ex- 
amined its  growth  and  character. 

Prior  to  1914  there  were  not  many  shop  stewards,  and 
what  there  were  belonged  mainly  to  the  skilled  organizations. 
Their  functions  consisted  largely  of  examining  pence  cards 
of  members,  safeguarding  the  "  trade "  from  encroachments 
by  other  sections  of  labor,  keeping  the  shops  clear  of  non- 
unionists  as  far  as  possible,  sometimes  taking  grievances  up 
and  interviewing  the  foreman,  or  reporting  matters  to  the 
trade-union  branch.  It  will  be  clearly  recognized,  therefore, 
that  to  a  very  large  section  of  trade  unionists  shop  stewards 
were  not  unknown  persons,  although  they  might  not  all  have 
troubled  to  elect  them.  The  stewards  also  were  not  organ- 
ized as  such,  but  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  their  separate 
organizations.  However,  there  were  the  elements  in  the 
workshops  when  the  impetus  to  the  industrial  developments 
was  given  by  the  urgencies  of  war. 

These  developments,  it  must  be  observed,  were  such  that 
there  was  a  general  invasion  of  the  trades  by  all  kinds  of 
what  had  been  outside  labor.  The  drastic  changes  involved 
were  not  long  in  producing  trouble,  but  prior  to  the  disputes 
on  dilution  the  Clyde  engineers  were  due  to  receive  an  ad- 
vance in  wages  in  January,  1915.  They  had  been  bound  by 
a  three  years'  agreement  up  to  this  date  and  had  fallen  behind 
other  districts.  The  manoeuvering  of  the  employers  and  the 
faint-hearted  muddling  of  the  officials  over  months  of  nego- 


THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  .       187 

tiations  resulted  in  an  unofficial  strike.  The  organization  thus 
brought  into  being  became  known  later  as  the  Clyde  Workers' 
Committee.  It  was  composed  of  stewards  elected  in  the  work- 
shops. In  its  early  stages,  there  were  delegates  from  engi- 
neers,1 boilermakers,  blacksmiths,  shipwrights,  coppersmiths, 
sheet  iron  workers,  electrical  trades,  joiners  and  carpenters, 
gas  and  general  workers,  and  coopers.  Now  it  should  be 
observed  that  these  stewards  or  delegates  might  be  officially 
or  unofficially  elected,  but  all  combined  together  in  the  Clyde 
Workers'  Committee  which  functioned  unofficially. 

This  duality  has  its  obvious  advantages  and  disadvantages. 
There  is  the  possibility  of  complete  unanimity  on  some  par- 
ticular issue,  of  official  and  unofficial  committees.  There  is 
the  possibility,  as  in  the  dispute  referred  to,  of  complete  rank 
and  file  opposition  to  the  official  body. 

Varying  degrees  of  influence  come  between  these  two  posi- 
tions, but  the  point  to  be  observed  is  that  at  some  moment, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  crisis  which  may  arise,  the 
power  of  the  unofficial  committee  may  be  equivalent  to  the 
sum-total  of  the  trades-union  membership  in  the  locality.  For 
example,  at  the  time  of  the  1915  Clyde  dispute  all  the  engi- 
neering shops  of  any  note  were  affiliated,  representing  about 
45,000  workers.  At  a  later  date,  however,  when  the  Clyde 
Workers'  Committee  had  extended  its  area  of  delegation  and 
included  delegates  from  Miners'  Reform  Committees,  cap 
and  hat  workers,  teachers,  railwaymen,  building  trades,  etc., 
whilst  potentially  it  was  much  greater,  it  probably  could  not 
count  on  even  45,000  for  immediate  support. 

Being  composed  of  delegates  it  reflects  the  degree  and  na- 
ture of  the  activity  among  the  rank  and  file.  If  the  latter  are 
apathetic,  the  committee  is  correspondingly  weak.  If,  also, 
the  officials  are  responsive  to  the  demands  of  the  rank  and  file, 
the  unofficial  committee  may  be  neglected,  and  the  natural 
tactics  adopted  are  those  of  combined  effort.  Individual  mem- 
bership is  only  retained  through  the  delegates  except  in  small 
firms  where  little  group  organizations  exist.  To  count  the 

1  Engineers  are  machinists. 


188  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

individual  membership  at  any  moment  is  out  of  the  question 
and  would  be  worthless  for  estimating  the  power  of  the  or- 
ganization. 

There  it  is,  partly  official,  partly  unofficial,  taking  all  labor 
for  its  province,  as  sensitive  to  the  life  of  the  workshops  and 
factories,  etc.,  as  any  organization  can  be. 

The  details  of  the  workshop  organization  vary,  but  vary  as 
they  may,  the  workshop  is  the  unit  of  organization.  Radiat- 
ing from  the  Clyde,  committees  of  a  similar  character  to  the 
Clyde  Workers'  Committee  have  sprung  up  in  Edinburgh, 
Invergordon,  Aberdeen,  Dundee,  Dunfermline,  Rosyth,  Leith, 
Greenock,  Kilmarnock,  and  Dumfries,  and  all  of  them  send 
delegates  to  a  Scottish  council  in  Glasgow. 

Now  it  may  be  asked,  what  are  the  functions  of  these 
bodies?  There  are  few  activities  which  they  do  not  pursue 
within  the  limits  of  the  working-class  struggle.  They  have 
fought  on  wages  issues,  on  dilution  of  labor,  on  the  raising  of 
rents,  were  partly  responsible  for  the  English  Rent  Act, 
conducted  extensive  propaganda,  fought  on  the  political  issues, 
and  controlled  a  variety  of  matters  in  the  workshop.  They 
are  loosely  formed,  potentially  great  in  power,  and  sensitive 
to  any  issue  which  stirs  the  workers.  Their  rules,  structure, 
principles,  and  objects  read  as  follows: 

STRUCTURE 

The  unit  of  organization  shall  be  the  Workshop  Committee, 
composed  of  the  stewards  elected  in  the  various  departments. 

Stewards  shall  be  elected,  irrespective  of  the  particular  Trade 
Union  they  belong  to. 

The  Plant  Committee  shall  be  composed  of  representatives  from 
the  department  committees. 

The  local  or  district  committee  shall  be  composed  of  representa- 
tives from  the  various  Plant  Committees. 

The  National  Administrative  Council  shall  be  composed  of  an 
agreed-upon  number  of  representatives,  who  shall  be  elected  by 
ballot  of  the  whole  of  the  affiliated  local  Committees. 

No  committee  shall  have  executive  power,  all  questions  of  policy 
and  action  being  referred  back  to  the  rank  and  file. 


THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  189 

PRINCIPLES 

Direct  representation  from  the  workshop  to  Committees. 

The  vesting  of  control  of  policy  and  action  in  the  rank  and  file 

OBJECTS 

To  obtain  an  ever  increasing  control  of  workshop  conditions, 
the  regulation  of  the  terms  upon  which  the  workers  shall  be  em- 
ployed, the  organization  of  the  workers  upon  a  class  basis  to 
prosecute  the  interests  of  the  working  class  until  the  triumph  of 
the  workers  is  assured. 

SHOP  RULES 

The  employers  shall  have  no  jurisdiction  over  the  election  of 
any  shop  committee. 

The  Stewards  shall  be  the  recognized  medium  to  conduct  any 
negotiations  on  workshop  grievances. 

No  individual  bargaining  shall  take  place  between  the  workers 
and  representatives  of  the  employers. 

Any  proposed  changes  to  existing  shop  practices  or  conditions 
in  the  various  departments  shall  be  first  notified  to  the  stewards 
of  the  departments  through  the  Secretary  of  the  Works  Com- 
mittee. 

Stewards  and  the  requisite  officers  shall  be  elected  for  six 
months,  and  may  be  eligible  for  re-election. 

There  shall  be  frequent  shop  meetings  to  report  progress. 

All  questions  involving  dispute  shall  be  referred  to  the  rank  and 
file  for  mandate. 

The  effect  of  this  movement  on  official  organizations  will 
be  seen  when  we  deal  with  its  growth  in  other  centers.  I 
have  shown  how  the  Clyde  Workers'  Committee  arose  in  a 
crisis  arising  out  of  a  wages  issue  in  1915.  The  next  commit- 
tee I  will  use  to  illustrate  the  varying  character  of  the  move- 
ment is  the  Sheffield  Workers'  Committee. 

This  did  not  come  into  being  until  early  in  1917.  In  fact, 
the  Clyde  Workers'  Committee  remained  isolated  for  a  con- 
siderable period,  and  it  was  not  until  the  industrial  changes 
and  the  call  for  the  withdrawal  of  skilled  workers  for  the 


190  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

army  had  aroused  the  English  workers  that  there  was  any 
important  development.  The  birth  of  the  Sheffield  Workers' 
Committee  followed  a  crisis  produced  by  the  wrongful  with- 
drawal of  an  engineer  into  the  army.  For  some  months 
strenuous  efforts  had  been  made  to  get  the  skilled  engineers 
to  elect  stewards.  What  propaganda  did  not  effect,  the  crisis 
accomplished.  Within  a  fortnight  the  number  of  shop  stew- 
ards elected  officially  rose  to  about  350.  They  were  all  mem- 
bers of  the  skilled  organizations.  The  officials  could  not  func- 
tion in  the  crisis  and  the  stewards  formed  an  unofficial  stew- 
ards' committee.  They  struck  work,  won  the  issue,  and  this 
incident  set  the  movement  going  in  town  after  town.  Imme- 
diately after  the  strike  it  was  decided  to  invite  the  unskilled 
and  women  workers  to  organize  with  them,  form  workshop 
committees,  and  form  the  Sheffield  Workers'  Committee. 
This  step  was  urged  to  control  the  dilution  of  labor,  the  prin- 
cipal idea  being  to  enforce  the  payment  of  the  proper  rates  of 
wages  as  the  workers  were  transferred  from  one  kind  of 
labor  to  another.  This  committee  grew  in  power,  in  the  en- 
gineering industry  primarily,  until  between  20,000  and  30,000 
engineering  workers  were  associated  with .  the  committee. 
Again  it  must  be  observed  that,  although  associate  member- 
ship cards  were  issued,  at  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  com- 
mittee did  more  than  a  few  thousand  contribute  regular  sub- 
scriptions. This  committee  extended  itself  to  workers  in 
other  industries,  such  as  building  workers,  tramway  workers, 
and  miners. 

Two  important  developments  must  now  be  observed.  The 
extension  of  unofficialism  and  the  reaction  on  the  official  or- 
ganizations. A  crisis  may  unite  many  organizations.  A  crisis 
may  also  be  a  disintegrating  force.  The  fight  on  military 
service  united  a  number  of  skilled  workers.  The  dilution 
issue  brought  these  into  line  with  semi-skilled  laborers  and 
women  workers.  The  extension  of  dilution  to  other  than  war 
work,  plus  the  further  call  for  skilled  workers  for  military 
service,  divided  them  again  and  revived  official  activity,  es- 
pecially in  the  skilled  unions. 


THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  191 

This  happened  with  the  May  strike  of  1917  on  the  issues 
just  mentioned.  This  strike  was  unofficial,  though  much  of 
it  was  conducted  by  the  local  official  committees  acting  un- 
constitutionally. It  was  a  big  strike,  involving  at  one  time 
about  200,000  workers.  The  Scottish  workers  did  not  join 
in,  nor  did  all  the  English  workers  at  the  same  time.  It 
started  in  a  few  centers :  Manchester,  Sheffield,  Coventry,  and 
then  spread  to  London,  Luton,  Southampton,  Crayford,  Bol- 
ton,  Bradford,  Leeds,  Liverpool,  Barrow. 

Afterwards  stewards'  committees  sprang  up  in  all  direc- 
tions. A  national  conference  was  called  in  the  Milton  Hall, 
Manchester,  in  August,  1917,  at  which  delegates  attended 
from  the  following  towns :  Manchester,  Barrow,  Bolton,  Brad- 
ford, Bristol,  Chatham,  Coventry,  Crayford,  Dalmuir,  Els- 
wick,  Halifax,  Invergordon,  Leigh  (Lanes),  Leeds,  Liverpool, 
Newton-le-Willows,  Salford,  Stockport,  Clyde,  London,  and 
Sheffield. 

A  national  committee  was  set  up  to  co-ordinate  the  activi- 
ties of  the  local  unofficial  committees.  Not  all  of  these  were 
workers'  committees.  They  ranged  from  craft  union  steward 
committees  to  committees,  such  as  the  Clyde  Workers'  Com- 
mittee already  described. 

The  unconstitutional  action  of  the  official  committees  led 
to  the  formation  of  another  national  committee  of  engineering 
trades  unions,  and  in  the  various  localities  attempts  were  made 
to  combine  the  stewards  and  bring  them  wholly  under  official 
jurisdiction.  This  met  with  varying  degrees  of  success. 

The  Clyde  Workers'  Committee  retained  its  complete  inde- 
pendence of  official  control  and  stands  to-day  with  much  wider 
scope  than  ever  before.  The  Sheffield  Workers'  Committee 
suffered.  Officialism  revived  and  took  considerable  strength 
from  the  Sheffield  Workers'  Committee,  but  was  and  is  dis- 
organized in  itself.  A  multitude  of  unions  exist  with  no  con- 
nected policy  or  organization.  There  may  be  hundreds  of 
stewards  (to  obtain  exact  figures  is  impossible  at  present) 
among  the  50,000  engineering  workers  there,  but  they  are 
acting  separately. 


192  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

The  Sheffield  Workers'  Committee  stands  independent  at 
low  water  mark  among  the  engineering  workers,  but  extend- 
ing in  influence  among  the  miners,  tramwaymen,  and  the  like, 
in  and  about  the  locality.  So  low  an  ebb  did  it  reach  that  it 
had  to  resolve  itself  into  practically  a  propagandist  body  of 
industrial  unionists.  Its  extension  to  other  industries  than 
engineering  is  rapidly  reviving  its  delegatory  character. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Coventry  workers  have  been  de- 
veloped on  different  lines.  Coventry  is  mainly  an  engineering 
center  and  the  organization  of  the  workers  there  was  confined 
to  engineering  workers.  From  almost  complete  unofficialism 
it  has  swung  in  the  opposite  direction  and  carried  with  it  a 
number  of  the  features  they  were  striving  to  obtain  unoffi- 
cially. First  of  all,  the  engineering  trade  unions  in  the  local- 
ity, embracing  about  40,000  workers,  formed  the  Coventry 
Engineering  Joint  Committee.  The  shop  stewards  at  one 
time  had  their  committee  outside  this,  whilst  still  remaining 
members  of  the  organizations.  Now,  however,  the  unofficial 
committee  is  confined  to  a  few  firms  and  in  the  rest,  official 
control  is  exercised. 


SHOP  RULES  AND  INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  STEWARDS 

The  shop  rules  and  instructions  to  stewards  by  the  trade 
unions  are  as  follows: 

1.  That  the  Coventry  Engineering  Joint  Committee  shall  be  the 
Executive   Committee  over   all   Shop    Stewards   and   Works 
Committees  affiliated.     Any  change  of  practice  in  any  shop 
or  Works  must  receive  the  consent  of  the  Joint  Engineering 
Committee  before  being  accepted  by  the  men  concerned. 

2.  That  all  nominees  for  Shop  Stewards  must  be  members  of 
Societies    affiliated   to   the   C.E.J.C.    (Coventry    Engineering 
Joint  Committee). 

3.  Stewards  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  for  a  term  not  exceeding 
six  months ;  all  retiring  Stewards  to  be  eligible  for  re-election. 

4.  Each  Section  shall  be  able  to  elect  a  Steward,  irrespective  of 
Society. 


THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  193 

5.  The  Stewards  of  each  Department  shall  elect  a  Chief  Steward. 

6.  The   Chief    Stewards   of    Departments    shall    constitute    the 
Works  Committee,  who,  if  exceeding  twelve  in  number,  can 
appoint  an  Executive  Committee  of  seven,  including  Chairman 
and  Secretary. 

7.  All  Stewards  shall  have  an  official  Steward's  Card  issued  by 
Joint  Committee. 

8.  Each  Steward  on  being  elected,  and  the  same  endorsed  by  his 
Society,  the  Joint   Committee  Secretary  shall   send  him  an 
official  card. 

9.  The  Steward  must  examine  any  man's  membership  card  who 
starts  in  the  Shop  in  his  Section.     He  should  then  advise 
the  man  to  report  to  his  respective  Secretary,  and  give  him 
any  information  required  on  rates  and  conditions,  etc.    There 
shall  be  a  show  of  cards  every  month  to  ascertain  if  every 
member  is  a  sound  member,  and  if  any  member  is  in  arrears 
eight  weeks,  he  must  report  to  the  Chief  Steward. 

10.  If  there  is  any  doubt  of  any  man  not  receiving  the  district 
rate  of   wages,   the   Steward   can   demand   to   examine   pay 
ticket. 

11.  Any  member  accepting  a  price  or  time  basis  for  a  job  must 
hand  record  of  same  to  his  Section  Steward,  who  shall  keep 
a  record  of  times  and  prices  on  his  Section  of  any  work,  and 
hand  the  same  to  Chief  Shop  Steward. 

12.  The  Chief  Steward  shall  keep  a  record  of  all  times  and  prices 
recorded  to  him  by  Sections  of  his  Department.    On  a  Section 
being  not  represented,  he  shall  see  to  the  election  of  Steward 
for  such  Section. 

13.  Any  grievance  arising  on  any  Section  must  be  reported  to 
Chief  Shop  Steward,  who  shall,  with  Steward  on  Section  and 
man  concerned,  interview  foreman  or  manager.     Failing  re- 
dress, the  Chief  Steward  then  to  report  to  the  Works  Com- 
mittee. 

14.  The  Works  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  take  any  case 
of  dispute  before  the  Management,  not  less  than  three  to 
act  as  deputation. 

15.  On  the  Works  Committee  failing  to  come  to  any  agreement 
with  the  Management,  they  must  immediately  report  to  fhe 
Engineering  Joint  Committee,  who  shall  take  up  the  matter 
with  the  Firm  concerned,  a  representative  of  the  Works  Com- 


WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

mittee  to  be  one  of  the  deputation.  It  is  essential,  pending 
negotiations,  that  no  stoppage  of  work  shall  take  place  with- 
out the  sanction  of  the  Engineering  Joint  Committee. 

16.  A  full  list  of  all  Shop  Stewards  must  be  kept  by  the  Joint 
Committee.     Any  change  of  Stewards  must  be  reported  to 
the  Joint  Committee's  Secretary. 

17.  The  Joint  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  call  meetings 
of    Stewards   at    any   Works;    also   meetings   of    all    Chief 
Stewards  in  the  district  when  the  Joint  Committee  so  decides, 
if  necessary. 

18.  If,  at  any   time  of  dispute,  the  Engineering  Joint  Committee 
decides  upon  withdrawal  of  its  members  from  any  Firm  or 
Firms,  the  Stewards  shall  be  issued  a  special  official  badge 
from  this  Committee  with  the  idea  of  assisting  to  keep  order, 
if  necessary,  in  the  interests  of  the  members  concerned. 

It  should  be  noted  that  there  are  a  few  societies  unattached 
to  the  joint  committee,  such  as  the  draughtsmen  and  tool- 
makers.  But  these  join  with  them  on  any  important 
issues. 

There  are  about  a  dozen  large  firms  in  Coventry  with  works 
committees  and  in  all  about  400  stewards  or  delegates.  At 
one  time,  in  a  crisis,  there  were  1,000  stewards.  The  differ- 
ence between  these  figures  indicates  the  changes  on  the  "  un- 
rest "  barometer.  A  further  feature  of  great  importance  to 
every  observer  of  the  psychological  changes  in  the  working- 
class  outlook  and  the  future  character  of  industrial  organiza- 
tion is  contained  in  Rule  4 :  "  Each  section  shall  be  able  to 
elect  a  steward,  irrespective  of  society." 

This  had  been  advocated  by  the  unofficial  movement  for 
some  time,  although  in  its  early  stages  and  in  the  majority 
of  the  committees  to-day  the  structure  of  the  shop  commit- 
tees follows  that  outlined  in  The  Workers'  Committee.1  The 
writer  readily  agrees  that  the  development  is  a  sound  one  and 
experiments  in  several  shops  on  the  Clyde  and  in  other  places 
have  justified  the  efforts  in  this  direction. 

Wherever  the  sectional  unions  can  be  eliminated  it  is  all  to 

1  Pamphlet  by  J.  T.  Murphy. 


THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  195 

the  good.  Every  crisis  has  proved  that,  wherever  they  are 
retained,  whether  in  the  workshop  or  out  of  it,  in  joint  com- 
mittee, and  the  like,  they  act  as  disintegrating  factors.  The 
experience  of  the  Coventry  Engineering  Joint  Committee  pro- 
vides a  classic  example  in  the  embargo  dispute  of  1918.  All 
the  societies  on  the  committee  were  agreed  on  the  issue  and 
yet  two  of  the  societies  broke  away  and  precipitated  a  sectional 
strike. 

Two  features  in  the  structural  objectives  are  now  clearly 
indicated.  First,  the  all-embracing  character  of  the  move- 
ment, and  second,  its  elimination  of  sectional  unionism  in  the 
workshops. 

Turning  our  attention  to  the  activities  within  the  shops,  as 
distinct  from  the  harnessing  of  particular  agitations,  we  have 
to  observe  the  variations  according  to  the  degree  of  internal 
development  of  the  workshop  organization. 

It  will  be  well  to  compare,  therefore,  the  Coventry  instruc- 
tions with  the  agreement  arrived  at  between  the  trades  unions 
and  the  Employers'  Association: 

Copy  of 

MEMORANDUM  OF  AGREEMENT 
between 

ENGINEERING  EMPLOYERS'  FEDERATION 
and 

Steam  Engine  Makers'  Society. 

United  Machine  Workers'  Association. 

Society  of  Amalgamated  Toolmakers,  Engineers,  and  Machinists. 

United  Kingdom  Society  of  Amalgamated  Smiths  and  Strikers. 

Electrical  Trades  Union. 

National  Society  Amalgamated  Brassworkers  and  Metal  Me- 
chanics. 

United  Journeymen  Brassfounders,  Fitters,  Turners,  Finishers, 
and  Coppersmiths'  Association  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

Amalgamated  Society  of  Coremakers  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland. 

Workers'  Union. 


196  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

National  Union  of  General  Workers. 
National  Amalgamated  Union  of  Labor. 

National   Amalgamated   Union   of   Enginemen,   Firemen,   Me- 
chanics, and  Electrical  Workers. 

Blacksmiths  and  Ironworkers'  Society. 

REGULATIONS  REGARDING  THE  APPOINTMENT  AND 
FUNCTIONS   OF  SHOP  STEWARDS 

London,  December  20,  1917. 

IT  IS  MUTUALLY  AGREED  AS  FOLLOWS : 

With  a  view  to  amplifying  the  provisions  for  avoidance  of 
disputes,  it  is  agreed: 

1.  The  workmen  who  are  members  of  the  above  named  Trade 
Unions  employed  in  a  Federated  establishment  may  appoint 
representatives  from  their  own  number  to  act  on  their  behalf 
in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  Agreement. 

2.  The  representatives  shall  be  known  as  Shop  Stewards. 

3.  The  method  of  election  of  Shop  Stewards  shall  be  determined 
by  the  Trade  Unions  concerned.    Each  Trade  Union  parties 
to  this  Agreement  may  appoint  Shop  Stewards. 

4.  The  names  of  the  Shop  Steward  and  the  shop,  or  portion  of 
shop,  in  which  they  are  employed,  and  the  Trade  Union  to 
which  they  belong,  shall  be  intimated  officially  by  the  Trade 
Union  concerned  to  the  management  on  election. 

5.  Shop  Stewards  shall  be  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Trade 
Union  and  shall  act  in  accordance  with  the  Rules  and  Regu- 
lations of  the  Trades  Union  and  Agreements  with  employers, 
so  far  as  these  affect  the  relations  between  employers  and 
workpeople. 

6.  In  connection  with  this  Agreement,  Shop  Stewards  shall  be 
afforded  facilities  to  deal  with  questions  raised  in  the  shop, 
or  portion  of  the  shop,  in  which  they  are  employed.    In  the 
course  of  dealing  with  these  questions,  they  may,  with  the 
previous  consent  of  the  management  (such  consent  not  to  be 
unreasonably  withheld),  visit  any  other  shop,  or  portion  of  a 
shop,  in  the  establishment.     In  all  other  respects  they  shall 
conform  to  the   same   working   conditions   as  their    fellow- 
workmen. 

7.  Employers  and  Shop  Stewards  shall  not  be  entitled  to  enter 


THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  197 

into  any  agreement  inconsistent  with  agreements  between  the 
Engineering  Employers'  Federation  or  Local  Associations  and 
Trades  Unions. 

8.  The  functions  of  Shop  Stewards,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned 
with  the  avoidance  of  disputes,  shall  be  exercised  in  accord- 
ance with  the  following  procedure: 

(a)  A  workman  or  workmen  desiring  to  raise  any  ques- 
tion in  which  he  or  they  are  directly  concerned,  shall 
in  the  first  instance  discuss  the  same  with  his  or  their 
foreman. 

(b)  Failing  settlement,  the  question  shall,   if  desired,  be 
taken  up  with  the  management  by  the  appropriate  Shop 
Steward  and  one  of  the  workmen  directly  concerned. 

(c)  If  no  settlement  is  arrived  at,  the  question  may,  at  the 
request  of  either  party,  be   further  considered  at  a 
meeting  to  be  arranged  between  the  management  and 
the  appropriate  Shop  Steward,  together  with  a  depu- 
tation of  the  workmen  directly  concerned. 

At  this  meeting  the  Organizing  District  Delegate 
may  be  present,  in  which  event  a  representative  of 
the  Employers'  Association  shall  also  be  present. 

(d)  The  question  may  thereafter  be  referred  for  further 
consideration  in  terms  of  the  provisions  for  avoidance 
of  disputes. 

(e)  No  stoppage  of  work  shall  take  place  until  the  question 
has  been   fully   dealt   with,    in   accordance   with   this 
Agreement   and   with   the   "  Provisions    for   avoiding 
disputes." 

9.  In  the  event  of  a  question  arising  which  affects  more  than 
one  branch  of  trade,  or  more  than  one  department  of  the 
works,  the  negotiations  thereon  shall  be  conducted  by  the 
management  with  the  Shop  Stewards  concerned.  Should  the 
number  of  Shop  Stewards  concerned  exceed  seven,  a  depu- 
tation shall  be  appointed  by  them,  not  exceeding  seven,  for 
the  purpose  of  the  particular  negotiation. 

10.  Negotiations  under  this  Agreement  may  be  instituted  either 
by  the  management  or  the  workmen  concerned. 

11.  The  recognition  of  Shop  Stewards  is  accorded  in  order  that 
a  further  safeguard  may  be  provided  against  disputes  arising 
between  the  employer*  and  their  workpeople. 


198  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

12.  Any  question  that  may  arise  out  of  the  operation  of  this 
Agreement  shall  be  brought  before  the  Executive  of  the 
Trade  Unions  concerned,  or  the  Federation,  as  the  case 
may  be. 

The  agreement  retained  the  recognition  of  the  individual 
societies  inside  the  workshops  as  well  as  out. 

The  Coventry  Engineering  Joint  Committee  has  gone  fur- 
ther and  eliminated  the  division  in  the  shop,  and  a  number 
of  firms  have  their  works  committee  elected  irrespective  of 
society,  whilst  all  their  activities  come  under  the  control  of 
the  Engineering  Joint  Committee.  The  activities  go  a  little 
further  than  those  described  in  the  agreement  quoted  and 
they  come  very  close  to  the  Whitley  proposals.  They  meet 
the  employers  once  a  month  and  discuss  anything  for  the 
comfort  and  welfare  of  the  workpeople  and  ways  and  means 
for  facilitating  output. 

The  unofficial  committees  take  the  trade-union  rates  agree- 
ments, etc.,  as  something  to  be  enforced  as  a  minimum,  using 
them  simply  as  a  means  to  larger  ends.  These  larger  ends, 
however,  are  what  distinguish  them  from  all  the  other  com- 
mittees. 

They  work  for  "  an  ever-increasing  control  of  the  work- 
shop "  until  all  the  functions  of  management  pass  into  the 
hands  of  the  working  class  as  a  means  to  the  complete  expro- 
priation of  the  employing  class  as  such.  These  committees  on 
their  own  cannot  go  further  than  the  rest  of  the  committees, 
but  through  their  membership  within  the  official  committees 
and  out  of  them,  they  perform  several  functions.  They  reach 
out  to  all  sections  of  labor ;  they  are  continually  experimenting 
with  details  of  organizations  such  as  the  elimination  of  sec- 
tional unionism  in  the  shops,  and  they  stand  at  the  center  of 
all  movements  in  the  localities  where  they  have  become  thor- 
oughly established,  capable  of  harnessing  crises  which  may 
lead  to  revolutionary  developments. 

In  these  features  we  recognize  their  relationship  to  indus- 
trial unionism  of  the  various  schools  from  the  Chicago  Con- 


THE  SHOP  STEWARDS  199 

vention  of  1905  until  now.  The  value  of  counting  heads  I 
have  already  commented  on.  Whilst  there  are  National  Com- 
mittees co-ordinating  some  twenty  committees  in  England 
and  some  twelve  Committees  in  Scotland,  this  by  no  means 
represents  the  growth  of  the  movement.  Among  the  miners 
are  scores  of  reform  committees.  Among  the  railwaymen 
are  also  many  reform  committees.  These  are  not  linked  up 
with  the  rest  whilst  they  are  akin. 

As  a  movement  it  is  therefore  incapable  of  measurement 
with  a  yardstick.  Its  outward  manifestatjons  vary.  A  period 
of  unemployment  dissipates  the  strength  of  the  unofficial  com- 
mittees and  consequently  sends  energy  back  again  into  official 
channels.  A  crisis  may  sweep  official  (particularly  the  local 
officials)  and  unofficial  elements  along  together.  In  such  a 
crisis  the  personnel  of  the  unofficial  committees  may  become,  in 
the  crisis,  the  personnel  of  the  movement  as  a  -whole.  For  ex- 
ample, the  writer  was  at  one  and  the  same  time  a  member  of 
a  trade-union  district  committee,  convener  of  stewards  for 
the  same  trade  union,  and  Secretary  of  the  Workers'  Commit- 
tee in  the  district.  A  crisis  came.  The  official  trade-union 
committee  suspended  themselves,  and  the  stewards  worked 
through  the  Workers'  Committee. 

To  sum  up  the  position :  the  Workers'  Committee  movement 
is  extending  through  the  British  labor  movement  and  mani- 
festing itself  in  a  variety  of  forms  and  directions.  It  is  asso- 
ciated with  definite  revolutionary  ideas,  and  is  intent  on  abol- 
ishing capitalism. 

It  is  the  result  of  the  application  of  industrial  unionist 
ideas  to  historically  produced  situations  without  a  complete 
breakaway  from  the  organized  trade  unions.  Whether  the 
complete  merging  of  the  trade  unions  and  the  complete 
adaptation  to  the  demands  of  the  epoch  we  have  now  entered 
can  be  accomplished  rapidly  enough  is  doubtful.  Event  fol- 
lows event  so  rapidly  and  old  organizations  are  so  slow  to 
change  that  time  may  cast  them  on  the  scrap  heap. 

Whichever  may  be  the  case,  the  ideas  associated  with  the 
Workers'  Committee  have  come  to  stay.  If  the  official  move- 


200  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

ment  can  adapt  itself,  then  the  nature  of  its  adaptation  will 
be  on  the  lines  indicated  by  the  Workers'  Committee.  If  it 
cannot,  then  the  latter  will  win  through  unofficially.  At 
least,  the  times  appear  to  indicate  such  conclusions  to  the 
writer. 


CHAPTER  III 
THEIR  IDEAS 
By  J.  T.  MURPHY 

[This  chapter  is  on  the  ideas,  the  men,  the  instinctive  mass 
movement,  and  the  economic  conditions,  which  have  helped 
to  create  and  shape  the  small  revolutionary  wing  of  British 
labor.  An  American  will  note  that  the  impulse  has  received 
a  little  of  its  earlier  shaping  from  an  American  movement. 
This  is  natural,  because  a  partially  suppressed  labor  move- 
ment, such  as  that  of  unskilled  labor  in  the  United  States, 
swings  to  the  left.  This  chapter  makes  clear  the  philosophy 
that  lies  hidden  in  some  of  the  shop  stewards'  movement.  Mr. 
Murphy  sets  out  the  effect  of  political  parties,  educational 
classes,  the  propaganda  of  industrial  unionism,  and  the  syn- 
dicalists, on  the  growth  of  the  unofficial  industrial  movement 
of  Great  Britain,  including  the  shop  stewards'  movement.  The 
shop  stewards  created  during  the  War  many  of  the  workers' 
committees  to  which  Mr.  Murphy  refers.] 

THE  long,  steady  growth  of  the  trade-union  movement  in 
Great  Britain  has  presented  us  with  phenomena  of  such  a  char- 
acter that  the  industrial  unionists,  who  set  out  to  build  new 
industrial  unions  to  compete  with  and  ultimately  wipe  out  the 
trade  unions,  stood  little  chance  of  success.  Every  attempt  to 
establish  the  I.W.W.  on  a  large  scale  has  failed.  The  organi- 
zation known  as  the  Industrial  Workers  of  Great  Britain, 
which  later  changed  its  name  to  the  Workers'  International 
Industrial  Union  [Workers'  Union],  and  stood  for  practically 
the  same  organization  as  the  I.W.W.,  reached  a  member- 

201 


202  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

ship  of  about  4,000  at  best.  The  Building  Workers'  Indus- 
trial Union  has  been  subject  to  a  similar  fate,  and  for  ex- 
actly the  same  reasons  which  determined  the  form  and 
character  of  the  Workers'  Union.  The  pioneers  of  the 
Workers'  Union — Tom  Mann  and  Charles  Duncan — looked 
to  this  union  as  an  all-embracing  union  of  the  working 
class. 

But  because  there  existed  prior  to  its  formation,  large, 
stable  organizations  of  skilled  workers,  whose  vested  interests 
and  traditions  had  not  yet  been  thoroughly  disturbed,  they 
could  only  absorb  or  enroll  those  workers  who  were  outside 
these  unions.  Hence  the  Workers'  Union  became  largely  a 
union  of  general  labor,  unskilled  and  semi-skilled.  That  it 
enrolled  numbers  of  skilled  men  is  true,  but  ere  long  they 
were  arranging  agreements  with  skilled  unions  with  regard 
to  what  is  called  poaching  of  members.  The  vested  interests 
of  the  unions,  such  as  out-of-work  pay,  superannuation,  sick 
benefit,  and  so  on,  produced  a  conservatism  which  has  been 
a  considerable  bulwark  against  the  onslaughts  of  the  I.W.W., 
the  Industrial  Workers  of  Great  Britain,  and  such-like  organi- 
zations. It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  because  these 
organizations  are  small  that  the  propaganda  of  industrial 
unionism  has  had  no  effect. 

Since  1903,  when  the  Social  Democratic  Federation  split  on 
the  issue  of  industrial  unionism,  the  small  but  vigorous  body 
known  as  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  has  carried  on  a  persist- 
ent propaganda.  Its  principal  center  was  Glasgow,  and  in 
this  city  the  Industrial  Workers  of  Great  Britain  thrived  best, 
and  here  also  probably  more  experiments  have  been  tried  in 
the  application  of  the  industrial  unionist  principles  than  in 
any  other  town  in  Britain. 

James  Connolly,  the  Irish  labor  leader,  who  perished  in 
the  Easter  rising,  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  industrial  union- 
ism in  Glasgow,  and  his  pamphlet,  Socialism  Made  Easy,  is 
still  widely  sold.  The  Socialist  Labor  Party  remained  small  in 
membership  for  a  long  time,  but  the  small  group  of  men  who 


THEIR  IDEAS  203 

were  trained  in  their  classes  *  have  'since  played  a  prominent 
part  in  the  struggles  toward  industrial  unionism  through  the 
many  industrial  fights  in  Glasgow  and  elsewhere. 

The  Socialist  Labor  Party  started  its  own  press,  and  from 
here  have  come  incessantly  for  years  thousands  of  Daniel  De 
Leon's 2  pamphlets,  and  Kerr's  social  science  and  sociological 
publications.  However  insignificant  the  party  membership 
may  have  been,  the  effect  of  the  work  of  the  press  has  been 
influential  in  the  fermentation  of  ideas  on  industrial  unionism. 

The  Independent  Labor  Party  has  never  stood  for  industrial 
unionism.  The  British  Socialist  Party  did  not,  until  a  year 
ago  it  half-heartedly  supported  it.  The  tendency  of  these 
two  political  parties  is  to  support  trades  unionism,  and  stress 
the  conquest  of  Parliament.  But  through  numbers  of  their 
branches  the  publications  have  circulated  and  a  goodly  number 
of  the  members  of  each  party  now  propagate  the  Socialist 
Labor  Party  slogan. 

The  Socialist  Labor  Party,  from  its  inception,  was  so  severe 
in  its  restrictions  on  the  liberty  of  its  members  so  far  as 
theory  and  practice  were  concerned,  that  its  development  was 
retarded.  Since  the  Russian  Revolution  and  the  many  experi- 
ences of  its  members  in  the  industrial  conflicts  of  the  last 

1  Under  the  tuition  of  T.  Bell,   editor  of  the  Socialist,  and  ex- 
president  of  the  Scottish  Ironmolders,  and  T.  Clarke  of  the  Engi- 
neers, the  classes  have  since  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  struggle. 
In  the  classes,  the  works  of  Marx,  Engels,  Morgan,  De  Leon,  were 
thoroughly    studied.     Hence    we    find   the    materialist   conception    of 
history    stressed   as   a   means   to   understand    social   movements,   and 
industrial   unionism     offered    as    the    solution   to    society's    problems. 
From  the  classes  came  A.  MacManus,  chairman  of  the  Shop  Steward 
Workers'  Committee,  J.  W.  Muir,  of  the  Clyde  Workers'  Committee, 
and  W.  Paul.    The  latter  is  not  connected  with  the  industrial  move- 
ment.   He  is,  however,  a  speaker  of  considerable  ability,  and  has  done 
much  to  spread  the  class  movement  in  the  Midlands.     For  a  con- 
siderable period  some  of  the  speakers  simply  reflected  De  Leon,  and 
it  was  not  until  they  had  passed  through  many  experiences  that  we 
can  see  an  independent  direction  given  to  the  impulse  towards  indus- 
trial   unionism,    coincident    with    the    peculiarities    of    British    Labor 
History. 

2  See  Appendix,  Section  5,  Chapter  2. 


204  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

four  years,  there  has  been  a  recasting  of  the  constitution, 
which  now  recommends  the  same  kind  of  industrial  organiza- 
tion as  the  Workers'  Committees.  Their  preamble  reads,  after 
making  the  same  declaration  with  regard  to  the  class  struggle 
as  that  of  the  I.W.W.,  drawn  up  at  the  1905  Chicago  Con- 
vention, "  The  unit  of  organization  industrially  is  the  work- 
shop or  yard  committee,  wherein  the  workers  are  organized 
as  workers,  irrespective  of  craft,  grade,  or  sex.  These  com- 
mittees are  co-ordinated  by  the  formation  of  Works  or  Plant 
Committees,  composed  of  delegates  from  each  workshop  or 
yard  committee.  The  Plant  or  Works  Committees  are  co- 
ordinated by  delegates  from  each  of  these  committees,  in  a 
village,  town,  city,  or  district,  forming  a  Workers'  Council, 
in  which  there  are  also  delegates  from  the  residential  com- 
mittees, these  latter  being  the  units  of  the  social  aspects  of  the 
organization."  1 

In  addition  to  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  there  are  the 
Workers'  Socialist  Federation,  the  British  Socialist  Party,  and 
the  Communist  League,  advocating  practically  the  same  struc- 
ture. Certain  tactical  differences  exist  between  these  organi- 
zations which  are  delaying  the  fusion  of  these  bodies  into  a 
single  Communist  Party.  When  it  is  considered,  too,  that  a 
section  of  the  Independent  Labor  Party  is  working  in  accord 
with  those  mentioned,  the  amount  of  political  propaganda, 
assisting  the  spread  of  the  Workers'  Committee  ideas,  will 
be  recognized.  However  insignificant  the  outward  structural 
appearances  may  be,  the  latent  ideas  among  the  organized 
workers  are  of  no  small  volume.  The  outstanding  figures  of 
the  British  Socialist  Party,  so  far  as  this  workshop  movement 
is  concerned,  are  W.  Gallacher  and  George  Peet.  They  are 
known  more  by  their  activities  in  this  movement  than  by 
their  membership  of  a  political  party.  Gallacher  is  the  chair- 
man of  the  Clyde  Workers'  Committee.  Peet  is  the  national 
Secretary  of  the  Workers'  Committees.  The  activities  of 
the  political  bodies,  apart  from  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  until 

1  For  this  development,  no  doubt  A.  MacManus,  T.  Bell,  and  J.  T. 
Murphy  are  mainly  responsible. 


THEIR  IDEAS  205 

recently  have  been  rather  meager  so  far  as  industrial  unionism 
is  concerned.  The  Socialist  Labor  Party  was  largely  cen- 
tered in  Scotland,  but  nevertheless  had  an  extensive  influence. 
England  has  been  subject  to  propaganda  influences  from  two 
other  directions,  vis.,  the  Central  Labor  College,1  and  syndi- 
calist propagandists,  such  as  Tom  Mann.  With  regard  to 
the  Labor  College,  which  is  now  the  possession  of  the  Na- 
tional Union  of  Railwaymen  and  the  South  Wales  Miners' 
Federation,  the  clear-cut  Marxian  teaching  conducted  there 
has  resulted  in  the  production  of  a  number  of  active  industrial 
unionists,  who  have  gone  back  particularly  to  the  Welsh  coal- 
fields and  exercised  great  influence.  The  students  produce  a 
magazine  of  their  own  called  the  Plebs  Magazine,  and  by 
forming  classes  in  many  towns  and  districts,  they  give  an 
impetus  to  working-class  education.  Every  week  hundreds  of 
classes  under  the  auspices  either  of  the  Labor  College  or 
the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  or  some  local  Labor  College 
group,  now  affiliated  to  the  Labor  College,  are  'grappling  with 
economics,  industrial  history,  and  like  subjects.  The  effect 
was  commented  upon  by  the  Government  Commissioners  of 
Industrial  Unrest  in  1917,  particularly  in  South  Wales.  In 
nearly  every  large  town  classes,  varying  from  thirty  to  eighty 
members,  are  attending  several  nights  per  week  during  the 
winter  months.  The  writer,  during  the  whole  of  last  winter, 
for  example,  had  two  classes  per  week,  with  an  average  at- 
tendance of  forty  students.  Other  teachers  were  doing  like- 
wise. Now,  when  it  is  remembered  that  these  classes  to  which 
I  refer  are  producing  industrial  unionist  students  capable  of 
expressing  themselves,  it  will  be  realized  that  weighty  forces 
are  persistently  at  work  throughout  the  whole  of  the  trade- 
union  organizations,  suggesting  and  applying  the  principles 
for  which  they  stand.  In  South  Wales  in  particular,  men 
such  as  Noah  Ablett,  Reynolds,  and  Mainwaring,  with  many 
others,  have  succeeded  in  making  marked  advances  in  the 

1  Now,  the  Labor  College.  It  has  27  students  in  residence,  but 
through  correspondence  and  tutorial  classes,  it  reaches  6,000  students 
a  year. 


206  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

direction  of  industrial  unionism,  not  by  creating  a  fresh  or- 
ganization, but  by  modifying  the  existing  organizations  and 
bringing  the  South  Wales  Miners'  Federation  in  part  under 
their  control. 

With  regard  to  the  syndicalists,  Tom  Mann 1  has  been  un- 

iTom  Mann,  regarded 'by  many  as  the  "Stormy  Petrel"  of  the 
British  Labor  movement,  has  had  a  remarkable  influence  in  several 
important  directions.  His  efforts  to  organize  the  unskilled  workers 
are  well  known.  So  also  the  part  he  Clayed  in  the  Dockers'  strike  of 
1889,  and  the  transport  strike  of  1911.  His  positive  contributions  lie 
in  those  directions,  along  with  his  amalgamation  propaganda  as  exem- 
plified in  his  campaign  for  syndicalism.  His  anti-parliamentarism 
created  a  prejudice  against  him  for  a  long  time,  which  now  becomes 
an  asset,  as  the  feeling  against  parliamentarism  becomes  more  general. 
But  for  some  reason  he  has  not  yet  given,  he  entered  and  topped  the 
poll  in  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers  Parliamentary  candi- 
date election.  It  is  this  apparent  vacillation  in  tactics  and  his  repeated 
appearance  in  unexpected  quarters  that  have  created  a  certain  amount 
of  distrust  as  to  his  capacity  to  hold  the  leading-strings  of  an  organi- 
zation such  as  the  A.S.E.  He  has  tried  to  become  General  Secretary 
of  this  Society  several  times  and  failed,  but  he  succeeded  in  getting 
this  position  in  1919.  He  likes  the  freedom  of  the  "  free-lance,"  to 
be  a  working-class  gladiator  in  any  part  of  the  arena  where  the  fight 
is  raging,  and  whilst  preaching  organization  chafes  at  the  restraint 
which  organization  imposes.  He  has  had  a  dramatic  career,  a  wide 
experience,  and  is,  besides  being  an  agitator,  capable  of  leadership. 
But  any  office  will  sit  lightly  upon  him  for  the  temperamental  reasons 
I  have  indicated.  At  sixty-four  he  is  full  of  vitality,  and  the  glamor 
of  the  fight  is  upon  him.  He  may  head  a  revolutionary  movement,  he 
may  finish  his  career  as  an  agitator,  but  for  him  to  settle  down  as  a 
mundane  official  seems  to  those  who  know  him  as  likely  an  event  as 
to  see  him  settle  down  as  a  poultry  keeper.  In  any  case  he  has  ren- 
dered good  service  to  the  industrial  unionist  movement  by  his  amalga- 
mation propaganda  and  his  support  of  the  Workers'  Committees. 

Mann  picked  up  American  industrial  ideas  in  Australia,  and  further 
studied  syndicalism  in  France.  On  his  return  to  England,  he  launched 
a  powerful  propaganda  upon  the  public  platform  and  through 
pamphlets  and  the  press.  He  did  much  to  popularize  the  idea  of  the 
shorter  working  day. 

He  received  an  ovation  at  the  Trades  Union  Congress  of  December, 
1919.  As  Secretary  of  the  A.S.E.,  the  king  craft  union,  he  is  now 
inside  the  citadel,  and  his  influence  upon  the  machinists  will  be 
powerful  in  these  critical  years. 


THEIR  IDEAS  207 

doubtedly  the  outstanding  figure.  But  again  the  movement 
takes  the  form  of  propaganda  for  amalgamation  of  existing 
organizations.  It  is  in  the  direction  of  amalgamation  that 
industrial  unionism  has  found  expression  in  this  country  until 
the  rise  of  the  unofficial  fighting  workers'  committees.  There 
has  been  an  amalgamation  movement  -in  the  engineering  in- 
dustry. The  rise  of  the  unofficial  shop  stewards'  movement, 
however,  meant  the  suppression  of  the  amalgamation  com- 
mittees. 

Such  have  been  the  main  elements  giving  direction  to  the 
tendencies  towards  the  modification  of  the  industrial  organi- 
zation of  the  working  class.  They  have  now  undergone  a 
marked  change,  and  because  they  represent  the  advanced  guard 
of  the  movement,  with  consciously  formulated  ideas,  it  is  well 
that  we  should  observe  the  character  of  the  change. 

The  1905  I.W.W.  Convention  in  America  formulated  a 
scheme  of  organization  by  industry.  Each  industry  was  to 
have  its  own  particular  union  and  these  unions  to  be  feder- 
ated into  one  big  organization.  The  National  Guildsmen 
of  this  country,  as  well  as  the  old  industrial  unionists,  still 
stand  for  this  form  of  organization.  It  should  be  mentioned 
in  passing  that  Cole  and  Mellor  of  the  National  Guilds  League 
have  helped  considerably  in  the  way  of  spreading  these  ideas 
among  trade  unionists.  The  change  from  this  position  since 
the  Russian  Revolution  has  been  marked,  and  the  left  wing 
of  the  Socialist  movement  now  express  themselves  more  in 
terms  of  Communism.  The  quotation  from  the  platform  of 
the  Socialist  Labor  Party  indicates  the  difference.  The  Com- 
munists recognize  the  need  of  departmentalization  according 
to  industry,  but  insist  on  the  industry  being  subordinate  to 
the  class  character  of  organization.  They  therefore  propa- 
gate a  class  organization  with  departments  within  it  corre- 
sponding to  industry.  The  difference  may  not  appear  to  be 
much,  but  on  close  examination  it  is  a  matter  deserving  care- 
ful consideration. 

Organization  by  industry  involves  the  recognition  of  each 
industry  and  each  industry-union  as  a  separate  entity,  and 


208  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

the  executives  thereof  would  be  responsible  to  each  industry's 
workers  alone.  It  would  tend  to  produce  a  psychology  of  a 
sectional  character,  too,  in  that  the  primary  thought  would 
be  to  defend  one  industry's  workers  against  the  others. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Communists  urge  that  the  class 
principle  should  be  applied  throughout,  and  just  as  all  the 
workshop  committees  of  any  plant,  whether  composed  of 
building  workers,  transport  workers,  or  engineers,  are  united 
in  the  Works  Committee,  so  also  the  works  of  a  locality  should 
be  united  in  the  Workers'  Committee  or  Council.1  Then  any 
departmental  committee  set  up  would  be  responsible,  not  sim- 
ply to  a  department,  but  to  the  whole  council. 

The  rival  scheme  of  organization  in  relation  to  the  existing 
trade  unions  should  be  noted  too.  Organization  by  industry 
has  its  problems,  there  is  no  doubt.  The  National  Union  of 
Railwaymen  approximates  to  an  industry  union;  the  miners 
are  approximating  it;  the  engineering  workers,  particularly 
the  skilled  workers,  are  trying  to  shape  themselves  in  the  same 
direction.  Now  there  exists,  at  the  same  time,  the  General 
Workers'  Union,  the  Workers'  Union,  the  National  Amalga- 
mated Union  of  Labor,  which  are  about  to  be  fused.  All 
these  have  workers  spread  over  quite  a  number  of  industries. 
If,  therefore,  organization  by  industry  has  to  be  established, 
this  huge  body  of  about  a  million  workers  will  have  to  be 
divided  up  among  those  unions  which  approximate  to  the 
industry  unions. 

The  Communists,  on  the  other  hand,  say  Amalgamate 
them  all  into  one  big  union,  and  make  internal  departments  to 
meet  any  peculiar  demands  of  industry. 

If  it  be  asked  how  all  these  bodies,  political,  educational, 

1  The  term  "  workers'  committee  "  is  applied  when  the  strike  com- 
mittee takes  on  a  class  character.  Most  of  the  committees  come  into 
being,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  from  strikes.  The  word  "com- 
mittee "  was  used  to  distinguish  it  from  the  Trades  Council.  Perhaps 
"  workers'  council  "  will  supersede  "  workers'  committee."  The  British 
"  workers'  committee  "  is  akin  to  the  "  workers'  council "  on  the  con- 
tinent, which  is  in  part  a  standardization  of  the  old  extemporized 
strike  committee. 


THEIR  IDEAS  209 

propagandist,  are  related  to  the  Workers'  Committee  move- 
ment, I  have  to  answer  that  their  literature  is  distributed  in 
the  workshops  and  trade-union  branches;  their  propagandists 
address  workshop  meetings ;  their  classes  are  open  to  all  work- 
ers, for  the  members  of  all  these  bodies  are  personally  part  of 
the  industrial  movement  too.  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  wherever  the  workers  extend  their  organizations  in  the 
factories,  wherever  they  assume  responsibility,  such  activities 
stimulate  the  demand  for  classes,  for  literature,  and  the  like. 

Whilst  the  political  parties,  the  educational  bodies,  the 
propagandists,  are  directly  contributing  to  the  most  revolu- 
tionary aspects  of  the  working-class  movement  in  every  re- 
spect, there  are  other  bodies  more  moderate  in  political  out- 
look, who  are  nevertheless  contributing  to  the  structural 
developments.  Ruskin  College,  the  Independent  Labor  Party, 
the  Workers'  Educational  Association,  while  not  revolution- 
ary bodies,  direct  considerable  attention  to  the  established 
structure  of  the  trade-union  movement  and  its  developments. 
The  Whitley  report  proposals  and  all  schemes  immediately 
adaptable  to  the  existing  order,  appeal  to  these  members  of 
the  working-class  movement.  Their  attempts  to  apply  them 
bring  them  up  against  the  structural  problems  of  trade  union- 
ism, and  thus  their  practical  experience  compels  them  to 
contribute  to  the  solution  of  the  workers'  difficulties  on  the 
very  same  lines  as  the  extremists. 

A  simple  illustration  will  make  this  clear.  They  wish  the 
workers  to  share  in  control  of  their  conditions  in  workshop 
and  factory.  To  effect  that,  they  must  shift  their  ground  from 
the  trade-union  branch  to  the  workshop.  There,  to  have  any 
organization  at  all,  they  must  get  the  workers  sufficiently  in- 
terested to  elect  a  shop  committee.  Immediately  the  problem 
of  sectionalism  is  upon  them.  Experiment  follows  experi- 
ment to  overcome  the  difficulties  involved  until  it  is  eliminated. 
Thus  are  they  doing  the  same  thing  as  the  extremists,  vis., 
organizing  the  workshops  and  factories.  The  pressure  of 
economic  circumstances  does  the  rest. 

For  it  must  be  clearly  understood  that,  while  all  the  efforts 


210  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

I  have  enumerated  are  going  on,  the  workers  as  a  whole 
have  no  conscious  purpose.  They  do  not  visualize  a  new 
society  and  consciously  march  forward  towards  it.  An  ever- 
increasing  minority  do  that  as  the  economic  struggle  proceeds, 
but  the  mass  moves  intuitively,  consequent  on  the  pressure 
of  circumstances. 

"If  I  am  asked,  "  What  England  do  the  workers  want  ? 
When  ?  How  ?  "  I  have  to  reply  that  very  few  indeed  can  do 
more  than  state  general  abstractions  in  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions. 

The  minorities  of  a  people  fight  out  consciously  the  differ- 
ent general  concepts  and  methods.  Meanwhile  the  social 
forces  move,  rise  in  their  power,  and  the  minority,  conscious 
of  the  mightiest  of  these,  anticipates  it,  interprets  it,  har- 
nesses it,  marches  on  to  victory.  Through  long  periods  there 
appears  to  be  an  equilibrium  of  forces  and  society  appears 
static.  But  it  is  never  so.  The  elements  within  it  are  ever 
moving  and  the  periods  of  great  change  inevitably  come  again, 
not  because  of  the  wonderful  ability  of  some  particular  person, 
or  the  conscious  purpose  of  a  people.  They  are  moved  by  the 
simple  concrete  experiences  of  every  day,  and  the  interaction 
of  these  experiences  produces  mass  movements  which  launch 
them  all  into  mightier  issues  than  they  dreamed.  Call  them 
herd  movements,  if  you  will.  Until  humanity  has  evolved 
an  organization  of  society  which  will  uniformly  express  and 
satisfy  the  needs  of  humanity,  and  by  its  natural  activity 
thrust  responsibility  in  uniform  fashion  upon  all  its  constitu- 
ent parts,  so  that  a  real  social  consciousness  is  developed,  we 
shall  witness  these  movements.  They  will  be  harnessed  by 
minorities,  express  themselves  through  existing  machinery  as 
far  as  possible,  but  will  not  hesitate  to  create  new  machinery 
as  circumstances  press  upon  them  and  the  old  fails  to  respond. 

The  political  parties,  the  educational  bodies,  the  propagan- 
dists, and  their  relationship  to  the  elements  of  change  within 
the  industrial  working-class  movement,  I  have  attempted  to 
describe.  The  result  is  that  we  can  see  a  structure  developing 
and  certain  leading  ideas  coming  to  be  focused.  How  these 


THEIR  IDEAS  211 

ideas  are  going  to  be  translated  in  actual  programs  has  not  yet 
been  clearly  defined  by  any  one.  What  we  do  see  at  present, 
is  a  multitude  of  demands  in  terms  of  wages,  and  reduced 
hours  of  labor,  and,  coming  more  and  more  to  the  front,  the 
two  big  issues  of  nationalization  and  control  of  industry  (or, 
rather,  part  control).  These  two  latter  indicate  the  tendency 
to  converge  upon  big  things.  Whatever  ideas  we  may  have  on 
these,  whether  they  be  regarded  as  reformist  or  otherwise,  the 
salient  features  of  them  are  revolutionary  in  character,  indi- 
cating the  nearness  of  vast  changes  in  social  relationships.  At 
the  same  time  structural  modifications  are  proceeding  and 
every  dispute  produces  elements  which  are  contributory  to 
the  Workers'  Committee  organizations.  These  demand  more 
detailed  attention.  But  sufficient  for  the  moment  to  have  in- 
dicated the  political,  educational  propagandist  contributions  to 
the  new  movement,  and  at  the  same  time  to  have  recognized 
the  limitations  of  the  visions  of  the  people  and  the  responsi- 
bilities upon  the  minorities. 


CHAPTER  IV 
SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  RAILWAYMEN 

By  C.  T.  CRAMP,  President  of  the  National  Union 
of  Railwaymen 

MR.  C.  T.  CRAMP  is  President  of  the  National  Union  of  Rail- 
waymen, with  450,000  members.  He  and  Mr.  Thomas  have 
just  passed  through  successfully  the  railway  strike  in  which 
the  Government  attempted  to  reduce  wages  from  the  war  levels 
and  failed.  Mr.  Cramp  was  educated  at  the  Labor  College, 
where  economics  are  taught  on  a  Marxian  basis.  Frank 
Hodges,  Secretary  of  the  Miners,  is  a  graduate  of  the  same 
college.  Both  men  are  Socialists  with  a  fundamental  belief  in 
industrial  unionism,  which  they  are  helping  to  carry  out  in  their 
unions.  The  miners  and  the  railwaymen  are  two  of  the  most 
"  radical "  organizations  in  Great  Britain.  Mr.  Cramp  is  very 
exactly  a  representative  of  his  rank  and  file. 
In  a  recent  talk,  Mr.  Cramp  said  to  me : 

We  have  obtained  a  Ministry  of  Transport.  That  is  perhaps 
in  part  the  results  of  our  demands  for  full  workers'  control.  Hav- 
ing our  Ministry  of  Transport,  we  have  now  presented  our  de- 
mands for  control.  We  are  urging  a  joint  board  which  shall 
control  all  railways.  One-half  of  the  representatives  will  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  unions,  and  one-half  by  the  House  of  Commons. 
Their  function  will  be  not  only  the  administration  of  conditions 
but  the  running  of  the  whole  concern.  That  means  the  admin- 
istration of  the  detail  of  traffic  and  also  the  administration  of 
the  commercial  side.  The  unions  will  elect  representatives  to  this 
Board  of  Control.  But  the  election  will  not  result  in  making  these 
men  permanent  officials  out  of  touch  with  their  rank  and  file. 
They  will  be  re-elected  every  three  years.  Under  the  Joint  Board 
we  shall  have  Area  or  District  Boards.  These  Boards  will  deal 
with  the  administration  of  the  principles  laid  down  by  the  Central 

212 


SELF-GOVERNMENT  BY  RAILWAYMEN       213 

Joint  Board.  The  Area  Boards  will  in  the  same  way  contain 
representatives  of  the  Government  and  of  the  men,  half  and 
half.  For  the  Railway  shops  we  shall  have  Shop  Committees 
elected  from  the  various  grades. 

So  the  total  organization  will  be  a  Central  Board,  District 
Boards,  and  Shop  Committees,  with  the  workers  making  up  half 
the  membership  and  the  community  represented  by  the  other  half. 

Up  to  the  present  time  we  have  not  negotiated  anything  tangible 
with  the  Government.  Almost  as  soon  as  the  Ministry  of  Trans- 
port took  office  we  entered  into  conflict  with  them.  We  are  hope- 
ful that  within  a  few  months  we  shall  have  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing joint  control  by  the  workers. 

I  have  been  interested  in  the  Plumb  Plan  and  I  recognize  the 
suggestiveness  in  giving  separate  representation  to  the  manage- 
ment. But  we  feel  that  it  is  best  first  to  get  the  principle  of 
workers'  control  accepted,  and  second  to  get  the  central  idea  em- 
bodied in  the  new  form  of  administration,  and  then  later  to 
go  into  details  of  arrangement  if  necessary.  Until  recently 
managerial  directors  were  perhaps  as  a  class  hostile  to  the  idea 
of  joining  with  the  workers  in  control.  But  the  experience  of 
the  last  year  has  convinced  them  that  they  too  had  something  to 
gain  by  coming  in  with  the  manual  worker. 

In  any  case,  the  recent  strike  struggle  will  have  made  it  easier  to 
get  the  principle  of  joint  control  accepted.  Under  State  owner- 
ship and  under  joint  control,  we  shall  retain  the  right  to  strike, 
and  we  claim  it  as  a  full  right.  There  will  be  no  yielding  on 
that  point.  For  the  settlement  of  disputes,  we  shall  trust  to  the 
good  sense  of  the  management  and  the  men. 

What  we  are  building  up  is  a  new  functional  idea  of  the 
State.  Geographical  representation  did  not  meet  the  full  need. 
My  personal  opinion  is  that  certain  representatives  in  Parliament 
must  be  provided  from  the  industries  as  industries,  so  that  we 
shall  have  industrial  representation.  In  that  way  we  should  have 
a  body  competent  to  decide  on  great  industrial  questions. 

In  propagating  the  idea  of  workers'  control,  we  have  published 
articles  in  trade  journals,  made  large  numbers  of  platform 
speeches  and  appeared  before  Labor  Congresses.  We  have  not 
drawn  up  our  demands  in  any  sense  of  adjusting  them  to  the 
ideology  of  capitalism.  We  ultimately  want  to  destroy  capitalism 
altogether.  The  influences  that  have  strengthened  the  idea  of 


214  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

workers'  control  were  the  revolt  of  a  few  years  ago  against 
excessive  bureaucracy  and  State  socialism.  The  propaganda  of 
French  syndicalism  has  something  to  do  with  the  spread  of  the 
idea,  and  then  such  writing  as  appeared  in  the  New  Age x  helped. 
The  workers  desired  to  devise  a  system  of  social  control  that 
would  master  slavery  in  the  new  form  in  which  it  was  appearing, 
namely  that  of  bureaucracy.  So  altogether  there  came  the  gath- 
ering of  these  new  ideas  and  the  shaping  of  them  into  our  present 
demand  for  workers'  control  laid  before  the  Premier. 

1  An  organ  of  Guild  Socialism.  Compare  these  demands  with  the 
Government  offer  of  25%  of  advisory  control.  See  Appendix,  Sec- 
tion 4,  Chapter  2. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  ENGLAND  THE  WORKERS  WANT— WHEN— 

HOW 

By  ROBERT  S MILLIE,  of  the  Miners'  Federation  of 
Great  Britain 

[This  chapter  is  a  digest  of  Mr.  Smillie's  conversations  with 
the  writer,  letters  to  him,  and  public  talks,  corrected  by  him 
for  use  here.  He  answers  the  questions  which  many  have  been 
putting.  What  kind  of  society  is  it  which  the  workers  want? 
When  do  they  expect  to  begin  to  get  it?  How  are  they  going 
about  it? 

Mr.  Smillie  answers  that  they  wish  a  Socialist  society,  which 
will  not  be  bureaucratic,  nor  State  socialistic.  So,  with  every 
demand  for  nationalization,  they  include  a  demand  for  workers' 
control,  which  means  decentralization  of  power.  They  expect 
to  effect  this  change  in  society  (of  public  ownership  of  the  key 
industries  and  of  land,  with  management  by  the  workers)  by  a 
series  of  gains  in  Parliament,  till  finally  they  have  a  majority 
of  seats,  which  will  give  them  a  labor  Government.  Then 
legislation  will  be  passed  which  will  establish  the  Socialist 
society.  The  method  of  this  change  is  not  by  bloody  revolu- 
tion, but  by  education  and  propaganda  and  votes.  The  philo- 
sophical statement  of  the  goal  is  neither  State  Socialism  nor 
Syndicalism,  but  Guild  Socialism.  Details  of  change  have  al- 
ready been  made,  and  will  continue  to  be  made  each  month. 
But  to  bring  to  pass  the  real  transfer  of  economic  power  to 
the  workers  will  require  "  five,  ten,  fifteen  years." 1 

Such  are  in  summary  the  views  of  the  greatest  labor  leader 
of  this  generation.] 

1  This  summary,  also,  has  Mr.  Smillie's  approval  as  a  statement  of 
his  position. 

215 


216  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

I  DISCUSSED  with  a  wealthy  and  Christian  coal  owner  the  other 
day  the  question  of  Socialism,  and  I  told  him  it  was 
absolutely  impossible  to  square  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  with 
present-day  commercial  conditions.  My  friend  admitted  that, 
but  said,  "  Well,  but  we  are  in  it  and  what  are  we  to  do  ?  " 
When  I  examined  witnesses  at  the  Coal  Commission  I  had 
before  me  not  only  my  little  village  in  Lanarkshire,  and  the 
poverty  and  the  miserable  homes  there,  but  the  slums  of  the 
great  cities  and  the  palaces  and  the  mansions  of  the  idle  class. 
Any  one  knowing  the  poverty  of  the  people  and  the  terrible  con- 
ditions existing  in  the  mining  community  for  so  many  years  and 
realizing  that  the  robbing  classes,  "  who  toiled  not,  neither  did 
they  spin,"  had  been  living  on  the  money  that  should  have  gone 
to  feed,  clothe,  house,  and  educate  his  class,  would  be  a  knave 
and  a  traitor  to  his  people  if  he  did  not  keep  it  in  mind,  and 
let  the  other  class  know  that  he  had  not  forgotten  it. 

One  who  truly  represents  the  workers  has  always  before  his 
eyes  the  misery,  the  infant  mortality,  the  death  rate,  of  his 
class,  and  the  position  of  the  upper  class.  Always  he  has  in 
his  vision  this  contrast. 

The  Coal  Commission  gave  me  the  opportunity  of  getting 
into  respectable  company.  I  had  the  opportunity  of  speaking 
with  dukes.  We  were  not  introduced.  Some  of  them  in  the 
witness-chair  were  not  sure  of  their  minimum  living  wage 
within  a  few  thousands.  But  they  were  very  nice. 

It  has  been  alleged  in  certain  quarters  that  I  desired  to  score 
against  those  dukes.  I  had  no  such  desire;  but  with  my  col- 
leagues I  wished  simply  to  arrive  at  the  truth.  We  do  not 
blame  them  as  individuals  at  all,  but  the  system  of  which  they 
are  a  part  is  wrong,  and  we  wanted  them  to  come  to  give  us 
the  information  desired,  with  a  view  to  helping  us  to  put  it 
right. 

Dukes,  earls,  and  marquises,  as  well  as  capitalists,  are  en- 
titled to  be  content,  but  the  working  people,  landless  and  dis- 
possessed, and  living  in  the  slums,  God  never  expected  them  to 
be  content  with  these  conditions. 

I  am  out  to  rouse  the  people  to  the  dignity  of  man.     It 


THE  ENGLAND  THE  WORKERS  WANT  217 

is  not  true  to  say  that  I  am  out  to  breed  rebellion  or  bloody 
revolution  if  that  can  be  avoided.  Rather  I  wish  to  convince 
the  people  that  it  is  their  business  to  unite,  by  constitutional 
means  if  possible,  to  overturn  the  present  system  and  enable 
the  people  to  live  happier  lives. 

We  are  not  going  to  sit  down  content  with  the  present  state 
of  affairs.  No  man  has  the  right  to  call  himself  a  man  who 
sits  down  contented  with  matters  as  they  are.  The  vast 
majority  of  men  and  women  and  children  are  the  exploited 
class  who  have  never  more  than  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks' 
savings  to  keep  them  going  until  another  pay-time  comes 
round.  I  have  not  been  able  to  convince  myself  that  one  party 
should  live  on  the  best  things  which  are  produced,  and  the 
other  party,  the  producers,  continually  be  kept  on  the  verge  of 
starvation.  As  a  child  I  was  taught  that  it  was  God's  doing. 
It  is  not  God's  doings,  but  man's  doings.  It  is  no  use  being 
discontented  unless  one  spreads  the  discontent  as  far  as  one 
can.  Five  hundred  peers  own  a  third  of  this  country,  four 
thousand  landlords  own  half,  and  the  other  half  is  held  by 
the  smaller  people.  If  we  could  prove  to  any  of  those  titled 
people,  back  to  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  that  they 
had  soiled  their  hands  with  honest  toil,  they  would  commit 
suicide. 

In  recent  years  the  younger  generation  of  mine  workers  have 
had  greater  opportunities  of  at  least  an  elementary  education, 
and  the  schoolmaster  has  been  abroad  amongst  them  in  the 
shape  of  what  is  sometimes  termed  the  agitator,  and  it  has  set 
many  of  them  thinking  and  asking  themselves  the  question 
whether  it  is  necessary  for  the  mining  population,  which  with 
its  families  numbers  almost  an  eighth  of  the  population  of  the 
country,  to  continue  living  practically  on  the  verge  of  starva- 
tion, badly  housed,  and  with  no  voice  at  all  in  the  determina- 
tion of  their  own  destiny. 

Up  to  recent  years  the  mine  owners  (who,  it  is  true,  have 
latterly  met  the  men's  representatives  and  recognized  their 
organization  as  a  body  to  be  negotiated  with)  declined  to  sup- 
ply any  information  about  the  inner  working  of  the  industrial 


218  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

concerns;  and  they  have  denied,  in  fact,  the  miners'  right  to 
question  the  justification  of  the  enormous  profits  which  were 
being  earned  in  the  trade  whilst  wages  were  continually  kept 
down  to  the  mere  existence  point. 

The  thinkers  amongst  the  miners  have  by  persistent  agitation 
amongst  their  fellows  broadened  the  outlook  of  the  minds 
of  the  mine  workers,  and  have  undoubtedly  brought  about  the 
claims  which  have  recently  been  promulgated  for  a  higher 
standard  of  life  and  for  a  reorganization  of  the  mining  in- 
dustry on  lines  which  would  give  the  mine  workers  a  voice  in 
the  industrial  as  well  as  the  commercial  side  of  the  business. 

To  put  it  quite  plainly,  they  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  lives  of  mine  workers  which  are  invested  in  the  mining 
industry  ought  to  count  on  at  least  as  high  a  plane  as  the 
capital  which  has  been  invested  by  the  owners  of  the  mines. 

My  boys  and  your  boys  were  "  out  there."  *  They  were  told 
they  were  fighting  for  the  honor  of  their  country.  We  can't 
afford  to  shed  the  blood  of  the  young,  when  such  as  they  can- 
not claim  the  land  they  have  defended.  Was  it  for  their  land 
that  the  lads  laid  down  their  lives  and  spilt  their  blood  ?  Was 
it  really  for  their  own  land?  No;  but  for  the  land  of  those 
people  who  are  wrongly  in  possession  of  it,  and  who  would 
never  let  them  live  a  day  unless  payment  is  made  of  whatever 
blackmail  may  be  agreed  to.  If  we  are  still  going  to  leave 
the  land  which  the  men  have  defended  in  the  hands  of  a  few 
people,  and  also  retain  conscription,  it  will  mean  that  our  lads 
have  died  in  vain,  and  their  blood  will  rise  and  cry  out  against 
us. 

The  co-operators  have  recently  been  purchasing  some  land, 
but  I  am  not  out  for  a  few  acres  of  land  for  the  co-operative 
movement ;  I  am  out  for  the  whole  of  the  land  of  the  country. 
I  sometimes  wonder  if  a  millionaire  can  have  a  soul.  It  seems 
almost  impossible  that  a  man  who  is  enormously  wealthy  can 
possess  a  soul  and  know  that  thousands  of  little  children  are 
dying  from  want  and  starvation  in  the  slums,  largely  as  the 
outcome  of  his  possessions.  The  King  and  Queen  are  said  to 

1  Mr.  Smillie  had  two  sons  at  the  front. 


THE  ENGLAND  THE  WORKERS  WANT  219 

have  visited  the  slums,  but  it  is  well  known  that  they  very 
seldom  see  a  slum  at  all.  Kings  and  Queens  ought  to  have 
sufficient  intelligence  to  know  this. 

The  worst  feature  of  the  Coal  Commission  was  not  the 
question  of  profiteering — and  the  Government  was  more  guilty 
of  profiteering  than  the  employers  were — it  was  the  housing. 
The  dreadful  conditions  disclosed  were  known  to  the  ruling 
and  possessing  classes  long  ago,  and  they  need  not  hold  up 
their  hands  in  holy  horror  now.  The  characteristic  individual- 
istic movement  was  absolutely  without  soul.  It  is  sometimes 
suggested  that  if  the  workers  had  decent  homes  they  would 
not  keep  them  clean,  but  when  the  workers  withdraw  their 
wives  and  daughters  from  service  in  the  rich  man's  home,  will 
that  class  keep  their  houses  tidy  ?  Will  the  Countess  keep  her 
daughter  clean? 

Feeling  these  things,  I  can't  avoid  giving  expression  to  them. 
When  I  was  a  lad,  I  began  to  wonder  why  the  Duke  of  Hamil- 
ton had  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  a  year,  and  I  got  fifteen 
bob  a  week.  For  doing  nothing,  he  received  a  shilling  on 
every  ton  of  coal  raised,  and  I  got  eleven  pence  for  risking  my 
life. 

We  have  willing  and  skilled  workers,  and  a  beautiful 
country.  It  is  not  God's  fault  at  all  that  our  people  are  not 
prosperous  and  happy.  All  that  is  needed  is  to  organize  the 
land  and  machinery  to  produce.  Our  workers  will  produce,  if 
we  get  the  guarantee  that  production  is  not  to  make  million- 
aires, but  to  make  comfortable  happy  homes.  I  want  to  pro- 
duce. The  workers  want  to  produce. 

But  there  never  can  be  industrial  peace  until  the  land  is 
nationalized,  until  the  railways,  mines,  and  key  industries  are 
nationalized;  and  until  the  workers  have  control  of  the  con- 
ditions  of  their  working  life,  along  the  lines  of  the  Miners' 
Bill,  and  the  railwaymen's  demand.  Whitley  Councils  are  not 
what  we  mean,  nor  the  National  Industrial  Conference,  nor 
grievance  committees.  We  mean  control  of  all  the  processes, 
of  discipline  and  management,  commercial,  financial — a  joint 
control,  half  by  all  the  workers,  half  by  the  State.  The  miners 


220  WHAT  THE  WORKERS  WANT 

and  their  leaders  attach  the  utmost  importance  to  the  question 
of  the  collective  ownership  of  the  mines,  not  so  much  in  their 
own  interests  as  in  those  of  the  general  community.  They  feel 
that  private  ownership  has  failed  to  develop  this  great  national 
industry  on  the  lines  on  which  it  might  have  been  developed, 
and  that  it  is  only  by  collective  ownership  that  it  is  possible  to 
introduce  the  reforms  that  are  necessary  to  increase  output 
and  probably  reduce  the  selling  price  of  coal  by  improving  the 
machinery  of  production. 

To  do  nothing,  is  an  experiment,  having  bad  results  week 
by  week.  Reversion  to  pre-war  conditions  is  an  experiment 
fraught  with  grave  peril,  so  we  start  from  the  assumption  that 
some  forward  step  must  be  taken.  High  productivity  cannot 
be  got  without  giving  the  workers  a  share  in  control.  The 
problem  is  to  reconcile  the  working  classes  with  the  State. 
It  is  a  race  between  Socialism  and  revolution.  Socialism  is 
the  only  program  of  reconstruction  that  is  offered.  Against  it 
are  arrayed  all  the  forces  of  disorganization.  Socialism  desires 
Government  as  the  expression  of  the  collective  will  and  aspira- 
tion. In  bringing  it  to  pass,  we  wish  to  use  the  trade  unions 
and  the  Political  Labor  Party  as  the  forces. 

I  think  that  an  effort  should  now  be  made  to  spread  the 
Triple  Alliance  idea  beyond  its  present  borders.  There  is  really 
no  reason  why  all  the  large  and  important  unions  should  not 
be  banded  together  for  defensive  purposes.  I  think  that  it 
will  become  the  duty  of  this  alliance  ultimately  to  fight  the 
question  of  conscription.  Some  of  the  trade  union  leaders 
have  conceived  and  expressed  their  function  as  that  of  brake- 
men,  to  lessen  the  speed  of  the  movement.  Their  job  should 
be  that  of  stoker,  to  bring  fire  and  driving  power.  Those 
leaders  signed  away  their  executive  power  in  the  Treasury 
Agreement.1  As  a  result,  some  of  the  unions  are  without 
leadership.  The  engineering  unions  should  be  the  kings  of 
the  industrial  movement.  But,  because  of  their  internal  dis- 
sensions, the  Government  does  not  consider  them  with  the 

1 A  war-time  agreement  of  unions  with  the  Government.  Mr. 
Smillie  kept  his  miners  out  of  it. 


THE  ENGLAND  THE  WORKERS  WANT     221 

anxious  solicitude  which  it  gives  the  railwaymen,  for  example. 
Then  too,  some  trade  union  leaders  have  rebuked  local  and 
district  strikes  as  "  unauthorized,"  but  these  strikes  often  are 
the  result  of  a  local  grievance  which  should  have  been  taken  up 
and  dealt  with  by  the  central  executive.  All  this  operates  to 
separate  the  leaders  from  the  rank  and  file. 

The  working  classes  do  not  yet  know  what  they  can  do. 
When  they  know  that  the  power  is  theirs,  in  five,  ten,  fifteen 
years,  there  will  be  an  avalanche.  Then  they  will  elect  a  labor 
Parliament  and  create  a  labor  Government.  In  the  County  of 
Durham,  already  they  have  seen  that  they  have  the  power,  and 
they  have  obtained  the  majority  of  the  county  council,  believing 
that  the  administration  of  the  laws  is  as  important  as  the 
making.  When  they  awake  to  the  knowledge  of  their  power, 
they  will  possess  Britain.  A  process  of  education  is  going  on. 
The  Coal  Commission  helped  in  this.  For  some  years  now,  in 
peace  time,  there  have  been  each  week  three  to  four  thousand 
meetings  a  week  throughout  the  island.  From  three  to  four 
thousand  platforms,  economics  have  been  taught  to  the  people. 
This  will  continue  till  they  vote  their  way  to  power,  unless  in 
the  meantime  the  privileged  classes,  alarmed  at  the  progress 
made  by  labor,  may  precipitate  a  conflict  which  might  end  in 
revolution. 


SECTION  FIVE 
PROBLEMS 

CHAPTER  I 
WOMEN 

THE  women  of  the  Labor  Party  held  a  conference  at  South- 
port  on  June  24th — the  day  before  the  Labor  Party  met.  One 
hundred  and  fifty-four  delegates  were  present.  Miss  Susan 
Lawrence,  of  the  Labor  Party  Executive,  and  member  of  the 
London  County  Council,  was  in  the  chair. 

Mrs.  M.  E.  Hart  of  Wigan  came  to  the  platform  with  loud 
applause.  She  is  one  of  the  three  miners'  wives  who  testified 
before  the  Coal  Commission.  Two  members  of  the  Commis- 
sion have  stated  that  the  Commission  was  unanimous  on  the 
point  that  the  evidence  of  these  women  was  of  the  best,  being 
straightforward,  to  the  point,  and  well  given.  The  need  of 
better  housing  and  of  pit-head  baths — the  matter  of  their 
evidence — was  agreed  on  by  the  Commission.  This  was  the 
first  time  that  working  women  have  given  sworn  testimony 
before  a  Statutory  Commission.  The  Saturday  Review,  repre- 
senting the  aristocracy  and  gentry,  called  their  testimony 
"  twaddle,"  and  was  deeply  moved  by  the  evidence  of  the 
Duke,  Earl,  and  two  Marquises,  in  behalf  of  their  royalties. 
But  the  Commission  was  unanimous  against  the  plea  of  the 
royalty  owners  and  in  favor  of  the  plea  of  the  miners'  wives. 
Mrs.  Hart  is  a  strongly  built,  stout,  apple-cheeked  woman,  with 
brown  hair.  She  told  the  conference  of  her  experience  as  a 
witness  in  the  King's  Robing  Room. 

I  was  a  little  bit  afraid,  before  I  went  in,  because  I  expected 
to  see  a  leading  assembly,  with  a  judge  in  the  chair  looking  at 

223 


224.  PROBLEMS 

me  over  his  spectacles.  I  had  never  been  in  a  House  of  Lords. 
But  Mr.  Justice  Sankey,  instead  of  being  a  severe  judge,  appeared 
to  be  a  jolly-looking  gentleman.  He  came  and  shook  hands  with 
us,  and  told  us  we  did  not  need  to  be  afraid,  but  just  to  talk  to 
him.  That  is  what  I  did.  I  thought  to  myself,  "  I'll  give  it  you." 
We  told  him  about  back-to  back  houses,  and  the  internal  com- 
plaints of  women  caused  by  heavy  weights.  We  told  him  of 
whole  families  in  two  rooms.  I  have  seen  eleven  houses  backing 
on  one  yard,  with  their  refuse  in  one  tub.  The  dust  comes  off 
from  that  tub  like  smoke.  We  want  pit-head  baths.  We  miners' 
wives  want  to  be  clean  the  same  as  gentlemen's  wives. 

Mrs.  Andrews  of  Rhondda,  South  Wales,  another  miner's 
wife,  said: 

I  investigated  a  case  in  the  Rhondda  Valley  where  the  baby 
was  born  in  a  cellar,  with  the  walls  mildewing:  the  only  place 
the  family  had  to  live  and  sleep  in.  I  found  out  that  the  mine- 
owner — the  employer  of  the  baby's  father — did  not  live  near  the 
mine — those  mine-owners  do  not  live  near  the  place  in  which  they 
get  their  money.  He  had  his  dogs  living  in  kennels  fitted  with 
electric  light.  I  do  not  want  the  dogs  to  have  a  worse  time,  but 
I  want  human  beings  to  have  as  good  a  time  as  those  dogs. 

Mrs.  Despard  is  a  tiny  but  stately  old  lady,  with  lace  on  her 
white  hair.  Under  the  eternal  mist  of  England,  she  wears  a 
long  black  rubber  coat,  which  emphasizes  the  straightness  of 
her  gallant  little  figure,  the  lovely  whiteness  of  her  hair,  and 
her  eagle  profile.  She  demanded  that  housing  be  made  a 
national  question,  "  as  much  as  war." 

Dr.  Marion  Phillips  is  the  chief  woman  officer  (that  means 
organizer)  of  the  Labor  Party.  She  is  fitted  for  the  long, 
hard  job.  The  first  impression  she  makes,  which  long  acquaint- 
ance only  strengthens,  is  that  of  wholesomeness  and  sanity. 
She  has  enthusiasm  and  the  scientific  mind.  There  are  only 
a  dozen  persons  in  Britain  who  know  as  much  of  food  con- 
ditions as  she.  She  understands  with  technical  and  detailed 
intimacy  the  health  situation.  Her  exact  information  enables 
her  to  serve  on  Government  committees  and  to  present  evidence 


WOMEN  225 

in  the  industrial  area.  She  has  brilliant  color  and  vitality, 
glossy  black  hair,  and  a  large,  powerful  figure,  picturesque  in 
a  black  tunic  with  two  strands  of  yellow  beads.  She  has  a 
sturdy  stride  and  is  a  born  "  mixer."  She  is  an  admirable 
public  speaker,  with  a  full  voice  that  carries  to  the  sleeper 
in  the  last  pew.  She  knows  the  news  value  of  facts  as  against 
idealistic  phrasing,  and  the  deadly  instances  she  gave  of  specu- 
lation in  oils,  affecting  margarine,  and  cattle  foods,  and  hence 
the  price  of  milk,  appeared  in  most  of  the  papers  of  Britain 
next  morning.  She  demanded  a  restoration  of  Government 
control. 

She  had  previously  said : 

The  question  is  how  soon  control  can  be  reinstated  with  regard 
to  oils,  fats,  and  bacon.  It  is  not  so  much  the  absence  of  pig- 
breeding  as  the  operations  of  the  American  trusts,  and  the  ces- 
sation of  control.  Actually  there  is  a  surplus  so  far  as  fats  and 
oils  are  concerned — those  of  which  margarine  is  made. 

Dr.  Phillips  also  said: 

It  is  unpaid  work  that  makes  the  Labor  Party  great. 

So,  with  eight  million  women  able  to  vote,  the  women  are 
busy  on  organization  and  propaganda.  But  it  will  require 
many  years  of  work  from  the  handful  of  leaders  and  the  few 
hundreds  of  awakened  women  to  penetrate  the  shy,  over- 
worked, unaroused  masses. 

The  new  constitution  of  the  Labor  Party,  which  was  adopted 
in  February,  1918,  was  in  working  order  at  the  time  of  the 
last  annual  conference  in  June,  1918.  The  three  main  features 
affecting  the  work  of  women  were  the  establishment  of  in- 
dividual membership,  the  arrangements  made  for  individual 
women  members  to  work  together  as  Women's  Sections  of  the 
Local  Labor  Parties,  and  the  inclusion  of  at  least  four  women 
on  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  party  elected  at  the  annual 
conference.  The  granting  of  women's  suffrage  and  the  im- 
pulse towards  labor  organization  under  the  new  constitution 
has  led  to  greater  interest  in  politics  being  taken  by  women 


226  PROBLEMS 

generally  and  women's  organizations  than  was  formerly  the 
case. 

Working  in  agreement  with  the  women  of  the  Labor  Party 
is  the  Standing  Joint  Committee  of  Industrial  Women's 
Organizations.  The  Standing  Joint  Committee  of  Industrial 
Women's  Organizations  was  founded  in  1916  and,  from  time 
to  time  since,  its  constitution  has  been  amended  in  order  that 
it  may  better  fulfil  its  objects.  In  general  terms  these  are  to 
watch  over  the  interest  of  working  women,  and  help  to  carry 
out  the  principles  of  the  labor  and  co-operative  movements 
in  so  far  as  women  are  specially  concerned.  The  committee 
also  acts  as  an  advisory  body  on  women's  questions  to  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Labor  Party. 

The  committee  now  represents :  the  Women's  Trade  Union 
League,  the  Labor  Party,  the  Women's  Co-operative  Guild, 
the  National  Federation  of  Women  Workers,  the  Railway 
Women's  Guild.  In  order  that  it  may  be  fully  representative 
of  all  women  within  the  labor  and  co-operative  movements 
it  invites  representation  from  the  Parliamentary  Committee 
of  the  Trades  Union  Congress,  the  Co-operative  Union,  and 
"  industrial  organizations,  of  which  a  substantial  number  of 
the  members  are  women,  which  are  national  in  character,  and 
are  accepted  by  the  committee." 

The  committee  has  been  constant  in  its  efforts  to  keep  before 
the  labor  movement  and  the  whole  community  the  special 
interests  of  working  women.  Among  these  efforts  must  be 
considered  its  work  in  many  deputations  to  Ministers  which  it 
has  organized  or  in  which  it  has  taken  part,  when  legislation 
has  been  before  Parliament,  especially  in  relation  to  the 
Ministry  of  Health  Bill,  the  Emancipation  of  Women  Bill,  and 
the  question  of  women's  unemployment. 

Mary  R.  Macarthur  is  chairman;  Margaret  Llewelyn 
Davies,  vice-chairman,  and  Dr.  Marion  Phillips,  secretary. 

The  year's  work  has  been  chiefly  notable  as  recording  in- 
creased political  activity  among  women,  both  nationally  and 
locally.  For  the  first  time  women  have  stood  for  Parliament 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Labor  Party :  in  a  large  number  of 


WOMEN  227 

areas,  labor  women  have  been  successful  candidates  at  local 
elections :  both  the  scope  and  importance  of  women's  work  on 
national  administrative  and  consultative  bodies  have  increased. 

I  think  it  fair  to  say  that,  with  the  exception  of  perhaps 
fifty  women,  women  as  a  group  (up  to  the  year  1920)  did  not 
exercise  the  influence  in  industrial  and  political  affairs  in 
Great  Britain  which  they  have  exercised  in  recent  years  in  the 
United  States. 

Exceptional  British  women  were  as  potent  as  certain  women 
are  in  our  country.  These  exceptional  women  would  include 
Mrs.  Sidney  Webb,  Mrs.  Henry  Fawcett,  Mary  Macarthur, 
Margaret  Bondfield,  Dr.  Marion  Phillips,  Margaret  Llewelyn 
Davies,  Susan  Lawrence,  Mrs.  Sanderson  Furniss,'  Margaret 
McMillan,  Maude  Royden,  Mrs.  Pember  Reeves,  Mrs. 
Pethick  Lawrence,  Mrs.  Despard,  Mrs.  Philip  Snowden, 
Eleanor  Rathbone,  Dr.  Janet  Campbell.  These  women  have 
ranked  in  Britain  as  Jane  Addams,  Lillian  Wald,  Mary  Drier, 
Mary  McDowell,  rank  in  America. 

Woman  is  the  forgotten  factor,  which  will  upset  the  equa- 
tion. Blithely  officials  and  owners  and  labor  leaders  scheme 
their  man-made  world,  while  six  million  women  in  occupations 
(some  of  them  emancipated,  and  most  of  them  soon  to  have 
a  vote)  alter  every  calculation  made.  Inferior  status  has  been 
and  continues  to  be  the  economic  position  of  women.  Em- 
ployers, the  Government  and  trade  unions,  concur. 

Mrs.  Webb  writes: 

The  inequality  has,  during  the  war,  actually  been  embodied  in 
agreements  between  the  men's  trade  unions  and  employers'  asso- 
ciations, coupled  with  a  solemn  bargain  that  after  the  war  the 
women  should  be  excluded  from  the  men's  jobs. 

G.  D.  H.  Cole  writes  in  An  Introduction  to  Trade  Unionism: 

The  great  majority  of  skilled  craft  unions  admit  only  male 
workers,  and  would  refuse  to  accept  women  on  grounds  of  sex 
alone,  even  if  they  were  otherwise  eligible  for  membership.  Women 
are  not  admitted  into  any  of  the  craft  unions  in  the  engineering, 


228  PROBLEMS 

shipbuilding,  or  building  industries.  The  transport  unions  on  the 
other  hand,  including  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  and  the 
Tramway  Workers'  Unions,  have  adopted  the  policy  of  organizing 
women,  and  endeavoring  to  secure  for  them  full  rates.  The  part 
played  by  women  in  framing  the  policy  of  the  trade  union  move- 
ment is  still  exceedingly  small.  . 

The  War  Cabinet  Committee  on  Women  in  Industry  report 
on  this  point: 

The  attitude  of  Trade  Unions  towards  the  employment  of 
women,  in  part  dictated  by  men's  ideas  as  to  what  work  it  is 
decent  and  proper  for  women  to  perform,  has  also  been  influenced 
by  the  fear  of  the  effect  of  women's  competition  in  ousting  men 
from  occupations  or  in  lowering  their  standard  of  life,  a  fear 
justified  by  the  fact  that  degradation  of  the  standard  invariably 
followed  the  introduction,  on  account  of  its  cheapness,  of  female 
labor.  In  occupations  in  which  women  have  established  them- 
selves the  efforts  of  the  men's  Trade  Unions  have  been  directed 
towards  confining  them  to  the  processes  which,  in  the  men's 
opinion,  are  the  better  suited  to  them,  or  to  keeping  them  from 
particular  machines  or  tools,  weights  and  sizes  of  implements,  ma- 
terials and  products.  This  has  been  done  rather  by  getting  the 
assent  of  employers  to  the  rules  of  the  Union  than  by  written 
agreements,  though  in  some  instances  such  agreements  are  extant ; 
for  instance,  one  between  the  Federated  Associations  of  Boot  and 
Shoe  Manufacturers  and  the  National  Union  of  Boot  and  Shoe 
Operatives,  made  shortly  before  the  war  (sth  May,  1914),  which 
provides  for  the  gradual  cessation  of  the  employment  of  females 
amongst  male  operatives  in  the  clicking,  press,  lasting,  and  finish- 
ing departments  of  the  Boot  Making  Trade,  in  which  operations 
male  labor  was  then  almost  exclusively  employed.  The  men  in 
various  trades  have  also  refused  to  admit  women  to  their  unions, 
and  thus  to  give  them  the  advantages  of  their  organization — this, 
in  spite  of  the  success  in  securing  the  interests  of  the  workers 
which  had  been  effected  in  the  Cotton  Unions  and  was  promised  in 
the  Shop  Assistants'  Union,  where  women  have  been  organized 
with  men. 

There  are  some  unions  still  existing  that  have  admitted 
women  since  1850,  but  such  unions  first  became  effective  in 


WOMEN  229 

the  cotton  trade  forty  years  ago  and  only  during  the  present 
century  have  women  been  organized  in  considerable  numbers 
in  other  industries.  According  to  The  Labor  Year  Book  of 
1916,  in  the  ten  years  previous  to  1914  the  numbers  had  gone 
up  from  113,715  in  the  textile  and  15,369  in  all  other  trades,  to 
257,281  in  the  former  and  99,682  in  the  latter,  or  to  a  total  of 
356,963,  made  up  as  follows : 

Cotton  211,084 

Other  Textiles  4<V97 

Clothing   22,830 

Shop  Assistants    24,255 

General  Labor  23,677 

Other  Trades 19,295 

Employees  of  Public  Authorities 9,625 

Total  356,963 

This  was  between  six  and  seven  per  cent  of  the  number 
employed. 

Certain  unions  organize  only  women.  There  are  craft 
unions:  Society  of  Women  Welders,  Manchester  Union  of 
Women  in  the  Bookbinding  Trades.  There  are  industrial 
unions:  Independent  Women  Boot  and  Shoe  Operatives 
Union,  the  Women  Hosiery  Workers'  Union,  the  Women  Silk 
Workers  of  Leek.  There  are  general  labor  unions:  the  Na- 
tional Federation  of  Women  Workers. 

There  are  unions  containing  men  and  women:  the  textile 
unions;  the  National  Union  of  Printing  and  Paper  Workers; 
the  National  Amalgamated  Union  of  Shop  Assistants,  Ware- 
housemen and  Clerks;  the  Amalgamated  Union  of  Co-opera- 
tive Employees. 

War  had  strengthened  the  organization  of  women  in  trade 
unions.  There  were  about  750,000  female  members.  The 
National  Federation  of  Women  Workers  had  75,000.  The 
National  Union  of  General  Workers  had  60,000  women  in 
their  membership  of  350,000.  The  National  Amalgamated 
Union  of  Labor  had  35,000  in  175,000.  The  Dock,  Wharf, 
Riverside,  and  General  Workers'  Union  had  8,000  women  to- 


230  PROBLEMS 

bacco  workers,  3,000  chocolate  workers,  and  others.  The 
Workers'  Union  had  60,000  female  workers.  The  National 
Warehouse  and  General  Workers'  Union  had  10,000.  The 
textile  trades  unions  had  350,000  women.  The  National  Union 
of  Railwaymen  had  30,000. 
The  War  Cabinet  Committee  reports: 

The  committee  are  not  aware  o'f  any  case  outside  transport  in 
which  trade  unions  previously  confined  to  men  have  admitted 
women  to  membership.  The  question  is  understood  to  have  been 
mooted  by  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers,  but  the  exclu- 
sion of  women  has  hitherto  been  based  upon  a  demarcation  of 
skill  rather  than  of  sex.  A  small  new  union  was  formed  within 
the  engineering  trade  by  the  Society  of  Women  Welders,  which 
may  prove  to  be  a  pioneer  of  skilled  craft  unionism  among  women. 
It  is,  of  course,  too  early  at  present  to  say  whether  the  extension 
of  trade  unionism  among  women  which  has  been  caused  by  the 
war  will  be  permanent  or  not.  It  seems  probable  that  a  decline 
will  follow  the  cessation  of  munitions  work. 

The  best  hope  of  real  and  permanent  amelioration  of  the  posi- 
tion of  women  in  industry  lies  in  trade  union  action. 

Textile  trades  engaged  two-fifths  of  all  women  in  industry, 
and  of  all  workers  in  textiles,  four-sevenths  were  women. 
Their  trades-union  organization  had  gone  further  in  this  in- 
dustry than  in  any  other. 

In  July,  1918,  the  total  number  of  occupied  women  had, 
according  to  Board  of  Trade  figures,  increased  by  twenty-two 
and  one-half  per  cent,  or  from  just  under  six  million  to  nearly 
seven  and  one-third  million  as  shown  in  the  following  table : 


WOMEN 


231 


In  July,  1918, 

over  (plus) 

or  under  (— ) 

Number  of  In  July,  In  July,  Numbers  in 

Women  Working  1914  1918  July,  1914 
On  their  own  Account  or  as 

Employers  430,000  470,000  plus      40,000 

In  Industry     2,178,600  2,970,600  "       792,000 

In  Domestic  Service   1,658,000  1,258,000  —      400,000 

In  Commerce,  etc 505,500  934,5OO  plus     429,000 

In  National  and  Local  Gov- 
ernment including  Edu- 
cation    262,200  460,200  "  198,000 

In  Agriculture     190,000  228,000  "        38,000 

In  employment  of  Hotels, 
Public  Houses,  Theaters, 

etc.     . 181,000  220,000  "        39,000 

In  Transport    * 18,200  117,200  "         99,ooo 

In  other,  including  Profes- 
sional Employment  and 

as  Home  Workers 542,5oo  652,500  "       110,000 

Altogether  in  Occupations  5,966,000  7,311,000  plus  1,345,000 
Not  in  Occupations,  but 

over  10  12,946,000  12,496,000  —  450,000 

Under  10  4,809,000  4,731,000  —  78,000 

Total  Females  23,721,000  24,538,000  plus     817,000 


232 


PROBLEMS 


Trades 

Estimated 
number  of 
Females 
employed 
in  July, 
1914 

Estimated 
number  of 
Females 
employed 
in  July, 
1918 

Differ- 
ence 
between 
numbers 
of 
Females 
employed 
in  July, 
1914,  and 
July,  1918 

Percent- 
age of 
Females 
to  total 
number 
of  Work- 
people 
employed 

Estimated 
number  of 
Females 
directly 
replacing 
Males  in 
Jan.,  1918 

July, 
1914 

July, 
1918 

Metal    

170,000 
40,000 
863,000 
612,000 

196,000 

147,500 
44,000 

32.000 
23,100 
49,000 

2,000 

594,ooo 
104,000 
827,000 
568,000 

235,000 

141,500 
79,000 

>-  197,100 
225,000 

+  424,000 
+  64,000 
—  36,000 
—  44,000 

+  39,ooo 

—  6,000 
+  35,ooo 

+  93,000 
+  223,000 

9 
20 
58 
68 

35 

36 
IS 

4 
3 

25 
39 
67 
76 

49 

48 
32 

IO 

47 

195,000 
35,ooo 
64,000 
43,ooo 

60,000 

21,000 
23,000 

62,000 
197,000 

Textile  

Clothing   

Food,    Drink,  and 
Tobacco  

Paper   and   Print- 

Wood  

China  and  Earth- 

Leather    

Other   

Government      Es- 
tablishments .  .  . 

Total  

2,178,600 

2,970,600 

+  792,000 

26 

37 

704,000 

An  inquiry  on  wages  in  1906  showed  that  the  average  earn- 
ings of  operatives  working  full  time  in  an  ordinary  week  in 
the  four  main  divisions  of  industry  proper  were  as  follows : 


Lads  and 


All 


Men 
s.    d. 
Textiles   .........      28    i 

Clothing    ........      30    2 

Metals    ..........       33  ii 

Miscellaneous    ...      28    6 


Boys 

Women 

Girls 

Workpeople 

s.    d. 

s.    d. 

s.    d. 

s.    d. 

10    5 

15    5 

8  ii 

17    6 

9    8 

13    6 

5    9 

15    i 

10    4 

12     8 

7    4 

27    4 

10    3 

ii     7 

6    6 

21     7 

The  Labor  Year  Book  of  1916  published  an  unofficial  esti- 


WOMEN  233 

mate  of  the  earnings  of  the  employed  and  manual  working 
wage  earners  in  the  United  Kingdom  in  the  year  1912.  It 
gives  the  average  earnings  for  adult  employed  manual  working 
women,  working  throughout  the  year,  as  IDS.  lo^d.  per  week, 
as  against  255.  gd.  for  men,  and  the  average  earnings  of  women 
in  situations  as  I2s.  4<1 

The  great  majority  of  female  workers  in  Great  Britain  were 
before  the  war  paid  much  less  than  a  living  wage. 

The  War  Cabinet  Committee  sums  up  the  war-change: 

A  comparison  between  the  general  level  of  women's  wages  with 
that  prevailing  before  the  war,  makes  evident  how  far-reaching 
are  the  changes  involved.  The  Labor  Gazette  of  January,  1919, 
points  out  that  whereas  the  total  weekly  advance  to  workers  in 
industry  amounted  to  less  than  £400,000  in  the  five  years  1910- 
1914,  in  1915-1916  (two  years)  it  reached  about  £1,300,000,  in 
1917  £2,307,000  and  in  1918  £2,783,000,  or  close  on  £145,000,000 
a  year  affecting  between  five  and  six  million  persons.  The  pre- 
war average  of  women's  wages  was  estimated  on  a  liberal  basis 
at  3d.  an  hour,  or  135.  6d.  a  week.1  In  the  metal  trades,  by  the 
end  of  1918,  the  rate  was  approximately  doubled,  and  the  average 
earnings,  including  war  wages,  practically  trebled.  It  is  probable 
that  the  average  of  women's  earnings  over  the  whole  field  of 
industry  proper  were  towards  the  end  of  the  war  nearer  355.  than 
305.  weekly.  There  were  approximately  one  million  women 
employed  on  munitions  work,  and  their  minimum  rate,  exclusive 
of  all  overtime,  night  work,  and  excluding  balances  made  on  piece, 
premium  bonus  or  bonus  on  output,  was  335.  a  week  towards  the 
end  of  1918.  Against  this  are  to  be  set  the  women's  trades,  such 
as  millinery  and  dressmaking,  which  felt  comparatively  little 
influence  from  the  war  conditions,  though  even  the  trade  board 
minima  rose  considerably  during  the  war.  On  the  other  side, 
there  were  large  numbers  of  women,  e.g.,  those  in  the  transport 
trades,  who  replaced  men  at  the  men's  rates  and  were  generally 
earning  more  than  the  munition  workers.  Even  in  a  trade  ap- 
parently out  of  the  main  stream  of  munitions'  influence,  such  as 

1This  is  the  Committee's  estimate. 

The  Labor  Year  Book's  is  io/io>4d.  for  employed  manual  work- 
ing women  (1912). 


234.  PROBLEMS 

cigar-making,  the  earnings  of  women  now  are  estimated  by  the 
trades  union  as  being  between  303.  and  £3  a  week.1 

But  the  promise  of  the  Government  (in  the  Treasury  Agree- 
ment) to  the  trade  unions  will,  when  fulfilled,  bring  the  ex- 
clusion from  any  establishment  of  women  doing  work  which 
was  by  practice  exclusively  men's  work  before  the  war.  Be- 
fore summer,  1919,  400,000  women  were  reported  out  of  work. 
And  with  the  removal  of  the  Wages  (Temporary  Regulation) 
Act  of  1918,  wages  of  women  are  sure  to  tumble.  The  only 
machinery  to  cope  with  this  are  the  Joint  Industrial  Councils 
and  the  Trade  Boards. 

The  Joint  Industrial  Councils  have  made  certain  wage- 
decisions  in  behalf  of  women.  But  because  the  women  are 
mainly  employed  in  an  auxiliary  capacity,  not  separately 
organized,  and  not  directly  represented,  "  it  is  conceivable  that 
women  falling  under  the  Joint  Industrial  Councils  may  find 
their  interests  less  efficiently  safeguarded  than  if  they  were 
under  a  Trade  Board.  Joint  Industrial  Councils  are  still  some 
way  off  any  comprehensive  regulation  of  women's  wages."  2 

By  the  1913  extension  of  the  Trade  Boards  Act,  about  320,- 
ooo  women  were  brought  inside  that  legal  regulation  of  wages. 
At  least  a  million  more  could  be  fittingly  brought  inside  trade 
boards. 

The  immediate  future  is  black  for  the  working  women  of 
Britain.  Exploitation  by  employers,  indifference  on  the  part  of 
the  Government,  the  ignorance  and  selfishness  of  male  trade 
unionists,  the  weakness  of  women,  all  these  will  play  their  part 
in  leaving  women  wailing  at  the  gate.  There  will  be  no  complete 
solution  until  they  organize  in  trade  unions  and  until  they  use 
the  vote.  No  one  is  going  to  help  them  but  themselves. 

1 "  The  bulk  of  women  were  earning  between  IDS.  and  155.  before 
the  war,  when  173.  was  the  least  sum  a  woman  needed  to  maintain 
herself  decently.  They  now  earn  between  255.  and  353.  (i2/6d.  and 
i7/6d.  by  pre-war  standards)." — "The  Course  of  Women's  Wages," 
by  Dorothea  M.  Barton,  read  to  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  June  17, 
1919. 

2  Joint  Industrial  Councils  are  popularly  known  as  Whitleys. 


,  WOMEN  235 

Permanent  gains  have  been  made  in  the  last  seventy  years 
and  in  the  last  five  years.  State  regulation  of  women's  work 
before  the  War  was  through  the  Factory  Legislation  enacted 
from  1844  onwards.  While  much  of  the  legislation  was  in  the 
interests  of  the  cleanliness,  health,  and  safety  of  workers 
generally,  parts  had  special  application  to  young  persons  and 
women  in  factories  or  workshops.  It  excluded  women  from 
employment  underground  or  in  moving  railway  wagons,  from 
brass  casting  and  certain  processes  in  the  manufacture  of 
white  lead,  and  it  imposed  periodical  medical  inspection  on 
those  engaged  in  lead  processes  in  the  making  of  china  and 
earthenware,  with  suspension  or  exclusion  where  liability  to 
poisoning  was  shown.  Restrictions  were  placed  on  women 
working  between,  or  cleaning  certain  parts  of,  machines  in 
motion.  Provision  was  made  for  separate  rooms  for  meals  and 
separate  sanitary  accommodation.  Women  were  prevented 
from  working  at  night — usually  between  9  P.M.  and  6  A.M. — 
and  (with  an  unimportant  exception)  on  Sundays  or  the  recog- 
nized public  holidays.  Their  working  week  was  limited  in  the 
case  of  non-textile  industries  to  sixty  hours,  and  the  working 
day  to  a  maximum  of  ten  and  one-half  hours  and  seven  and 
one-half  hours  on  Saturdays ;  spells  without  meal  interruptions 
were  limited  to  five  hours.  In  the  textile  trades  the  limits 
were  fifty-five  and  one-half  hours  for  the  week,  ten  for  the 
day  and  five  and  one-half  on  Saturdays,  and  four  for  spells. 
Overtime  was  not  allowed  in  the  textile  trade,  and  limited  in 
most  others  to  thirty  occasions  in  the  year,  and  to  not  more 
than  two  hours  (including  half  an  hour  for  a  meal)  on  any  one 
date.  Certain  latitude  was  given  in  this  respect  in  laundries. 
The  holiday  and  meal  regulations  for  shops  applied  to  men  as 
well  as  women,  the  only  special  shop  regulation  for  the  latter 
obliging  the  employer  to  provide  at  least  one  seat  to  every 
three  shop  assistants.  An  occupier  of  a  factory  or  workshop 
might  not  knowingly  employ  a  woman  within  four  weeks  of 
the  birth  of  her  child.  A  provision  in  the  law  applying  to  all 
classes  of  workers  which  is  claimed  to  have  specially  benefited 
women  workers,  both  home  and  out,  is  that  which  compels 


236  PROBLEMS 

clear  information  and  particulars  of  the  work  to  be  done 
and  of  the  piece  rates  applicable  to  be  given  to  piece-workers 
before  they  commence  work  in  the  textile,  clothing,  and  certain 
other  trades.1 

Supervision  of  the  health  of  the  industrial  worker  has  come 
as  the  result  of  the  War.  Dr.  Janet  Campbell  has  given  a  con- 
venient summary: 

Special  arrangements  for  the  supervision  of  the  health  of  em- 
ployed men  and  women  were  almost  non-existent  before  the  war, 
except  in  those  trades  scheduled  by  the  Home  Office  as  dangerous. 
During  the  war  an  extended  supervision  has  been  considered 
advisable,  especially  where  women  are  employed,  partly  on  account 
of  the  peculiar  dangers  to  health  involved  in  handling  various 
high  explosives,  partly  because  the  exceptionally  heavy  nature  of 
some  of  the  work  might  result  in  definite  physical  injury,  and 
partly  because  of  the  long  hours,  night  shifts,  etc.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  when  normal  conditions  return  the  care  of  the 
health  of  workpeople  should  be  developed  rather  than  curtailed, 
especially  where  women  and  young  girls  are  concerned.  Before 
considering  what  is  possible  or  desirable,  it  may  be  useful  to  set 
out  the  powers  already  possessed  by  local  authorities  in  regard 
to  medical  examination  and  treatment. 

Under  the  Notification  of  Births  (Extension')  Act,  1915,  every 
birth  must  be  notified  to  the  Medical  Officer  of  Health  within  36 
hours,  and  under  this  Act  and  the  Maternity  and  Child  Welfare 
Act,  ipi8,2  the  Sanitary  Authority  have  power  to  make  arrange- 

1  See  War  Cabinet  Committee's  Report. 

2  The   State   aid   at   present   available   for   nursing  and   expectant 
mothers  is  as  follows: 

(a)  Maternity  Benefit  under  the  National  Insurance  Act,  which  is  a 
contributory  benefit  and  which  amounts  to  305.  or  6os.  according  to 
whether  the  wife  is  insured  as  well  as  the  husband.    It  is  payable  to 
the  mother  herself  at  the  time  of  the  birth  and  its  expenditure  is  un- 
controlled and  unsupervised.     There  is  no  doubt  that  the  maternity 
benefit  has  been  of  great  service  to  many  mothers  at  a  period  of  finan- 
cial stress  and  has  enabled  them  at  least  to  pay  a  doctor  or  a  qualified 
midwife. 

(b)  The  Maternity  and  Child  Welfare  Act,  1918,  empowers  the  Sani- 
tary Authority  to  provide  assistance  for  mothers  who  require  it  in  the 


WOMEN  237 

ments  for  the  health  and  welfare  of  mothers  and  young  children. 

The  Education  (Administrative  Provisions)  Act,  1907,  placed 
upon  local  education  authorities  the  duty  of  medically  inspecting 
every  child  on  admission  to  school  and  at  such  subsequent  periods 
as  the  Board  of  Education  should  determine.  It  also  gave  power 
to  the  authorities  to  provide  treatment  for  physical  defects  so 
detected.  The  Education  Act  of  1918  imposes  upon  authorities 
a  duty  to  provide  adequate  and  suitable  treatment  for  children  in 
attendance  at  Public  Elementary  Schools.  It  also  imposes  a  duty 
to  provide  for  the  medical  inspection  of  boys  and  girls  under  18 
years  of  age  on  admission  to  certain  educational  institutions,  in- 
cluding continuation  schools,  and  on  such  other  occasions  as  may 
be  prescribed  by  the  Board  of  Education,  in  addition  to  giving 
power  to  provide  facilities  for  medical  treatment.  Under  the 
Factory  and  Workshop  Act,  1901,  the  certifying  factory  surgeon 
gives  certificates  of  fitness  for  employment  to  children  employed 
in  factories  (but  not  in  workshops)  and  to  young  persons  under 
the  age  of  16  which -are  based  on  a  personal  medical  examination. 
The  examination  is  often  perfunctory,  and  as  it  is  not  followed 
up  by  inspection  and  treatment  is  largely  useless.  In  addition  to 
this  duty  the  certifying  factory  surgeon  is  responsible  for  the 
monthly  examination,  and,  if  necessary,  the  supervision  of  men 
and  women  engaged  in  "dangerous"  trades;  further,  all  serious 
accidents  and  cases  of  poisoning  or  of  anthrax  must  be  notified 
to  him.  He  also  has  certain  duties  in  regard  to  compensation 
under  the  Workmen's  Compensation  Act,  1906.  When  the  young 
person  reaches  the  age  of  16  he  comes  within  the  provisions  of 
the  National  Health  Insurance  Act,  and  is  eligible  for  the  bene- 
fits of  medical  treatment,  sick  pay,  etc.,  therein  prescribed. 

Provision  has  therefore  already  been  made  for  medical  inspec- 
tion and  treatment  under  the  local  education  authority  up  to  18 
years  of  age.  When  the  new  Education  Act  has  had  time  to 
become  fully  operative  we  may  assume  that  the  boy  or  girl  enter- 
ing industry  will  have  been  under  regular  medical  care  and  super- 
form  of  treatment  by  medical  practitioners  or  midwives,  advice  or  help 
through  Health  Visitors,  Maternity  Centers  or  Infant  Welfare  Centers, 
and  food  or  milk  for  mother  or  child  if  required.  Machinery  for  full 
utilization  of  the  powers  thus  granted  is  not  yet  in  existence,  but  foun- 
dations have  been  laid  upon  which  a  complete  system  of  municipal 
advice,  treatment,  and  general  help  may  eventually  be  constructed. 


238  PROBLEMS 

vision  during  the  whole  of  school  life  and  will  have  received 
treatment  for  such  physical  defects  as  have  revealed  themselves. 
The  health  records  so  obtained  will  indicate  whether  a  child  is 
unsuited  on  physical  grounds  to  enter  any  particular  occupation, 
and  with  the  aid  of  the  juvenile  employment  officers  such  children 
should  be  directed  to  work  which  is  not  likely  to  prove  injurious. 
During  the  first  three  or  four  years  of  employment,  some  of  the 
most  important  from  the  point  of  view  of  physical  health,  the 
young  person  will  remain  under  the  supervision  of  the  school 
medical  officer,  and  will  be  subject  to  further  periodical  medical 
examinations. 

The  main  industrial  battle  of  the  next  five  years  will  be 
fought  out  with  women  as  an  auxiliary  body  of  labor,  enjoying 
inferior  status.  Their  pay  used  to  be  somewhat  less  than  half 
that  of  men.  During  the  War  it  rose  to  rather  more  than  two- 
thirds.  It  will  fall  to  less  than  half.  Munitions  work  was 
not  a  gold  mine  for  the  operatives :  it  was,  for  the  average,  a 
living  wage.  And  this  for  the  majority  of  the  women  was  the 
first  time  they  had  ever  made  a  living  wage.  The  vested  in- 
terest of  the  male,  the  active  resistance  of  male  workers,  the 
inertia  and  unscrupulousness  of  employers,  the  Pontius-Pilate 
attitude  of  elected  persons,  all  the  old  veiled  hostilities  will 
again  be  aimed  at  the  "  saviors  of  the  Empire." 

"  The  assumption  that  men  as  such  must  receive  higher  pay 
because  they  have  families  to  support,  and  that  women,  as 
such,  should  receive  less  because  they  have  no  such  family 
obligations,  is  demonstrably  inaccurate  to  the  extent  of  twenty- 
five  or  even  fifty  per  cent,"  says  Mrs.  Webb.  And  the  per- 
centage will  grow  higher  as  the  fruits  of  the  last  war  are 
more  fully  garnered,  and  as  the  present  military  plans  of  the 
Secretary  of  War  are  carried  out  into  action.  Just  as  the 
pledge  of  the  Treasury  Agreement  (that  the  women  employed 
in  war  work  in  substitution  of  men  should  receive  the  same  pay 
as  the  men  they  replaced)  was  cleverly  broken  by  the  Govern- 
ment, for  the  most  part,  so  future  promises  will  be  evaded  till 
the  day  comes  when  women  have  the  bargaining  power  and 
pressure  of  organization. 


WOMEN  239 

Many  of  the  400,000  ex-slavies  will  be  driven  back  into 
domestic  service.  There  are  200,000  widows  of  working-class 
men.  There  are  fatherless  children  to  be  provided  for.  The 
problem  of  "  the  treble  strain  of  childbearing,  wage-earning 
and  household  drudgery  "  will  be  intensified  in  the  grim  days 
of  national  poverty  which  England  now  enters  on.  "  Lloyd 
George's  munition  girls  " — those  "  splendid  women  " — face  a 
future  which  will  put  the  iron  into  their  souls,  and  will  slowly 
but  inevitably  turn  them  into  a  political  and  industrial 
organized  group  as  powerful,  as  menacing,  as  the  hosts  of  the 
Triple  Alliance.1 

1The  Labor  Gazette  of  January,  1920,  gives  the  latest  (1918) 
statistics  on  trade  union  and  kindred  membership.  The  total  male 
membership  was  5400,000.  The  total  female  membership  was 
1,220,000.  This  is  an  increase  of  36%  in  one  year  for  women.  The 
approximate  membership  of  women  (no  exactness  is  possible)  was 

Textiles    418,000 

Clothing 120,000 

Printing,  paper 37,ooo 

Shop  assistants,  clerks 74,ooo 

Miscellaneous    282,000 

"General"  unskilled  unions   212,000 

Employees  of  public  authorities 77,ooo 

Total 1,220,000 


CHAPTER  II 
BOTTOMLEY 

[Horatio  Bottomley,  editor  of  the  weekly,  John  Bull,  is 
selected  here  merely  as  a  representative  of  those  who  distract 
public  opinion.  The  soldier  and  the  worker  read  him  and  his 
like.  The  problem  is  this :  How  are  the  statesmen  of  democ- 
racy to  convince  the  rank  and  file  and  to  persuade  all  classes 
in  the  democracy,  when  the  channels  of  publicity  are  largely 
in  the  hands  of  opponents  ?] 

ALL  the  preceding  chapters  have  gone  to  show  the  just  and 
merciful  elements  in  British  character — the  fine  idealism  of 
General  Smuts  and  Lord  Robert  Cecil,  the  broad-gauged  pa- 
triotism of  some  of  the  great  employers,  the  level-headed  labor 
leadership  of  Smillie,  Hodges,  Arthur  Henderson,  and  Clynes, 
the  sincere  efforts  in  social  reform  of  Government  officials  like 
Dr.  Addison,  and  Sir  Robert  Horne. 

But  to  appreciate  the  struggle  of  these  men,  it  is  necessary 
to  know  that  there  is  an  evil  minority  in  the  community  who 
would  push  this  kindlier  order  of  society  back  into  the  jungle, 
if  they  could.  "  There  are,"  as  Lloyd  George  said  on  April 
16,  1919,  "  wild  men  screaming  through  the  keyholes." 

Mr.  Horatio  Bottomley  is  representative  of  a  strong  and 
large  element  in  any  society.1  It  is  the  mob  as  distinct  from  the 
democracy.  We  all  have  in  us  hate,  revenge,  fear,  and  grab. 
He  appeals  with  emotional  force  to  this  brute  streak.  He 

1  Mr.  Bottomley  flourishes.  In  addition  to  owning  and  editing  John 
Bull,  he  partly  controls  the  National  News,  the  Sunday  Evening 
Telegraph,  and  he  contributes  the  leading  article  to  the  Sunday  Pic- 
torial. The  mainspring  of  his  inner  life  he  revealed  in  the  House  of 
Commons  on  November  4,  1919 :  "  I  am  a  Hun-hater.  I  live  to  hunt 
the  Hun.  I  intend  to  do  it  all  the  days  of  my  life." 

240 


BOTTOMLEY  241 

appeals  to  Britain  in  its  heavy  holiday  mood — to  the  crowd  of 
the  public  house,  the  music  hall,  the  prize  fight,  the  dog  fight, 
the  horse  race,  the  professional  football  game,  dirty  humor,  and 
the  spirit  of  sport  on  its  savage  gambling  sides.  His  spiritual 
allies  are :  the  haters  of  the  Irish,  the  commercial  imperialists, 
the  militarists,  some  of  the  daily  press,  much  of  the  Sunday 
press,  the  Morning  Post  and  the  Saturday  Review.  He  is  the 
voice  of  the  bitter,  greedy,  hate-elements  in  our  common 
humanity. 
On  April  19,  1919,  Mr.  Bottomley  wrote : 

The  things  which  matter  are  (i)  indemnities;  (2)  the  punish- 
ment of  the  Kaiser;  and  (3)  the  future  of  the  German  colonies. 
I  don't  trouble  myself  about  the  League  of  Nations  dream — that 
can  wait.  I  am  thinking  of  the  ten  thousand  millions  which,  in 
one  way  and  another,  the  war  has  cost  us;  and  the  crimes  and 
atrocities  which,  in  obedience  to  his  command  to  "  emulate  the 
example  of  Attila,"  the  German  soldiery  have  been  guilty  of,  and 
of  those  territories  contiguous  to  various  parts  of  the  British 
Empire  which,  before  the  war,  were  under  the  malignant  sway 
of  Germany.  I  wipe  out,  therefore,  not  only  the  League,  but 
also  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Seas " — whatever  that  may  mean — 
"economic  boycotts,"  and  all  the  rest  of  it.  And  whilst  the 
Allies  are  groaning  under  the  burden  of  war  debt  and  taxation, 
and  Germany  is  either  recovering  herself — or  concluding  a  Bol- 
shevist bond  with  Russia  and  China — America  is  to  "  scoop  the 
pool !  " 

Why  have  we  an  army  on  the  Rhine— except  to  enforce  our 
will  upon  the  enemy  ?  No !  there  must  be  no  more  talk — no  more 
Little  Tens  and  Big  Fours — no  more  commissions.  We  have  had 
ample  time  to  make  up  our  minds — I  believe,  too,  that  France  is 
at  one  with  us — and  if  Mr.  Wilson  doesn't  agree  with  our  de- 
mands— well,  we  are  much  obliged  for  his  assistance — late  as  it 
was,  when  it  came — and  now  he  can  go  home.  We  have  had  just 
about  enough  of  his  lectures  and  protestations,  and  there  is  splen- 
did irony  in  the  fact  that  the  George  Washington  is  the  boat 
which  is  to  take  him  back. 

What  fools  we  have  been !  And  all  to  oblige  Mr.  Wilson,  who 
sat  in  his  study,  three  thousand  miles  away  from  the  battlefield, 


242  PROBLEMS 

writing  "  Notes "  and  drafting  "  Points,"  whilst  France  and 
Britain  and  Belgium  and  Italy  were  being  bled  white !  To  para- 
phrase a  well-known  tag,  "  What  fools  we  mortals  be ! " 

As  I  have  said,  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  out  of  it,  the 
British  case  has  been  too  much  influenced  by  the  so-called  idealism 
of  President  Wilson. 

Mr.  Bottomley's  attacks  on  Americans  are  frequent.  He  is 
a  prominent  figure  in  Parliament.  His  ideal  for  his  country 
is  that  of  a  more  vindictive  Prussia.  He  attacks  all  that  is 
noble  in  England,  and  opposes  the  movement  of  the 
democracy.  He  speaks  fluently  with  the  swing  of  a  music-hall 
monologist.  With  his  facile  and  copious  emotions,  he  has  a 
real  pity  for  the  "  hard  luck  "  of  the  poor.  He  rights  against 
slumland.  He  pours  light  on  individual  cases  of  injustice.  He 
has  ready  tears  for  ruined  girls,  particularly  when  the  story 
of  their  wrong  will  smack  a  little  smuttily  in  the  columns  of 
his  weekly. 

He  is  as  powerful  and  disintegrating  and  dangerous  to  the 
British  community  as  Mr.  Hearst  is  in  America.  With  the 
million  circulation  of  his  John  Bull,  his  crowded  meetings,  and 
his  speeches  in  Parliament,  reported  throughout  Great  Britain, 
he  exercises  a  black  magic  on  the  mob  consciousness.1  He  is 
one  of  those  lusty  growths  which  only  come  to  their  perfect 
bloom  in  the  climate  of  war.  Safe  from  the  slaughter,  he 
cheers  on  "  an  adequate  army  of  occupation — that's  the  stuff — 
and  the  only  stuff — to  give  'em."  In  that  emotional  revel, 
which  war  is  to  this  type  of  civilian,  he  rejoices  in  the  spectacle 
of  nations  bleeding. 

1This  hate  is  facile.  It  has  at  times  been  turned  by  mob  publicists 
against  Serbia,  France,  Russia,  America,  Ireland,  with  the  same  force 
and  phrases  as  those  used  against  Germany. 


CHAPTER  III 
WARBLINGTON.— THE  OLD  ENGLAND 

[This  chapter  is  given  by  way  of  contrast.  Old  England 
still  lingers  in  a  few  of  the  villages  and  in  by-streets  of  great 
cities.  It  has  a  beauty  which  the  modern  world  cannot  create : 
a  beauty  of  nature,  and  of  art,  and  of  traditional  association. 
The  tanks  of  civilization  are  bearing  down  on  this.  Will  any 
fugitive  remnant  at  all  be  left? 

The  yew  tree  and  the  church  and  the  ancestral  home  are  a 
portion  of  this  inherited  beauty,  which  was  once  resident  in 
both  the  natural  world  and  the  man-created  world.  Already 
it  is  proposed  to  raze  some  of  the  old  churches.  Men  like 
Cunninghame  Graham  and  W.  H.  Hudson  have  protested 
against  the  destruction  of  the  woodland  life — many  species  of 
birds,  now  seldom  seen;  the  ponies  of  New  Forest,  wounded 
and  left  to  die  by  speeding  motor-car  drivers.  In  making  all 
things  new,  will  the  inheritors  leave  anything  of  Old  Eng- 
land?] 

THERE  are  men  who  are  fittingly  placed  in  life,  like  a  tree  in 
its  soil.  Such  was  George  Herbert  at  Bemerton,  and  Words- 
worth at  Ambleside.  Such  is  William  Norris,  rector  of 
Warblington,  in  the  County  of  Hampshire.  For  forty  years 
he  has  gone  in  and  out  among  his  people,  his  ministry  con- 
necting their  brevity  of  life  with  the  past  of  their  race,  and 
so  bequeathing  values  to  the  future  of  which  haste  and  change 
would  bereave  them. 

His  house  is  entered  through  a  long  avenue  of  hundred- 
year-old  elms  in  double  line,  crossed,  at  one  point,  by  lofty 
oaks  of  a  still  older  day,  as  if  a  Norman  chancel  were  cut 
by  a  transept  of  early  English  design.  Overhead  the  topmost 
branches  meet  in  a  rounded  arch,  curving  from  either  side. 

243 


244  PROBLEMS 

Under  foot  the  rich  undisciplined  grass  is  tawny  with  butter- 
cups. At  the  far  end  of  the  lane  of  trees,  a  sixth  of  a  mile 
distant  from  the  entrance  gate,  stands  the  rectory,  seen 
through  that  swaying  shadowy  canopy  like  a  blur  of  dull 
gold.  Down  from  the  rectory  to  the  intersecting  oaks  a 
double  row  of  daffodils  come  racing  with  their  yellow-gold 
through  the  months  of  February  and  March.  These  Lent 
lilies,  like  the  later  buttercups,  lend  a  touch  of  relieving  color 
to  the  cool  shade  of  the  oak  and  elm.  A  portion  of  the  house 
is  three  hundred  years  old,  and  on  its  south  side,  facing  the 
all-day  sun  and  the  English  Channel,  the  shell  of  lichened 
brick  is  pierced  at  ten  points  by  windows,  so  that  it  is  open- 
eyed,  and  eager  to  gaze  out  on  forty  acres  of  fertile  glebe, 
grass  land  all,  and  on  the  precipitous  tides  at  the  rim  of  the 
meadow.  Those  tides  are  seen  lifting  their  full-bosomed 
plenty,  and  then,  as  swiftly  and  silently,  shoaling  till  the  floor 
of  the  earth  thrusts  through,  with  the  wet  green  glistening 
sea  grass  veiling  the  nakedness  of  mud  flats,  and  white  sea- 
gulls camping  in  the  trickling  channels  that  dent  the  face  of 
the  sea-bottom  like  sword-scars  on  a  cheek. 

For  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  the  rector's  people  have 
dwelt  right  here,  grandfather  and  uncle,  handing  down  "  the 
living  "  through  the  generations.  Inside  the  home  are  rooms 
of  lofty  ceiling  and  ample  space.  And  so  through  dining- 
room  and  drawing-room  to  the  heart  of  the  house,  the  study, 
where  the  books  flow  up  from  the  floor  as  high  as  the  ceiling. 
Two  circular  bookcases  of  mahogany  are  shaped  to  the  curv- 
ing walls,  as  if  to  the  stern  of  a  ship.  The  shelves  are  heavy 
with  sound  pieces  of  book-making:  an  eighteenth-century  edi- 
tion of  Swift,  a  second  edition  of  De  Quincey,  Smollett,  com- 
plete Gibbon,  South,  many  books  of  mysticism,  novelists,  poets, 
philosophers. 

The  lifetime  of  the  rector's  reading  is  massed  around  him, 
like  silent  troops  ready  to  be  mobilized  on  the  instant  call. 
Here  are  sturdy  editions  of  the  time-defying  paper  and  stitch- 
ing, with  levant  covers  touched  by  those  smoldering  colors 
of  autumn  leaves,  which  make  a  library  in  early  evening  light 


WARBLINGTON.— THE  OLD  ENGLAND     245 

seem  like  the  mulch  of  a  late  October  forest.  These  are 
books  that  could  never  fall  from  our  hasty  presses,  but  were 
fashioned  patiently  for  resisting  the  little  casualties  of  human 
ownership.  Such  furniture  blends  with  a  room  which  has  sur- 
vivid  much  occupancy,  and  still  preserves  its  own  aloofness, 
unperturbed  by  what  has  fluttered  across  its  threshold.  In 
the  center  of  the  room  sits  the  man  who  has  read  his  way 
around  the  room.  He  reads  and  marks,  volume  upon  volume 
traced  with  his  pencilings,  so  that  later  work  is  but  heaping 
up  for  transportation  of  crops  already  harvested  and  win- 
nowed. Such  quiet  labor,  so  long  maintained,  the  effort  of 
the  days  of  a  lifetime,  falls  inside  the  same  compulsion  which 
ripens  into  stateliness  the  blown  and  casual  seeds  of  the  natural 
world. 

From  "  a  little  and  a  lone  green  lane  "  you  come  in  sight 
of  his  wide-roofed  church,  deep-set  in  elms  and  yew  trees, 
and  hard  by  the  solitary  shaft  of  a  castle.  He  has  preserved 
the  old  trees  of  the  churchyard,  clearing  their  bases  of  what 
might  clog  their  hold  on  a  future  life,  wiping  away  the  weeds 
from  tombstones,  so  that  many  quaint  hopes  of  immortality 
can  again  be  pricked  out  by  chance  visitor  and  lingering  com- 
municant. Here  he,  too,  in  his  mortal  way,  has  taken  root 
and  ripened,  till  he  seems  a  part  of  his  gracious  landscape 
and  of  his  time-enduring  transept. 

The  old  north  porch  of  oak  is  mellowed  to  the  hue  of  stone. 
Its  barge-board  and  its  swinging  door  have  weathered  six 
centuries  on  duty  there,  and  still  the  wood  is  hard  and 
ringing  to  the  blow  of  knuckles.  Once  it  served  as  the  knee 
of  a  ship,  long  before  Columbus  took  to  the  sea-ways.  In 
its  first  youth  heaving  and  washed  on  by  salt,  now  in  maturity 
it  is  at  rest  on  English  soil,  a  shelter  against  fresh  rains. 
Where  the  chancel  ceiling  had  fallen  wholly  to  ruin  the  rector 
rebuilt.  Where  the  dark-beamed  ceiling  of  the  nave  had  been 
overlaid  with  plaster  by  gross  builders,  his  uncle,  rector  be- 
fore him,  struck  away  the  whitewash  and  let  those  stalwart 
ribs  again  reveal  the  weight  they  carry  down  the  years. 
"  Thomas  Hardy  would  not  be  displeased  with  this,  you 


246  PROBLEMS 

know,"  he  said.  "  He  is  an  architect  by  training,  and  he 
knows  what  is  rightly  done."  The  church  is  some  of  it  six 
hundred  years  old,  and  a  little  of  it  reaching  back  for  a  thou- 
sand years  in  the  rounded  Saxon  arches  of  the  central  tower, 
with  a  scattered  few  red  bricks  of  Roman  baking  glowing 
through  the  gray. 

But  older  than  his  church  is  the  tree  on  the  south  side  of 
the  chancel.     Indeed  it  is  likely  that  the  church  came  there 
in  adoration  of  the  tree,  for  such  a  tree  would  draw  the  early 
piety  of  the  Saxon  villagers,  and  they  would  have  raised 
stones  and  shaped  a  worship  to  tell  their  reverence  for  so 
living  a  growth.    The  rector  led  the  way  to  that  staunch  yew 
of  a  thousand  years,  with  its  twenty-six  feet  of  girth.     It 
stands  unpropped,  with  no  feebleness  of  drooping  outworn 
member.     "  No  better  tree  in  England,"  he  said.     The  butt 
had  formed  and  reformed  in  tangled  mass  to  the  height  of  a 
man's  head,  as  if  the  roots  had  leaped  from  their  hidden  life 
under  the  earth  and  sought  to  climb  toward  the  light.    And, 
beaten  back  in  each  age  they  had  thickened  their  coil  about 
the  parent  stem  in  fierce  possession,  determined  at  least  to 
hold  what  was  already  gained,  if  fresh  height  and  flourish 
were  to  be  denied.    The  teeth  of  storms  had  been  fastened  in 
that  clustered  fiber,  and  then  the  angry  indentations  worn 
smooth  by  the  play  of  softer  winds  and  gentler  rains.    And  up 
from  the  gathered  strength  at  the  base  the  trunk  lifts  itself 
unwearied  and  straight.     There  is  a  patience  to  the  ancient 
thing,  as  if  it  were  some  grim  old  warrior,  resting  in  the  sun 
after  long  toil — the   face  pitted  with  strife   and   sternness. 
Unconsciously  it  leveled  other  matters  to  their  due  propor- 
tion: the  lives  of  men,  with  their  little  duration,  spanning, 
for  all  their  heat,  only  the  ripening  of  a  few  shoots  from 
the  yew  tree's  central  shaft.     And  it  reduced  to  a  proper 
dimension  the  work  of  human  builders  whose  cunning  could 
avail  for  only  a  brief  term  against  crumbling.     All  man's 
restoration  is  done  each  age  from  a  fresh  unrelated  impulse, 
the  old  secret  lost.    At  best  he  can  but  patch  antiquity,  never 
lead  it  on  to  inherit  the  future  by  invisible  threads  of  con- 


WARBLINGTON.— THE  OLD  ENGLAND     247 

nection — never  quite  recover  the  early  blitheness  and  happy 
off-hand  stroke  that  shepherded  some  slender  pier  into  a 
spray  of  efflorescence  at  its  crown.  But  each  new  energy  that 
carried  through  the  sap  of  the  tree  had  unfolded  itself  within 
the  one  enduring  growth,  a  seamless  garment  from  a  silent 
loom. 


SECTION  SIX 
THE  SUMMING  UP 

What  is  the  good  of  all  the  wealth  and  comfort  and  glamor 
of  the  Victorian  age  when  the  next  two  decades  bring  us  to 
the  graves  of  ten  million  young  men  slain  because  of  the  base 
passions  of  greed  and  domination  which  lurked  below  the  smiling 
surface  of  that  age?  The  game  is  not  worth  the  candle,  and  we 
should  rather  welcome  the  new  and  difficult  times  on  which  we 
are  now  entering. 

For  doubt  it  not,  we  are  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  century. 
The  old  world  is  dying  around  us;  let  it  also  die  in  us.  Once 
more  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  we  hear  the  great  Creative 
Spirit  utter  those  tremendous  words,  "  Behold,  I  make  all  things 
new."  GENERAL  SMUTS. 

ENGLAND  had  won  the  War.  By  that  process  of  Nature  which 
works  so  inevitably  for  her,  she  had  acquired  unsought  terri- 
tory. Her  War-Premier  had  won  his  khaki-election,  after 
promising  audacious  things.  The  year  of  peace  opened  pro- 
pitiously. 

But  at  the  moment  that  private  enterprise,  under  the  capi- 
talistic system,  was  facing  its  brightest  future,  with  weak 
countries  ripe  for  exploitation,  with  raw  materials  located  and 
controlled,  with  science  equipped  for  turning  them  into  stand- 
ardized products,  just  at  this  pinnacle  of  power,  an  unex- 
pected disease  struck  paralysis  throughout  the  system. 
Labor,  on  whose  docility  depended  the  extension  of  beneficent 
Anglo-Saxon  rule  over  lesser  breeds,  went  "bad."  For  the 
six  years  before  the  War,  indeed,  signs  of  trouble  had  been 
increasing,  but  only  cranks  and  experts  had  regarded  them. 
Then  came  the  War  with  its  healing  touch.  But  even  here, 
the  wholesale  slaughter  did  not  result  in  the  enrichment  of  life 
which  was  hoped  for  by  both  bishops  and  editors.  Memories 

249 


250  THE  SUMMING  UP 

of  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Trenches  fail  to  content  the  de- 
mobilized Tommy  with  the  England  to  which  he  returns.  By 
the  guerilla  warfare  of  sectional  strikes  and  one-day  stop- 
pages, by  the  mass  warfare  of  great  strikes,  by  the  steady 
wear  and  wastage  of  slack  work,  petty  obstructions,  and 
passive  resistance,  the  workers  pick  and  nibble  and  dynamite 
the  system  to  pieces.  Capital  no  longer  invests  in  growing 
volume.  Labor  no  longer  works  with  heartiness.  Industry 
is  running  down. 

Those  who  work  are  fighting  those  who  own.  The  work- 
ers no  longer  think  that  the  shareholders  are  wiser  than  they. 
An  old  Oxford  friend  said  sadly  to  me : 

Ten  years  ago,  when  I  came  into  a  crowded  bus,  a  working- 
man  would  rise  and  touch  his  cap  and  give  me  his  seat.  I  am 
sorry  to  see  that  spirit  dying  out. 

The  workers  are  beginning  to  use  a  manner  of  jair  equal- 
ity in  dealing  with  those  passengers  who  travel  through  life 
on  a  first-class  ticket.  It  is  a  spiritual  change  which  will 
register  itself  in  new  social  institutions.  The  workers  believe 
that  they  have  been  "had."  The  porter,  waiter,  miner,  ma- 
chinist have  penetrated  the  secret  of  the  significant  class,  and 
have  found  it  is  not  fixed  in  the  eternal  scheme  of  things  that 
the  workers  should  insure  the  harmonious  leisure  of  a  superior 
caste.  They  are  willing  to  take  the  risk  of  making  funda- 
mental economic  changes  in  order  to  express  this  new  con- 
sciousness. If  it  is  poverty  the  future  holds,  the  worker  is 
willing  to  share  it  with  the  rich.  If  it  is  the  carking  worry 
of  responsibility,  the  agonies  of  the  directorate  in  bossing, 
the  worker  stands  ready  to  lighten  the  load. 

Certain  ideas  one  believes  to  be  knit  into  the  fiber  of  a 
people.  Suddenly  they  fall  away — outworn  shells.  So  the 
class  idea  falls  away  in  England,  just  as  the  worship  of  the 
Czar  by  Russians  died  in  a  night.  Reverence  for  the  gentry, 
for  the  privileged,  for  the  idle,  has  withered.  With  the  idea 
gone,  the  institutions  built  upon  it  go.  Until  Britons  learned 


THE  SUMMING  UP  251 

the  incapacity  of  the  governing  class,  the  selfishness  of  the 
owners  of  land  and  capital,  the  Old  Order  and  the  Old  Gang 
were  impregnable.  That  is  the  change  in  spirit,  beginning  to 
show  itself  by  1910,  but  hastened  by  the  War.  In  my  opinion, 
this  change  is  the  most  profound  in  its  grip  on  instinct,  the 
most  far-reaching  in  its  consequences,  of  any.  All  other 
changes  wait  on  that,  and  follow  from  that.  An  American 
philosopher,  Ralph  Barton  Perry  (in  The  Present  Conflict  of 
Ideals),  has  expressed  the  significance  of  this  change  in  the 
psychology  of  a  people.  He  writes : 

We  have  encouraged  the  poor  to  aspire  to  wealth,  the  ignorant 
to  seek  light,  and  the  weak  to  covet  power.  We  have  done  more 
than  this — we  have  shown  them  the  way.  For  we  have  com- 
pelled every  man  to  secure  the  rudiments  of  education  and  thus 
to  become  aware  of  the  world  about  him.  We  permit  the  organi- 
zation of  the  democratic  propaganda,  we  supply  the  motive,  and 
we  bring  every  man  within  the  reach  of  it.  Last  and  most  impor- 
tant of  all,  we  have  distributed  political  power  equally  among  men 
of  every  station  and  condition;  with  the  result  that  the  very 
few  who  are  fortunate  may  at  any  time  be  out-voted  by  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  those  who  are  relatively  unfortunate. 
Does  any  sane  man  suppose  that  what  has  been  scattered  broad- 
cast can  now  be  withdrawn?  Or  that  those  who  possess  the 
opportunity  and  know  it  are  going  to  refrain  from  using  it? 

From  the  day  of  the  armistice,  labor  unrest  increased.  The 
immediate  occasions  of  the  almost  universal  unrest  were: 

1.  The  fact  that  the  labor  vote  in  the  December  election  did 
not   receive   its   proportionate   representation   in   Parliament, 
whereas  a  little  over  50  per  cent  of  voters  elected  over  75 
per  cent  of  coalition  representatives.    Labor's  vote  entitled  it 
to  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  seats. 

2.  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  attack  on  the  labor  leaders  as  "  Bol- 
shevists." 

3.  Widespread  unemployment,  numbering  about  one  mil- 
lion workers ;  whereas 

4.  The  Government  was  selling  national  factories   (which 


252  THE  SUMMING  UP 

could  have  been  used  for  national  service)  into  private  hands 
and  purposing  to  sell  the  new  national  shipyards  into  private 
hands. 

5.  The  increasing  volume  of  proof  of  war-profiteering  on 
the  part  of  a  few  and  no  evidence  of  a  "  New  England  "  for 
the  many. 

6.  Lack  of  Government  policy  concerning  demobilization. 

7.  Failure  to  apply  Whitley  councils  to  Government  serv- 
ices, such  as  the  Post  Office. 

8.  Failure  to  give  a  clear  statement  on  nationalization  of 
mines    and    railways,    on    continuation   of    conscription,    on 
wages. 

9.  Failure  to  withdraw  war  restrictions,  such  as  imprison- 
ment of  political  prisoners,  the  continuation  of  D.O.R.A. 

10.  The  jazz  restlessness,  the  result  of  war  weariness. 

The  great  cities  went  dancing  madly.  There  were  a  slack- 
ness and  abandon  which  I  do  not  remember  having  seen  in 
nineteen  years  of  visiting  in  England.  War  had  bred  a  fatal- 
ism, a  carelessness  about  to-morrow.  The  soldier  was  tired 
and  sad  and  ready  for  excitement.  The  worker  was  tired 
and  bitter,  distrustful  of  Government  promises.  The  strikes 
and  threats  of  strike  (engineering,  shipbuilding,  electrical, 
transport,  railways,  mines)  were  aimed  immediately  at  main- 
taining the  wage  scales  of  the  War  and  preventing  unem- 
ployment. 

Mr.  Lloyd  George,  pausing  in  his  work  at  Versailles,  came 
home  to  cure  unrest.  In  nothing  are  his  touch  and  technique 
swifter,  surer,  than  in  his  improvisations  for  labor  disturb- 
ance. So  this  time  he  projected  the  National  Industrial  Con- 
ference and  the  Coal  Industry  Commission.  In  each  crisis, 
he  believes  that  what  is  wanted  is  a  lightning  rod,  not  an  in- 
surance policy.  Each  time  he  smiles  and  seems  to  say,  "  Why 
so  hot,  little  man  ?  " 

So  the  months  passed.  Labor  began  the  year  at  high  revo- 
lutionary speed,  but  there  came  a  fade-away,  because  of: 

i.  The  failure  of  strikes  and  uprisings  (such  as  the  Clyde 
engineers,  Yorkshire  miners,  the  second  police  strike). 


THE  SUMMING  UP  253 

2.  The  influence  of  labor  leaders  affiliated  to  the  Triple 
Alliance — Will  Thorne,  Clynes,  Thomas,  Sexton,  Tillett. 

3.  The  influence  of  Arthur  Henderson. 

4.  Realization  of  the  nation's  financial  condition   (state- 
ments of  Hoover  and  Lloyd  George). 

5.  The  enjoyment  of  labor  gains  already  made — gains  rela- 
tive to  other  classes,  former  lot,  and  the  general  situation. 

6.  The  discount  of  wildness  or  suddenness. 

7.  Too  many  issues — the  movement  jumped  in  various  di- 
rections, like  a  nest  of  grasshoppers. 

8.  Delay.     It  is  impossible  to  hold  a  revolutionary  pose. 
The  workers  grow  bored.     The  issues  change.     Revolution 
must  gallop  like  a  motion  picture.     England  had  no  Griffiths 
to  unroll  it — there  is  no  big  boss  of  British  labor. 

Having  come  so  far,  labor  was  unprepared  to  go  further. 
The  trade-union  leaders  after  the  War  found  themselves  in 
new  conditions  where  they  had  no  guiding  experience.  So 
(with  a  half-dozen  exceptions)  they  failed  to  give  leadership. 

Labor  is  unready,  because  it  believes  itself  unready.  It 
has  revealed  this  inner  weakness  by  the  feebleness  of  its  Par- 
liamentary opposition.  With  its  sixty-two  members  it  could 
have  made  a  fighting  block  in  Commons,  like  the  old  Irish 
group  under  Parnell.  It  could  flay  and  finally  slay  the  pres- 
ent Government,  which  is  -unpopular,  inaccurate,  mendacious, 
and  without  a  policy.  Instead,  the  labor  group  has  been  tame, 
humble-minded,  without  ideas,  leadership,  or  militancy. 

Labor  showed  its  unreadiness  in  failing  to  follow  the  shop 
stewards.  The  rank  and  file  fell  away  from  the  workshop 
movement. 

Labor  failed  in  influencing  to  any  large  degree  the  terms 
of  the  Peace  Treaty.  Had  it  been  united  and  determined,  it 
could  have  forced  Versailles  to  save  Europe  instead  of 
wrecking  it.  It  is  convenient  to  blame  Lloyd  George  or  Wil- 
son, but  the  real  failure  was  the  lack  of  international  con- 
sciousness among  the  workers.  Their  internationalism  is 
mainly  a  matter  of  friendly  feelings.  They  rarely  summon 
their  pressure  to  effect  a  change  of  Government  policy.  They 


254  THE  SUMMING  UP 

love  abstract  principles  and  ethical  sentiments.  They  love  a 
leader  who  can  talk  in  terms  of  the  moral  world.  In  fact, 
the  labor  movement  internationally  is  far  from  united.  More 
exactly,  it  is  indifferent.  Roused  momentarily  to  interna- 
tional consciousness  by  Mr.  Wilson's  arrival,  it  would  have 
rallied  round  him  if  he  had  conducted  open  diplomacy  at  the 
conference.  But  with  the  case  leaking  away  day  by  day,  it  felt 
let  down,  shrugged  its  shoulders,  and  turned  to  domestic  con- 
cerns. A  powerful  minority  section  agitated  against  Russian 
intervention.  But  the  main  body  of  labor  is  weary  of  Europe. 

Labor,  lacking  the  conviction  of  its  mission  to  set  up  the 
new  order  at  once,  nevertheless  reacted  with  determined  and 
victorious  power  when  its  industrial  gains  were  assailed.  The 
wage  scales  of  the  War  have  been  held,  while  hours  have  been 
shortened.1  In  the  more  important  industries  the  average  in- 
crease in  rates  of  wages  (including  war  bonuses)  made  since 
the  outbreak  of  war,  lies  between  100  and  120  per  cent.  Ex- 
amples range  from  less  than  60  to  over  150  per  cent. 

If  labor's  year  of  peace  failed  to  realize  the  crisp  defiance 
and  brave  synthetic  program  of  the  Sidney  Webb  manifesto 
(Labor  and  the  New  Social  Order),  the  Government  made  as 
poor  a  score.  Mr.  Lloyd  George  summed  up  his  peace  pro- 
gram and  policy  in  a  letter  sent  in  July,  1919,  to  a  coalition 
candidate.  He  itemized  the  establishment  of  a  Ministry  of 
Health,  the  Housing  measure,  the  Ways  and  Communication 
Bill,  Land  Acquisition,  and  Land  Settlement.  The  best  com- 
ment on  this  is  that  of  Mr.  Clynes.  He  said : — 

After  ten  months  of  a  most  powerful  Parliament  under  a  most 
powerful  Prime  Minister,  nothing  has  been'done  in  reconstruction. 

But  you  cannot  live  on  schemes,  and  the  people  are  tired  of 
waiting  for  the  land  of  promise.  The  work  should  have  been 
begun  in  the  spring  and  summer.  Never  was  a  Government  such 
a  failure.  The  hope  of  the  future  is  the  new-found  power  of 

1The  hours  in  the  principal  industries  are  now  generally  44  to  48, 
compared  with  48  to  60  previously.  Weekly  time  wages  are  generally 
not  reduced.  No  movement  previously  recorded  has  equalled  this 
"shorter  week"  of  1919. 


THE  SUMMING  UP  255 

labor  properly  used.  The  only  solution  is  the  plan  of  the  Labor 
Party — a  levy  on  the  capital  of  the  country  or  a  tax  upon  the 
accumulated  fortunes  and  profits  made  during  the  war. 

Or  to  give  the  figures : 

Twelve  months  after  the  armistice,  a  few  hundred  soldiers 
had  been  placed  on  the  land. 

Instead  of  the  200,000  houses,  or  the  500,000,  or  the  mil- 
lion, 300  houses  had  been  built  at  the  end  of  fourteen  months 
of  peace. 

But  the  Government  is  like  a  tired  man  who  takes  on  addi- 
tional jobs,  just  because  his  judgment  is  blurred  and  his  nerves 
are  strained  by  fatigue.  In  its  moment  of  prostration,  the 
present  Government  is  extending  its  powers.  Throughout 
this  year  of  exhaustion,  it  has  indulged  in  side-shows  and 
semi-wars  and  adventurous  expeditions  in  several  parts  of 
the  globe.  As  the  Ministry  of  Reconstruction  (Pamphlet  37) 
described  it: 

The  process  of  self-determination  of  nations,  we  are  told,  will 
initiate  a  new  order  of  things,  but  is  it  to  be  believed  that  the 
regions  mentioned  above *  are  yet  in  a  fit  state  to  govern  them- 
selves? A  few  British  officers  and  men  on  the  spot  will  be  a 
very  salutary  help  in  the  settlement  to  come. 

Over  an  area,  vast  before,  and  now  increased,  an  area 
seething  with  unrest,  England,  tired  at  the  core,  is  trying  to 
send  out  currents  of  energy  and  control.  But  the  dynamo  is 
spent,  and  the  wires,  that  used  to  be  charged  with  power, 
hardly  quiver  from  the  feeble  currents  of  the  center. 

Apart  from  a  few  lonely  voices,  labor  is  silent  on  this 
hereditary  instinctive  policy  of  the  Foreign  Office  and  the 
War  Office.  Labor  is  silent  because  it  is  ignorant  of  interna- 
tional policy.  It  has  grown  up  in  the  trust  of  these  statesmen 
of  unblemished  honor,  who  never  boast,  never  explain.  This 
will  be  the  last  group  to  be  doubted. 

1  Armenia,  Mesopotamia,  Egypt,  India,  East  Africa. 


256  THE  SUMMING  UP 

The  Universal  Strike 

The  lesson  of  England  is  not  a  new  device  for  a  factory.  It 
is  a  change  of  consciousness  toward  industry.  The  instincts  of 
the  workers  have  revolted  against  competitive  acquisitive  organ- 
ization. They  refuse  to  work  the  system.  It  therefore  slowly 
crumbles.  The  institutions,  registering  this  change,  will  be  gradu- 
ally created. 

Dean  Inge  says:  "The  life  of  the  town  artisan  who  works  in 
a  factory  is  a  life  to  which  the  human  organism  has  not  adapted 
itself."  The  deracinated  life  of  the  human  herd  in  modern  towns 
is  the  condition  and  the  instrument  of  large-scale  industry.  A 
speeded-up  machine  production,  whose  products  do  not  bring  a 
good  life  to  those  producing  them,  carries  the  germ  of  its  own 
decay.  "  A  barbaric  civilization,  built  on  blind  impulse  and  am- 
bition, should  fear  to  awaken  a  deeper  detestation  than  could  ever 
be  aroused  by  those  more  beautiful  tyrannies,  chivalrous  or  re- 
ligious, against  which  past  revolutions  have  been  directed." 1 

Human  nature  in  industry  has  gone  on  strike.  The  decayed 
autocracy  of  financiers  and  business  men  cannot  be  restored  by 
"profit-sharing"  and  "copartnership."  The  revolt  is  not  against 
details.  It  is  against  the  purpose,  products,  methods,  and  condi- 
tions of  industry.  The  workers  do  not  want  the  "  wants  "  that 
fill  modern  life,  the  splatter  of  the  shops.  Sections  of  them  have 
proved  this  by  knocking  off  work  for  a  day  (or  even  two  days) 
a  week,  when  they  attain  a  moderate  standard  of  living — the 
level  which  Professor  Zimmern  defined  to  me  as  one  of  "  reason- 
able satisfaction." 

Something  in  the  industrial  system  offended  the  soul  of  the 
worker.  He  resented  the  forced  draught  that  played  on  his 
working  day.  He  saw  "  an  immense  accumulation  of  the  apparatus 
of  life,  without  any  corresponding  elevation  in  moral  standards," 
creating  a  civilization  of  "  technical  efficiency  without  love." 

There  came  a  moment  when  Napoleon's  soldiers  tired  of  the 
grandiose  and  expanding  campaigns  of  conquest.  The  motives 
that  had  driven  them  wore  thin.  So  it  is  with  the  workers.  The 
familiar  compulsions  no  longer  avail,  the  industrial  organization 
crumbles,  and  the  mines  and  railways  and  factories  become  a 

1  Santayana. 


THE  SUMMING  UP  257 

wasting  asset.  Militant  strikes  can  be  crushed  by  tanks  and  ma- 
chine guns.  But  against  the  passive  resistance  of  the  human  spirit 
in  the  millions  of  workers  the  owners  make  war  in  vain.  It  is 
a  process  of  nature,  a  molecular  change,  invisible  and  universal. 
This  life-force  can  be  re-enlisted  only  on  its  own  terms.1 

The  tendency  will  (very  slowly)  be  to  make  Britain  more  self- 
contained.  The  rush  of  exports  for  overseas  markets  will  gradu- 
ally be  lessened.  The  worker  will  have  his  garden,  and  supple- 
ment his  living  from  factory  work  with  his  home-grown  products. 
This  will  not  mean  a  return  to  a  pastoral  society  nor  to  handi- 
crafts, but  it  will  mean  a  better  balance  struck  between  industry 
and  agriculture.  It  means  a  production  of  necessary  things — per- 
haps a  larger  production  than  now — but  the  disappearance  of 
costly  luxuries.  As  the  head  of  a  woman's  wholesale  dressmaking 
firm  said  to  me :  "  We  no  longer  sell  the  $80  dress.  But  we  sell 
half-a-dozen  $30  dresses,  where  we  sold  one  before  the  war." 

The  experiment  is  an  act  of  faith,  like  the  French  Revolution 
and  the  creation  of  the  American  republic. 

The  present  acute  sag  in  productivity  is  not  to  be  confused 
with  the  long  descending  curve  described  above.  As  the  immediate 
result  of  the  war  the  will  to  work  has  been  disastrously  weak- 
ened. This  is  due  to  disillusionment,  fatigue,  the  bad  habits  of 
military  life.  People  wish  to  spend  money.  They  wish  an  escape 
from  the  drab  of  khaki,  the  monotony  of  trench  service.  They 
turn  to  color,  light,  sexual  license — to  the  primitive  desires  of 
the  savage.  All  the  thwarted  instincts  have  been  uncovered  and 
walk  through  society,  naked  and  unashamed. 

But  this  riot  of  barbaric  impulse  will  not  be  long  continued. 
Wealth  has  been  destroyed.  It  must  be  restored.  The  spiritual 
reserves  have  been  exhausted.  Time  will  bring  fresh  supplies. 
There  is  at  present  no  vitality  for  reconstruction,  for  anything 
beyond  the  momentary  sensation.  Slowly  society  will  re-establish 
its  old  controls. 

But  after  the  recovery  from  the  present  highly  abnormal  inertia 
and  recklessness,  the  same  slow  crumble,  visible  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century,  will  continue.  Irresponsible  capitalism  will 

1  A  25  per  cent  of  control  will  be  offered  at  first  as  in  the  railways. 
The  changes  will  be  made  in  digestible  instalments.  There  will  be  no 
Day  of  Judgment — only  nibbling  encroachments. 


258  THE  SUMMING  UP 

break  down  in  the  key  industries  one  by  one.  These  will  pass 
over  into  the  control  of  the  workers,  as  the  mines  and  the  rail- 
ways are  now  passing. 

And  yet,  after  listing  the  limitations  of  the  people,  one 
can  only  wonder  at  the  speed  with  which  they  are  recovering 
from  the  War. 

A  year  that  began  with  a  million  unemployed  ended  with 
only  half  a  million.  And  that  was  the  year  of  demobili- 
zation. 

The  Government  is  bankrupt,  but  England  is  not  bankrupt. 

Inertia  and  irritability  are  widespread,  but  calmness  and 
common  sense  are  returning. 

British  Traits 

The  central  fact  about  Britain  is  the  immense  sanity  of  her 
people.  That  sanity  is  compounded  of  a  rich  though  deeply 
hidden  sense  of  humor,  which  saves  the  possessor  from  fa- 
naticism and  from  pushing  human  affairs  to  a  logical  conclu- 
sion— of  an  instinct  for  political  compromise,  which  carries 
the  mass  along  in  a  natural  unity  (made  up  of  apparently  re- 
pellent particles)  and  of  a  revolutionary  mind,  which  frees 
itself  from  old  cramping  institutions,  and  drives  on  to  fresh 
experiment. 

Their  compromise  is  not  the  acceptance  of  the  status  quo. 
It  is  the  registration  of  a  new  point  touched  in  passing:  it  is 
a  momentary  arrest  in  the  process  of  becoming.  There  is  a 
centripetal  force  in  the  mass  itself — a  sense  of  the  center  and 
a  will  to  cohere — which  holds  its  particles  together,  while  it 
moves  on.  So  the  "  center "  of  a  movement,  like  the  labor 
movement,  is  a  shifting  standard,  a  standard  borne  on  by  the 
flood  of  change. 

Their  revolutionary  mind  does  not  dabble  in  bloodshed. 
The  British  do  not  wish  the  spectacle  of  people  whipped  into 
feverish  excitement,  and  mowed  down  by  machine  guns. 
That  sort  of  herd  instinct  they  believe  is  as  blind  and  brutal 


THE  SUMMING  UP  259 

as  the  mob  frenzy  that  drives  men  into  lynching  and  war. 
They  think  that  the  social  revolution  means  a  profound  change 
in  consciousness,  the  product  of  a  long  teaching,  the  goal  made 
clear,  and  the  way  to  reach  it  shown.  So  the  new  order  comes, 
because  there  is  a  change  in  the  thinking  of  multitudes  till 
the  old  order  falls  like  ripe  fruit.  British  workers  do  not 
follow  cheap  "  revolutionaries,"  with  a  thirst  for  experience, 
an  impatience  of  long,  hard  work,  lovers  of  excitement,  build- 
ing a  bonfire  to  attract  attention.  They  distrust  violent- 
minded  men,  because  the  violence  is  short-winded  and 
likely  to  attach  itself  to  a  number  of  things  in  turn.  They 
believe  that  violence  is  often  the  product  of  buried  but  un- 
digested emotion,  not  about  a  cause  or  principle,  but  about 
some  unsolved  personal  inner  conflict.  They  believe  that 
"  nothing  that  is  violent  endures." 

Since  the  immediate  need  of  the  next  two  years  is  produc- 
tion of  goods  in  exchange  for  essential  imports,  and  of  goods 
to  replace  the  vast  waste  of  war  (houses,  rolling-stock,  ma- 
chinery), I  do  not  see  the  British  forcing  an  artificial  eco- 
nomic crisis  in  order  to  build  a  bran-new  society  out  of  a  total 
wreck.  On  the  one  hand,  the  workers  will  demand  unceas- 
ingly the  acceptance  of  the  new  principles  of  nationalization 
and  workers'  control.  On  the  other  hand,  the  workers  will 
grant  time  for  the  application  of  these  principles  in  their  mul- 
tiple patiently  devised  details.  To  remold  institutions  to  the 
needs  of  to-morrow,  to  shape  aspirations  into  a  policy,  re- 
quires fundamental  brain  work  which  as  yet  is  lacking.  Im- 
partial men,  such  as  Justice  Sankey  and  Sir  Richard  Red- 
mayne,  have  condemned  the  old  order  as  Lincoln  condemned 
slavery.  It  remains  for  the  Government  to  seal  the  condem- 
nation and  begin  building.  If  the  principles  are  not  accepted, 
the  workers  now  have  it  in  their  power  to  destroy  the  present 
economic  system.  But  they  prefer  the  step-by-step  method, 
which  means  progressive  organic  change.  This  means  the 
installation  of  the  Socialist  State,  with  workers'  control,  not 
by  armed  insurrection  or  sudden  syndicalist  paralysis,  but  by 
votes  and  trade-union  pressure,  applied  over  a  period  of  "  five, 


260  THE  SUMMING  UP 

ten,  fifteen  years  "  (in  Mr.  Smillie's  phrase)  or  "  ten,  fifteen, 
twenty  years"  (in  the  phrase  of  Mr.  Hodges), 

Britain's  business  men,  her  governing  group,  will  have  to 
accept  the  new  position  of  labor  in  society,  because  they  can 
do  nothing  else.  Only  as  equals  in  a  progressively  Socialistic 
State  will  labor  pull  full  stroke.  As  long  as  labor  lags,  and 
strikes,  and  sulks,  expenditure  outpaces  production,  and  capi- 
tal evaporates.  Bankruptcy  is  the  only  outcome  of  the  pres- 
ent process  which  is  wasting  away  what  was  once  a  living 
organism. 

"  We'll  give  them  anything,  if  only  they  will  work,"  I  heard 
a  noble  earl,  who  is  a  great  employer,  say.  "  We'll  agree,  be- 
cause we  have  -to." 

There  will  be  no  bloodshed  in  effecting  this  change,  only  a 
creeping  paralysis  until  the  clamant  demands  for  equality  are 
granted  and  enacted.  But  this  crumble  and  fresh  cohesion 
will  not  be  sudden. 

Extremists  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  and  one  or  two  of 
the  Guildsmen  prophesy  a  logical  and  dramatic  disintegration 
in  the  next  two  years.  But  I  think  that  their  diagnosis  is 
over-simplified,  and  lacks  recognition  of  the  international  eco- 
nomic position.  There  is  more  elasticity  to  the  capitalistic 
system  than  they  think.  We  are  in  the  slump  which  has  fol- 
lowed every  modern  war,  and  which  registers  itself  in  the  mal- 
adjustment of  demobilization  and  in  a  psychological  state  of 
bitterness  and  unwillingness  to  work.  These  phenomena  are 
familiar  to  every  country  that  has  conducted  a  large-scale  war. 
They  are  only  new  to  the  experience  of  England,  and  have 
resulted  in  stimulating  {he  prophetic  gifts  of  her  brilliant 
young  men. 

Will  the  worker  continue  to  practice  ca'  canny?  He  will 
not,  because  he  cannot.  The  economic  position  is  such  that 
fear  and  hunger  will  operate  once  again  as  they  used  to  op- 
erate. The  financial  condition  of  Britain  will  be  presented  to 
the  workers  by  men  like  Lloyd  George,  playing  on  the  nation- 
alistic nerve.  The  worker  is  facing  poverty  under  any  sys- 
tem, and  poverty  worse  than  any  known  in  recent  years.  The 


THE  SUMMING  UP  261 

dramatic  contest  of  workers  and  owners  will  be  undercut  by 
primary  poverty  for  the  whole  nation. 

England  is  delicately  balanced  in  a  system  of  international 
credits,  of  which  America  holds  the  purse.  America  can 
manipulate  food,  raw  materials,  and  credits.  She  has  already 
captured  many  of  the  South  American  markets,  and  will  seek 
to  capture  those  of  Central  Europe.  Unconsciously  certain 
of  her  governing  group  would  see  England  reduced  to  a 
minor  outpost  of  the  race.  But  they  do  not  wish  to  let  Eng- 
land be  ruined — merely  to  be  weakened  to  the  second  rank. 
Now  this  international  economic  process  will  divert  labor  from 
any  of  the  moving-picture  performances  which  various  groups 
are  prophesying. 

The  present  maladjustment,  then,  which  is  in  part  the  result 
of  tired  nerves,  will  soon  be  followed  by  a  period  of  produc- 
tivity— replenishing  of  rolling-stock,  houses,  machinery.  This 
will  still  be  financed  on  paper  money. 

Then  comes  the  third  period,  that  of  paying  for  the  War. 
The  poverty  then  will  not  come  as  the  result  of  a  crash,  but 
will  slowly  creep  in.  Wages  will  remain  high,  but  prices 
will  climb.  Many  young  men  will  emigrate.  In  that  third 
long  period  will  come  labor's  chance. 

Already  the  first  period  of  demobilization  and  maladjust- 
ment is  merging  into  the  second  period  of  employment  and 
production.  In  the  first  half  of  the  year  1919,  a  few  of  the 
intellectuals  in  the  trade-union  movement  were  trying  to 
speed  up  the  workers  to  the  creation  of  an  artificial  crisis, 
which  would  have  found  the  workers  unready,  and  so  would 
have  weakened  their  movement.  There  was  a  brief  period 
when  it  looked  possible  to  engineer  a  crash.  The  results 
would  have  been  poverty  and  subjection.  The  time  has  not 
come  for  the  final  trial  of  strength  between  workers  and 
owners. 

The  Intellectuals 

The  intellectuals  in  the  trade-union  movement  are  not  nu- 
merous, but  they  are  busy  workers.  So  close  is  the  harmony 


THE  SUMMING  UP 

in  which  they  and  the  industrialists  sing  that  it  is  difficult  to 
tell  which  portion  of  a  manifesto  in  time  of  crisis  is  written 
by  an  impassioned  labor  leader  locked  in  combat  with  the 
grim  giants  of  capitalism,  and  which  is  the  insidious  philos- 
ophy of  a  cool  young  social  scientist  from  the  serene  close 
of  Oxford  or  Glasgow.  I  have  been  moved  by  the  pure 
proletarian  accent  of  a  broadside  from  a  transport  worker  only 
to  find  that  it  had  been  germinated  and  polished  off  in  the 
laboratory  of  a  university  thinker.  I  once  asked  a  machinist 
shop  steward  whether  his  well-known  idea  of  the  State  was 
the  result  of  contact  with  a  famous  young  university  writer. 

"  I'm  converting  him,"  he  replied. 

And  I  asked  the  essayist  how  the  matter  stood. 

"  I'm  converting  him,"  he  answered. 

That  is  how  close  it  is.  It  is  an  interwoven  movement. 
Both  groups  are  enjoying  the  experience.  The  scholars  revel 
in  the  tough-minded  reality  of  being  at  last  a  part  of  some- 
thing with  mass  and  motion.  And  the  workers  are  pleased  to 
find  themselves  provided  with  a  vocabulary  and  a  philosophy. 

To  take  one  group  of  intellectuals,  the  Guildsmen,  who  have 
powerfully  affected  the  thinking  of  trade-union  members.  In 
the  last  five  years,  the  Guildsmen  have  done  a  service  akin  to 
that  done  by  Blatchford  for  a  former  generation.  They 
don't  write  as  simply  nor  as  vigorously  as  Blatchford  did  in 
"  Merrie  England,"  but  they,  like  him,  are  evangelists.  They 
have  carried  on  excellent  Salvation  Army  work  in  popular- 
izing the  idea  of  a  British  brand  of  syndicalism.  They  have 
domesticated  that  immense  dynamic.  But  for  them,  the  Cen- 
tral Labor  College,  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  the  I.W.W., 
French  ideas,  the  phrases  of  Tom  Mann,  and  the  tracts  of 
Daniel  De  Leon  would  have  perhaps  been  the  only  deposit 
of  syndicalism  and  industrial  unionism.  The  result  would 
have  been  a  small  minority  of  workers  over-stimulated  with 
a  doctrine  that  omitted  one-half  the  truth.  But  Orage,  Cole, 
Mellor,  Hobson,  Bechhofer,  Reckitt,  and  a  few  others  rendered 
the  alien  vocabulary  into  a  British  blend  which  pleased  the 
palate  like  Lipton's  tea. 


THE  SUMMING  UP  263 

This  earnest,  tiny  group  (a  few  hundred  in  all  the  King- 
dom) appear  in  various  service  uniforms  and  play  many  parts. 
As  university  graduates,  they  are  at  the  heart  of  the  Univer- 
sity Socialist  Federation.  As  Christians,  they  are  Church 
Socialists,  sapping  the  Established  Church.  As  Guildsmen, 
they  conduct  a  league,  honeycombing  the  trade  unions.  As 
investigators,  they  are  the  Labor  Research  Department,  affil- 
iated to  important  members  of  the  trade-union  movement. 
As  Fabians,  they  buffet  Sidney  Webb.  As  journalists,  they 
have  entry  to  powerful  newspapers  and  weeklies.  As  writers, 
their  books  *  are  in  some  instances  irreplaceable  because  of 
the  careful  collection  of  facts  and  the  understanding  of  cur- 
rents of  tendency.  But  their  great  service  has  been  that  of 
agitators  with  a  smashing  generalization.  Perhaps  no  group 
of  young,  ardent  men  with  a  message  ever  had  a  more  for- 
tunate fate. 

Workers'  Control 

Having  done  their  job  manfully,  their  function  is  ending. 
What  is  wanted  now  is  no  longer  agitation,  but  education. 
What  is  wanted  is  training  for  the  workers  in  self-govern- 
ment. Fact  studies  are  needed,  and  lines  of  functional  de- 
velopment suggested.  The  apocalyptical  vision  must  now  be 
turned  upon  some  pit  or  workshop,  and  show  just  where  the 
worker  can  take  hold,  and  begin  his  career  of  control.  I 
attended  both  sessions  of  the  Coal  Commission  hoping  to 
get  something  more  than  Wilsonian  abstractions,  but  came 
out  by  that  same  door  wherein  I  went.2 

No  bridge  is  being  built  between  their  Day  of  Judgment — 
which  is  to  come  within  a  year  or  two  "  when  the  capitalistic 
system  crumbles  " — and  the  day  of  workers'  control.  The 
system  of  workers'  control  presupposes  four  things:  that 

i.    The  workers  wish  control. 

1  Such  are  An  Introduction  to  Trade  Unionism,  Self-Governtfient  in 
Industry,  The  Payment  of  Wages. 

2  See  the  evidence  of  G.  D.  H.  Cole,  Appendix,  Section  3,  Chapter 
III. 


264  THE  SUMMING  UP 

2.  The  workers  are  capable  of  control. 

3.  The  technical,  managerial,  and  directive  men  will  co- 
operate.1 

xThe  organ  of  the  railwayman,  The  Railway  Review,  on  August  15, 
1919: 

"Those  engaged  in  an  industry  simply  are  those  persons  essential 
to  the  industry,  from  the  new  boy  or  girl  to  the  general  manager. 
The  boards  of  directors  we  will  leave  out  of  the  account,  as,  although 
they  have  been  and  perhaps  now  are  essential,  with  the  change  of 
ownership  of  railways  they  will  become  obsolete,  even  as  the  share- 
holders who  elect  them  and  for  whom  they  act  will  become  obsolete. 

"  The  hard  fact  that  must  be  realized  is  that  under  any  form  of 
ownership  the  assistance  of  the  managerial  classes  in  controlling 
industry  is  not  merely  desirable,  but  necessary. 

"  In  conversation  with  the  manager  of  a  manufacturing  firm  recently, 
which  owned  a  branch  in  Moscow,  we  asked  him  what  was  his  out- 
look there?  'We  are  doing  very  well  there,'  was  the  reply;  'they 
cleared  us  out  when  the  Bolsheviks  came  in,  but  in  six  weeks  they 
sent  for  us  back  to  manage  the  place,  the  workmen  could  not  run  it 
by  themselves.'  The  moral  is  almost  too  obvious  to  dilate.  There 
were  things  in  the  control  of  industry  of  which  the  machine  minder 
had  no  conception  until  he  faced  them,  and  failed.  The  '  dictatorship 
of  the  proletariat '  failed  in  practice  because  the  '  rank  and  file ' 
failed  to  recognize  that  the  management  was  an  essential  part  of  the 
scheme  of  production.  We  have  to  win,  not  to  destroy,  the  man- 
agerial classes. 

"  So  far  as  we  are  concerned  in  the  railway  industry,  control  by 
those  in  the  industry  will  follow  a  line  of  evolution  perhaps  almost  as 
unconsciously  as  the  principle  of  '  recognition '  came  into  being.  Rec- 
ognition came  with  industrial  power,  and  there  is  no  definite  date  upon 
which  we  could  have  said  to  have  achieved  recognition. 

"  Control  is  the  evolutionary  period  following  upon  recognition, 
and  it  can  be  said  that  in  recognition  there  is  the  embryo  of  control. 
Recently  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  National  Union  of  Rail- 
waymen  decided  that  certain  regulations  with  respect  to  men  on 
certain  railways  required  readjustment,  and  notified  the  desire  of  the 
men  for  rectification.  The  desires  of  the  men  operating  through  the 
Executive  of  the  Union  were  fulfilled,  and  in  these  recent  examples 
we  have  concrete  evidence  of  the  beginning  of  some  measure  of  con- 
trol by  those  at  the  bottom. 

"  There  can  be  no  fixed  definition  in  the  meaning  of  control.  Evo- 
lution impelled  by  the  aggregate  desire  of  those  who  share  in  the 


THE  SUMMING  UP  ,  265 

4.    The  consumer  will  acquiesce. 

1  suggest  that  those  four  things  are  not  obtainable  within 
one  or  two  years,  but  are  five  to  twenty-five  years  distant.1 

Mr.  Cole's  inability  to  produce  facts  in  substantiation  of 
his  statement  on  workers'  control 2  (his  evidence  on  the 
Derbyshire  pit  committees),  was  clearly  a  disappointment  to 
Mr.  Justice  Sankey,  and  forced  him  to  turn  to  the  public 
administrator  solution  of  Lord  Haldane,3  rather  than  to  a 
formulation  of  workers'  control.  Mr.  Justice  Sankey  incor- 
porated the  suggestions  of  Lord  Haldane  because  he  was  in 
easy  mastery  of  his  facts  and  because  he  dealt  at  length  with 
the  problem  of  motive  in  industry.  Sankey  was  forced  to 
reject  the  suggestions  of  the  Guild  witness,  because,  promis- 
ing facts,  he  gave  none,  and  generalizing  on  "aspiration," 
and  "  inspiration,"  he  did  not  reveal  knowledge  of  instincts 
in  industry.  It  is  conceivable  that  a  well-grounded  statement 
of  workers'  control  might  have  won  for  the  miners  a  recog- 
nition that  will  now  be  delayed  through  a  transition  period  of 
several  years. 

Mr.  Harold  Laski  reminds  us  that  the  French  groups  in 
administration  have  not  laid  down  dicta  "  whether,  for  exam- 
ple, promotion  would  be  self-regulating,  or  a  matter  of  internal 
choice,  or  of  election  by  the  members  of  the  particular 
service." 

But  Justice  Sankey  had  to  consider  these  very  questions  in 
determining  the  constitution  of  the  coal  industry.  And  the 
evidence  and  the  Sankey  Report  show  that  Lord  Haldane 
and  Sidney  Webb  and  the  London  School  of  Economics  had 

labor  of  production  must  work  its  course,  and  in  due  order  of 
patience  and  time  our  object  in  spirit  will  be  achieved  in  fact.  The 
consciousness  of  our  aim  must  be  the  guiding  line." 

1 1  refer  to  the  full  program.  The  first  steps  have  been  taken.  In- 
creasing control  is  demanded  by  the  rank  and  file.  But  what  the  per- 
centage of  control  will  finally  be  no  one  knows. 

2  Appendix  III,  Chapter  III. 

3  Appendix  V,  Chapter  III. 


266  THE  SUMMING  UP 

at  least  one  sort  of  answer,  which  had  a  basis  of  facts  in 
collected  experience  but  that  the  Guild  Socialists  had  failed  to 
establish  their  case  in  the  mind  of  the  Judge. 

Bureaucratic  control  by  the  Government  is  not  acceptable  to 
Labor. 

Control  by  manual  labor  is  impossible  except  by  long  general 
education  and  special  training. 

Control  under  a  new  type  of  State  Administrator  is  the 
Sankey  solution.  This  will  be  acceptable  to  the  miners  in  the 
transition  period  (see  Mr.  Hodges'  chapter). 

Justice  Sankey  reports  (see  Appendix  IV,  Chapter  I)  : 

"The  war  has  demonstrated  the  potentiality  of  the  existence 
of  a  new  class  of  men  who  are  just  as  keen  to  serve  the  State 
as  they  are  to  serve  a  private  employer  and  who  have  been  shown 
to  possess  the  qualities  of  courage  in  taking  initiative  necessary 
for  the  running  of  our  industry." 

Professor  Alfred  Marshall  says  in  Industry  and  Trade: 

"Unless  Guild  organization  develops  some  notion,  of  which  it 
at  present  seems  to  have  made  no  forecast,  it  may  probably  drift 
into  chaos,  from  which  relief  can  be  found  only  in  a  military 
despotism.  In  this  matter  (discipline),  as  in  some  others,  Mr. 
Cole  seems  to  follow  closely  in  the  paths  of  St.  Simon,  Fourier, 
and  other  early  socialists  of  noble  character  and  vivid  poetic 
imagination.  The  last  new  version  of  the  Golden  Age  is  to  bring 
out  latent  powers  of  goodness  in  human  nature;  the  task  of 
regulation  is  to  be  as  simple  as  it  would  be  if  all  men  were  as 
unselfish  and  earnest  as  the  writer  himself:  the  vast  difficulties  of 
modern  business  organization  are  so  completely  left  out  of  ac- 
count as  to  imply  that  they  have  never  been  seriously  studied." 

But  Professor  Marshall  also  states : 

."  The  State  can  now  look  to  the  main  body  of  workers  as  the 
source  of  much  of  that  higher  administrative  work,  which  used 
to  belong  almost  exclusively  to  the  well-to-do.  This  change  was 
emphasized  by  the  Whitley  Report,  and  it  will  be  promoted  by 
Joint  Industrial  Councils;  though  their  efforts  may  not  reach  far 


THE  SUMMING  UP  267 

towards  a  wide  dissemination  of  the  supreme  tasks  of  conceiving 
new  ventures,  weighing  their  promises  and  their  risks,  and  making 
a  wise  selection." 

On  this  point  of  "  upper  control,"  Justice  Sankey  in  his 
Final  Report  states: 

It  is  true  that  in  the  minds  of  many  men  there  is  a  fear  that 
State  ownership  may  stifle  incentive,  but  to-day  we  are  faced  in 
the  coal  fields  with  increasing  industrial  unrest  and  a  constant 
strife  between  modern  labor  and  modern  capital. 

I  think  that  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  the  certainty 
of  the  continuance  of  this  strife  in  the  coal-mining  industry  out- 
weighs the  danger  arising  from  the  problematical  fear  of  the  risk 
of  the  loss  of  incentive. 

As  recently  as  1916,  acting  in  the  capacity  of  president  and 
chairman,  Harry  Gosling  was  telling  the  Trades  Union  Con- 
gress that  workers'  Control  did  not  include  commercial  control. 

The  offer  of  the  British  Government  to  the  railwaymen 
gives  through  a  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Committee  equal 
power  to  labor  with  that  of  management  on  questions  inside 
the  area  covered  by  collective  bargaining.  But  the  problem 
is  what  percentage  of  Commercial  Control  has  now  come 
under  Collective  negotiation.  The  Government  offer  is  that 
of  a  25  per  cent  representation  on  an  Advisory  Com- 
mittee to  the  Minister  of  Mines — 4  members  out  of  16.  The 
railway  executives  possess  the  other  75  per  cent.  How  much 
control  would  such  an  Advisory  Committee  possess?  The 
answer  would  probably  be  the  same  amount  as  the  War  Cabinet 
had  in  relation  to  the  Premier.  That  amount  is  a  variable. 
On  many  matters  it  is  full  control.  On  some,  no  control. 
This  25  per  cent  of  control  represents  a  minimum  first  offer. 

Manual  labor  (which  itself  is  a  composite  of  skilled,  semi- 
skilled, and  unskilled)  is  only  one  functional  group  in  the 
community  composed  of  many  functional  groups.  The 
financier,  the  administrator,  the  technical  man,  the  engineer, 
the  salesman,  the  manager  make  six  other  groups.  Much 


268  THE  SUMMING  UP 

recent  discussion  of  workers'  control  has  burked  the  problem 
of  co-ordinating  these  various  highly  self-conscious  groups 
inside  self-government.  It  was  not  difficult  to  formulate  the 
demands  of  the  workers  in  former  generations,  because  the 
instinctive  reactions  were  simple  to  read.  More  money  and 
less  work — that  was  as  easy  to  hit  right  as  to  know  what 
a  drowning  man  wants. 

But  when  we  enter  the  region  of  progressive  self-govern- 
ment, the  devolution  of  power  to  associated  groups,  we  pass 
over  from  the  psychology  of  the  servile,  suffering,  rebellious, 
but  collectively  unified  consciousness  of  a  mass  to  the  various 
reactions  of  those  groups.  We  shall  have  "  a  revolt  of  the 
technician,  the  electrician,  the  chemist,  the  artist,  the  de- 
signer, the  manager.  We,  too,  want  to  have  self-determina- 
tion; we  want  to  have  control  over  our  working  life.  The 
function  of  the  draughtsman  is  to  draw  plans;  he  will  draw 
plans  as  he  likes,  and  will  not  be  tyrannized  over  by  the 
manual  workers  for  whom  he  is  drawing  plans." 

Will  the  manual  worker  command  in  his  own  sphere,  but 
be  in  a  position  of  obedience  for  those  functions  outside  his 
sphere?  Capitalism  has  given  a  measure  of  freedom  to  the 
expert. 

Mr.  Frank  Hodges,  speaking  for  the  miners,  accepts  for 
these  next  years  a  minority  control  by  the  manual  worker 
under  nationalization.  He  looks  to  the  day  when  the  workers 
shall  have  won  over  the  managerial  and  technical  men. 
"  When  we  make  provision  for  them  to  come  in,  we  shall  be 
jointly  in  a  position  to  nominate  ourselves  the  personnel  of 
the  national  council.  They  would  be  the  persons  to  determine 
the  annual  output  of  coal,  to  determine  the  price  of  coal. 
They  would  also  deal  with  the  finance  of  the  industry.  It  is 
contemplated  that  the  finances  shall  be  determined  by  the  na- 
tional mining  council  as  distinct  from  the  Exchequer." 

This  process  "will  take  time — ten,  fifteen,  twenty  years," 
he  says. 

It  is  the  conscious  and  influential  minority  of  labor  who 
press  for  "  effective "  workers'  control.  The  majority  are 


THE  SUMMING  UP  269 

inert.  Social  workers  in  Sheffield  have  published  an  investiga- 
tion into  "  The  Equipment  of  the  Workers."  They  found 
three-quarters  of  the  manual  workers  whom  they  studied  to 
be  either  imperfectly  equipped  or  mal-equipped.  This  igno- 
rance registers  itself  in  indifference  to  extensions  of  democracy. 
The  trade  unions  are  controlled  by  a  minority.  Branch  meet- 
ing are  poorly  attended.  Votes  on  vital  industrial  questions 
are  generally  minority  votes.  On  a  vote  on  the  47-hour  week, 
64,000  out  of  300,000  voted  (21%)  in  the  Amalgamated  So- 
ciety of  Engineers. 

The  experience  of  the  Wool  and  Cotton  War  Boards  does 
not  suggest  that  the  workers  are  awake  to  an  opportunity  of 
control  when  it  is  offered,  nor  that  they  are  ready  to  use 
their  power  to  make  that  opportunity  permanent.  It  would 
be  profitable  to  supplement  the  large  paper  programs  of 
control  with  a  fact  study  of  how  far  actual  control  has  pro- 
ceeded, and  what  functions  the  workers  are  now  willing  and 
ready  to  take  over.  The  Guildsmen  gave  me  two  instances 
— one  of  a  young  idealist  in  Leeds,  whose  first  experiment 
failed,  and  whose  present  experiment  is  so  tiny  as  to  indicate 
little  but  good  will.  The  other  instance  was  that  of  a  large 
firm  which  forthwith  failed.  Going  concerns  like  "  Hans 
Renold's  "  have  reported  that  they  wish  their  shop  stewards 
to  take  over  more  control.  Mr.  C.  G.  Renold  instances  the 
matter  of  discipline,  where  the  shop  stewards  requested  him 
to  carry  on  and  not  give  them  the  unpleasant  job. 

The  path  into  workers'  control  is  a  thick  tangle.1  The  only 
thing  clear  is  that  the  workers  wish  more  control.  Some  say 

1  This  is  the  British  way :  to  push  on  into  the  jungle  without  a  map 
or  a  compass,  but  with  an  instinct  for  direction.  They  write  good  his- 
tory of  their  journeying,  a  generation  or  a  century  later,  but  they  keep 
no  chronicle  of  the  day  as  it  falls.  They  chop  away  at  the  facts  till 
vast  heaps  lie  along  their  path.  They  attempt  no  collection,  no  clas- 
sification, no  analysis,  no  synthesis,  till  they  near  the  end  of  what 
would  have  been  an  easier  journey,  if  they  had  used  a  scientific  im- 
agination. But  no  one  else  had  ever  made  the  journey,  nor  would 
have  made  it  but  for  the  track  they  blasted. 


270  THE  SUMMING  UP 

(the  syndicalists)  they  want  complete  control.  But  how 
much  of  the  ache  would  be  alleviated  by  good  living  and 
working  conditions,  no  man  knows.  Their  suffering  is  clear 
to  them.  But  the  thing  they  suffer  from  and  the  remedy  are 
not  clear.  It  was  only  ninety  years  ago  that  the  workers 
felt  that  the  vote  would  represent  the  sum  of  their  desires. 
The  miner,  railwayman,  machinist,  reacts  to  his  job.  He 
feels  himself  thwarted  at  certain  points  of  the  industrial  proc- 
ess. He  longs  to  reach  out  and  clear  up  the  mess  of  routine 
and  red  tape  and  mismanagement  in  which  he  finds  his  will 
to  work  tangled.  He  talks  over  his  disgusts  and  aspirations  at 
the  branch  or  the  public  house.  He  meets  other  minds  battling 
like  his.  In  one  way  or  another,  that  experience  of  his  is 
passed  on  and  intensified  as  it  speaks  to  the  experience  of  a 
dozen,  a  hundred,  a  thousand  others.  That  complex  of  im- 
pressions, thwartings,  and  desires,  warm  and  human,  is  wait- 
ing to  be  sharpened  and  shaped  into  orderly  thought  and 
then  into  a  program  of  action.  He  is  told  he  is  throbbing  be- 
cause of  British  troops  in  Egypt.  He  wonders.  But  when 
his  wages  are  reduced,  he  does  not  need  to  be  told  that  a 
live  nerve  has  been  touched.  Which  functions  of  workers' 
control  as  yet  touch  that  live  nerve? 

Need  of  Psychology 

The  young  intellectuals  of  Britain  who  show  interest  in 
labor  are  singularly  unaware  of  the  nature  of  this  material 
under  examination.  The  great  instinctive  movement  of  the 
workers  is  pushing  on.  Theirs  not  to  reason  why.  But  it  is 
emphatically  the  business  of  students  of  the  labor  movement 
to  use  the  apparatus  and  technique  which  have  been  laid  down 
by  men  like  Graham  Wallas.  They  are  telling  the  workers 
what  the  workers  want,  without  themselves  possessing  an 
equipment  in  the  data  of  modern  psychology.  They  write 
rationalistic  paragraphs  about  "  service  "  and  "  motives  "  and 
"  economic  forces,"  without  at  all  realizing  that  there  are 
instincts  in  industry  which  break  those  Victorian  Oxford 


THE  SUMMING  UP  271 

ideas  into  fine  splinters.  There  is  much  patient  work  to  be 
done  in  the  psychology  of  the  skilled  worker,  the  unskilled, 
the  casual,  the  technician,  the  manager,  before  they  can  be  at 
all  jammed  into  facilely  devised  categories  and  marshaled, 
like  two  sets  of  chessmen,  into  neat  opposing  forces,  to  be 
moved  by  the  Capablanca  of  the  intellectuals. 

One  of  the  distinguished  English  economists,  himself  a 
Guildsman,  writes  me: 

I  have  thought  over  your  criticisms,  and  on  the  whole  I 
agree  with  them  as  to  the  method,  though  I  am  not  sure  they  very 
much  affect  the  substance  of  the  Guildsmen's  conclusions.  My 
only  criticism  on  Graham  Wallas's  work  (which  I  admire)  is  that 
it  is  sometimes  a  rearrangement  under  new  categories  of  matter 
which  is  already  familiar,  and  which,  when  rearranged,  does  not 
suggest  very  different  conclusions.  Granted  that  man  is  not 
"rational,"  what  is  the  practical  application  thereof?  Presumably 
that  he  should  be  as  rational  as  he  can.  No  doubt  political  terms 
are  likely  to  be  strained  when  transferred  to  the  sphere  of  eco- 
nomics, e.g.,  "  self-government "  in  industry.  But  is  it  necessary 
to  prove  the  psychological  malaise  which  arises  when  men  are 
unable  to  exercise  any  effective  control  over  their  social  environ- 
ment? Is  it  not  legitimate  to  assume  it,  and  to  argue  on  that 
hypothesis? 

I  believe  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  correct  diagnosis  before 
applying  the  remedy.  Otherwise,  like  ancient  doctors,  we  may 
bleed  the  patient  white. 

Another  Guildsman  has  published  the  following,  entitled 
Graham  Wallas  on  Democracy — the  Fabianism  of  1895: 

Wallas  has  a  sort  of  low-voiced  Nonconformist  sincerity 
about  him,  which  is  only  slightly  spoiled  by  a  tendency  to  occa- 
sional bawling.  There  is  a  curious  impartiality  about  his  utter- 
ance, an  almost  imbecile  absence  of  preference,  which  exalts  him 
or  degrades  him  according  to  the  mood  of  the  listener.  ...  It 
can  readily  be  discerned  from  what  has  been  given  above  tbat, 
in  spite  of  a  knowledge  of  social  psychology  and  an  array  of 
modern  instances,  Grabam  Wallas  is  still  the  enlightened  "  Drey- 
fusard." 


272  THE  SUMMING  UP 

In  the  Socratic  dialogue  of  the  New  Republic  (May  31, 
1919),  Walter  Lippmann  says: 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  an  effective  social  science  is 
impossible  which  does  not  seek  the  hidden  motives  behind  overt 
acts. 

And  Harold  Laski  responds: 

We  start  with  a  complex  of  impulses — all  of  them  strivings 
for  the  realization  of  personality.  We  find  that  a  state  such  as 
our  own  can  satisfy  the  strivings  of  relatively  few  of  its  members. 
I  am  anxious  to  record  my  sense  that  the  political  scientists  are 
never  going  seriously  to  grapple  with  their  problems  until  (like 
Walter  Lippmann  and  Graham  Wallas)  they  realize  the  bearing 
of  psychological  discovery. 

The  limitations  of  the  group  of  Guildsmen  (with  notable 
exceptions,  including  J.  Paton  and  Frank  Hodges)  are  an 
ignorance  of  the  facts  concerning  workers'  control,  and  an 
unawareness  of  the  need  for  a  psychological  approach  to  the 
material  under  investigation.  Their  brilliant  and  incompara- 
ble pioneering  now  needs  to  be  supplemented  by  the  massive 
and  minute  work  of  men  like  Sidney  Webb,  in  one  field,  and  of 
Graham  Wallas  and  Harold  Laski,  Lord  Haldane  and  Mr. 
Justice  Sankey,  in  other  fields. 

They  have  not  thought  through  on  the  problem  of  manage- 
ment (technical,  commercial,  and  executive). 

Is  the  managerial  group  to  be  supplied  from  the  ranks  of 
labor? 

Is  the  present  managerial  group  to  be  taken  over  by  labor 
and  employed  as  a  high-salaried  class  under  labor  control,  as 
now  it  is  the  servant  of  the  capitalistic  class? 

Is  the  present  managerial  group  to  become  a  part  of  the 
labor  movement?  If  so,  will  it  be  merged,  or  remain  a  dis- 
tinct group? 

If  a  distinct  group,  will  it  have  power  in  relation  to  its 
numerical  strength,  or  in  relation  to  its  functional  value? 

Schemes  and  bills  for  workers'  control  must  as  yet  include 


THE  SUMMING  UP  273 

special  representation  for  the  technical  and  directive  group — 
along  some  such  line  as  the  Plumb  plan.  Otherwise  the  job 
of  "  persuading  "  the  managers  will  be  as  millennial  as  that  of 
Christianizing  the  capitalist.  The  engineering  draughtsmen, 
a  few  colliery  managers,  bank  clerks,  and  the  like,  who  have 
been  converted  to  a  world  fit  for  producers,  are  not  a  suffi- 
cient answer  to  this  problem  of  how  to  carry  the  managerial 
group  over  into  self-government. 

The  consumer  must  be  safeguarded  and  so  convinced.  The 
way  has  not  been  shown. 

Shaw  says,  "  Without  qualified  rulers  a  Socialist  State  is 
impossible." 

As  usual,  Webb  has  long  been  tackling  this  not  by  talking, 
but  by  training  administrators.  Evidence  on  this,  given  by 
Lord  Haldane,  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  in  New  Class 
of  Government  Servant. 

The  only  detailed  study  of  workers'  control  in  Britain  has 
been  made  by  an  American,  Mr.  Carter  Goodrich,  under  the 
title  of  The  Frontier  of  Control.  His  book  is  indispensable 
for  one  who  would  know  the  area  of  control  (much  of  it 
negative,  the  control  of  restrictions  and  veto,  and  legislative 
minima)  which  has  already  been  obtained  by  the  workers, 
and  the  direction  in  which  they  are  pushing  their  frontier  into 
new  territory.  His  sharp  analysis  breaks  up  "  discipline  and 
management"  into  their  fact-content,  and  their  psychological 
hinterland.  Mr.  Goodrich's  study  is  only  a  beginning.  The 
whole  region  of  instincts  in  industry — in  simple  language, 
what  the  workers  want — remains  to  be  plumbed  and  explored. 
But  his  investigation  shows  what  is  needed. 

In  dealing  with  a  matter  like  workers'  control,  or  nationali- 
zation, or  a  forty-eight-hour  week,  the  British  way  is  to  let 
trouble  heap  up  through  several  years,  denying  there  is  any 
trouble,  till  it  bursts  into  a  crisis.  Then  a  scratch  committee 
of  experts  is  appointed,  who  work  at  breack-neck  speed,  pool 
their  opinions,  and  produce  a  report  of  recommendations  on 
what  to  do  to  be  saved.  This  is  drafted  as  a  Parliamentary 
Bill,  and  becomes  an  act,  a  law.  By  this  good-natured  optimis- 


274.  THE  SUMMING  UP 

tic  postponing  way  of  theirs,  the  British  are  able  to  enjoy  life 
as  a  series  of  emergencies  which  sometimes  approach  disaster. 
But  the  actual  legislation  is  often  the  result  of  long  stealthy 
patient  propaganda.  Ideas  blow  up  and  down  the  country- 
side, like  seeds  on  the  wind,  and  at  last  find  lodgment  in  the 
collective  mind.  After  many  years  they  result  in  legislation. 
A  law  once  passed  cannot  be  killed.  It  takes  root  and  be- 
comes an  institution,  altering  society. 

The  tendency  in  British  society  has  long  been  to  idle  at  the 
top  and  to  pauperize  at  the  bottom.  Institutions  have  strength- 
ened this  tendency,  because  legislation  has  favored  it.  A  large 
section  of  the  upper  and  middle  class  are  small  owners 
(rentiers)  and  take  life  gently.  Slackness  has  seeped  into  the 
fiber  of  the  race.  In  their  attitude  toward  work,  many  Britons 
— in  all  classes — have  a  faint  scorn.  The  customer  is  at  the 
mercy  of  the  shopowner  or  clerk,  who  continues  whatever  he 
is  amusing  himself  with,  in  order  to  teach  the  customer  his 
place.  That  the  consumer  has  the  right  to  call  the  tune  for 
the  producer,  is  a  truth  not  widely  known  in  Britain.  Work, 
being  scorned,  has  been  poorly  paid.  Out  of  black  poverty 
have  sprung  the  ills  that  now  weight  England  down.  Instead 
of  rewarding  work  with  a  living  wage,  she  has  let  some  of 
her  workers  §ink  into  misery,  and  then  she  has  slapped  plas- 
ters on  the  running  sore.  Increasingly,  England  has  been  us- 
ing State  doles  and  palliatives,  and  she  has  somewhat  rotted 
the  sturdy  English  nature.  She  has  built  her  philosophy  of 
social  reform  out  of  the  statistics  of  misery. 

The  Year 

This  staleness  has  misled  her  enemies  into  believing  that 
recovery  and  renewal  were  not  for  her.  Each  generation  they 
have  thought  they  saw  her  stumbling  to  ruin.  But  in  her 
heavy-hooved  lumbering  way  she  takes  the  seven-barred 
gate.1 

1  Maurice  Hewlett  wrote  in  The  Daily  News  of  October  15,  1919: 
"The  other  day  the  village  was  celebrating  the  birthday  of  its  La- 


THE  SUMMING  UP  275 

To  sum  up  the  year  in  simple  sentences: 

The  reconstructive  program  of  the  Government  is  still  a 
paper  scheme. 

Labor  has  taken  only  its  first  step  (wages  and  hours)  to- 
ward a  new  society. 

borers'  Union  in  a  manner  which  used  to  be  reserved  for  the  coming 
of  age  of  the  Squire's  son. 

"It  was  sober  merry-making  after  our  manner,  yet  one  could  feel 
the  undercurrent  of  a  triumph  not  difficult  to  understand.  Not  a 
man  there  but  knew,  or  had  heard  his  father  tell,  of  how  things  used 
to  be.  Ten  years  ago  those  men  were  earning  sixteen  shillings  a 
week  for  twelve  hours  a  day;  fifteen  years  ago  they  were  earning 
twelve  shillings;  thirty  years  ago  they  were  earning  nine  shillings;  a 
hundred  years  ago  they  were  on  the  rates,  herded  about  in  conscript 
gangs  under  the  hectorings  of  an  overseer.  Now — and  it  has  seemed 
to  come  all  in  a  moment — the  humblest  of  them  earn  their  363.  6d. ; 
the  head  men  their  403. ;  their  hours  are  down  to  fifty-four  for  the 
week,  with  a  half-holiday  on  Saturday;  delegates  of  their  kind  sit  at 
a  board  in  Trowbridge  face  to  face  and  of  equal  worth  with  delegates 
of  their  employers.  All  matters  affecting  their  status,  housing,  terms 
of  employment,  can  be  brought  before  the  board ;  and  beside  that,  and 
behind  it,  like  a  buttress,  there  is  a  Union,  whose  name  recalls  that 
other  grim  fortress  to  which  alone  in  times  bygone  they  had  to  look 
when  old  age  was  upon  them.  This  new  union  has  been  in  existence 
here  little  more  than  a  twelvemonth,  but  they  know  now  that  it  has 
spread  all  over  England. 

"  They  know  more  than  that.  They  know  that  this  plexus  of 
organizations  is  not  only  social,  but  political;  they  feel  that  the  estate 
of  the  realm  which  they  stand  for  may  soon  become,  and  must  before 
long  become,  the  predominant  estate.  They  feel  the  rising  tide 
already  lifting  them  off  their  feet.  The  elders  are  sobered  by  the 
flood;  but  the  young  ones  taste  the  salt  water  sprayed  off  the  crest  of 
the  wave,  and  look  at  each  other,  laugh  and  cheer.  If  they  rejoice 
they  have  good  reason,  knowing  what  they  know;  and  if  I  rejoice 
with  them,  I  think  that  I  have  good  reason  too.  This  time  three 
years  ago  I  sang  at  length  of  Hodge  and  his  plow ;  and  looking  back 
and  forth  over  his  blood-stained,  sweat-stained,  and  tear-stained  his- 
tory, I  seemed  to  see  what  was  coming  to  him  as  the  crown  of  his 
thousand  years  of  toil. 

"  The  peasant  now  has  his  foot  on  the  degrees  of  the  throne,  and 
has  only  to  step  up,  he  and  his  mates  of  the  mine,  the  forge,  the 
foundry,  and  the  railroad — to  step  up  and  lay  hand  to  the  orb  and 
scepter." 


276  THE  SUMMING  UP 

The  emergence  from  the  most  costly,  the  most  murderous 
war  in  human  history  has  been  made  in  good  order.  Britain 
has  weathered  a  year  of  weariness,  bitterness,  disillusion,  with 
surprising  success. 

Such  an  achievement  promises  that  the  vast  economic 
changes  of  the  next  ten  years  will  be  made  in  British  fashion 
by  conciliation,  compromise,  and  constitutional  methods.  Only 
wildness  and  folly  from  the  Government,  employers,  owners, 
and  the  middle  class  can  now  turn  the  workers  from  their 
program  of  orderly  conquest  of  power. 

Little  can  be  done  in  education  for  another  year  till  the 
reports  of  local  boards  are  sent  in.  The  dearth  of  teachers 
will  be  felt  for  long.  It  will  require  several  years  to  reap 
results  from  the  Fisher  Education  Act. 

The  Sankey  report  for  nationalization  of  the  coal  mines  has 
been  rejected  by  the  Government.  But  no  settlement  will  be 
reached  till  the  mines  are  nationalized. 

The  Government  failed  in  its  attempt  to  lower  the  wages 
of  the  railwaymen.  And  now  it  has  offered  the  railwaymen 
the  largest  instalment  of  workers'  control  ever  officially  pro- 
posed for  a  key  industry,  including  seats -on  the  commercial 
directorate.1 

The  nearer  labor  approaches  its  day  of  power,  the  more 
does  it  slow  up  and  develop  responsibility,  and  the  fainter 
grow  the  voices  of  extremists.  I  think  no  intelligent  person 
fears  excesses  from  labor.  "  I  fear  timidity  and  lack  of  im- 
agination on  the  part  of  labor,"  said  a  University  Liberal  to 
me.  The  leaders  of  labor  are  constitutionalists,  who  desire 
neither  bloodshed  nor  paralysis.  They  wish  a  steady  next-step 
progress  to  the  Socialist  State,  with  workers'  control.  Those 
leaders  are  Smillie,  Hodges,  Clynes,  -Henderson,  Thomas, 
Gosling. 

It  has  been  a  year  in  which  labor  has  been  weak  politically 
and  strong  industrially,  though  in  a  manner  jerky  and  sec- 
tional. Labor  is  weak  politically  and  yet  so  steady  is  the  drift 

1  See  Appendix  IV,  Chapter  II. 


THE  SUMMING  UP  277 

toward  workers'  control  that  at  the  end  of  the  year  in  mu- 
nicipal elections,  labor  won  thirteen  out  of  the  twenty-eight 
London  boroughs,  and  captured  the  Mayoralty  in  sixteen  more 
cities  and  boroughs  of  Britain. 

Three  classes  remain  to  be  heard  from  when  the  echoes  of 
this  year  cease  rolling : 

1.  The  returned  soldiers. 

2.  The  young  men,  such  of  them  as  are  left  after  a  world 
war. 

3.  The  women. 

One  of  tfie  great  thinkers  of  England  has  said,  "  I  believe 
that  our  industrial  system  is  dying.  ...  It  may  be  that  the 
industrial  revolution  was  a  biological  mistake,  that  the  human 
organism  is  not  adapted  to  that  kind  of  life."  In  any  case, 
the  workers  are  determined  to  control  that  industrial  sys- 
tem and  to  attack  the  "  irremediable  joylessness  of  human 
condition." 


APPENDIX 


SECTION  ONE 
THE  EMPLOYERS 

CHAPTER  I 

FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES.1— THE  CON- 
TROL OF  INDUSTRY.— REPORT  OF  THE  NATION- 
ALIZATION COMMITTEE 

INTRODUCTION 

BEFORE  we  attempt  to  deal  with  the  important  issues  which  will 
be  discussed  in  this  Report,  we  desire  to  set  out  a  few  facts 
regarding  the  conditions  under  which  the  industry  of  the  world 
is  at  present  carried  on. 

Development  of  the  Industrial  System 

At  the  present  time  the  capitalist  system  is  the  basis  of  the 
whole  of  the  productive  enterprise  of  the  civilized  world. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  igth  century  the  population  of  England 
and  Wales  did  not  much  exceed  8  millions,  and  its  standard  of 
living  was  low.  By  the  end  of  the  century  the  population  was 
nearly  quadrupled,  having  reached  a  very  much  greater  number 
than  can  possibly  be  supported  from  the  internal  resources  of  the 
country,  and  yet  the  standard  of  living  of  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity had  been  considerably  raised.  The  great  increase  of  pro- 
duction which  made  this  possible  was  entirely  achieved  under  the 
capitalist  system. 

Production  cannot  take  place  except  through  the  previous 
accumulation  of  wealth  by  the  efforts  and  savings  of  individuals, 
and  the  capitalist  system  has  provided  the  best  machinery  hitherto 
discovered  for  enabling  and  encouraging  the  individual  to  accumu- 
late wealth  and  devote  it  to  production. 

It  has  preserved  the  fluidity  which  is  needed  to  insure  progress 
and  to  encourage  the  re-adaptation  continually  necessitated  by 
changing  conditions  and  new  inventions  and  discoveries,  while 

1The  Federation  represents  16,000  firms  and  nearly  five  thousand 
million  pounds  of  capital. 

281 


282  THE  EMPLOYERS 

providing  unequaled  means  of  encouraging  those  engaged  in  pro- 
duction to  ascertain  and  fulfil  the  requirements  of  the  individual 
consumer. 

The  needs  of  a  civilized  population  are  so  varied  and  its  de- 
mands change  so  rapidly  that  a  considerable  risk  is  involved  in  all 
productive  undertakings. 

The  capitalist  system  has  offered  the  maximum  inducement  to 
every  citizen  to  take  part  in  the  great  adventure  of  productive 
enterprise,  which  has  maintained  the  world  and  made  civilization 
possible.  At  the  same  time  the  risk  of  personal  loss  involved  has 
tended  to  restrain  reckless  and  uneconomical  production. 

The  above  considerations  apply  with  redoubled  force  to  the 
export  trade,  in  which  the  risks  are  greater  and  the  requirements 
of  the  consumer  more  varied  and  more  difficult  to  ascertain  than 
in  the  home  trade.  The  population  of  this  country  could  not 
have  existed  and  cannot  continue  to  exist  without  a  large  export 
of  manufactured  goods  to  pay  for  the  raw  materials  and  food- 
stuffs which  must  be  imported  for  its  subsistence.  The  capitalist 
system  has  afforded  ideal  means  for  developing  our  Export  Trade. 

Growth  of  Competition 

In  many  cases  the  rapid  increase  of  production  led  to  the  growth 
of  an  intense  competition,  involving  destructive  undercutting  of 
prices  and  unnecessary  duplication  of  activity  and  plant. 

The  elasticity  of  the  capitalist  system  enabled  it  to  adapt  itself 
automatically  to  the  changing  conditions,  by  the  development  of 
large  industrial  combinations,  thus  decreasing  unnecessary  and 
wasteful  competition,  and  securing  to  the  world  the  economies  of 
large-scale  production. 

Development  of  Combinations 

This  development  is  a  normal  and  necessary  feature  of  the 
industrial  evolution  consequent  upon  the  use  of  power-driven 
machinery.  Moreover  we  believe  that  the  development  has  been 
of  definite  benefit  to  the  consumer  by  standardizing  and  steadying 
production  and  reducing  costs. 

The  Addendum  to  the  Report  of  the  Government  Committee 
on  Trusts  (Cd.  9236)  which  was  signed  by  Messrs.  Ernest  Bevin, 
J.  A.  Hobson,  W.  H.  Watkins,  and  Sidney  Webb  contains  the  fol- 
lowing statement :  "  We  have  to  recognize  that  association  and 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     283 

combination  in  production  and  distribution  are  steps  in  the  greater 
efficiency,  the  increased  economy  and  the  better  organization  of 
industry.  We  regard  this  evolution  as  inevitable  and  de- 
sirable." 

Moreover  the  commercial  competition  of  other  nations  becomes 
every  year  more  and  more  intense.  This  makes  the  principle  of 
combination  absolutely  essential  if  British  Industry  is  to  hold 
its  own  at  home  and  abroad. 

If,  therefore,  the  present  industrial  system  is  to  reach  its  full 
efficiency  as  a  means  of  satisfying  the  requirements  of  the  com- 
munity, the  evolution  towards  large-scale  organization  must  be 
encouraged  and  not  discouraged.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  administration  of  large  centralized  concerns 
is  still  in  an  experimental  stage,  and  only  experience  can  discover 
how  best  to  eliminate  the  inherent  difficulties.  Meanwhile  the 
development  of  combinations  of  capital  is  undoubtedly  responsible 
for  some  of  the  present  unrest  in  the  industrial  world,  for  the 
following  reasons: 

Relations  between  Producer  and  Consumer 

The  growth  of  monopolistic  combinations  has  disquieted,  and 
occasionally  led  to  the  exploitation  of  the  consumer,  though  this 
latter  feature  has,  almost  certainly,  been  greatly  exaggerated.  In 
this  connection  we  would  refer  to  the  following  statement  by 
Dr.  J.  W.  Jenks,  the  well-known  authority  who  has  been  intrusted 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  with  the  drafting  of  anti- 
trust legislation:  "Contrary  to  public  opinion,  a  careful  study  of 
the  charts  indicates  that  the  effect  of  these  combinations  taking 
their  history  as  a  whole  has  not  been  to  increase  prices  to  the 
consumers,  though  at  certain  times  and  for  relatively  short 
periods  they  have  doubtless  increased  prices."  (The  Trust 
Problem,  Chapter  IX). 

Relations  between  Capital  and  Labor 

The  aggregation  of  capital  into  large  units  has  led  to  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  owner  of  capital  from  the  workers  he  employs. 
Formerly  the  owner  of  capital  generally  took  an  active  part  in 
the  direction  of  his  business.  The  business  was  on  a  small  scale, 
and  he  was  directly  in  contact  with  his  workers.  Now  the  owners 
of  capital  in  any  large  concern  may  be  hundreds  of  thousands, 


284  THE  EMPLOYERS 

and  the  size  of  the  unit  is  such  that  management  must  be  by 
deputies  sub-divided  into  various  grades,  and  little  if  any  per- 
sonal contact  can  exist  between  the  owners  of  capital  and  the 
men  employed. 

Waste  of  National  Resources 

Another  disadvantage  which  has  arisen  from  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  industry  has  been  the  great  waste  caused  in  some  of  the 
world's  essential  resources. 

The  need  for  some  adequate  safe-guarding  of  the  interests  of 
the  community  in  the  future  becomes  evident,  when  we  consider 
the  reckless  using  up  of  the  future  resources  of  the  world,  such 
as  has  been  manifest,  for  example,  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  The  voluminous  Report  of  the  American  National  Con- 
servation Commission  in  1909  gives  the  facts  in  striking  detail. 
We  read  there  the  story  of  "  the  robbing  of  the  soil "  by  the 
prairie  farmer,  the  destruction  of  the  forest  by  the  "  lumber 
kings,"  the  reckless  exhaustion  of  the  oil  fields,  the  frittering  away 
of  the  potential  water  power,  the  neglect  of  irrigation,  the  loss  of 
wealth  by  coast-erosion  and  river  inundation — showing  in  the 
aggregate  a  vast  economic  waste. 

THE  DEMANDS  OF  LABOR 

The  remedies  which  the  Labor  and  Socialist  Parties  suggest  for 
the  difficulties  which  have  been  referred  to  above  are : 

1.  Nationalisation 

(a)  To  prevent  the  possible  exploitation  of  the  consumer  by 
the  monopolies  which  may  result  from  the  centralization  neces- 
sary to  the  efficiency  of  certain  industries  and  public  services. 

(b)  To  supervise  and  co-ordinate  the  development  of  essential 
national  resources. 

2.  Democratic  Control  by  the  Workers 

To  prevent  the  alleged  exploitation  of  Labor  by  Capital,  both 
in  regard  to — 

(a)  Conditions  of  employment. 

(b)  Division  of  the  rewards  of  industry. 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     285 


I.— NATIONALIZATION 

The  word  nationalization  is  used  loosely  to  cover  a  great  many 
forms  of  communistic  enterprise,  e.g.,  State  ownership,  State 
ownership  combined  with  State  management,  municipal  enterprise, 
etc.  These  various  forms  all  raise  different  considerations  which 
cannot  be  discussed  in  detail  in  a  report  of  this  character.  We 
propose  therefore  to  set  out  our  views  by  means  of  a  number 
of  general  statements. 

State  Management 

We  would  begin  by  laying  it  down  as  a  general  proposition 
that  centralized  management  by  a  Government  Department  is 
fatal  to  commercial  efficiency  and  enterprise.  We  observe  that 
those  members  of  the  Government  Committee  on  Trusts  who 
signed  the  Addendum  to  the  Report  of  the  Committee  (Messrs. 
E.  Bevin,  J.  A.  Hqbson,  W.  H.  Watkins,  and  Sidney  Webb)  were 
careful  to  safeguard  themselves  by  stating  that  State  ownership 
does  not  necessarily  imply  State  management,  while  Mr.  Justice 
Sankey  in  his  Report  on  the  Second  Stage  of  the  Coal  Industry 
Commission  stated  (see  para,  xlii.)  that  "  Hitherto  State  Man- 
agement has  on  balance  failed  to  prove  itself  free  from  serious 
shortcomings."  The  Hon.  F.  M.  B.  Fisher,  who  as  Minister  of 
Trade  and  Customs  in  the  Government  of  New  Zealand  (1912- 
1915)  has  had  practical  experience  of  Socialistic  Government, 
made  the  following  remarks  in  his  evidence  before  the  Coal 
Commission : 

"  I  hold  the  view  that  State  monopoly  is  even  a  worse  evil  than 
private  monopoly — the  latter  must  be  efficient  in  order  to  resist  private 
competition  on  the  one  hand,  and  prevent  the  demand  for  State  inter- 
vention on  the  other.  The  State  has  no  such  grounds  for  efficiency." 

Sir  Keith  Price,  Director  of  the  Raw  Materials  Section  of  the 
Ministry  of  Munitions  in  1915  and  Deputy  Director-General  1916 
to  1917,  in  his  evidence  gave  a  full  summary  of  the  objections  to 
bureaucratic  management,  as  follows: 

"My  experience  of  those  Government  factories  which  were  in 
existence  previous  to  the  war  confirms  me  in  the  opinion  that  Gov- 
ernment factories  cannot  be  operated  on  competitive  or  economic  lines, 


286  THE  EMPLOYERS 

owing  to  the  cumbersome  nature  of  the  procedure,  which  is  inevitable 
under  Parliamentary  and  Departmental  control. 

"Among  the  objections  against  Government  control  to  which  I 
attach  importance  are  the  following: 

"  I.   The  Management  having  so  little  say  in :  * 

(a)  The  appointment  and  selection  of  staff; 

(b)  The  grading  of  salaries ; 

(c)  The  lack  of  authority  in  dealing  with  labor; 

(d)  The  efficient  maintenance  of  plant,  i.e.,  the  scrapping  of 
obsolete  plant  and  the  installation  of  up-to-date  plant. 

"  2.  The  weakness  of  any  Government  organization  in  purchas- 
ing the  raw  material  on  competitive  lines  (a  condition  which  did 
not  operate  during  the  war  owing  to  so  many  prices  being  controlled 
and  material  being  rationed). 

"3.  The  weakness  of  any  Government  organization  marketing  its 
products.  I  cannot  see  how  this  can  be  done  satisfactorily  on  com- 
mercial lines  without  acute  controversy. 

"  4.  Political  pressure  will  certainly  be  brought  to  bear  whenever 
questions  of  closing  down  inefficient  or  uneconomical  concerns  arise, 
or  even  on  lesser  subjects." 

We  would  add  that  all  these  difficulties  appear  to  us  to  be 
intensified  under  a  democratic  form  of  Government,  and  in  con- 
firmation of  this  it  may  be  observed  that  the  bureaucracy  of 
Germany  under  the  Imperial  system,  which  involved  subjection  to 
the  Imperial  Executive  and  freedom  from  Parliamentary  control, 
came  nearest  to  achieving  an  efficiency  comparable  with  that  of 
private  enterprise.  It  would,  therefore,  seem  almost  inevitable 
that  if  a  nationalized  industry  is  to  achieve  any  high  degree  of 
efficiency  it  should  be  developed  under  a  system  of  autocratic 
control,  and  the  greater  the  extent  to  which  the  industries  of  the 
country  are  nationalized,  the  greater  the  danger  that  the  Gov- 
ernment will  tend  away  from  those  ideals  of  true  democracy  which 

have  only  just  triumphed  at  the  cost  of  so  much  suffering. 

s- 

Manufacturing  Industries 

These  inherent  weaknesses  of  State  management  account  for 
the  fact  that,  while  the  State  has  at  different  times  and  in  dif- 
ferent countries  undertaken  a  wide  range  of  those  important  enter- 
prises which  aim  at  rendering  a  service  open  to  the  whole  com- 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     287 

munity,  and  has,  to  some  extent,  engaged  in  manufacture  for  its 
own  consumption,  it  has  not,  speaking  generally,  engaged  in  indus- 
tries aiming  primarily  at  the  production  of  goods  for  exchange. 
This  is  the  most  difficult  class  of  productive  enterprise,  needing, 
if  it  is  to  be  successful,  the  most  elastic  and  far-sighted  manage- 
ment, a  close  and  continual  study  of  individual  requirements,  and 
constant  re-adaptation  to  meet  changing  conditions  of  demand. 

The  State  is  obviously  unsuited  for  enterprise  of  this  kind,  and 
it  is  not  surprising  that,  although  State  monopolies  have  been 
established  in  certain  products  for  purposes  of  revenue,  the 
results  have  in  general  been  most  unfortunate  for  the  consumer. 

The  same  can  be  said  of  municipal  enterprise;  this  has  never 
engaged  to  any  substantial  extent  in  the  production  of  goods  for 
exchange. 

It  is,  in  fact,  impossible  for  this  class  of  production  to  be 
satisfactorily  carried  out  unless  the  producer  is  subject  at  the 
same  time  to  the  spur  of  possible  profit  and  the  curb  of  possible 
personal  loss.  The  civil  servant  or  municipal  employee  should  be 
immune  from  the  temptation  of  personal  profit,  while  the  body 
which  employs  him  (the  State  or  Municipality),  having  the  public 
purse  behind  it,  is  liable  to  fluctuate  between  over-caution  and 
extreme  recklessness. 

It  is  further  inconceivable  that  an  industry  owned  or  managed 
by  the  State  could  enter  into  competitive  trade  in  foreign  coun- 
tries in  the  present  stage  of  human  development,  without 
encountering  difficulties  both  economic  and  political,  which  would 
be  disastrous  to  any  hope  of  amicable  international  relations. 
Every  trade  dispute  would  become  a  potential  casus  belli,  every 
unpaid  account  or  broken  contract  the  subject  of  an  ultimatum. 

And  yet,  as  we  have  already  pointed  out,  a  great  and  increasing 
export  trade  is  an  essential  of  continued  existence  to  a  highly 
industrialized  country  such  as  Great  Britain,  dependent  for  a 
large  proportion  of  her  essential  foodstuffs  and  raw  materials 
upon  her  imports,  and  compelled  to  pay  for  them  by  the  export 
of  manufactured  commodities. 

Public  Service  Industries 

Where  there  is  no  question  of  meeting  the  varying  requirements 
of  individual  consumers,  but  only  of  supplying  some  public  service 
open  to  the  whole  community,  different  considerations  arise.  As 


288  THE  EMPLOYERS 

is  well  known,  a  substantial  proportion  of  the  essential  public 
services,  such  as  Transport,  Supply  of  Water  and  Lighting,  Drain- 
age, etc.,  in  many  civilized  countries,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  State 
or  Municipality.  The  Nationalization  or  Municipalization  of  these 
services  has  been  accelerated  by  the  fact  that  these  forms  of 
enterprise  can  be  run  more  or  less  by  routine  methods  and  are 
conducted  on  the  principle  of  increasing  returns,  that  is  to  say, 
in  the  words  of  J.  S.  Mill,  "  can  only  be  carried  out  advantageously 
upon  so  large  a  scale  as  to  render  liberty  of  competition  illusory." 
These  services  fall  into  different  categories,  which  require  separate 
consideration.  Our  views  in  regard  to  them  are  summarized  in 
the  following  propositions: 

1.  There  are  certain  public  services,  such  as  the  provision  of 
Roads   and    Sewers,   which   must   be   handled   by   the    State   or 
Municipality,  because  it  is  either  impossible  or  undesirable  to  make 
a  direct  charge  for  them. 

2.  There  are  certain  public  services  which  involve  the  exercise 
of  exceptional  and  arbitrary  powers  over   individual   or   public 
property  and  can  more  efficiently  be  conducted  as  monopolies. 
Considerations  of  public  policy  often  make  it  desirable  that  where 
these  are  of  purely  local  importance  they  should  be  conducted  by 
the  Municipality. 

3.  In  some  cases  successful  results  have  been  obtained  by  vest- 
ing important  public  service  organizations  in  special  Commissions 
or  bodies  of  Trustees  nominated  by  the  chief  users  and  the  appro- 
priate Public  Authorities. 

4.  There  are  certain  Public  Services,  the  activities  of  which 
must  be  co-ordinated  over  large  areas  if  they  are  to  obtain  real 
efficiency.     We  suggest  that  the  most  effective  way  of  obtaining 
this  co-ordination  will  generally  be  to  facilitate  the  amalgamation 
or  co-operative  working  of  the  different  undertakings   in  each 
area,  subject  to  the  safeguards  necessary  for  the  protection  of 
the  Public. 

Conclusion 

Finally,  we  desire  to  record  our  emphatic  opinion  that  in  dealing 
with  industries  or  public  services  of  whatever  class,  whether  local 
or  national,  any  further  extension  of  State  monopolies  should  be 
avoided  not  only  for  the  reasons  given  above  under  the  heading 
of  "State  Management,"  but  also  because: 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES      289 

(a)  The  proper  safeguard  against  private  monopoly  is  not 
the  creation  of  State  monopolies,  which  are  much  more  dan- 
gerous. The  intervention  of  the  State  should  aim,  not  at 
removing,  but  at  preserving  so  far  as  possible  the  advan- 
tages of  competition. 

(&)  There  is  very  grave  objection  to  the  Government 
being  the  employer  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  voters  upon 
whose  support  it  depends. 

(c)  The  principal  aim  of  the  State  must  always  be  po- 
litical; governments  are  organized  for  political  and  not  for 
commercial  purposes   and  must   always  be   overloaded  with 
political  work  which  will  be  their  chief  concern. 

(d)  The  existence  of  such  monopolies  makes  it  impossible 
for  the  Government  to  be   impartial   in  industrial  matters, 
and  makes  for  political  corruption. 

(e)  It  has  hitherto  been  found  impossible  for  the  State  to 
give  sufficiently  free  play  to  local  knowledge  and  experience 
in  connection  with  the  services  which  it  administers,  and  over- 
centralization  is  hostile  to  progress. 

(/)  State  administration  is  always  found  to  involve  serious 
delay  in  the  taking  of  decisions,  even  on  matters  of  detail, 
and  to  be  deficient  in  that  elasticity  which  is  essential  to 
commercial  success. 

(g)  The  fact  that  any  deficiencies  in  working  can  be  met 
out  of  revenue  is  often  an  irresistible  temptation  to  uneco- 
nomical working. 

(ft)  Owing  to  the  close  interdependence  of  our  different 
industries,  the  taking  over  by  the  State  of  one  Industry  for 
what  may  be  considered  reasons  of  public  policy  may  involve 
the  State  in  the  necessity  of  taking  over  other  Industries, 
the  Nationalization  of  which  would  be  a  disaster  to  the  com- 
munity. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 
(a)  STATE  REGULATION  OF  MONOPOLIES 

But  although  we  are  averse  to  State  Management,  we  recognize 
that  the  public  is  entitled  to  some  protection  against  possible 
exploitation  by  monopolies.  As  we  have  already  indicated,  we 
think  the  danger  of  this  exploitation  has  been  greatly  exaggerated, 


290  THE  EMPLOYERS 

but  the  fear  of  it  exists  and  industry  should,  therefore,  submit 
to  such  intervention  on  behalf  of  the  State  as  may  be  necessary 
to  remove  the  hostility  to  the  idea  of  combination  which  undoubt- 
edly affects  certain  sections  of  the  public. 

In  our  opinion,  the  principles  on  which  State  action  should  be 
based  are  generally  indicated  in  the  Report  of  the  Government 
Committee  on  Trusts,  and  we  are  prepared  to  support  those  recom- 
mendations of  the  Committee,  which  throw  on  the  Board  of  Trade 
the  duty  (i)  of  inquiring  into  any  reasonable  complaints,  which 
may  be  made  with  regard  to  the  existence  or  action  of  any  Trade 
Association  or  Combine  and  referring  any  question  which  may 
arise  from  their  inquiry  to  a  special  tribunal  for  investigation  and 
report,  and  (2)  of  recommending  to  the  State  action  for  the 
remedy  of  any  grievances  which  the  tribunal  may  find  to  be  estab- 
lished. 

It  will,  however,  be  most  important  in  carrying  out  any  policy 
of  this  kind  to  safeguard  the  position  of  the  Export  Trade,  and 
we  regard  it  as  essential: 

(1)  That  no  restriction  should  be  placed  on  British  Industry 
which  will  prejudice  its  position  in  the  export  trade. 

(2)  That   care   should  be   taken   not   to   publish   or   give 
extended  circulation  to  any  information  regarding  the  activity 
of  Trade  Associations  or  Combines,  which  might  be  useful 
to  their  foreign  competitors. 

(&)  CONSERVATION  OF  NATIONAL  RESOURCES 

We  are  also  of  the  opinion  that  the  State  should  exercise  the 
supervision  and  control  necessary  to  insure  that  the  national  re- 
sources are  not  wasted,  but  are  used  to  the  best  advantage  of  the 
community;  this  should  not  involve  the  exploitation  of  such  re- 
sources by  the  State,  and  need  not  involve  State  ownership,  but 
only  the  amount  of  regulation  necessary  to  prevent  waste. 

Note. — Co-operative  Societies 

Before  leaving  this  branch  of  our  subject,  we  desire  to 
mention  one  other  form  of  enterprise  which  has  done  excel- 
lent work  for  the  community,  and  should  have  considerable 
development  in  the  future,  though  it  can  never  cover  more 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     291 

than  a  small  part  of  the  whole  field  of  production.  We  refer 
to  the  work  of  the  Co-operative  Societies.  These  Societies 
are  Associations  of  consumers  who  unite  voluntarily  with  the 
idea  primarily  of  supplying  their  own  requirements.  They 
buy  the  greater  part  of  their  supplies  in  the  ordinary  mar- 
kets and  to  that  extent  their  work  is  distributive  only.  But 
they  have  established  factories  and  workshops  for  making 
shoes,  clothing,  hardware,  biscuits,  etc.,  for  their  own  con- 
sumption. In  this  they  have  been  fairly  successful  and  their 
success  is  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  they  have  an  assured 
market  and  confine  themselves  to  making  staple  goods  by 
standard  methods. 


II.— DEMOCRATIC  CONTROL 

Scope  of  the  Demand  of  Labor 

According  to  a  writer  in  the  Round  Table  for  June,  1916,  "  The 
unrest  in  the  industrial  world  to-day  has  not  its  roots  solely  in 
poverty  and  want.  There  is  something  deeper  still  at  work.  Wage- 
earners  are  filled  with  a  vague  but  profound  sentiment  that  the 
industrial  system,  as  it  now  is,  denies  them  the  liberties,  oppor- 
tunities and  responsibility  of  free  men." 

This  feeling  of  unrest,  which  is  naturally  more  characteristic 
of  the  intellectual  section  of  Labor  than  of  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  workers,  has  given  rise  to  the  demand,  which  the  proceedings 
of  the  Coal  Commission  have  brought  into  prominence,  for 
"  Democratic  Control." 

The  scope  of  the  demands  of  Labor  under  this  head  ranges 
from  a  share  in  the  control  of  working  conditions  to  the  taking 
over  of  the  whole  function  of  the  employer.  Speaking  generally 
the  advocates  of  "  Democratic  Control  "  ignore  nationalization  and 
aim  at  placing  the  control  of  Industry  to  a  greater  or  less  degree 
in  the  hands  of  the  workers,  thereby  admitting  what  is  undoubtedly 
the  fact,  that  neither  Nationalization  nor  Municipalization  will 
substantially  affect  their  position.  The  Manual  Laborer  when 
working  for  the  State,  the  Municipality,  or  the  Co-operative  So- 
ciety is  still  a  wage-earner  and  subject  to  discipline,  and  the  rela- 
tions between  employers  and  employed  are  marked  by  the  same 
characteristics  as  under  ordinary  capitalistic  employment. 


292  THE  EMPLOYERS 

Mr.  Gosling's  Suggestions 

As  an  example  of  the  more  moderate  demand,  we  have  the 
suggestions  put  forward  by  Mr.  Gosling  in  his  Presidential  Ad- 
dress to  the  Trade  Union  Congress,  1916: 

"Would  it  not  be  possible  for  the  employers  of  this  country  .  .  . 
to  agree  to  put  their  businesses  on  a  new  footing  by  admitting  the 
workmen  to  some  participation — not  in  profits,  but  in  control?  We 
workmen  do  not  ask  that  we  should  be  admitted  to  any  share  in  what 
is  essentially  the  employers'  own  business — that  is,  in  those  matters 
which  do  not  concern  us  directly  in  the  industry  or  employment  in 
which  we  may  be  engaged.  We  do  not  seek  to  sit  on  the  Board  of 
Directors,  or  to  interfere  with  the  buying  of  materials  or  with  the 
selling  of  the  product.  But  in  the  daily  management  of  the  employ- 
ment in  which  we  spend  our  working  lives,  in  the  atmosphere  and 
under  the  conditions  in  which  we  have  to  work,  in  the  hours  of  begin- 
ning and  ending  work,  in  the  conditions  of  remuneration  and  even 
in  the  manners  and  practices  of  the  foremen  with  whom  we  have  to 
be  in  contact,  in  all  these  matters  we  feel  that  we,  as  workmen,  have 
a  right  to  a  voice — even  to  an  equal  voice — with  the  management 
itself.  Believe  me,  we  shall  never  get  any  lasting  industrial  peace 
except  on  the  lines  of  democracy." 

But  there  has  long  existed  a  school  of  economic  thought  whose 
demands  go  much  further  than  this.  The  elusive  idea  of  a  form 
of  organization,  in  which  the  workers  would  have  complete  con- 
trol of  their  lives  and  work,  has  given  rise  in  the  past  to  numerous 
experiments  in  "  Self-governing  Workshops."  The  same  aspira- 
tion in  a  different  form,  applicable  to  modern  large-scale  indus- 
tries, emerges  to-day  in  the  proposals  of  the  Syndicalists  and 
the  Guild  Socialists. 

Syndicalism 

Syndicalists  aim  at  the  ownership  of  the  means  of  production 
by  organized  Labor,  without  any  intervention  by  the  State.  They 
are  radically  opposed  to  Socialism,  holding  that  the  State  is  the 
great  enemy,  and  that  collective  ownership  by  the  State  would 
make  the  lot  of  the  workers  much  worse  than  it  is  now  under 
the  private  employer. 

Guild  Socialism 

Guild  Socialists,  on  the  other  hand,  hold  that  "  the  State  should 
own  the  means  of  production  as  trustees  for  the  community;  the 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     293 

Guild  would  manage  them,  also  as  trustees  for  the  community." 
They  hope  to  be  able  to  include  in  their  Guild  both  the  manual 
workers  and  the  brain  workers  in  the  industry.  The  view  of 
Guild  Socialists  is  that  State  Socialism  takes  account  of  men 
only  as  consumers,  while  Syndicalists  take  account  of  them  only 
as  producers. 

The  essence,  however,  both  of  Guild  Socialism  and  Syndicalism 
is  to  change  the  control  of  Industry  "  from  above  "  into  control 
"  from  below."  Both  schools  realize  that  State  Socialism  will 
not  do  anything  to  improve  the  status  of  the  manual  workers. 

Past  Experiments  in  Co-operative  Production 

The  history  of  past  experiments  in  Co-operative  Production 
(whether  of  workers  actually  owning  the  shop  and  plant  or  of 
men  working  co-operatively  under  contract  with  the  owner  of  the 
plant)  shows  that  any  policy  of  this  kind  must  be  fatal  to  our 
national  efficiency. 

Associations  of  workers,  which  have  been  formed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  carrying  on  Production,  have  found  themselves  unable  to 
cope  with  industries  conducted  on  a  large-scale,  and  in  small-scale 
industries  they  have  failed  to  make  headway  against,  or  even  keep 
pace  with,  the  capitalist  system.  In  no  country  has  any  but  the 
smallest  fraction  of  industry  fallen  into  their  hands. 

The  following  are  the  more  obvious  defects  of  nearly  all  at- 
tempts at  Co-operative  Production: 

1.  The  difficulty  of  securing  discipline  and  efficient  management 
when  the  manager  is  himself  subject  to  those  whom  he  has  to 
direct. 

2.  Self-governing  Workshops  have  all  been  noticeable  more  or 
less  for  the  slowness  and  reluctance  with  which  they  have  re- 
acted to  any  industrial  change.    The  workers  are  biased  in  favor 
of  the  continuance  of  that  to  which  their  hands  have  become 
adapted.    They  are  slow  to  introduce  new  processes,  slow  to  adopt 
new  inventions,  slow  to  instal  machinery,  slow  in  altering  designs 
and  patterns,  and  particularly  slow  to  recognize  the  coming  in  of 
some  alternative  to  their  own  commodity. 

3.  Finally  the  gravest,  and  apparently  the  most  insuperable, 
drawback   to   this    form   of   industrial   organization   is   that   the 
manual  working  producers  have  no  intimate  or  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  market  for  which  they  have  to  produce.     They  are 


294  THE  EMPLOYERS 

not  in  direct  contact  with  the  consumer  of  their  commodity.  They 
do  not  recognize  his  desires  or  caprices ;  they  are  unable  to  foresee 
what  he  would  prefer — hence  they  are  constantly  finding  them- 
selves unable  to  dispose  of  their  wares. 

Production  for  exchange  cannot  be  successfully  carried  on  unless 
the  actual  producer  is  under  the  direction  of  the  commercial  side. 

Mr.  Sidney  Webb,  in  a  draft  report  prepared  for  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Fabian  Research  Department  in  1916,  summarizes 
the  position  as  follows: 

"Attempts  of  Trade  Unions  to  engage  in  industry  have  been  uni- 
formly and  invariably  financially  unsuccessful,  and  no  encouragement 
should  be  given  to  any  Trade  Union  to  find  any  capital  for  industrial 
enterprises,  whether  under  its  own  control  or  by  self-governing  work- 
shops or  what  is  usually  styled  co-operative  production." 

And  again: 

"The  self-governing  workshop  has,  however,  proved  by  universal 
experience  to  be  inapplicable  to  any  industrial  undertakings  on  a  large 
scale,  and  therefore  affords  us  no  plan  of  organization  for  the  great 
mass  of  modern  industry.  Even  in  the  industrial  enterprise  that  can 
be  carried  on  in  a  small  way,  the  self-governing  workshop,  where 
the  workers  enjoyed  absolute  autonomy,  has  proved  by  long  and  varied 
experience  to  be,  in  all  but  very  exceptional  cases,  neither  stable,  nor, 
so  long  as  it  endures,  economically  efficient,  and  that  where  any  com- 
mercial success  has  been  attained,  it  will  be  found  that  it  has  been 
gained  when  there  is  a  close  market,  nearly  always  a  partially-tied 
market,  such  as  co-operative  stores." 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

It  is,  however,  impossible  not  to  recognize  that  the  theories  of 
the  Syndicalists  and  Guild  Socialists  have  arisen  from  a  genuine 
grievance,  which  demands  and  should  receive  some  remedy.  That 
remedy,  however,  must  not  attempt  to  reverse  the  existing  indus- 
trial order,  or  it  will,  as  recent  events  in  Russia  show,  have 
disastrous  effects  upon  our  economic  system,  from  which  the 
workers  themselves  will  be  the  chief  sufferers. 

Social  grievances  such  as  poor  housing,  insufficient  educational 
facilities,  etc.,  are  largely  responsible  for  the  idea  of  the  class 
war,  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  much  industrial  unrest.  These 
are  matters  of  primary  importance,  but  the  responsibility  for  the 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     295 

evils  which  undoubtedly  exist  rests  upon  the  community  as  a 
whole,  not  solely  upon  employers,  and  the  remedy  for  them  must 
be  in  the  main  political.  Much,  however,  could  be  done  by  im- 
provements in  industrial  practice  (particularly  on  the  part  of  the 
Trade  Unions),  to  give  increasing  opportunities  for  the  advance- 
ment of  merit  and  so  to  a  great  extent  remove  the  artificial 
boundary  between  the  classes.  Quite  apart  from  restrictions  on 
output  the  atmosphere  of  Trade  Unionism  has  tended  to  discourage 
emulation  amongst  the  workers,  and  to  prevent  the  able  and  indus- 
trious worker  from  obtaining  the  position  due  to  his  abilities. 

Putting  these  considerations  aside,  the  difficulties  can,  we  sub- 
mit, be  reduced  to  a  fairly  narrow  compass,  and  ought  not  to  be 
incapable  of  adjustment,  although  it  is  impossible  to  put  forward 
remedies  which  will  be  universally  applicable,  owing  to  the  very 
great  complexity  and  diversity  of  modern  industry,  in  regard  to 
such  matters  as  the  size  and  methods  of  organization  of  the 
different  firms  and  trades;  the  difficulties  of  the  relations  and 
organization  of  Trade  Unions;  the  ratio  and  relations  of  skilled 
and  unskilled  labor;  the  variations  which  obtain  in  the  propor- 
tion of  capital  employed  to  Labor  costs;  the  degree  to  which  the 
works  can  be  carried  on  by  routine  methods,  etc. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  industry  is  a  living  organism,  which 
is  undergoing  a  process  of  continuous  development  and  growth. 
We  believe  that  all  attempts  to  impose  pre-conceived  schemes  of 
organization  can  only  result  in  hindering  progress  and  may  lead 
to  disaster. 

This  applies  especially  to  those  artificial  schemes  of  reconstruc- 
tion which  find  advocates  among  the  extreme  sections  of  Labor 
in  the  different  countries  of  the  world  at  the  present  time.  We 
are  convinced  that  the  industrial  system  of  the  future  can  only 
be  built  up  on  the  foundation  of  present  and  past  experience. 

With  these  considerations  in  mind  we  proceed  to  consider  pos- 
sible developments  under  the  two  following  heads :  "  Participa- 
tion in  Management "  and  "  Participation  in  Profits." 

(a)  PARTICIPATION  IN  MANAGEMENT 

Conditions  of  Employment 

We  are  strongly  of  opinion  that  the  workers  in  every  industry 
should  be  given  the  fullest  possible  voice  in  the  determination  of 


296  THE  EMPLOYERS 

the  conditions  under  which  they  are  employed,  provided  this  does 
not  encroach  upon  the  operations  of  the  Commercial  Management 
or  lessen  the  proper  authority  of  the  foreman.  Subject  to  these 
qualifications  we  endorse  most  willingly  the  suggestions  put  for- 
ward by  Mr.  Gosling  in  his  Presidential  Address  already  quoted. 

Whitley  Councils 

Generally  speaking,  we  think  that  the  objects  which  we  have 
in  view  can  best  be  obtained  by  carrying  out,  with  all  possible 
speed,  the  recommendations  of  the  Whitley  Report  in  regard  to 
National  and  District  Industrial  Councils,  where  the  conditions  of 
the  trade  permit.  These  recommendations  have  repeatedly  been 
approved  by  the  Federation  and  we  desire  once  more  to  state  in 
emphatic  terms  our  approval  of  them,  and  especially  of  the  pro- 
posals for  District  Councils. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Whitley  Committee,  if  properly 
carried  out,  will  give  the  worker  a  new  and  honorable  status. 
In  the  National  Council  of  the  Industry  and  in  the  Joint  Indus- 
trial Council  (the  formation  of  which  should  result  from  the 
recent  National  Conference  of  Employers  and  Trade  Unionists) 
his  representatives  will  sit  on  an  absolute  equality  with  the 
employers,  and  will  have  an  equal  voice  in  determining  the  gen- 
eral conditions  subject  to  which  the  Industry  will  be  carried  on. 

The  carrying  out  of  these  conditions  will  be  a  moral  obligation 
on  the  Commercial  Management  no  less  than  on  the  Workers  in 
the  individual  firms. 

But  the  success  of  these  Councils  must  depend  on  the  loyal 
acceptance  of  their  decisions  by  both  sides.  We  understand  that 
some  of  the  Councils  are  already  applying  for  legislation  to  give 
legal  validity  to  their  decisions.  It  is  obvious  that  the  general 
adoption  of  this  course  would  greatly  increase  the  effectiveness 
of  the  scheme. 

Commercial  Management 

We  have  carefully  considered  the  question  how  far  the  workers 
can  be  given  any  share  in  the  Commercial  Management  of  the 
business  employing  them,  but  we  are  convinced  that  it  is  unde- 
sirable and  impracticable  to  attempt  this.  The  history  of  the 
various  experiments  on  the  line  of  the  "  Self-governing  Work- 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     297 

shop  "  shows  that  any  attempt  of  this  kind  would  inevitably  throw 
Industry  into  confusion  and  weaken  the  productive  force  of  the 
nation. 

The  workers  are  legitimately  interested  in  the  general  condi- 
tions governing  the  industry  in  which  they  work,  so  far  as  the 
industry  as  a  whole  is  concerned,  and  should  be  given  the  fullest 
possible  voice  in  the  settlement  of  general  conditions,  but  the 
Commercial  Management  must  be  kept  as  a  separate  department 
which  should  be  open  to  any  person  possessing  the  requisite 
qualifications,  but  which  must  not  be  under  the  control  of  the 
manual  workers.  For  these  reasons  we  agree  with  Mr.  Gosling 
that  no  solution  can  be  found  by  offering  the  workers  represen- 
tation on  the  directorate.  We  have  heard  of  certain  large  firms 
who  have  adopted  or  are  thinking  of  adopting  this  plan,  but  we 
feel  it  impossible  to  make  a  general  recommendation  in  favor 
of  such  a  practice. 

Publicity  in  Regard  to  Trade  Statistics 

We  regard  it,  however,  as  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
workers  should  be  given  a  better  insight  into  the  industry  which 
employs  them.  We  consider  that  they  should  have  a  greater 
interest  in  their  work  and  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  financial 
condition  of  their  industry  as  a  whole  and  of  the  difficulties  in- 
volved in  the  management  and  in  the  obtaining  of  markets. 

It  is  difficult  to  suggest  any  definite  arrangement  which  will  be 
generally  applicable  to  all  industries,  but  we  believe  that  the 
declared  objects  of  several  of  the  National  Industrial  Councils 
which  have  been  formed  include  provisions  for  the  supply  to  the 
workers  of  properly  certified  aggregate  statistics  for  the  industry 
in  regard  to  wages,  manufacturing  and  selling  prices,  average 
percentages  of  profits  on  turnover,  and  materials,  costs,  etc. 

Works  Committees 

We  believe  also  that,  in  Industries  where  circumstances  admit 
of  their  formation,  Works  Committees  will  do  much  to  make  the 
worker  realize  that  he  is  acquiring  a  new  status  in  Industry.  The 
institution  of  these  Committees  should  be  encouraged  in  every 
possible  way,  subject  to  the  qualification  that  they  should  in  gen- 
eral be  representative  of  the  workers  only,  and  should  be  regarded 


298  THE  EMPLOYERS 

rather  as  a  channel  through  which  the  workers  can  make  such 
recommendations  as  they  desire  to  the  Works  Management. 

Within  these  limits  they  should  be  given  the  highest  possible 
status. 


(&)  PARTICIPATION  IN  PROFITS 

Before  proceeding  to  deal  with  this  part  of  our  subject  in  detail 
we  desire  to  call  attention  to  the  analysis  of  the  national  income 
before  the  war,  made  by  Professor  Bowley/  one  of  the  outstanding 
statistical  authorities  in  this  country,  in  his  book  entitled  "  The 
Division  of  the  Product  of  Industry,"  published  1919.  This  analysis 
shows  that  "before  the  war  the  wealth  of  the  country  however 
divided  was  insufficient  for  a  general  high  standard;  and  there 
is  nothing  yet  to  show  that  it  will  be  greater  in  the  future." 

Professor  Bowley  concludes  that: 

"The  most  important  task, — more  important  immediately  than  the 
improvement  of  the  division  of  the  product — incumbent  on  employers 
and  workmen  alike,  is  to  increase  the  national  product  and  that  with- 
out sacrificing  leisure  and  the  amenities  of  life." 

"The  problem  of  securing  wages  which  people  rather  optimistically 
believe  to  be  immediately  and  permanently  possible,  is  to  a  great 
extent  independent  of  the  question  of  national  or  individual  owner- 
ship, unless  it  is  seriously  believed  that  production  would  increase 
greatly  if  the  State  were  the  sole  employer." 

It  would  seem  to  follow  from  these  conclusions  that  any  pro- 
posals for  increasing  the  remuneration  of  the  workers  should  be 
framed  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  greatest  possible  incentive  to 
increase  the  national  production. 

Proposals  of  this  kind  may  be  classified  under  three  headings: 
"Profit  Sharing,"  "Pooling  of  Profits,"  and  "Payment  by 
Results." 

Profit  Sharing 

We  are  unable  to  make  a  general  recommendation  in  support  of 
any  system  of  profit  sharing  for  the  following  reasons: 

(a)  So  far  as  we  can  ascertain  profit-sharing  is  not  desired  by 
the  workers,  who  are  chiefly  interested  in  securing  high  and 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     299 

regular  wages  and  not  in  obtaining  what  they  regard  as  occasional 
windfalls. 

(&)  Profits  are  not  the  correct  basis  for  calculation  of  wages, 
because  the  remuneration  of  the  workers  ought  not  to  be  made 
dependent  on  the  successes  or  failures  of  the  commercial  man- 
agement. 

(c)  The  general  introduction  of  profit-sharing  would  lead  to 
great  inequalities  between  the  position  of  workers  in  different 
works  and  industries,  and  this  would  give  rise  to  a  sense  of  dissatis- 
faction and  injustice. 

(d)  The  schemes  of  profit-sharing  at  present  in  existence  only 
give  a  very  small  addition  to  the  earnings  of  the  workpeople,  and 
this  must  always  be  the  case  except  where  the  capital  engaged  in 
an  industry  bears  a  high  proportion  to  the  number  of  workers 
employed. 

The  above  criticisms  do  not,  however,  apply  to  the  contributions 
by  employers,  either  individually  or  through  their  trade  associa- 
tions, to  thrift,  superannuation,  accident,  sickness,  or  unemploy- 
ment funds.  Where  a  policy  of  this  kind  can  be  adopted  it  will 
do  much  to  remove  the  feeling  of  insecurity  and  the  fear  of  sick- 
ness and  old  age  which  are  a  large  factor  in  industrial  discontent. 

Pooling  of  Profits 

We  have  considered  the  suggestion  that  some  system  might  be 
devised  whereby  after  capital  had  received  a  certain  return,  and 
the  necessary  allowance  for  depreciation  and  repairs  had  been 
made,  a  part  of  the  profits  should  be  set  aside  for  distribution 
among  the  workers. 

Schemes  of  this  kind  may  be  employed  successfully  in  some 
industries,  but  they  are  open  to  the  general  criticism  which  has 
been  made  above  in  regard  to  profit-sharing,  and  it  would  be 
impossible  to  devise  a  scheme  which  would  be  universally  ap- 
plicable. We  are  therefore  unable  to  make  any  definite  recom- 
mendation on  the  subject. 

Payment  by  Results 

We  consider  it  desirable,  however,  that,  where  possible,  the 
remuneration  of  the  workers  should  be  made  to  bear  some  pro- 
portion to  the  efficiency  of  their  own  efforts,  so  that  good  and 
regular  work  may  be  adequately  rewarded  without  consideration 


300  THE  EMPLOYERS 

of  the  rate  of  profit  arising  from  the  commercial  management  of 
the  business.  We  regard  this  as  a  matter  of  very  great  impor- 
tance, and  we  desire  to  record  the  strongest  possible  warning  in 
regard  to  the  injury  which  will  be  inflicted  on  the  productive 
forces  of  this  country,  if  the  agitation  against  the  principle  of 
payment  by  results,  now  being  carried  on  amongst  certain  sec- 
tions of  labor,  proves  successful. 

At  the  same  time  we  realize  that  the  workers  have  some 
excuse  for  their  attitude  in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  some  cases 
individual  employers  have  unjustly  cut  piece  rates,  when  the  activi- 
ties of  the  workers  have  resulted  in  their  remuneration  being 
largely  increased. 

If  the  system  of  payment  by  results  is  to  become  general,  it 
is  essential  that  employers  should  establish  equitable  systems  for 
fixing  piece  rates,  and  that  there  should  be  some  reasonable 
procedure  for  the  sanctioning  by  an  impartial  authority  of  any 
adjustment  which  may  prove  necessary. 

THE  STATE  AND  INDUSTRY 

In  our  recommendations  regarding  the  relations  between  Capital 
and  Labor,  no  mention  has  been  made  of  the  functions  of  the 
State.  Generally  speaking  we  believe  that  neither  employers  nor 
employed  desire  the  intervention  of  the  State  to  settle  their  diffi- 
culties, except  as  an  impartial  arbitrator.  The  principles  of  trade 
union  representation  and  collective  bargaining  are  now  fully 
accepted  by  employers.  We  hope  that  both  sides  will  show  them- 
selves increasingly  ready  to  yield  to  the  influence  of  public 
opinion,  and  this  tendency  will,  we  believe,  grow  as  the  establish- 
ment of  Joint  Councils  gives  greater  opportunity  for  the  friendly 
discussion  of  difficulties  and  greater  and  wider  appreciation  of  the 
economic  conditions  under  which  industry  is  carried  on.  Nor, 
as  we  have  already  pointed  out,  would  the  position  of  the  worker 
be  substantially  altered  under  State  or  Municipal  ownership.  He 
would  remain  a  wage  earner,  as  he  is  under  private  enterprise. 
Any  concession  which  could  safely  be  given  to  the  worker  by  a 
Governmental  or  Municipal  employer  can  and  should  be  given 
by  the  private  employer.  We  have  already  indicated  what  we 
consider  those  concessions  might  be. 

The  function  of  the  State  in  relation  to  Industry  should  be 


FEDERATION  OF  BRITISH  INDUSTRIES     301 

confined  to  laying  down  minimum  conditions  for  employment  and 
safeguarding  the  public,  e.g.,  from  the  dangers  due  to  the  develop- 
ment of  monopolistic  combinations,  whether  of  Capital  or  Labor. 
For  the  power  of  monopoly  is  not  confined  to  organizations  of 
capital.  The  Trade  Union  which  endeavors  to  exploit  the  com- 
munity by  withholding  its  labor  is  acting  as  much  in  restraint  of 
trade  and  should  be  subject  to  the  same  State  control  as  the 
Combine  which  endeavors  to  exploit  the  consumer  by  means  of 
a  monopoly  of  its  products. 


CHAPTER  II 

EVIDENCE  OF  THE  RIGHT  HONORABLE  BARON  GAIN- 
FORD  OF  HEADLAM  TO  THE  COAL  INDUSTRY 
COMMISSION 

I  AM  Vice-Chairman  of  Pease  and  Partners,  Limited;  a  director 
of  T.  and  R.  W.  Bower,  Limited,  owners  of  Allerton  Main  Col- 
lieries, Yorkshire;  of  the  Broomhill  Collieries,  Limited,  Northum- 
berland; and  have  been  engaged  in  the  direction  of  collieries  and 
ironworks  for  a  period  of  37  years.  I  am  a  member  of  the 
Durham  Coal  Owners'  Association,  and  for  many  years  have  been 
a  member  of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  Mining  Association  of 
Great  Britain.  I  am  chairman  of  the  National  Association  of 
Coke  and  Bye-Product  Plant  Owners.  I  am  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  for  Scientific  and  Industrial 
Research. 

I  have  occupied  the  position  of  patronage  secretary  to  the 
Treasury,  and  as  a  Minister  of  the  Crown  I  have  been  Chancellor 
of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  President  of  the  Board  of  Education, 
and  Postmaster-General. 

The  evidence  I  shall  give  is  given  with  the  authority  of  the 
Mining  Association  of  Great  Britain,  but  as  it  is  a  voluntary 
association,  it  must  be  understood  that  anything  I  say  cannot 
legally  bind  any  particular  member  of  the  Association,  nor,  of 
course,  any  coal  owners  outside  the  Association. 

Whilst  we  are  prepared  to  give  to  the  men  full  opportunity  of 
making  representations  through  organized  channels  and  having 
those  representations  considered,  yet  any  system  which  involves 
joint  control  in  the  management  between  the  owners  and  the  work- 
men is  not  only  impracticable  but  will  inevitably  lead  to  the  most 
disastrous  results  in  the  interests  of  the  country.  I  cannot  con- 
ceive of  anything  more  futile  than  to  attempt  to  manage  a  col- 
liery by  means  of  a  committee  or  council  upon  which  there  was 
an  equal  representation  of  the  existing  management  and  of  the 

302 


BARON  GAINFORD  TO  COAL  COMMISSION     303 

workmen's  representatives.  The  working  conditions  of  a  mine 
are  not  capable  of  being  brought  within  such  a  system  of  control. 
In  the  first  place  certain  statutory  regulations  have  to  be  carried 
out  for  which  the  management  alone  can  be  responsible.  Apart 
from  this,  rapid  decisions  have  constantly  to  be  made  in  respect 
of  questions  of  safety  and  otherwise.  To  attempt  to  work  col- 
lieries by  means  of  committees  would  mean  that  these  committees 
would  become  debating  societies  in  which  division  of  opinion 
might  be  expected  rapidly  to  develop,  with  all  the  consequent 
results  of  want  of  cohesion  and  want  of  initiative.  In  my  view  it 
appears  to  be  not  only  impracticable,  but  inconceivable  that  such 
a  system  of  control  and  administration  could  possibly  be  intro- 
duced in  the  interests  of  the  country. 

Any  system  of  joint  control,  whether  between  the  State  or  with 
representatives  of  the  miners,  would  be  absolutely  unworkable  and 
subversive  of  discipline  and  detrimental  to  national  interests,  and 
I  put  it  to  one  side  at  once,  as  there  is  no  firm  of  employers 
who  would  carry  on  the  industry  for  a  moment  if  they  were  not 
going  to  continue  to  have  the  direction  of  the  business  and  the 
executive  control  of  their  undertaking;  moreover,  no  self- 
respecting  engineer  that  I  have  met  is  prepared  to  take  the  respon- 
sibility of  working  under  any  such  system.  It  would  not  only 
endanger  the  lives  of  working  men,  and  destroy  all  efficiency,  but 
the  property  would  be  wasted,  and  the  industry  could  not  be  run 
as  a  commercial  or  practical  proposition. 

I  am  authorized  to  say,  on  behalf  of  the  Mining  Association, 
that  if  owners  are  not  to  be  left  complete  executive  control,  they 
will  decline  to  accept  the  responsibility  of  carrying  on  the  industry, 
and  though  they  regard  nationalization  as  disastrous  to  the  coun- 
try, they  feel  they  would,  in  such  event,  be  driven  to  the  only 
alternative — nationalization  on  fair  terms. 


RELATIONS  WITH  WORKMEN: 

(a)  Wages. 

The  wages  of  the  workers  in  each  district,  instead  of  varying 
with  the  selling  price  of  coal,  should  be  regulated  with  reference 
to  the  profits  resulting  from  the  industry  in  that  district.  There 
should  be  determined: 


304  THE  EMPLOYERS 

(1)  A  minimum  or  standard  rate  of  wages  to  be  paid  to 

each  class  of  workman  in  that  district,  and  which  for 
the  protection  of  the  consumer  should  be  fixed  by 
machinery  to  be  set  up  in  conformity  with  the  pro- 
posals of  the  National  Industrial  Council. 

(2)  The  particular  items  of  cost,  other  than  standard  wages, 

which  are  to  be  included  in  the  cost  of  production, 
to  be  determined  in  each  district  by  qualified  account- 
ants appointed  by  and  representing  each  party. 

(3)  A  standard  rate  per  ton  to  provide  a  minimum  return 

for  and  redemption  of  owners'  capital  to  be  determined 
for  each  district  by  qualified  accountants,  as  above. 

Any  balance  remaining  after  these  items  have  been  provided 
for  should  be  divided  between  Labor  and  Capital  in  proportions 
to  be  agreed,  the  workmen  receiving  their  proportion  in  the  shape 
of  a  percentage  addition  to  the  standard  wage. 

These  additions  to  the  standard  rates  of  wages  in  each  district 
would  vary  in  accordance  with  the  variation  of  profits  shown  by 
each  periodical  ascertainment  in  such  district. 

The  ascertainments  of  the  average  profits  of  each  district  should 
be  made  quarterly  by  the  accountants. 

As  the  owners  might,  in  times  of  depression,  be  required  to  pay 
a  standard  rate  of  wages  when  they  would  not  be  receiving  the 
standard  return  on  capital,  any  deficiency  in  any  quarter  in  the 
standard  return  on  capital  should  be  made  up  out  of  the  return 
in  any  subsequent  quarter  or  quarters,  before  making  any  division 
between  the  owners  and  the  workmen. 

Questions  arising  with  respect  to  any  of  the  matters  referred 
to  in  this  paragraph,  and  the  settlement  of  which  is  not  otherwise 
provided  for,  shall  be  settled  by  the  Joint  District  Committees  or 
Conciliation  Board  referred  to  in  the  next  paragraph. 

(b)  Co-operation  of  Workmen  and  Owners. 

Machinery  should  be  set  up  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  all 
questions  between  the  owners  and  the  workmen,  and  making  pro- 
vision for  the  owners  and  workmen  conferring  upon  all  matters 
of  particular  or  general  interest  relating  to  safety,  production, 
efficiency,  and  the  well-being  of  the  workers. 

This  machinery  should  consist  of  the  establishment,  or  continua- 


( 

BARON  GAINFORD  TO  COAL  COMMISSION    305 

tion  where  already  established,  of  Joint  Pit  Committees,  or  other 
Consultative  Local  Committees  without  executive  power.  Any 
questions  not  satisfactorily  disposed  of  by  any  Pit  or  Local  Com- 
mittee should  be  referred  to  a  Joint  District  Committee  or  Con- 
ciliation Board  to  be  composed  partly  of  owners  or  their  repre- 
sentatives and  partly  of  representatives  of  the  workmen. 

Districts  should  be  those  established  under  the  Minimum  Wage 
Act. 


CHAPTER  III 

MY  DREAM  OF  A  FACTORY 
By  B.  SEEBOHM  ROWNTREE 

[Mr.  Rowntree  gave  this  talk  to  a  group  of  social  workers.  He 
is  one  of  the  heads  of  Rowntree  and  Co.,  the  cocoa  firm.  He  has 
installed  the  Works  Council.  This  dream  is  a  program  which  he 
is  progressively  enacting.] 

WHEN  I  sat  down  to  prepare  my  speech,  I  did  so  with  the  best 
intentions.  I  wanted  to  give  a  formal  and  dignified  address,  deal- 
ing with  certain  specific  aspects  of  factory  management.  But 
the  formal  and  dignified  address  did  not  emerge.  I  found  my  mind 
wandering  over  the  whole  field  of  factory  administration,  and  I 
began  to  dream  of  the  kind  of  factory  I  should  like  to  have,  if 
I  could  conduct  things  just  in  my  own  way.  I  am  going  to 
content  myself  with  telling  you  my  dream. 

First  of  all,  I  realized  that  business  should  be  a  form  of  national 
service.  We  should  not  go  into  it  merely  to  make  money,  but 
keep  the  idea  of  service  constantly  before  us.  Our  aim  should 
be  to  produce  articles  of  use  to  the  community  under  satisfactory 
conditions,  and  place  them  on  the  market  at  a  reasonable  price. 
While  no  business  could  continue  unless  it  were  run  on  sound 
economic  lines,  we  should  always  strive  to  subordinate  the  claims 
of  industry  to  the  claims  of  citizenship.  And  as  I  dreamed  of  my 
ideal  factory,  I  resolved  to  bear  that  principle  in  mind. 

Then  in  my  dream  I  began  to  plan  a  great  building.  It  occurred 
to  me  that  my  factory  need  not  be  so  ugly  as  many  existing  fac- 
tories. I  would  get  an  architect  to  plan  its  outlines  and  propor- 
tions so  skilfully  as  at  least  to  make  it  pleasing  to  the  eye,  and 
not  a  blot  on  the  landscape.  I  would  plant  creepers  to  climb  up 
its  walls,  and  surround  it  with  gardens  and  playings  fields.  I 
would  do  my  best  to  prevent  smoky  chimneys. 

Again,  as  I  should  want  to  get  hold  of  workers  of  the  best 
type,  who  came  from  good  homes  and  were  neat  and  clean,  I 
would  take  all  possible  pains  in  the  planning  of  the  inside  arrange- 

306 


MY  DREAM  OF  A  FACTORY  307 

ments  of  my  factory.  I  would  have  suitable  amenities — cloak- 
rooms with  hot  water  pipes  just  above  the  floor,  so  that  clothes 
could  be  aired,  and,  in  case  of  wet  weather,  dried,  ready  to  put 
on  again  when  the  time  came.  There  should  be  little  racks  over 
the  hot  pipes,  on  which  boots  and  shoes  could  be  dried.  Slippers 
should  be  forthcoming  for  people  who  got  their  feet  wet,  and  a 
number  of  umbrellas  in  case  of  emergency.  Good  lavatory  ac- 
commodation, with  hot  water  and  towels,  all  conforming  to  a 
very  high  standard  of  cleanliness,  would  be  essential.  Even  indoor 
equipment  would  need  careful  consideration.  I  decided,  in  my 
dream,  to  enlist  the  services  of  a  good  dressmaker,  who  would 
design  overalls  that  any  girl  might  be  pleased  to  wear,  and  that 
would  help  her  to  take  a  pride  in  herself  and  her  work. 

As  for  the  workrooms,  they  should  have  a  beauty  of  their  own. 
They  should  not  suggest  workhouses  or  penal  institutions.  I 
would  call  in  men  of  artistic  ability  to  supply  a  color  scheme  which 
was  pleasing  and  which  harmonized  with  the  building.  All  the 
walls  should  be  covered  with  beautiful  tints  of  color  wash,  and 
some  good  pictures  should  be  hung  on  them.  Then  I  remembered 
that  even  the  poorest  people  often  spend  a  few  coppers  on  flowers, 
and  that  a  trifling  outlay  would  make  a  great  deal  of  difference 
in  the  appearance  of  the  rooms.  So  I  determined  to  put  plants 
and  flowers  here  and  there,  and  make  the  whole  place  look  more 
homelike. 

Then  I  remembered  an  interview  with  Dr.  Kent,  the  famous 
scientist.  He  told  me  how  many  factors  affect  the  health  of  the 
workers.  The  noise  and  turmoil  of  factories,  for  instance,  were 
often  injurious  to  them.  So  I  resolved  that  an  engineer  should 
go  all  round  my  workrooms,  everywhere  trying  to  deaden  the 
throb  of  the  machinery — and  at  the  same  time  to  banish  every 
offensive  smell. 

I  next  reflected  that  it  is  impossible  to  get  more  energy  out 
of  a  man  than  is  put  into  him,  and  that  it  can  only  be  put  into 
him  through  the  alimentary  canal.  So  I  would  have  a  first-rate 
canteen  in  my  dream  factory.  I  would  do  more  than  supply  the 
bodies  of  the  employees  with  a  certain  number  of  calories  of  fuel 
energy.  I  recalled  the  rush  and  scramble  of  popular  cafes  in 
London,  and  I  knew  that  the  meals  I  ate  there  did  me  very  little 
good.  So  my  canteen  should  be  restful,  and  pleasant  in  appear- 
ance, that  the  hour  spent  there  by  the  workers  might  be  a  time 


308  THE  EMPLOYERS 

of  real  recreation.  After  all,  the  dinner-hour  is  the  one  substan- 
tial break  between  two  solid  shifts  of  work,  and  I  should  want  my 
people  to  work  as  well  in  the  afternoon  as  in  the  morning.  I 
would  pay  for  the  building,  heating,  lighting,  and  equipment  of 
the  place,  and  I  would  ask  the  workers  to  pay  for  the  service 
and  for  the  cost  of  the  food,  and,  through  an  appointed  com- 
mittee, to  unite  with  the  head  of  the  canteen  in  making  the  whole 
thing  a  success. 

From  this  I  turned  to  another  aspect  of  health.  I  would  appoint 
a  works'  doctor  to  be  in  attendance  every  day,  and  I  would  do 
my  best  to  find  a  really  sympathetic  man.  Then,  in  view  of  the 
extreme  importance  of  clear  vision,  I  would  have  an  oculist  to 
test  every  worker's  eyes  without  charge,  and  to  fit  him  up  with 
glasses,  if  necessary.  There  should  be  a  good  dentist,  and  a  com- 
petent nurse,  and  there  should  be  plenty  of  rest-rooms.  In  all 
these  things,  I  would  try  to  keep  the  balance  between  myself  as 
a  citizen  and  myself  as  a  business  man.  From  each  standpoint, 
I  wanted  my  people  to  be  vigorous,  alert,  and  healthy,  both  good 
workers  and  good  citizens. 

Now,  what  principle  should  guide  me  in  fixing  the  working 
hours  of  the  factory?  I  remembered  that  I  was  living  in  a  com- 
petitive age,  and  I  could  only  hold  my  own  among  other  manu- 
facturers, if  I  put  my  goods  on  the  market  at  a  certain  price.  My 
working  hours  must  enable  me  to  carry  on  business  successfully. 
If  my  margin  of  profit  were  so  low,  my  balance  sheet  so  unsat- 
isfactory that  I  could  not  even  get  an  advance  from  the  bank, 
how  should  I  realize  my  ideals?  Clearly,  it  was  essential  to  have 
a  good  output;  but  yet,  I  did  not  want  to  fall  into  the  old  rut, 
which  had  regulated  hours  for  the  last  fifty  years,  and  to  start 
work  at  six  o'clock  just  because  other  people  did. 

"  What,"  I  asked  myself,  "  is  the  minimum  number  of  hours 
in  which  the  workers  could  produce  the  necessary  output  ?  " 

I  saw  that  when  it  came  to  running  an  ideal  factory,  infinite 
pains  should  be  given  to  finding  out  the  right  answer  to  that 
question.  The  employer  would  have  to  free  his  mind  entirely 
from  prejudice,  and  old-fashioned  ideas.  He  would  have  to  ascer- 
tain the  output  which  would  enable  him  to  compete  successfully 
in  the  markets  of  the  world.  He  would  have  to  make  use  of 
every  scientific  discovery  to  help  him  to  secure  that  output,  and 
he  would  have  to  decide  the  number  of  hours  which  workers 


MY  DREAM  OF  A  FACTORY  309 

must  contribute  after  due  reference  to  all  the  other  factors. 
Clearly,  I  should  need  to  keep  my  own  brain  in  good  working 
order,  in  running  my  ideal  factory. 

Now,  as  regards  Trade  Unions,  I  would,  from  the  very  outset, 
regard  them  as  my  friends.  I  would  not  set  to  work  in  a  spirit 
of  animosity.  The  organization  of  the  workers  is  not  only  abso- 
lutely essential  to  their  prosperity,  but  it  is  in  the  interests  of 
industry  as  a  whole,  including  the  employer.  I  should  like  to  say 
quite  frankly  to  Trade  Union  leaders: 

"Now,  I  want  to  do  the  square  thing.  I  believe  that  I  can 
make  my  business  successful,  not  only  to  my  own  advantage,  but 
to  that  of  the  workers,  if  we  co-operate.  But  I  need  your  help, 
and  I  need  your  perfectly  frank  criticisms.  Only,  in  all  our  nego- 
tiations, let  us  keep  one  aim  in  view — namely,  that  all  our  actions 
shall  be  based  on  justice.  Let  us  avoid  mutual  suspicions,  and 
when  we  differ  from  one  another,  let  right,  not  might,  have  the 
casting  vote." 

I  would  encourage  all  my  workers  to  join  Trade  Unions, 
although,  not  being  a  Prussian,  I  would  not  force  them  to  join. 
But  I  would  give  them  every  facility,  with  a  room  in  which  to 
meet,  and  opportunities  for  collecting  their  subscriptions.  One 
definite  half-hour  a  week  could  be  set  apart  for  that  purpose. 
Mind,  I  would  not  have  those  subscriptions,  or  any  other  sub- 
scriptions, collected  in  a  casual  happy-go-lucky  manner,  at  all  times 
and  seasons !  That  would  mean  the  devotion  of  so  much  thought 
and  energy  to  matters  not  directly  connected  with  the  work  in 
hand.  And,  in  an  ideal  factory,  I  should  want  to  get  ideal  value 
out  of  every  working  hour. 

As  to  the  administration  of  my  business,  I  should  first  of  all 
gather  round  me  men  of  the  right  type  with  ideals  and  principles 
similar  to  my  own.  For  the  highest  posts,  I  would  secure  the  very 
best  men  I  could  lay  my  hands  on,  and  pay  them  whatever  was 
necessary.  Whether  I  paid  my  best  men  one,  or  two,  or  three 
thousand  a  year  would  matter  infinitely  less  than  whether  they 
were  the  right  men,  men  who  not  only  had  first-class  business 
ability,  but  sincere  belief  in  human  brotherhood. 

As  for  managers,  foremen,  and  forewomen,  I  would  only  employ 
gentlefolk.  I  mean  gentle-men  and  gentle-women.  I  would  not 
care  what  rank  of  life  they  came  from,  if  they  answered  to  that 
definition  in  the  best  and  truest  sense.  I  should  tell  them  that 


310  THE  EMPLOYERS 

my  ideals  were  high,  and  could  only  be  realized  with  their  help; 
that  if  they  failed  me,  I  failed.  Each  of  them  should  be  a  leader ; 
and  he  who  leads  must  be  in  the  van,  and  know  the  right  way. 
Human  beings  may  be  driven,  never  led,  never  inspired,  by  those 
who  lag  behind.  This  would  mean  a  very  high  standard,  both 
for  them  and  for  myself.  We  should  all  have  to  be  pretty  good 
to  begin  with,  and  to  go  on  getting  better  and  better,  and  never  to 
dream  that  we  had  completed  our  education. 

I  would  encourage  all  the  overlookers  to  form  associations  in 
which  they  might  discuss  their  duties  and  their  functions  in  the 
factory,  as  well  as  matters  affecting  their  own  interests.  Their 
primary  object  should  be  to  adapt  themselves  in  every  possible 
way  to  the  heavy  responsibilities  and  difficult  tasks  which  devolved 
upon  them. 

With  regard  to  the  workers,  I  should  like  them  immediately  to 
undertake  certain  responsibilities.  I  would,  temporarily  at  all 
events,  keep  the  financial  and  commercial  side  of  the  business  in 
my  own  hands,  but  so  far  as  the  industrial  side  was  concerned,  I 
would  ask  the  workers  to  co-operate  to  the  fullest  possible  extent. 
I  would  arrange  for  a  system  of  Councils,  including  small  sec- 
tional Councils,  to  deal  solely  with  matters  affecting  small  groups 
of  workers,  and  departmental  Councils,  representing  larger  groups, 
and  a  great  Central  Council,  to  deal  with  matters  which  concerned 
the  whole  works.  To  that  Council  I  would  explain  something  of 
my  dreams  and  purposes.  I  would  say :  "  Now,  I  want  you  to 
co-operate  with  me  in  the  conduct  of  this  business.  I  want  you, 
more  and  more,  to  be  responsible  for  its  industrial  administration. 
But  I  am  a  practical  man,  and  I  realize  that  we  must  have  good 
sound  government  and  no  anarchy.  Therefore,  though  our  ulti- 
mate object  may  be  to  make  the  works  self-governing  in  all  indus- 
trial matters,  we  cannot  do  this  at  once.  We  must  move  cau- 
tiously, and  you  must  begin  with  a  certain  share  of  administra- 
tion, and  extend  your  boundaries  as  fast  as  is  consistent  with 
safety." 

Experience  has  shown  that  a  committee,  or  council,  especially 
a  large  one,  is  not  an  effective  instrument  when  it  comes  to  con- 
structive work.  Its  especial  duty  is  to  criticize.  Therefore,  while 
I  would  submit  various  schemes  to  the  whole  Council,  I  should 
recommend  them  to  appoint  small  panels,  or  sub-committees,  to 
consider  special  matters. 


MY  DREAM  OF  A  FACTORY  311 

Such  a  Council  might  be  taken  into  conference  on  such  subjects 
as  the  number  of  hours  to  be  worked,  and  their  arrangement.  Of 
course,  I  should  insist  on  a  certain  standard  of  time-keeping.  The 
workers  in  my  ideal  factory  would  not  saunter  in  and  out  just 
as  the  spirit  moved  them.  But  I  should  not  be  wedded  to  any 
particular  scheme  of  time  office  rules,  even  if  I  had  formulated 
them  myself.  The  Council  would  be  quite  free  to  formulate  a 
better  one. 

I  should  make  no  great  addition  to  the  factory  without  consult- 
ing both  the  Central  Works  Council  and  the  Council  representing 
the  workers  who  would  have  to  work  in  the  addition. 

Again,  if  a  great  rush  of  work  were  imminent,  I  would  put  the 
facts  before  the  Council,  explaining  the  importance  of  supplying 
the  goods  and  satisfying  the  customers.  I  would  ask  them  how 
to  put  it  through  with  the  least  strain  on  the  workers.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  things  were  slack,  I  should  ask  the  Council  to 
advise  me  whether  to  reduce  the  staff,  or  to  work  short  time,  or 
how  to  meet  the  emergency. 

Such  a  Council  would  discuss  all  questions  of  education  and 
recreation,  and  it  should  have  a  voice  in  the  appointment  of  over- 
lookers. For  example,  I  might  nominate  overlookers,  and  a  sub- 
committee selected  by  the  Council  might  criticize  my  nomination, 
or  suggest  other  names.  The  final  decision,  here,  would  rest  with 
the  management. 

With  regard  to  the  highest  officials,  I  would  not  initially  con- 
sult the  Council.  Their  knowledge  as  yet  would  not  enable  them 
to  select,  for  example,  a  head  chemist,  or  a  head  engineer.  But 
I  should  want  their  help  in  a  very  important  matter — namely, 
making  it  possible  for  every  worker  to  rise  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  rung  of  the  ladder.  Again,  while  standard  wage  rates 
would  still  be  fixed  by  the  Trade  Unions  in  conjunction  with  the 
management,  the  workers  would  be  free  to  discuss  piece  rates  and 
to  point  out  any  grievance  or  injustice  through  their  chosen  rep- 
resentatives. 

While  the  Council  would  be  encouraged  to  make  suggestions, 
with  regard  to  improved  conditions  in  the  factory,  its  functions 
should  not  be  one-sided.  It  should  not  become  merely  the  mouth- 
piece of  dissatisfied  workers.  Definite  responsibility  would  rest 
upon  it  as  a  body,  and  if  things  went  wrong  in  the  works,  I  should 
seek  its  help  at  once.  Take,  for  instance,  the  question  of  theft. 


312  THE  EMPLOYERS 

l 
If  that  became  serious,  I  might  appeal  to  the  Council  and  say: 

"Now,  I  have  done  my  best  to  remedy  this  evil.  I  have  failed, 
and  you,  the  representatives  of  the  workers,  must  have  a  try. 
Exercise  what  fresh  disciplinary  measures  you  will.  But  create 
such  an  atmosphere  in  the  factory  that  people  will  scorn  to 
steal." 

I  would  tell  them  that  I  remembered  going  round  an  Antwerp 
Diamond  Cutting  Factory  with  a  Trade  Union  Secretary.  No 
employers  were  in  evidence.  One  workman  pulled  out  of  a  drawer 
a  handful  of  diamonds  of  all  sizes,  and  I  said  to  the  Secretary, 
who  was  also  a  workman:  "  Do  you  never  have  anything  stolen? 
There  are  mere  boys  here ;  do  they  never  steal  ?  " 

He  answered  that  if  a  boy  were  to  pilfer  the  least  thing,  no 
Trade  Union,  in  future,  would  admit  him  into  membership. 

I  would  ask  the  Council  to  get  a  similar  spirit  into  our  factory, 
for  it  would  be  theirs  as  well  as  mine.  And  I  should  say  to  them : 

"  I  want  every  worker  in  this  place  to  play  the  game.  It  is  a 
great  game,  a  man's  game.  I  am  trying  to  play  it  myself.  If  at 
any  time  any  of  you  think  that  I  am  playing  foul,  come  and  tell 
me  so  to  my  face.  But  see  that  no  single  person  plays  foul.  If 
he  does,  the  umpire's  whistle  must  blow,  and  he  must  be  warned. 
If,  after  that,  he  still  continues  to  play  foul,  he  must  be  ordered 
off  the  field. 

"  Be  true  umpires !  See  that  the  game  is  played  fairly  and 
cleanly  on  both  sides,  yours  as  well  as  mine." 

Perhaps  I  would  also  tell  them  the  following  story,  to  illustrate 
the  fact  that  in  the  long  run  human  beings  win  through  by  trusting 
one  another.  At  the  time  of  a  great  industrial  crisis  in  America, 
when  firms  were  "  going  broke "  every  day,  an  old-established 
business  was  passing  through  a  terrible  crisis.  The  time  came 
when  the  employer  did  not  know  where  to  get  money  to  pay  his 
wages.  No  bank  would  advance  him  a  halfpenny,  and  the  district 
was  seething  with  labor  unrest.  Well,  one  day  his  workers  sent 
a  deputation,  demanding  to  see  him.  He  thought  this  meant  the 
end  of  all !  He  had  done  his  best,  and  he  had  failed.  But  he 
received  the  delegation — they  were  surly-looking  men.  And  one 
of  them  said: 

"  Well,  boss,  we  hear  that  you  are  in  very  deep  waters,  and 
can  get  no  money  from  the  bank.  Some  of  us  have  been  putting 
our  heads  together,  and  we  want  to  do  what  we  can  to  help  you. 


MY  DREAM  OF  A  FACTORY  313 

We  have  a  little  money  laid  by;  and  we  put  it  at  your  disposal, 
to  the  last  penny,  if  you  want  it." 

I  would  exclude  men  from  my  factory  who  simply  did  not  mean 
to  "  play  the  game."  I  would  not  exclude  a  man  who  was  trying 
hard,  just  because  he  had  made  a  bad  start,  any  more  than  I  would 
exclude  aliens  from  entering  this  country  just  because  they  were 
aliens.  But,  just  as  I  would  not  suffer  aliens  to  lower  the  standard 
of  our  national  life,  but  compel  them  to  live  up  to  it,  or  quit, 
so  every  worker,  if  he  expected  to  remain  in  the  factory,  would 
have  to  conform  to  its  standards. 

One  indispensable  thing  in  my  ideal  factory  would  be  a  really 
good  Works  Employment  Department.  A  worker  should  be  made 
to  feel,  from  the  very  beginning  of  his  career,  that  people 
acknowledged  his  claims  as  an  individual  human  being.  When 
inquiring  about  work,  a  newcomer  should  be  shown  into  a  com- 
fortable, well- furnished  waiting-room,  and  the  Employment  Officer 
should  be  sympathetic  and  kindly.  Boys  and  girls,  men  and 
women,  should  all  be  received  politely,  and  after  engagement, 
presented  to  the  head  of  the  department  which  they  entered,  not 
in  a  haphazard  fashion,  perhaps  by  a  mere  lad,  but  with  all  due 
courtesy,  by  a  gentle-man  or  gentle-woman. 

With  regard  to  wages,  I  should  of  course  recognize  the  fact 
that  wages  are  of  two  kinds.  First,  there  is  what  has  been  called 
the  basic  wage,  and  then  there  is  the  secondary  wage.  The 
former  represents  the  minimum  sum  which  is  necessary  to  enable 
the  worker  to  live  as  a  member  of  a  civilized  community  in  the 
twentieth  century.  The  basic  wage  for  a  man  should  allow  him 
to  live  in  a  decent  house,  to  marry,  and  to  bring  up  a  family  of 
normal  size  in  full  physical  efficiency,  with  a  margin  for  con- 
tingencies and  recreation.  No  man  should  work  for  less,  in  my 
ideal  factory,  nor  should  any  woman  work  without  a  wage  which 
would  permit  her  to  live  in  accordance  with  a  similar  standard 
of  comfort. 

When  I  had  seen  to  it  that  such  wages  were  paid  to  the  least 
skilled  workers,  I  would  remunerate  skill  at  its  market  value,  de- 
ciding this  in  conjunction  with  the  Trade  Unions  involved.  I 
should  not  be  so  anxious  about  skilled  men,  who  are  much  better 
able  to  look  after  themselves. 

But  suppose  I  wanted  to  pay  the  basic  wage,  and  could  not 
do  so,  owing  to  the  competition  of  other  manufacturers  who  tried 


314  THE  EMPLOYERS 

to  keep  wages  down,  then  I  should  go  to  the  Minister  of  Labor 
and  ask  him  to  establish  a  Trade  Board  for  the  whole  industry. 
On  that  Trade  Board,  I  would  try  to  impress  the  importance  of 
at  least  securing  the  basic  wage  and  thus,  instead  of  allowing 
my  competitors  to  "down"  me,  I  should  force  them  to  rise  to 
my  level. 

I  should  have  no  objection  to  piece  work.  Very  possibly,  two- 
thirds  of  the  wage  might  be  paid  in  the  shape  of  day  wage,  which 
a  man  would  receive  irrespective  of  the  amount  of  work  he  did, 
and  the  rest  on  piece,  that  is,  so  much  per  unit  of  work  per- 
formed. Ninety  per  cent  of  the  wages,  I  imagine,  could  be  dealt 
with  in  that  way.  But  if  I  thought  the  method  unfair  to  such 
day  workers  as  cleaners,  etc.,  who  could  not  be  put  on  piece 
wage,  yet  were  expected  to  work  hard,  I  would  in  their  case  estab- 
lish a  room  bonus,  so  that  collectively  they  would  be  on  part  piece, 
and  have  a  direct  interest  in  the  amount  of  work  they  accom- 
plished. 

I  would  pay  for  all  public  holidays,  and  I  would  give  every 
worker  a  week's  holiday,  with  pay.  The  officers  would  have 
longer  holidays,  varying  with  the  measure  of  their  responsibility, 
and  the  consequent  strain  upon  them. 

At  this  juncture  in  my  dream  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  was  con- 
templating a  very  costly  enterprise.  I  ,told  myself  that  ideals 
were  very  expensive  things,  and  I  asked  where  the  money  would 
come  from. 

I  knew  that  employers  had  access  to  no  bottomless  supply  of 
wealth,  out  of  which  to  meet  any  deficit  occasioned  by  too  rash 
an  attempt  to  realize  Utopia.  I  should  have  to  make  my  money 
in  my  business,  day  by  day.  To  meet  an  increased  wage  bill,  and 
the  cost  of  other  improvements,  I  should  have  to  depend  on  one 
of  four  sources:  (i)  the  consumer,  (2)  my  own  profits,  (3)  my 
own  organizing  ability  and  initiative,  and  (4)  the  energy  and 
efficiency  of  my  workers. 

Now,  speaking  generally,  I  could  only  tax  the  consumer  in  the 
measure  that  my  competitors  were  taxing  him.  A  monopolist 
could  do  more,  but  obviously  if  wage  increases  can  only  be  ob- 
tained at  the  cost  of  corresponding  increases  in  prices,  the  worker 
gets  little  or  no  advantage.  As  for  profits,  I  know  how  often 
a  business  only  makes  just  enough  profits  to  keep  it  going. 

While,  therefore,  I  should  not  be  greedy  in  the  matter  of  profits, 


MY  DREAM  OF  A  FACTORY  315 

I  recognize  that  this  fact  alone  would  not  enable  me  to  carry  out 
my  ideals.  I  decided  that  as  regards  the  wherewithal  for  running 
my  ideal  factory,  to  depend  principally  on  myself  and  my 
workers. 

I  would  have  the  very  best  experts  in  my  factory  that  I  could 
get — the  best  chemists,  the  best  engineers,  and  the  best  psycholo- 
gists. I  would  have  a  first-rate  costing  system.  I  would  have 
"  scientific  management,"  though  I  might  not  use  that  term.  The 
thing  itself  would  soon  become  as  natural  and  inevitable  as  typing 
or  shorthand.  Without  introducing  any  nigger-driving  methods, 
I  would  get  the  very  best  out  of  the  American  system.  The  work 
in  my  factory  should  be  done  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  yet 
with  the  minimum  of  effort.  Men  who  had  studied  the  question 
exhaustively  should  come  and  help  me.  Mind !  no  one  should  be 
overworked.  No  one  should  be  encouraged  or  allowed  to  be  "  too 
old  at  40."  But  work  would  be  so  adjusted  that  every  one  would 
do  as  much  as  he  honestly  could,  though  no  more.  If  I  tried  to 
run  my  works  on  the  basis  of  some  Government  Offices,  where 
it  really  does  not  matter  whether  a  job  is  done  this  week  or  next 
— or  this  year  or  next, — I  should  soon  have  no  works  to  run. 

But  every  one  who  entered  the  factory  should  learn  something 
of  its  functions,  and  of  his  own  relation  to  the  whole.  Too  often 
employers  say,  practically,  to  the  newcomer :  "  Come  along,  that 
is  your  room ;  that  is  your  job ;  you  may  have  to  do  it  for  twenty 
years!  The  factory  around  you  is  really  none  of  your  business. 
Your  material  comes  from  somewhere:  that  is  our  affair,  not 
yours.  Your  work  is  going  somewhere — where  it  goes  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  you." 

That  is,  to  my  mind,  a  stupid  attitude.  It  is  neither  human 
nor  businesslike.  In  my  factory,  I  would  try  to  interest  every 
worker  not  only  in  his  own  task,  but  in  the  great  concern  in 
which  he  was  a  unit.  I  should  show  him  how  he  was  linked  to 
all  the  other  workers,  and  to  the  whole  world.  Why  should  not 
every  boy  and  girl — in  a  Cocoa  Works,  for  example,  know  some- 
thing about  physiology,  the  value  of  cocoa  as  a  food-stuff,  the 
far  land  it  comes  from,  and  its  destination? 

Again,  by  charts  and  diagrams,  I  would  let  a  worker  see,  day 
by  day,  what  progress  he  was  making,  even  if  it  were  only  in  the 
art  of  cleaning  windows.  He  could  compare  his  skill  and  speed 
one  day  with  his  skill  and  speed  the  day  before,  and  with  the 


316  THE  EMPLOYERS 

performance  of  other  workers.  He  could  make  work  into  a  game 
instead  of  drudgery. 

Once  more,  in  my  dream  factory,  I  would  try  to  do  away  with 
the  fear  of  unemployment,  and  give  every  worker  a  sense  of 
economic  security.  A  thoroughly  adequate  pension  scheme,  includ- 
ing some  provision  for  the  widows  and  young  children  of  workers, 
would  be  an  essential  part  of  the  program.  The  whole  task  would 
bristle  with  difficulties,  but  I  would  find  really  able  men  to  help 
me.  I  would  say  to  them :  "  Now,  you  are  thinkers,  pioneers, 
makers  of  roads.  You  must  study  the  experiments  which  have 
been  undertaken  all  over  the  world.  You  must  find  out  what  has 
been  done  in  America,  France,  Germany.  You  must  '  put  me 
wise/:  keep  me  up-to-date.  You  must  be,  as  it  were,  industrial 
commissioners,  working  out  the  problems  that  face  us." 

When  I  had  banished  fear  from  the  minds  of  all  my  workers, 
I  would  try  to  fill  them  with  ambition.  I  would  make  bold  experi- 
ments, even  if  they  sometimes  failed.  I  would  avoid  the  rut — 
especially  the  circular  rut, — and  move  forward,  and  persuade  my 
workers  to  move  with  me.  I  think  that  in  time  we  should  move 
the  world. 

(At  this  stage,  the  maid  came  and  told  me  that  it  was  a  quarter 
past  five,  and  that  at  half  past  five  I  had  to  give  my  lecture.) 


SECTION  TWO 
MASTERS  AND  MEN 

CHAPTER  I 

* 

INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE.  —  REPORT  OF  PROVI- 
SIONAL JOINT  COMMITTEE  PRESENTED  TO  MEET- 
ING OF  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE,  CENTRAL 
HALL,  WESTMINSTER,  APRIL  4th,  1919 

AT  the  Industrial  Conference  called  by  the  Government  and 
held  at  the  Central  Hall,  Westminster,  on  27th  February  last,  it 
was  resolved: 

"  That  this  Conference,  being  of  the  opinion  that  any  pre- 
ventable dislocation  of  industry  is  always  to  be  deplored,  and, 
in  the  present  critical  period  of  reconstruction,  might  be 
disastrous  to  the  interests  of  the  Nation,  and  thinking  that 
every  effort  should  be  made  to  remove  legitimate  grievances, 
and  promote  harmony  and  goodwill,  resolves  to  appoint  a 
Joint  Committee,  consisting  of  equal  numbers  of  employers 
and  workers,  men  and  women,  together  with  a  Chairman 
appointed  by  the  Government,  to  consider  and  report  to  a 
further  meeting  of  this  Conference  on  the  causes  of  the 
present  unrest  and  the  steps  necessary  to  safeguard  and  pro- 
mote the  best  interests  of  employers,  workpeople,  and  the 
State,  and  especially  to  consider: 

"  i.   Questions  relating  to  Hours,  Wages,  and  General 
Conditions  of  Employment; 
"2.   Unemployment  and  its  prevention; 
"  3.   The  best  methods  of  promoting  co-operation  between 
Capital  and  Labor. 

"The  Joint  Committee  is  empowered  to  appoint  such  Sub- 
Committees  as  may  be  considered  necessary  consisting  of 
equal  numbers  of  employers  and  workers,  the  Government  to 
be  invited  to  nominate  a  representative  for  each. 

"In  view  of  the  urgency  of  the  question,  the  Joint  Com- 
mittee is  empowered  to  arrange  with  the  Government  for 
*  317 


318  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

the  reassembling  of  the  National  Conference  not  later  than 
April  5th  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  Report  of  the 
Joint  Committee." 

A  Committee  was  elected  accordingly,  and  the  Government 
nominated  Sir  Thomas  Munro,  K.B.E.,  to  be  Chairman. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Joint  Committee,  which  was  addressed 
by  the  Prime  Minister,  was  held  on  March  4th,  and  the  following 
resolution  was  carried: 

"  That  this  Committee,  in  order  that  its  work  may  be  ac- 
complished as  expeditiously  and  thoroughly  as  possible, 
divide  itself  into  three  Sub-Committees,  with  the  following 
terms  of  reference: 

(1)  To  make  recommendations  concerning: 

(a)  The  methods  of  negotiation   between   employers   and 

Trade  Unions,  including  the  establishment  of  a  per- 
manent Industrial  Council  to  advise  the  Government 
on  industrial  and  economic  questions  with  a  view  to 
maintaining  industrial  peace. 

(b)  The  method  of  dealing  with  war  advances,  and 

(c)  The  methods  of  regulating  wages  for  all  classes  of 

workers,  male  and  female,  by  legal  enactment  or 
otherwise. 

(2)  To  make  recommendations  as  to  the  desirability  of  legisla- 

tion for  a  maximum  number  of  working  hours  and  a 
minimum  rate  of  wages  per  week. 

(3)  To  consider  the  question  of  unemployment,  and  to  make 

recommendations  for  the  steps  to  be  taken  for  its  pre- 
vention, and  for  the  maintenance  of  the  unemployed  in 
those  cases  in  which  it  is  not  prevented,  both  during  the 
present  emergency  period,  and  on  a  permanent  basis. 
"  Note. — Unrest  and  output  to  be  discussed  by  the  whole 
Committee  at  its  next  meeting  on  statements  previously  sub- 
mitted by  the  parties." 

The  Government  were  requested  to  nominate  Chairman  of  the 
Sub-Committees,  and  for  this  purpose  the  services  of  Sir  David 
Shackleton,  K.C.B.,  and  Professor  L.  T.  Hobhouse,  D.Litt.,  were 
obtained,  in  addition  to  those  of  Sir  Thomas  Munro. 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  319 

The  work  of  the  Committee  has  proceeded  almost  continuously 
till  the  present  date.  They  have  not  considered  it  necessary  or 
practicable  to  take  oral  evidence,  but  numerous  views  and  sugges- 
tions in  writing  have  been  placed  before  them  and  considered. 

Full  information  and  statistics  relating  to  the  subjects  under 
consideration  have,  at  the  request  of  the  Committee,  been  supplied 
by  the  Ministry  of  Labor,  the  Home  Office,  and  from  other  sources. 

As  appears  from  the  terms  of  reference  the  Committee  were 
intrusted  with  the  duty  of  suggesting  means  whereby  dislocation 
of  industry,  particularly  at  the  present  critical  period,  should  be 
prevented  in  the  interests  of  the  Nation.  It  was  the  expressed 
opinion  of  the  Conference  that  to  secure  this  end  it  was  necessary 
that  legitimate  grievances  should  be  removed,  and  that  harmony 
and  goodwill  should  be  promoted.  The  Committee  were  asked  to 
consider  and  report  upon  the  causes  of  the  present  unrest,  and 
the  steps  necessary  to  safeguard  and  promote  the  best  interests 
of  Employers,  Workpeople,  and  State.  In  approaching  the  sub- 
ject they  were  specially  directed  to  consider  certain  specific 
subjects. 

In  regard  to  these  specific  subjects  there  was  general  agreement 
that  there  were  difficulties  affecting  hours  and  conditions  of 
employment,  wages,  and  the  methods  of  their  determination;  that 
the  whole  question  of  preventing  unemployment  and  providing  for 
its  consequence  on  the  individual  worker  when  it  did  occur  called 
for  further  provision;  and  that  machinery  for  promoting  co-opera- 
tion between  employers  and  employees  should,  where  necessary,  be 
revised  and  improved,  and  should  be  extended  to  include  other 
industries  where  methods  of  negotiation  and  agreement  do  not 
at  present  exist. 

At  the  same  time  it  has  been  realized  that  the  field  of  inquiry 
opened  up  by  the  terms  of  reference  is  a  vast  one,  and  that  to 
explore  and  report  upon  it  as  a  whole  would  require  a  far  closer 
and  more  prolonged  examination  of  its  numerous  aspects,  both 
political  and  economic,  than  could  be  even  contemplated  by  the 
present  Committee  in  the  short  period  of  time  allotted  to  them. 

On  the  causes  of  industrial  unrest  and  their  suggested  remedies, 
the  Trade  Union  representatives  submitted  a  comprehensive  memo- 
randum, setting  out  causes  and  suggesting  remedies.  Several  ques- 
tions referred  to  in  this  memorandum  have  been  the  subject  of 


320  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

consideration  by  the  Committee,  and  recommendations  are  made  in 
this  report  which  it  is  believed  will  provide  effective  means  to 
remedy  or  alleviate  certain  of  the  grievances  which  are  advanced. 
It  has  been  impossible,  however,  to  attempt  any  exhaustive 
investigation  into  every  aspect  of  unrest,  to  examine  fully  the 
relation  between  under-consumption  and  unemployment,  between 
wage  standards  and  purchasing  power,  the  relationship  of  produc- 
tion to  the  whole  economic  and  industrial  situation,  and  many 
other  fundamental  but  complicated  matters  of  discussion.  It  was 
the  intention  of  the  employers  to  submit  a  considered  statement 
on  the  subject  of  output  or  production.  They  have  found  it  impos- 
sible to  complete  a  statement  in  the  time  at  their  disposal,  but  are 
prepared  to  do  so  at  a  later  date.  For  the  purpose  both  of 
carrying  on  future  investigation  into  matters  now  affecting  the 
industrial  situation  and  of  keeping  such  matters  under  continuous 
review  in  the  future  and  advising  the  Government  on  them,  it  is 
the  unanimous  view  of  the  Committee  that  there  should  be  estab- 
lished some  form  of  permanent  National  Industrial  Council.  The 
recommendations  of  the  Committee  in  regard  to  the  functions  and 
constitution  of  the  National  Industrial  Council  which  they  propose, 
appear  below.  It  is  sufficient  at  the  present  stage  to  record  the 
conclusion  of  the  Committee  that  such  a  Council  should  be  insti- 
tuted, and  to  point  out  that  in  their  view  matters  on  which  this 
Committee  themselves  have  been  unable  to  make  recommendations 
would  be  appropriate  subjects  for  consideration  by  that  Council. 

The  questions  to  which  special  attention  has  been  given  by 
this  Committee  in  the  time  available  are  as  follows: 

(a)  Maximum  hours. 

(6)  Minimum  wages. 

(c)  Methods  of  dealing  with  war  advances. 

(</)  Recognition  of,  and  negotiations  between,  organizations 

of  employers  and  workpeople. 

(e)  Unemployment. 

(/)  The  institution  of  a  National  Industrial  Council. 

HOURS 

In  regard  to  Hours  the  Committee  are  unanimous  in  recom- 
mending the  principle  of  a  legal  maximum  of  normal  hours  per 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  321 

week  for  all  employed  persons.  The  number  of  hours  they  recom- 
mend is  48,  but  they  recognize  that  this  number  may  be  reduced 
by  agreement,  and  that  there  are  also  exceptional  cases  in  which 
it  may  be  necessary  that  it  should  be  increased. 

They  accordingly  suggest  that  legal  sanction  should  be  given  to 
trade  agreements  for  the  reduction  of  hours,  and  that  under  cer- 
tain conditions  similar  sanction  might  be  given  to  such  agreements 
for  the  augmentation  of  hours.  They  propose  that  if  there  be  a 
desire  for  variation  expressed  by  one  party  only,  a  conference 
should  be  summoned,  whose  decision  should,  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, receive  legal  sanction. 

They  have  not  deemed  it  possible  within  the  time  at  their  dis- 
posal, nor  did  they  feel  competent,  to  draw  up  a  list  of  proposed 
exemptions,  but  they  consider  that  an  interval  should  elapse  after 
the  passing  of  the  Act  in  which  applications  for  exemptions  should 
be  made  and  that  inquiry  should  then  take  place  into  each  case, 
and  the  application  of  the  Act  should,  if  necessary,  be  postponed 
in  any  particular  case  until  the  completion  of  such  inquiry. 

Thus  some  occupations  may  be  altogether  exempted  from  the 
Act,  while  in  others  the  maximum  may  be  varied  in  either  direc- 
tion by  agreement  between  the  parties. 

The  Committee's  detailed  recommendations  under  this  head  are 
as  follows: 

Maximum  to  be  specified  in  Act 

1.  That  the  maximum  normal  working  hours  per  week  should 
be  48,  and  that  this  maximum  should  be  established  by  Act  of 
Parliament. 

Act  to  be  of  General  Application 

2.  That  the  Act  shall  apply  generally  to  all  employed  persons, 
but  that  provision  shall  be  made  for  exemption  from  or  variation 
of  the  terms  of  the  Act  to  be  granted  in  proper  cases,  as  follows: 

Agreement  to  Substitute  Lower  Maximum 

3.  That  where  an  agreement  has  been  arrived  at  between  rep* 
resentative  organizations  of  employers  and  employed  in  any  trade 
and  by  such  agreement  provision  is  made  that  the  number  of 
working  hours  per  week  for  that  trade  shall  be  lower  than  the 
maximum  established  undei   the  Act,  the  Secretary  of  State  or 


322  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

other  appropriate  Minister  shall,  if  he  has  no  reason  to  deem  it 
contrary  to  the  public  interest,  make  an  Order  prescribing  the 
lower  number  of  hours  as  the  maximum  for  that  trade. 

Agreement  to  Substitute  HigJver  Maximum 

4.  That  where  an  agreement  has  been  arrived  at  between  rep- 
resentative organizations  of  employers  and  employed  in  any  trade 
and  by  such  agreement  provision  is  made  that  the  number  of 
working  hours  per  week  for  that  trade  shall  be  higher  than  the 
maximum  established  under  the  Act,  the  Secretary  of  State  or 
other  appropriate  Minister  shall,  if  he  has  no  reason  to  deem  it 
contrary  to  the  public  interest,  make  an  Order  prescribing  for  the 
trade,  the  number  of  hours  specified  in  the  place  of  the  maximum 
established  under  the  Act. 

Application  by  one  Party  only  for  Variation  of  Maximum 

5.  That   where  in   any  trade   representative   organizations   of 
either  employers  or  employed  are  desirous  that  the  hours  estab- 
lished under  the  Act  or  an  Order  should  be  varied   (either  by 
way  of  decrease  or  increase),  and  no  joint  representation  has  been 
made  in  accordance  with  the  two  preceding  paragraphs,  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  or  other  appropriate  Minister  shall,  on  a  request  in 
writing  of  the  representative  organizations  of  either  the  employers 
or  the  employed  concerned,  summon  a  Conference  of  representa- 
tives of  such  organizations  to  consider  the  advisability  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Act  being  varied  in  order  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  particular  trade  in  respect  of  which  the  request  is  made, 
and  in  the  event  of  a  substantial  agreement  being  reached  as  the 
result  of  such  conference  an  Order  may  be  made  by  the  Minister 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  two  preceding  paragraphs. 

Provision  for  Variation  or  Exemption  by  Order 

6.  That  where  in  special  trades  an  application   is  made   for 
variation  of  the  number  of  hours  established  by  the  Act  and  no 
agreement  is  arrived  at  in  the  trade,  or  where  an  application  is 
made   for  total   or   partial   exemption    from   the   Act,   provision 
should  be  made  under  the  Act  whereby,  after  consultation  with 
the    National    Industrial    Council,    a    competent    authority    shall 
inquire  into  the  application  and,  where  special  necessity  is  proved, 
the  Secretary  of  State  or  other  appropriate  Minister  may  by  order 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  323 

grant  the  application:  provided  that  (a)  where  such  variation  or 
exemption  is  granted  the  competent  authority  may  attach  condi- 
tions thereto,  and  (&)  variation  under  this  clause. shall  be  granted 
only  where  no  agreement  has  been  arrived  at  under  preceding 
paragraphs. 

Provision  respecting  Orders  Varying  the  Number  of  Hours 

7.  That  Orders  substituting  in  any  trade  a  number  of  hours 
beyond  that  established  under  the  Act  shall  not  be  made  unless 
and  until  the  appropriate  authority  is  satisfied  either  that  the  rate 
of  wages  payable  in  the  trade  is  fixed  on  such  a  basis  as  to  take 
into  account,  for  payment  at  an  enhanced  rate,  any  extra  hours 
worked,  or  that  provision  is  made  for  the  payment,  as  overtime, 
of  all  hours  worked  over  48  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
paragraph  10  below. 

Provision  for  Publication  of  Orders 

8.  Before  any  Order  becomes  operative  it  shall  be  published 
for  a  period  of   (say)   one  month  to  allow  of  objections  being 
made  by  either  side.     In  default  of  such  objections  the  Order 
shall  become  operative  on  the  date  named.     If  substantial  objec- 
tion is  made,  the  Secretary  of  State  or  other  appropriate  Minister 
shall  not  make  the  Order  until  he  has  caused  public  inquiry  to  be 
held. 

Reference  to  Trade  Boards 

9.  In  any  trade  for  which  a  Trade  Board  has  been  established, 
any  proposal  to  vary  the  maximum  hours  shall  be  brought  before 
the  Trade  Board  for  report. 

Overtime 

10.  Overtime,   especially   systematic   overtime,    should   be   dis- 
couraged, but  it  is  recognized  that  in  certain  circumstances  over- 
time is  unavoidable.    The  extent  of  overtime  to  be  allowed  in  any 
trade,  and  the  conditions  under  which  it  may  be  worked,  shall 
be  determined  under  the  procedure  laid  down  in  the  preceding 
clauses  for  variation  or  exemption  from  the  terms  of  the  Act, 
either  (a)  by  the  representatives  of  the  Trade  or  (6)  in  the  less 
organized  trades  by  the  Trade  Board,  or,  in  default  of  either,  by 
the  Secretary  of  State  or  other  appropriate  Minister,  in  accord- 


324  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

ance  with  general  principles  laid  down  by  the  Minister  on  the 
advice  of  the  National  Industrial  Council. 

Overtime,  when  worked,  shall  be  computed  and  paid  for  in 
accordance  with  the  custom  of  each  particular  trade  in  the  sev- 
eral districts  concerned,  provided  that  overtime  shall  in  no  case 
be  paid  for  at  less  than  time  and  a  quarter.  Subject  to  agree- 
ments and  Orders  made  under  the  provisions  of  Clauses  4,  5, 
and  6,  no  person  shall  be  required  to  work  more  than  48  hours 
without  overtime  payment. 

Night  Shift,  Sunday,  and  Holiday  Work 

11.  The  Committee  are  of  opinion  that  in  any  arrangement  as 
to  hours  and  overtime  pay  the  question  of  night  shift  ancl  Sunday 
and   holiday   work   should   receive   special   consideration  by   the 
National  Industrial  Council. 

Date  of  Act  Coming  into  Operation 

12.  That  the  Act   should  not   come   into   operation  until   the 
expiry  of  six  months  from  its  date,  and  that  in  respect  to  a  par- 
ticular trade,  where  an  inquiry  under  Clause  6  is  pending  or  in 
progress,  the  appropriate  Minister  shall  have  power  by  Order  to 
suspend  the  operation  of  the  Act  for  a  further  period  not  exceed- 
ing three  months. 

WAGES 

The  Committee  have  agreed  that  minimum  time-rates  of  wages 
should  be  established  by  legal  enactment,  and  that  they  ought  to 
be  of  universal  applicability.  The  Committee  took  full  cognizance 
both  of  the  difficulties  of  determining  on  particular  rates  and  of 
dealing  with  exceptional  cases.  Having  these  considerations  in 
mind,  they  make  the  following  recommendations: 

1.  Minimum  time-rates  of  wages  should  be  established  by 
legal  enactment  and  should  be  universally  applicable. 

2.  A  Commission   should  be  appointed  immediately  upon 
the  passing  of  the  Act  to  report  within  three  months  as  to 
what  these  rates  should  be,  and  by  what  methods  and  what 
successive  steps  they  should  be  brought  into  operation.    The 
Commission  should  advise  on  the  means  of  carrying  out  the 
necessary  administrative  work. 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  325 

3.  In  the  meantime  Trade   Boards  should  be  established 
forthwith  in  the  various  less  organized  trades  where  they 
do  not  already  exist. 

4.  The  Commission  should  review  the  Trade  Boards  Acts, 
especially  with  the  object  of  facilitating  and  expediting  as 
far  as  possible  the  procedure  in  fixing  and  applying  minimum 
rates. 

5.  The  Minister  of  Labor,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
proposed  National  Industrial  Council,  shall  appoint  the  Com- 
mission, which  shall  consist  of  an  equal  number  of  represen- 
tatives of  Employers'  Associations  and  Trade  Unions,  with 
a  Chairman  nominated  by  the  Government. 

6.  The   Commission   shall  give  adequate  public  notice  of 
its  proposed  findings  and  shall  hear  representatives  of  any 
trade  that  may  desire  to  be  heard. 

7.  Where  an  agreement  is  arrived  at  between  representa- 
tive organizations  of  Employers  and  Trade  Unions  in  any 
trade  laying  down  a  minimum  rate  of  wages,  the  Minister  of 
Labor  shall  have  power,  after  investigation,  to  apply  such 
minimum  rate,  with  such  modification  as  he  may  think  fit,  to 
all  employers  engaged  in  the  trade  falling  within  the  scope 
of  the  agreement. 

NOTE. — The  expression  "trade"  used  in  the  above  proposals 
relating  to  maximum  hours  and  minimum  wages  includes  industry, 
branch  of  trade  or  industry,  occupation,  or  special  class  of  work- 
ers, whether  for  the  whole  country  or  a  special  area. 

In  regard  to  the  methods  of  dealing  with  war  advances  the 
Committee  recommend: 

(1)  That  the  Wages  (Temporary  Regulation)  Act,  1918,  should 

be  continued  in  force  for  a  further  period  of  six  months 
from  2ist  May,  1919. 

(2)  That  the  interim  Court  of  Arbitration  constituted  under 

that  Act  should  hold  an  inquiry — sitting  as  a  special  court 
for  the  purpose — as  to  the  war  advances  which  have 
been  granted,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been 
granted,  whether  by  way  of  increase,  of  time  rates 
or  piecework  prices  or  by  way  of  war  bonus,  or  other- 


326  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

wise,  and  as  to  the  effect  of  the  i2l/2  per  cent  bonus  to 
timeworkers,  and  the  jl/2  per  cent  to  pieceworkers,  and 
should  determine  finally  how  these  advances  should  be 
dealt  with,  and  in  particular  whether  they  should  be 
added  to  the  time  rates  or  piecework  prices,  or  should 
be  treated  separately  as  advances  given  on  account  of  the 
conditions  due  to  the  war. 

Where  machinery  for  negotiation  exists  in  any  trade  or 
industry  no  action  shall  be  taken  by  the  Interim  Court 
of  Arbitration  affecting  such  a  trade  or  industry  unless 
and  until  such  existing  machinery,  having  been  put  into 
operation  with  a  view  to  arriving  at  a  settlement  by 
agreement  between  the  trade  unions  and  employers'  or- 
ganizations concerned,  fails  to  arrive  at  an  agreement  by 
the  ist  September,  1919. 

Where  no  machinery  for  negotiation  exists  in  any  trade 
or  industry,  trade  conferences  representing  the  trade 
unions  and  the  employers  concerned  shall  be  called  by 
the  Ministry  of  Labor  within  two  months  from  4th  April, 
1919,  and  no  action  shall  be  taken  by  the  Interim  Court 
of  Arbitration  unless  such  conferences  shall  within  that 
time  have  failed  to  arrive  at  an  agreement,  in  which  case 
the  Court  shall  consider  and  determine  the  difference 
under  the  powers  conferred  by  the  Wages  (Temporary 
Regulation)  Act. 

(3)  That  the  parties  should  consider  the  desirability  of  insti- 
tuting procedure  for  a  national  periodical  review  of  the 
wages  of  the  trade  of  the  country  as  a  whole. 

METHODS  OF  NEGOTIATION  BETWEEN  EMPLOYERS  AND  TRADE  UNIONS 

On  the  subject  of  methods  of  negotiation  between  employers 
and  workpeople,  the  Committee  recognized  the  importance  of 
establishing  an  understanding  on  the  question  of  "  recognition." 
Their  opinion  is  as  follows: 

(a)  The  basis  of  negotiation  between  employers  and  work- 
people should,  as  is  presently  the  case  in  the  chief  indus- 
tries of  the  country,  be  the  full  and  frank  acceptance  of 
the  employers'  organizations  on  the  one  hand  and  trade 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  327 

unions  on  the  other,  as  the  recognized  organizations  to 
speak  and  act  on  behalf  of  their  members. 

(&)  The  members  should  accept  the  jurisdiction  of  their  respec- 
tive organizations. 

(c)  The  employers'  organizations  and  the  trade  unions  should 
enter  into  negotiations  for  the  purpose  of  the  establish- 
ment of  machinery  or  revision,  if  necessary,  of  existing 
machinery,  for  the  avoidance  of  disputes,  and  the  ma- 
chinery should  provide,  where  in  any  question  at  issue 
there  are  more  than  one  employers'  organization  or  trade 
union  representing  the  same  class  of  employers  or  work- 
people, a  representative  method  of  negotiation,  so  that 
settlements  arrived  at  will  cover  all  parties  concerned. 
The  machinery  should  also  contain  provisions  for  the 
protection  of  the  employers'  interests  where  members  of 
trade  unions  of  workpeople  are  engaged  in  positions  of 
trust  or  confidentiality,  provided  the  right  of  such  em- 
ployees to  join  or  remain  members  of  any  trade  union 
is  not  thereby  affected. 

UNEMPLOYMENT 

The  Committee  feel  that  a  satisfactory  investigation  of  the 
problem  of  unemployment  would  involve  a  far-reaching  inquiry, 
and  in  the  limited  time  at  their  disposal  they  have  not  felt  able 
to  do  more  than  indicate  briefly  some  of  the  steps  which  might 
be  taken  to  minimize  or  alleviate  unemployment. 

(a)  Prevention  of  Unemployment 

i.  Organized  Short  Time. — It  is  already  the  practice  in  a  large 
number  of  trades  to  meet  periods  of  depression  by  systematic 
short  time  working.  The  Committee  think  that  this  method  of 
avoiding  displacement  of  labor  and  the  consequent  risk  and  incon- 
venience to  the  workpeople  concerned  has  considerable  value.  In 
this  connection,  they  suggest  that  the  machinery  of  the  Joint  In- 
dustrial Councils  or  other  joint  representative  bodies  in  each 
industry  affords  a  convenient  method  of  controlling  and  regulating 
short  time  working  as  a  means  of  preventing  unemployment. 

Regard  should  be  had  at  the  same  time  to  paragraph  8  below. 


328  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

2.  Overtime. — During   periods   of   depression   in   an   industry, 
overtime  should  only  be  worked  in  special  cases  which  should  be 
determined  in  accordance  with  rules  laid  down  in  the  case  of  each 
industry  by  its  Industrial  Council  or  other  joint  representative 
body. 

3.  Stabilizing  Employment. — In  order  to  provide  against  the 
fluctuating  demand  for  labor  the  Committee  think  that  the  Gov- 
ernment  should  undertake  the  definite   duty  of   stimulating  the 
demand  for  labor  in  bad  times  by  postponing  contracts  of  a  non- 
urgent character  until  it  is  necessary  to  promote  a  demand  for 
labor  owing  to  falling  trade.    For  this  purpose  in  allocating  Gov- 
ernment orders  consideration  should  of  course  be  given  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  industry  concerned.    The  Committee  are  of 
opinion  that  much  more  effective  action  could  be  taken  if  all 
orders  for  particular  classes  of  commodities  were  dealt  with  by 
one  Government  Department.    It  would  further  be  an  advantage 
in  order  that  the  policy  which  they  have  indicated  should  be  car- 
ried out  that  all  Government  contracting  should  be  supervised  by 
one   authority.     Local   authorities   should   be   urged   to   adopt  a 
similar  policy  with  regard  to  work  under  their  control. 

4.  Housing. — In  order  to  meet  the  present  crisis  the  Committee 
recommend  that  the  Government  should  without  delay  proceed 
with   a   comprehensive   housing   program   in  order  to   meet   the 
acknowledged  shortage  of  houses.     By  this  means  employment 
would  be  secured  primarily  in  the  building  and  furnishing  trades, 
and  indirectly  in  almost  all  other  trades.     The  Committee  urge 
that  where  local  authorities  fail  to  utilize  their  powers  to  provide 
suitable  housing  ascommodation,  the   Local   Government   Board 
should  take  the  necessary  steps  for  the  erection  of  suitable  houses 
in  the  area  of  the  Authority  and  under  special  powers  if  necessary 
compel  local  authorities  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  housing 
needs  of  the  district. 

5.  State  Development  of  Industry. — The  demand  for  labor  could 
also  be  increased  by  State  development  of  new  industries  such  as 
Afforestation,  Reclamation  of  Waste  Lands,  Development  of  In- 
land Waterways,  and  in  agricultural  districts  the  development  of 
light  railways  and/or  road  transport.     These  are  some  of  the 
measures    which    in    the    opinion    of   the    Committee    might    be 
adopted  as  a  means  of  permanently  increasing  the  demand  for 
labor. 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  329 

6.  Underconsumption    and    Higher    Production. — Whilst    the 
Committee  recognize  that  these  questions  have  a  most  important 
bearing  on  the  problem  of  unemployment,  they  are  agreed  that  their 
importance  is  such  as  to  demand  that  far  closer  consideration 
should  be  given  to  them  than  can  be  given  by  this  Committee,  and 
it  has  already  been  indicated  in  an  earlier  paragraph  of  this 
report  that  this  is  a  matter  which  might  appropriately  be  the  sub- 
ject of  consideration  by  the  National  Industrial  Council. 

7.  Efficacy  of  Industrial  Councils. — The  Committee  feel  that, 
in  regard  to  unemployment,  as  well  as  for  other  purposes,  the  insti- 
tion  of  Industrial  Councils  or  similar  joint  representative  bodies 
will  develop  a  sense  of  common  responsibility  amongst  employers 
and  employed,  and  that  it  will  provide  machinery  through  which 
the  trade,  acting  as  a  whole,  can  in  many  ways  minimize  or  pre- 
vent unemployment.     In  particular  such  Councils  would  be  in  a 
position  to  collect  information  and  make  necessary  adjustments  in 
an  organized  way  to  meet  the  ebb  and  flow  of  trade. 

(6)  Maintenance  of  Unemployed  Workpeople 

8.  Provision  of  Maintenance. — The  Committee  are  unanimous 
in  their  view  that  the  normal  provision  for  maintenance  during 
unemployment  should  be  more  adequate  and  of  wider  application 
than   is   provided   by   the    National    Insurance    (Unemployment) 
Acts.    They  think,  moreover,  that  whatever  may  be  the  basis  of 
the  scheme  ultimately  adopted,  it  should  include  provisions  for 
under-employment  as  well  as  for  unemployment. 

9.  Education  and  Training. — Whether  provision  for  unemploy- 
ment is  made  on  a  contributory  or  non-contributory  basis,  the 
Committee  think  that  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  scheme  should 
include  provisions  for  enabling  the  workers,  whilst  unemployed, 
and  in  receipt  of  unemployment  benefit,  to  get  access,  without 
payment  of  fees,  to  opportunities  for  continuing  their  education 
and  improving  their  qualifications.    This  is  specially  desirable  in 
the  case  of  young  persons.    It  should  be  the  normal  arrangement 
for  young  persons,  that  whenever  unemployed,  they  should  be 
required  to  continue  their  education  at  centers  where  such  facili- 
ties are  provided  by  the  Local  Education  Authority. 

10.  Domestic  Employment  for  Married  Women  and  Widows. — 
The  effect  on  the  labor  market  of  the  employment  of  married 
women  and  widows,  particularly  those  who  have  young  children, 


330  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

was  brought  forward,  but  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Committee 
had  no  official  information  at  their  disposal,  they  felt  they  were 
unable  to  express  an  opinion  without  having  full  particulars  of 
the  circumstances  and  conditions  under  which  the  employment  of 
mothers  is  carried  on.  The  Committee  feel  that  the  subject  is  so 
important  that  a  special  inquiry  should  be  immediately  instituted 
to  investigate  the  whole  matter,  and  thereafter  submit  a  report. 

11.  Limitation  of  Child  Labor. — The  Committee  are  of  opinion 
that  child  labor  is  bad  in  principle,  and  in  practice  tends  to  de- 
crease the  chances  of  adult  employment.    For  these  reasons,  with- 
out going  into  details,  the  Committee  think  that  the  age  at  which 
a  child   should  enter   employment   should  be   raised  beyond  the 
present  limit. 

12.  Sickness  Benefit  and  Old  Age  Pensions. — The  opinion  of  the 
Committee  is  that  the  amount  of  sickness  and  infirmity  benefits 
should  be  examined  with  a  view  to  more  generous  provisions  being 
made. 

In  regard  to  Old  Age  Pensions,  they  consider  that  the  age  of 
qualification  should  be  reduced,  that  more  liberal  allowance  should 
be  paid,  and  that  the  disqualification  in  respect  of  income  should 
be  modified. 

The  Committee  feel  that  these  questions  require  immediate 
consideration,  and  they  urge  the  necessity  of  appointing  a  Com- 
mittee to  investigate  them  and  report. 

NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL 

As  already  indicated  in  this  report,  the  Committee  are  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  establishing  without  delay  some  form  of 
permanent  representative  National  Industrial  Council. 

The  considered  views  of  the  Committee  are  as  follows: 

Preamble 

A  National  Industrial  Council  should  not  supersede  any  of  the 
existing  agencies  for  dealing  with  industrial  questions.  Its  object 
would  be  to  supplement  and  co-ordinate  the  existing  sectional 
machinery  by  bringing  together  the  knowledge  and  experience  of 
all  sections  and  focussing  them  upon  the  problems  that  affect  indus- 
trial relations  as  a  whole.  Its  functions,  therefore,  would  be 
advisory. 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  331 

Such  a  Council  would  have  to  be  large  in  order  to  give  due 
representation  to  all  the  industrial  interests  concerned;  at  the 
same  time,  it  should  be  as  small  as  is  consistent  with  an  adequate 
representative  basis.  Since  in  any  case  it  would  be  too  large 
for  the  transaction  of  detailed  business,  a  Standing  Committee, 
large  enough  to  insure  that  it  will  not  be  unrepresentative,  will 
be  needed.  The  Council  must  be  elected,  not  nominated,  other- 
wise its  authority  will  not  be  adequate  to  the  proper  discharge 
of  its  functions.  The  method  of  election  must  be  determined  by 
each  side  for  itself,  subject  to  two  conditions:  first,  that  the 
members  must  be  representative  of  organizations,  not  of  individual 
employers  or  workpeople ;  and,  second,  that  the  organizations  con- 
cerned adopt  such  a  method  of  election  or  appointment  that  their 
nominees  can  be  regarded  as  fully  representative. 

In  order  that  the  Council  may  have  the  necessary  independent 
status  and  authority  if  it  is  to  promote  industrial  peace,  the  Gov- 
ernment should  recognize  it  as  the  official  consultative  authority 
to  the  Government  upon  industrial  relations,  and  should  make  it 
the  normal  channel  through  which  the  opinion  and  experience  of 
industry  will  be  sought  on  all  questions  with  which  industry  as  a 
whole  is  concerned. 

In  addition  to  advising  the  Government  the  Council  should, 
when  it  thought  fit,  issue  statements  on  industrial  questions  or 
disputes  for  the  guidance  of  public  opinion. 

Objects 

To  secure  the  largest  possible  measure  of  joint  action  between 
the  representative  organizations  of  employers  and  workpeqple,  and 
to  be  the  normal  channel  through  which  the  opinion  and  experi- 
ence of  industry  will  be  sought  by  the  Government  on  all  ques- 
tions affecting  industry  as  a  whole. 

It  will  be  open  to  the  Council  to  take  any  action  that  falls 
within  the  scope  of  its  general  definition.  Among  its  more 
specific  objects  will  be: 

(a)  The  consideration  of  general  questions  affecting  industrial 

relations. 
(&)  The  consideration  of  measures  for  joint  or  several  action 

to  anticipate  and  avoid  threatened  disputes. 


332  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

(c)  The  consideration  of  actual  disputes  involving  general 
questions. 

(rf)  The  consideration  of  legislative  proposals  affecting  indus- 
trial relations. 

(e)  To  advise  the  Government  on  industrial  questions  and  on 
the  general  industrial  situation. 

(/)  To  issue  statements  for  the  guidance  of  public  opinion  on 
industrial  issues. 


Constitution 
I.   The  Council 

1.  The  Council  shall  consist  of  four  hundred  members  fully 
representative  of  and  duly  accredited  by  the  Employers'  organiza- 
tions and  the  Trade  Unions,  to  be  elected  as  to  one  half  by  the 
Employers'  organizations  and  as  to  one  half  by  the  Trade  Unions. 

2.  Subject  to  the  conditions  stated  in  Clause  I,  the  method  of 
election  and  allocation  of  representatives  shall  be  determined  by 
each  side  for  itself.    The  scheme  proposed  by  the  Trade  Union 
members  of  the  Committee  for  the  election  of  Trade  Union  rep- 
resentatives is  shown  in  the  Appendix  to  this  report. 

3.  Members  of  the  Council  shall  retire  annually,  and  shall  be 
eligible  for  re-election  by  the  organizations  which  they  represent. 
Casual  vacancies  may  be  filled  by  the  side  in  which  the  vacancy 
occurs,  any  member  so  appointed  to  sit  until  the  end  of  the  cur- 
rent year. 

4.  The  Council  shall  meet  at  least  twice  a  year,  and  in  addition 
as  often  as  the  Standing  Committee  hereafter  referred  to  deem 
to  be  necessary. 

5.  The  Minister  of  Labor  for  the  time  being  shall  be  President 
of  the  Council  and  shall,  when  possible,  preside  at  its  meetings. 
There  shall  be  three  Vice-Presidents,  one  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernment to  be  Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee  hereafter 
referred  to,  one  elected  by  and  from  the  Employers'  representa- 
tives on  the  Council,  one  elected  by  and  from  the  Trade  Unions' 
representatives.     In  the  absence  of  the  President,  the  Chairman 
of  the  Standing  Committee  shall  preside,  in  his  absence  one  of  the 
other  Vice-Presidents. 

The  Chairman  of  the  Committee  shall  be  a  whole-time  officer, 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  333 

and  shall  have  associated  with  him  two  secretaries,  one  appointed 
by  the  Employers'  representatives  on  the  Council,  one  appointed 
by  the  Trade  Unions'  representatives. 

6.  Voting. — The  two  sides  of  the  Council  shall  vote  separately, 
and  no  resolution  shall  be  declared  carried  unless  approved  by  a 
majority  of  those  present  on  each  side.    Each  side  shall  determine 
for  itself  the  method  of  voting. 

7.  Finance. — The  expenses  of  the  Council,  subject  to  sanction 
by  the  Treasury,  shall  be  borne  by  the  Government. 

8.  The  Council  shall  be  empowered  to  make  Standing  Orders 
for  the  conduct  of  its  business. 


II.   The  Standing  Committee 

1.  There  shall  be  a  Standing  Committee  of  the  Council,  con- 
sisting of  25  members  elected  by  and  from  the  Employers'  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Council,  and  25  members  elected  by  and  from 
the  Trade  Union  representatives. 

2.  The  method  of  election  of  members  shall  be  determined  by 
each  side  of  the  Council  for  itself. 

3.  The  Standing  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  take  such 
action  as  it  deems  to  be  necessary  to  carry  out  the  objects  of  the 
Council.     It  shall  consider  any  questions  referred  to  it  by  the 
Council  or  the  Government,  and  shall  report  to  the  Council  its 
decisions. 

4.  The  Standing  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  appoint  an 
Emergency    Committee    and    such    Sub-Committees    as    may    be 
necessary. 

5.  The  Standing  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  co-opt  rep- 
resentatives of  any  trade  not  directly  represented  upon  it   for 
the  consideration  of  any  question  affecting  that  trade. 

6.  The  Standing  Committee  shall  meet  as  often  as  may  be 
necessary,  and  at  least  once  a  month. 

7.  The  Government  shall  appoint  a  Chairman  to  the  Standing 
Committee,  who  shall  preside  at  its  meetings,  but  shall  have  no 
vote.     There   shall  be  two  Vice-Chairmen,  one  elected  by   and 
from  the  Employers'  representatives  on  the  Committee,  and  one 
by  and  from  the  Trade  Union  representatives.    In  the  absence  of 
the  Chairman,  the  Vice-Chairmen  shall  preside  in  turn. 

8.  The  Standing  Committee,  with  the  consent  of  the  Treasury, 


334  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

shall  be  empowered  to  appoint  such  secretaries  and  other  officers 
as  may  be  necessary  for  the  conduct  of  its  business. 

9.  The  Standing  Committee  shall  be  empowered  to  make  Stand- 
ing Orders  for  the  conduct  of  its  business. 

10.  Finance. — The  expenses  of  the  Standing  Committee  shall, 
subject  to  sanction  by  the  Treasury,  be  borne  by  the  Government. 

-REFERENCE  CLAUSE 

If  any  question  arises  as  to  the  meaning  or  intention  of  this 
Report,  it  should  be  referred  for  consideration  to  the  National 
Industrial  Council. 

SUMMARY 

The  views  of  the  Committee  on  the  questions  with  which  they 
have  been  able  to  deal  in  the  time  at  their  disposal,  may  be  sum- 
marized as  follows: 

Hours 

(a)  The  establishment  by  legal  enactment  of  the  principle  of 

a  maximum  normal  working  week  of  48  hours,  subject  to — 
(&)  Provision  for  varying  the  normal  hours  in  proper  cases, 

with  adequate  safeguards. 
(c)  Hours  agreements  between  employers  and  trade  unions  to 

be  capable  of  application  to  the  trade  concerned. 
(d")  Systematic   overtime   to   be   discouraged   and   unavoidable 

overtime  to  be  paid  for  at  special  rates. 

Wages 

(a)  The  establishment  by  legal  enactment  of  minimum  time- 
rates  of  wages,  to  be  of  universal  applicability. 

(&)  A  Commission  to  report  within  three  months  as  to  what 
these  minimum  rates  should  be. 

(c)  Extension  of  the  establishment  of  Trade  Boards  for  less 

organized  trades. 

(d)  Minimum   time-rates   agreements   between   employers   and 

trade  unions  to  be  capable  of  application  to  all  employers 
engaged  in  the  trade  falling  within  the  scope  of  the  agree- 
ment. 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  335 

(e)  Wages  (Temporary  Regulation)  Act,  1918,  to  continue  for 
a  further  period  of  six  months  from  2ist  May,  1919. 

(/)  Trade  Conferences  to  be  held  to  consider  how  war  ad- 
vances and  bonuses  should  be  dealt  with,  and,  in  particu- 
lar, whether  they  should  be  added  to  the  time-rates  or 
piecework  prices  or  should  be  treated  separately  as  ad- 
vances given  on  account  of  the  conditions  due  to  the  war. 

Recognition  of,  and  negotiations  between,  organisations  of  em* 
ployers  and  workpeople 

(a)  Basis  of  negotiation  between  employers  and  workpeople 
should  be  full  and  frank  acceptance  of  employers'  or- 
ganizations and  trade  unions  as  the  recognized  organiza- 
tions to  speak  and  act  on  behalf  of  their  members. 

(6)  Members  should  accept  the  jurisdiction  of  their  respective 
organizations. 

(c)  Employers'  organizations  and  trade  unions  should  enter 
into  negotiations  for  the  establishment  of  machinery,  or 
the  revision  of  existing  machinery,  for  the  avoidance  of 
disputes,  with  provision  for  a  representative  method  of 
negotiation  in  questions  in  which  the  same  class  of 
employers  or  workpeople  are  represented  by  more  than 
one  organization  respectively,  and  for  the  protection  of 
employers'  interests  where  members  of  trade  unions  of 
workpeople  are  engaged  in  positions  of  trust  or  confiden- 
tiality, provided  the  right  of  such  employees  to  join  or 
remain  members  of  any  trade  union  is  not  thereby 
affected. 

Unemployment 

(i)  Prevention  of  Unemployment 

(a)  Organized  short  time  has  considerable  value  in  periods  of 
depression.  The  joint  representative  bodies  in  each  trade 
afford  convenient  machinery  for  controlling  and  regulat- 
ing short  time. 

(&)  Government  orders  should  be  regulated  with  a  view  to 
stabilizing  employment. 

(c)  Government  housing  schemes  should  be  pressed  forward 
without  delay. 


336  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

(d)  Demand  for  labor  could  be  increased  by  State  development 
of  new  industries. 


(2)  Maintenance  of  Unemployed  Workpeople 

(e)  Normal  provision  for  maintenance  during  unemployment 
should  be  more  adequate  and  of  wider  application,  and 
should  be  extended  to  under-employment. 

(/)  Unemployed  persons,  and  particularly  young  persons, 
should  have  free  opportunities  of  continuing  their  educa- 
tion. 

(<?)  The  employment  of  married  women  and  widows  who  have 
young  children  should  be  subject  of  a  special  inquiry. 

(h)  The  age  at  which  a  child  should  enter  employment  should 
be  raised  beyond  the  present  limit. 

(»)  Sickness  and  Infirmity  Benefits,  and  Old  Age  Pensions  re- 
quire immediate  investigation  with  a  view  to  more  gen- 
erous provisions  being  made. 

National  Industrial  Council 

(a)  A  permanent  National  Industrial  Council  should  be  estab- 
lished to  consider  and  advise  the  Government  on  national 
industrial  questions. 

(&)  It  should  consist  of  400  members,  200  elected  by  employers' 
organizations,  and  200  by  trade  unions. 

(c)  The  Minister  of  Labor  should  be  President  of  the  Council. 

(rf)  There  should  be  a  Standing  Committee  of  the  Council  num- 
bering 50  members,  and  consisting  of  25  members  elected 
by  and  from  the  employers'  representatives,  and  25  by 
and  from  the  trade  union  representatives,  on  the  Council. 

There  has  been  apparent  throughout  the  proceedings  an  earnest 
anxiety  on  the  part  of  the  representatives,  both  of  employers  and 
employed,  to  approach  the  subjects  of  their  discussion  in  a  spirit 
of  mutual  accommodation  so  as  to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  settle- 
ment of  outstanding  difficulties.  The  Committee  confidently  be- 
lieve that  if  effect  is  given  to  the  recommendations  now  made, 
and  if  the  same  spirit  that  has  characterized  the  deliberations  of 
the  Committee  actuates  the  future  consideration  of  other  diffi- 
culties that  exist  or  may  arise,  much  will  have  been  done  to  pro- 


INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  337 

mote  that  spirit  of  mutual  confidence  which  is  a  first  essential  to 
the  effective  and  successful  conduct  of  industry  in  the  interests  of 
employers  and  employed  and  the  nation  generally. 

In  conclusion,  the  Committee  desire  to  say  that  they  welcome 
the  steps  now  being  taken  in  the  direction  of  International  regu- 
lation of  labor  conditions,  as  they  believe  that  a  satisfactory  ad- 
justment of  labor  conditions  on  an  International  basis  will  have 
a  beneficial  effect  on  industrial  problems  in  this  country. 

THOS.  MUNRO, 

Chairman. 
ALLAN  M.  SMITH, 
Chairman  of  Employers'  Representatives. 

ARTHUR  HENDERSON, 

Chairman  of  Trade  Union  Representatives. 
C.  S.  HURST, 
Secretary. 

APPENDIX 

PROVISIONAL  SCHEME  FOR  TRADE  UNION  REPRESENTATION  ON 
THE  NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL 

1.  Each  Union  with  more  than  20,000  members  is  entitled  to 
separate  representation  on  the  following  basis — one  representative 
for  each  complete  20,000  members  up  to  100,000,  and  one  repre- 
sentative for  each  further  50,000  after  the  first  100,000. 

2.  Any  federation  may,  with  the  consent  of  the  Unions  forming 
the  federation,  be  represented  on  the  same  numerical  basis,  pro- 
vided that  no  Union's  membership  may  be  counted  twice  over  in 
whole  or  in  part,  whether  through  two  federations  or  once  through 
a  federation  and  once  on  its  own  behalf. 

3.  The  Societies  are  grouped  in  the  following  20  groups: 

(1)  Mining  and  Quarrying. 

(2)  Railways. 

(3)  Other  Transport. 

(4)  Iron  and  Steel  Trades. 

(5)  Engineering  and  Foundry  Workers. 

(6)  Shipyards. 


338  \        MASTERS  AND  MEN 

(7)  Building  and  Woodworking. 

(8)  Printing  and  Paper. 

(9)  Cotton. 

(10)  Other  Textiles. 

(n)  Boot  and  Shoe  and  Leather. 

(12)  Clothing. 

(13)  Food  Trades. 

(14)  Distributive  Trades. 

(15)  Agriculture. 

(16)  Clerks  and  Agents. 

(17)  Government  Employees. 

(18)  General  Labor. 

(19)  Women  Workers. 

(20)  Miscellaneous  Trades. 


CHAPTER  II 

ORGANIZED  PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  THE  BUILDING 
INDUSTRY 

BEING  THE  INTERIM  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  SCIENTIFIC 

MANAGEMENT   AND   REDUCTION    OF   COSTS,   APPOINTED   BY 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL  FOR  THE  BUILDING  INDUSTRY 

THE  COMMITTEE 
The  Committee  consisted  of  the  following  members: 

Employers 

Mr.  R.  B.  CHESSUM London    Federation    of    Building    Trades 

Employers. 

"     J.  P.  Cox,  J.P Institute  of  Plumbers. 

"     T.  FOSTER    North  Western  Federation  of  B.T.E. 

"     T.  GRAHAM  Scottish    National    Building    Trades    Fed- 
eration. 

"     H.  T.  HOLLOWAY   London  Federation  of  B.T.E. 

"     S.  SMETHURST,  J.P.   ..North  Western  Federation  of  B.T.E. 

"     J.  F.  TURNER  Scottish    National    Building    Trades    Fed- 
eration. 

"     F.  G.  WHITTALL Midland  Federation  of  B.T.E. 

Operatives 

Mr.  J.  ARMOUR  Operative  Stonemasons'  Association  (Scot- 
land). 

"     W.  CROSS  Amalgamated  Slaters  Society  of  Scotland. 

"     J.   H.   EoMiSTON1 Operative    Plumbers   and   Domestic    Engi- 
neers. 

"     T.  GREGORY   Manchester    Unity    of    Operative    Brick- 
layers. 

"     R.  JONES    United    Order    of    General    Laborers    of 

London. 

"     H.  J.  WALKER Amalgamated  Society  of  Carpenters,  Cab- 
inet Makers,  and  Joiners. 

"     W.  WILLIAMS    Operative  Stonemasons'  Society. 

1  Mr.  Edmiston  retired  owing  to  ill  health,  and  was  consequently 
present  at  none  of  the  meetings. 

339 


340  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

Councilor  R.  WILSON   Amalgamated  Slaters  and  Tilers  Provident 

Society. 

Co-opted 

Mr.  MALCOLM  SPARKES  was  co-opted  a  member  of  the  Committee 
on  April  9th,  1919. 


INTERIM  REPORT 


To  J.  STORKS,  ESQ.,  J.P.  (Chairman), 
The  Industrial  Council  for  the  Building  Industry 

Sir, 

We  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  Interim  Report  on 
Organized  Public  Service  in  the  Building  Industry. 


Introduction 

1.  This  Committee  was  appointed  to  consider  the  question  of 
Scientific  Management '  and  Reduction  of  Costs  with  a  view  to 
enabling  the  Building  Industry  to  render  the  most  efficient  service 
possible. 

2.  The  terms  "  Scientific  Management  and  Reduction  of  Costs  " 
do  not  at  first  sight  suggest  any  very  far-reaching  inquiry,  but  we 
decided  unanimously  at  our  first  meeting  that  if  we  were  to  do 
any  really  useful  work  we  must  review  the  whole  structure  of 
the  building  industry  in  order  to  bring  forward  recommendations 
that  would  be  of  real  service. 

3.  Although  in  the  fabric  of  our  industrial  order,  the  material 
and  the  human  sides  are  so  intimately  interwoven  that  it  is  impos- 
sible completely  to  separate  them,  we  found  it  useful  to  set  up 
two  sub-committees  to  specialize  respectively  on  the  twin  subjects 
of  production  and  distribution  of  the  product.    The  recommenda- 
tions of  these  two  groups  have  been  reviewed  by  the  full  com- 
mittee, and  are  combined  in  the  document  we  now  present. 

4.  As  our  investigation  proceeded,  we  became  more  and  more 
impressed  with  the  immense  possibilities  lying  latent  in  the  new 
system  of  industrial  self-government  implied  in  the  constitution 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     341 

of  our  Industrial  Council,  and  we  believe  that,  given  the  vision, 
the  faith  and  the  courage,  our  industry  will  be  enabled  to  lead 
the  way  in  the  industrial  and  social  re-adjustments  that  are 
imminent. 

We  have  glimpsed  the  possibility  of  the  whole  Building  Industry 
of  Great  Britain  being  welded  together  into  one  great  self- 
governing  democracy  of  organized  public  service,  uniting  a  full 
measure  of  free  initiative  and  enterprise  with  all  the  best  that 
applied  science  and  research  can  render.  The  whole  trend  of 
modern  industrial  development  is  already  setting  in  this  direction. 
We  have  now  much  valuable  experience  of  control  by  the  State, 
by  the  municipality,  by  the  co-operative  organizations  of  con- 
sumers, by  the  joint  stock  company,  and  by  individual  private 
enterprise.  Most  of  these  forms  of  control  offer  advantages,  but 
each  of  them  presents  serious  defects. 

5.  We  believe  that  the  great  task  of  our  Industrial  Council  is 
to  develop  an  entirely  new  system  of  industrial  control  by  the 
members  of  the  industry  itself — the  actual  producers,  whether  by 
hand  or  brain — and  to  bring  them  into  co-operation  with  the  State 
as  the  central  representative  of  the  community  whom  they  are 
organized  to  serve.     Nothing  short  of  this  will  produce  the  full 
development  of  the  "  team  spirit "  in  industry,  which  is  the  key 
to  the  whole  problem  of  production;  nothing  short  of  this  is 
worthy  of  the  high  ideals  for  which  our  Industrial  Council  stands. 
But   such   a   reconstruction  of  our   industrial    fabric   cannot   be 
achieved  in  a  day.    There  are  many  problems  that  require  patient 
experiment,  and  experience  must  be  purchased  in  the  school  of 
trial  and  error.     Our  hope  for  the  future  lies  in  the  liberation 
and  right  direction  of  men's  true  generous  qualities  of  goodwill, 
enthusiasm,  and  adventure.     They  must  be  our  constant  guide, 
and  no  fear  of  risks  that  seem  to  be  involved  must  allow  us  to 
deny  them. 

6.  The  recommendations  that  we  now  bring  forward  are  there- 
fore based  upon  their  immediate  availability,  and  are  designed  to 
lay  the  foundation  of  an  industrial  system  which,  while  giving 
full  play  to  individual  enterprise  and  complete  freedom  from  the 
benumbing  hand  of  bureaucracy,  shall  yet  tend  to  develop  that 
sense  of  comradeship  and  solidarity  that  is  so  essential  for  effi- 
cient service. 

We  believe  that  they  will  be  much  improved  by  full  discussion 


342  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

and  frank  criticism  in  the  Council,  and  we  submit  them  in  the 
belief  that  if  our  industry  will  give  a  clear  and  courageous  lead 
in  the  direction  we  have  tried  to  indicate,  its  example  will  be  of 
the  greatest  possible  service  to  our  country  at  this  critical  time 
of  transition. 

The  Problem  Stated 

7.  It  became  clear  at  a  very  early  stage  that  there  are  four 
main  factors  that  tend  to  the  restriction  of  output.    They  are: 

(a)  The  fear  of  unemployment. 

(&)  The  disinclination  of  the  operatives  to  make  unrestricted 

profit  for  private  employers. 
(c)  The  lack  of  interest  in  the  industry  evidenced  by  operatives 

owing  to  their  non-participation  in  control. 
(</)  Inefficiency,  both  managerial  and  operative. 

8.  We  begin  then  with  the  question  of  employment. 

In  a  report  such  as  this  it  seems  unnecessary  to  elaborate  the 
well-known  seasonal  difficulties  with  which  our  industry  is  con- 
fronted. We  therefore  immediately  proceed  to  indicate  the  lines 
of  remedy. 

The  Regularisation  of  Demand 

9.  The  aim  we  have  in  view  is  the  development  of  the  highest 
possible  efficiency  in  a  well  organized  building  service.     To  this 
end  we  consider  it  essential  that  the  whole  productive  capacity 
of  the  industry  should  be  continuously  engaged  and  absorbed,  and 
that  a  regular  flow  of  contracts  should  replace  the  old  haphazard 
alterations  of  congestion  and  stagnation. 

It  is  well-known  that  the  proportion  of  public  to  private  work 
is  very  considerable,  and  that  it  is  well  within  the  powers  of 
public  authorities  to  speed  up  or  to  delay  contracts.  We  there- 
fore recommend: 

(a)  That  the  Industrial  Council  shall  set  up  a  permanent  Com- 
mittee entitled  The  Building  Trades  Central  Employment 
Committee,  with  the  necessary  clerical  staff. 

(&)  That  each  Regional  Council  shall  similarly  set  up  a  Build- 
ing Trades  Regional  Employment  Committee. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     343 

(c)  That  each  Local  or  Area  Council  shall  similarly  set  up  a 

Building  Trades  Area  Employment  Committee. 

(d)  That  each  Committee  shall  consist  of  an  equal  number  of 

employers  and  operatives  with  one  architect  appointed 
by  the  local  professional  Association  of  Architects  or  by 
the  R.  I.  B.  A.,  as  may  be  most  appropriate. 

10.  The  first  duty  of  these  committees  would  be  to  regularize 
the  demand  for  building. 

(a)  At  the  approach  of  slack  periods,  by  accelerating  new 
building  enterprises,  both  public  and  private,  with  the 
co-operation  of  architects  and  local  authorities. 

(&)  Conversely,  at  periods  of  congestion,  by  advising  building 
owners  to  postpone  the  construction  of  such  works  as 
are  not  of  an  urgent  character. 

11.  Except  when  modified  by  special  arrangements  we  recom- 
mend that  the  Central,  Regional,  and  Area  Employment  Com- 
mittees should  co-operate  with  the  appropriate  State,  county  or 
district  authorities. 

Although  we  propose  that  these  Committees  should  consist  of 
producers  only,  we  contemplate  the  fullest  possible  co-operation 
with  the  Government  and  local  authorities  at  every  stage,  not  only 
because  they  are  important  customers,  themselves,  but  also  because 
they  are  the  duly  elected  representatives  of  the  consuming  public. 

12.  We  recognize  that  such  a  scheme  would  involve  some  measure 
of  restraint  upon  individual  employers  and  realize  that  the  small 
non-federated  employer  would  be  an  obstacle  to  its  ordered  work- 
ing, but  we  are  convinced  that  combined  pressure  by  members  of 
the  Building  Trades'  Parliament  or  its  constituents  should  even- 
tually overcome  this  obstacle.    Such  spreading  over  of  work  from 
year  to  year  and  season  to  season  will  not  of  itself  solve  the  whole 
problem  of  providing  a  steady  stream  of  work. 

The  Decasualization  of  Labor 

13.  We  recommend  that  the  second  main  function  of  the  Local 
Employment  Committee  shall  be  the  decasualization  of  labor,  and 
the  difficulty  of  providing  employment  during  wet  and  bad  seasons 
has  yet  to  be  faced.    We  feel  that  a  certain  amount  of  investiga- 


344  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

tion  is  still  needed  in  this  direction  and  venture  to  suggest  that  the 
Building  Trades'  Parliament  should  approach  the  representatives 
of  other  industries  and  public  authorities  with  a  view  to  investi- 
gating the  possibility  of  "dove-tailing"  or  seasonal  interchange 
of  labor. 

There  would  appear  to  be  a  large  volume  of  national  and  pri- 
vate work  which  could  be  undertaken  when  the  industry  itself 
could  not  usefully  employ  all  its  available  labor,  for  example : 

(a)  Afforestation. 
(&)  Roadmaking. 

(c)  The  preparation  of  sites  for  housing  schemes. 
(rf)  Demolition  of  unsanitary  or  condemned  areas  in  prepara- 
tion for  improvements. 

14.  The  question  of  the  method  of  paying  men  so  engaged  in 
other  occupations  in  bad  seasons  will  be  considered  later  in  rela- 
tion to  the  scheme  we  are  recommending  for  the  provision  of 
unemployment  pay. 

15.  When  all  other  methods  of  providing  steady  and  adequate 
employment   for  the   operatives  have  been  exhausted,   then  the 
industry  is  faced  with  the  question  of  its  responsibility  toward  its 
employees  during  possible  periods  of  unemployment.    We  are  con- 
vinced that  the  overhanging  fear  of  unemployment  must  be  finally 
removed  before  the  operative  can  be  expected   whole-heartedly 
to  give  of  his  best.  Considerations  of  humanity  and  efficiency  alike, 
therefore,  demand  that  provision  shall  be  made  by  the  industry 
itself  adequately  to  maintain  the  operative  and  his  family  during 
any   period  of   unemployment   arising    from   causes   outside   his 
control. 

This  accomplished,  we  believe  that  the  whole  atmosphere  of 
industry  will  experience  a  great  and  vitalizing  change,  and  that 
efficiency  of  production  will  be  much  increased. 

1 6.  We  accordingly  suggest  that  termination  of   employment 
upon  any  job  should  be  subject  to  one  week's  notice  instead  of 
one  hour  (except  in  the  case  of  a  strike  or  lock-out)  and  that  the 
local  Employment  Committee  should  be  immediately  notified  of 
such  approaching  terminations  and  also  of  all  vacancies  occurring. 

The  machinery  for  filling  vacancies  already  exists  in  the  trade 
union  organization  and  should  be  developed  to  the  greatest  pos- 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     345 

sible  extent,  in  order  to  supplement  the  State  Employment  Ex- 
changes, so  far  as  the  building  industry  is  concerned. 

Unemployment  Pay 

17.  We  further  recommend  that  in  cases  of  unavoidable  unem- 
ployment, the  maintenance  of  its  unemployed  members  shall  be 
undertaken  by*  the  industry  through  its  Employment  Committees, 
and  that  the  necessary  revenue  should  be  raised  by  means  of  a 
fixed  percentage  on  the  wages  bills  and  paid  weekly  to  the  Employ- 
ment Committee  by  each  employer  on  the  joint  certificate  of  him- 
self and  a  shop  steward  or  other  accredited  trade  union  represen- 
tative. 

1 8.  The  amount  of  the  percentage  charge  necessary  to  raise 
funds  for  the  maintenance  of  members  unavoidably  unemployed 
will  naturally  depend  upon  the  amount  of  the  State  subsidy  for  the 
purpose,  and  also  upon  the  efficiency  of  the  Employment  Com- 
mittees in  the  matter  of : 

(a)  Regularization  of  demand,  and 
(&)  Decasualization  of  labor, 

but  it  is  already  evident  from  past  experience  that  the  percentage 
will  certainly  be  small,  and  that  a  charge  of  5  per  cent  would 
probably  be  more  than  ample.  An  estimate  of  the  revenue  required 
for  the  coming  year  should  be  laid  before  the  Industrial  Council 
annually  and  the  rate  of  percentage  fixed  accordingly. 

19.  While  the  collection  of  this  revenue  should  be  carried  out 
by  the  Employment  Committees,  the  payments  should  be  made  by 
periodical  refund  to  the  trade  unions,  who  would  thus  become  an 
important  integral  part  of  the  official  machinery  and  would  dis- 
tribute the  unemployment  pay  in  accordance  with  the  regulations 
prescribed  by  the  Industrial  Council  and  its  Committees. 

20.  Every  duly  registered  member  when  prevented,  for  a  period 
to  be  fixed,  from  working  at  the  proper  craft  at  the  full  standard 
rates  of  the  district,  should  be   entitled  to  unemployment   pay, 
whether  the  cause  be  sickness,  accident,  shortage  of  work,  or  stress 
of  weather.     In  all  cases  the  amount  would  be  inclusive  of  any 
benefit  under  the  State  and  Trade  Unions  schemes. 

21.  We  further  recommend  that  every  registered  member  should 
be  entitled  to  one  week's  summer  holiday  pay  per  annum,  and  at 


346  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

the  same  scale  and  from  the  same  fund  as  the  unemployment 
pay. 

22.  For  purpose  of  this  scheme  "Members  of  the  Industry" 
would  be  trade  unionists  engaged  therein,  including  the  clerical, 
technical  and  managerial  staffs,  who  register  with  the  Employment 
Committees  for  participation. 

23.  During  unemployment  all  men  should  receive  half  their  full 
wage,  supplemented  in  the  case  of  a  married  man  by  one-tenth  of 
his  full  wage  for  his  wife  and  each  of  his  children  up  to  four 
children,  under  sixteen  years  of  age.    When  the  industry  becomes 
responsible  in  this  way  for  unemployment  pay,  apart  from  the  con- 
tributions which  it  already  has  to  pay  under  the  State  Unemploy- 
ment schemes,  then  two  essential  conditions  must  be   fulfilled: 

(i)  The  workers  by  more  concentrated  effort  must  increase  effi- 
ciency beyond  the  present  standard;  and  (2)  Management  and 
Capital  must  consent  to  a  limitation  being  imposed  upon  their  earn- 
ings, and  should  be  prepared  to  adopt  methods  on  their  side  which 
will  lead  to  greater  output. 

We  have  attempted  thoroughly  to  explore  all  possible  objections 
to  the  scheme  which  we  are  advocating,  but  the  difficulties  are  not 
sufficiently  serious  to  shake  our  conviction  that  with  increasing 
goodwill  will  come  higher  production,  and  with  better  management 
increasing  surplus  will  be  available. 

24.  The  Unemployment  Scheme  recommended  will  perform  two 
functions  at  least.     It  will  go  far  to  secure  the  complete  good- 
will of  the  operative  and  make  unnecessary  certain  restrictions 
which  exist,  either  tacitly  or  otherwise,  on  output;  and,  secondly, 
by  absorbing  a  certain  amount  of  the  surplus  earnings  of  the 
industry,  it  should  tend  to  meet  the  disinclination  on  the  part  of 
the  operatives  to  make  unrestricted  profit  for  private  employers. 

25.  It  has  already  been  recommended  that  during  bad  seasons 
operatives  should  be  encouraged  to  accept  work  in  other  occupa- 
tions rather  than  unemployment  pay.    The  question  of  remunera- 
tion under  such  arrangements  requires  further  consideration,  and 
we  hope  to  deal  with  this  in  a  later  report. 

26.  It  is  hoped  that  this  scheme  will  be  so  satisfactory  that  it 
will  be  finally  possible  to  relieve  employers  of  their  liability  under 
the  Workmen's  Compensation  and  the  Employers'  Liability  Acts, 
and  to  supersede  all  Trade  Union  Sickness  and  Unemployment 
Benefits,  and  that  the  industry  will  obtain  powers  to  contract  out 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     347 

of  the  State  scheme.  The  danger  of  fraudulent  claims  upon  the 
Unemployment  Fund  has  not  been  overlooked,  but  we  believe 
that  ample  safeguards  will  be  found  in  the  utilization  of  the  trade 
union  organization  for  the  payment  of  the  money  and  oi  the  exist- 
ing employment  exchange  facilities  for  registration  of  the  unem- 
ployed. Moreover,  fraudulent  claims  cannot  easily  be  put  forward, 
because  unemployment  will  only  result  when  the  scheme  for  the 
regularization  of  employment  has  failed  to  absorb  any  more  labor. 
The  principle  of  Joint  Committees  to  act  as  trustees  for  such  a 
fund  does  not  appear  to  need  any  defense. 

27.  We  frankly  recognize  here  that  we  are  again  faced  with  the 
fundamental  difficulty  that  there  still  exist  in  the  industry  large 
numbers  of  small  non-federated  employers,  and  on  the  other  hand 
operatives  who  are  not  trade  unionists.    Nevertheless,  we  feel  that 
the  benefits  of  such  a  scheme  will  have  a  very  material  effect  in 
inducing  employers  and  operatives  to  come  into  their  respective 
associations. 

The  Wages  of  Management 

28.  At  this  point  it  is  necessary  to  state  that  the  first  question 
discussed  by  the  Committee  was  the  possibility  of  the  adoption  by 
individual  firms  of  some  scheme  of  profit-sharing  or  co-partnership 
which  would  abolish  the  second  factor  limiting  output.    It  immedi- 
ately became  clear,  however,  that  such  schemes  secure  no  backing, 
either  by  the  trade  union  representatives  or  by  the  majority  of  the 
operatives.    All  such  methods  of  payment  are  strictly  forbidden  in 
the  rules  of  most  trade  unions  in  the  industry.    Hitherto  the  rea- 
sons of  this  objection  have  been: 

(1)  The  fear  of  increased  unemployment. 

(2)  The    fear   of    disintegrating    influences    being    introduced 

among  the  workers,  thus  weakening  the  authority  of  the 
trade  unions. 

(3)  The  difficulty  of  applying  most  methods  of  payment  by 

results  to  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  building  industry. 

29.  But  it  was  found  that  the  trade  unions  involved  would  be 
prepared  to  reconsider  their  attitude  if  the  surplus  earnings  of  the 
industry  went  not  to  individuals  but  to  some  common  service  con- 
trolled by  the  industry  as  a  whole. 


348  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

30.  This  brought  us  immediately  to  the  consideration  of  the 
wages  of  management.    Here  we  were  immediately  faced  with  the 
peculiarly  difficult  organization  of  the  building  industry.    The  ease 
with  which  small  businesses  can  be  started  with  little  or  no  capital, 
makes  it  possible   for  many  employers  to  carry  on  in  the  dual 
capacity  of  manager  and  owner.     Many  of  these  men  have  no 
proper  system  of  accountancy  or  audit,  and  would  be  quite  unable, 
if  asked,  to  differentiate  between  the  wages  of  management  and  the 
interest  on  their  capital.    Many  of  such  concerns  are  exceedingly 
unstable  and,  as  is  well  known,  are  often  a  source  of  considerable 
discredit  and  danger  to  the  industry.     In  the  larger  firms  the 
managers  are  again  usually  principally  concerned  in  the  ownership 
of  the  business,  and,  therefore,  in  view  of  the  limitation  of  the 
rate  of  interest  on  their  capital,  which  we  recommend  in  the  next 
section,  they  are  directly  and  intimately  concerned  with  the  salaries 
they  would  receive  as  managers.    Thus,  in  any  attempt  to  fix  some 
scale  of  remuneration  for  the  different  types  of  management  we 
are  at  once  faced  with  the  difficulty  of  the  proper  determination 
of  an  adequate  salary. 

31.  In  parenthesis,  we  would  here  like  to  remark  that  no  oppo- 
sition to  an  adequate  remuneration  for  management  is  likely  to  be 
offered  by  the  trade  unions,  who  may  discuss  this  scheme.    We 
feel  sure  that  no  fair-minded  operative  will  hesitate  to  support 
an  adequate  scale  of  salaries.    The  workman  demands  from  the 
management,  as  does  the  management  from  him,  the  highest  pos- 
sible efficiency,  and  respects  it  where  he  finds  it.    When  that  is 
rendered  his  whole  tendency  is  to  insist  that  such  service  shall 
receive  adequate  remuneration. 

32.  Various  alternative  suggestions  were  discussed,  and  rejected, 
for  example: 

(a)  To  fix  salaries  in  a  definite  proportion  to  foremen's  wages. 
(6)  To  fix  them  in  a  definite  proportion  to  the  profits  of  the 

business  or  its  turnover, 
(c)  To  ascertain  what  the  ordinary  market  value  of  a  manager 

would  be. 

33.  We  finally  decided  to  recommend  that  the  salaries  of  man- 
agement might  first  be  ascertained  by  each  "  Employer-Manager  " 
declaring  what  salary  he  has  received  or  what  he  regards  as  his 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     349 

due.  These  declarations  should  be  periodically  reviewed  by  the 
Employment  Committees  appointed  under  this  scheme,  the  first 
review  to  ascertain  data  for  possible  revision  in  order  to  develop 
a  recognized  standard  of  remuneration. 

The  Hiring  of  Capital 

34.  It  will  already  have  become  evident  that  the  whole  concep- 
tion of  organized  public  service  that  we  are  developing,  demands 
the  acceptance  of  three  main  principles  as  an  essential  preliminary 
to  that  increase  of  efficiency  without  which  the  cost  to  the  com- 
munity cannot  be  reduced. 

(a)  Regular  rates  of  pay  to  the  operatives  that  will  insure  a 
real  and  satisfactory  standard  of  comfort. 

(&)  Salaries  to  owner-managers  commensurate  with  their 
ability. 

(c)  A  regular  rate  of  interest  for  the  hire  of  capital. 

35.  These  established,  the  whole  atmosphere  will  be  clarified, 
the  interdependence  of  the  different  sections  will  be  better  under- 
stood and  the  "  team  spirit "  will  rapidly  develop. 

The  investigation  of  the  hire  of  capital  was,  therefore,  one  of 
the  most  important,  and,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the  most  dif- 
ficult sections  of  our  inquiry.  One  of  the  many  unsatisfactory 
features  of  the  building  industry  hitherto,  has  been  the  precarious 
nature  of  the  employers'  position  and  investments.  There  is  no 
need  to  enlarge  upon  this — it  is  well  known  to  those  engaged  in 
the  industry.  Recognizing  then  that  confidence  on  the  part  of 
employers  and  operatives  alike,  is  essential  for  efficiency,  we  bring 
forward  proposals  to  secure  that  end. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  necessary  that  the  earnings  of  employers 
should  be  clearly  and  definitely  separated  under  two  headings: 

(a)  Wages  of  Management  or  remuneration  paid  by  the  busi- 
ness for  personal  service. 

(6)  Interest  or  the  charges  paid  by  the  business  for  the  hire  of 
capital. 

Wages  of  management  should  depend  on  ability.  Interest  on 
capital  should  depend  on  security  and  on  the  market  price  of 
money. 


350  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

The  principle  of  the  limitation  of  the  rate  of  interest  on  capital 
has  already  met  with  wide  acceptance  in  the  industrial  world,  for 
example,  by  debentures,  preference,  and  loan  stocks,  as  well  as  the 
ordinary  shares  of  public  utility  societies.  But  limitation  demands 
security,  and  security  can  only  be  given  in  return  for  a  measure 
of  control.  Supervision,  limitation,  guarantees  form,  therefore,  the 
triple  keystone  of  the  plan  we  now  propose. 

36.  We  recommend  that  approved  capital,  invested  in  the  build- 
ing industry,  and  registered  annually  after  audit,  shall  receive  a 
limited  but  guaranteed  rate  of  interest,  bearing  a  definite  relation 
to  the  average  annual  yield  of  the  most  remunerative  Government 
Stock.     The  fixing  of  the  ratio  will  have  to  be  worked  out  by 
further  investigation,  but  we  recommend  that  once  determined 
upon,  the  guarantee  shall  apply  to  all  firms  in  the  industry,  except 
where  failure  to  earn  the  aforesaid  rate  is  declared  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  advice  of  the  auditors  to  be  due  to  incompetent 
management. 

37.  The  granting  of  loans  for  development — a  necessary  corol- 
lary of  the  scheme — will  be  dealt  with  in  connection  with  the 
surplus  earnings  of  the  industry,  which  forms  the  subject  of  a 
later  paragraph. 

Accountancy  and  Audit 

38.  The  regular  employment  of  qualified  accountants  for  the 
service  of  the  building  industry  is  not  only  essential  for  the  work- 
ing of  this  scheme,  but  will  add  greatly  to  the  efficiency  of  every 
firm  engaged  therein.    Moreover,  as  we  shall  show  in  a  later  sec- 
tion, our  Sub-Committee  on  Production  came  independently  to  the 
conclusion  that  some  such  system  of  periodical  accounting  was 
absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  place  the  conduct  of  the  whole 
industry  upon  a  more  scientific  and  efficient  basis. 

39.  And,  just  as  the  professional  quantity  surveyor  is  becoming 
recognized  as  the  qualified  assessor  as  between  the  builder  and 
the  building  owner,  so  the  professional  accountant  will  become  the 
recognized  assessor  as  between  the  builder,  the  whole  body  of 
producers,  and  the  larger  community  of  which  they  form  a  part. 

The  Surplus  Earnings  of  the  Industry 

40.  While  it  may  be  urged  that  the  measures  so  far  projected 
do  not  take  any  direct  cognizance  of  the  public  interest,  we  believe 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     351 

that  a  solution  of  this  problem  may  be  found  in  the  control  of  the 
surplus.    We  therefore  recommend: 

(a)  That  the  amount  of  the  surplus  earnings  of  the  industry 
shall  be  publicly  declared  every  year  and  accompanied 
by  a  schedule  of  the  services  to  which  the  money  has 
been  voted. 

(&)  That  it  shall  be  held  in  trust  by  a  National  Joint  Committee 
of  the  Building  Trades  Industrial  Council,  and  shall  be 
applied  to  the  following  common  services,  which  will  be 
developed  under  the  control  of  the  industry  as  a  whole. 

(1)  Guarantee  of  interest  on  approved  capital  as  outlined  in 

par.  36. 

(2)  Loans  to  firms  in  the  industry  for  purposes  of  develop- 

ment. 

(3)  Education  and  research  in  various  directions  for  improve- 

ment of  the  industry,  both  independently  and  in  co- 
operation with  other  industries. 

(4)  Superannuation  schemes  for  the  whole  registered  per- 

sonnel of  the  industry. 

(5)  Replacement  of  approved  capital  lost  through  no  fault  of 

the  management. 

(6)  Such  other  purposes  as  may  be  thought  desirable. 

41.  We  believe  that  this  safeguard  of  complete  publicity  will 
not  only  be  very  effective  in  creating  public  confidence  in  the 
organized  service  of  the  building  industry,  but  will  also  pave  the 
way  to  the  scientific  adjustment  of  prices,  by  providing  the  requi- 
site information  for  the  use  of  the  Building  Trades  Industrial 
Council.  Every  rise  in  prices  disturbs  public  confidence,  restricts 
demand,  and  thus  depletes  both  the  unemployment  and  guarantee 
funds  and  reduces  the  surplus ;  while  every  fall  in  prices  increases 
public  confidence,  stimulates  demand,  and  relieves  both  the  unem- 
ployment and  guarantee  funds. 

And,  while  we  hold  that  the  creation  of  these  common  services, 
financed  by  the  surplus  earnings  of  the  industry,  is  necessary  for 
the  development  of  the  "  team  spirit "  throughout  its  personnel, 
we  are  convinced  that  the  public  will  not  only  recognize  their 
value,  but  will  reap  a  distinct  benefit  from  an  improved  product. 
Industries  are  so  intimately  interdependent  that  any  increasing 


352  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

well-being  in  one  must  ultimately  lead  to  the  benefit  of  the  others 
and  to  the  consumer  in  particular. 

Conditions  of  Entry  into  the  Industry 

42.  It  is  obvious  that  the  important  improvements  we  have  out- 
lined, will  tend  to  make  service  in  the  industry  more  attractive,  and 
while  the  interests  of  this  public  service  emphatically  demand  the 
enrolment  of  every  member  who  can  be  trained  and  utilized  in  the 
building  industry,  we  fully  recognize  that  indiscriminate  enrol- 
ment must  be  prevented  by  careful  regulation. 

43.  We  therefore  recommend  that  the  development  of  the  in- 
dustry should  be  kept  under  constant  review  by  the  Employment 
Committees,  and  that  these  committees  should  periodically  notify 
the  trade  unions  as  to  the  number  of  new  members  that  may 
apply   for   registration  under  the   employment   scheme,   after   a 
suitable    trade    test    or    evidence    of    previous    service    in    the 
industry. 

44.  In  anticipation  of  such  periodical  notifications  we  further 
recommend  that  the  trade  unions  should  establish  waiting  lists 
and  that  the  periods  of  waiting  should  be  utilized  for  technical 
training,  approved  by  the  Building  Trades  Parliament. 

45.  Similarly  the  entry  of  new  employers  into  the  industry  will 
require  careful  regulation  by  the  Employment  Committees,  in  order 
to  insure  that  a  high  standard  of  efficiency  is  established  and  main- 
tained in  this  connection.    We  recommend  that  no  loans  should 
be  made  from  the  Development  Funds  (suggested  in  paragraph  40) 
to  new  firms  conducted  by  private  enterprise.    New  private  enter- 
prise should  always  provide  its  own  initial  capital. 

Scientific  Management 

46.  Our  recommendations,  so  far,  have  dealt  mainly  with  the 
development  of  the  "  team  spirit "  in  industry — that  subtle  change 
in  the  industrial  atmosphere  that  will  engender  throughout  the 
whole  personnel  of  the  building  industry  the  confidence,  enthusiasm 
and  sense  of  common  purpose,  that  are  the  necessary  conditions 
precedent  to  the  full  development  and  operation  of  really  scientific 
methods,  on  what  might  be  termed  the  matenial  side  of  the  in- 
dustry.   To  the  consideration  of  this  we  now  proceed. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     353 

Costing 

47.  An  accurate  system  of  costing  is  the  only  foundation  upon 
which  the  whole  structure  of  scientific  management  can  be  safely 
erected.    Without  efficient  costing  no  estimator  can  frame  quota- 
tions with  the  reasonable  certainty  that  he  is  not  heading  straight 
for  disaster.    We  believe  that  it  should  be  possible  for  the  industry 
to  adopt  some  simplified  scheme  for  the  use  of  builders  who,  at 
present,  do  not  undertake  any  proper  costing.     It  was  generally 
agreed  that  many  builders,  especially  those  managing  small  busi- 
nesses with  a  very  limited  capital,  rely  almost  entirely  on  rule  of 
thumb  methods,   with  the   result  that  their   estimating   is  blind, 
faulty,  and  quite  unscientific.    In  many  cases  no  proper  books  are 
kept.     Such  methods  are  a  danger  and  discredit  to  the  industry. 
Moreover,  this  constitutes  a  great  draw-back  from  the  point  of 
view  of  organization  and  efficiency. 

48.  It  is  not  proposed  in  this  Interim  Report  to  give  a  detailed 
analysis  of  the  whole  of  the  evidence  collected  from  witnesses,  but 
to  summarize  all  that  seems  germane. 

Evidence  was  taken  from  Mr.  Malcolm  Sparkes,  formerly  of  the 
firm  of  Messrs.  H.  G.  Cleaver,  Limited,  regarding  labor  costing  by 
diagram.  Mr.  Danels,  of  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Higgs  and  Hill, 
Limited,  gave  evidence  regarding  costing  methods  which  enable 
his  firm  to  ascertain  the  costs  of  the  various  factors  concerned 
when  determining  contracts  on  a  large  scale.  Mr.  Chessum  and 
Mr.  Whittall,  members  of  the  Committee,  also  submitted  evidence 
regarding  methods  of  costing  adopted  in  their  firms.  Papers  were 
read  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Chance,  of  H.  M.  Factory  at  Oldbury,  and  Mr. 
H.  Vale  of  the  Quantity  Surveyors'  Institute,  with  regard  to  a 
bonus  scheme,  based  on  constants  of  labor.  Every  one  of  these 
witnesses  strongly  emphasized  the  value  of  accurate  costing,  espe- 
cially at  the  present  time.  Fluctuations  in  wages  and  the  cost  of 
material  make  this  an  absolute  essential  of  any  modern  business. 
Moreover,  a  standard  minimum  system,  adopted  by  the  whole 
industry,  will  preserve  it  from  the  errors  of  those  builders  who 
are  prone  to  accept  contracts  at  less  than  cost  price  owing  to  their 
negligence  in  estimating  or  keeping  proper  costs. 

Essentials  of  a  Minimum  System 

49.  As  a  result  of  considering  the  evidence,  it  became  clear 
that  some  simple  but  generally  applicable  scheme  of  costing  and 


354.  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

accountancy  is  not  only  essential,  but  possible.  And  if  such  a  sys- 
tem be  made  part  of  the  conditions  of  approval  suggested  in  par. 
36,  we  believe  that  it  would  be  universally  adopted. 

50.  We  therefore  recommend  that  the  Building  Trades  Council 
should  promote  such  a  scheme  or  schemes  which  will  fulfil  the 
following  conditions: 

(a)  Simplicity — i.e.,  not  too  unwieldy  or  detailed  to  be  available 

and  useful  for  prompt  results. 
(&)  Elasticity, 
(c)  Accuracy. 

(We  would  here  point  out  that  the  investigations  and  recom- 
mendations of  the  Sub-Committee  on  Distribution,  make  it  essen- 
tial that  the  industry  should  endeavor  to  place  such  a  scheme  upon 
a  proper  footing,  for,  without  proper  accountancy,  their  recom- 
mendations would  be  of  no  avail.) 

51.  Further,  we  recognize  that  any  such  system  would  involve 
routine,  but  the  experience  of  those  who  have  given  evidence,  tes- 
tifies to  the  value  of  such  routine,  and  to  the  small  additional 
outlay  in  skilled  staff  which  it  involves.    Moreover,  any  such  outlay 
more  than  repays  itself  by  increased  efficiency. 

52.  Such  a  scheme  should  also  provide  some  method  of  deter- 
mining with  speed  and  safe  approximation  and  at  any  stage : 

(a)  The  proportion  of  the  cost  of  the  various  items  of  labor 

to  the  total  cost  at  any  stage. 

(&)  The  proportion  of  establishment  charges  to  total  costs, 
(c)  The  proportion  of  the  other  factors  involved. 
(<f)  Departmental  costs. 

53.  We  were  aware,  however,  that  the  improvement  in  mana- 
gerial or  office  routine  was  of  itself  not  sufficient.    We  therefore 
invited  criticism,  by  operatives  engaged  in  the  various  crafts,  of 
existing  works  organization.    Here  we  found  a  remarkable  unani- 
mity of  view  that  whatever  mechanical  readjustments  are  adopted 
the  greatest  increase  of  production  will  come  from  mutual  esteem 
between  management  (in  the  wider  sense  including  foremen)  and 
operatives. 

54.  The  bulk  of  the  evidence  led  us  to  the  following  additional 
recommendations : 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     355 

(a)  That  there  should  be  more  inducement  to  the  most  talented 
operatives  to  increase  their  efficiency,  and  to  undertake 
positions  of  greater  responsibility. 

(6)  That  every  care  should  be  taken,  especially  in  sub-contract- 
ing work,  to  provide  a  sufficiency  of  plant. 

(c)  That  production  can  be  considerably  increased  by  organiz- 

ing the  position  of  scaffolding  and  the  disposition  of 
material,  in  order  to  arrange  a  continuity  of  employment 
for  the  ultimate  handler  of  the  material.  It  is  better  for 
the  material  to  wait  for  the  men  than  the  men  for  the 
material. 

(d )  Workshops  should  be  specially  built  or  adapted  for  the  pur- 

pose in  view,  and  should  contain  the  best  devices  for 
insuring  the  easiest  possible  manipulation  of  material. 
(Very  strong  criticism  was  directed  against  many  of  the 
existing  workshops,  which  were  considered  quite  unfit 
for  the  nature  of  the  work  to  be  carried  out  in  them.) 
It  is  clear  that  a  detailed  study  of  processes  and  a  variety 
of  experiments  would  afford  in  many  cases  considerable 
increases  in  output. 

(?)  A  better  output  will  be  obtained  if  the  personal  comfort 
of  the  operatives  is  provided  for  by  canteens,  sanitary 
arrangements,  etc.,  whether  at  the  works  or  on  jobs. 
Where  such  accommodation  is  provided,  the  operatives 
should  make  fuller  use  of  such  facilities. 

Works  Committees 

55.  We  realize  that  no  uniform  arrangements  or  recommenda- 
tions beyond  a  minimum  can  be  made,  as  local  conditions  vary  so 
considerably,  nor  can  we  presume  to  advise  the  individual  employer 
how  to  organize  any  particular  operation.  But  we  realize  very 
strongly  the  value  of  useful  suggestions  by  the  operatives.  We 
therefore  recommend  that  this  can  be  best  utilized  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  Works  Committees  upon  which  management  and  labor 
may  interchange  their  specialist  knowledge  and  discuss  questions 
of  mutual  interest.  Other  benefits  would  undoubtedly  accrue.  The 
value  of  joint  organization  would  be  brought  more  nearly  home 
to  the  whole  of  the  employers  and  operatives  alike,  and  thus  the 
work  of  the  Building  Trades  Industrial  Council  would  be  more 
keenly  and  nearly  appreciated  in  all  localities  and  workshops. 


356  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

Conclusion 

In  summing  up  the  conclusions  that  we  have  reached,  we  would 
again  lay  special  emphasis  upon  the  keynote  of  our  work;  the 
development  of  the  "  team  spirit "  in  industry  which  we  believe  to 
be  the  only  real  solution  of  the  whole  problem  of  production. 

This  analogy  of  the  athletic  team  conveys  our  meaning  more 
accurately  than  any  other  form  of  words  we  can  devise — implying, 
as  it  does,  a  fundamental  basis  of  loyalty,  enthusiasm,  and  efficiency 
for  a  common  aim. 

It  sounds  across  the  whole  industrial  arena  the  trumpet  call  of 
a  new  idea — the  conception  of  our  industry  as  a  great  self-govern- 
ing democracy  of  organized  public  service. 

We  have  endeavored,  we  hope  successfully,  to  outline  the  true 
foundation  for  such  a  consummation,  namely: 

Freedom  and  security  for  initiative  and  enterprise. 
Complete  removal  of  the  fear  of  unemployment. 
Salaries  to  management  commensurate  with  ability. 
Hire  of  capital  at  the  market  rate  of  good  securities. 
Provision  of  common  services  controlled  by  the  whole  industry, 
and  financed  from  its  surplus  earnings. 

We  have  not  hesitated  to  make  great  demands,  for  the  emer- 
gency and  the  opportunity  are  also  great,  and  this  is  no  time  for 
dalliance. 

We  believe  that  the  spectacle  of  organized  management  and 
labor,  uniting  their  constructive  energies  upon  a  bold  scheme  of 
reorganization  and  advance  will  transform  the  whole  atmosphere 
of  our  industrial  life,  and  that  the  force  of  a  great  example  is  the 
only  thing  that  will  lead  the  way  to  the  commonwealth  that  all  men 
of  goodwill  desire. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  Servants, 
THOS.  FOSTER,  Chairman.1       R.  JONES. 
W.  CROSS,   Vice-Chairman.        MALCOLM  SPARKES. 
J.  ARMOUR.  H.  J.  WALKER. 

J.  P.  COX.1  W.  WILLIAMS. 

THOS.  GRAHAM.1  R.  WILSON. 

T.  GREGORY. 

1  These  three  are  employers. 


PUBLIC  SERVICE  IN  BUILDING  INDUSTRY     357 

Messrs.  CHESSUM,  HOLLOWAY,  SMETHURST,  TURNER,  and  WHIT- 
TALL,  while  agreeing  with  some  of  the  proposals  contained  in  the 
Report,  do  not  see  their  way  to  sign  it  without  important  reserva- 
tions. 


CHAPTER  III 

JOINT  STANDING  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS 
(The  Whitleys) 

Notes  on  their  Work,  July,  1919,  by  the  Ministry  of  Labor 
I. — WAGES 

ASBESTOS. — Existing  time  rates  to  be  paid  for  48-hour  week.  Rates 
for  piecework  to  be  raised  15  per  cent. 

BEDSTEADS  (METALLIC). — The  Conciliation  Board  for  this  Industry, 
which  retains  a  separate  existence,  has  been  sitting  to  arrange 
new  piecework  prices  for  the  whole  of  the  Industry. 

BOBBINS. — An  agreement  was  arrived  at  in  November,  1918,  pro- 
viding for  minimum  wages  of  6os.  for  skilled  men,  535.  6d.  for 
lesser  skilled  men,  453.  for  laborers,  and  255.  6d.  for  women, 
with  scales  according  to  age  for  juvenile  workers.  In  May, 
1919,  this  agreement  was  superseded  by  an  award  of  the  Court 
of  Arbitration.  This  award  which  (excludes  Scotland)  gave 
advances  of  6s.  per  week  to  skilled  men,  53.  to  lesser  skilled 
men,  45.  to  laborers  and  women,  and  2s.  6d.  to  juvenile 
workers. 

BREAD  BAKING. — Minimum  wage  fixed  at  6os.  in  industrial  areas, 
553.  in  rural  areas. 

CHINA  CLAY. — Agreement  arrived  at  on  4th  February,  1919  (dated 
back  to  ist  January,  1919),  providing  for  payment  to  male 
time  workers  of  is.  id.  per  hour  (6d.  of  which  is  war  wage), 
overtime  to  be  paid  time  and  a  quarter  on  weekdays  and  time 
and  a  half  on  Sundays  on  repair  work.  Boys  to  receive  a  pro- 
portionate increase  of  men's  war  increase,  in  proportion  to 
pay,  with  a  minimum  of  is.  6d.  per  day,  plus  increase.  Com- 
petent blacksmiths,  carpenters,  and  masons  are  to  be  paid  a 
minimum  wage  of  is.  2d.  per  hour.  Females  on  time  work 
are  to  receive  a  minimum  wage  of  253.  per  week.  Piece- 
workers will  receive  an  increase  of  2 is.  6d.  per  week  in  addi- 
tion to  the  piecework  rates  existing  at  July,  1914. 

COIR  MAT  AND  MATTING. — 15  per  cent  increase  on  bonuses  agreed 

358 


JOINT  STANDING  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS     359 

upon  (20  per  cent  in  Eastern  Counties),  pending  general  re- 
vision of  piece-prices. 

ELASTIC  WEBBING. — Council  failed  to  agree  on  claim  for  uniform 
and  advanced  rates  of  wages,  and  referred  matter  for  arbi- 
tration to  Wages  and  Arbitration  Department  of  Ministry  of 
Labor.  Hearing  took  place  on  22nd  May.  The  Award  (31  st 
May)  has  given  325.  for  48  hours  to  women  of  20  years  and 
over,  100  per  cent  over  pre-war  rates  to  female  pieceworkers, 
and  advances  of  303.  on  time  work  and  75  per  cent  on  piece- 
work to  men. 

FURNITURE. — Standard  rate  for  London  upholsterers  and  uphol- 
steresses  and  standard  rate  for  women  polishers  in  London 
district  settled  by  National  Conciliation  Board  ( formed  by  the 
Council),  and  approved  under  Wages  (Temporary  Regula- 
tion) Act. 

GOLD,  SILVER,  ETC. — 5  per  cent  increase  on  all  rates  for  piece- 
workers, to  compensate  for  reduced  hours. 

HOSIERY  (ENGLISH). — December,  1918.  Additional  bonus  agreed 
to,  of  ij^d.  in  the  is.  upon  wages  earned,  making  total  of 
6>^d.  in  all.  In  force  till  end  of  March,  1919.  April  loth, 
1919,  agreed  that  piece  rates  should  be  increased  by  7J4  per 
cent.,  3d.  an  hour  increase  to  be  paid  for  overtime  instead  of 
2d.  increase  now  paid.  Same  weekly  time  rate  to  be  paid  for 
shorter  working  week  (48  hours). 

HOSIERY  (SCOTTISH). — Wage  claims  to  be  dealt  with  by  full 
Council  or  District  Council  according  to  general  or  district 
character  of  claim. 

LEATHER  GOODS. — National  minimum  daily  rate  for  males  to  be 
is.  5d.  per  hour.  Pieceworkers,  male  and  female,  to  receive 
an  increase  of  \2l/2  per  cent,  pending  the  settlement  of  their 
application.  Female  day  workers  not  to  receive  less  for  a 
48-hour  week  than  they  received  for  the  longer  working  week, 
pending  the  settlement  of  their  present  application. 

LOCAL  AUTHORITIES'  NON-TRADING  SERVICES  (MANUAL  WORKERS) 
(ENGLAND  AND  WALES). — Agreement  arrived  at  on  overtime 
rates,  providing  that  after  47  hours  per  week  have  been 
worked  or  otherwise  accounted  for  by  sickness  covered  by  a 
medical  certificate  or  by  employer's  permission  or  instruction 
to  be  absent,  overtime  shall  commence,  and  the  rates  shall  be 
time  and  a  quarter  for  the  first  three  hours  overtime,  time  and 


360  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

a  half  beyond  three  hours,  and  double  time  for  Sundays, 
Christmas  Day,  and  Good  Friday  where  that  is  recognized  as 
a  general  holiday,  and  proclaimed  national  holidays,  but  this 
is  not  intended  to  affect  any  existing  local  arrangement  which 
is  more  beneficial  to  the  employees  and  shall  not  apply  to  the 
class  of  men  whose  overtime  rate  is  dealt  with  by  the  Agri- 
cultural Wages  Board. 

MATCHES. — Same  wages  to  be  fixed  for  47-hour  week  as  before 
hours  agreement. 

PAINT,  COLOR,  AND  VARNISH. — Men  and  women  over  18  to  receive 
55.  per  week,  under  18,  2s.  6d.,  on  total  war  wage  existing  at 
ist  December,  1918.  Proportionate  advance  to  pieceworkers. 

RUBBER. — Existing  weekly  time-rates  allowed  for  47-hour  week. 
No  reduction  in  piece-rates.  No  increase  to  be  made  in  present 
basis  of  calculation  for  output  bonus.  This  to  include  men 
and  women. 

SAWMILLING. — The  principle  of  a  national  minimum  wage  was 
agreed  upon  by  the  Council,  the  country  being  divided  for  the 
purpose  into  three  groups: — (a)  Large  towns  and  ports;  (&) 
small  towns;  (c)  country  districts.  The  Council  could  not 
agree  as  to  the  minimum  hourly  rates  for  each  group  and  the 
question  was  submitted  to  the  Court  of  Arbitration.  In  June 
the  Court  of  Arbitration  awarded  as  follows: — (a)  Large 
towns  and  ports — machinists  is.  6d.,  laborers  is.  3d. ;  (6)  small 
towns — machinists  is.  4d.,  laborers  is.  2d.;  (c)  country  dis- 
tricts— machinists  is.  3d.,  laborers  is. 

VEHICLE  BUILDING. — An  agreement  was  reached  in  January,  1919, 
providing  for  a  national  minimum  wage  ranging  from  is.  $d. 
to  is.  7d.  per  hour  for  skilled  workers,  and  from  is.  id.  to 
is.  3d.  per  hour  for  lesser  skilled  workers  and  laborers. 

WATERWORKS  UNDERTAKINGS. — Agreement  reached  on  overtime 
rates,  providing  that  payment  for  overtime  shall  not  run  until 
after  47  hours  for  the  day  men  or  after  48  hours  for  the  shift 
men  have  been  worked  or  otherwise  accounted  for  by  sickness 
covered  by  medical  certificate  or  by  the  employer's  permission 
or  instruction  to  be  absent ;  provided  that  where  a  workman  is 
insured  under  the  National  Insurance  Acts,  such  certificate 
shall  be  obtained  from  the  man's  panel  doctor,  or  where  the 
employing  authority  has  been  excepted  from  the  Acts  under 
any  approved  scheme  for  sickness  benefit,  such  certificate  shall 


JOINT  STANDING  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS     361 

be  obtained  from  the  medical  practitioner  provided  for  by  the 
regulations  made  by  the  employing  authority.  That  time  and 
a  quarter  shall  be  paid  for  the  first  two  hours  and  time  and  a 
half  afterwards;  that  time  and  a  half  shall  be  paid  for  all 
Sunday  work,  reckoned  according  to  local  practice;  the  fore- 
going to  be  without  prejudice  to  higher  rates  where  prevailing 
at  the  present  time.  That  where  a  man  is  called  upon  to  start 
work  before  the  usual  time  or  he  is  recalled  after  having  left 
work,  he  shall  be  paid  time  and  a  half  for  each  hour  worked. 
That  for  the  purpose  of  these  resolutions  the  recognized  na- 
tional holidays  be  placed  upon  the  same  footing  as  Sundays. 
WOOL  (AND  ALLIED)  TEXTILES. — Wages  to  be  settled  locally  by 
District  Councils.  Some  District  Councils  have  already 
reached  agreement. 

II. — HOURS 

ASBESTOS. — Agreed  that  48-hour  week  be  established.  Shift  sys- 
tem under  consideration. 

BOBBINS. — Normal  working  week  of  48  hours,  without  reduction 
of  weekly  pay  of  time  or  day  workers,  and  with  proportionate 
adjustment  in  piecework  wages,  established  by  award  of  Court 
of  Arbitration  in  May,  1919. 

BREAD  BAKING. — The  Government  Committee  of  Inquiry  into 
Night  Baking  held  its  first  sitting  for  the  hearing  of  evidence 
on  ist  May,  and  sat  for  15  days,  hearing  over  50  witnesses. 
Certain  visits  have  also  been  paid  to  bakeries.  A  report  (Cmd. 
246)  has  been  published. 

CHINA  CLAY. — Agreement  reached  fixing  42-hour  week,  without 
reduction  of  wages. 

ELASTIC  WEBBING. — Agreed  that  48-hour  week  be  established  from 
7th  April,  1919. 

ELECTRICAL  CONTRACTING. — Provision  made  for  47-hour  working 
week,  with  one  break  of  45  minutes'  duration  in  the  ordinary 
full  working  day. 

FURNITURE. — In  accordance  with  a  general  agreement  reached  by 
the  Council  a  47-hour  week  has  been  established  in  many 
centers. 

GOLD,  SILVER,  ETC. — Agreed  upon  standard  week  of  47  hours,  with- 
out reduction  of  wages. 


362  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

HOSIERY  (ENGLISH). — Agreed  that  48-hour  week  be  established, 
without  reduction  of  wages. 

HOSIERY  (SCOTTISH). — Agreed  that  48-hour  week  be  established, 
without  reduction  of  wages. 

LEATHER  GOODS. — Agreed  that  48-hour  week  be  established. 

LOCAL  AUTHORITIES'  NON-TRADING  SERVICES  (MANUAL  WORKERS) 
(ENGLAND  AND  WALES). — Agreement  arrived  at,  providing  that 
the  working  week  for  day-men  or  women  (manual  workers)  in 
non-trading  departments  shall  be  not  more  than  47  hours,  ex- 
clusive of  meal  times;  that  any  change  in  hours  implied  by 
this  resolution  shall  not  entail  any  loss  of  pay;  that  the  ques- 
tion of  a  one  or  two-break  day  be  left  for  local  settlement; 
that  in  no  case  where  a  smaller  number  of  hours  are  worked 
shall  that  number  be  increased.  Further,  that  there  shall  be  a 
minimum  of  12  days'  holiday,  including  Christmas  Day,  Good 
Friday  where  that  is  recognized  as  a  general  holiday,  and  pro- 
claimed national  holidays,  with  pay,  per  annum,  to  be  arranged 
by  local  agreement,  but  included  in  the  12  days  there  shall  be 
a  period  of  not  less  than  six  consecutive  days,  provided  that 
the  holiday  shall  not  be  claimed  as  a  matter  of  right  until  after 
such  period  of  service  as  may  be  agreed  upon  locally,  and 
that  if  more  advantageous  terms  exist  no  reduction  shall  be 
made. 

MATCHES. — Working  hours  reduced  to  47  per  week;  no  reduction 
of  rates.  All  Sunday  work  to  be  considered  as  outside  the 
47-hour  week. 

PACKING  CASE  MAKING. — 47-hour  week  adopted. 

SAWMILLING. — National  47-hour  week  adopted,  without  reduction 
in  wages. 

SILK. — 49-hour  working  week  adopted  for  3  months  as  an  experi- 
ment. 

VEHICLE  BUILDING. — 47-hour  week  adopted,  without  reduction  of 
wages. 

WATERWORKS  UNDERTAKINGS. — Agreement  arrived  at,  providing 
that  the  week  of  day  workers  shall  consist  of  47  hours  (exclu- 
sive of  meal  times),  except  where  fewer  hours  are  now 
worked;  that  where  the  adoption  of  47  hours  entails  a  reduc- 
tion in  the  number  of  hours  worked  there  shall  be  no  reduction 
in  wages ;  that  all  hours  worked  above  47  shall  be  regarded  as 
overtime ;  and  that  the  question  of  a  one  or  two-break  day  be 


JOINT  STANDING  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS     363 

left  for  local  settlement.  Agreement  further  provides  that  for 
shift  workers  (that  is,  those  engaged  in  continuous  work) 
the  week  shall  consist  of  not  more  than  six  eight-hour  shifts 
(inclusive  of  meal  times) ;  that  if  the  working  week  now  con- 
sists of  seven  shifts  or  six  shifts,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  total 
weekly  wages,  exclusive  of  overtime  pay,  shall  be  divided  re- 
spectively by  seven  or  six,  and  thus  shall  the  daily  or  shift 
rate  be  determined;  this  rate  shall  be  paid  per  shift,  and  all 
time  worked  beyond  the  six  shifts  of  eight  hours  shall  be  re- 
garded as  overtime. 

WOOL  (AND  ALLIED)  TEXTILES. — 48-hour  week  adopted.  Details  of 
arrangement  left  to  District  Councils. 

III. — DISPUTES  AND  CONCILIATION 

Several  Councils  have  devised  machinery  for  dealing  with  dis- 
putes and  for  undertaking  conciliation  duties.  The  principle 
adopted  in  some  cases  is  that  such  questions  should  be  dealt  with 
by  Shop  or  Works  Committees  or  by  District  Councils  where  pos- 
sible, the  Council  confining  itself  to  questions  affecting  the  whole 
industry.  Some  Councils  (e.g.,  Heavy  Chemicals  and  Road  Trans- 
port) have  appointed  Traveling  Arbitration  Panels,  and  the  Wool 
(and  Allied)  Textile  Council  has  established  an  Arbitration  Panel. 
The  Furniture  Council  has  formed  a  National  Conciliation  Board. 
The  Board  has  held  five  meetings,  and  has  been  successful  in  set- 
tling several  disputes  referred  to  it.  It  has  power,  in  the  event 
of  disagreement,  to  appoint  an  independent  arbitrator. 

The  Councils  have  recently  been  invited  to  express  their  views 
with  regard  to  undertaking  conciliation  where  one  or  both  parties 
to  the  dispute  are  not  represented  on  the  Council;  and  in  the 
majority  of  cases  the  Councils  have  readily  agreed  to  undertake 
these  duties  when  requested  to  do  so. 

IV. — WORKING  CONDITIONS 

RELAXATION  OF  WAR-TIME  REGULATIONS. — The  Pottery  Council 
has  been  asked  to  advise  the  Home  Office  as  to  the  date  when 
the  relaxation  of  the  war-time  Pottery  Regulations  should 
cease. 


364  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

SAFETY  APPLIANCES.— The  Building,  Furniture,  and  Sawmilling 
Councils  have  decided  to  co-operate  in  advising  the  Home 
Office  as  to  the  protection  required  on  woodcutting  machinery. 

WELFARE  COMMITTEES  have  been  formed  by  the  Building  and 
China  Clay  Councils. 

IMPROVING  FACTORY  CONDITIONS. — The  Home  Office  has  been  in 
touch  with  the  following  Councils  with  a  view  to  improving 
factory  conditions: 

Furniture;  Leather  Goods;  Packing  Case  Making;  Paint, 
Color,  and  Varnish;  Pottery;  Silk. 

V. — APPRENTICESHIP 

The  following  Councils,  among  others,  have  taken  action  with 
regard  to  interrupted  apprenticeship  and  juvenile  education : 

BOBBINS. — A  scheme  similar  to  that  under  consideration  by  the 
Pottery  Council  (see  below)  is  approaching  completion. 

BUILDING. — The  Education  and  Apprenticeship  Committee  has 
drawn  up  a  scheme  for  the  entry  and  training  of  all  appren- 
tices and  recruits  for  the  Building  Industry.  This  has  been 
approved  by  the  Council. 

ELECTRICAL  CONTRACTING. — A  Sub-Committee  has  drawn  up  a 
scheme  of  apprenticeship  in  the  industry. 

POTTERY;  VEHICLE  BUILDING. — The  question  of  regulating  the 
entry  of  apprentices  into  the  industry,  and  the  provision  of 
proper  training  is  engaging  the  attention  of  a  Committee.  A 
scheme  providing  for  the  re-entry  of  apprentices  returning 
from  war  service  has  been  approved. 

WOOL  (AND  ALLIED)  TEXTILES. — A  Sub-Committee  has  been  ap- 
pointed. 

VI. — EDUCATION 

Education    Committees    have    been    set    up    by  the    following 
Councils : 

Building.  Pottery. 

China  Clay.  Silk. 

Furniture.  Vehicle  Building. 


JOINT  STANDING  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS     365 

These  Commitees  have  been  in  close  touch  with  the  Board  of 
Education  and  Local  Educational  Authorities,  and  have  discussed 
such  questions  as  Apprenticeship,  Continuation,  and  Technical 
Schools,  etc. 

Liaison  Officers  •  i/e  been  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Education 
to  act  in  an  pl*-:sory  capacity  on  most  of  the  Joint  Industrial 
Councils. 

VII. — STATISTICS  AND  RESEARCH 

BUILDING. — The  Council  has  appointed  a  Committee  to  consider 
the  question  of  Scientific  Management  and  Reduction  of  Costs, 
with  a  view  to  enabling  the  Building  Industry  to  render  the 
most  efficient  service  possible.  This  Committee  has  held  sev- 
eral meetings  and  has  appointed  two  Sub-Committees  to  deal 
respectively  with  questions  of  improving  production  and  ques- 
tions of  the  distribution  of  the  product. 

POTTERY. — A  Statistical  and  Inquiries  Committee  has  been  ap- 
pointed to  inquire  into  the  general  problems  of  the  industry. 
This  Committee  has  appointed  a  Sub-Committee  to  get  infor- 
mation on  wages  and  making  prices,  also  on  the  average  per- 
centage of  profits  on  turnover. 

VEHICLE  BUILDING. — A  Committee  has  been  set  up. 


VIII. — ORGANIZATION,  PROPAGANDA,  AND  PUBLICITY 

(a)  ORGANIZATION. — Action  for  improving  the  organization  of 
employers  and  workpeople  has  been  taken  by  the  following1 
Councils : 

^>ir  Mat  and  Matting. 
Leather  Goods.  Rubber. 

Pottery.  Tin  Mining. 

Electrical  Contracting. — The  Council  has  agreed  that  one  of  its 
objects  should  be  the  elimination  of  the  unorganized  employer  and 
employee. 

Pottery. — The  Council  has  passed  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that 
employers  be  requested  to  grant  facilities  to  Trade  Unions  to  go 


366  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

on  to  works  for  propaganda  purposes  and  for  enrollment  at  meal- 
times, provided  that  no  interference  with  the  carrying  on  of  the 
operatives'  duties  is  caused. 

(&)  PROPAGANDA   AND  PUBLICITY. — Most  of  the   Councils   have 
from  time  to  time  issued  reports  to  the  Press. 

Coir  Mat  and  Matting. — The  Council  has  issued  and  circulated 
a  leaflet  giving  a  short  account  of  the  work  and  aims  of  the 
Council. 

Waterworks  Undertakings. — The  Council  has  issued  a  leaflet 
giving  the  constitution  and  functions  of  the  Council,  a  list  of  the 
members  and  officers  of  the  Council,  and  the  resolutions  on  maxi- 
mum hours  of  work  and  overtime  rates  adopted  by  the  Council. 


IX. — RELATIONS  WITH  THE  OVERSEAS  TRADE  DEPARTMENT  OF 
THE  BOARD  OF  TRADE 

MATCHES. — This  Council  has  been  requested  by  this  Department 
to  supply  information  as  to: 

(a)  The  encouragement  of  study  and  research  with  a  view 
to  the  improvement  and  perfection  of  the  quality  of 
the  product,  and  of  machinery  and  methods  for  eco- 
nomical manufacture  in  all  branches  of  the  industry. 

(&)  The  preparation f and  consideration  of  statistics  and  re- 
ports relating  to  the  industry  throughout  the  world,  and 
the  effect  on  the  industry  of  Customs  and  Excise 
duties. 

The  question  of  setting  up  Commercial  Sub-Committees,  charged 
with  the  special  work  of  dealing  with  matters  in  which  the  Board 
of  Trade  is  concerned,  is  receiving  the  consideration  of  several 
Councils.  In  certain  cases  Commercial  Sub-Committees  are  in 
process  of  formation.  In  others  the  matter  is  delegated  to  a  Gen- 
eral Purposes  or  other  Standing  Committee.  Liaison  Officers  be- 
tween the  Board  of  Trade  and  the  Councils  have  been  appointed. 

In  addition,  most  Councils  directly  affected  by  the  question  of 
Import  Restrictions  have  appointed  deputations  to  state  their  re- 
quirements to  the  Board  of  Trade  Import  Restrictions  Committee. 


JOINT  STANDING  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS     367 


X. — DISTRICT  JOINT  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS 

District  Joint  Industrial  Councils  have  been  formed  o~  are  in 
process  of  formation  by  the  National  Joint  Industrial  Councils  for 
the  following  Industries: 


Bread  Baking. 

Coir  Mat  and  Matting. 

Elastic  Webbing. 

Electrical  Contracting. 

Electricity  Supply. 

Furniture. 

Gas. 

Gold,  Silver,  etc. 

Heavy  Chemicals. 

Hosiery  (Scottish). 


Local  Authorities'  Non- 
Trading  Services  (Man- 
ual Workers). 

Matches. 

Paint,  Color,  and  Varnish. 

Road  Transport. 

Rubber. 

Sawmilling. 

Waterworks  Undertakings. 

Wool  (and  Allied)  Textiles. 

Woollen    and    Worsted 
(Scottish). 


Most  of  the  other  Councils  have  the  question  of  the  formation 
of  District  Councils  under  consideration.  In  some  industries  Dis- 
trict Councils  are  regarded  as  unnecessary. 

XL — WORKS  COMMITTEES 

Works  Committees  have  been  or  are  being  set  up  under  the 
auspices  of  the  respective  Joint  Industrial  Councils  for  the  follow- 
ing Industries: 


Bobbins. 

China  Clay. 

Coir  Mat  and  Matting. 

Hosiery  (Scottish). 

Matches. 


Pottery. 
Rubber. 
Tin  Mining. 
Woollen    and 
(Scottish). 


Worsted 


Several  other  Councils  are  at  present  considering  the  question 
of  the  formation  of  Works  Committees. 


368  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  JOINT 
INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS 

SHOWING  ESTIMATED  NUMBERS  OF  WORKPEOPLE  IN  EACH  INDUSTRY 


Number 

Estimated  No.  of 

of 

Date  set  up 

Workpeople 

Council 

Industry                     Employed  in  the 

1918 

Industry 

i 

Jan.  ii  ... 

Pottery  64,000 

2 

May  29   .  . 

Building   553,ooo 

3 

July  16  ... 

Rubber  Manufacturing   58,000 

4 

July  20  ... 

Gold  and  Silver,  etc  30,000 

5 

July  23  .  .  . 

Match  Manufacturing  5,5oo 

6 

July  25  .  .  . 

Silk   33,000 

7 

July  31  .  .  . 

Furniture    85,000 

8 

Aug.  16  .  . 

Heavy  Chemicals  30,000 

9 

Sept.  18  .. 

Bread  Baking,  etc  99,000 

10 

Sept.  18  .. 

Paint,  Color,  and  Varnish  19,000 

ii 

Sept.  23  .. 

Vehicle  Building   28,000 

12 

Oct.  i  .   .. 

China  Clay  9,000 

13 

Oct.  10    .. 

Hosiery  (English)   86,000 

14 

Oct.  21     .  . 

Metallic  Bedsteads  8,000 

IS 

Oct.  22    .  . 

Bobbin  and  Shuttle  4,500 

16 

Oct.  23    .  . 

Made-up  Leather  Goods  42,000 

17 

Nov.  5     .. 

Woollen  and  Worsted  (Scottish)  included  in  Wool 

(and  Allied) 

Textile 

18 

Nov.  6 

Hosiery   (  Scottish)    „    Included  in 
Hosiery  (English) 

19 

Nov.  21   .  . 

Saw-milling   74,ooo 

1919 

20 

Jan.  8  .   .  . 

Wall-paper  Making  3,000 

21 

Jan.  15     .. 

Wool   (and  Allied)  Textile  298,000 

22 

Jan.  17     .. 

Tin  Mining   6,000 

23 

Jan.  22     .  . 

Electrical  Contracting   6,000 

24 

Jan.  24     .  . 

Packing-Case  Making  24,000 

25 

Mar.  5     .. 

Elastic  Webbing,  etc  4,000 

26 

Mar.  7     .. 

Welsh  Plate  and  Sheet  25,000 

27 

Mar.  II   .. 

Road  Transport  152,000 

28 

Mar.  12  .  . 

Asbestos  Manufacturing  3,ooo 

29 

Mar.  20   .. 

Coir  Mat  and  Matting  3,ooo 

30 

Apr.  3  .   .  . 

Waterworks  Undertakings   17,000 

31 

Apr.  ii    .. 

Local    Authorities'    Non-Trading 

Services    (Manual  Workers)..            60,000 

32 

Apr.  30    .  . 

Gas  Undertakings   94,000 

33 

May  i 

Electricity  Supply    29,000 

34 

May  8     .. 

Heating  and  Domestic  Engineering          62,500 

35 

May   13   .. 

Spelter  3,000 

36 

May  22   .. 

Flour  Milling  25,000 

37 

May  27   .  . 

Boot  and  Shoe  Manufacture  160,000 

38 

June  24   .. 

Iron  and  Steel  Wire  Manufacture          34,ooo 

39 

June  25   .  . 

Music  Trades   5,500 

40 

July  i  .... 

Printing   191,500 

41 

July  9  .... 

Needles,  Fish  Hooks,  and  Fishing 

Tackle   5,000 

Total    2,438,500 


JOINT  STANDING  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS     369 


(Note  by  the  Author) 

The  British  Government  announced  at  the  beginning  of  1920 
that  51  Joint  Industrial  Councils  (Whitleys)  had  been  set  up. 
These  represent  about  3,200,000  workers.  The  British  lean  back 
on  precedent  and  eye  such  new  machinery  as  that  of  the  Whitleys 
with  a  Luddite  suspicion.  Industrial  dealings  are  meshed  in  a 
multiple  technique  of  agreements  and  grades  and  rates.  British 
industry  has  a  vast  inherited  network  of  collective  agreements, 
boards  and  joint  committees  of  voluntary  conciliation  and  arbi- 
tration. By  1910  there  were  1,696  collective  agreements,  covering 
wages  and  hours,  conditions  of  work,  and  interference  with  man- 
agement. By  1913,  there  were  325  permanent  Boards  of  Con- 
ciliation. Collective  bargaining,  then,  had  through  the  last  gen- 
eration created  its  own  machinery  of  diplomacy.  Back  of  it  lay 
the  threat  of  strike.  Ahead  of  it  rose  the  goal  of  legislative 
enactment. 

The  Whitleys  superimposed  themselves  upon  this  hereditary 
intricate  scheme.  Their  reception  was  mixed.  They  are  serving 
a  purpose  in  establishing  wages  and  hours.  "  A  case — a  very  real 
case — can  be  made  out  for  them  in  the  matter  of  wages  and 
hours,"  said  J.  J.  Mallon  (in  November,  1919).  "But,"  he  added, 
"the  Government  Bulletin,  describing  their  work,  is  all  but  bare 
of  reference  to  any  functions  they  fulfil  in  the  training  of  workers 
for  participation  in  management." 

Three  Whitley  Councils  have  been  formed  on  which  the  Gov- 
ernment as  employer  is  represented.  This  marks  the  emergence 
of  the  application  of  the  Whitley  Scheme  in  the  non-industrial 
and  professional  groups.  The  Admiralty  Council  and  the  Office 
of  Works  Council  have  held  their  first  meetings.  The  Civil 
Service  Council  has  met  several  times. 

The  Webbs'  revised  History  of  Trade  Unionism  appeared 
in  the  spring  of  1920.  In  it  they  say: 

"After  two  years  propagandist  effort,  it  seems  as  if  the  principal 
industries,  such  as  agriculture,  transport,  mining,  cotton,  engineering, 
or  shipbuilding,  are  unlikely  to  adopt  the  Whitley  Scheme.  The  Gov- 
ernment found  itself  constrained,  after  an  obstinate  resistance  by  the 
heads  of  nearly  all  the  departments,  to  institute  the  Councils  through- 
out the  public  service.  We  venture  on  the  prediction  that  some  such 


370  MASTERS  AND  MEN 

schfcrrfe  will  commend  itself  in  all  nationalized  or  municipalized  indus- 
tries and  services,  including  such  as  may  be  effectively  '  controlled ' 
by  the  Government,  though  remaining  nominally  the  property  of  the 
private  Capitalist — possibly  also  in  the  Co-operative  Movement;  but 
that  it  is  not  likely  to  find  favor  either  in  the  well  organized  indus- 
tries (for  which  alone  it  was  devised)  or  in  those  in  which  there  are 
Trade  Boards  legally  determining  wages,  etc.,  or,  indeed,  permanently 
in  any  others  conducted  under  the  system  of  capitalist  profit-making." 

If  the  Whitleys  survive,  they  will  demand  an  all-inclusive  body, 
to  tie  together  their  activities.  They  will  demand  some  such  body 
as  the  half-realized  National  Industrial  Council. 

The  relationship  of  manual  labor  to  the  State  will  not  be  deter- 
mined by  a  vague  group  called  "the  public."  The  public  must 
be  analyzed  into  its  various  groups  of  doctor,  teacher,  technician, 
manager,  miner,  conductor.  What  Felix  Adler  calls  the  "  lateral 
pressure "  of  these  groups  on  the  warring  member  inside  the 
social  organism  will  be  of  more  potency  than  the  pressure  of  a 
mass  called  "the  public,"  exercised  from  above.  The  British 
railway  strike  was  settled  by  the  pressure  of  the  great  trade 
unions  (represented  by  14  men)  upon  Lloyd  George  and  the 
railwaymen. 

Whitleys  and  National  Industrial  Councils  will  only  avail  as 
they  become  new  institutions  and  give  constitutional  representa- 
tion and  expression  to  the  working  groups  inside  the  State. 


SECTION  THREE 

THE  WORKERS 

CHAPTER  I 


PRESENTED  BY  THE  TRADE  UNION  REPRESENTATIVES  ON  THE  JOINT 
COMMITTEE  APPOINTED  AT  THE  NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CON- 
FERENCE, HELD  AT  THE  CENTRAL  HALL,  LONDON,  ON  FEBRU- 
ARY 27th,  1919 

I. — THE  CAUSES  OF  UNREST 

No  one  can  doubt  the  existence  in  the  United  Kingdom  at  the 
present  time  of  the  most  widespread  and  deep-seated  unrest  that 
has  ever  been  known  in  this  country.  The  causes  of  this  unrest 
do  not  admit  of  any  simple  and  comprehensive  explanation.  They 
are  various  and  diverse  and  different  causes  take  the  first  place 
in  different  districts  and  among  different  groups  of  workers.  The 
main  outlines  are,  however,  sufficiently  distinct  to  admit  of  certain 
broad  and  general  conclusions,  and  this  memorandum  is  an  attempt 
to  describe  some  of  the  most  important  causes  so  far  as  they  relate 
to  economic  conditions.  No  attempt  will  be  made  to  deal  with 
causes  of  a  political  character,  although  it  is  impossible  to  separate 
these  completely  from  economic  causes.  Thus,  the  representation 
of  Labor  in  Parliament  not  only  has  a  political  aspect,  but  also 
provides,  under  favorable  conditions,  the  best  possible  safeguard 
for  a  constitutional  ventilation  of  economic  grievances,  and  the 
under-representation  of  Labor  in  the  present  House  of  Commons 
must  therefore  be  classed,  to  this  extent,  among  the  economic  fac- 
tors, as  well  as  among  the  political  factors,  in  unrest.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  throughout  the  war  the  workers  have  been  led 
to  expect  that  the  conclusion  of  hostilities  would  be  followed  by  a 
profound  revolution  in  the  economic  structure  of  society.  Not 
only  social  theorists,  but  also  the  most  prominent  spokesmen  of  the 

371 


372  THE  WORKERS 

Government,  and  not  a  few  employers,  have  constantly  told  the 
workers  that  we  should  never  revert  to  the  old  conditions  of  in- 
dustry and  that  an  altogether  higher  standard  of  life  and  an  alto- 
gether superior  status  for  the  worker  in  industry  would  be  secured 
as  soon  as  the  immediate  burden  of  hostilities  was  removed.  The 
Prime  Minister  himself  has  urged  an  official  deputation  from  the 
Labor  Party  to  be  audacious,  and  the  promises  of  drastic  industrial 
change  made  by  the  Government  are  too  numerous  to  chronicle. 
The  Prime  Minister's  own  words  to  the  Labor  Party  Deputation 
are  worth  quoting.  He  said: 

"  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  audacity  of  these  proposals.  I 
believe  the  settlement  after  the  war  will  succeed  in  proportion 
to  its  audacity.  .  .  .  Therefore,  what  I  should  be  looking 
forward  to,  I  am  certain,  if  I  could  have  presumed  to  have 
been  the  adviser  of  the  working  classes,  would  be  this:  I 
should  say  to  them  audacity  is  the  thing  for  you.  Think  out 
new  ways;  think  out  new  methods;  think  out  even  new  ways 
of  dealing  with  old  problems.  Don't  always  be  thinking  of 
getting  back  to  where  you  were  before  the  war;  get  a  really 
new  world." 

In  view  of  the  attitude  now  adopted  by  the  Government  in  regard 
to  industrial  reconstruction,  these  words  of  the  Prime  Minister 
must  be  regarded  as  a  material  cause  of  Labor  unrest. 

/. — Lack  of  Policy 

At  the  present  moment  the  workers  find  themselves  face  to  face 
with  disappointment.  There  is  also  no  sign  that  any  comprehen- 
sive policy  has  been  prepared,  or  even  contemplated,  by  the  Gov- 
ernment or  by  the  Employers,  with  a  view  to  bringing  about  any 
drastic  change  in  industry.  Everywhere  the  workers  find  either 
the  determination  to  revert  as  soon  as  possible  to  pre-war  condi- 
tions in  the  operation  of  commerce  and  manufacture,  or,  where  the 
question  of  reverting  to  pre-war  conditions  does  not  arise  or  con- 
cerns primarily  Labor,  they  find  that  few,  if  any,  preparations  have 
been  made  for  the  introduction  of  real  changes.  The  lack  of  any 
comprehensive  industrial  or  economic  policy  on  the  part  of  the 
Government  or  the  employers  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  one 
of  the  principal  factors  in  the  present  Labor  unrest. 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     373 


2, — The  Control  of  Industry 

With  increasing  vehemence  Labor  is  challenging  the  whole 
structure  of  capitalist  industry  as  it  now  exists.  It  is  no  longer 
willing  to  acquiesce  in  a  system  under  which  industry  is  conducted 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few.  It  demands  a  system  of  industrial  con- 
trol which  shall  be  truly  democratic  in  character.  This  is  seen  on 
the  one  hand  in  the  demand  for  public  ownership  of  vital  indus- 
tries and  services  and  public  control  of  services  not  nationalized 
which  threaten  the  public  with  the  danger  of  monopoly  or  exploita- 
tion. It  is  also  seen  in  the  increasing  demand  of  the  workers  in 
all  industries  for  a  real  share  in .  industrial  control,  a  demand 
which  the  Whitley  scheme,  in  so  far  as  it  has  been  adopted,  has 
done  little  or  nothing  to  satisfy.  This  demand  is  more  articulate 
in  some  industries  than  others.  It  is  seen  clearly  in  the  national 
programs  of  the  railwaymen  and  of  the  miners;  and  it  is  less 
clearly  formulated  by  the  workers  in  many  other  industries.  The 
workers  are  no  longer  prepared  to  acquiesce  in  a  system  in  which 
their  labor  is  bought  and  sold  as  a  commodity  in  the  Labor  market. 
They  are  beginning  to  assert  that  they  have  a  human  right  to  an 
equal  and  democratic  partnership  in  industry;  that  they  must  be 
treated  in  future  not  as  "  hands "  or  part  of  the  factory  equip- 
ment, but  as  human  beings  with  a  right  to  use  their  abilities  by 
hand  and  brain  in  the  service  not  of  the  few  but  of  the  whole 
community. 

The  extent  to  which  workers  are  challenging  the  whole  system 
of  industrial  organization  is  very  much  greater  to-day  than  ever 
before,  and  unrest  proceeds  not  only  from  more  immediate  and 
special  grievances  but  also,  to  an  increasing  extent,  from  a  desire 
to  substitute  a  democratic  system  of  public  ownership  and  produc- 
tion for  use  with  an  increasing  element  of  control  by  the  organized 
workers  themselves  for  the  existing  capitalist  organization  of 
industry. 

j. — High  Prices 

Among  the  more  immediate  and  special  causes  of  industrial 
unrest  the  high  prices  prevailing  for  commodities  of  common  con- 
sumption take  a  prominent  place.  High  prices  in  themselves  cause 
industrial  unrest  since  the  attempt  is  seldom,  if  ever,  made  to 


374  THE  WORKERS 

readjust  wages  to  a  higher  cost  of  living  until  the  workers  them- 
selves strongly  press  their  demands.  The  fact  that  the  onus  of 
securing  concessions  which  are  necessary  even  to  maintain  Labor 
in  its  present  position  is  always  thrown  upon  the  workers,  and 
that  strong  resistance  is  practically  always  offered  by  the  em- 
ployers to  such  readjustments  is  a  standing  provocation  to  unrest, 
and  has  been  a  very  material  factor  during  the  time  of  increasing 
prices  through  which  we  have  been  passing.  Moreover,  the 
workers  are  convinced  that  the  high  prices  which  have  prevailed 
have  not  been  unavoidable  or  purely  due  to  natural  causes.  From 
the  very  beginning  of  the  war  period  the  Labor  Movement  has 
pressed  upon  the  Government  the  adoption  of  measures  designed 
to  keep  down  the  cost  of  living,  and  although  control  over  private 
industry  has  been  gradually  extended,  it  has,  in  most  cases,  not 
been  sufficiently  thorough  or  has  been  instituted  far  too  late  to 
check  materially  the  rising  prices,  and  certainly  too  late  to  prevent 
the  amassing  of  huge  fortunes  at  the  public  expense.  The  system 
of  control  which  has  operated  during  the  war  has  meant,  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  the  fixing  of  prices  at  a  level  which  will  give 
what  is  regarded  as  a  reasonable  margin  of  profit  to  the  least 
efficient  concern,  and  this  has  meant,  in  case  after  case,  the  fixing 
of  prices  which  leave  an  entirely  unnecessary  balance  of  profit  to 
the  more  fortunately  situated  or  more  efficient  establishments.  In 
these  circumstances,  unrest  arises  and  the  workers  are  strongly 
convinced  that  the  only  way  of  keeping  down  prices  is  by  taking 
production  and  distribution  into  the  hands  of  the  public  itself  so 
that  the  price  can  be  fixed  at  such  a  level  as  to  be  fair  in  the 
aggregate  and  so  that  gains  and  losses  can  be  distributed  over  the 
whole  supply  of  each  product.  The  fact  then  that  control  by  the 
State  has  usually  been  instituted  too  late,  and  the  further  fact  that, 
even  when  it  has  been  put  into  operation,  it  has  not  had  the  effect 
of  reducing  prices  because  the  motive  of  private  profit  has  still 
been  preserved,  must  be  regarded  as  a  most  potent  factor  in  aggra- 
vating unrest  and  confirming  working  class  suspicions  of  wide- 
spread profiteering. 

4. — Profiteering 

The  universal  opinion  among  the  working  classes  that  profiteer- 
ing has  taken  place  during  the  war  on  an  unprecedented  scale 
must  also  be  reckoned  as  one  of  the  most  important  causes  of 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST      375 

unrest.  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  produce  an  accurate  state- 
ment of  the  extent  and  character  of  this  profiteering,  but  an  indi- 
cation is  given  in  the  inclosures  of  the  type  of  fact  reported  in 
the  newspapers  which  has  been  a  powerful  influence  in  convincing 
the  public  that  widespread  profiteering  is  prevalent.  (See  inclo- 
sures appended.)  Indications  have  pointed  to  the  fact  that  large 
fortunes  have  been  amassed  as  a  result  of  the  war  by  many  sec- 
tions among  the  employing  and  financial  classes.  The  following 
indications  are  those  which  have  principally  led  to  the  impression 
that  extensive  profiteering  has  been  prevalent : 

a.  The  reports  in  the  newspapers  of  dividends,  distribution  of 

bonus  shares,  distribution  of  dividends  higher  than  pre- 
war dividends  after  payment  of  excess  profits  duty,  and 
other  reports  showing  that  the  prosperity  of  well-known 
firms  is  greater  than  ever  before  as  a  result  of  the  war. 

b.  The  impression  that  large  profits  beyond  those  actually  de- 

clared in  the  form  of  dividends  or  bonus  shares  have  been 
accumulated  by  one  or  another  of  the  following  methods: 
The  placing  of  exceptionally  large  sums  to  the  reserve  be- 
yond the  increase  in  depreciation  necessitated  by  war 
conditions. 

The  equipment,  by  grant  or  out  of  excess  profits  at  the 
public  expense,  of  new  factories,  etc.,  or  the  re-equipment 
of  old  ones,  which  will  be  in  a  position  to  earn  high 
profits  after  the  war. 

c.  The  impression  that  the  excess  profits  tax  has  operated  not 

so  as  to  reduce  the  total  amount  of  profit  obtained  by  the 
large  concerns  which  have  been  in  a  position  to  secure 
almost  what  prices  they  chose  to  ask  for  their  commodi- 
ties, but  to  increase  prices  and  thereby  maintain  profits  at 
the  same  height  as  they  would  have  reached  if  there  had 
been  no  excess  profits  taxation. 

d.  The  constant  references  in  Government  reports  and  in  the 

newspapers,  giving  accounts  of  the  progress  of  combina- 
tion among  firms  which  have  led  to  the  impression  that 
"  vested  interests  "  are  becoming  more  powerful  in  the  com- 
munity than  ever,  and  that  there  is  a  serious  danger  of  a 
great  extension  of  private  monopolies  prejudicial  to  the 
public,  and  that  the  Government  is  steadily  fostering  com- 


376  THE  WORKERS 

bination  among  capitalists  without  adequate  safeguards  for 
the  public  interest. 

e.  The  fact  that  huge  combinations  of  capitalists  have  been 
formed  during  the  war  for  the  express  purpose  of  influenc- 
ing the  Government,  and  the  impression  that  these  combina- 
tions are  listened  to  with  far  more  attention  by  Government 
Departments,  than  the  representations  made  by  Labor. 

This  list  by  no  means  exhausts  the  causes  which  have  led  the 
workers  to  believe  that  widespread  profiteering  exists,  but  it  would 
be  impossible  to  carry  the  matter  further  without  entering  into 
considerable  detail.  It  need  only  be  said  that  profiteering  in  articles 
of  working  class  consumption,  such  as  food,  naturally  produces  a 
more  immediate  and  profound  impression  in  working  class  circles 
than  profiteering  which,  although  it  may  be  even  more  extensive, 
is  not  equally  apparent  to  the  ordinary  man  or  woman.  The  work 
of  the  Ministry  of  Food  and  of  the  Consumers'  Council  has  done 
something  to  diminish  the  suspicion  among  the  workers  of  food 
profiteering,  but  this  suspicion  is  rapidly  reviving  as  a  beginning 
is  made  of  the  removal  of  food  control. 

5. — Government  Policy  in  Relation  to  Industry 

The  actions  of  the  Government  in  relation  to  industry  since  the 
general  election  have  deepened  the  working  class  impression  that 
profiteering  is  prevalent.  The  sale  of  national  ships,  shipyards, 
and  factories  is  strongly  resented  by  Labor,  especially  as  this  has 
taken  place  at  a  moment  when  the  ships  might  have  been  made  of 
the  greatest  use,  in  national  hands,  both  in  relieving  the  necessities 
of  the  world  and  in  preventing  the  creation  of  powerful  shipping 
monopolies.  The  shipyards  might  have  been  used  to  increase  and 
develop  a  national  mercantile  marine,  and  the  factories,  as  well  as 
the  shipyards,  might  have  been  turned  to  the  task  of  useful  peace- 
time production,  and  might  have  been  made  a  powerful  factor  for 
the  prevention  of  unemployment,  both  during  the  period  of  disloca- 
tion and  permanently.  The  words  used  by  the  Minister  of  Labor 
at  the  Industrial  Conference  on  February  27th  have  intensified 
Labor's  misgivings.  Sir  Robert  Home  said : 

"  The  consideration  which  ultimately  weighed  with  the  Gov- 
ernment was  that  the  only  chance  of  expediting  matters  at 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     377 

the  present  time  was  to  restore  confidence  in  private  enter- 
prise. ...  If  the  Government  was  regarded  as  a  competitor 
in  the  industries  which  private  enterprise  was  at  present  run- 
ning they  would  never  get  proper  work  started  again  at  all." 

This  is  by  no  means  the  view  of  Labor,  which  holds  strongly 
that  the  development  of  national  resources  under  public  ownership 
is  the  most  urgent  need  of  industry  at  the  present  time.  The 
eagerness  of  the  Government  to  sell  the  national  property  and  its 
expressed  determination  to  compete  in  no  way  with  private  inter- 
ests in  the  task  of  production,  even  on  such  commodities  as  tele- 
phones which  are  required  by  the  Government  itself  in  large  num- 
bers, and  the  hasty  abandoning  of  national  control  over  industry, 
without  any  adequate  safeguards  for  the  future  protection  of  the 
consumer,  have  led  the  workers  to  ..he  view  that  the  Government's 
first  concern  is  the  restriction  of  public  ownership  and  the  restora- 
tion, at  all  costs,  of  the  system  of  production  for  private  profit. 
Moreover,  the  refusal  of  the  Government  to  come  to  any  decision 
on  the  question  of  mine  and  railway  nationalization,  despite  defi- 
nite promises  made  during  the  general  election  and  although  the 
solution  of  this  question  is  obviously  vital  to  the  problem  of 
industrial  reconstruction  as  a  whole,  seems  to  show  that  no  con- 
structive industrial  policy  can  be  expected.  Thus,  disillusionment 
and  fear  of  exploitation  in  the  future  on  an  unprecedented  scale 
has  made  the  workers  think  that  their  only  remedy  lies  in  taking 
matters  into  their  own  hands. 

6. — Unemployment 

The  prevention  of  unemployment  and  provision  against  unem- 
ployment should  have  been  one  of  the  first  thoughts  of  the  Gov- 
ernment as  soon  as  the  question  of  industrial  reorganization  began 
to  be  considered.  The  workers  fully  understood  that  steps  were 
being  taken  to  bring  into  immediate  operation  upon  the  conclusion 
of  hostilities  a  permanent  scheme  both  for  the  prevention  of  unem- 
ployment wherever  possible  and  for  the  maintenance  of  the  un- 
employed where  this  could  not  be  done.  They  now  find  that  no 
permanent  provision  has  been  made,  and  that  the  Government 
actually  proposes  to  withdraw  the  temporary  provision  for  the 
unemployed  before  instituting  any  permanent  system  of  prevention 
and  maintenance.  The  reduction  of  the  unemployment  donation 


378  THE  WORKERS 

before  a  comprehensive  and  permanent  scheme  of  prevention  and 
provision  has  been  brought  into  operation,  will  have  the  effect 
of  extending  and  increasing  unrest.  Moreover,  the  administration 
of  the  unemployment  donation  has  given  considerable  cause  for 
dissatisfaction,  especially  in  the  case  of  women,  who  are  being 
compelled  in  case  after  case  to  take  jobs  in  sweated  industries 
practically  at  pre-war  rates  of  wages. 

We  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth 
which  prior  to  the  war  kept  the  purchasing  power  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  wage  earners  at  a  low  level,  constituted  a  primary 
cause  of  unemployment.  During  the  Labor  unrest  debate  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  February,  1912,  the  Parliamentary  Secretary 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  stated  that  the  department  had  particulars 
of  wages  paid  to  7,300,000  workpeople,  and  further  informed  the 
House  that  60  per  cent  of  the  wage  earners  for  whom  they  had 
particulars  were  receiving  less  than  303.  per  week.  From  the  Land 
Inquiry  Committee  Report,  published  in  1913,  we  learn  that  about 
60  per  cent  of  the  ordinary  adult  agricultural  laborers  received 
less  than  i8s.  per  week,  a  substantial  percentage  being  in  receipt 
of  less  than  155.  per  week. 

In  1911  the  Government  appointed  a  Royal  Commission  to  inves- 
tigate the  cause  of  a  dispute  affecting  railway  employees.  The 
union  representatives  submitted  a  statement  showing  the  rates  of 
wages  for  railway  war  workers  in  1906,  as  follows: 

Per  Cent  of  Total 
No.  Receiving  £  i  per  week  or  less  Number  Employed 

England  and  Wales 81,300        36.7 

Scotland    12,960        45.2 

Ireland  6,650        74.5 

Showing  over  100,000  workers  employed  in  an  industry  not 
affected  by  foreign  competition  not  exceeding  £i  per  week. 

Sir  G.  S.  Barnes,  Second  Secretary,  Board  of  Trade,  giving 
evidence  before  a  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  in 
1913,  supplied  the  following  particulars  of  wages  paid  to  women 
workers. 

In  the  Sugar  Confectionery  trades  40.5  per  cent  were  receiving 
less  than  los.  per  week,  with  an  average  wage  of  us.  gd.  Food 
preserving  44.4,  with  an  average  of  IDS.  nd.  The  women  employed 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     379 

in  the  hollow- ware  trade  to  the  number  of  700  have  been  on  strike 
to  obtain  a  minimum  wage  of  los.  for  a  week  of  5  +  hours. 

In  the  calendering  and  machine  ironing  trade,  of  the  women 
over  18  years  of  age  working  full  time,  32  per  cent  earned  under 
i os.,  and  the  average  was  us.  4d.  for  a  6o-hour  week. 

The  above  particulars  of  wages  paid  covering  Railway  Workers, 
Agricultural  Laborers,  and  a  large  percentage  of  women  workers 
indicate  that  a  very  large  body  of  wage  earners  have  received  a 
rate  of  wages  limiting  their  power  of  consumption  to  such  an 
extent  as  seriously  to  limit  the  effective  demand  for  all  the  essen- 
tials of  life,  and  as  a  consequence  unemployment  has  been  created 
by  under  consumption. 

7. — Wages  and  Earnings 

The  termination  of  hostilities  caused  a  sudden  reduction  in  the 
earnings,  though  not  in  the  wage  rates,  of  huge  classes  of  work- 
ers, without  any  corresponding  decrease  in  the  cost  of  living. 
This  has,  no  doubt,  to  some  extent  intensified  the  unrest,  but  wage 
grievances  are  not,  at  the  present  time,  responsible  for  more  than 
a  fraction  of  it.  At  the  same  time  there  are  two  aspects  of  the 
wages  problem  in  connection  with  which  the  uncertainty  of  the 
present  position  is  already  causing  serious  unrest. 

I.  Most  classes  of  workers  have  put  forward  demands  for  wage 
increases  and  the  incorporation  in  wages  of  war  advances, 
with  a  view  not  merely  to  maintaining  their  pre-war  posi- 
tion in  relation  to  the  increased  cost  of  living,  but  to  im- 
proving their  economic  position.  Failure  to  satisfy  the 
universal  demand  of  the  workers  for  a  higher  standard  of 
life  will  undoubtedly  be  followed  by  widespread  unrest. 
This  applies  not  only  to  the  highly  organized,  but  also  to 
the  less  organized  groups  of  workers.  It  is  the  universal 
opinion  among  the  workers  that  every  worker,  no  matter 
what  the  trade  or  occupation  with  which  he  or  she  is  con- 
nected, is  entitled  to  a  reasonable  minimum  standard  of 
life,  and  that  the  existing  slow  and  cumbrous  methods  of 
dealing  with  this  problem  by  the  gradual  and  piece-meal 
extension  of  the  Trade  Boards  Act,  in  face  of  persistent 
obstruction  and  opposition,  are  entirely  inadequate. 


380  THE  WORKERS 

2.  The  wages  (Temporary  Regulation)  Act  is  due  to  expire 
in  May.  Unless  steps  are  taken  to  renew  it  until  perma- 
nent provision  has  been  made  for  dealing  with  wage  rates 
in  the  future,  unrest  will  be  gravely  increased. 

8. — Hours  of  Labor 

Probably  the  most  important  immediate  cause  of  unrest  is  the 
question  of  hours  of  labor.  Hours  have  been  singularly  little 
changed  for  a  very  long  time  past,  and  before  the  war  demands 
were  being  made  in  many  industries  for  a  substantial  reduction. 
The  workers  are  now  urgently  demanding  a  higher  standard  of 
leisure,  to  be  achieved  by  a  reduction  in  working  hours  and  the 
abolition  of  systematic  overtime.  If  matters  are  allowed  to  drift, 
these  demands  will  lead  to  serious  unrest  and  possibly  dislocation 
in  practically  every  industry  in  the  country.  There  is  a  strong 
opinion  among  the  workers  that  the  hours  problem  should  be  dealt 
with  as  a  whole  with  a  view  to  the  formulation  of  some  maximum 
limit  applicable  to  all  workers.  Otherwise  hours  of  labor  will  take 
a  prominent  place  in  encouraging  unrest  for  a  long  time  to  come. 

p. — Housing 

Side  by  side  with  the  demand  for.  a  higher  standard  of  life  and 
leisure  comes  the  demand  for  more  and  better  housing  accommo- 
dation. Overcrowding  has  been  an  especially  serious  factor  in  the 
creation  of  unrest  in  many  centers  during  the  war  period,  and 
attention  was  drawn  to  this  point  in  the  reports  on  Industrial 
Unrest  prepared  for  the  Government  two  years  ago.  .  .  .  The 
rapidly  growing  shortage  of  houses  at  the  present  time,  and  the 
failure  to  build  new  houses,  have  done  a  great  deal  to  undermine 
working  class  confidence,  and  must  now  rank  among  the  principal 
factors  of  unrest. 

10. — Recognition  of  Trade  Unions 

More  than  one  dispute  recently  has  centered  around  the  ques- 
tion of  the  recognition  of  trade  unionism.  Among  Government 
employees  the  Police  Union  has  been  refused  recognition,  and 
serious  unrest  has  thereby  been  caused.  The  Railway  Clerks' 
Association  only  secured  partial  recognition  from  the  Government 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     381 

by  the  threat  of  an  immediate  strike,  and  even  now  serious  trouble 
is  being  caused  by  the  attempts  of  the  Railway  "Lxecutive  Com- 
mittee and  the  companies  to  whittle  down  this  recognition.  There 
has  been  serious  delay  in  applying  the  Whitley  Committee's  Report 
to  any  section  of  Government  employees,  and  even  now  it  has  not 
been  applied  to  the  Civil  Service,  with  the  result  that  this  class  of 
workers  is  in  a  grave  state  of  unrest.  Among  employees  of  private 
firms  recognition  is  still  by  no  means  completely  or  fully  established 
— a  point  which  has  been  specially  brought  to  our  notice  by  one 
Association,  that  of  the  Engineering  and  Shipbuilding  Draughts- 
men, which,  although  it  includes  practically  all  the  draughtsmen 
eligible  for  membership,  is  still  refused  recognition.  Recognition 
is  still  especially  defective  in  the  workshops,  and  it  is  clear  that 
the  failure  to  provide  for  full  recognition  of  Trade  Union  Or- 
ganization in  and  out  of  the  workshops  is  responsible  for  a  good 
deal  of  unrest. 

ii. — Lack  of  Representative  Machinery 

One  reason  why  the  existing  unrest  in  industry  lacks  co-ordina- 
tion and  is  difficult  to  express  in  concrete  terms  is  that  there  exists 
no  adequate  machinery  capable  of  giving  constant  expression  to 
the  co-ordinated  demands  of  the  whole  of  the  workers.  Numerous 
Committees  and  Conferences  have  been  set  up  and  summoned  by 
the  Government  for  various  industrial  and  economic  purposes. 
These  have  mostly  been  unsatisfactory  and  often  of  an  unrepre- 
sentative character.  There  is  an  urgent  demand  for  an  elective 
body  fully  representative  of  Labor  to  advise  the  Government  on 
economic  and  industrial  policy  in  general.  The  absence  of  such  a 
body  is  certainly  one  of  the  causes  for  the  rapid  extension  of  the 
present  industrial  unrest  and  for  its  taking  in  some  cases  an  indefi- 
nite and  incoherent  form.  Until  some  such  really  representative 
body  is  brought  into  existence  it  is  to  be  feared  that  unrest  will 
continue  to  possess  a  disorganized  and  largely  unco-ordinated 
character. 


12. — The  Attitude  of  the  Government  and  the  Employers 

It  is  not  possible  to  discuss  the  question  of  Labor  unrest  without 
drawing  attention  to  one  important  factor,  both  as  causing  of 


382  THE  WORKERS 

unrest  and  as  making  it  take  unconstitutional  directions.  It  is 
unfortunately  the  fact  that  it  has  been  much  more  difficult  to  get 
prompt  attention  to  industrial  grievances  during  the  war  period  in 
those  cases  in  which  the  workers,  from  patriotic  motives,  have 
remained  at  work  and  endeavored  to  act  by  constitutional  methods 
than  where  they  have  come  out  on  strike  or  threatened  immediate 
and  drastic  action.  This  suicidal  policy  of  delaying  remedial 
action  for  grievances  until  the  workers  have  decided  to  take  mat- 
ters into  their  own  hands  is  responsible  for  a  great  deal  of  pre- 
ventable unrest,  and  there  is  a  general  opinion  that  both  employers 
and  the  Government  would  be  wise  to  take  steps  to  insure  that  in 
future,  grievances,  as  soon  as  they  arise  and  before  they  reach 
the  point  of  danger,  should  be  promptly  considered  and  dealt  with 
on  sympathetic  lines. 

II. — REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST 

To  the  foregoing  statement  we  append  certain  general  sugges- 
tions as  to  remedies.  We  shall  follow,  as  far  as  possible,  in  our 
discussion  of  remedies  the  order  of  the  paragraphs  setting  out  the 
causes  of  unrest. 

/. — Control  of  Industry 

(a)  A  substantial  beginning  must  be  made  of  instituting  public 
ownership  of  the  vital  industries  and  services  in  this  country. 
Mines  and  the  supply  of  coal,  railways,  docks,  and  other  means  of 
transportation,  the  supply  of  electric  power,  and  shipping,  at  least 
so  far  as  ocean-going  services  are  concerned,  should  be  at  once 
nationalized. 

(&)  Private  profit  should  be  entirely  eliminated  from  the  manu- 
facture of  armaments,  and  the  amount  of  nationalization  necessary 
to  secure  this  should  be  introduced  into  the  engineering,  shipbuild- 
ing, and  kindred  industries. 

(c)  There  should  be  a  great  extension  of  municipal  ownership, 
and  ownership  by  other  local  authorities  and  co-operative  control 
of  those  services  which  are  concerned  primarily  with  the  supplying 
of  local  needs. 

(rf)  Key  industries  and  services  should  at  once  be  publicly 
owned. 

(e)  This  extension  of  public  ownership  over  vital  industries 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     383 

should  be  accompanied  by  the  granting  to  the  organized  workers 
of  the  greatest  practicable  amount  of  control  over  the  conditions 
and  the  management  of  the  various  industries. 

2. — State  Control  and  Prices 

(a)  Where  an  industry  producing  articles  of  common  consump- 
tion or  materials  necessary  to  industries  producing  articles  of  com- 
mon consumption  cannot  be  at  once  publicly  owned,  State  control 
over  such  industries  should  be  retained. 

(&)  State  control  has  been  shown  to  provide  some  check  upon 
profiteering  and  high  prices,  and  this  is  a  reason  why  it  should  be 
maintained  until  industries  pass  into  the  stage  at  which  they  can 
be  conveniently  nationalized. 

(c)  Many  groups  of  capitalists  at  the  present  time  are  loudly 
claiming  State  assistance  in  re-establishing  their  industries  upon 
a  profit-making  basis.  There  must  be  no  State  assistance  without 
strict  State  control. 

5. — Profiteering 

(a)  A  determined  attempt  should  be  made  in  each  industry  by 
public  inquiry  through  Royal  Commissions  to  elicit  all  the  facts 
with  regard  to  war  profiteering. 

(&)  Organized  Labor  in  each  industry  or  service  should  have 
the  right  of  nominating  half  the  membership  of  the  Commission, 
the  other  half  being  appointed  by  the  Government  to  represent 
interests  similar  to  those  represented  by  the  Government  nominees 
on  the  Coal  Commission.  The  Government  should  also,  in  each 
case,  appoint  a  Chairman.  This  principle  should  be  adopted  not 
only  in  constituting  these  Commissions,  but  also  in  the  other  Com- 
mittees and  Commissions  proposed  in  this  memorandum. 

(c)  Such  an  inquiry  should  include  not  only  firms  directly  en- 
gaged in  industrial  production,  but  also  subsidiary  and  trading 
concerns,  and  that  a  comprehensive  attempt  should  be  made  to  dis- 
cover the  extent  and  effect  of  combination  between  firms,  and  to 
lay  bare  any  tendencies  towards  monopolistic  combination  which 
are  at  present  developing  in  British  Industry. 

(d)  In  view  of  the  enormous  burden  of  debt  which  has  been 
accumulated  as  a  result  of  the  war  and  of  the  methods  adopted  in 
financing  the  war  by  loan  rather  than  by  direct  taxation,  steps 


384  THE  WORKERS 

should  at  once  be  taken  to  remove  a  considerable  part  of  this 
burden  by  a  graduated  levy  on  capital  from  which  property  up 
to  £1,000  would  be  exempt. 

4. — Government  Policy  in  Relation  to  Industry 

The  policy  of  selling  national  factories,  ships,  and  shipyards 
should  be  immediately  reversed,  and  both  the  ships  and  the  ship- 
yards and  factories  should  be  resumed  by  the  State  and  operated  as 
national  concerns  in  the  interest  of  the  whole  community. 

5. — Unemployment,  Security,  and  Maintenance 

(a)  We  are  of  the  opinion  that  a  general  increase  in  wages 
by  improving  the  purchasing  power  of  the  workers  would  have  a 
general  and  permanent  effect  in  the  direction  of  limiting  continu- 
ous unemployment,  by  bringing  consumption  up  to  something  more 
like  equilibrium  with  production. 

(&)  A  special  commission  should  be  appointed  immediately  to 
investigate  and  report  within  a  specified  limit  of  time,  upon  the 
whole  problem  of  unemployment  in  the  widest  sense,  and  the  atten- 
tion of  this  Commission  should  be  especially  directed  to  the  prob- 
lem of  under  consumption  as  a  cause  of  unemployment,  and  the 
possibility  of  instituting  a  State  bonus. 

(c)  Pending  the  report  of  this  Commission  the   Government 
should  at  once  address  itself  to  the  task  of  preventing  unem- 
ployment by  all  means  within  its  power. 

(d)  We  strongly  urge  the  immediate  creation  of  a  central  au- 
thority to  deal  with  the  allocation  of  all  Government  contracts  in 
such  a  way  as  to  steady  the  volume  of  employment  and  to  co- 
ordinate orders  given  by  local  authorities.    This  central  authority 
should  co-operate  closely  with  the  National  Industrial  Council. 

(?)  A  complete  and  comprehensive  scheme  of  unemployment 
provision  extending  to  all  workers  on  a  non-contributory  basis 
should  be  instituted  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  and  this 
scheme  should  provide  for  adequate  maintenance  of  those  workers 
who  are  unemployed,  and  for  the  making  up  of  maintenance  pay 
to  those  workers  who  are  under  employed.  All  unemployed  work- 
people under  such  a  scheme  would  be  entitled  to  a  flat  rate  of 
benefit.  It  would,  however,  be  desirable  that  there  should  be,  in 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     385 

addition  to  the  flat  rate,  a  supplementary  allowance  for  dependent 
children. 

(/)  This  scheme  should  be  administered  directly  through  the 
trade  unions,  the  Government  maintenance  pay  for  the  unemployed 
being  handed  over  in  the  form  of  a  subvention  to  the  various  trade 
unions  to  administer  on  behalf  of  their  own  members.  Where  in 
any  case  direct  administration  through  a  trade  union  is  not  ar- 
ranged, maintenance  pay  should  be  administered  through  the 
Employment  Exchanges,  but  if  such  a  system  of  administration  is 
to  carry  any  confidence  the  present  organization  of  the  Employ- 
ment Exchanges  must  be  drastically  remodeled,  and  the  Exchanges 
must  be  placed  under  the  direct  control  of  Joint  Committees  equally 
representative  of  the  employers  and  trade  unions. 

(<7)  In  addition  to  the  provision  made  under  such  non-contribu- 
tory National  scheme  the  State  should  assist  Trade  Unions  to  pro- 
vide an  additional  benefit  out  of  their  own  funds  by  giving  a 
subsidy  from  State  funds  equivalent  to  50  per  cent  of  the  amount 
expended  by  the  Union  on  unemployment  allowances. 

(/t)  Until  this  permanent  provision  is  brought  fully  into  opera- 
tion it  will  be  essential  to  continue,  at  least  on  the  original  scale, 
the  temporary  system  of  unemployment  donation  instituted  on  the 
termination  of  hostilities. 

(t)  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  make  provision  for  a  greater 
degree  of  security  on  the  part  of  the  worker.  The  worker  who 
is  threatened  with  arbitrary  dismissal  should,  in  all  cases,  have  a 
prior  right  of  appeal  to  his  fellow  workers,  and  wherever  dismissal 
takes  place  on  grounds  other  than  those  of  demonstrated  miscon- 
duct, the  worker  who  is  dismissed  should  be  entitled  to  a  payment 
proportionate  to  his  period  of  service  with  the  firm. 

(;')  Special  provision  should  be  made  for  the  maintenance  of 
widows  with  dependent  children,  and  for  the  endowment  of 
mothers,  in  order  to  prevent  them  from  being  forced  into  industry 
against  the  interest  of  society. 


6. — Wages 

(a)  A  higher  standard  of  living  for  the  whole  working  com- 
munity is  not  only  desirable  but  immediately  possible. 

(&)  Every  worker  should  be  entitled  by  law  to  a  reasonable 
minimum  wage. 


386  THE  WORKERS 

(c)  Until  full  provisions  securing  this  to  all  workers  have  been 
brought  into  actual  and  complete  operation,  the  temporary  system 
of  regulating  wages  under  the  Wages   (Temporary  Regulation) 
Act  should  continue. 

(d)  The  principle  of  equal  pay  for  men  and  women  should  be 
universally  applied,  both  on  grounds  of  justice  and  in  order  that 
there  may  be  no  degrading  of  conditions  in  any  occupation  through 
the  introduction  of  female  labor. 


7. — Hours  of  Labor 

(a)  A  universal  reduction  of  hours  to  a  maximum  of  eight  in 
any  one  day,  and  44  in  any  one  week,  is  immediately  necessary, 
subject  only  to  such  modifications  in  particular  industries  or  occu- 
pations as  can  be  clearly  proved  to  be  necessary  for  the  efficient 
carrying  on  of  the  service.  All  such  modifications  should  be 
allowed  only  on  condition  that  the  terms  secured  to  the  workers 
in  the  industries  so  exempted  from  the  strict  operation  of  an 
Eight-Hour  Act  should  be  not  less  favorable  on  the  whole  than 
the  terms  accorded  to  workers  under  the  Act. 

(6)  Power  should  at  once  be  taken  to  reduce  the  number  of 
hours  worked  below  eight  by  a  simple  procedure,  such  as  that  of 
provisional  order  as  soon  as  industry  has  been  given  time  to 
readjust  itself  to  the  new  conditions. 

(c)  The  eight  hours  which  should  be  made  a  legal  maximum 
for  all  workers  should  not  prevent  the  workers  in  any  trade  or 
industry  either  from  maintaining  any  better  conditions  which  they 
have  already  secured,  or  from  securing  better  conditions  in  the 
future. 

(d)  Power  should  be  taken  in  any  Act  regulating  hours  where 
a    collective    agreement    has    been    arrived    at    between  .repre- 
sentative organizations  securing  a  lower  maximum  of  hours  for 
a  particular  trade  or  occupation,  to  make  this  lower  maximum 
compulsory  for  the  whole  trade,  including  those  parts  of  it  which 
are  unorganized  or  unfederated. 

(e)  Any  measure   regulating  the  hours  of  labor   should  also 
include  provisions  for  the  prohibition  of  all  systematic  overtime, 
and  for  the  payment  of  all  overtime  worked  at  special  rates. 

(/)  Special  rates  of  pay  should  apply  also  to  night  work,  Sun- 
day, and  holiday  work,  and  night  work  should  be  abolished  abso- 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     387 

lately  for  women  and  children  and,  wherever  possible,  for  all 
workers. 

(<7)  Steps  should  immediately  be  taken  for  the  international 
regulation  of  the  hours  of  labor,  and  for  the  inclusion  of  a  uni- 
versal maximum  in  the  terms  of  the  International  Charter  of 
Labor. 

(fc)  The  fact  that  a  trade  has  not  reached  a  high  state  of  or- 
ganization should  not  be  regarded  as  an  excuse  for  long  hours 
or  bad  conditions  of  employment. 

8. — Housing 

(a)  The  housing  of  the  people  must  be  regarded  as  a  national 
responsibility,  and  the  national  resources  must  be  utilized  to  the 
fullest  extent  in  order  to  secure  the  immediate  provision  of  enough 
houses  to  insure  a  great  general  improvement  in  housing  condi- 
tions for  the  whole  people. 

(&)  If  local  authorities  fail,  under  the  conditions  now  offered 
by  the  State,  to  provide  houses,  the  State  must  itself  at  once 
assume  the  responsibility  of  providing  the  houses  which  are  neces- 
sary, or  of  compelling  the  local  authorities  to  do  so. 

(c)  Far  more  regard  must  be  given  than  in  the  past  both  to  the 
conditions  which  are  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  public 
health  and  to  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  working  class  house- 
hold and  especially  of  the  housewife. 

(rf)  Provision  must  be  made  for  the  fullest  participation  of 
working  class  representatives,  including  women,  directly  chosen 
by  the  workers,  in  seeing  that  this  scheme  is  carried  properly  and 
completely  into  effect. 

p. — Recognition  of  Trade  Unions 

All  trade  unions  and  federations  and  associations  of  trade  unions 
recognized  by  the  Labor  Movement  itself  must  receive  full  recog- 
nition both  from  the  employers  and  from  the  State  and  the  local 
authorities. 

jo. — Creation  of  Representative  Machinery 

Some  national  machinery  fully  representative  of  the  employers 
and  of  Labor  to  advise  the  Government  in  relation  to  all  issues 
affecting  industry  generally  should  be  brought  into  being  at  the 


388  THE  WORKERS 

earliest  possible  moment.  This  body  should  possess  the  full  con- 
fidence of  Labor,  and  should  have  the  most  democratic  constitution 
that  can  possibly  be  secured.  Without  interfering  where  adequate 
machinery  already  exists,  such  an  industrial  council  would  form  a 
useful  medium  for  negotiation  on  questions  affecting  mutual  rela- 
tions of  employers  and  workers  in  general,  and  on  all  questions 
of  general  industrial  and  economic  policy. 

ii. — The  Attitude  of  the  Government  and  of  the  Employers 

(a)  A  drastic  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  Government  Depart- 
ments which  deal  with  Labor  is  essential. 

(&)  It  should  be  regarded  as  the  duty  of  any  Government  De- 
partment employing  Labor  or  entering  into  contracts  which  involve 
the  employment  of  Labor,  to  insure  for  all  workers  in  its  direct 
or  indirect  employment  an  adequate  standard  of  life,  and  the  best 
possible  conditions  of  employment. 

(c)  Any  claim  or  demand  put  forward  by  a  body  of  workers 
should  be  immediately  attended  to,  whether  or  not  a  strike  has 
taken  place  and  whether  or  not  notice  of  strike  has  been  given, 
without  waiting  for  the  organized  workers  to  demonstrate  their 
determination  to  take  action.  The  Government  should  aim  at  being 
beforehand  with  unrest  by  removing  all  legitimate  grievances  as 
soon  as  they  arise. 

(rf)  The  indefensible  delay  of  the  Ministry  of  Labor  in  setting 
up  Trade  Boards  must  come  to  an  end,  and  the  machinery  of  the 
Trade  Boards  Act  must  be  put  into  operation  at  once  for  all  the 
less  organized  trades  and  occupations. 

(e)  The  employer,  if  he  desires  to  prevent  Labor  unrest,  should 
regard  it  as  part  of  his  responsibility  to  secure  to  all  the  workers 
whom  he  employs  the  best  possible  conditions  of  life  and  the 
earliest  possible  removal  of  all  grievances. 

(/)  The  habitual  use  now  made  by  employers  of  machinery  of 
conciliation  and  negotiation  for  the  purpose  of  delaying  the  settle- 
ment of  industrial  demands  must  be  discontinued. 

(g)  It  is  essential  that  all  machinery  of  negotiation  should  be 
capable  of  rapid  operation,  and  that  it  should  in  no  case  be  used 
for  the  purpose  of  delaying  a  decision,  and  that  with  a  view  to 
insuring  that  it  will  not  be  so  used,  all  awards  and  agreements 
should  be  made  retrospective  to  the  date  of  the  original  claim. 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     389 


CONCLUSIONS 

The  fundamental  causes  of  Labor  unrest  are  to  be  found  rather 
in  the  growing  determination  of  Labor  to  challenge  the  whole 
existing  structure  of  capitalist  industry  than  in  any  of  the  more 
special  and  smaller  grievances  which  come  to  the  surface  at  any 
particular  time. 

These  root  causes  are  twofold — the  breakdown  of  the  existing 
capitalist  system  of  industrial  organization,  in  the  sense  that  the 
mass  of  the  working  class  is  now  firmly  convinced  that  production 
for  private  profit  is  not  an  equitable  basis  on  which  to  build,  and 
that  a  vast  extension  of  public  ownership  and  democratic  control 
of  industry  is  urgently  necessary.  It  is  no  longer  possible  for 
organized  Labor  to  be  controlled  by  force  or  compulsion  of  any 
kind.  It  has  grown  too  strong  to  remain  within  the  bounds  of  the 
old  industrial  system  and  its  unsatisfied  demand  for  the  re-organi- 
zation of  industry  on  democratic  lines  is  not  only  the  most  impor- 
tant, but  also  a  constantly  growing  cause  of  unrest. 

The  second  primary  cause  is  closely  linked  with  the  first.  It  is 
that,  desiring  the  creation  of  a  new  industrial  system  which  shall 
gradually  but  speedily  replace  the  old,  the  workers  can  see  no  indi- 
cation that  either  the  Government  or  the  employers  have  realized 
the  necessity  for  any  fundamental  change,  or  that  they  are  pre- 
pared even  to  make  a  beginning  of  industrial  re-organization  on 
more  democratic  principles.  The  absence  of  any  constructive 
policy  on  the  side  of  the  Government  or  the  employers,  taken  in 
conjunction  with  the  fact  that  Labor,  through  the  Trades  Union 
Congress  and  the  Labor  Party  and  through  the  various  Trade 
Union  Organizations,  has  put  forward  a  comprehensive  economic 
and  industrial  program,  has  presented  the  workers  with  a  sharp 
contrast  from  which  they  naturally  draw  their  own  deductions. 

It  is  clear  that  unless  and  until  the  Government  is  prepared  to 
realize  the  need  for  comprehensive  reconstruction  on  a  democratic 
basis,  and  to  formulate  a  constructive  policy  leading  towards  eco- 
nomic democracy,  there  can  be  at  most  no  more  than  a  temporary 
diminution  of  industrial  unrest  to  be  followed  inevitably  by  further 
waves  of  constantly  growing  magnitude. 

The  changes  involved  in  this  reconstruction  must,  of  course,  be 
gradual,  but  if  unrest  is  to  be  prevented  from  assuming  dangerous 


390  THE  WORKERS 

forms  an  adequate  assurance  must  be  given  immediately  to  the 
workers  that  the  whole  problem  is  being  taken  courageously  in 
hand.  It  is  not  enough  merely  to  tinker  with  particular  grievances 
or  to  endeavor  to  reconstruct  the  old  system  by  slight  adjustments 
to  meet  the  new  demands  of  Labor.  It  is  essential  to  question  the 
whole  basis  on  which  our  industry  has  been  conducted  in  the  past 
and  to  endeavor  to  find,  in  substitution  for  the  motive  of  private 
gain,  some  other  motive  which  will  serve  better  as  the  foundation 
of  a  democratic  system.  This  motive  can  be  no  other  than  the 
motive  of  public  service,  which  at  present  is  seldom  invoked  save 
when  the  workers  threaten  to  stop  the  process  of  production  by  a 
strike.  The  motive  of  public  service  should  be  the  dominant  mo- 
tive throughout  the  whole  industrial  system,  and  the  problem  in 
industry  at  the  present  day  is  that  of  bringing  home  to  every  per- 
son engaged  in  industry  the  feeling  that  he  is  the  servant,  not  of 
any  particular  class  or  person,  but  of  the  community  as  a  whole. 
This  cannot  be  done  so  long  as  industry  continues  to  be  conducted 
for  private  profit,  and  the  widest  possible  extension  of  public  own- 
ership and  democratic  control  of  industry  is  therefore  the  first 
necessary  condition  of  the  removal  of  industrial  unrest. 

ARTHUR  HENDERSON,  Chairman. 

G.  D.  H.  COLE,  Secretary. 


ENCLOSURE  A 

Dividends. 

Appended  is  a  list  of  a  few  firms  in  various  industries,  showing  the 
dividends  declared  on  deferred  and  ordinary  stocks.  Those  afford  a 
rough  measure  of  prosperity;  no  complete  indication  can  be  given 
without  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  concern's  finances.  Thus  the 
actual  prosperity  may  be  lower,  if  no  dividends,  or  lower  dividends, 
have  been  declared  in  previous  years,  or  if  the  ordinary  shares  repre- 
sent a  relatively  small  portion  of  the  capital  employed;  on  the  other 
hand,  low  dividends  may  be  coincident  with  very  large  profits,  where 
these  are  placed  to  reserve,  or  capitalized  as  bonus-shares.  An  in- 
crease in  dividend,  however,  pretty  definitely  indicates  a  definite  in- 
crease in  prosperity,  though  the  corresponding  inference  cannot  be 
drawn  from  a  decrease  in  dividend.  In  the  list  given  below  an 
x  denotes  that  the  dividends  are  free  of  income-tax. 

Shipping. — See  Special  Table. 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     391 


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392  THE  WORKERS 

Coed  and  Iron  and  Steel  Companies. 

Pearson  Knowles  and  Co.,  45  per  cent.  (1918). 

Sheepbridge  Coal  and  Iron  Co.,  15  per  cent,  x  (1917)  i2l/2  per 
cent,  x  (1918). 

Walter  Scott,  15  per  cent,  x  (1917). 

Consett  Iron  Co.,  40  per  cent,  x  (1917). 

Staveley  Coal  and  Iron  Co.,  15  per  cent,  x  (1917),  i2l/2  per  cent. 
x  (1918). 

Shott's  Iron  Co.,  35  per  cent,  x  (1917). 

North  Lonsdale  Iron  and  Steel  Co.,  25  per  cent.  (1917). 

Millom  and  Askham  Hematite  Iron  Co.,  15  per  cent.  (1917),  15 
per  cent.  (1918). 

Hadfields,  Ltd.,  30  per  cent.  (1917). 

Consett  Iron  Co.,  40  per  cent.  (1918). 

Engineering  (including  Armaments)  and  Shipbuilding. 

Birmingham  Small  Arms  Co.,  20  per  cent,  x  (1917),  20  per  cent. 
(1918). 

Vickers,  Maxim  and  Co.,  i6l/2  per  cent.  (1917),  12^  per  cent.  (1918). 

Armstrong  Whitworth  and  Co.,  i2l/2  per  cent.  (1918). 

Mather  and  Platt,  17^  per  cent.  (1917),  17^2  per  cent,  x  (1918). 

J.  I.  Thorneycroft  and  Sons,  17^  per  cent.  (1917). 

Textile. 

Bradford  Dyers'  Association,  17^2  per  cent.  (1917),  i7l/2  per  cent. 
(1918). 

J.  and  P.  Coats  (sewing  cotton),  30  per  cent.  (1917),  30  per  cent. 
(1918). 

English  Sewing  Cotton,  20  per  cent.   (1918). 

Shipping  Vale  Spinning  Co.,  15  per  cent,  x  (1918). 

Pine  Spinning  Co.,  20  per  cent.  (1918). 

Holywood  Spinning  Co.,  20  per  cent.  (1918). 

Moorfield  Spinning  Co.,  16%  per  cent.  (1918). 

May  Mill  Spinning  Co.,  53%  per  cent.  (1918). 

Lion  Spinning  Co.,  35  per  cent.  (1918). 


ENCLOSURE  B 

Bonus  Shares,  Etc. 

Many  companies  have  recently  capitalized  reserves  by  issuing  bonus- 
shares  to  the  shareholders,  either  free,  or  at  a  price  below  the  market 
value.  In  this  way  money  that  has  been  accumulated  as  reserve  funds 
is  distributed  to  the  shareholders,  and  begins  to  earn  dividends  at 


CAUSES  OF  AND  REMEDIES  FOR  UNREST     393 

the  same  rate  as  the  ordinary  shares.  Thus  Brunner  Monds  declared 
a  dividend  of  27^  per  cent,  for  several  years,  in  one  year  they  issued 
bonus-shares,  and  declared  only  a  dividend  of  II  per  cent,  the  follow- 
ing year,  although  the  amount  received  by  the  shareholders  was 
exactly  the  same  as  before. 


ENCLOSURE  C 

Reserve  Funds. 

Many  Companies  are  placing  increasingly  large  sums  to  their  reserve 
funds,  generally  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  providing  as  much  se- 
curity as  possible  for  the  uncertain  times  ahead. 

The  General  Electric  Company,  while  declaring  the  same  dividend 
(10  per  cent,  x)  for  1918  as  for  1917,  placed  £100,000  to  reserve  in 
1918  as  against  £40,000  in  1917,  and  carried  forward  £145,286,  as 
against  £89,786. 

In  1917  Leach's  Argentine  Estates  placed  £114,000  to  reserve,  as 
against  £12,800  in  the  previous  year.  Instances  could  be  indefinitely 
multiplied. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  NATIONALIZATION  OF  MINES  AND 
MINERALS  BILL,  1919 

A  BILL  TO  NATIONALIZE  THE  MINES  AND  MINERALS  OF  GREAT 
BRITAIN  AND  TO  PROVIDE  FOR  THE  NATIONAL  WINNING,  DIS- 
TRIBUTION, AND  SALE  OF  COAL  AND  OTHER  MINERALS 

WHEREAS  it  is  expedient  that  mines  and  minerals  should  be  taken 
into  the  possession  of  the  State. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal 
and  Commons  in  this  present  Parliament  assembled,  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  same,  as  follows : 

i.  (i)  For  the  purpose  of  winning,  distributing,  selling,  and 
searching  for  coal  and  other  minerals,  there  shall  be  established 
by  His  Majesty  by  Warrant  under  the  sign  manual,  a  Mining 
Council,  consisting  of  a  President  and  20  members,  ten  of  whom 
shall  be  appointed  by  His  Majesty  and  ten  by  the  Association 
known  as  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain. 

(2)  It  shall  be  lawful  for  His  Majesty,  from  time  to  time,  to 
appoint  any  member  of  the  Privy  Council  to  be  President  of  the 
Mining  Council,  under  the  name  of  the  Minister  of  Mines,  to  hold 
office  during  His  Majesty's  pleasure. 

(3)  The  Members  of  the  Mining  Council,  other  than  the  Presi- 
dent, shall  be  appointed  for  five  years,  but  shall  be  eligible  for 
reappointment.     Provided  that  His  Majesty  or  the  Association 
known  as  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain  respectively 
shall  have  power  to  remove  any  person  appointed  by  them  and 
appoint  some  other  person  in  his  place.     On  a  casual  vacancy 
occurring  by  reason  of  the  death,  resignation,  or  otherwise  of  any 
of  such  members  or  otherwise,  His  Majesty  or  the  Miners'  Fed- 
eration of  Great  Britain,  as  the  case  may  be,  shall  appoint  some 
other  person  to  fill  the  vacancy,  who  shall  continue  in  office  until 

394 


THE  NATIONALIZING  OF  MINES  395 

the  member  in  whose  place  he  was  appointed  should  have  retired, 
and  shall  then  retire.  The  members  of  the  Mining  Council  shall 
devote  the  whole  of  their  time  to  the  business  of  the  Mining 
Council. 

2.  (i)  The  Minister  of  Mines  and  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Mining  Council  (to  be  known  as  the  Parliamentary  Secretary  and 
to  be  appointed  by  His  Majesty)  shall  at  the  same  time  be  capable 
of  being  elected  to  and  of  sitting  in  the  Commons  House  of  Par- 
liament. 

(2)  The  Minister  of  Mines  shall  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
and  official  oath,  and  shall  be  deemed  to  be  included  in  the  First 
Part  of  the  Schedule  to  the  Promissory  Oaths  Act,  1868. 

(3)  There  shall  be  paid  out  of  money  provided  by  Parliament 
to  the  Minister  of  Mines  a  salary  at  the  rate  of  £2,000  a  year,  and 
to  the  Parliamentary  Secretary  a  salary  at  the  rate  of  £1,500  a 
year. 

(4)  The  Minister  of  Mines  and  the  Parliamentary  Secretary 
shall  be  responsible  to  Parliament  for  the  acts  of  the  Mining 
Council. 

3.  (i)  The  Mining  Council  shall  appoint  a  Secretary   (to  be 
known  as  the  Permanent  Secretary),  and  such  assistant  secre- 
taries and  officers  and  servants  as  the  Mining  Council  may,  with 
the  sanction  of  the  Treasury,  determine. 

(2)  Subject  to  the  provisions  of  Section  II   (2)  of  this  Act, 
there  shall  be  paid  to  the  Permanent  Secretary,  Assistant  Secre- 
taries and  other  officers  and  servants  such  salaries  or  remunera- 
tion as  the  Treasury  shall  from  time  to  time  determine. 

(3)  There   shall   be  transferred  and  attached  to  the  Mining 
Council  such  of  the  persons  employed  under  any  Government  De- 
partment or  local  authority  in  or  about  the  execution  of  the  powers 
and  duties  transferred  by  or  in  pursuance  of  this  Act  to  the  Mining 
Council  as  the  Mining  Council  and  the  Government  Department  or 
local  authority  may  with  the  sanction  of  the  Treasury  determine. 

(4)  Notwithstanding  anything  in  any  Act,  order,  or  regulation, 
any  society  of  workers,  all  or  some  of  whose  members  are  wholly 
or  partly  employed  in  or  about  mines,  or  in  any  other  manner 
employed  by  the  Minister  of  Mines,  or  the  Mining  Council,  or  a 
District  Mining  Council,  or  Pit  Council,  or  otherwise  under  this 
Act,  may  be  registered  or  constitute  themselves  to  be  a  Trade 
Union,  and  may  do  anything  individually  or  in  combination  which 


396  THE  WORKERS 

the  members  of  a  Trade  Union  or  a  Trade  Union  may  lawfully  do. 
Provided  further  that  notwithstanding  any  Act,  order,  or  regula- 
tion to  the  contrary,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any  person  employed 
under  this  Act  to  participate  in  any  civil  or  political  action  in  like 
manner  as  if  such  person  were  not  employed  by  His  Majesty,  or 
by  any  authority  on  his  behalf. 

Provided,  further,  that  no  such  person  shall  suffer  dismissal  or 
any  deprivation  of  any  kind  as  a  consequence  of  any  political  or 
industrial  action,  not  directly  forbidden  by  the  terms  of  his 
employment,  or  as  a  consequence  of  participation  in  a  strike  or 
trade  dispute. 

4.  (i)  The  Mining  Council  shall  be  a  Corporation  to  be  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Mining  Council  and  by  that  name  shall  have 
perpetual  succession,  and  may  acquire  and  hold  land  without  license 
in  mortmain. 

(2)  The  Mining  Council  shall  have  an  official  seal,  which  shall 
be  officially  and  publicly  noticed,  and  such  seal  shall  be  authenti- 
cated by  the  Mining  Council  or  a  secretary  or  one  of  the  assistant 
secretaries,  or  some  person  authorized  to  act  on  their  behalf. 

(3)  The  Mining  Council  may  sue  and  be  sued  without  further 
description  under  that  title. 

(4)  Every  document  purporting  to  be  an  order,  license,  or  other 
instrument  issued  by  the  Mining  Council,  and  to  be  sealed  with 
their  seal,  authenticated  in  manner  provided  by  this  Act,  or  to  be 
signed  by  a  secretary  or  by  one  of  the  assistant  secretaries,  or  any 
person  authorized  to  act,  shall  be  received  in  evidence  and  be 
deemed  to  be  such  order,  license,  or  other  instrument  without  fur- 
ther proof  unless  the  contrary  is  shown. 

(5)  Any  person  having  authority  in  that  behalf,  either  general 
or  special,  under  the  seal  of  the  Mining  Council  may,  on  behalf 
of  the  Mining  Council,  give  any  notice  or  make  any  claim,  demand, 
entry,  or  distress,  which  the  Mining  Council  in  its  corporate  ca- 
pacity or  otherwise  might  give  or  make,  and  every  such  notice, 
claim,  demand,  entry,  and  distress  shall  be  deemed  to  have  been 
given  and  made  by  the  Mining  Council. 

(6)  Every  deed,  instrument,  bill,  check,  receipt,  or  other  docu- 
ment, made  or  executed  for  the  purpose  of  the  Mining  Council 
by,  to,  or  with  the  Mining  Council,  or  any  officer  of  the  Mining 
Council,  shall  be  exempt  from  any  stamp  duty  imposed  by  any 
Act,  past  or  future,  except  where  that  duty  is  declared  by  the 


THE  NATIONALIZING  OF  MINES  39? 

document,  or  by  some  memorandum  endorsed  thereon,  to  be  payable 
by  some  person  other  than  the  Mining  Council,  and  except  so  far 
as  any  future  Act  specifically  charges  the  duty. 

5.  ( i )  On  and  after  the  appointed  day,  save  as  in  Sub-Section  3 
of  this  Section,  provided: 

(a)  Every  colliery  and  mine  (including  all  mines,  quarries, 
and  open  workings  of  ironstone,  shale,  fireclay,  and  lime- 
stone, and  every  other  mine  regulated  under  the  Metal- 
liferous Mines  Regulation  Acts,  1872  and  1875,  but  not 
including  mines,  quarries,  or  open  workings  of  minerals 
specified  in  the  First  Schedule  to  this  Act),  whether  in 
actual  work,  or  discontinued,  or  exhausted,  or  abandoned, 
and  every  shaft,  pit,  borehole,  level,  or  inclined  plane, 
whether  in  course  of  being  made  or  driven  for  commenc- 
ing or  opening  any  such  colliery  or  mine,  or  otherwise, 
and  all  associated  properties  (including  vessels,  lighters, 
railway  rolling  stock,  and  all  works,  including  works  for 
the  manufacture  of  by-products,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Mining  Council  belonging  to  any  mine  undertaking  or 
connected  with  any  colliery  or  mine,  and  every  house 
belonging  to  the  owners  of  any  such  colliery  or  mine, 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Mining  Council,  is  usually 
occupied  by  workmen  employed  at  such  colliery  or  mine), 
(all  of  which  are  herein  included  in  the  expression 
"mine  ") ;  and 

(6)  all  coal,  anthracite,  lignite,  ironstone,  shale,  fireclay,  lime- 
stone, or  other  mineral,  excepting  the  minerals  specified 
in  the  First  Schedule  to  this  Act,  whether  at  present 
being  worked  or  not  worked,  or  connected  or  not  con- 
nected with  any  mine,  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground 
(all  of  which  are  herein  included  in  the  expression  "  min- 
erals") ;  and 

(c)  all  rights  and  easements  arising  out  of,  or  necessary  to  the 
working  of  any  mine  or  the  winning  of  any  mineral, 
including  all  mineral  wayleaves,  whether  air-leaves  or 
water-leaves,  or  rights  to  use  a  shaft,  or  ventilation  or 
drainage  or  other  royalties,  lordships,  or  rights  in  connec- 
tion therewith,  whether  above  or  below  the  ground  (all 
of  which  are  herein  included  in  the  expression  "  rights  ") 


398  THE  WORKERS 

shall  be  transferred  to,  vested  in,  and  held  by  the  Mining 
Council  in  their  corporate  capacity  in  perpetuity,  and 
shall  for  all  purposes  be  deemed  to  be  royal  mines,  and 
the  minerals  and  rights  thereof  respectively. 

(2)  The  Acts  contained  in  the  Second  Schedule  to  this  Act  are 
hereby  repealed. 

(3)  Provided  that  the  Mining  Council  may  at  any  time  before 
the  appointed  day  give  notice  in  writing  to  the  owner  of,  or  person 
interested  in,  any  mine  or  minerals  or  rights,  disclaiming,  during 
the  period  of  such  disclaimer,  all  or  part  of  the  property  in  such 
mine  or  minerals  or  rights  to  the  extent  specified  in  the  notice,  and 
thereafter  such  mine  or  minerals  or  rights  shall,  until  such  time 
as  the  Mining  Council  shall  otherwise  determine,  to  the  extent 
specified  in  such  notice,  not  vest  in  the  Mining  Council  as  provided 
by  Sub-section  (i)  of  this  section.    Provided  that  in  such  case  it 
shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  person  other  than  the  Mining  Council, 
without  the  permission  of  the  Mining  Council,  to  work  such  mine 
or  minerals  in  any  way.    Provided  further  that  on  the  termination 
of  such  disclaimer  by  the  Mining  Council,  such  mine  or  minerals 
or  rights  shall,  to  the  extent  of  such  notice,  as  from  such  date  as 
the  notice  may  prescribe,  vest  in  the  Mining  Council  as  if  such 
notice  of  disclaimer  had  not  been  given. 

6.  The  Mining  Council  shall  purchase  the  mines  of  Great  Britain 
in  them  vested  by  this  Act  (other  than  those  which  are  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Crown  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  this  Act  or  which 
have  been  disclaimed  in  whole  or  in  part  in  accordance  with  Sec- 
tion 5  (3)  of  this  Act)  at  the  price  and  in  the  manner  provided 
by  this  Act.     Provided  always  that  the  value  of  any  rights  as 
defined  by  Section  5  (i)   (c)  of  this  Act  shall  not  be  taken  into 
account  in  computing  such  price,  for  all  of  which  no  compensation 
shall  be  paid. 

7.  (i)  For  the  purpose  of  assessing  the  purchase  price  of  mines 
it  shall  be  lawful  for  His  Majesty,  by  warrants  under  the  sign 
manual,  to  appoint  ten  Commissioners,  to  be  styled  the  Mines  Pur- 
chase Commissioners  (herein  called  the  Commissioners),  of  whom 
one,  appointed  by  His  Majesty,  shall  be  Chairman. 

(2)  Three  of  the  said  Commissioners  shall  be  nominated  by  the 
Association  known  as  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain,  and 
three  by  the  Association  known  as  the  Mining  Association  of 
Great  Britain. 


THE  NATIONALIZING  OF  MINES  399 

(3)  At  the  expiration  of  twelve  months  from  the  passing  of 
this  Act,  in  the  event  of  a  majority  of  the  Commissioners  failing 
to  agree  as  to  the  purchase  price  of  a  particular  mine  or  of  its 
associated  properties,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Chairman  himself 
to  fix  the  purchase  price  of  such  mine,  which  price  shall  then  be 
deemed  to  be  the  price  fixed  by  the  Commissioners,  but,  save  as 
herein  expressly  provided,  the  finding  of  a  majority  of  the  Com- 
missioners voting  on  any  question  or  as  to  the  purchase  price  of 
mines  shall  be  final  and  conclusive  and  binding  on  all  parties. 

(4)  It  shall  be  lawful  for  His  Majesty  to  remove  any  Commis- 
sioner for  inability  or  misbehavior.    Every  order  of  removal  shall 
state  the  reasons  for  which  it  is  made,  and  no  such  order  shall 
come   into  operation  until   it  has  lain   before   the   Houses   of 
Parliament  for  not  less  than  thirty  days  while  Parliament  is 
sitting. 

(5)  The  Commissioners  may  appoint  and  employ  such  assessors, 
accountants,  surveyors,  valuers,  clerks,  messengers,  and  other  per- 
sons required  for  the  due  performance  of  their  duties  as  the 
Treasury   on   the   recommendation   of   the   Commissioners   may 
sanction. 

(6)  There  shall  be  paid  to  the  Commissioners  and  to  each  of 
the  persons  appointed  or  employed  under  this  section  such  salary 
or   remuneration  as  the  Treasury  may   sanction;   and   all   such 
salaries  and  remuneration  and  the  expenses  of  the  Commission 
incurred  in  the  execution  of  their  duties,  to  such  amount  as  may 
be  sanctioned  by  the  Treasury,  shall  be  paid  out  of  moneys  pro- 
vided by  Parliament. 

8.  (i)  The  Commissioners  shall,  as  soon  as  may  be  after  the 
passing  of  this  Act,  cause  a  valuation  to  be  made  of  all  mines 
other  than  those  disclaimed,  whether  or  not  developed  or  working 
or  abandoned  or  exhausted,  in  Great  Britain,  showing  what  on 
August  4th,  1914,  and  what  at  the  date  of  the  passing  of  this  Act 
was  respectively  the  total  ascertained  value  of  each  mine  and  its 
associated  properties  and  the  rights,  as  defined  by  Section  5  (i) 
(c)  of  this  Act,  therein,  and  the  total  ascertained  value  of  such 
mine  and  its  associated  properties  respectively  exclusive  of  such 
rights ;  and  the  owner  of  every  mine  and  any  person  receiving  any 
rents,  interest,  or  profit  from  any  mine  or  possessed  of  any  rights 
therein  or  connected  therewith,  on  being  required  by  notice  by 
the  Commissioners,  shall  furnish  to  the  Commissioners  a  return 


400  THE  WORKERS 

containing  such  particulars  as  the  Commissioners  may  require  as 
to  his  property,  rent,  interest,  profits,  or  rights  in  such  mine. 

(2)  The  Commissioners  may  likewise  cause  any  mine  to  be 
inspected,  require  the  production  of  documents,  or  do  any  other 
thing  which  may,  in  their  opinion,  be  necessary  to  fix  the  purchase 
price  of  the  mine  or  its  associated  properties. 

(3)  The  Commissioners  in  making  such  valuation  shall  have 
regard  to  returns  made  under  any  statute  imposing  duties  or  taxes 
or  other  obligations  in  respect  of  mines,  or  minerals,  or  rights,  and 
to  any  information  given  before  or  to  any  Commission  or  Govern- 
ment Department,  including  the  Coal  Industry  Commission  consti- 
tuted under  the  Coal  Industry  Commission  Act.  1919. 

9.  (i)  The  purchase  price  of  mines  exclusive  of  associated 
properties  (other  than  mines  in  the  possession  of  the  Crown  at 
the  time  of  the  passing  of  this  Act  shall  be  computed  subject  to 
the  provisions  of  Sub-sections  (2)  and  (3)  of  this  section  by  ascer- 
taining the  average  annual  number  of  tons  of  minerals  actually 
raised  during  the  five  years  preceding  August  4th,  1914: 

Provided  that  as  regards  coal-mines  in  no  case  shall  the  maxi- 
mum purchase  price,  exclusive  of  associated  properties,  be  taken 
to  be  more  than  the  following: 

When  100,000  tons  or  less  have  been  raised  per    s.    d. 
annum  oji  the  average  during  such  five  pre- 
ceding years,  a  capital  sum  equal  to  one  such 
year's  output  at  12    o  per  ton 

When  more  than  100,000  tons  have  been  raised 
per  annum  on  the  average  during  such  five 
preceding  years,  a  capital  sum  equal  to  one 
such  year's  output  at 10  o  per  ton 

(2)  The  Commissioners  in  arriving  at  such  computation  shall 
also  have  regard  to  the  actual  gross  and  net  profits  which  have 
been  made  in  the  mine  during  such  years  or  thereafter  and  to  the 
amounts  which  may  have  been  set  aside  from  time  to  time  for 
depreciation,  renewals,  or  development,  and  to  the  probable  dura- 
tion of  the  life  of  the  mine,  and  to  the  nature  and  condition  of 
such  mine,  and  to  the  state  of  repairs  thereof,  and  to  the  assets 
and  liabilities  of  any  mine  undertaking  existing  at  the  time  of 
purchase  which  are  transferable  to  the  Mining  Council  under  Sec- 
tion 16  of  this  Act. 


THE  NATIONALIZING  OF  MINES  401 

(3)  Provided  further  that  where  a  coal-mine,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Commissioners,  has  not  been  fully  developed,  the  amount  which 
would  be  raised  under  full  development  without  any  increase  of 
capital  expenditure  shall  be  taken  as  the  average  annual  number 
of  tons  raised,  and  the  maximum  purchase  price  in  such  case  shall 
be  taken  to  be  a  capital  sum  equal  to  the  product  of  such  number 
of  tons  and  123.  or  los.  per  ton  respectively,  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  the  maximum  value  per  ton  under  Sub-section  (i)  of 
this  section. 

10.  (i)  The  purchase  price  of  any  mine  and  such  of  its  asso- 
ciated properties  as  have  been  purchased,  as  ascertained  under  the 
provisions  of  this  Act,  shall  be  paid  by  the  Mining  Council  in 
mines  purchase  stock  to  the  persons  who,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Mining  Council,  have  established  their  title  to  such  stock.    Pro- 
vided that  an  appeal  shall  lie  to  the  High  Court  under  rules  to  be 
framed  by  the  High  Court  from  the  decision  of  the  Mining  Council 
as  to  the  title  of  any  such  persons,  but  for  no  other  purpose. 

(2)  For  the  purpose  of  paying  such  purchase  price  the  Treasury 
shall,  on  the  request  of  the  Mining  Council,  by  warrant  addressed 
to  the  Bank  of  England  direct  the  creation  of  a  new  capital  stock 
(to  be  called  "Guaranteed  State  Mines  Stock"),  and  in  this  Act 
referred  to  as  "  the  stock,"  yielding  interest  at  the  rate  on  the 
nominal  amount  of  capital  equal  to  that  payable  at  the  date  on  which 
this  Act  received  Royal  Assent  on  what,  in  the  "Opinion  of  the 
Treasury,  is  the  nearest  equivalent  Government  Loan  Stock. 

(3)  Interest  shall  be  payable  by  equal  half  yearly  or  quarterly 
dividends  at  such  times  in  each  year  as  may  be  fixed  by  the  war- 
rant first  creating  the  stock. 

(4)  The  stock  shall  be  redeemed  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred 
pounds  sterling  for  every  one  hundred  pounds  of  stock  at  such 
times  and  by  such  drawings  as  the  Treasury,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Mining  Council,  may  think  fit. 

(5)  The  stock  may  be  issued  at  such  times  and  in  such  amounts 
and  subject  to  such  conditions  as  the  Treasury  may  direct,  and 
may  be  issued  as  bearer  bonds  with  quarterly  or  half  yearly  inter- 
est coupons  attached. 

(6)  The  stock  shall  be  transferable  in  the  books  of  the  Bank 
of  England  in  like  manner  as  other  stock  is  transferable  under 
the  National  Debt  Act,  1870. 

11.  (i)  Subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  Act,  it  shall  be  lawful 


402  THE  WORKERS 

for  the  Mining  Council  to  open  and  work  mines  and  search  for, 
dig,  bore,  win,  and  deal  with  minerals  and  generally  to  carry  on 
the  industry  of  mining,  distributing,  vending,  and  exporting,  to- 
gether with  all  other  industries  carried  on  in  connection  therewith. 
Provided  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  the  Mining  Council  to 
lease  or  sell  any  mine  or  minerals  or  rights  to  any  person,  associa- 
tion, or  corporation. 

(2)  The  Mining  Council  may,  from  time  to  time,  in  such  man- 
ner and  on  such  terms  as  they  think  fit : 

(a)  subject  to  the  general  consent  of  the  Treasury,  appoint  or 
continue  in  employment  or  dismiss  managers,  engineers, 
agents,  clerks,  workmen,  servants,  and  other  persons ;  and 

(&)  construct,  erect,  or  purchase,  lease,  or  otherwise  acquire 
buildings,  plant,  machinery,  railways,  tramways,  hulks, 
ships,  and  other  fixed  or  movable  appliances  or  works  of 
any  description,  and  sell  or  otherwise  dispose  of  the  same 
when  no  longer  required;  and 

(c)  sell,  supply,  and  deliver  fuel,  coal,  and  other  products,  the 
result  of  mining  operations,  either  within  or  without  the 
realm;  and 

(</)  enter  into  and  enforce  contracts  and  engagements;  and 

(?)  generally  do  anything  that  the  owner  of  a  mine  might  law- 
fully do  in  the  working  of  the  mine,  or  that  is  authorized 
by  regulations  under  this  Act  or  by  this  Act;  and 

(/)  employ  local  authorities  for  any  purpose  they  may  think 
necessary  to  carry  out  their  duties  under  this  Act,  on  such 
terms  as  may  be  mutually  agreed. 

(3)  In  addition  to  the  powers  conferred  on  the  Mining  Council 
by  the  last  preceding  sub-section,  the  Mining  Council  may,  in  such 
manner  as  they  think  fit,  work  any  railway,  tramway,  hulk,  ship, 
or  other  appliance  for  the  purpose  of  winning,  supplying,  and 
delivering  coal  or  other  products. 

(4)  The  Mining  Council  may  compulsorily  purchase  land  or 
acquire  such  rights  over  land  as  they  may  require  for  the  purpose 
of  this  Act,  and  shall  have,  with  regard  to  the  compulsory  purchase 
of  land,   all  the  powers  of  purchasers   acting  under  the   Land 
Clauses  Act,  1845,  and  the  Land  Clauses  Consolidation  (Scotland) 
Act,  1845,  or  any  other  Act  giving  power  to  acquire  land  com- 
pulsorily for  public  purposes,  which  may  hereafter  be  enacted. 


THE  NATIONALIZING  OF  MINES  403 

(5)  With  respect  to  any  such  purchase  of  land  under  the  Land 
Clauses  Acts  in  Great  Britain  the  following  provisions  shall  have 
effect  (that  is  to  say)  : 

(a)  The  Land  Clauses  Acts  shall  be  incorporated  with  this  Act, 
except  the  provisions  relating  to  access  to  the  special  Act, 
and  in  construing  those  Acts  for  the  purposes  of  this  sec- 
tion "the  special  Act"  shall  be  construed  to  mean  this 
Act,  and  "the  promotors  of  the  undertaking"  shall  be 
construed  to  mean  the  Mining  Council,  and  "  land  "  shall 
be  construed  to  have  the  meaning  given  to  it  by  this 
Act. 

(6)  The  bond  required  by  Section  85  of  the  Lands  Clauses  Con- 

solidation Act,  1845,  and  by  Section  84  of  the  Lands 
Clauses  Consolidation  (Scotland)  Act,  1845,  shall  be 
under  the  seal  of  the  Mining  Council,  and  shall  be  suffi- 
cient without  sureties. 

12.  (i)  The  Mining  Council  shall,  for  the  purpose  of  the  carry- 
ing on  and  development  of  the  mining  industry,  divide  Great 
Britain  into  districts,  and  shall  in  each  district  constitute  a  Dis- 
trict Mining  Council  of  ten  members,  half  of  which  shall  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain. 

(2)  The  Mining  Council  may  delegate  to  any  District  Mining 
Council  or  Pit  Council,  such  of  their  powers  under  this  Act  as 
may  conveniently  be  exercised  locally,  and  the  District  Mining 
Council  shall  upon  such  delegation  have  and  exercise  within  their 
district  all  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Mining  Council  as  may  be 
delegated  to  them. 

(3)  A  District  Mining  Council  shall,  subject  to  the  approval 
of  the  Mining  Council,  have  power  within  their  area  to  appoint 
Pit  Councils  for  each  mine  or  group  of  mines,  composed  of  ten 
members,  half  of  which  shall  be  members  of  the  Miners'  Federa- 
tion of  Great  Britain,  and  nominated  by  the  workers  of  the  mine 
or  groups  of  mines  aforesaid,  and  the  District  Mining  Council  may 
delegate  to  such  Pit  Council  such  of  their  powers  concerning  the 
immediate  working  or  management  of  a  particular  mine  or  group 
of  mines  as  the  District  Mining  Council  may,  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Mining  Council,  think  fit. 

(4)  The  members  of  District  Mining  Councils  shall  be  appointed 
for  three  years,  but  shall  be  eligible  for  reappointment,  and  the 


404.  THE  WORKERS 

members  of  Pit  Councils  shall  be  appointed  for  one  year,  but  shall 
be  eligible  for  reappointment. 

13.  (i)  For  the  purpose  of  advising  the  Mining  Council  it  shall 
be  lawful  for  His  Majesty  to  appoint  persons,  to  represent  the 
interests   of   consumers,   to  be   known   as  the   Fuel   Consumers' 
Council. 

(2)  The  Mining  Council  shall  have  power  to  convoke  at  such 
time  as  they  think  fit  and  under  such  regulations  and  conditions 
as  they  may  prescribe  advisory  conferences  of  representatives  of 
District  Mining  Councils,  and  the  District  Mining  Councils  shall 
have  power  in  like  manner  to  convoke  advisory  conferences  of 
Pit  Councils  within  their  area. 

(3)  The  expenses  of  the  Fuel  Consumers'  Council,  National  and 
District  Mining  Conferences  shall,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
Treasury,  be  paid  by  the  Mining  Council. 

14.  There  shall  be  paid  to  each  of  the  members  of  the  Mining 
Council,  other  than  the  President,  such  salary  as  the  Treasury  may 
determine,  and  to  the  members  of  the  District  Mining  Councils, 
and  to  the  Pit  Councils,  such  salaries  and  emoluments  as  the  Min- 
ing Council,  with  the  consent  of  the  Treasury,  may  determine. 

15.  (i)  The  Mining  Council  shall  cause  full  and  faithful  ac- 
counts to  be  kept  of  all  moneys  received  and  expended  under  this 
Act,  and  of  all  assets  and  liabilities  and  of  all  profits  and  losses, 
and  shall  annually  lay  such  accounts  before  Parliament. 

(2)  The  Mining  Council  shall  annually  cause  a  balance-sheet  of 
accounts  to  be  made,  including  a  capital  account  and  a  profit  and 
loss  account  for  each  mine  worked  under  thir  Act. 

(3)  Such  balance-sheet  and  statement  shall    2  so  prepared  as  to 
show  fully  and  faithfully  the  financial  position  of  each  such  mine, 
and  the  financial  result  of  its  operations  for  the  year. 

(4)  All  moneys  raised  under  the  authority  of  this  Act  shall,  as 
and  when  raised,  and  all  other  moneys  received  hereunder  shall, 
as  and  when  received,  be  paid  into  a  separate  account  called  "  The 
National  Mines  Account." 

(5)  All  moneys  withdrawn  from  the  National  Mines  Account 
constituted  under  this  Act  shall  be  withdrawn  only  by  the  order 
of  the  Mining  Council  or  such  other  person  as  the  Mining  Council 
may  from  time  to  time  appoint. 

(6)  All  moneys  in  the  National  Mines  Account,  or  payable  into 
that  account  by  any  person  whomsoever,  and  also  all  moneys  owing 


THE  NATIONALIZING  OF  MINES  405 

by  any  person  under  this  Act,  are  hereby  declared  to  be  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Crown,  and  recoverable  accordingly  as  from  debtors 
to  the  Crown. 

1 6.  (i)  There  shall  be  transferred  to  the  Mining  Council  all  the 
existing  assets  and  liabilities  of  mine  undertakings  and  associated 
properties,  as  and  when  they  are  transferred  to  and  vested  in  the 
Mining  Council,  other  than  liabilities  for  rights  including  royalty 
rents,  wayleave  rents,  or  any  other  underground  rents  or  charges, 
payable  or  due  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  this  Act  to  any  per- 
son, all  of  which  shall  cease  to  be  payable  on  and  after  the  ap- 
pointed day. 

(2)  On  the  passing  of  this  Act,  there  shall  be  ascertained  by  the 
Commissioners  the  amount  of  all  moneys  due  to  or  from  all  mine 
undertakings,  and  the  findings  of  the  Commissioners  as  to  the 
amount  of  such  moneys  shall  be  binding  and  conclusive  on  all 
parties. 

(3)  The  net  amount  of  all  moneys  due  to  any  mine  undertaking, 
after  all  debts  due  from  any  such  undertaking  have  been  deducted, 
as  ascertained  under  Sub-section  (2)  of  this  section,  shall  be  paid 
by  the  Mining  Council  to  the  persons  to  whom  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Commissioners  such  debts  are  due,  and  shall  be  deemed  to  be 
expenses  incurred  under  this  Act.    Provided  that  an  appeal  shall 
lie  to  the  High  Court,  under  rules  to  be  framed  by  the  High  Court, 
from  the  decision  of  the  Commissioners  as  to  the  title  of  any  such 
person,  but  for  no  other  purpose. 

17.  (i)  All  sums  expended  or  payable  under  this  Act  in  carry- 
ing out  the  provisions  of  this  Act  for  expenses,  or  for  salaries  or 
wages  payable  under  this  Act,  or  in  the  construction,  erection,  or 
acquisition   of  buildings,   plant,   machinery,   railways,   tramways, 
hulks,  ships,  or  other  appliances  or  works,  or  otherwise,  shall  be 
payable  out  of  moneys  provided  by  Parliament. 

(2)  Provided  that  moneys  received  under  this  Act  in  respect 
of  the  sale  or  export  or  supply  of  coal  or  other  minerals  (including 
the  moneys  received  from  the  Government  Departments)  may  be 
directly  expended  in  or  towards  carrying  out  the  purposes  of  this 
Act. 

18.  After  full  provision  has  been  made  for  all  outgoings,  losses, 
and  liabilities  for  the  year  (including  interest  on  securities  created 
and  issued  in  respect  of  moneys  raised  as  aforesaid,  and  on  moneys 
paid  out  of  the  Consolidated  Fund),  the  net  surplus  profits  then 


406  THE  WORKERS 

remaining  shall  be  applied  in  establishing  a  sinking  fund  and, 
subject  thereto,  in  establishing  a  depreciation  fund  in  respect  of 
capital  expended. 

19.  (i)  The  Mining  Council  may,   from  time  to  time,  make 
such  regulations  as  they  think  necessary  for  any  of  the  following 
purposes : 

(a)  The  management  of  mines  under  this  Act; 

(&)  the  functions,  duties,  and  powers  of  the  District  Mining 
Councils,  Pit  Councils,  and  other  bodies  or  persons  acting 
in  the  management  and  working  of  mines  or  distribution 
and  sale  of  fuel  under  this  Act; 

(c)  the   form   of   the   accounts  to   be   kept   and  the   balance 

sheets  to  be  prepared  in  respect  of  mines  under  this 
Act; 

(d)  the  mode  in  which  the  sinking  funds  and  other  funds  con- 

nected with  mines  under  this  Act  shall  be  held  and  admin- 
istered ; 

(e)  generally  any  other  purpose  for  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the 

Mining  Council,  regulations  are  contemplated  or  required. 

(2)  The  Mining  Council,  before  making  or  altering  any  regula- 
tions or  conditions  of  employment,  including  wages,  as  affect  work- 
men engaged  in  the  mining  industry,  shall  consult  with  the  associa- 
tion known  as  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain,  and,  in 
the  event  of  such  representatives  and  the  Mining  Council  failing 
to  agree,  the  matter  in  dispute  may  be  referred  to  arbitration  on 
such  terms  as  may  be  mutually  agreed. 

(3)  Provided  that  nothing  in  this  section  shall  be  deemed  to 
interfere  with  the  right  of  any  employed  person,  subject  to  his 
contractual  obligations,  to  dispose  of  his  labor  as  he  wills. 

20.  (i)  Every  mine  worked  under  this  Act  shall  be  managed 
and  worked  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  Metalliferous  Mines 
Regulations  Acts,  1872  and  1875,  tne  Coal  Mines  Regulation  Act, 
1908,  the  Coal  Mines  Act,  1911,  and  any  other  Act  regulating  the 
hours,  wages,  or  conditions  of  labor  in  mines. 

(2)  There  shall  be  transferred  to  and  be  vested  in  the  Mining 
Council  all  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Secretary  of  State  and 
of  any  other  Government  Department  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
Metalliferous  Mines  Regulations  Acts,  1872  and  1875,  the  Coal 
Mines  Regulation  Act,  1908,  the  Coal  Mines  Act,  1911,  or  any 


THE  NATIONALIZING  OF  MINES  407 

other  Act  regulating  or  affecting  mines  or  the  hours  or  conditions 
of  labor  therein. 

21.  (i)  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Mining  Council  to  insure 
that   there   is   a   sufficient   supply   of   fuel   at   reasonable   prices 
throughout  Great  Britain,  and  for  this  purpose  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  the  Mining  Council,  or  for  any  local  authority  or  Government 
Department  acting  on  their  behalf,  to  establish  stores  and  depots 
and  to  employ  vehicles  and  to  use  all  other  necessary  means  for 
the  selling  of  fuel  and  to  sell  fuel  within  the  area  of  every  local 
authority,  and,  further,  for  this  purpose  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
railway  companies  or  authorities  of  Great  Britain  to  provide  such 
facilities  for  the  conveyance  of  fuel  as  the  Mining  Council  may 
deem  necessary  to  enable  them  to  carry  out  the  duties  imposed 
upon  them  by  this  section  at  rates  not  greater  than  such  railway 
companies  or  authorities  are  now  entitled  to  charge  for  the  con- 
veyance of  fuel. 

(2)  Where  the  Mining  Council  delegates  to  any  local  authority 
all  or  any  of  their  powers  under  this  section,  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  such  local  authority  to  exercise  all  or  any  of  the  powers  of  the 
Mining  Council  so  delegated  to  them. 

(3)  All  moneys  had  and  received  or  expended  by  a  local  au- 
thority under  this  section  shall  be  deemed  to  be  had  and  received 
or  expended  on  behalf  of  the  Mining  Council. 

22.  This  Act  may  be  cited  as  the  Nationalization  of  Mines  and 
Minerals  Act,  1919,  and  this  Act  and  the  Metalliferous  Mines  Regu- 
lations Acts,  1872  and  1875,  and  the  Coal  Mines  Regulation  Acts, 
1887  and  1908,  and  the  Coal  Mines  Act,  1911,  may  be  cited  together 
as  the  Mines  Acts,  1872-1919,  and  shall  come  into  operation  on  the 
first  day  of  the  second  month,  which  shall  be  the  appointed  day, 
after  the  passing  of  this  Act,  and,  save  in  the  case  of  disclaimer, 
all  valuations,  purchase,  and  transference  of  mines  and  minerals 
to  the  Mining  Council,  and  all  other  arrangements  for  the  carrying 
out  of  this  Act  shall  be  concluded  on  or  before  the  first  day  of 
the  second  year  after  the  coming  into  operation  of  this  Act. 

23.  This  Act  shall  not  apply  to  Ireland. 

FIRST  SCHEDULE 
Minerals  excluded  from  this  Act: 

Sandstone.  Slate.  Building  Clay. 

Granite.  Chalk.  Gravel  and  Sand. 

Cherts.  Flints.  Igneous  Rocks. 


408 


Session  and  Chapter. 

Title  or  Short  Title. 

Extent  of   Repeal. 

i    William    and    Mary, 
ch.  30. 

An   Act  to   repeal  the   statute 
made  in  the  fifth  year  of  King 
Henry  IV.  against  multiplying 
gold  and  silver. 

The  Whole  Act 

5    William    and    Mary, 
ch.  6. 

An    Act    to    prevent    disputes 
and    controversies    concerning 
Royal  Mines. 

The  Whole  Act 

55   George  III,  ch.   134. 

An  Act  for  altering  the  rate 
at  which  the  Crown  may  exer- 
cise its  right  of  pre-emption  of 
Ore    in    which    there    is    lead. 

The  Whole  Act 

I  James  I.  of  Scotland, 
ch.  12. 

Mines  of  Gold  and  Silver  per- 
tains to  the  King. 

The  Whole  Act 

12   James   VI.   of   Scot-, 
land,  ch.  31. 

Anent  the  Tenth  Part  of 

Mynis. 

The  Whole  Act 

CHAPTER  III 
PRECIS  OF  EVIDENCE 

SUBMITTED  TO  THE  COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  BY  G.  D.  H.  COLE, 
M.A.,  FELLOW  OF  MAGDALEN  COLLEGE,  OXFORD;  HON.  SECRETARY, 
LABOR  RESEARCH  DEPARTMENT;  EXECUTIVE  MEMBER,  NATIONAL 
GUILDS  LEAGUE 

INTRODUCTORY 

1.  IT  is  stated  in  paragraph  IX  of  the  Interim  Report  signed 
by  the  Chairman  and  three  other  members  of  the  Commission 
that,  "  even  upon  the  evidence  already  given,  the  present  system 
of  ownership  and  working  in  the  coal  industry  stands  condemned, 
and  some  other  system  must  be  substituted  for  it." 

In  this  opinion  I  concur. 

2.  Six  of  the  members  of  the  Commission  state  in  paragraph  3 
of  the  Summary  of  Conclusions  in  their   Interim   Report  that, 
"  in  view  of  the  impossibility  of  tolerating  any  unification  of  all 
the  mines  in  the  hands  of  the  Capitalist  Trust  ...  in  the  interests 
of  the  consumers  as  much  as  in  that  of  the  miners,  nationalization 
ought  to  be,  in  principle,  at  once  conceded." 

In  this  opinion  I  also  concur. 

3.  In  paragraphs  X  and  XI  of  the  Interim  Report  signed  by 
the  Chairman  and  three  other  members  of  the  Commission  (but 
not  in  paragraph  IX)   nationalization  and  joint  control  appear 
to  be  presented  as  mutually  inconsistent  alternatives.     Whether 
this  is  so  or  not  would  appear  to  depend  upon  the  parties  among 
whom  the  control  is  shared  or  divided. 

4.  In  paragraph  XII  of  the  same  report  it  is  stated  that  no 
scheme  for  joint  control  has  been  placed  before  the  Commission; 
but  among  the  papers  circulated  to  me  is  a  statement  submitted  by 
Mr.  Straker,  who  gave  evidence  on  behalf  of  the  Miners'  Fed- 
eration of  Great  Britain,  and  this  statement  embodies  a  scheme 
of  national  ownership  combined  with  joint  control  by  the  miners 
and  the  State. 

409 


410  THE  WORKERS 

With  this  scheme  I  am  generally,  and  largely  in  detail,  in  agree- 
ment. 

5.  In  July,  1918,  the  Conference  of  the  Miners'  Federation 
at  Southport  unanimously  adopted  the  following  resolution: 

"  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Conference  the  time  has 
arrived  in  the  history  of  the  coal-mining  industry  when  it 
is  clearly  in  the  national  interest  to  transfer  the  entire  in- 
dustry from  private  ownership  and  control  to  State  owner- 
ship, with  joint  control  and  administration  by  the  workmen 
and  the  State.  In  pursuance  of  this  opinion,  the  National 
Executive  are  instructed  to  immediately  reconsider  the  Draft 
Bill  for  the  Nationalization  of  the  Mines  ...  in  the  light 
of  the  new  phases  of  development  in  the  industry,  so  as  to 
make  provision  for  the  aforesaid  control  and  administration 
when  the  measure  becomes  law." 

This  resolution  seems  to  me  to  embody  the  policy  that  ought 
to  be  adopted  in  the  reorganization  of  the  coal-mining  industry 
which  is  admitted  to  be  necessary  by  all  those  members  of  the 
Commission  who  have  not  a  direct  financial  interest  in  the  re- 
tention of  the  existing  system. 

My  reasons  for  desiring  a  system  of  ownership  and  control 
similar  to  that  advocated  by  Mr.  Straker  fall  under  a  number  of 
heads : 

(a)  Reasons  for  desiring  direct  and  adequate  participation 
by  the  workers  in  the  management. 

(b)  Reasons   for  desiring  participation  of  persons  nomi- 
nated by  the  State  in  the  management. 

(c)  Reasons  for  desiring  national  ownership. 

REASONS  FOR  WORKERS'  PARTICIPATION 

6.  The  workers  employed  in  and  about  collieries  should  assume 
a  direct  and  increasing  share  in  the  management,  not  only  in 
order  that  the  principles  of  democracy  may  be  applied  to  indus- 
trial organization,  but  also  in  the  interest  of  the  consumers  and 
of  the  community.     We  have  reached  a  stage  in  certain  vital 
industries,  including  coal-mining,  if  not  in  industry  as  a  whole, 
when  the  workers  will  no  longer  consent  to  remain  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  wage-system. 

7.  By  the  wage-system  I  mean  the  system  under  which  the 


PRECIS  OF  EVIDENCE  411 

worker  sells  his  labor  to  an  employer  in  return  for  a  wage,  and 
by  this  sale  is  supposed  to  forego  all  right  over  the  manner  in 
which  his  labor  is  used  within  the  terms  of  the  wage-contract, 
all  right  to  exercise  control  over  the  management  of  the  industry 
or  service  in  which  he  is  engaged,  and  all  claim  to  the  produce 
of  his  labor  or  to  the  common  product  of  the  labor  of  himself 
and  his  fellow-workmen. 

8.  Thanks  to  the  growing  strength  and  consciousness  of  Trade 
Unionism,  this  wage-system  is  no   longer   fully  and  completely 
operative.     Trade  Unions  do  constantly  by  collective  regulation 
of  the  conditions  of  labor,  by  collective  bargaining,  and  by  strikes, 
exercise  a  certain  control  over  the  way  in  which  the  labor  of  their 
members  is  used  and  even  over  management.    But,  excluded  from 
direct  participation  in  management  and  control,  Trade  Unions 
and  workmen  are  confined  in  the  main  to  the  imposition  of  nega- 
tive forms  of  control — i.e.,  virtually  to  a  veto  on  certain  methods 
of  using  and  organizing  labor.    Such  negative  regulation  inevitably 
tends  to  take  a  restrictive  form,  which  becomes  more  severe  as 
Trade  Unionism  becomes  stronger,  until  it  threatens  to   break 
altogether  the  system — the  wage-system — in  which  it  is  enclosed. 

9.  In  the  words  of  the  Memorandum  submitted  by  the  Labor 
representatives  to  the  recent  Industrial  Conference,  "  Labor  has 
now  grown  too  strong  to  be  controlled  by  force  or  compulsion 
of  any  kind."    The  method  of  destroying  Trade  Union  "  restric- 
tions "  by  a  frontal  attack  upon  Trade  Unionism  is  therefore  not 
only  undesirable  but  in  practice  impossible.    The  only  alternative 
is  a  frank  acceptance  of  Trade  Unionism,  and  an  endeavor  to  con- 
vert  the   negative    (and  therefore  partially   restrictive)    control 
which  it  now  exercises  into  a  positive  (and  therefore  co-operative) 
control. 

10.  In  other  words,  the  problem  of  industry  at  the  present 
time — and  of  the  coal-mining  industry  in  particular — is  to  enlist 
the  active  co-operation  of  the  workers  and  of  their  Trade  Unions 
in  making  the  industry  as  efficient  as  possible. 

11.  This  involves  the  establishment   at  once  of  the   greatest 
amount  of  industrial  democracy   (that  is,  of  direct  control   by 
the  workers  and  their  Trade  Unions)  that  is  immediately  practi- 
cable, and  the  most  rapid  extension  of  that  control  that  is  practi- 
cable subsequently. 

12.  Such  control  is  not  only,  or  mainly,  a  question  of  wages, 


412  THE  WORKERS 

hours,  and  conditions  of  labor  as  ordinarily  understood:  it  in- 
cludes the  whole  conduct  of  the  industry,  both  in  its  productive 
and  in  its  business  aspects.  Especially  does  it  include  the  whole 
domain  of  financial  and  productive  management  and  of  super- 
vision. 

13.  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  enormous  importance  of  technical 
and  expert  assistance,  both  in  normal  mining  operations  and  more 
especially  in  carrying  out  the  great  changes  that  are  necessary 
in  connection  with  the  reorganization  of  the  industry.    But  I  am 
of  opinion  both  that  technical  and  expert  assistance  can  be  com- 
bined with  control  by  the  workers  at  least  as  well  as  with  control 
by  private  capitalists,  and  indeed  that  the  natural  affiliation  of  the 
brain-worker  is  with  the  manual  worker  rather  than  with  the 
capitalist.    To  this  point  I  shall  return  at  a  later  stage. 

14.  In  short,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  coal  consumer  and 
of  the  community  as  a  whole,  the  only  way  of  securing  efficiency 
in  production — perhaps  the  only  way  of  securing  at  all  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  industry — is  to  enlist  the  active  co-operation  of 
the  workers  by  agreeing  at  once  to  the  assumption  by  them  of  a 
substantial  share  in  control. 

15.  I  shall  now  attempt  to  state  the  case  for  direct  participa- 
tion in  control  from  the  standpoint  of  the  worker  himself.    Human 
freedom,  where  it  exists,  is  not  a  name,  but  a  living  reality.     It 
implies,  not  the  absence  of  discipline  or  restraint,  but  the  impo- 
sition of  the  necessary  discipline  or  restraint  either  by  the  indi- 
vidual himself  or  by  some  group  of  which  he  forms,  and  feels 
himself  to  form,  a  part.    A  democratic  or  "  free"  system  of  gov- 
ernment is  one  in  which  every  individual  not  only  has  a  share  or 
vote,  but  also  feels  that  his  share  or  vote  is  of  some  effect  by 
virtue  of  his  community  with  his  fellow-sharers  or  fellow-voters. 

16.  This  principle  of  freedom  should  apply  to  industrial  organi- 
zation, which  forms  in  a  modern  community  so  important  and  so 
insistent  a  part  of  a  man's  life.    It  does  not  apply  under  the  exist- 
ing system  of  conducting  industry;  and  it  cannot  be  made  to  apply 
fully  in  a  day  or  a  year.    But  it  should  be  our  object  to  apply  it 
as  fully  as  we  can,  and  ever  more  fully. 

17.  If,  then,  a  man  must  receive  orders,  he  must,  if  he  is  to  be 
free,   feel  that  these  orders  come   from  himself  or  from  some 
group  of  which  he  feels  himself  to  be  a  part,  or  from  some  person 
whose  right  to  give  orders  is  recognized  and  sustained  by  himself 


PRECIS  OF  EVIDENCE  413 

and  by  such  a  group.  This  means  that  free  industrial  organization 
must  be  built  on  the  co-operation,  and  not  merely  on  the  acquies- 
cence, of  the  ordinary  man,  from  the  individual  and  the  pit  up  to 
the  larger  units. 

18.  Only  the  increasing  adoption  of  this  method  of  industrial 
organization   can  give   the   sense  of   fair  treatment   and   active 
co-operation  to  the  worker,  and  thereby  through  the  removal  of 
unrest  and  the  stimulation  of  effort,  efficient  production  and  service 
to  the  consumer  and  to  the  community. 

19.  With  the  question  of  national  ownership  I  deal  at  a  later 
stage;  but  I  desire  to  point  out  here  that  national  management 
by  itself  will  not  secure  the   full  co-operation   of  the  workers. 
State   management   means    in   practice   management   by   a    State 
Department ;  and  a  State  Department  is  not  a  "  group  of  which 
the  ordinary  man  feels  himself  to  be  a  part."    The  workers  under 
State  management  are  no  more   free,  so   far  as  the  conditions 
of  their  working  life  are  concerned,  than  the  workers  under  capi- 
talist management.    The  question  of  joint  control  with  the  State 
is  dealt  with  further  below. 

20.  Joint  control  with  the  present  owners  or  with  the  consumers 
would  also  be  ineffective.    The  reasons  for  this  are  also  dealt  with 
below. 

REASONS  FOR  PARTICIPATION  BY  THE  STATE 

21.  The  "control  of  industry"  includes  two  distinct  functions, 
the  actual  management  of  productive  and  distributive  enterprise, 
and  the  ultimate  financial  control.     I  desire  to  deal  with  these 
separately. 

22.  The  reasons  for  State  participation  in  actual  management 
are,  to  a  considerable  extent,  of  only  temporary  validity.     If  the 
whole  effective  working  personnel  of  the  mining  industry  were 
combined  in  a  single  group  possessed  of  a  feeling  of  community, 
and  including  not  only  the  workers  and  clerks,  but  also  all  the 
supervisors,  professionals,  and  experts  necessary  to  the  conduct 
of  the  industry,  direct  participation  by  the  State  in  the  normal 
work  of  management  would  be  unnecessary.     It  is  my  hope  that 
this  position  will  gradually  be  reached,  and,  to  that  extent,  that 
direct  State  participation  in  management  will  be  gradually  with- 
drawn. 

23.  Until  this  becomes  possible,  the  State  should  appoint  as  its 


414  THE  WORKERS 

representatives  on  the  Mining  Council  (excluding  for  the  moment 
those  appointed  to  represent  the  consumers)  persons  of  profes- 
sional or  expert  knowledge  of  mining  operations. 

24.  The  function  of  the  State,  therefore,  in  relation  to  produc- 
tive management,  is  mainly  that  of  safeguarding  the  technical 
efficiency  of  the  industry  until  the  creation  of  a  complete  Mining 
Guild  becomes  possible. 

25.  It  is  also  suggested  that  the   State   appointments  to  the 
Mining  Council  should  include  persons  specially  appointed  to  rep- 
resent the  consumers.    Whether  this  also  would  be  a  transitional 
measure  I  am  unable  to  make  up  my  mind.    It  is,  however,  clearly 
necessary  that  the  consumers  of  coal  should  have  some  means 
of  insuring  that  their  views  will  be  heard,  especially  in  relation 
to  questions  of  coal  distribution  and  the  allocation  of  supplies  to 
various  districts. 

26.  Direct  appointment  of  the  consumers'  representatives  by 
organizations  representing  the  main  groups  of  coal  consumers 
has  been  suggested;  but  I  am  unable  to  agree  to  the  suggestion 
for  two  reasons: 

(1)  Because  the  groups  of  consumers  are  changing  groups, 
and  therefore  their  names  ought  to  be  included  in  an  Act 
of  Parliament  (e.g.,  if  coal  distribution  is  made  a  municipal 
and/or  a  co-operative  monopoly,  the  retail  coal  trader,  who 
is  now  an  important  consumer,  drops  out  of  existence). 

(2)  Because  I  am  unable  to  accept  the  view  that  an  em- 
ployers' association  in,  say,  the  steel  industry  is  a  proper 
representative  of  the  consumers.     The  workers  in  the  steel 
industry  are  fully  as  interested  in  the  supply  of  coal  as  the 
employers. 

These  reasons  are  not  intended  to  exclude  consultation  by  the 
Government  with  consumers'  associations  in  appointing  the  con- 
sumers' representatives  on  the  Mining  Council.  But,  pending  the 
development  of  some  more  effective  means  of  representing  the 
consumers  on  democratic  lines,  the  State  must  be  regarded  as 
the  warden  of  the  consumers'  interests.1 

1  Since  writing  this  passage,  I  have  been  led  to  concur  in  the  view 
put  before  the  Commission  by  Mr.  Arthur  Greenwood  that  there 
should  be  a  separate  Coal  Consumers'  Council  with  advisory  powers, 
as  an  alternative  to  direct  representation  of  the  consumers  on  the 
Mining  Council. 


PRECIS  OF  EVIDENCE  415 


FINANCIAL  CONTROL 

27.  I  come  now  to  the  question  of  ultimate  financial  control. 
This  involves   (a)   scrutiny  of  the  balance-sheet  of  the  Mining 
Council,  (b)  ultimate  control  of  prices,  (c)  provision  of  capital, 
(d)  utilization  of  the  balance  of  revenue  over  expenditure,  and 
(c)  methods  of  expropriation,  redemption,  etc. 

28.  These  are  functions  which  concern  the  State  as  the  repre- 
sentative, not  of  the  consumers,  but  of  the  community  as  an 
association  of  neighbors  or  citizens.    Whatever  may  be  the  future 
structure  of  political  society,  they  are  for  the  moment  functions 
properly  to  be  exercised  by  the  people's  representatives  in  Parlia- 
ment. 

29.  At  the  same  time,  the  existing  organization  of  Parliament 
does  not  provide   for  their   satisfactory   exercise.     I   suggest   a 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  presided  over  by  the  Min- 
ister of  Mines,  to  consult  with  the  Mining  Council,  and  to  take 
administrative  action  on  these  matters,  subject  to  the  sanction  of 
the  House  as  a  whole. 

30.  This  implies  that  any  surplus  of  mining  revenue  over  ex- 
penditure or  of  expenditure  over  revenue  will  pass  into  the  Budget, 
and  that  any   fresh  capital  required,  whether  raised  by  special 
mining  stock  or  otherwise,  will  be  provided  by  the  State.     At 
the  same  time,  the  general  financial  management  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  Mining  Council. 

31.  Both   the    Mining    Council   and    the    proposed    House    of 
Commons  Committee  are  often  criticized  on  the  ground  that  they 
undermine  "  Ministerial  responsibility."    May  I  respectfully  record 
my  conviction  that,  under  existing  conditions,  "  Ministerial   re- 
sponsibility"  is  mostly  moonshine? 

REASONS  FOR  NATIONAL  OWNERSHIP 

32.  The    objections   brought    against   national    ownership    are 
usually  for  the  most  part  objections  to  bureaucratic  control.    The 
above  considerations,  which  presuppose  national  ownership,  show 
that  there  is  no  necessary  connection  between  it  and  bureaucratic 
control. 

33.  National  ownership  of  the  mines  is  necessary   for  three 
principal  reasons — (i)   for  the  sake  of  the  community,  in  order 


416  THE  WORKERS 

to  secure  the  fullest  utilization  and  conservation  of  a  vital  natural 
product  in  the  common  interest;  (2)  for  the  sake  of  the  consumer, 
in  order  to  prevent  exploitation  and  profiteering;  (3)  in  order  to 
give  the  workers  the  sense  of  working  for  the  community,  and 
not  for  the  benefit  of  any  private  person. 

34.  Full  utilization  and  conservation  of  our  coal  .resources  can 
only  be  secured  by  unified  working,  and  real  unification  of  work- 
ing can  only  be  secured  by  unified  ownership. 

35.  This  only  leaves  the  two  alternatives  of  a  gigantic  private 
trust  or  monopoly  (either  under  public  control  or  otherwise)  or 
of  national  ownership. 

36.  A  Coal  Trust  not  under  public  control  is  obviously  out  of 
the  question. 

37.  War-time  experience  of  State  control  without  ownership 
has  proved  the  impossibility  of  either  effective  or  efficient  control 
without   ownership.     Control   without   ownership   involves   huge 
waste  by  the  duplication  of  administrative  machinery. 

38.  Moreover,  in  controlling  prices  without  ownership  the  State 
continually  falls  between  the  two  stools  of  cheapness  and  plenty. 
If  it  restricts  prices,  output  is  restricted;  if  it  fosters  output,  it 
can  only  do  so  by  permitting  high  prices.    The  retention  of  the 
motive  of  profit-making  as  the  incentive  in  industry  renders  effi- 
cient State  control  impossible. 

39.  In  addition,  the  full  co-operation  of  the  workers  by  hand 
and  brain  can  only  be  secured  if  they  feel  that  they  are  working, 
not  for  private  profit,  but  for  the  benefit  of  the  community.    Just 
as  national  ownership  is  inadequate  without  workers'  control,  so 
workers'  control  is  inadequate  without  national  ownership. 

40.  It   has  been  suggested  that  the   full  co-operation   of  the 
workers  could  be  secured  by  a  system  of  joint  control  between 
owners  and  workers.    But  real  control  by  the  workers  is  impossible 
as  long  as  the  industry  continues  to  be  conducted  for  the  private 
profit  of  the  owners  alone. 

41.  Where  this  is  recognized,  it  is  sometimes  suggested  that 
the  workers  might  be  given,  in  law  or  in  fact,  a  share  in  the 
ownership  by  some  system  of  indiviual  or  collective  profit-sharing 
or  co-partnership. 

42.  In  my  opinion,  this  would  not  work  in  practice,  because 
the  motives  of  the  owners  and  workers  are  irreconcilable  with 
the  system  of  private  ownership. 


PRECIS  OF  EVIDENCE  417 

43.  Even  if  it  could  be  brought  into  operation,  its  effects  would 
be   anti-social;    for   the    profit-making   motive    is   not    improved 
merely  by  increasing  the  number  of  shareholders.     The  coal  in- 
dustry requires  to  be  worked  as  a  national  service,  free  from  the 
motive  of  profit-making. 

44.  In  any  case,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  discuss  this  suggestion 
in  detail,  for  it  would  certainly  be  rejected  by  the  miners,  and, 
as  it  has  only  been  devised  in  the  hope  of  making  possible  the 
continuance  of  private  ownership,  it  would  thereby  fall  at  once, 
if  it  has  not  already  fallen,  to  the  ground. 

EXPROPRIATION  AND  COMPENSATION 

45.  I  do  not  desire  to  enter  at  all  fully  into  this  aspect  of  the 
question,  on  which  I  am  not  an  expert. 

46.  I  desire,  however,  to  emphasize  my  view  that  it  would  be 
wrong  to  compensate  the  owners  of  mines  or  minerals  on  the 
basis  of  their  past  or  present  commercial  value. 

47.  My  reason  is  that  this  value  depends  upon  the  control  which 
they  have  hitherto  been  able  to  exercise  over  Labor.     To  the 
extent  to  which  they  have  lost  this  control  the  commercial  value 
of  their  property  has  become  unreal,  and  they  l^ve  no  title  to 
compensation  in  respect  of  such  value.    They  must  not  be  placed 
by  compensation  in  a  more  secure  or  more   favorable  position 
than  other   capitalists,   who   are   also   losing   their   control   over 
Labor  on  which  their  past  profits  have  depended. 

METHODS  OF  CONTROL 

48.  As  I   have   stated,   I   am   in  general  agreement  with  the 
scheme  of  control  put   forward  by  Mr.   Straker  on   March   14. 
There  are  only  two  points  which  I  desire  to  elaborate   further 
at  the  present  stage. 

49.  The  first  point  concerns  the  position  of  professional,  techni- 
cal,  and  supervisory  staffs.     The   members  of  these  staffs   can 
be  roughly  divided  into  two  classes — (a)   those  whose  function 
is  mainly  expert,  and    (b)   those  whose  function  is  mainly  the 
supervision  or  direction  of  other  men. 

50.  In  the  case  of  class   (a)   the  principle  of  selection  must 
be  primarily  based  on  "  qualification  "  and  expert  knowledge.     In 
the  case  of  class  (b)  it  must  be  based  primarily  on  personality. 


418  THE  WORKERS 

51.  I  hold  strongly  that  those  men  whose  business  it  is  mainly 
to   direct   others   should   be   chosen   by   those   whom   it   is   their 
business  to  direct,  either  by  ballot  or  through  a  Committee  of 
Selection  or  a  Trade  Union. 

52.  Where  persons  whose   function  is  mainly  directive  must 
also   possess  technical   or   professional   qualifications,   the   range 
of  choice  should  be  restricted  to  persons  possessing  the  necessary 
qualifications;  but  the  principle  of  selection  from  below  should 
be  preserved 

53.  There  is  not  the  same  reason   for  the  adoption  of  this 
course  in  the  case  of  persons  whose  function  is  mainly  or  ex- 
clusively expert  and  advisory. 

54.  The  second  point  concerns  the  question  of  centralization 
and  local   initiative   in  control.     I   hold   strongly  that   the    full 
co-operation  of  the  workers  can  only  be  enlisted  by  a  system  of 
control  which  is  largely  localized,   and  includes  a  considerable 
element  of  direct  control  by  the  workers  in  each  particular  pit. 
A  system  of  joint  control  nationally,  or  even  nationally  and  in 
the  proposed  districts,  will  not  be  effective  unless  it  is  combined 
with  a  system  of  pit  control. 

55.  At  the   same  time,  pit   control  will   probably  not   at  the 
beginning  be  capable  of  such  full  establishment  as  national  and 
district  control.     It  is  therefore  of  the  greatest  importance  that 
the  system  of  control  first  established  should  be  such  as  to  admit 
of  an  increasing  element  of  devolution,  both  from  the  Mining 
Council  to  the  district,  and  from  both  to  the  pit. 

CONCLUSION 

56.  In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  emphasize  my  agreement  with 
the  words  of  paragraph  XV  of  the  Interim  Report  signed  by 
the  Chairman  and  by  three  other  members  of  the  Commission,  that 
"  it  is  in  the  interests  of  the  country  that  the  colliery  workers 
shall  in  the  future  have  an  effective  voice  in  the  direction  of  the 
mine.     For  generations  the  colliery  workers  have  been  educated 
socially  and  technically.     The  result  is  a  great  national  asset. 
Why  not  use  it?" 

I  believe  that  these  words  can  only  be  made  good  in  fact  by 
the  adoption  of  national  ownership  combined  with  some  such 
system  of  control  as  that  which  Mr.  Straker  outlined  to  the 
Commission. 


PRECIS  OF  EVIDENCE  419 

Evidence  of  George  Douglas  Howard  Cole  to  the  Coal  Industry 
Commission — May  2,  1919: 
He  spoke  of: 

"The  aspiration  on  the  part  of  a  great  proportion  of  the  people  in 
industry,  including  many  employers,  managers,  and  workers,  which  is 
an  inspiration  to  serve  the  public." 

"  That  motive  of  public  service." 

"  Discipline  by  an  organization  in  which  you  are  conscious  of  your 
own  Citizenship  in  the  Community." 

"Where  the  pit  committee  has  taken  other  functions  (in  addition 
to  control  over  absenteeism)  into  its  hands,  it  has  for  a  time  in  certain 
districts  been  a  very  great  success.  I  might  mention  certain  Derby- 
shire collieries." 

Mr.  Cole  was  then  requested  by  Mr.  Justice  Sankey  to  return 
to  the  Commission  with  the  names  of  those  Derbyshire  Commit- 
tees, which  had  a  share  in  direction  and  had  been  a  "  very  great 
success." 

He  replied: 

"My  knowledge  of  these  Committees  is  based  on  discussions  with 
the  Derbyshire  Miners'  Association  of  those  things  happening.  I  do 
not  know  the  names  of  the  pits  the  various  people  are  employed  in." 

The  Chairman  replied: 

"  That  piece  of  evidence  is  most  important." 

On  May  6,  Mr.  Cole  was  recalled  and  said: 

"  I  have  communicated  with  the  Derbyshire  Miners'  Association,  and 
they  are  getting  information,  but  it  has  not  yet  arrived." 

On  June  4,  he  was  recalled,  and  stated: 

"  I  went  to  the  Miners'  Federation.  I  heard  from  them  a  few  days 
ago  that  they  had  been  unable  to  get  any  information  of  value." 

Mr.  Justice  Sankey: 

"  I  do  not  understand  that  quite.  You  see  you  made  some  very 
definite  statements  about  conversations  you  had  with  regard  to  these 
pit  committees.  I  want  you  to  tell  me  about  that" 


420  THE  WORKERS 

MR.  COLE  :  "  What  I  did  was  that  I  addressed  a  meeting  of  the 
Derbyshire  Miners'  Council  held  at  Chesterfield.  I  cannot 
remember  the  exact  date.  It  was  either  1916  or  the  begin- 
ning of  1917,  and  in  the  course  of  the  discussion  and  in  the 
course  of  informal  talking  afterwards,  a  good  deal  was 
said  about  the  working  of  particular  pit  committees." 

SANKEY:       "Can  you  tell  me  the  name  of  a  single  one  of  them?" 

MR.  COLE  :    "  I  am  afraid  I  cannot." 

SANKEY:       "Have  you  written  to  the  Miners'  Agent  in  Derbyshire?" 

MR.  COLE  :  "  I  asked  the  Miners'  Federation  to  get  the  information 
for  me  and  I  only  heard  from  them  two  or  three  days  ago 
that  they  had  been  unable  to  get  it." 

SANKEY  :  "  I  thought  you  were  going  to  be  good  enough  to  get  it 
on  your  own  account  from  Derbyshire  ?  " 

MR.  COLE  :  "  I  would  have  done  that,  only  I  thought  I  should  get  it 
more  effectively  through  the  Miners'  Federation,  and  I  only 
knew  two  or  three  days  ago  that  they  had  failed  to  get  it." 

SANKEY  :  "  It  is  such  a  very  valuable  suggestion  to  some  of  us  who 
have  been  thinking  upon  these  matters,  and  who  relied 
upon  your  promise  to  give  us  assistance.  Can  you  not  do 
anything  more  than  that?  Have  you  the  name  of  the 
Derbyshire  agent  with  whom  you  had  a  conversation  ?  " 

MR.  COLE  :  "  Amongst  the  people  I  had  conversation  with  was  Mr. 
Frank  Hall,  secretary  of  the  Derbyshire  Miners'  Associa- 
tion." 

SANKEY:       "Have  you  written  to  him?" 

MR.  COLE  :  "  No,  because  I  only  heard  the  Miners'  Federation  failed 
to  do  it  recently." 

SANKEY:       "Do  you  know  his  address?" 

MR.  COLE:    "Yes." 

SANKEY:       "Is  it  possible  for  you  to  write  to  him?" 

MR.  COLE  :     "  Certainly." 

SANKEY:  "You  are  leaving  it  very  late.  I  relied  a  great  deal  upon 
your  promise  to  assist  us.  It  leaves  us  in  some  difficulty. 
I  am  very  anxious  to  hear  about  these  committees  which 
I  regard  as  most  important." 

MR.  COLE  :  "  All  I  know  about  the  matter  is  that  subsequently  they 
broke  down  upon  a  disagreement  between  the  owner  and 
the  miners  as  to  the  matters  which  were  legitimate  to  come 
before  them." 

SANKEY:       "What  was  the  dispute  about?" 

MR.  COLE:  "I  think  the  dispute  was  about  the  right  of  the  miners' 
representatives  to  bring  before  the  committees  matters 
which  were  not  connected  with  absenteeism  purely,  but 


PRECIS  OF  EVIDENCE  421 

which  related  to  other  circumstances  of  mine  management 

affecting  output." 

SANKEY  :       "  Then  I  am  afraid  you  cannot  assist  us  further  ?  " 
MR.  COLE  :    "  I  will  do  what  I  can,  but  I  do  not  quite  see  what  I  am 

to  do." 
SANKEY  :       "  Last  time  I  was  very  anxious  you  should  assist  us  with 

that  evidence.     It  would  have  assisted  me  personally  very 

greatly.     As  you  cannot  do  it,  I  am  afraid  you  cannot.     I 

am  much  obliged  to  you." 


SECTION  FOUR 
THE  JUDGMENT 

CHAPTER  I 
COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT,  1919 

REPORT  BY  THE  HONORABLE  MR.  JUSTICE  SANKEY,  G.B.E. 
(Chairman) 

i.  RECOMMENDATIONS 

I 

7  recommend  that  Parliament  be  invited  immediately  to  pass  leg- 
islation acquiring  the  Coal  Royalties  for  the  State  and  paying  fair 
and  just  compensation  to  the  owners. 

II 

I  recommend  on  the  evidence  before  me  that  the  principle  of 
State  ownership  of  the  coal  mines  be  accepted. 

Ill 

7  recommend  that  the  scheme  for  local  administration  here- 
inafter set  out,  or  any  modification  of  it  adopted  by  Parliament,  be 
immediately  set  up  with  the  aid  of  the  Coal  Controller's  Depart- 
ment, and  that  Parliament  be  invited  to  pass  legislation  acquiring 
the  coal  mines  for  the  State,  after  the  scheme  has  been  worked  for 
three  years  from  the  date  of  this  Report,  paying  fair  and  just 
compensation  to  the  owners. 

IV 

The  success  of  the  industry,  whether  under  private  or  State 
ownership,  depends  upon  productivity  and  upon  every  one  doing  his 
best.  The  alarming  fall  in  output  has  convinced  me  that  at  present 
every  one  is  not  doing  his  best.  I  am  not  able  to  say  whether  this 

422 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         423 

is  the  fault  of  the  management  or  of  the  workers  or  of  both.  Each 
blames  the  other.  The  cause  must  be  investigated,  but,  whatever 
it  may  be,  it  is  hopeless  to  expect  an  improvement  in  the  present 
atmosphere  of  distrust  and  recrimination.  My  prescription  is  the 
old  proverb,  "  Plenty  of  work  and  a  heart  to  do  it." 


/  make  this  Report  because  I  believe  that  the  workers  at  present 
employed  can  and  will  maintain  an  output  of  250,000,000  tons  a 
year  at  least,  which  was  the  figure  adopted  in  the  Interim  Report 
of  March  2Oth  last,  presented  by  me  and  my  three  colleagues.  I 
rely  upon  the  honor  of  the  men's  leaders  and  of  the  men  and  of 
all  others  concerned  to  achieve  this  result.  In  my  opinion  it  can 
and  ought  to  be  done.  If  the  output  per  man  continues  to  go 
down  the  supremacy  of  this  country  is  in  danger. 

VI 

I  recommend  the  continuance  of  the  Coal  Control  for  three 
years  from  the  date  of  this  Report. 

VII 

I  repeat  paragraph  XIX  of  the  Interim  Report  of  March  2oth 
above  referred  to.  The  question  of  State  ownership  is  one  of 
policy  to  be  determined  by  Parliament  in  which  all  classes,  inter- 
ests, and  industries  are  represented. 


2.   REASONS  FOR  THE  STATE  OWNERSHIP  OF  COAL  ROYALTIES 

VIII 

Coal  is  our  principal  national  asset,  and  as  it  is  a  wasting  asset 
it  is  in  the  interest  of  the  State  that  it  should  be  won  and  used 
to  the  best  advantage. 

IX 

The  seams  of  coal  are  now  vested  in  the  hands  of  nearly  4,000 
owners,  most  of  whom  are  reasonable,  but  some  of  whom  are  a 
real  hindrance  to  the  development  of  the  national  asset. 


424  THE  JUDGMENT 

X 

In  certain  areas  the  ownership  of  the  seams  of  coal  is  in  the 
hands  of  many  small  owners  some  of  whom  cannot  be  found,  and 
this  causes  great  delay  and  expense  in  acquiring  the  right  to  work 
the  mineral. 

XI 

Barriers  of  coal  are  left  unworked  between  the  properties  of 
various  owners  to  an  extent  which,  in  many  cases,  is  not  neces- 
sary for  safe  and  proper  working  of  the  individual  concern,  and 
millions  of  tons  of  the  national  asset  are  thereby  wasted. 

XII 

Drainage  and  pumping  are  carried  on  in  individual  pits  at  heavy 
unnecessary  expense  instead  of  under  a  centralized  plan  covering 
a  whole  area.  Further,  lack  of  co-operation  in  drainage  has  in 
the  past  been,  and  is  at  the  present  time,  conducive  to  the  aban- 
donment of  coal  and  collieries. 

XIII 

Boundaries  of  undertakings  are  arbitrary  and  irregular  and 
make  coal  in  certain  places  difficult  to  work  or  not  worth  working. 

I 
XIV 

Plots  of  land  are  let  for  building  and  the  law  allows  this  to  be 
done  without  the  right  of  underground  support,  so  that  the  coal 
is  worked  from  underneath,  houses  are  damaged,  and  no  compen- 
sation is  payable;  this  is  not  consistent  with  the  public  well-being. 

XV 

Under  State  ownership  there  will  be  one  owner  instead  of  nearly 
4,000  owners  of  the  national  asset,  and  the  difficulties  caused  under 
the  present  system  in  regard  to  barriers,  drainage,  pumping, 
boundaries,  and  support  will  largely  disappear. 

XVI 

The  State  ownership  should  be  exercised  through  a  Minister 
of  Mines. 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         425 

XVII 

The  interim  report  of  the  Acquisition  and  Valuation  of  Land 
Committee  has  pointed  out  at  least  14  defects  arising  from  the 
present  system  of  ownership  of  the  seams  of  coal,  and  proposes  to 
create  a  new  sanctioning  authority  vested  with  power  to  issue  com- 
pulsory orders  from  time  to  time  to  remedy  these  defects  as  and 
when  they  are  in  different  cases  found  to  exist. 

XVIII 

/  regard  as  preferable  to  this  expensive  piece-meal  machinery 
that  the  seams  of  coal  should  be  acquired  by  the  State  once  and 
for  all  in  one  final  settlement,  together  with  all  usual  or  necessary 
easements  and  rights  incidental  thereto,  together  with  power  to 
procure  all  such  easements  and  rights  in  the  future.  If  the  State 
only  acquires  the  seams  from  time  to  time  it  means  many  arbitra- 
tions, many  intermediate  settlements,  enhanced  delay,  and  increased 
cost  of  administration. 


3.   METHOD  OF  PURCHASE  OF  COAL  ROYALTIES 

XIX 

The  value  of  each  individual  royalty  owner's  interest  should  be 
assessed  by  Government  valuers  with  an  appeal  to  a  specially  con- 
stituted tribunal. 

XX 

Such  valuers  should  take  into  consideration : 

(a)  the  properties  where  coal  has  been  developed; 
(&)  potential  properties  where  coal  is  known  to  exist  and  is 
awaiting  development; 

(c)  surface  wayleaves  and  shaft  rent  in  certain  cases  which 

destroy  the  amenities  of  the  neighboring  property; 

(d)  the  usual  royalty  charged  in  the  district  for  the  class  of 

coal  in  question ; 
But  not— 

(e)  properties  in  which  the  existence  of  coal  is  uncertain  but 

suspected;  and 
(/)  underground  wayleaves. 


426  THE  JUDGMENT 

XXI 

I  also  suggest  that  Parliament  in  laying  down  the  principles  of 
valuation  should  consider  whether  it  is  not  possible  to  fix  a  total 
maximum  sum  which  would  form  a  pool  to  be  allocated  between 
the  various  individual  royalty  owners  in  accordance  with  the  fore- 
going or  any  other  principles  which  Parliament  may  adopt.  The 
advantage  of  this  plan  would  be  that  the  State  would  at  once  know 
its  total  maximum  liability. 


4.  REASONS  FOR  STATE  OWNERSHIP  OF  COAL  MINES 

XXII 

Coal  mining  is  our  national  key  industry  upon  which  nearly  all 
other  industries  depend.  A  cheap  and  adequate  supply  of  coal  is 
essential  to  the  comfort  of  individuals  and  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  trade  of  the  country.  In  this  respect,  and  in  the  peculiar  con- 
ditions of  its  working,  the  coal  mining  industry  occupies  a  unique 
and  exceptional  place  in  our  national  life,  and  there  is  no  other 
industry  with  which  it  can  be  compared. 

XXIII 

The  other  industries  and  consumers  generally  are  entitled  to 
have  a  voice  in  deciding  the  amount  of  coal  to  be  produced  and 
the  price  at  which  it  is  to  be  sold,  which  they  have  not  had  in  the 
past. 

XXIV 

The  export  trade  in  coal  has  greatly  increased,  and  the  system 
of  competition  between  many  private  colliery  owners  and  ex- 
porters to  obtain  orders  frequently  prevents  the  industry  getting 
the  full  value  for  the  article. 

XXV 

The  inland  trade  in  coal  has  greatly  increased,  and  the  system 
of  distribution  through  the  hands  of  many  private  individuals  pre- 
vents the  consumer  getting  the  article  as  cheaply  as  he  should  do. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  there  are  28,000  retail  distributors  of 
coal  in  the  United  Kingdom. 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         427 

XXVI 

In  other  words,  there  is  underselling  in  the  export  trade  and 
overlapping  in  the  inland  trade. 

XXVII 

Passing  to  another  phase  of  the  difficulty,  the  lack  of  capital 
in  some  mines  and  the  lack  of  proper  management  in  others  pre- 
vent the  development  of  coalfields  and  the  extraction  of  coal  to 
the  best  advantage  for  the  benefit  of  the  Nation. 

XXVIII 

There  are  in  the  United  Kingdom  about  3,000  pits  owned  by 
about  1,500  companies  or  individuals.  Unification  under  State 
ownership  makes  it  possible  to  apply  the  principles  of  standardiza- 
tion of  materials  and  appliances  and  thereby  to  effect  economies 
to  an  extent  which  is  impossible  under  a  system  where  there  are 
so  many  individual  owners. 

XXIX 

It  may  be  argued  that  the  foregoing  defects  in  the  present  sys- 
tem could  be  removed  by  changes  in  the  direction  of  Unification 
falling  short  of  State  ownership. 

XXX 

But  a  great  change  in  outlook  has  come  over  the  workers  in 
the  coalfields,  and  it  is  becoming  increasingly  difficult  to  carry  on 
the  industry  on  the  old  accustomed  lines.  The  relationship  between 
the  masters  and  workers  in  most  of  the  coalfields  in  the  United 
Kingdom  is,  unfortunately,  of  such  a  character  that  it  seems  im- 
possible to  better  it  under  the  present  system  of  ownership.  Many 
of  the  workers  think  they  are  working  for  the  capitalist  and  a 
strike  becomes  a  contest  between  labor  and  capital.  This  is  much 
less  likely  to  apply  with  the  State  as  owner,  and  there  is  fair  rea- 
son to  expect  that  the  relationship  between  labor  and  the  com- 
munity will  be  an  improvement  upon  the  relationship  between 
labor  and  capital  in  the  coalfields. 


428  THE  JUDGMENT 

XXXI 

Half  a  century  of  education  has  produced  in  the  workers  in  the 
coalfields  far  more  than  a  desire  for  the  material  advantages  of 
higher  wages  and  shorter  hours.  They  have  now,  in  many  cases 
and  to  an  ever  increasing  extent,  a  higher  ambition  of  taking  their 
due  share  and  interest  in  the  direction  of  the  industry  to  the  suc- 
cess of  which  they,  too,  are  contributing. 

XXXII 

The  attitude  of  the  colliery  owners  is  well  expressed  by  Lord 
Gainford,  who,  speaking  on  their  behalf  as  a  witness  before  the 
Commission,  stated: — "/  am  authorised  to  say  on  behalf  of  the 
Mining  Association  that  if  owners  are  not  to  be  left  complete 
executive  control  they  will  decline  to  accept  the  responsibility  of 
carrying  on  the  industry,  and,  though  they  regard  nationalisation 
as  disastrous  to  the  country,  they  feel  they  would  in  such  event  be 
driven  to  the  only  alternative — nationalisation  on  fair  terms" 

XXXIII 

It  is  true  that  in  the  minds  of  many  men  there  is  a  fear  that 
State  ownership  may  stifle  incentive,  but  to-day  we  are  faced  in 
the  coalfields  with  increasing  industrial  unrest  and  a  constant 
strife  between  modern  labor  and  modern  capital. 

I  think  that  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  the  certainty  of 
the  continuance  of  this  strife  in  the  coal  mining  industry  outweighs 
the  danger  arising  from  the  problematical  fear  of  the  risk  of  the 
loss  of  incentive. 

XXXIV 

The  object  to  be  aimed  at  under  State  ownership  is  national  co- 
ordination of  effort  in  respect  of  the  production  of  the  national 
asset  and  of  its  export  and  inland  supply. 

5.   METHOD  OF  PURCHASE  AND  CARRYING  ON  OF  THE  COAL  MINES 

XXXV 

It  is  suggested  that  the  State  should  purchase  all  the  collieries, 
including  colliery  buildings,  plant,  machinery,  stores,  and  other 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         429 

effects  in  and  about  the  colliery  at  a  fair  value  subject  to  the  next 
paragraph. 

XXXVI 

In  addition,  expenditure  on  development  of  the  collieries  (in- 
cluding the  provision  of  houses)  incurred  after  a  date  to  be  fixed 
and  with  the  consent  of  the  Controller  of  Coal  Mines  should  be 
repaid  with  interest  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent,  per  annum  from  the 
date  of  the  expenditure  provided  that  if  such  expenditure  has 
become  remunerative  before  the  date  of  the  purchase,  the  amount 
of  the  sum  payable  by  way  of  interest  should  be  reduced  by  the 
amount  of  the  profits  earned  thereon. 

XXXVII 

In  further  addition  the  State  should  take  power  to  purchase  real 
and  movable  property  directly  associated  with  the  working  of  the 
colliery  not  comprised  in  paragraph  XXXV,  other  than  the  assets 
at  the  colliery,  at  a  fair  value. 

XXXVIII 

In  the  case  of  composite  undertakings  the  owners  should  have 
a  right  to  compel  the  State  to  purchase,  and  the  State  should  have 
the  right  to  compel  the  owner  to  sell  the  whole  undertaking  if,  in 
the  opinion  of  an  arbitrator,  the  severance  of  the  undertaking  can- 
not be  economically  or  commercially  effected.  By  composite  under- 
taking is  meant  an  undertaking  where  a  company  or  firm  is  carry- 
ing on  a  colliery  in  addition  to  and  in  conjunction  with  another 
works,  e.g,,  a  colliery  and  a  steel  works. 

XXXIX 

Without  prejudice  to  the  powers  recommended  by  the  last  para- 
graph, it  is  a  matter  for  careful  consideration  whether  the  coke 
and  by-product  industry,  which  is  at  present  only  in  its  infancy, 
should  not  be  allowed  to  remain  in  private  ownership. 


XL 


\ 


It  is  suggested  that  the  bulk  of  the  present  officials  engaged  in 
the  coal  mining  industry,  including  the  managing  directors  of  com- 


430  THE  JUDGMENT 

panics,  should  be  offered  an  opportunity  of  remaining  on  at  their 
present  salaries  on  a  5  years'  agreement  together  with  any  in- 
creases awarded  from  time  to  time. 


XLI 

The  Civil  Servant  has  not  been  trained  to  run  an  industry,  but 
the  war  has  demonstrated  the  potentiality  of  the  existence  of  a 
new  class  of  men  (whether  already  in  the  service  of  the  State  or 
not)  who  are  just  as  keen  to  serve  the  State  as  they  are  to  serve 
a  private  employer  and  who  have  been  shown  to  possess  the  quali- 
ties of  courage  in  taking  initiative  necessary  for  the  running  of  an 
industry. 

XLII 

Hitherto,  State  management  of  industries  has  on  balance  failed 
to  prove  itself  free  from  serious  shortcomings,  but  these  short- 
comings are  largely  due  to  the  neglect  of  the  State  to  train  those 
who  are  to  be  called  on  for  knowledge  and  ability  in  management. 

XLIII 

The  experience  of  the  last  few  years  has,  however,  shown  that 
it  is  not  really  difficult  for  the  British  nation  to  provide  a  class  of 
administrative  officers  who  combine  the  strongest  sense  of  public 
duty  with  the  greatest  energy  and  capacity  for  initiative.  Those 
who  have  this  kind  of  training  appear  to  be  capable  in  a  high 
degree  of  assuming  responsibility  and  also  of  getting  on  with  the 
men  whom  they  have  to  direct. 

XLIV 

Finally,  under  State  ownership  it  is  always  possible  to  lease  a 
mine  to  particular  persons  on  terms  agreeable  to  those  who  are 
engaged  in  the  production  of  coal  thereat,  and  this  principle  can 
be  applied  not  only  to  a  mine  or  a  group  of  mines  contained  in 
a  particular  district,  but  to  a  composite  undertaking. 

N.B. — If  and  when  the  coal  mines  are  acquired  by  the  State  any 
just  claims  of  pioneer  boring  companies  should  be  recognized,  and 
the  State  should  take  power  to  carry  out  exploratory  borings. 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         431 


6.  THE  SCHEME  FOR  LOCAL  ADMINISTRATION 

N.B. — The  propositions  put  forward  in  this  scheme  must  not  be 
regarded  as  recommendations,  nor  does  the  scheme  aim  at  being 
comprehensive.  The  time  at  my  disposal  only  allows  me  to  make 
suggestions  which  it  is  hoped  will  be  useful  to  Parliament. 

Index  to  Scheme 

Paragraphs 

(i)  Local  Mining  Council XLV-LIII 

(ii)  District  Mining  Council LIV-LXIV 

(iii)  National  Mining  Council   LXV-LXXII 

(iv)  Finance  and  Publicity LXXIII-LXXVIII 

(v)  Safety,  Health,  and  Research  . . .  LXXIX-LXXXV 

(vi)  Admiralty  Coal  LXXXVI 

(vii)  Export  Trade    LXXXVII-LXXXIX 

/ 

(i)  THE  LOCAL  MINING  COUNCIL 

N.B. — The  object  of  this  part  of  the  scheme  is  to  take  advantage 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  workers  by  allowing  them  to  sit  on  the 
Councils  for  the  purpose  of  advising  the  manager  and  to  give  them 
an  effective  voice  in  all  questions  where  their  own  safety  and 
health  are  concerned. 

XLV 

Every  mine  shall  be  under  one  duly  certificated  manager  who 
shall  be  responsible  for  the  control,  management,  direction,  and 
safety  of  the  mine  and  the  extent  and  method  of  working,  pro- 
vided always  that  such  manager  shall  not  be  personally  liable  for 
conforming  to  any  lawful  order  for  safety  made  by  the  District 
Mining  Council. 

XLVI 

There  shall  be  established  at  each  mine  a  Local  Mining  Council 
who  shall  meet  fortnightly,  or  oftener  if  need  be,  to  advise  the 
manager  on  all  questions  concerning  the  direction  and  safety  of 
the  mine. 


432  THE  JUDGMENT 

XLVII 

The  Council  shall  consist  of  10  members  of  whom  the  manager, 
under-manager,  and  the  commercial  manager  shall  be  ex  officio. 
Four  members  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  by  the  workers  in  or  about 
the  mine  and  the  remaining  3  members  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
District  Mining  Council.  The  members  shall  hold  office  for  2 
years. 

XLVIII 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Council  to  report  fortnightly  to  the 
Minister  of  Mines  and  to  the  District  Mining  Council  any  fall 
in  output  and  the  cause  thereof. 

XLIX 

If  the  manager  refuses  to  take  the  advice  of  the  Local  Mining 
Council  on  any  question  concerning  the  safety  and  health  of  the 
mine  such  question  shall  be  referred  to  the  District  Mining  Council. 


The  contracts  of  employment  of  workmen  shall  embody  an 
undertaking  to  be  framed  by  the  District  Mining  Council  to  the 
effect  that  no  workman  will,  in  consequence  of  any  dispute,  join  in 
giving  any  notice  to  determine  his  contract,  nor  will  he  combine 
to  cease  work,  unless  and  until  the  question  in  dispute  has  been 
before  the  Local  Mining  Council  and  the  District  Mining  Council 
and  those  Councils  have  failed  to  settle  the  dispute. 

LI 

There  shall  be  a  commercial  manager  of  the  mine  or  group  of 
mines  (which  office,  if  the  District  Mining  Council  think  fit,  shall 
be  vested  in  the  mine  manager)  whose  duty  it  shall  be,  subject 
to  the  control  of  the  manager,  to  arrange  for  the  purchase  and 
supply  of  stores  in  the  mines  and  to  take  steps  subject  to  the  con- 
trol of  the  district  commercial  manager  for  the  disposal  of  its 
output. 

N.B. — It  is  thought  that  some  of  the  present  managing  directors 
of  companies  might  be  appointed  the  commercial  managers. 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         433 

LII 

Each  mine  shall  send  in  a  costing  account  in  the  approved  form 
to  the  District  Mining  Council. 

LIII 

The  workers  at  each  mine  shall  be  entitled  to  an  output  allow- 
ance to  be  ascertained  in  an  approved  manner  and  divided  among 
them  half-yearly. 

(ii)  THE  DISTRICT  MINING  COUNCIL 

N.B. — The  object  of  this  part  of  the  scheme  is  to  prevent  the 
bureaucratic  running  of  the  industry  by  causing  it  to  be  controlled 
locally  by  a  Council  of  fourteen,  upon  which  there  is  equal  repre- 
sentation for  the  miners,  for  the  consumers,  and  for  the  persons 
acquainted  with  the  commercial  and  technical  side  of  the  industry. 

LIV 

There  shall  be  established  in  each  mining  district  a  District  Min- 
ing Council  upon  whom  shall  rest  the  main  executive  responsibility 
of  taking  measures  to  secure  the  health  and  safety  of  the  workmen 
and  the  production  of  coal  in  the  district. 

N.B. — It  is  suggested  that  the  mining  districts  be: 

1.  Scotland,  East. 

2.  Scotland,  West. 

3.  Northumberland. 

4.  Durham. 

5.  Cumberland. 

6.  Yorkshire. 

7.  Lancashire  and  Cheshire. 

8.  North  Wales. 

9.  Nottinghamshire,  Derbyshire,  and  Leicestershire. 

10.  Staffordshire,  Worcestershire,  and  Shropshire. 

11.  Warwickshire. 

12.  South  Wales  and  Monmouthshire. 

13.  Gloucestershire,  Somersetshire. 

14.  Kent. 


434  THE  JUDGMENT 

LV 

The  District  Mining  Council  shall  conform  to  any  order  for 
safety  made  by  the  Chief  Inspector  of  Mines,  or  by  a  Divisional 
Mines  Inspector,  and  shall  not  make  an  order  in  respect  of  safety 
which  is  contrary  to  any  Act  of  Parliament  or  regulations  there- 
under. 

LVI 

Subject  to  the  direction  of  the  Minister  of  Mines  the  District 
Mining  Council  shall  manage  in  its  district  the  entire  coal  extrac- 
tion, the  regulation  of  output,  the  discontinuance  of  or  the  open- 
ing out  of  mines,  trial  sinkings,  the  control  of  prices,  and  the  basis 
of  wage  assessment,  and  the  distribution  of  coal. 

LVII 

In  fixing  the  pit-head  price  under  State  ownership  the  following 
items  shall  be  provided  for: 

(a)  a  fair  and  just  wage  for  all  workers  in  the  industry. 
(&)  the  cost  of  materials,  etc. 

(c)  upkeep  and  management,  and  development  work. 

(d)  interest  on  the  Bonds  to  be  issued  as  the  purchase  price  of 

the  coal  royalties  and  coal  mines. 

(e)  the  contribution  towards  a  sinking  fund  to   redeem  the 

Bonds. 
(/)  a  profit  for  national  purposes. 

LVIII 

The  District  Mining  Council  shall  be  entitled  to  make  arrange- 
ments with  local  authorities  or  with  private  persons  (including 
in  such  term  co-operative  societies,  companies,  firms,  and  indi- 
viduals) and  in  country  districts,  if  permissible,  with  the  local 
railway  station-master,  for  the  sale  and  distribution  of  inland  coal, 
and  with  private  persons,  firms,  and  companies  for  the  sale  and 
distribution  of  export  coal,  and  shall  have  power  to  fix  from  time 
to  time  the  price  above  which  coal  may  not  be  sold  for  household 
and  industrial  purposes. 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         435 

LIX 

The  District  Mining  Council  shall  consist  of  a  Chairman  and 
Vice-Chairman,  appointed  by  the  Minister  of  Mines,  and  twelve 
other  members.  Four  members  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  by  the 
workers,  and  the  remaining  eight  members  shall  be  appointed  by 
the  National  Mining  Council  as  follows: 

Four  to  represent  consumers  (of  whom  in  iron  and  steel  dis- 
tricts two  at  least  shall  represent  the  iron  and  steel  trades, 
and  in  shipping  districts  two  at  least  shall  represent  recognized 
coal  exporters). 

Two  to  represent  the  technical  side  of  the  industry,  e.g., 
mining  engineering,  and 

Two  to  represent  the  commercial  side  of  the  industry — pur- 
chase of  material  and  sale  of  output. 

LX 

All  members  shall  hold  office  for  three  years,  and  shall  be  paid 
a  salary. 

LXI 

The  District  Mining  Council  shall  meet  at  least  monthly,  and 
oftener  if  need  be. 

LXII 

The  District  Mining  Council  shall  appoint  all  mine  managers 
and  all  commercial  mine  managers  within  its  own  district. 

LXIII 

The  District  Mining  Council  shall  appoint  a  commercial  com- 
mittee, and  a  commercial  manager  whose  duty  shall  be,  subject  to 
the  control  of  the  commercial  committee,  to  arrange  for  the  pur- 
chase and  supply  of  stores  for  any  mine  and  to  take  steps  for  the 
disposal  of  the  output  of  coal  from  his  district. 

LXIV 

The  contracts  of  employment  of  workmen  shall  embody  an 
undertaking  to  be  framed  by  the  District  Mining  Council  to  the 
effect  that  no  workman  will,  in  consequence  of  any  dispute  affect- 
ing a  district,  join  in  giving  any  notice  to  determine  his  contract, 
nor  will  he  combine  to  cease  work,  unless  and  until  the  question  in 


436  THE  JUDGMENT 

dispute  has  been  before  the  District  Mining  Council  and  the  Na- 
tional Mining  Council  and  those  Councils  have  failed  to  settle  the 
dispute. 

(iii)  THE  NATIONAL  MINING  COUNCIL 

N.B. — The  object  of  this  part  of  the  scheme  is  to  get  a  body 
composed  of  members  of  the  District  Mining  Councils  who  shall 
meet  at  stated  intervals  to  discuss  and  advise  the  Minister  of 
Mines  on  all  questions  connected  with  the  Industry.  The  Minister 
of  Mines  will  be  assisted  by  a  Standing  Committee  of  18  members 
elected  from  and  by  the  National  Mining  Council,  who  will  meet 
regularly  for  the  purpose  of  superintending  the  operations  of  Dis- 
trict Mining  Councils.  The  Minister  of  Mines  will  sit  in  and  be 
responsible  to  Parliament. 

LXV 

There  shall  be  established  a  National  Mining  Council,  which 
shall  meet  from  time  to  time  to  discuss  with  and  advise  the  Min- 
ister of  Mines  upon  all  questions  connected  with  the  operation  and 
management  of  the  industry. 

LXVI 

The  Minister  of  Mines  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Government, 
and  shall  sit  in  and  be  responsible  to  Parliament.  Such  Minister 
shall  superintend  the  operation  of  the  District  Mining  Councils 
and  shall  preside  over  the  National  Mining  Council. 

LXVII 

The  National  Mining  Council  shall  be  formed  as  follows : — Each 
District  Council  shall  elect  one  member  for  every  5,000,000  tons 
of  output,  provided  that  every  district  shall  elect  at  least  one 
member. 

LXVIII 

The  members  shall  be  elected  for  three  years  and  shall  meet 
once  a  year  in  London,  once  a  year  in  Edinburgh,  and  once  a  year 
in  Cardiff  and  at  such  other  times  as  summoned  by  the  Minister 
of  Mines.  Members  shall  be  entitled  to  their  traveling  expenses. 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         437 
LXIX 

There  shall  be  elected  from  and  by  the  members  of  the  National 
Mining  Council  a  Standing  Committee  of  18,  six  of  whom  shall 
retire  each  year  and  shall  not  be  eligible  for  re-election  for  the 
next  year.  Six  shall  represent  the  workers,  six  shall  represent 
consumers,  and  six  the  technical  and  commercial  side  of  the 
industry. 

LXX 

The  Minister  of  Mines  shall  be  entitled,  after  consulting  the 
Standing  Committee,  to  veto  any  resolution  come  to  either  by  a 
Local  Mining  Council  or  a  District  Mining  Council,  and  in  the 
event  of  his  so  doing  he  shall  state  publicly  his  grounds  for  so 
acting. 

LXXI 

No  national  alteration  of  wages  shall  be  made  without  the  con- 
sent both  of  the  Minister  of  Mines  and  the  Standing  Committee. 

LXXII 

The  contracts  of  employment  of  workmen  shall  embody  an 
undertaking  to  be  framed  by  the  District  Mining  Council  to  the 
effect  that  no  workman  will,  in  consequence  of  apy  national  dis- 
pute, join  in  giving  any  notice  to  determine  his  contract,  nor  will 
he  combine  to  cease  work,  unless  and  until  the  question  in  dispute 
has  been  before  the  National  Mining  Council  and  that  Council  has 
failed  to  settle  the  dispute;  provided  that  on  the  written  request 
of  15  members  of  the  National  Mining  Council  the  Minister  of 
Mines  shall  convene  a  meeting  of  the  Council  within  one  month. 


(iv)  FINANCE  AND  PUBLICITY 

LXXIII 

The  finances  of  each  district  shall  be  kept  entirely  separate,  and 
a  return  in  the  approved  form  shall  be  sent  to  the  Minister  of 
Mines  once  a  quarter. 

LXXIV 

An  approved  system  of  auditing  shall  be  established  for  all  ac- 
counts. 


438 


The  Treasury  shall  not  be  entitled  to  interfere  with  or  to  have 
any  control  over  the  appropriation  of  moneys  derived  from  the 
industry.  The  said  moneys  shall  be  kept  entirely  separate  and 
apart  from  other  national  moneys,  until  the  profit  accruing  from 
the  industry  is  periodically  ascertained  and  paid  into  the  Ex- 
chequer. 

LXXVI 

It  being  of  vital  importance  that  the  Mines  Department  should 
be  managed  with  the  freedom  of  a  private  business,  the  present 
Civil  Service  system  of  selection  and  promotion  by  length  of  serv- 
ice, of  grades  of  servants,  of  minuting  opinions  and  reports  from 
one  servant  to  another,  and  of  salaries  and  pensions,  shall  not 
apply  to  the  servants  attached  to  the  Mines  Department. 

LXXVII 

The  Minister  of  Mines  shall  cause  the  following  statistics  to  be 
made  public: 

(a)  the  quarterly  financial  return  from  each  district; 

(6)  the  output  from  each  district; 

(c)  the  number  of  persons  employed  above  and  below  ground; 

(d)  the  cost  per  ton  of  getting  and  distributing  coal,  showing 

proportion  due  to  wages,  material,  management,  interest, 
and  profit; 

(e)  the  amount  of  coal  produced  per  man  per  shift; 
(/)  the  amount  of  absenteeism. 

LXXVIII 

Pending  the  acquisition  of  the  coal  mines  by  the  State,  the  col- 
liery owners  shall  continue  to  have  and  be  subject  to  the  rights 
and  liabilities  conferred  and  imposed  upon  them  by  the  Coal  Mines 
Control  Agreement  (Confirmation)  Act,  1918,  or  any  statutory 
provision  that  may  be  substituted  therefor  as  suggested  in  the 
Interim  Report  of  the  2oth  March  presented  by  me  and  my  three 
colleagues,  or  otherwise. 


COAL  INDUSTRY  COMMISSION  ACT         439 


For  providing  for  safety,  health,  and  research  there  shall  be  a 
corps  of  officers,  as  set  out  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

LXXX 

For  safety,  the  present  system  of  Chief  Inspector  and  Divisional 
Inspectors  shall  be  continued,  and  such  inspectors  shall  continue  to 
perform  the  same  duties  as  their  predecessors,  but  the  number  of 
inspectors  shall  be  increased  and  shall  be  in  proportion  either — 
(i)  to  the  area,  or 

(ii)  to  the  number  of  men  employed,  as,  for  example,  one 
inspector  to,  say,  5,000  men. 

LXXXI 

The  appointment  of  such  safety  inspectors  shall  be  made  by  the 
Minister  of  Mines,  to  whom  the  inspectors  shall  report  and  be 
responsible. 

LXXXII 

For  health,  there  shall  be  appointed  central  and  local  inspectors 
of  health  as  distinguished  from  safety,  who  shall  be  charged  with 
the  superintendence  of  the  health  and  convalescence  of  colliery 
workers. 

LXXXIII 

The  appointment  of  such  health  inspectors  shall  be  made  by  the 
Minister  of  Mines,  to  whom  the  inspectors  shall  report  and  be 
be  responsible. 

LXXXIV 

For  research,  there  shall  be  attached  to  the  Ministry  of  Mines 
a  Research  Section  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  departmental 
research  work  in  safety,  health,  and  economies  in  mining. 

LXXXV 

The  appointment  of  such  research  staff  shall  be  by  the  Minister 
of  Mines. 


440  THE  JUDGMENT 

(vi)  ADMIRALTY  COAL 

LXXXVI 

The  Admiralty  and  the  War  Office  shall  be  entitled  to  requisi- 
tion coal  at  any  mine  at  a  pit-head  price  equal  to  the  lowest  price 
charged  to  any  consumer. 

(vii)  THE  EXPORT  TRADE 

LXXXVII 

Any  person  shall  be  entitled  to  purchase  coal  for  export  from 
any  mine  in  the  same  way  as  he  would  have  been  entitled  had 
such  mine  remained  in  private  ownership. 

LXXXVIII 

The  State  shall  not  make  or  give  any  undue  or  unreasonable 
preference  or  advantage  to,  or  in  favor  of,  any  particular  persons 
desirous  of  purchasing  coal  for  export,  nor  shall  the  State  subject 
any  particular  person  desirous  of  purchasing  coal  for  export  to 
any  undue  or  unreasonable  prejudice  or  disadvantage  whatsoever. 

LXXXIX 

Any  exporter  to  whom  coal  is  sold  for  export  shall  divide  all 
profits  over  is.  per  ton  equally  with  the  District  Mining  Council. 

JOHN  SANKEY. 
20  June,  1919. 


CHAPTER  II 
GOVERNMENT  OFFER  TO  RAILWAYMEN 

MR.  JAMES  H.  THOMAS,  secretary  of  the  National  Union  of  Rail- 
waymen,  announced  on  November  16,  the  Government  scheme  of 
"joint  control." 

He  said  that  there  would  be  a  Joint  Board  composed  of  5  gen- 
eral managers  and  5  railwaymen  (3  from  the  National  Union  of 
Railwaymen  and  2  from  the  Associated  Locomotive  Engineers 
and  Firemen).  This  corresponds  to  the  old  conciliation  boards, 
though  with  wider  terms  of  reference. 

A  Committee  of  Appeal,  composed  of  12  members — 4  represent- 
ing the  men,  4  the  companies,  4  the  public,  and  an  independent 
chairman.  This  corresponds  to  the  old  Arbitration  Boards,  Com- 
mittee on  Production,  Industrial  Commissions,  and  Wages  Boards. 

Local  committees  for  local  disputes. 

Four  railwaymen  to  join  the  Railway  Advisory  Committee, 
which  is  composed  of  12  general  managers.  This  representation 
has  been  granted  for  years  in  certain  industries. 

Over  all  this  remains  in  control  the  Ministry  of  Transport. 

In  making  the  announcement  of  this  Government  scheme,  Mr. 
Thomas  said: 

"  Now,  it  is  first  proposed  to  set  up  a  joint  board  on  the  railways — 
on  each  railway,  not  on  each  system,  but  a  board  composed  of  five 
general  managers  and  five  from  the  Associated  Locomotive  Engineers 
and  Firemen  and  the  N.  U.  R.  Three  of  these  latter  five  will 
represent  ourselves,  and  two  will  act  for  the  Associated  Enginemen. 
These  ten  people  will  be  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  conducting 
negotiations  in  connection  with  the  conditions  of  service.  Nothing 
whatever  will  be  exempted  from  their  consideration.  That  is  to  say, 
we  have  not  the  old  boggle  of  limiting  ourselves  to  hours  and  wages. 
The  ten — five  from  each  side — will  have  plenary  powers,  but  only  in 
the  sense  that  the  men's  side  would  be  subject  to  their  Executive 
Committee.  In  the  event  of  their  failing  to  agree  they  will  have  the 
right  to  call  in  another  body. 

"It  is  no  use  disguising  the  fact  that,  in  the  event  of  a  railway 
dispute,  there  is  a  great  public  opinion.  That  ought  to  be  considered, 

441 


442  THE  JUDGMENT 

and  in  the  event  of  a  failure  on  the  part  of  these  ten  (five  from 
either  side)  they  will  be  able  to  refer  the  matter  to  another  body  of 
twelve — four  from  the  men,  four  from  the  railway  companies,  and 
four  from  the  public.  But  the  working  men  are  as  much  the  public 
as  the  capitalists  are,  and  therefore,  as  regards  two  of  the  four,  one 
will  be  a  Trade  Unionist  not  connected  with  the  railways  and  another 
will  be  a  representative  of  the  great  co-operative  movement.  In  other 
words,  you  will  be  able  to  bring  to  the  review  of  your  case  a  tribunal 
on  which  the  public  will  be  represented.  There  will  be  an  independent 
chairman.  We  want  you,  however,  clearly  to  understand  that,  while 
they  will  be  in  a  position  to  give  recommendations  and  to  advise  and 
suggest,  neither  body  will  have  the  power  of  taking  away  the  right  to 
strike  so  far  as  the  men  are  concerned.  But  obviously  we  would  not 
strike  while  a  matter  was  being  considered. 

"  That,  in  my  judgment,  is  a  first  step  towards  some  real  machinery 
for  dealing  with  working  conditions.  But  as  railwaymen  you  know 
perfectly  well  that  there  are  thousands  of  things  that  happen  locally 
that  are  not  national,  but  are  peculiar  to  a  district  of  a  town  or  a 
particular  grade.  In  addition  to  what  I  have  said,  there  will  be  set 
up  local  machinery  that  will  enable  you  locally  to  meet  an  equal 
number  of  the  managerial  side  and  deal  in  the  same  way  with  all 
local  grievances  that  may  arise.  This  will  be  of  paramount  impor- 
tance to  you,  and  will  enable  you  to  feel  that  you  have  some  machinery 
in  connection  with  which,  on  questions  of  discipline,  you  will  have  a 
free  and  absolute  right  of  bringing  in  as  your  advocate  not  an 
employee  of  the  company,  but  your  own  Trade  Union  official,  whoever 
he  may  be,  and  chosen  as  you  desire.  That,  so  far,  will  be  your  new 
machinery. 

"  But  I  have  always  believed,  and  I  still  believe,  that  the  working 
classes  can  give  by  their  practical  experience,  by  their  knowledge,  and 
by  their  everyday  work,  something  to  the  better  government  of  any 
business.  I  deny  the  possession  of  a  monopoly  of  brains  by  the 
employing  classes,  whoever  they  are,  and  I  have  never  hesitated  to 
affirm  that  to  general  management  the  workers  could  contribute  much. 
Therefore,  in  addition  to  the  scheme  that  I  have  just  outlined,  dealing 
with  hours  and  wages,  three  members,  two  from  our  Union  and  one 
from  the  Associated  Union,  will  join  the  Railway  Advisory  Com- 
mittee, with  co-equal  powers  to  the  general  managers  who  sit  there 
themselves.1 

"That  is  not  only  an  innovation,  not  only  a  new  departure,  but  it 
enables  you  to  compare  the  position  now  with  the  position  a  few 
brief  years  ago,  when,  in  Bristol,  I  was  pleading  for  what  is  called 

1  Later,  4  members  (one  from  the  Qerks). 


GOVERNMENT  OFFER  TO  RAILWAYMEN    443 

official  recognition.  It  is  a  change  for  the  good.  It  shows  the  power 
of  organized  Labor,  and  it  is  up  to  you  to  prove  that  the  experiment 
can  be  justified. 

"While  I  should  be  foolish  to  suggest  that  this  scheme  will  render 
strikes  impossible,  I  must  seriously  say  that  the  new  machinery,  if 
properly  worked  in  a  fair  and  genuine  spirit  on  both  sides,  will  do 
much  to  make  Trade  Unionism  not  only  a  means  of  improving  the 
men's  condition,  but  also  to  insure  smooth  working  on  the  railways 
of  the  country. 

"  I  hope  and  believe  that  the  railwaymen  will  accept  the  scheme  not 
as  their  final  goal,  not  as  the  last  word,  but  as  one  more  stepping- 
stone  in  the  path  that  will  enable  us  to  say  that  as  workers  we  have 
co-equal  power  and  co-equal  authority  in  management.  I  hope  also 
that  within  a  few  weeks  we  shall  be  able  to  make  an  announcement 
about  the  new  standard  conditions,  but  I  would  ask  you  to  keep 
clearly  in  mind  the  difficulty  that  we  have  to  face  owing  to  the 
multiplicity  of  grades  and  companies.  We  must  stabilize  as  far  as 
possible  on  one  basis.  The  statements  you  have  heard  recently  about 
the  cost  of  living  coming  down  are  mere  moonshine.  I  am  convinced 
the  tendency  in  the  coming  winter  will  be  the  other  way.  It  is  no 
use  talking  about  the  old  pre-war  standard.  The  railwaymen  intend 
to  keep  the  Prime  Minister  to  his  word.  It  is  our  duty  to  be  not 
only  audacious,  but  our  right  to  share  in  the  new  heaven  and  the  new 
earth  that  politicians  have  long  promised  us. 

"  The  workers  have  to  realize  that  side  by  side  with  their  industrial 
machine  must  they  have  political  action.  The  results  of  the  municipal 
elections,  the  results  of  our  own  strike,  and  the  consolidation  of 
Labor  are  a  clear  indication  that  before  long  Labor  is  destined  to 
govern  this  country." 

On  December  8,  1919,  Sir  Eric  Geddes,  on  behalf  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, announced: 

"  1.  The  present  negotiations  of  wages.— On  this  no  public  statement 
can  yet  be  made.  I  fully  appreciate  the  anxiety  of  the  House,  and 
will  make  a  statement  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

"2.  An  arrangement  has  been  come  to  between  the  Government  and 
the  two  unions  concerned  in  the  conciliation  grades  on  the  railways 
that,  apart  from  the  present  negotiations,  questions  of  wages  and 
conditions  of  service  shall,  during  the  period  of  the  present  control  of 
railways  under  the  Ministry  of  Transport  Act,  be  dealt  with  by  a 
central  board,  consisting  of  five  railway  managers  and  five  repre- 
sentatives of  the  trade  unions,  the  latter  being  composed  of  three 
from  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  and  two  from  the  Associated 


444  THE  JUDGMENT 

Society  of  Locomotive  Engineers  and  Firemen,  with  power  to  each 
side  to  add  a  sixth  member.  Failing  agreement  by  this  central  board, 
matters  in  dispute  falling  into  the  category  mentioned — wages  and 
conditions  of  service — will  be  referred  to  a  national  wages  board, 
consisting  of  four  railway  managers,  four  railway  workers,  or  their 
representatives,  and  four  users  of  railways,  of  which  one  shall  be 
nominated  by  the  Parliamentary  Committee  of  the  Trades  Union 
Congress,  one  by  the  Co-operative  Union,  one  by  the  Federation  of 
British  Industries,  after  consultation  with  other  industrial  organiza- 
tions, and  one  by  the  Association  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  after 
similar  consultation,  with  an  independent  chairman  appointed  by  the 
Government. 

"It  has  been  agreed  by  the  unions  concerned  that  no  strike  shall 
take  place  on  account  of  a  dispute  arising  on  these  matters  until  one 
month  after  the  question  in  dispute  has  been  referred  to  the  National 
Wages  Board.  Local  committees,  to  which  matters  of  purely  local 
and  other  than  national  importance  are  to  be  referred,  will  be  set  up, 
and  discussions  are  taking  place  at  the  present  time  as  to  their  con- 
stitution, scope,  and  function. 

"3.  The  third  matter  which  is  forming  the  subject  of  conversation 
by  railwaymen  is  their  representation  in  connection  with  the  control 
exercised  under  the  Ministry  of  Transport  Act.  The  Railway  Execu- 
tive Committee  as  such  will  cease  to  exist,  probably  on  January  i, 
and  an  advisory  committee  will  then  be  set  up,  which  will  consist  of 
twelve  general  managers  and  four  representatives  of  the  workers." 

Will  the  new  Railway  Advisory  Committee  really  run  the  rail- 
ways? On  December  10,  1919,  Sir  Eric  Geddes  said: 

"  During  the  war  the  railways  were  under  the  control  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, but,  in  fact,  they  were  self-controlled,  because  the  machinery 
through  which  the  Government  exercised  its  powers  was  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  General  Managers  of  the  Companies.  From  ist 
January,  1920,  the  control,  in  so  far  as  it  now  exists,  will  be  exercised 
by  the  Ministry  of  Transport,  and  the  financial  checking,  which  had 
been  so  ably  carried  out  by  the  Companies  on  each  other  on  behalf 
of  the  Government  during  the  war,  will  now,  to  a  greater  extent,  be 
supervised  by  the  Ministry  and  its  financial  officers.  Instead  of  there 
being,  as  some  people  thought,  a  greatly-increased  control,  the  rail- 
ways will,  to  a  greater  extent,  be  controlled  by  their  own  management. 
It  will  be  necessary,  under  the  present  abnormal  conditions,  that  the 
State  should  take  a  very  large  part  of  control  in  the  wages  question 
and  in  rates  and  fares." 


GOVERNMENT  OFFER  TO  RAILWAYMEN    445 

So  this  Railway  Advisory  Committee  will  not  run  the  railways, 
but  will  make  suggestions.  Sidney  Webb  states  that  railway 
directors  with  whom  he  had  talked  believe  that  the  system  will 
be  turned  back  into  private  hands  within  a  couple  of  years.  Sir 
Henry  Thornton,  a  member  of  the  Railway  Advisory  Committee, 
has  made  this  public  statement : 

"  Nationalization  of  the  railways  is  now  only  a  remote  possibility. 
On  the  resumption  of  normal  conditions  British  railways  will  be 
operated  upon  a  plan  that  lies  between  nationalization  and  private 
ownership.  The  individual  companies  will  continue  to  administer  the 
separate  lines  with  representatives  on  and  acting  in  conjunction  with 
a  central  board,  composed  of  Government  representatives  and  repre- 
sentatives of  railway  labor.  The  new  scheme  will  come  into  operation 
in  about  eighteen  months." 


SECTION  V 

THE  PUBLIC 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  ENGLISH  MIDDLE  CLASS 

THE  Middle  Class  has  long  been  in  control  of  English  life.  It  is 
possible  now  to  write  its  history  and  show  its  qualities.  And  it  is 
possible  because  the  Middle  Class  is  passing.  Lying  between  lords 
of  the  soil  and  laboring  men,  or  great  nobles  and  rabble,  or  wealthy 
and  poor,  or  cultured  and  uneducated,  or  capitalists  and  artisans, 
"  The  Middle  Class  is  that  portion  of  the  community  to  which 
money  is  the  primary  condition  and  the  primary  instrument  of 
life."  For  all  my  quotations  (except  where  otherwise  stated)  I 
am  indebted  to  a  recently  published  volume  on  The  English  Middle 
Class,  by  R.  H.  Gretton,  author  of  The  King's  Government. 
•  The  first  stirrings  of  consciousness  in  the  Middle  Class  came  in 
the  thirteenth  century  when  "  the  conception  of  profit  began  to 
replace  that  of  payment  for  the  exercise  of  skill.  Among  the 
actual  workers  at  a  trade  the  weavers  probably  set  on  foot  the 
change.  Some  of  them,  instead  of  weaving  the  wool  brought  to 
them,  and  then  handing  it  over  to  the  fuller  and  the  dyer,  would 
conceive  the  idea  of  buying  wool,  weaving  it,  paying  the  fuller  and 
the  dyer  to  work  upon  the  fabric  without  handing  over  possession, 
and  finally  taking  it  back  to  sell  at  an  inclusive  price  which  was 
not  merely  the  cost  of  the  three  processes." 

"  Now  here  we  have  at  work  a  clearly  financial  conception,  that 
of  trading  profit.  It  depended  upon  a  new  idea  of  the  power  of 
money.  To  put  the  case  baldly,  the  possession  of  money  by  one 
man  was  seen  to  be  an  opportunity  for  taking  advantage  of 
another  man  who  had  none." 

Inside  the  realm  of  King  and  lords,  Church,  yeomen,  and  peas- 
ants, there  grew  and  spread  this  new  secretive  inexpressive  estate 
of  the  Middle  Class.  Always  keen  in  its  instinct  for  profits,  and 
in  its  class  consciousness,  it  perceived  as  early  as  the  fifteenth 

446 


THE  ENGLISH  MIDDLE  CLASS  447 

century  "the  possibility  of  another  kind  of  localizing  of  profits, 
keeping  them,  not  to  this  or  that  town  so  much  as  to  a  certain 
stratum  of  the  community."  So  developed  two  germs  of  evil — 
"one,  the  creation  of  a  wholly  dependent  working  class,  and  the 
other  the  sanction  of  trading  monopoly." 

"The  change  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  that  the  capitalist 
clothier  owned  the  looms  upon  which  the  cloth  was  made,  and  the 
weaver  sank  to  the  status  of  a  hired  man.  As  long  as  he  possessed 
his  own  loom  he  could  work  independently;  when  he  used  one  of 
a  number  of  looms  belonging  to  the  clothier  he  had  entered  upon 
the  factory  system." 

"  We  discern  in  the  Middle  Class  at  its  origin  a  quality  which  it 
has  never  wholly  lost,  in  spite  of  many  modifications.  Its  instinct 
was  to  live  in  a  narrow  circle,  to  keep  trading  profits  in  the  hands 
of  a  group,  to  make  town  administration  a  closely  limited  entity, 
to  do  anything  rather  than  throw  experience  into  the  common 
stock.  ...  It  had  no  brains  for  anything  that  happened  outside 
the  limits  of  a  known  group  of  persons." 

A  gray  layer  of  nondescript  people  inserted  between  the  landed 
aristocracy  and  the  laboring  class,  it  appropriated  some  of 
the  "  rights  "  of  those  whom  it  shoved  to  either  side.  As  it  rose 
into  power,  it  pushed  the  guild  journeyman  down  into  a  wage- 
earning  artisan,  and  induced  him  to  part  with  his  small  freehold 
and  become  a  tenant  by  rent.  Industrially  and  socially  the  Middle 
Class  by  establishing  itself  at  the  center  of  the  currency  system 
helped  to  perpetuate  the  lower  class.  It  plays  for  its  own  integ- 
rity to  be  bothered  as  little  as  possible  by  national  and  civic  affairs, 
to  dodge  individual  assessments  which  would  reveal  its  wealth  and 
therefore  its  power.  Shy  of  public  appearance,  content  for  long 
with  wealth,  leisure  and  security,  though  later  risking  security  to 
gain  social  recognition,  at  all  times  to  the  present  day  it  has 
guarded  the  hen  that  lay  the  golden  eggs.  And  the  hen  was  the 
control  of  the  money.  With  money,  it  bought  skill,  took  over 
the  ownership  of  tools  and  machines,  established  itself  on  the  land 
and  took  rent,  controlled  the  product  of  labor  and  therefore  the 
profits,  and  by  the  manipulation  of  money  appropriated  interest. 

In  return  for  exacting  this  various  tribute  from  the  community, 
it  fulfilled  essential  functions.  In  the  higher  values,  it  laid  the 
foundation  of  grammar  schools  and  aided  in  developing  endowed 
schools  and  free  education.  It  contributed  to  the  building  of  the 


448  THE  PUBLIC 

great  cathedrals  and  the  exquisite  parish  churches.  It  failed  in  the 
spacious  Elizabethan  days  to  rise  to  true  national  consciousness 
and  so  failed  to  give  great  names  in  artistic  and  patriotic  expres- 
sion in  an  age  of  great  names  (Sidney,  Shakespeare,  Raleigh, 
Drake,  Jonson,  Frobisher,  Bacon,  Pembroke).  But  at  a  later  time, 
the  neutral  leisure  of  the  Middle  Class,  with  its  detachment  from 
the  common  weal,  served  it  well,  for  in  its  irresponsibility  (some- 
times with  the  aid  of  the  fixed  independent  income  of  which 
Darwin  speaks)  "  it  produced  men  who  led  the  way  to  making  lit- 
erature and  art  professions  for  men  of  genius,  and  not  mere 
dependencies  of  the  rich."  Soon,  to  be  sure,  its  scions  bit  the  hand 
that  fed  them,  and  "  the  artists,  the  poets,  the  novelists  of  the 
nineteenth  century  were  nearly  all  middle-class  men  who  turned 
more  or  less  bitterly  upon  their  origins,  and  helped  to  heap  scorn 
upon  the  Middle  Class." 

For  long,  there  was  practically  only  one  kind  of  Middle  Class — 
a  middleman  class.  Then  it  split  up  into  large  Capitalists  who 
were  landowners  as  well  as  merchants;  a  lower  rank  of  traders; 
lawyers;  secretaries  and  clerks.  "Craft  jealousy  and  secretive- 
ness  being  translated  into  the  sheer  competitive  individualism 
which  was  increasingly  to  characterize  the  Middle  Class.  But  it 
was  the  same  secretive  spirit  in  a  new  form." 

"  The  Middle  Class  could  stand  for  nothing,  because  it  had  al- 
ways stood  for  itself  alone." 

Inexpressive  in  art  and  warfare,  aloof  from  politics,  devoid  of 
national  consciousness,  unimaginative,  unheroic,  without  logic, 
without  science,  it  has  moved  on  its  middle  way,  serving  England, 
developing  trade  and  commerce,  adapting  itself  to  new  frontiers, 
fulfilling  the  necessary  function  of  shopkeeper  through  changing 
eras,  providing  a  framework  upon  which  the  national  life  broad- 
ened down  from  age  to  age,  linking  a  mixed  society,  and  "  keeping 
things  together  "  for  six  centuries. 

When  the  twelve  million  of  needy  wage-earners  can  no  longer 
find  work  to  do  or  bread  to  eat,  will  "  an  upheaval  far  more  terrific 
than  all  the  convulsions  that  rent  revolutionary  France  sweep  away 
the  colossal  fabric  of  England's  decaying  civilization  like  a  wisp 
of  straw  "  ?  The  rule  of  the  Middle  Class  has  never  led  to  bloody 
revolt  of  the  sort  let  loose  in  the  France  of  1789  by  the  rule  of 
the  nobles.  The  reason  is  clear : 

"  The  position  of  privilege  in  England  was  a  conscious  one, 


THE  ENGLISH  MIDDLE  CLASS  449 

built  up  by  deliberate,  if  not  wholly  intentional,  stages;  the  position 
of  privilege  in  France  was  one  of  unconscious,  unthinking  isola- 
tion. The  French  nobleman  believed  himself  to  be  by  divine  provi- 
dence where  he  was;  the  English  nobleman  never  attributed  to 
the  Deity  the  victories  of  his  own  self-assertion.  These  differ- 
ences had,  in  the  lower  ranks  of  the  population  of  either  country, 
their  corollaries.  In  England  there  always  existed,  in  however 
strained  a  condition,  a  tie  of  mutual  comprehension  which  was 
lacking  in  France.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  events  this  tie  may 
have  amounted  to  very  little.  But  at  a  crisis,  it  would  come  into 
operation  to  prevent  that  feeling  of  conflict  with  a  force  entirely 
beyond  reason  which  drove  the  French  nation  headlong.  The  Eng- 
lish populace,  without  ever  formulating  the  situation  to  themselves, 
felt  that  they  understood  the  basis  of  the  superiority  of  their  own 
upper  classes;  and  for  all  the  appearance  of  exclusiveness,  it  was 
not  a  superiority  behind  absolute  barriers.  The  barriers  were  in 
the  last  resort  only  relative.  There  was  no  claim  to  any  incom- 
prehensible '  natural '  rights ;  there  was  only  property,  held  in  a 
way  which  any  Englishman  could  understand." 

It  is  the  persistence  of  ancient  upper  class  institutions  in  an  age 
that  is  Middle  Class  industrial,  which  has  diverted  the  observer 
into  thinking  that  the  upper  class  is  in  control  of  the  State.  But 
the  Middle  Class  has  always  behaved  like  the  gentle  snail  which, 
adrift  in  a  hard  world,  slinks  into  the  nearest  shell,  which  had 
once  been  the  home  of  a  quite  other  organism.  With  the  exception 
of  the  Cromwell  episode,  the  Middle  Class  has  never  attempted  to 
set  up  middle-class  institutions,  preferring  to  handle  existent  insti- 
tutions "  in  such  a  manner  as  to  find  a  sheltered  area  for  personal 
profit  under  them.  It  abandoned  the  attempt  to  make  a  middle- 
class  state,  and  successfully  proceeded  to  make  the  State  Middle 
Class." 

It  left  the  old  constitutional  forms  and  social  organization  stand- 
ing, with  the  result  that  the  nation  regarded  political  movements 
as  the  movements  of  Lords  and  Commons,  instead  of  the  acts  of 
rich  merchants.  For  over  two  hundred  years,  the  Middle  Class 
has  influenced  public  affairs  from  behind  the  screen  of  old  forms; 
and  the  upper  class  of  landed  gentry,  university  men  and  Estab- 
lished Church  has  been  held  responsible  in  the  public  mind  for  the 
operations,  actually  carried  through  by  the  Middle  Class.  Those 
operations  included  privileged  trading,  seizure  of  the  land,  manipu- 


450  THE  PUBLIC 

lations  of  taxation,  processes  of  stockbroking.  Middle  Class  life 
became  an  avenue  to  rank  and  station.  Trade  was  a  source  of 
wealth  instead  of  a  co-operative  enterprise.  Wages  were  not  a 
participation  in  profits,  but  the  basis  of  the  money-making  machine 
that  ground  out  profits  for  a  master-class  at  long  distance  remove 
from  the  workers.  Individualism  was  thus  economic,  as  well  as 
moral  and  political  in  the  Middle  Class.  "  By  subscribing  to  a 
public  loan  they  drew  interest  out  of  the  national  needs — the  final 
triumph  of  their  many  manipulations  of  the  taxes."  This  com- 
pleted the  process  of  making  England  a  Middle  Class  State,  be- 
cause the  security  for  her  finances  ceased  to  be  directly  the  land 
or  personality  and  became  trading  credit.  And  trading  credit  it 
has  remained  even  through  these  years  of  war.  With  trading 
credit  comes  the  National  Debt,  devoid  of  tangible  security,  based 
on  the  national  income  and  structure  of  credit — a  charge  against 
the  labor  power  of  the  nation,  and  therefore  a  mortgage  on  the 
productivity  of  the  workers  held  by  the  Middle  Class. 

A  modern  authority  on  trade  states:  "The  supremacy  of  the 
commercial  classes  was  not  favorable  to  peace.  They  were  bitter 
and  blood-thirsty  in  the  competition  for  new  markets."  The  army 
was  put  on  a  business  basis,  and  "  the  Middle  Class  found  in  it,  as 
it  had  managed  by  degrees  to  find  in  most  things  to  which  it  had 
once  objected,  sufficient  scope  for  money-making."  There  were 
opportunities  in  contracting  for  supplies,  in  profits  on  army  loans, 
in  a  new  career  for  its'sons. 

English  aristocracy  is  a  recent  affair.  Omitting  entirely  the 
mushroom  growth  of  business  lords,  such  as  Lord  Leverhulme,  the 
late  Lord  Rhondda,  and  Lord  Northcliffe,  who  are  simply  Lord 
Morgan,  the  Duke  of  Rockefeller,  and  Earl  Harriman,  we  have 
the  fact  that  practically  there  are  no  English  titles  older  than  the 
early  Tudor  period,  and  "  the  highest  Class  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury was  made  up  principally  of  the  families  which  had  risen  in 
the  first  land  speculation  of  the  Middle  Class." 

By  the  eighteenth  century  it  "  entirely  colored  the  national  out- 
look and  virtually  controlled  policy.  ...  It  only  gave  advance- 
ment to  brains  in  so  far  as  they  were  employed  upon  affairs  of 
money.  .  .  .  The  upper  class  had  become  predominantly  Middle 
Class  in  substance.  The  lower  class — the  workmen,  artisans,  and 
laborers — were  securely  enchained.  Administration  was  in  the 
hands,  or  at  least  at  the  service,  of  the  masters  of  trade  and 


THE  ENGLISH  MIDDLE  CLASS  451 

industry;  the  ancient  rights  and  safeguards  of  the  workman  had 
been  deliberately  allowed  to  become  obsolete." 

The  American  civilization,  like  that  of  the  English,  is  Middle 
Class.  The  ruling  class  with  us  is  "  that  portion  of  the  community 
to  which  money  is  the  primary  condition  and  the  primary  instru- 
ment of  life."  Middle  class  psychology  colors  our  national  outlook 
and  controls  our  policy,  gives  advancement  to  brains  in  part  as 
they  are  employed  upon  affairs  of  money,  directs  the  workmen, 
artisans,  and  laborers,  stands  at  the  levers  of  the  giant  machinery 
of  production  and  administration.  The  difference  is  that  we  have 
no  ancient  screen  of  Church  and  landed  gentry  and  Crown  and 
Lords  to  cover  the  operations  with  the  mediaeval  mistiness  of 
blurred  tapestry.  Slowly  with  us,  too,  the  fight  defines  itself  as 
one  between  the  Middle  Class,  entrenched  by  its  control  of  the 
currency,  and  those  members  of  the  community  who  aim  at  demo- 
cratic control.  The  Middle  Class  is  losing  power,  because  it  has 
allowed  machinery  to  gather  large  masses  of  workers  in  cities  and 
so  has  created  a  counter-organization. 

Ownership  of  land  and  possession  of  titles  made  an  upper 
British  Middle  Class.  "  Gentility  became  simply  a  description 
of  a  certain  command  of  the  conveniences  and  luxuries  of 
existence."  And  the  upper  stratum  dissociated  itself  from  its 
origins  and  from  the  processes  by  which  it  had  made  money. 
Under  this  upper  stratum  the  modern  manufacturers  thrust  into 
prominence,  laying  hold  of  power  because  they  had  money  through 
their  control  of  machinery,  coal,  and  iron,  the  new  banking  sys- 
tem, and  the  subdivisions  of  labor.  "  The  brief  by-product  in 
England  of  the  Rennaissance  of  Learning  expired  as  soon  as  the 
Middle  Class  had  decided  upon  gentility  as  its  goal."  Never  at  any 
time  in  its  long  history  has  the  Middle  Class  possessed  appreciation 
of  the  intellect.  We  are  prone  to  indict  the  nineteenth  century  for 
its  commercialized  and  scornful  estimate  of  pure  thought,  research, 
artistic  creation,  moral  values.  But  that  is  only  because  the  Middle 
Class  entered  upon  the  full  control  of  society  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  In  its  earlier  history,  also,  it  had  believed  that  "  to  expect 
to  gain  a  livelihood  by  one's  brain  otherwise  than  in  using  it  for 
the  production  of  commodities  was  impertinent."  From  the  mer- 
cantilism of  the  eighteenth  century  to  the  industrialism  of  the  nine- 
teenth and  twentieth  centuries  was  no  great  jump,  economically, 
nor  did  it  require  violent  mental  adjustments.  The  secretive  indi- 


452  THE  PUBLIC 

vidualistic  psychology  of  the  Middle  Class  merely  became  visible 
to  observers  for  the  first  time  in  seven  centuries. 

What  the  nineteenth  century  did  accomplish  was  to  render  more 
distinct  and  aristocratic  the  upper  stratum  of  the  Middle  Class.  It 
looked  down  upon  the  busy  uneducated  modern  capitalists  and 
traders  and  industrial  masters,  with  their  exploitation  of  wage- 
workers  and  their  conception  of  England  as  a  successful  trader. 
The  upper  stratum  finally  separated  itself  so  thoroughly  from  its 
origins  as  itself  to  use  the  title  Middle  Class  for  those  same  capi- 
talists, traders,  and  industrial  masters.  It  was  no  idle  dream  that 
made  certain  Tory  statesmen  force  a  union  of  the  workers  and  the 
landed  gentry  against  that  dull  ungracious  strenuous  element  in 
the  community  to  which  money  was  the  primary  condition  and  the 
primary  instrument  of  life,  which  shirked  public  service  and  con- 
tributed few  generous  ideas  and  sentiments  to  either  local  or  na- 
tional life.  Thus  in  its  old  age,  the  Middle  Class  was  left  naked 
in  the  sight  of  its  enemies,  and  its  form  and  lineaments  were  felt 
to  be  unlovely,  its  philosophy  dreary,  its  power  unjust.  Increas- 
ingly it  is  losing  control  of  the  nation.  It  is  no  answer  to  this 
fact  of  its  diminishing  power  to  say  that  money  has  become  so 
usual  that  we  are  all  Middle  Class  to-day.  The  new  forms  of 
social  reconstruction,  the  principle  of  democratic  control,  are  not 
making  money  the  primary  condition  and  the  primary  instrument 
of  life.  They  seek  to  establish  the  principle  of  function  as  the 
basis  of  society.  If  successful,  they  will  abolish  the  Middle  Class. 

The  fight  of  the  worker  to-day  is  not  against  the  landed  gentry, 
the  ancient  Universities,  the  Established  Church — the  institutions 
of  an  upper-class  system.  The  real  fight  of  the  worker  is  against 
the  Middle  Class,  which  secretly  and  pervasively  has  been  the 
actual  governing  class.  It  is  the  governing  class  because  it  is  in 
control  of  the  economic  system  which  conditions  the  life  of  the 
community.  It  had  swept  away  the  resistances  and  had  under- 
mined the  institutions  of  the  upper  class,  because  it  had  control 
of  money,  the  primary  instrument  of  industrial  organization.  It 
wasn't  democracy  that  destroyed  the  Old  England — democracy, 
that  noisy,  frank,  easily  observed  foe  of  caste.  It  was  the  ap- 
parently innocuous,  gently  encroaching  Middle  Class  that  attacks 
from  the  rear  in  undetected  ways:  the  faithful  pious  plodding 
Middle  Class — the  backbone  of  England — full  of  domestic  virtues, 
excellent  in  individual  conduct. 


THE  ENGLISH  MIDDLE  CLASS  453 

It  has  always  succeeded  in  the  past  in  conquering  opposition 
by  permeating  it.  But  its  sly  methods  are  powerless  against  the 
principle  of  democratic  control.  "  At  the  core  of  most  of  the 
modern  attacks  upon  the  Middle  Class  domination  of  the  State  lies 
a  conception  of  a  national  organization  without  currency.  So- 
cialism and  Collectivism  proceed  on  an  assumption  that  in  the 
perfect  State  there  would  be  no  coinage  of  intrinsic  value,  but 
only  some  form  of  token  for  work  done,  exchangeable  against  a 
supply  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  In  other  words,  in  order  to  get 
rid  of  a  Middle  Class,  it  would  be  necessary,  on  these  theories, 
to  get  rid  of  what  we  understand  at  present  by  currency;  which 
is,  from  the  reverse  side,  a  striking  confirmation  for  our  theory 
that  currency  has  created  the  Middle  Class."  The  critique  of  the 
National  Guildsmen  on  the  wage-system  is  an  expression  of  the 
same  instinctive  attack  on  the  Middle  Class.  Against  this  assault, 
the  Middle  Class  is  powerless,  because  it  is  being  deprived  of  its 
only  weapon. 

Under  the  amazing  economic  shifts  of  the  war,  the  phrase 
"  middle  class  "  has  quite  ceased  to  be  a  true  distinction  of  rank, 
and  "  has  become  virtually  a  description  of  character."  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  when  the  tax  rate  opens  its  ponderous  jaws 
ever  wider  toward  the  conscription  of  riches?  The  movement 
towards  "  workers'  control "  grows  stronger  with  each  year,  and 
workers'  control  is  not  a  power  given  by  the  instrument  of  money, 
but  by  the  exercise  of  function. 

In  making  a  description  of  character,  we  have  a  right  to 
wander  freely  in  the  fertile  fields  of  social  psychology.  For 
middle  class  is  the  tag  we  use  for  labeling  what  is  offensive, 
unimaginative,  blandly  complacent,  Puritanic,  materialistic,  com- 
mercialized, and  humdrum,  in  recent  civilization.  The  Middle 
Class  has  built  for  its  workers  and  fcr  itself  what  Emile 
Hovelaque  calls  "  the  monotonous  succession  of  smoke-grimed 
cubes  of  brick,  all  similar  and  sordid,  a  symbol  of  the  sordid 
similar  lives  they  shelter;  the  endless  lines  of  wretched  homes 
which  all  round  London,  all  over  the  greater  industrial  centers, 
endlessly  repeat,  with  the  insistence  of  a  maniac,  their  somber 
invariable  rectangles,  cluster  on  cluster,  mile  after  dreary  mile  of 
mean  and  crushing  hideousness,  as  though  some  spawn  of  insect 
life  had  settled  there  and  swarmed.  Is  it  in  order  to  produce  an 
architecture  no  higher  than  that  of  a  coral  reef,  to  bring  into 


454  THE  PUBLIC 

God's  light  such  forms  of  life,  such  visions,  such  monotonies  of 
hideous  depression  that  a  society  is  born  ?  " 

Spiritually  how  has  it  been  with  the  Middle  Class?  It  has  re- 
vealed "the  epic  of  the  Will  which  all  English  history  unfolds." 
It  possesses  the  somber  Sunday,  day  of  rest  and  sadness,  moral 
virtues,  earnestness,  a  prim  conventionality,  a  sense  of  duty  some- 
times leaden  in  its  petty  severities,  sometimes  resolute  in  its 
heroism,  narrowness,  love  of  action,  the  love  of  home  and  the 
passion  for  adventure,  "  a  gospel  of  conduct  which,"  as  Hovelaque 
says,  "  can  give  its  disciples  the  possession,  not  only  of  this  world 
but  of  the  next,  a  monopoly  of  salvation  and  of  Trusts — an 
extraordinary  mingling  of  practical  and  religious  impulses,  in  turn 
pitilessly  realistic,  and  profoundly  mystical,  at  once  selfish  and 
disinterested,  which  inspire  the  soul  of  a  Cromwell  or  a  Cecil 
Rhodes."  The  roots  of  the  spiritual  strength  of  the  Middle  Class 
have  been  "  in  its  Faith,  and  they  draw  their  nourishment  from 
that  extraordinary  book,  the  Bible,  whose  fortune  in  England  has 
been  so  startling,  and  whose  influence  on  the  destinies  of  the 
race  all  recognize." 

As  we  speak  the  phrase  "  Middle  Class,"  we  see  rise  the  mis- 
shapen Chapel  in  a  mean  street,  we  hear  the  wheezing  organ 
lifting  the  hymn.  We  remember  denunciation  of  Papists  and  the 
immoral  French.  We  see  severity  and  ugliness,  indifference  to 
ideas,  a  distrust  of  beauty.  Arnold  and  Arnold  Bennett  have  done 
their  work  well.  As  in  our  use  of  "  Mid-Victorian,"  we  are  ex- 
pressing a  revolt.  A  good  deal  of  what  critics  are  banging  at 
when  they  chastise  England  is  "  middle-classness."  And  middle- 
classness  is  not  peculiar  to  England.  The  English  form  is  merely 
a  little  more  pious  and  a  little  drearier  than  that  of  other  nations. 
We  could  write  a  volume  on  middle  class  as  a  description  of 
character.  But  really  what  we  should  be  writing  would  be  the 
record  not  of  a  middle  class,  economically  defined  and  placed  in 
history,  with  a  documented  membership,  but  of  our  own  subjec- 
tive reaction  to  modern  industrial  civilization.  It  is  time  to 
recognize  that  the  Middle  Class  is  losing  its  control  of  industrial 
civilization. 


CHAPTER  II 
ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM 

A  CERTAIN  few  books  must  be  read  in  order  to  catch  even  a 
glimmering  of  what  is  working  out  in  Britain.  For  no  hasty 
change  is  under  way  but  a  long-prepared  event.  From  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  ideas  now  prevailing  have  simmered  and 
worked  in  British  consciousness.  These  ideas  were  defeated  and 
suppressed,  but  they  were  the  projection  of  an  ineradicable  instinct, 
the  instinct  for  equality.  And  now  at  last  they  emerge  from  their 
long  subterranean  burrowing,  and  become  the  "  arbiters  of  event." 
The  history  of  the  next  one  hundred  years  will  see  these  ideas 
shaped  into  legislation,  built  into  institutions,  and  incarnated  into 
an  equalitarian  society.  To  understand  even  a  little  of  the  British 
social  revolution,  now  in  its  gentle  prelude,  one  must  at  least  have 
digested  work  of  the  Webbs,  Graham  Wallas,  and  the  Ham- 
monds, and  the  reports  of  many  committees  and  commissions. 

And  »for  understanding  one  stream  of  the  thought  that  is  re- 
making Britain,  we  have  Max  Beer's  History  of  British  Socialism. 
The  quotations  that  follow  are  from  this  work,  of  which  one 
volume  has  already  been  translated  into  English. 

In  his  preface,  Beer  says: 

The  English  intellect,  from  its  sheer  recklessness,  is  essentially  revo- 
lutionary, probably  more  so  than  the  French  intellect.  But  since  1688 
it  has  been  the  endeavor  of  English  Statesmen  and  educators  to  impart 
to  the  nation  a  conservative,  cautiously  moving  temper,  a  distrust  of 
generalization,  an  aversion  from  carrying  theory  to  its  logical  con- 
clusions. ...  In  periods  of  general  upheavals,  however,  when  the 
dynamic  forces  of  society  are  vehemently  asserting  themselves,  the 
English  are  apt  to  throw  their  mental  ballast  overboard  and  take  the 
lead  in  revolutionary  thought  and  action.  In  such  a  period  we  are 
living  now.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  new  Century  a  new  England 
has  been  springing  up.  ...  The  masses  are  joining  issue  with  the 
classes  upon  the  question  of  a  redistribution  of  wealth  and  power. 
A  new  Chartist  movement  has  arisen  and  is  daily  growing. 

455 


456  THE  PUBLIC 

Political  Socialist  labor  and  revolutionary  trades  unionism 
have  sought  to  substitute  for  the  motive  of  personal  profit  and 
the  method  of  unrestricted  competition  some  principle  of  organi- 
zation more  social  and  free.  And  the  ideas  back  of  this  move- 
ment are,  as  R.  H.  Tawney  says,  "  not  antiquarian  curiosities,  but 
a  high  explosive,  and  an  explosive  which  has  not  yet  been  fired." 

Beer  says  that  his  twenty  years'  residence  in  England  taught 
him  "  how  high  an  elevation  of  political  and  moral  culture  a  nation 
must  reach  before  it  can  embark  on  a  socialistic  reconstruction 
of  society."  All  that  makes  the  transfer  of  economic  power  in- 
evitable took  place  through  long  years.  The  final  steps  in  the 
process  were  education,  accessions  to  trade  union  organization, 
and  the  Electoral  Acts.  The  machinery  of  economic  and  of  po- 
litical power  had  thus  been  given  to  the  working  class.  Remains 
only  the  Act  of  Transfer.  A  revolution  is  the  spectacular  and 
relatively  unimportant  ceremony  of  handing  over  the  Keys  of 
power  to  the  new  masters.  If  the  real  work  has  not  been  pre- 
viously accomplished,  no  bloody  uprising  can  bring  it  to  pass,  no 
rule  of  a  minority  can  maintain  it. 

Beer  deals  with  the  argument  of  those  who  oppose  next  steps 
and  social  reforms  on  the  ground  that  they  take  the  place  of 
fundamental  measures. 

Strictly  considered  this  argument  is  directed  not  only  against 
parliamentary  action,  but  against  every  kind  of  reform  short  of 
revolution.  It  may  be  applied  to  factory  legislation,  to  social 
insurance,  to  trade  unionism,  and  generally  to  all  measures  that 
are  aiming  at  amelioration.  The  error  into  which  William  Morris 
fell,  lay  in  regarding  society  as  a  mechanical  contrivance,  and  reform 
as  a  sort  of  patching  up  some  defective  parts  of  the  machine.  This 
mode  of  viewing  society  allows  of  no  other  remedy  than  the  complete 
removal  of  the  old  machine  and  its  replacement  by  another  of  a  quite 
different  pattern.  In  reality,  society  is  not  a  mechanical  contrivance, 
but  a  living  organism  in  constant  change  and  development,  an  organi- 
zation capable  of  being  developed  into  a  higher  form  by  legislation 
and  other  measures  granted  to  a  new  class  rising  in  importance  and 
power  in  society.  At  first  the  influence  of  such  reforms  on  the  social 
structure  may  be  imperceptible,  but  with  the  increase  of  the  quantity 
of  refi  -ms,  the  alteration  in  the  quality  of  society  grows  apace,  until 
it  amounts  to  a  revolutionary  change,  visible  to  all.  Great  social  up- 
heavals which  are  designated  revolutions  are  the  effect  of  the  sudden 
entrance  of  the  revolutionary  transformation  into  the  region  of  poli- 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM          457 

tics,  or  of  the  peremptory  demand  of  a  large  portion  of  the  nation 
to  give  legal  effect  to  it  and  redistribute  political  power  accordingly. 
The  real  revolution  had  been  going  on  more  or  less  silently  for  a  long 
time  anterior  to  the  upheaval,  but  it  having  been  split  up  in  particular 
changes  and  reforms  effected  during  long  intervals,  there  was  no  con- 
siderable resistance  to  its  growth.  The  revolution  in  its  dramatic  or 
sensational  form  is  but  an  attempt  to  add  up  the  particular  changes 
and  reforms  and  bring  out  the  sum  total.  The  revolutionary  character 
of  a  reform  does  not  depend  on  its  volume  and  sweep,  but  on  its 
direction  and  nature.  In  our  time,  for  instance,  any  reform  is  revo- 
lutionary which  tends  to  strengthen  the  working  class  and  which  makes 
for  national  control  and  centralization  of  the  means  of  production, 
distribution,  and  exchange. 

Liberalism  was  the  creed  of  the  middle  class : — Free  trade,  free 
speech,  freedom  of  contract,  freedom  of  the  person.  Liberal 
politics  dies  with  the  middle  class;  and  the  final  line-up  between 
the  privileged  and  the  disinherited  begins. 

In  recent  years,  books  which  have  moved  the  masses,  shaped 
their  instinctive  action,  and  prepared  them  for  this  final  line-up, 
have  been  (among  many)  Fabian  Essays  and  Tracts,  Henry 
George's  Progress  and  Poverty,  Blatchford's  Merrie  England  and 
Britain  for  the  British,  Chiozza  Money's  Poverty  and  Riches, 
Orage's  National  Guilds,  Cole's  Self  Government  in  Industry. 

But  these  are  only  recent  ripples  of  a  tide  that  is  age-long. 
Trade  unionism  as  the  instrument  for  overthrowing  the  economic 
system,  rather  than  merely  bettering  the  condition  of  the  worker 
inside  it — this  is  essentially  British  doctrine  dating  from  the 
1 830*8.  The  conception  held  so  earnestly  by  opponents  is  essen- 
tially a  German  conception.  It  believes  in  progressive  betterment 
under  the  existing  order.  It  derives  from  the  German  belief  in 
the  supremacy  of  the  State,  its  unalterable  nature,  its  perpetual 
unchanging  sovereignty.  The  State  to  such  minds  is  a  foundation 
and  a  framework  inside  which  the  inhabitants  may  remodel  the 
rooms,  shift  the  furniture  and  decorate  the  walls.  But  they  must 
not  tinker  with  the  underpinning. 

The  British  radical,  however,  has  always  challenged  the  su- 
premacy of  the  State  from  Gerrard  Winstanley  to  Bertrand 
Russell.  He  has  held  that  he  could  reconstruct  the  affair  from  the 
ground  up,  and  build  a  more  stately  habitation  for  his  soul.  This 
quality  of  his  mind  is  the  result  of  a  long  process: 


458  THE  PUBLIC 

From  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  present  day  the  stream  of  so- 
cialism and  social  reform  has  largely  been  fed  by  British  thought  and 
experiment.  Mediaeval  schoolmen  and  statesmen,  modern  political 
philosophers,  economists,  poets,  and  philanthropists  of  the  British  Isles 
have  explored  its  course  and  enriched  its  volume,  but  left  it  to  writers 
of  other  nations  to  name  and  describe  it. 

And  the  ideas  which  nourished  this  range  and  freedom  of  mental 
life  go  still  further  back  to  the  Roman  Empire  and  primitive 
Christianity.  The  doctrines  of  the  state  of  nature  and  of  natural 
rights  are  based  on  an  idealization  of  the  primitive  conditions  of 
tribal  society.  Private  property  and  civil  dominion  appear  as  the 
origin  of  evil.  In  modified  legal  form,  this  became  natural  law 
(jus  naturale). 

The  philosophy  of  natural  rights  and  natural  law  passed  over 
into  Christian  theology.  According  to  Saint  Isidore  of  Seville: 

Jus  naturale,  is  common  to  all  nations  and  it  contains  everything  that 
is  known  to  man  by  natural  instinct  and  not  by  constitutions  and  man- 
made  law,  and  that  is:  the  joining  together  of  man  and  woman,  pro- 
creation and  education  of  children,  COMMUNIS  OMNIUM  POS- 
SESSIO,  ET  OMNIUM  UNA  LIBERTAS,  the  acquisition  of  things 
which  may  be  captured  in  the  air,  on  the  earth  and  in  the  water,  resti- 
tution of  loaned  and  entrusted  goods,  finally  self-defense  by  force 
against  violence. 

This  definition  of  jus  naturale  contains,  says  Beer,  first,  the 
usual  characteristics  as  given  in  the  Institutes;  secondly,  the  doc- 
trines concerning  the  state  of  nature  (communism  and  universal 
equal  liberty). 

The  influence  exercised  by  that  system  of  thought  in  the  develop- 
ment of  English,  and  generally  European  social  and  political  specula- 
tions could  hardly  be  overestimated. 

Thus,  we  have  John  Ball1  (as  quoted  in  Froissart),  saying: 

1Died  1381.  This  was  the  age  of  the  Peasants'  Revolt.  There  was 
a  later  peasants'  rebellion  in  1449,  with  Jack  Cade  in  command.  Fifty 
years  later,  the  Cornishmen  rose,  and  in  1516  Sir  Thomas  More  wrote 
his  Utopia,  a  Communistic  criticism  of  social  conditions.  In  1549  half 
of  the  English  peasantry  were  in  insurrection  "  to  vindicate  their 
natural  right  to  the  soil  and  to  the  fruits  it  yielded  to  their  labor.  It 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  459 

"  My  good  people, — Things  cannot  go  well  in  England,  nor  ever  will, 
until  all  goods  are  held  in  common  and  until  there  will  be  neither 
serfs  nor  gentlemen,  and  we  shall  all  be  equal." 

By  1550,  Communism  lost  its  sanction  in  Church  and  State,  and  took 
refuge  with  the  extreme  wing  of  Nonconformity,  revolutionary  ration- 
alism, and  working  class  organizations,  while  society  at  large  moved 
towards  individualism,  whose  first  manifestation  was  the  Elizabethan 
Age — an  age  of  (pioneers,  men  of  keen  initiative.  Its  great  inter- 
preters, Spenser  and  Shakespeare,  were  both  anti-communist  and  anti- 
democratic. 

The  Diggers  or  True  Levellers  led  a  revolt  of  ideas,  beginning  in 
1648.  Gerrard  Winstanley  was  the  heart  of  the  Digger  Movement. 

The  industrial  revolution  (dating  from  about  1760)  was  ag- 
gravated by  the  Napoleonic  wars. 

The  experience  necessary  to  mitigate  the  miseries  and  pains  attendant 
upon  such  a  readjustment  of  society  was  wanting,  and  the  empirical 
go-ahead,  not  to  say  recklessly  daring  nature  of  the  English  mind,  was 
not  apt  to  pause  and  inquire  into  the  operation  of  the  new  economic 
phase  the  nation  was  entering  upon.  .  .  .  The  terrible  decade  1810-20, 
the  Luddites,  the  Spenceans,  the  Blanketeers,  the  conspiracies,  Peterloo, 
and  Cato  Street,  were  largely  due  to  the  errors,  perhaps  inevitable 
errors,  committed  in  the  years  from  1790  to  1800. 

The  same  agitated  period  saw  the  beginning  of  the  independent 
political  action  of  the  working  classes,  the  London  Corresponding 
Society  (L.  C.  S.)  forming  the  preface  of  its  history.  The 
L.  C.  S.  was  formed  in  March,  1792. 

The  L.  C.  S.  constituted  a  sort  of  democratic  and  social  reform 
seminary  for  labor  leaders.  From  it  issued  most  of  the  ideas  and  men 
that  made  themselves  conspicuous  in  popular  movements  up  to  the  year 
1820.  Thomas  Evans,  leader  of  the  Spenceans  in  the  fateful  years 
1816-18,  Colonel  Despard  (executed  for  high  treason  in  1805),  John 
Gales,  later  a  supporter  of  Owen,  Francis  Place,  and  many  others 
received  their  education  or  impulses  from  the  L.  C.  S.  The  United 
Irishmen,  when  preparing  for  the  insurrection,  entered  into  communi- 
cation with  its  leaders.  By  the  Corresponding  Act,  1799,  which  pro- 
was  the  last  great  protest  against  the  destruction  of  the  village  com- 
munities. Their  defeat  marks  the  turning  point  in  the  history  of  Eng- 
lish mediaeval  communism." 


460  THE  PUBLIC 

hibited  all  communication  between  political  societies,  the  L.  C.  S.  was 
suppressed  but  it  had  already  done  its  work;  the  movement  had  spread 
to  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire. 

In  1810,  the  Edinburgh  Review  diagnosed  the  condition  of  the 
nation  in  gloomy  colors. 

The  great  body  of  the  nation  appears  to  us  to  be  divided  into 
two  violent  and  most  pernicious  factions :  the  courtiers  who  are 
almost  for  arbitrary  power;  and  the  democrats  who  are  almost 
for  revolution  and  republicanism.  ...  If  the  two  opposite  parties 
are  once  permitted  to  shock  together  in  open  conflict  there  is  an 
end  to  the  freedom  and  almost  to  the  existence  of  the  nation. 
In  the  present  crisis,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  it  is  to  the 
popular  side  that  the  friends  of  the  constitution  must  turn  them- 
selves. If  the  Whig  leaders  do  not  first  conciliate  and  then  restrain 
the  people;  if  they  do  not  save  them  from  their  leaders  they  are 
already  choosing  in  their  own  body  .  .  .  the  Constitution  itself, 
the  Monarchy,  and  the  Whig  aristocracy  will,  in  no  long  time,  be 
swept  away.  .  .  .  The  nation  is  on  fire  at  the  four  corners.  .  .  . 
That  the  number  of  democrats  is  fast  increasing  with  a  visible  and 
dangerous  rapidity,  any  man  may  satisfy  himself  by  the  common  and 
obvious  means  of  information.  It  is  a  fact  which  he  may  read  legibly 
in  the  prodigious  sale  and  still  more  prodigious  circulation  of  Cob- 
bett's  Register,  and  several  other  weekly  papers  of  the  same  descrip- 
tion; he  may  learn  it  in  every  street  of  the  manufacturing  and 
populous  towns  in  the  heart  of  the  country.  .  .  .  The  storm  is  most 
evidently  brewing  over  our  heads  at  this  moment,  and  if  it  cannot 
be  dispersed  before  it  burst  upon  them,  we  do  not  know  where  is 
our  chance  of  being  saved  from  destruction. 

In  March,  1812,  Parliament  passed  a  law  for  the  protection  of 
machinery,  punishing  Luddite  actions  with  death,  and  in  the  sec- 
ond week  of  January,  1813,  eighteen  workmen  died  on  the  gallows 
at  York. 

The  City  of  London  again  became  one  of  the  foci  of  Liberal 
thought,  and  on  December  9,  1816,  the  Common  Council  told  the 
Prince  Regent  that  the  Government  was  corrupt  and  wasteful,  and 
that  the  late  war  was  unjust  and  senseless.  Following  Cobbett's 
cheap  Register,  a  Radical  and  popular  press,  mostly  weeklies, 
appeared,  such  as  Wooler's  Black  Dwarf,  John  Wade's  Gorgon, 
Carlile's  Republican. 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  461 

Robert  Owen  was  the  central  figure  of  British  Socialism  in  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  shrewd  cotton  spinner  of 
New  Lanark  was  reborn  as  a  socialist.  Private  initiative,  he  saw, 
would  give  to  the  laboring  poor  neither  education  nor  employment. 
The  general  diffusion  of  manufactures  throughout  a  country  generates 
a  new  character  in  its  inhabitants.  For  the  success  of  this  legislative 
measure  (the  Factory  Act),  Owen  worked  for  three  years,  until  it 
was  embodied,  in  form  of  a  compromise  with  the  opposing  interests, 
in  1819.  Owen  says :  "  Manual  labor,  properly  directed,  is  the  source 
of  all  wealth  and  national  prosperity." 

Owen,  baffled  in  his  ardent  desire  for  immediate  and  tangible 
results,  interfered  with  even  in  his  educational  experiments  in  New 
Lanark,  failed  to  notice  that  he  was  making  proselytes  among  intel- 
lectuals, stimulating  several  critics,  and  creating  an  Owenite  school 
of  thought  destined  to  leave  a  deep  impress  on  the  movement  of  the 
working  classes  and  their  socialist  leaders. 

The  reign  of  George  IV  marks  the  rise  of  Liberalism  and  the  birth 
of  the  modern  Labor  Movement,  political  and  socialistic.  .  .  .  Cap- 
italism appeared  to  be  on  its  trial — Socialism,  at  its  birth,  imbibed  the 
dogma  that  industrialism  meant  short  spells  of  prosperity,  followed 
by  chronic  crises,  pauperization  of  the  masses,  and  the  sudden  advent 
of  the  social  revolution. 

A  boundless  optimism  pervaded  the  whole  Owenite  school,  and  it 
filled  its  adherents  with  the  unshakable  belief  that  the  conversion  of 
the  nation  to  socialism  was  at  hand  or  but  a  question  of  a  few  years. 

The  best  periodical  publication  of  orthodox  Owenism  was  The  Co- 
operative Magazine  (1826-30),  which  contains  a  great  amount  of  con- 
structive matter.  .  .  .  This  is  a  subject  of  one  of  their  debates: 

"  Would  the  arts  and  sciences  flourish  under  the  co-operative 
system?" 

In  these  debates  the  term  "Socialist"  must  have  been  coined.  It 
is  found  for  the  first  time  in  The  Co-operative  Magazine  of  November, 
1827. 

The  policy  of  concession  in  preference  to  force  becomes  one  of  the 
main  characteristics  of  the  history  of  the  relations  between  Liberalism 
and  Labor.  The  idea  of  political  equality,  flowing  from  a  purely 
doctrinal  and  humanitarian  source,  expresses  itself  in  Parliamentary 
measures  and  softens  the  clash  of  antagonistic  interests,  which  orig- 
inates in  field,  factory,  and  mine,  and  finds  its  expression  in  trade 
unionist  action.  Hence  it  comes  that  the  economic  action  of  Labor, 
in  passing  through  the  atmosphere  of  Liberal  Parliamentary  politics, 
loses  its  revolutionary  edge  and  temper.  The  hard-bargaining  and 
unsentimental  capitalist-employer  becomes  in  Parliament  a  Liberal, 


462  THE  PUBLIC 

and  the  Revolutionary  Labor  leader,  when  elected  to  Parliament,  turns 
into  a  reformer.  This  is  the  cause  and  source  of  the  frictions  between 
Labor  in  the  workshop  and  Labor  in  Parliament.  And  this  is  the 
cause  of  the  hatred  of  the  ultra-conservative  and  the  revolutionary 
against  Liberalism.  On  the  one  hand,  Liberalism  facilitates  the  rise 
and  movement  of  Labor,  and  is,  therefore,  hated  and  branded  as 
subversive  by  Conservatives;  on  the  other  hand,  Liberalism  prevents 
the  rising  and  moving  working  classes  from  falling  into  the  extremes 
of  purely  economic  and  revolutionary  action,  and  is,  therefore,  hated 
and  branded  as  hypocritical,  by  Revolutionists. 

Coleridge  wrote: 

We  have  game  laws,  corn  laws,  cotton  factories,  Spitalfields,  the 
tillers  of  the  land  paid  by  poor  rates,  and  the  remainder  of  the  popu- 
lation mechanized  into  engines  for  the  manufactory  of  new  rich  men; 
yea,  the  machinery  of  the  wealth  of  the  nation  made  up  of  the 
wretchedness,  disease,  and  depravity  of  those  who  should  constitute 
the  strength  of  the  nation.  Meantime  the  true  historical  feeling,  the 
immortal  life  of  the  nation,  generation  linked  to  generation  by  faith, 
freedom,  heraldry,  and  ancestral  fame,  languishing  and  giving  place 
to  the  superstitions  of  wealth  and  newspaper  reputation.  Talents 
without  genius ;  a  swarm  of  clever,  well-informed  men :  an  anarchy  of 
minds,  a  despotism  of  maxims.  Hence  despotism  of  finance  in  gov- 
ernment and  legislation  .  .  .  and  hardness  of  heart  in  political  econ- 
omy. Government  by  clubs  of  journeymen ;  by  saints  and  sinner 
societies,  committees,  institutions;  by  reviews,  magazines,  and  above 
all  by  newspapers. 

And  Beer  goes  on  to  say: 

The  trend  of  conservative  and  religious  minds  towards  mediaevalism 
became  pronounced,  as  it  always  will  in  Christian  countries  in  times 
of  spiritual  and  social  anarchy,  or  after  a  surfeit  at  the  feasts  of 
reason  and  materialist  conceptions  of  nature  and  life.  The  great 
European  minds  have,  since  the  Renascence,  been  oscillating  between 
Olympus  and  Golgotha,  moving  to  and  fro  in  search  either  of  happi- 
ness or  redemption. 

In  spite  of  the  increase  in  the  population  of  the  towns  the  par- 
liamentary representation  of  the  nation  in  1830  remained  the  same  in 
character  as  it  was  in  1760.  The  entire  economic  revolution  appeared 
incapable  of  affecting  the  composition  of  Parliament  in  the  slightest 
degree.  Only  the  hardest  thinkers  of  the  Lancashire  workers,  in 
particular  John  Doherty,  the  leader  of  the  textile  operatives,  dreamed 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  463 

of  creating  a  political  Labor  Party  with  the  trades  unions  for  its 
units.  According  to  this  plan  the  local  and  district  unions  were  to  be 
affiliated  for  the  sole  purpose  of  dealing  with  matters  affecting  trades 
unions,  but  all  the  unions  should  together  form  a  National  Associa- 
tion to  undertake  the  emancipation  of  the  working  class  by  means 
of  parliamentary  and  socialistic  action.  This  plan  only  became  realized 
in  the  year  1899-1900  by  the  formation  of  the  Labor  Party.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  founders  of  the  Labor  Party  had  no  conception 
that  seventy  years  earlier  the  idea  of  a  similar  organization  had 
originated.  At  that  time  it  remained  a  mere  dream,  for  during  the 
agitation  for  the  Reform  Bill  the  workers  formed  a  part  of  the 
political  union  for  the  middle  and  working  classes. 

The  later  months  of  1831  saw  the  birth  of  the  idea  of  a  social- 
revolutionary  general  strike.  At  that  time,  1831-32,  Benbow 
owned  a  coffee-house  at  No.  205  Fleet  Street,  where  he  penned 
his  pamphlet  on  the  social-revolutionary  general  strike.  It  bears 
the  title :  Grand  National  Holiday  and  Congress  of  the  Productive 
Classes.  It  appeared  towards  the  close  of  1831  or  in  January, 
1832,  and  was  dedicated  to  the  workers. 

It  said: 

We  suffer  from  over-population,  so  we  are  told.  Good.  Let  us 
count  ourselves ;  let  us  find  out  the  large  numbers  of  the  working  men 
and  the  small  numbers  of  the  privileged  class. 

We  find  the  term  the  general  strike  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Herald  of  Rights  of  Industry,  April  5,  1834. 

Owen  made  the  attempt  to  displace  private  industry  and  competition 
by  means  of  peaceful  co-operative  establishments  and  wherever  possi- 
ble by  a  union  between  the  workers  and  the  capitalists.  The  object 
of  syndicalism  was  to  expropriate  the  capitalists  by  continued  hostili- 
ties and  to  get  the  factories,  workshops,  and  agricultural  industries 
into  the  hands  of  the  trade  unionists. 

Up  to  the  year  1832  the  trades  union  movement  passed  through  the 
following  stages  of  development:  organization  for  the  purpose  of 
mutual  support,  organization  of  a  single  trade  for  the  purposes  of 
strikes  and  mutual  support,  finally  organization  of  allied  trades 
(trades  unions).  These  economic  unions  were  non-political;  their 
members  were  either  Tory  or  Whig,  or  adhered  to  Radicalism  and 
vied  with  the  members  of  the  other  classes  in  struggling  for  a 
definite  political  program.  In  any  case,  the  economic  unions  of  the 


464  THE  PUBLIC 

workers  only  pursued  aims  which  did  not  go  beyond  daily  interests, 
and  which  did  not  seriously  affect  the  stability  of  the  prevailing 
system  of  society. 

From  1832  onwards  the  position  was  changed.  The  organized 
workers  became  anti-parliamentary  for  a  time.  They  cut  themselves 
off  from  parliamentary  politics,  not  for  the  purpose  of  observing 
neutrality,  but  in  order  to  fight  against  parliamentary  action,  and  to 
attain  by  means  of  trades  unions  what  had  hitherto  been  only  con- 
sidered possible  of  attainment  by  legislation.  At  the  same  time  Robert 
Owen  came  on  the  scene  with  his  anti-parliamentary  views  and  placed 
before  the  trades  unions  the  aim  of  converting  society  from  capitalism 
to  socialism  by  means  of  productive  co-operation. 

Owing  to  its  alliance  with  Owenism,  trades  unionism  assumed  a 
Utopian  character  antagonistic  to  its  essential  nature.  The  eco- 
nomically organized  working  class  possessed  no  preconceived  system 
of  society.  It  regarded  class  warfare  as  a  means  of  raising  wages 
and  lowering  profits.  For  the  time  being  it  was  not  concerned 
with  what  would  happen  if  the  profits  sank  to  zero.  As  soon  as  the 
struggle  had  strengthened  the  workers'  organization  sufficiently  for 
them  to  checkmate  capital,  they  would  take  over  the  business  of 
production  and  would  conduct  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  workers.  They 
are,  to  use  Henri  Bergson's  or  Belfort  Bax's  phraseology,  alogical. 

The  motto  of  the  weekly,  The  Pioneer,  was,  "  The  day  of  our  re- 
demption draweth  nigh."  Its  editor  was  James  Morrison,  a  young, 
self-taught  operative  builder,  who  began  with  Owenism  and  ended 
with  syndicalism.  Beyond  all  doubt,  Morrison  must  be  regarded  as 
the  originator  of  the  syndicalist  conception  of  class-antagonism  on  the 
part  of  the  working-classes. 

It  was  proposed  in  1833  that  a  general  congress,  to  sit  in 
London,  was  to  take  the  place  of  parliament  and  to  regulate  the 
production  of  the  whole  country. 

The  Poor  Man's  Guardian  (1832)  wrote  of  this  general  period: 

A  spirit  of  combination  has  grown  up  among  the  working  classes 
of  which  there  has  been  no  example  in  former  times.  A  grand 
national  organization  which  promises  to  embody  the  physical  power 
of  the  country,  is  silently,  but  rapidly  progressing;  and  the  object 
of  it  is  the  sublimest  that  can  be  conceived,  namely — to  establish  for 
the  productive  classes  a  complete  dominion  over  the  fruits  of  their 
own  industry.  Heretofore,  these  classes  have  wasted  their  strength 
in  fruitless  squabbles  with  their  employers,  or  with  one  another.  They 
have  never  sought  any  grand  object,  nor  have  they  been  united  for 
those  they  sought.  To  obtain  some  paltry  rise,  or  prevent  some  paltry 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  465 

reduction  in  wages,  has  been  the  general  aim  of  their  turn-outs;  and 
the  best  result  of  their  combinations,  even  when  successful,  was 
merely  to  secure  their  members  against  actual  want  in  the  day  of 
sickness,  or  of  superannuation.  These  and  the  like  objects  were  only 
worthy  of  slaves ;  they  did  not  strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil ;  they 
did  not  aim  at  any  radical  change;  their  tendency  was  not  to  alter 
the  system,  but  rather  to  perpetuate  it,  by  rendering  it  more  tolerable; 
nay,  they  in  some  respects  only  aggravate  the  evils  of  the  workman's 
condition,  as  for  instance,  in  benefit  societies,  of  which  the  tendency 
is  to  pinch  the  bellies  and  backs  of  the  contributors  to  the  fund,  in 
order  to  save  the  poor-rates,  that  is  to  say,  the  pockets  of  the  affluent 
classes,  from  the  just  claims  of  brokendown  industry.  An  entire 
change  in  society, — a  change  amounting  to  a  complete  subversion  of 
the  existing  "  order  of  the  world " — is  contemplated  by  the  working 
classes. 

Beer's  comment  is  that  all  this  has  a  remarkably  modern  sound. 
In  general,  ever  since  1833,  the  whole  phraseology  is  modern.  The 
terms  social  democrat,  trades  unionism,  strike,  general  strike, 
bourgeoisie  and  proletariat,  politics  and  anti-politics,  class-warfare 
and  solidarity  of  classes,  etc.,  have  been  in  general  use  ever  since 
that  period.  Occasionally,  and  especially  in  reading  The  Poor 
Man's  Guardian  and  the  Pioneer,  it  is  possible  to  imagine  one's 
self  transferred  to  the  present  day. 

The  incompatibility  between  peaceful  socialism  and  fighting 
syndicalism,  hitherto  hidden  and  unrecognized,  began  to  make 
itself  noticeable  from  about  the  end  of  1833. 

The  Crisis  wrote — April  12,  1834: 

The  immediate  consequences  of  any  attempt  to  crush  the  efforts  of 
the  popular  mind,  at  this  present  juncture,  will  be  a  most  resolute 
determination  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  legislate  for  themselves. 
This  will  be  the  result.  We  shall  have  a  real  House  of  Commons. 
We  have  never  yet  had  a  House  of  Commons.  The  only  House  of 
Commons  is  a  House  of  Trades,  and  that  is  only  just  beginning  to 
be  formed.  We  shall  have  a  new  set  of  boroughs  when  the  unions 
are  organized;  every  trade  shall  be  a  borough,  and  every  trade  shall 
have  a  council  of  representatives  to  conduct  its  affairs.  Our  present 
commoners  know  nothing  of  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  care 
not  for  them.  They  are  all  landholders.  How  can  an  employer 
represent  a  workman?  There  are  133,000  shoemakers  in  the  country, 
yet  not  one  representative  have  they  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
According  to  the  proportion  they  bear  to  the  population  they  ought 


466  THE  PUBLIC 

to  have  twenty-five  representatives.  The  same  is  with  carpenters  and 
other  trades  in  proportion.  Such  a  House  of  Commons,  however,  is 
growing.  The  elements  are  gathering.  The  character  of  the  Re- 
formed Parliament  is  now  blasted,  and,  like  the  character  of  a  woman 
when  lost,  is  not  easily  recovered.  It  will  be  substituted  by  a  House 
of  Trades. 

A  writer  in  the  Pioneer  (1834)  said: 

.  .  .  The  growing  power  and  growing  intelligence  of  trades  unions, 
when  properly  managed,  will  draw  into  its  vortex  all  the  commercial 
interests  of  the  country,  and,  in  so  doing,  it  will  become,  by  its  own 
self-acquired  importance,  a  most  influential,  we  might  say  almost 
dictatorial,  part  of  the  body  politic.  When  this  happens  we  have 
gained  all  that  we  want;  we  have  gained  universal  suffrage,  for  if 
every  member  of  the  Union  be  a  constituent,  and  the  Union  itself 
becoming  a  vital  member  of  the  State,  it  instantly  erects  itself  into 
a  House  of  Trades  which  must  supply  the  place  of  the  present  House 
of  Commons,  and  direct  the  industrial  affairs  of  the  country,  according 
to  the  will  of  the  trades  which  compose  the  associations  of  industry. 
This  is  the  ascendant  scale  by  which  we  arrive  at  universal  suffrage. 
.  .  .  With  us,  universal  suffrage  will  begin  in  our  lodges,  extend  to 
the  general  union,  embrace  the  management  of  trade,  and  finally 
swallow  up  political  power. 

Again,  another  writer  in  the  Pioneer  (1834)  said: 

Social  liberty  must  precede  political  liberty.  While  we  are  in  a 
state  of  social  slavery  our  right  would  be  exercised  to  the  benefit  of 
our  tyrants,  and  we  should  be  made  subservient  to  the  parties  who 
work  for  us  for  their  purposes.  No,  before  the  horse  is  turned  out 
to  enjoy  freedom  in  the  green  meadow,  he  must  be  unharnessed  from 
the  shafts  of  the  wagon ;  the  galling  rein  that  holds  back  his  neck  in 
the  collar  must  be  loosened,  the  bit  must  be  taken  from  his  mouth, 
and  the  collar  itself  from  his  shoulders;  nor  will  he  go  forth 
in  the  valley  rejoicing  in  his  strength,  while  the  limber  of  the  gear 
hangs  over  his  loins  and  encumbers  his  feet.  To  say,  indeed,  we  shall 
never  be  free  until  we  have  universal  suffrage  is  saying  nothing  more 
than  we  shall  never  be  free  until  we  are  free.  .  .  .  Our  position, 
brethren,  is  not  political,  and  it  cannot  become  political  with  any 
benefit  to  ourselves  until  we  have  found  means  to  obtain  a  greater 
independent  weight  in  society.  This  can  only  be  the  result  of  Unions. 

The  workers  tried  to  form  the  One  Big  Union — the  "Grand 
National  Consolidated  Trades  Union"  (1834). 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  467 

The  employers,  the  press,  and  the  State,  attacked  it.  The  law 
courts  convicted.  Lock-outs  and  strikes  exhausted  some  of  the 
funds.  Officials  embezzled  some  of  the  rest.  The  labor  leaders 
quarreled.  In  1834,  the  One  Big  Union  smashed. 

John  Francis  Bray  sang  the  requiem  of  the  syndicalist  move- 
ment. 

He  wrote: 

The  capitalist  and  the  employer  have  always  ultimately  been  too 
strong  for  them ;  and  trades  unions  have  become,  among  the  enemies 
of  the  working  class,  a  by-word  of  caution  or  contempt — a  record  of 
the  weakness  of  Labor  when  opposed  to  Capital — an  indestructible 
memento  of  the  evil  working  of  the  present  system  in  regard  to  the 
two  great  classes  which  now  compose  society. 

Labor  turned  to  an  independent  labor  policy,  socialist  aims, 
peaceful  and  educational  methods.  At  the  end  of  1835  the  ap- 
proach of  Chartism  proper  was  perceptible. 

"  Chartism  "  merely  signifies  democratic  parliamentary  reform. 
The  Chartists  aimed  to  seize  the  reins  of  government  as  quickly 
as  possible :  "  Peaceably  if  we  may — forcibly  if  we  must." 

The  People's  Charter  was  originated  in  the  year  1837  to  1838 
by  the  London  Working  Men's  Association,  and  was  drawn  up  by 
the  joiner,  William  Lovett.  The  People's  Charter  was  nothing 
more  than  a  plain  and  clearly  written  Bill,  containing  the  following 
six  points  in  the  form  of  sections  and  paragraphs:  (i)  Universal 
Suffrage,  (2)  Equal  Electoral  Districts,  (3)  Abolition  of  Prop- 
erty Qualifications  for  parliamentary  candidates,  (4)  Annual  Par- 
liaments, (5)  Ballot,  (6)  Payment  of  Members  of  Parliament. 

All  the  great  manifestoes  of  Chartism,  e.g.,  the  Declaration  of 
Rights  of  1831  and  1839,  the  three  petitions  of  the  Chartists  in 
1839,  1842,  and  1848,  refer  to  the  law  of  nature  as  the  irrefutable 
proof  of  the  justice  of  their  democratic  demands. 

Chartism  suffered  up  to  the  very  last  from  the  impossibility  of 
conferring  upon  the  masses  a  firm  and  unified  organization,  since 
the  Corresponding  Act  (1817)  did  not  permit  of  founding  a  na- 
tional organization  with  branch  societies. 

"  Chartism  was  not  a  movement  of  the  lowest  strata  of  society, 
but  of  the  best  elements  of  the  industrial  population." 

O'Connor  said  in  1839: — "  Violent  words  do  not  slay  the  enemies 
but  the  friends  of  our  movement." 


468  THE  PUBLIC 

O'Brien  had  written  in  1838: — "Is  there  any  hope  that  without 
an  entire  change  of  the  system  the  operative  will  be  able  to 
command  a  fair  day's  wage  for  a  fair  day's  work?  The  thing  is, 
in  my  opinion,  impossible." 

Ulterior  measures  proposed  included: 

1.  Withdraw  money  from  banks,  and  convert  paper  money  into 
gold  and  silver. 

2.  "Sacred  month"   (general  strike). 

3.  Refuse  payment  of  rents,  rates,  and  taxes. 

4.  Arm  themselves. 

5.  Elect  by  show  of  hands. 

6.  Boycott  opposing  newspapers. 

But  the  day  of  the  workers  had  not  come — not  even  for  full 
political  enfranchisement,  and  peaceful  constitutional  seizure  of 
power.  The  Chartist  movement  flickered,  flared,  and  finally  died 
away.  The  leaders  were  harried;  the  rank  and  file  dispersed. 
Organization  had  not  perfected  itself.  There  was  lack  of  social 
knowledge.  So  economic  power  remained  in  the  middle  class, 
and,  as  the  consequence,  political  power,  the  control  of  the  State. 
Business  men  were  the  significant  class.  They  knew  what  they 
wanted.  They  had  obtained  it.  They  continued  to  hold  it. 

Reviewing  what  has  been  quoted,  we  see  the  origins  of  British 
Socialism  in  the  instincts  of  the  workers.  We  hear  the  recurrent 
expressions  and  explosions  down  the  generations.  We  see  the  era 
of  machinery  working  a  suppression  of  those  instincts,  but  at  the 
same  time  creating  slowly  an  organization  of  the  wage-hands. 
We  see  them  blindly  rebelling  against  the  machines,  and  tricked 
by  electoral  reform  which  still  left  them  unenfranchised.  We 
witness : 

The  disillusionment  of  Labor  and  the  consequent  rise  of  revolution- 
ary trades  unionism  or  Syndicalism  (1833-34),  the  growth  of  Chartism 
or  a  Socialist  Labor  Party  (1836-48)  ;  finally  the  rise  of  the  Oxford 
movement,  Young  England  and  Christian  Socialism — all  this  stu- 
pendous mental  ferment  in  the  years  from  1825  to  1850  appears  to  be 
repeating  itself  now  on  a  larger  and  higher  scale.  ...  Or  is  it  a 
mere  coincidence  that  revolutionary  trades  unionism  followed  in  the 
wake  of  the  agitation  for  the  Reform  Bill,  1832,  and  that  Syndicalism 
and  general  strikes  have  been  treading  upon  the  heels  of  the  Con- 
stitutional crisis  that  began  with  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  Finance  Bill? 
.  .  .  And  is  Tariff  Reform  destined  to  mark  the  close  of  the  social 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  469 

ferment  of  the  present  day  as  the  triumph  of  Free  Trade  marked 
the  close  of  the  Chartist  era?  .  .  . 

We  have  seen  the  idea  of  the  general  strike  rising  ninety  years 
ago,  the  idea  of  industrial  unionism,  class  war,  of  the  Parliament 
of  Producers,  and  of  the  Soviet  representation. 

For  the  last  nine  years  the  revolutionary  tides  have  been  run- 
ning ever  more  strongly,  and  the  war  has  heaped  them  still  higher. 

In  the  old  days,  as  Beer  points  out,  "  radicals  "  were  rewarded 
in  this  fashion: 

In  1834 — William  Godwin  was  appointed  gentleman  usher. 

In  1849 — Samuel  Bamford  was  made  doorkeeper  at  Somerset 
House. 

And  now,  in  1906 — John  Burns  entered  the  Cabinet. 

Economic  power  is  swiftly  passing  to  the  workers,  and  so  po- 
litical power  registers  the  gain.  Social  knowledge  is  being  placed 
at  their  disposal.  But  the  urge  is  the  same  as  that  which  drove 
the  workers  of  1830.  The  fundamental  ideas  remain.  The  buried 
life  awakens. 

In  the  next  section,  we  shall  see  Beer's  estimate  of  the  recent 
years. 

II 

(This  second  volume  of  Beer's  book  has  not  appeared  in  English) 

From  the  struggle  and  catastrophes  between  the  beginning  of 
Chartism  in  1825  and  its  end  in  1855,  "  the  lesson  emerged  that 
the  revolutionary  policy  of  '  all  or  nothing,'  of  a  sweeping 
triumph  by  one  gigantic  effort,  of  contempt  for  reform  and  the 
supreme  value  of  a  total  and  radical  subversion  of  the  old,  were 
foredoomed  to  failure  and  defeat.  The  generation  that  followed 
Chartism  went  into  Gladstone's  camp  and  refused  to  leave  it  either 
for  the  social  Toryism  of  Benjamin  Disraeli  or  for  the  social 
revolution  of  Karl  Marx." 

The  period  1855-1914  was: 

(1)  A  ceaseless  and  more  or  less  conscious  struggle  between 
Socialists  and  Liberals  for  the  sympathies  and  votes  of  the  work- 
ing classes. 

(2)  The  development  of  socialism  from  revolutionary  doctrine 
to  political  practice. 


470  THE  PUBLIC 

(3)  The  tendency  towards  the  transformation  of  individualist 
liberalism  into  social  liberalism. 

In  1884,  John  Burns  called  upon  working  men  to  rouse  them- 
selves from  the  slumber  in  which  they  had  been  sunk  since  1848. 
The  economic  depression  which  began  in  1875  reached  its  lowest 
depths  in  1886.  The  dockers'  strike  of  1889  brought  Ben  Tillett, 
Tom  Mann,  John  Burns,  Will  Thome,  Annie  Besant,  Eleanor 
Marx,  into  leadership. 

"  Four-fifths  of  the  socialist  leaders  of  Great  Britain  in  the 
eighties  had  passed  through  the  school  of  Henry  George." 

1881 — The  Social  Democratic  Federation,1  founded  by  Henry  M. 
Hyndman,  later  to  become  the  British  Socialist  Party,  and  then 
to  split  further  into  the  National  Socialist  Party  (1916). 

1884 — The  Fabian  Society  guided  by  Sidney  Webb,  the  greatest 
mind  in  the  labor  movement  of  the  last  generation,  perhaps  the 
most  important  intellectual  figure  in  British  labor  since  Robert 
Owen. 

1893 — The  Independent  Labor  Party,  founded  by  Keir  Hardie, 
and  continued  by  Philip  Snowden,  Ramsay  MacDonald,  and 
others. 

1899-1900 — The  Labor  Party,  in  part  guided  by  Ramsay  Mac- 
Donald,  and  later  also  by  Arthur  Henderson  and  Sidney  Webb. 

1903 — The  Socialist  Labor  Party,  founded  by  Scottish  secession- 
ists from  Hyndman's  Social  Democratic  Federation,  "after  the 
model  of  the  American  Socialist  Labor  Party,  led  by  Daniel  De 
Leon  (died  1914),  an  extreme  Marxist,  who  in  the  last  years 
of  his  life  embraced  syndicalist  views." 

British  socialism  in  its  long  history  went  through  these 
phases : 

1.  Primitive  Christian  traditions,  Minorite  doctrines,  and  vil- 
lage communities.    "  It  bore  a  religious,  ethical,  and  tribal  char- 
acter." 

2.  Constructing  ideal  commonwealths.    "  Its  character  was  es- 
sentially romantic." 

3.  Class  war.     "  Unable  to  achieve  reform,  it  rushed  into  the 
revolution.    Strange  are  the  mental  processes  of  man.    They  lead 
him  sometimes  to  the  belief  that,  whilst  he  may  be  unable  to 
achieve  a  little  by  daily  efforts,  he  may  accomplish  everything  by 

1In  1908,  it  became  the  Social  Democratic  Party. 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  471 

one  supreme  sacrifice.  .  .  .  Revolution  is  but  the  last  act  of  a 
long  evolutionary  process,  or  the  sum  total  of  gradually  accumu- 
lating reforms.  Physical  force  is  but  an  incidental  phenomenon 
of  revolution." 

4.  The  application  of  socialism  to  practical  politics.  "  Its  fore- 
most exponent  is  Sidney  Webb.  Its  character  is  exclusively  and 
consistently  reformist.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  class  warfare; 
it  does  not  address  itself  to  any  class,  but  to  enlightened  public 
opinion." 

"  The  Fabian  Society  by  its  intimate  connection  with  the  I.  L.  P., 
by  its  affiliation  to  the  Labor  Party,  by  drawing  to  its  work  some 
of  the  most  alert  University  Socialists,  finally,  by  its  close  appli- 
cation to  all  live  questions  of  socialism  and  labor,  has,  after 
thirty  years  of  its  existence,  become  the  brain  of  the  socialist 
movement  of  the  United  Kingdom." 

To  Bernard  Shaw  and  Sidney  Webb,  "  the  Fabian  Society  owes 
its  importance  in  the  history  of  British  socialist  thought."  They 
gradually  shook  themselves  free  from  the  old  socialist  traditions, 
separating  themselves  from  the  doctrinal  bases  and  propagandist 
methods  of  all  socialist  organizations.  "  Were  his  ardent  tem- 
perament and  dour  determination  not  counterbalanced  by  an 
analytical  intellect  and  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  Shaw  would  have 
been  a  revolutionary  leader." 

"It  makes  no  difference  whether  socialism  is  to  be  established 
by  reasoning  from  the  labor  value  theory  and  class  struggle, 
which  is  Marxian,  or  from  the  theory  of  rent  and  collective  effort, 
which  is  Fabian."  The  point  is  to  get  the  ideas  and  the  phras- 
ing which  are  adapted  to  the  community  that  is  to  be  per- 
suaded. 

"  Socialism  had  to  be  adapted  to  democracy.  This  adaptation 
has  been  performed  by  Sidney  Webb.  It  represents  the  transi- 
tion from  Marxism  to  Fabianism,  or  from  social  revolutionary 
doctrine  to  social  practice."  Conditions  were  ripe.  The  State 
was  ready  to  enact  social  reform.  The  trade  unions  had  won 
economic  power.  There  was  a  public  conscience  on  evils.  "  The 
magnum  opus  of  Fabian  reform  is  the  Minority  Report  on  the 
Poor  Law.  Socialism  turns  into  a  series  of  social  reforms.  The 
socialist  agitator  gives  place  to  the  social  investigator." 

The  attempts  by  strait  sects  and  shibboleths  and  rigid  abstrac- 
tions to  force  socialism  down  the  throat  of  the  British  worker 


472  THE  PUBLIC 

had  not  succeeded.  Then,  the  Fabians  and  the  I.  L.  P.  came  along, 
omitted  the  word  socialism,  used  the  British  method  of  next  step 
compromise  and  succeeded  enormously.  Out  of  their  work  come 
the  Labor  Party,  where  three  and  a  half  million  trade  unionists 
are  pushing  a  socialist  program,  but  it  is  a  socialism  of  practice. 
"  The  speakers  of  the  I.  L.  P.,  in  their  educational  work  among  the 
trade  unionists,  hardly  ever  referred  to  revolution  and  class- 
warfare,  but  started  from  the  ethical,  nonconformist,  and  demo- 
cratic sentiments  which  appeal  most  to  British  workmen." 

As  the  I.  L.  P.  waxed,  the  Social  Democratic  Federation  waned 
— waned  and  finally  split.  It  was  not  the  day  for  dogmas  and 
crashing  finalities.  The  I.  L.  P.  and  a  few  Fabians  are  the  dynamic 
of  the  Labor  Party.  "  The  Labor  Party  stands  for  social  reform 
— for  a  socialistic  re-organization  of  society  by  gradual  steps,  but 
it  is  not  social  revolutionary.  It  has  no  final  goal,  but  immediate 
aims;  it  does  not  occupy  itself  with  theories,  but  with  practical 
measures.  .  .  .  The  rise  of  the  Labor  Party  meant  the  beginning 
of  the  end  of  Liberalism." 

"  The  years  from  1908  to  1914  formed  a  period  of  social  up- 
heaval which  was  essentially  revolutionary."  The  war  bred  a 
further  change,  away  from  quiet  permeation,  and  political  practice, 
toward  that  increasing  syndicalism  which  had  been  operating  since 
1910.  Many  of  the  young  men  began  to  want  a  stern  code  of 
action,  with  an  ultimate  aim  and  a  Day  of  Judgment  in  it.  A  new 
fervor  sweeps  large  masses,  as  the  idea  of  workers'  control  seizes 
their  imagination.  They  turn  to  the  pure  doctrine  of  Marx  in 
labor  colleges  and  study  groups.  So  far  as  Britain  is  concerned, 
Marx  has  for  the  first  time  entered  the  region  of  practical  politics. 
Once  again  the  youths  see  themselves  dramatically  in  the  class 
war,  at  "  the  great  historical  moment."  The  vision  that  lifted 
itself  in  the  1830*3,  and  died  in  1848,  has  flashed  again  into  their 
sight. 

The  Clyde  area  in  Scotland  and  the  valleys  of  South  Wales  are 
two  regions  where  the  winds  of  doctrine  now  blow  increasingly. 
In  particular,  "  the  simple,  emotional,  and  enthusiastic  nature  of 
the  Welsh  working  men  was,  and  still  is,  averse  from  dilatory 
tactics  and  parliamentary  methods;  it  expects  sensational  deeds 
in  any  popular  agitation.  Their  temperament  resembles  that  of  the 
French  proletariat,  but  it  is  nourished  and  stimulated  by  primitive 
Christian  feelings  rather  than  by  logical  inferences." 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  473 


The  New  Syndicalist  Phase 

"The  syndicalist  movement  or  revolutionary  trade  unionism  is 
differentiated  from  the  socialist  or  collectivist  movement  by  the 
emphasis  it  places  (a)  on  the  economic  factor  as  the  primary  for- 
mative agent  of  social  arrangements  and  social  ethics,  (b)  on  the 
economic  antagonism  between  Capital  and  Labor,  (c)  on  the 
direct  action  and  struggle  of  the  working  class  for  its  emancipa- 
tion from  the  wage  basis  of  livelihood  or  for  the  control  of  the 
means  of  production  by  Labor  itself,  (d)  on  the  trade  union  and 
not  on  the  electoral  district  as  the  focus  of  Labor  power.  Syndi- 
calism, therefore,  is  averse  from  conciliation  boards  and  industrial 
agreements  between  employers  and  employees;  it  recognizes  no 
social  peace  or  even  truce  as  long  as  the  wage  basis  prevails ;  it  is 
opposed  to  parliamentary  politics  being  made  an  integral  and  im- 
portant part  of  the  labor  movement;  it  scorns  social  reform  by 
Liberal  or  Conservative  or  labor  legislation;  it  refuses  to  believe 
in  the  efficacy  of  a  labor  policy  acting  through  parliamentary 
representatives  and  labor  officials.  The  syndicalist  movement  is 
pre-eminently  revolutionary;  the  socialist  movement  is  largely  re- 
formist. The  former  puts  itself  deliberately  outside  the  present 
system  of  society  in  order  the  better  to  get  hold  of  it  and  to  shake 
it  to  its  very  foundations ;  the  latter  is  working  within  the  present 
order  of  society  with  the  view  of  gradually  changing  it.  The 
syndicalist  knows  therefore  of  no  compromise;  class  warfare, 
relentless  and  continual,  is  his  supreme  means.  Starting  from  the 
premise,  (a)  that  economics  rules  social  relations  and  shapes 
social  ethics,  (b)  that  the  economic  antagonism  between  Labor 
and  Capital  is  irreconcilable,  the  syndicalist  cannot  arrive  at  any 
other  conclusions." 

These  principles  may  be  termed  the  syndicalist  form  of 
Marxism. 

The  first  body  to  spread  syndicalist  views  in  Great  Britain  was 
the  Socialist  Labor  Party  in  Scotland,  whose  members  originally  be- 
longed to  the  Social  Democratic  Federation  but  gradually  came  under 
the  influence  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  in  the  United  States  of 
America  and  finally  seceded  from  the  S.  D.  F.  in  1903.  The  leader 
of  the  American  Socialist  Labor  Party  was  Daniel  De  Leon,  a 
University  graduate  and  a  strict  adherent  of  Marxism,  who  for  a  long 


474  THE  PUBLIC 

time  worked  on  the  application  of  Marxist  theories  to  the  American 
Labor  movement. 

The  first  symptoms  of  the  operation  of  the  new  spirit  manifested 
themselves  in  the  rebellion  of  many  trade  unionists  against  their 
officials ;  from  1908  onwards  it  became  a  difficult  matter  for  the  officials 
of  many  trade  unions  to  obtain  from  their  members  the  ratification 
of  agreements  and  settlements  entered  into  by  them  with  the  em- 
ployers. The  British  workman,  generally  loyal,  conservative,  and  docile, 
began  to  refuse  to  follow  his  leader.  Simultaneously  some  of  the 
students  of  Ruskin  College  expressed  their  dissatisfaction  with  the 
spirit  of  the  economic  lectures  delivered  to  them  by  some  of  their 
teachers  and  formed  a  Plebs  League  for  the  purpose  of  counteracting 
the  influences  which  they  thought  served  but  the  interests  of  the 
capitalists.  The  Plebs  students  formed  a  section  of  the  Industrial 
Workers  of  the  World  and  in  1909  seceded  from  the  College  and 
formed  a  Central  Labor  College,  at  first  in  Oxford,  then  in  London, 
where  the  lectures  and  lessons  are  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  the 
syndicalist  form  of  Marxism.  It  is  supported  by  the  South  Wales 
miners  and  railway  men. 

The  ideas  of  Industrial  Unionism  streaming  from  America  through 
Scotland  into  England  were  supplemented  and  strengthened  by  the  cur- 
rent of  syndicalism  coming  from  France.  After  the  excitement  of  the 
Dreyfus  affair  and  the  disappointment  with  the  Socialist  Minister 
Millerand,  some  of  the  Marxists  and  anarchists  coalesced  and  turned 
the  French  syndicalists  or  trade  unions  into  the  revolutionary  Con- 
federation Generale  du  Travail.  French  syndicalism  has  been  more 
theoretical  and  philosophical  than  American  Industrial  Unionism, 
but  in  essence  both  of  them  represent  the  same  revolt  against  so- 
cialist and  labor  parliamentarism  and  official-ridden  and  petty  trade 
unionism. 

The  French  influence  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  British  labor 
movement  by  Tom  Mann,  who,  after  thirty  years  of  truly  Odyssean 
adventures  in  the  trade  union  and  socialist  movement  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  Colonies,  went  in  June,  1901,  to  Paris  in  order  to 
see  syndicalism  at  work.  He  "  was  much  impressed  with  the  attitude 
of  the  revolutionary  comrades  in  France,  who  had  been  able  to 
accomplish  a  magnificent  work  by  permeating  the  unions  and  forming 
the  C.  G.  T."  The  journey  to  Paris  was,  however,  by  no  means  the 
hegira  of  Mann.  Unconsciously  to  himself  he  had  imbibed  in  Australia 
the  spirit  of  the  American  I.  W.  W.  His  studies  among  the  French 
workmen  were  but  the  finishing  touches  to  his  conversion.  After  his 
return  from  Paris  he  at  once  set  to  work  to  permeate  the  British  trade 
unions,  which,  as  Mann  admits,  for  some  five  or  six  years  previously 


ORIGINS  OF  BRITISH  SOCIALISM  475 

had   carried   on   "an    agitation    for   the   closer   combination   of   the 
unions  and  for  the  adoption  of  different  tactics." 


In  the  meantime,  Tom  Mann  and  his  brother  industrial  unionists, 
among  whom  the  most  prominent  was  James  Larkin,  were  exercising 
considerable  influence  on  the  strike  movement  of  those  years,  in 
which  the  English  transport  workers,  the  British  railwaymen,  the 
British  miners  and  the  Irish  transport  workers  played  so  conspicuous 
a  part.  Nothing  like  the  general  strike  of  the  British  miners  in  the 
spring  of  1912  had  ever  happened  before.  A  comparison  of  this  strike 
movement  with  that  of  the  years  1839-42  exhibits  in  an  unmistakable 
manner  the  enormous  advance  British  Labor  has  made  in  organizing 
and  executive  capacity.  It  is  a  growing  and  rising  power ;  its  activities 
are  changing  the  structure  of  society. 


Interpretation  and  Adaptation  of  Syndicalism 

"Notable  attempts  at  interpreting  syndicalism  and  adapting  it 
to  British  mental  and  material  conditions  have  been  made  by 
several  socialist  intellectuals — G.  D.  H.  Cole  and  a  group  of  New 
Age  contributors.  Cole  sees  in  the  new  Labor  movement  the 
inchoate  expression  of  the  desire  of  the  more  intelligent  and 
alert  workmen  for  the  control  of  production.  He  argues  that  the 
socialist  and  labor  parties  and  collectivist  schools  had  been 
regarding  the  social  problem  first  and  foremost  as  a  problem  of 
distribution  of  the  division  of  the  national  income. 

"  The  trade  union  should  do  for  modern  industry  what  the  guild 
did  for  the  mediaeval  arts  and  crafts.  Collectivism  would  form  an 
industrial  bureaucracy;  syndicalism — an  industrial  democracy. 
Pending  the  consummation  of  this  supreme  end  and  aim,  the 
workers,  if  they  desired  an  improvement  of  their  condition,  should 
co-ordinate  their  forces,  organize  on  the  basis  of  industrial  union- 
ism and  use  the  weapon  of  the  strike,  since  political  action  could 
achieve  little,  if  anything  at  all.  The  Liberal  reforms  in  the 
years  from  1906  onwards,  for  all  the  praise  bestowed  on  them  by 
politicians,  had  practically  done  nothing  to  raise  the  conditions 
of  Labor.  The  strikes  from  1911  to  1913  had  raised  wages,  im- 
proved the  condition  of  labor  and  increased  the  respect  for  the 
organized  working  class  far  beyond  any  so-called  social  reform 
legislation  could  have  done.  Where  the  strike  failed  it  was  due 


476  THE  PUBLIC 

to  the  obsolete  form  of  trade  union  organization.  The  day  of  the 
small  union  had  passed.  Large  industry  must  be  confronted  with 
greater  unionism.  The  small  trade  union  was  wasteful.  Labor 
parliamentarism,  as  at  present  constituted,  was  a  costly  delu- 
sion." 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  NEW  CLASS  OF  GOVERNMENT  SERVANT 

MR.  GRAHAM  WALLAS,  who  was  called  as  witness  before  the  Coal 
Industry  Commission,  said: 

I  am  Professor  of  Political  Science  in  the  University  of  London, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  MacDonnell  Commission  on  the  Civil 
Service  (1912-15).  I  am  not  a  professed  economist,  but  am  familiar 
with  some  of  the  political  and  administrative  arguments  for  and 
against  "  Nationalization."  Many  of  the  arguments  which  I  have 
heard  used  against  nationalization  seem  to  me  to  involve  a  confusion 
between  the  results  of  large-scale  organization  and  those  of  national- 
ization. The  village  carrier  is  impelled  to  be  efficient  by  different 
motives  from  those  which  impel  the  State  parcel-postman.  But  much, 
if  not  most,  of  that  difference  would  also  be  found  if  one  compared 
him  with  the  man  who  delivers  parcels  for  a  large  privately-owned 
railway  company;  or  if  one  compared  a  village  shopkeeper  with  one 
of  the  employees  of  a  multiple-shop  company,  or  of  the  Co-operative 
Wholesale  Society. 

Nearly  all  students  are,  I  believe,  agreed  that  the  advantages  of 
large-scale  organization  of  some  kind  outweigh  its  disadvantages  in 
the  case  of  railway  service ;  and  some  students  believe  that  the  balance 
of  advantage  is  on  the  same  side  in  the  case  of  the  distribution  of 
food  in  urban  areas.  I  myself  believe,  though  I  have  no  expert 
knowledge  of  the  technical  facts,  that  large-scale  organization  of 
some  kind  is  an  advantage  in  British  coal-getting. 

If  so,  the  question  is  narrowed  down  to  a  comparison  between 
nationalization  and  other  forms  of  large-scale  organization.  Appar- 
ently, in  the  course  of  the  discussion  it  is  being  further  narrowed  to 
a  comparison  between  the  nationalization  and  large-scale  private  ad- 
ministration with  a  considerable  degree  of  State  control.  I  shall 
myself  consider  the  problem  of  nationalization  neither  as  an  industrial 
nor  as  a  technical,  but  as  an  administrative  problem. 

It  is  proposed  that  the  State  should  become  responsible  for  the 
appointment,  discipline,  promotion,  and  control  of  perhaps  twelve 
hundred  thousand  persons,  men,  boys,  women,  and  girls,  ranging  from 
the  managers  of  great  systems  of  pits  down  to  pit-boys  and  girl 
typists.  My  own  opinion  is  that  this  will  be  an  advantage  to  the 
community  if  the  State  takes  reasonable  care  in  avoiding  certain 

477 


478  THE  PUBLIC 

administrative  dangers,   and   that   it   will  be   a  disadvantage  to  the 
community  if  such  care  is  not  taken. 

The  most  obvious  administrative  dangers  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows : 

(a)  The  coal-mining  service  might  become  corrupt  in  the  ordinary 
sense.  Posts  might  be  sold  by  those  who  had  the  power 
to  fill  them,  as  posts  in  the  British  Civil  Service  were  sold 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

(6)  The  service  might  get,  in  the  American  sense,  "into  politics." 
Posts  and  promotion  would  be  given  as  a  reward  for 
political  work  or  political  subscriptions;  and  those  who 
opposed  the  party  which  for  the  moment  dominated  either 
Parliament  or  the  district  concerned  might  be  passed  over 
or  dismissed,  or  refused  work. 

(c)  The  service  might  become,  as  some  of  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth century  guilds  became,  a  "  family  affair."  Officials 
and  workmen  might  acquire  a  customary  right  to  appoint 
or  admit  to  employment  their  sons  or  other  relatives.  Out- 
siders might  only  be  admitted  to  work  for  which  there  were 
few  applications,  and  superior  and  inferior  hereditary  grades 
would  be  thus  created. 

(<f)  Or  all  or  some  of  these  evils  might  develop  sporadically  and 
partially. 

I  should  suppose  that  instances  of  all  these  evils  might  be  found 
in  the  existing  private  administration  of  the  industry.  Any  improve- 
ment in  the  conditions  of  the  service  which  made  admission  to  it 
more  desirable  than  admission  to  other  forms  of  employment  would, 
of  course,  increase  the  danger,  whether  the  industry  were  publicly  or 
privately  owned. 

In  approaching  similar  problems  in  the  Civil  Service,  the  Royal 
Commissions  which  have  inquired  into  them  (of  which  the  Playfair, 
Ridley,  and  MacDonnell  Commissions  have  been  the  most  important) 
have  separated  the  forms  of  service  into  (i)  administrative  and  clerical, 
(ii)  technical,  and  (iii)  manual. 

The  most  elaborate  system  that  has  been  built  up  in  the  British 
Civil  Service  is  that  providing  for  admission  to  and  promotion  in 
clerical  and  administrative  work.  The  basis  for  this  system  is  admis- 
sion by  open  competitive  examination  in  the  subjects  of  a  general 
education.  It  is  believed  that  a  properly  educated  young  man  or 
woman  can  be  trained  after  appointment  to  do  the  administrative 
work  even  of  such  a  technical  department  as  the  War  Office  or  the 
Admiralty.  The  higher  posts  in  this  work  are  therefore  normally 
given  to  those  who  have  been  trained  in  it.  If  this  system  is  used 


NEW  CLASS  OF  GOVERNMENT  SERVANT     479 

to  any  extent  in  the  mining  service  it  would  probably  be  well  to 
require  a  certain  knowledge  of  natural  science  in  the  examination, 
even  from  the  future  clerks  and  secretaries  of  the  service.  The 
present  distinction  between  "Class  I"  appointments  and  those  of  a 
lower  grade  might  be  modified;  and  promotion  might  mainly  depend 
rather  on  proved  efficiency  than  on  the  examination  by  which  the 
original  appointment  was  made.  Perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  hold 
the  examinations  not  in  London,  but  in  the  coal  districts;  so  that 
the  mass  of  the  candidates,  especially  for  the  minor  clerical  posts, 
would  normally  come  from  those  districts,  and  be  familiar  with  their 
conditions. 

The  appointment  of  technical  officers  under  the  State,  such  as 
Government  chemists,  or  engineers,  or  lawyers,  or  doctors,  has  hitherto 
been  somewhat  haphazard.  The  Playfair  and  Ridley  Commissions 
practically  ignored  this  problem.  The  MacDonnell  Commission  recom- 
mended that  in  the  appointment  of  young  men  and  women  for  technical 
posts  reliance  should  mainly  be  placed  on  competitive  examination  in 
technical  subjects,  and  that  in  the  appointment  of  older  persons  to 
posts  for  which  they  might  be  expected  to  have  been  trained  outside 
the  service,  all  posts  should  be  advertised  and  applications  should  be 
considered  by  technical  committees  of  selection  containing  at  least  one 
representative  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission.  Since  the  technical 
work  of  coal  mining  is  highly  specialized,  it  would  probably  be  found 
that  the  best  men  for  the  higher  technical  posts  would  be  selected 
from  those  trained  from  youth  in  the  service.  If  so,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  provide  carefully  against  "  regionalism "  in  promotion.  A 
brilliant  young  mining  engineer  should  be  able  to  look  forward  to  the 
chance  of  appointment  to  an  important  post  outside  his  own  district. 
Care  should  also  be  taken  that  women  shall  be  eligible  for  all  work 
for  which  their  powers  are  suited.  I  believe,  for  instance,  that  some 
of  the  best  living  "  fossil  botanists  "  are  women. 

The  British  State  has  hitherto  given  very  little  general  attention 
to  the  problem  of  the  best  way  of  appointing,  promoting,  and  dis- 
missing manual  workers  outside  the  Army,  Navy,  and  postal  service. 
I  do  not  know,  for  instance,  that  there  exists  in  print  any  description 
of  the  actual  forces  which  influence  the  appointment  or  refusal  to 
appoint  applicants  for  manual  work  in  the  State  dockyards. 

Appointment  and  promotion  of  manual  workers  to  a  service  so 
large  and  complex  as  the  coal-mining  industry  would  be  a  compara- 
tively new  problem.  It  should  be  carefully  inquired  into  as  soon  as 
nationalization  is  decided  on,  and  continuously  watched  during  the 
development  of  the  new  system.  The  existing  miners  would,  of 
course,  be  taken  over  by  the  State,  and  any  system  of  filling  new 
vacancies  and  making  new  appointments  should  probably  be  decen- 


480  THE  PUBLIC 

tralized,  and  perhaps  made  to  conform,  as  far  as  can  be  done  without 
loss  of  efficiency,  to  the  best  local  traditions. 

The  evidence  given  before  the  various  Commissions  on  the  Civil 
Service  and  my  own  administrative  experience,  both  on  the  London 
School  Board  and  on  the  London  County  Council,  suggest  to  me  that 
it  would  be  well  for  the  State,  in  taking  over  so  large  a  new  service, 
to  consider  carefully  the  right  way  of  dealing  with  those  cases  of 
slackness  and  inefficiency  (both  on  the  administrative  and  on  the 
technical  side)  which  do  not  amount  to  gross  misconduct.  This  prob- 
lem also  exists,  of  course,  in  large-scale  private  industry. 

If  the  mines  are  nationalized,  and  particularly  if  examination  is  to 
be  used  to  any  considerable  extent  as  a  means  of  recruiting,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  problem  of  employment  is  closely  bound  up  with 
that  of  the  technical  and  general  educational  systems  of  the  mining 
districts.  Those  who  are  engaged  in  the  organization  of  technical 
education  and  research  should  be  brought  into  close  contact  with  the 
whole  system.  A  young  engineeer  or  chemist,  for  instance,  whom  it 
is  proposed  to  promote  to  a  higher  grade  of  work,  might  well  be 
given  a  short  leave  of  absence,  together  with  opportunities  of  research, 
either  in  Britain  or  in  America,  under  the  general  direction  of  a  high 
technical  expert. 

All  these  administrative  problems  would  exist,  and  would  have  to 
be  solved,  whether  the  form  of  nationalization  adopted  were  adminis- 
tration by  an  ordinary  Government  Department  or  such  a  scheme  of 
joint  Governmental  and  vocational  control  as  that  proposed  by  Mr. 
Straker  in  his  evidence. 

An  essential  difference  between  coal-getting  and  other  industries 
consists  in  the  fact  that  the  existing  coal  deposits  when  once  exhausted 
cannot  be  renewed;  so  that  each  generation  of  the  inhabitation  of 
Great  Britain  has  to  decide  how  far  it  will  prefer  the  interests  of  its 
successors  to  its  own  interest.  In  this  all-important  respect  I  believe 
that  nationalization  would  have  an  advantage  over  private  ownership. 
The  same  man  will,  I  believe,  when  he  is  acting  as  a  voter  or  Member 
of  Parliament  or  Minister,  or  State  official  be  more  influenced  by 
national  interests  in  distant  future  than  when  he  is  acting  as  a  share- 
holder, or  manager,  or  member  of  a  trade  union. 

The  Viscount  Haldane,  who  was  called  as  witness  before  the 
Coal  Commission,  testified  as  follows: 

Chairman:  Lord  Haldane,  I  think  that  you  were  Lord  Chancellor, 
and  that  you  were  Minister  of  War  from  1905  to  1912? — Yes. 

I  am  afraid  I  must  ask  you  one  or  two  questions  about  that  in 
order  to  lead  up  to  the  question  that  I  desire  to  ask  you.  I  think  that 


NEW  CLASS  OF  GOVERNMENT  SERVANT     481 

during  that  time  you  had  very  considerable  experience  of,  and  were 
responsible  for,  the  reorganization  of  a  great  State  Department?— 
That  was  so. 

Am  I  right  in  thinking  that  during  that  time  you  organized  the 
Territorial  Forces  of  the  Crown,  and  that  also  you  provided  for  a 
very  speedy  mobilization  of  our  Forces  in  the  event  of  the  nation 
being  called  upon  to  go  to  war? — That  was  so. 

I  think,  as  a  result  of  your  efforts,  a  very  speedy  mobilization  of 
our  Forces  was  effected  when  war  was  declared  against  Germany? — 
Yes.  The  thing  we  concentrated  upon  was  extreme  rapidity  of 
mobilization  and  concentration  in  the  place  of  assembly,  and  that  we 
carried  out. 

I  suppose  it  is  no  longer  a  secret,  but  war  was  declared  on  Tuesday, 
August  4th,  1914,  and  I  think  within  a  matter  of  twelve  or  fourteen 
hours,  under  the  scheme  of  mobilization  which  you  had  prepared, 
some  of  our  troops  were  already  in  France? — Yes,  within  a  very 
short  time :  within  a  very  few  hours  troops  were  in  France. 

How  long  was  it  before  the  whole  of  the  British  Expeditionary 
Force  was  placed  in  the  Field  at  the  appointed  place? — On  Monday, 
3rd  August,  1914,  at  the  request  of  the  Prime  Minister,  I,  as  Lord 
Chancellor,  went  back  to  the  War  Office  and  mobilized  the  machine 
with  which  I  was  familiar.  That  was  done  at  n  o'clock  upon  Monday, 
August  3rd,  and  the  giving  of  the  orders  took  only  a  few  minutes; 
everything  was  prepared  years  before. 

How  long  was  it  before  the  whole  of  the  Expeditionary  Force  was 
able  to  be  placed  in  France? — The  whole  of  the  Expeditionary  Force 
was  ready  to  transport  to  France  on  the  spot.  It  was  ready,  I  should 
think,  within  48  hours.  The  War  Council  which  was  held  decided 
that  four  infantry  divisions  and  a  cavalry  division  should  go  at  once, 
and  that  a  fifth  division  should  follow  in  a  week,  and  then  another 
division  should  follow  a  little  later.  That  was  carried  out,  as  the  War 
Council  directed,  by  the  War  Office. 

The  reason  I  am  putting  those  questions  is  to  show  that  you  had 
great  experience  in  organizing  a  branch  of  the  State.  The  problem 
we  have  before  us  is,  if  nationalization  should  be  decided  upon, 
whether  the  present  Civil  Service,  or  some  remodeling  of  the  present 
Civil  Service,  would  be  in  a  position  successfully  to  cope  with  the 
problems  that  would  face  them  if  the  coal  industry  were  run  na- 
tionally?— Yes.  What  I  should  like  to  say  something  about,  if  you 
will  allow  me,  is  the  question  of  whether  it  is  possible  to  train  a  body 
of  Civil  Servants  fit  for  rapid  and  efficient  administration. 

I  have  not  had  a  precis  from  you  because  time  has  been  rather  short, 
but  I  should  be  much  obliged  to  you  if  you  would  now  take  up  that 
subject,  and  place  your  views  before  the  Commission? — That  brings 


482  THE  PUBLIC 

me  at  once  to  what  I  am  dealing  with.  In  the  Army  some  of  these 
administrative  things  are  just  as  difficult  and  just  as  complicated  as 
any  that  occur  in  ordinary  civilian  business.  They  require  qualities 
which  the  ordinary  Civil  Servant  is  not  trained  to  develop.  They 
require,  to  begin  with,  a  great  deal  of  initiative.  No  doubt  it  is  true, 
in  peace  time  especially,  that  every  officer  looks  to  his  superior; 
but  we  encouraged,  as  far  as  we  could,  the  principle  of  allocating 
responsibility  and  encouraging  initiative,  telling  a  man  what  he  had 
to  do  in  general  terms,  having  first  made  sure  that  he  was  competent 
to  do  it,  and  then  showing  that  we  held  him  responsible  for  doing 
it  and  for  doing  it  for  the  least  money  possible  and  in  the  swiftest 
and  most  effective  fashion.  That  was  an  ideal  which  we  did  not 
succeed  in  wholly  living  up  to,  but  it  was  a  principle  which  seemed  to 
me  to  work  out  effectively.  There  is  no  doubt  in  that  period  some 
extraordinarily  efficient  military  administrators  were  trained  up.  I 
hope  this  Commission  will  not  think  by  "  military  administrative 
officers"  I  mean  the  kind  of  people  who  have  come  in,  justly  or 
unjustly,  for  a  good  deal  of  criticism  before  the  public  lately.  Those 
are  mainly  men  not  trained  for  the  purpose.  I  am  speaking  of  the 
young  men  we  took  and  then  put  through  a  special  course  of  training. 
The  thing  we  found  was  that  in  this,  as  in  everything  else,  education 
is  of  vital  importance,  and  then  special  education  coming  upon  the 
top  of  a  sufficiently  generally  educated  mind.  We  had  no  school 
and  we  had  no  staff  college  in  which  to  train  our  administrators,  and 
there  was  not  the  least  prospect  in  those  days  of  Parliament  giving 
us  money  for  one.  But  we  had  another  thing  to  hand:  We  took 
the  London  School  of  Economics,  with  which  some  of  the  members 
of  this  Commission  are  familiar.  I  myself  approached  the  London 
School  of  Economics,  and  with  the  very  great  assistance  which  I  had 
from  a  member  of  the  Commission,  Mr.  Sidney  Webb,  I  induced  them 
to  take  in  hand  the  task  of  training  40  administrative  officers  for  us 
in  each  year.  Courses  were  designed,  and  they  were  taught  things 
which  they  never  could  have  learned  in  the  Army.  I  think  it  will 
be  found  if  you  inquire  from  others  that  that  training  was  of  enormous 
advantage  in  France.  There  these  young  officers  were  serving — officers 
on  whom  was  placed  enormous  responsibility  and  also  a  great  deal 
of  necessity  for  devising  initiative  for  themselves.  Englishmen,  if 
they  have  any  aptitude  for  it,  are  particularly  good  at  getting  out  of 
tight  places,  and  these  officers,  trained  as  they  were  to  deal  with  all 
sorts  of  problems,  in  France  and  Flanders  showed  very  great  capacity 
in  doing  so.  In  Mesopotamia  it  was  the  same. 

Do  you  think  the  class  of  men  to  whom  you  have  been  good  enough 
to  direct  our  attention  is  a  class  of  men  who  possess  the  qualities 
of  courage  and  of  taking  initiative? — Yes.  I  am  very  glad  you  have 


NEW  CLASS  OF  GOVERNMENT  SERVANT     483 

given  me  an  opportunity  to  speak  about  that.  There  are  some  men 
who  have  it  not  in  them  to  take  initiative  or  assume  responsibility, 
and  they  never  will.  I  think,  as  a  rule,  in  the  civilian  business  world 
these  men  fail  as  they  fail  in  the  Army.  In  the  business  world  the 
other  men  come  to  the  top,  and  are  picked  out  and  chosen  and  put 
to  their  work.  That  is  not  so  usual  in  a  service.  It  is  more  difficult 
in  the  Civil  Service  where  people  come  in  according  to  rules  and 
succeed  to  places  very  largely  according  to  seniority.  In  the  army 
and  Navy,  where  selection  obtains  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  ought 
to  obtain  to  a  still  greater  extent,  it  is  much  easier.  You  pick  a  man 
because  he  is  particularly  good  at  the  sort  of  work  you  want  him  for. 
You  ask  him  to  devote  himself  to  administration,  and,  if  he  does, 
you  may  get  a  man  just  as  valuable  and  just  as  good  as  you  will 
find  in  the  business  world.  It  is  quite  true  he  has  not  got  what  is 
the  great  impulse  in  the  business  world,  namely,  the  desire  to  make 
a  fortune  for  himself,  but  he  has  another  motive,  which,  in  my 
experience,  is  equally  potent  with  the  best  class  of  men,  namely,  the 
desire  to  distinguish  himself  in  the  service  of  the  State.  If  he 
thinks  he  will  be  recognized  because  of  his  public  spirit  and  his  devo- 
tion to  his  duty,  that  public  spirit  and  devotion  to  duty  will  make  him 
do  anything:  there  is  no  sacrifice  of  himself  he  will  not  make.  Of 
course,  I  am  talking  of  the  best  type  of  men,  such  as  the  men  I  came 
across  and  saw  in  the  Army.  That  class  of  man,  I  believe,  exists  in 
far  greater  number  in  the  two  services  than  has  been  supposed  at 
the  present  time.  I  am  only  taking  them  as  illustrations  of  sources 
from  which  you  can  draw.  I  am  not  suggesting  to  this  Commission 
that  they  should  nationalize  under  the  Army  and  Navy,  but  I  am  only 
saying  why  I  think  there  is  a  source  which  is  neglected  from  which 
oublic  servants  might  be  drawn.  You  get  these  men  and  they  have 
been  trained  to  a  sense  that  they  must  be  responsible  even  with  their 
own  lives  for  the  attainment  of  the  object  which  you  intrust  to  them 
to  accomplish. 

We  appear  then  to  have  created  a  sort  of  new  class  of  (I  will 
call  them  for  the  moment)  officials  for  want  of  a  better  term.  What 
is  the  future  of  those  men  if  they  have  to  remain  in  the  Army  or  in 
the  Navy? — I  will  come  to  that  in  a  moment,  but  I  wish  to  say  we 
did  not  create  them:  they  were  there,  but  undeveloped.  Splendid 
material  was  there,  but  the  nation  had  never  thought  of  training  them 
in  the  right  way.  They  had  trained  the  commanding  officer,  but  they 
had  never  trained  the  administrator  who  was  really  just  as  necessary 
to  them.  I  want  to  say  now  that  I  do  not  think  the  State  recognizes 
the  extent  to  which  not  only  in  the  Army  and  the  Navy,  but  outside 
the  Army  and  the  Navy,  there  are  young  men  in  whom  those  qualities 
can  be  brought  out— the  quality  of  initiative  and  the  quality  of  devo- 


484  THE  PUBLIC 

tion  to  duty,  which  are  as  powerful  a  motive  as  the  motive  of  business 
men  if  they  are  only  developed  in  the  right  atmosphere. 

Should  I  be  right  in  saying  that,  in  your  opinion,  there  is  a  class 
of  man  who  combines  the  strongest  sense  of  public  duty  with  the 
greatest  energy  and  capacity  for  initiative? — In  my  opinion  there  is 
a  large  class. 

And  that  is  a  class  that  can  not  only  be  trained  in  the  future  but 
which,  in  your  view,  is  to  hand  at  present? — They  are  to  hand  at 
present.  I  have  spoken  of  the  Army  because  I  know  the  Army  and 
perhaps  because  I  love  it,  but  it  is  certainly  equally  true  of  the  Navy. 
If  I  may  say  so,  the  Navy  has  given  even  less  attention  to  this 
question  than  we  tried  to  do  in  the  Army. 

Speaking  of  that  class,  with  regard  to  the  coal  industry,  do  you 
think  it  would  be  necessary,  if  one  drew  or  selected  from  that  class 
in  the  sort  of  way  you  have  been  good  enough  to  tell  us,  to  give 
these  men  some  special  training  to  fit  them  for  the  coal  industry  in 
the  event  of  it  being  necessary? — I  think  so,  and,  if  I  may,  I  will 
just  put  the  steps  which  I  think  would  be  necessary.  My  idea  for 
the  Army  and  Navy  is  that  young  men  should  not  go  into  them  too 
early.  With  regard  to  the  age  of  entry  in  the  Navy  (it  is  low  enough 
in  the  Army  now,  but  too  early  in  the  Navy  at  the  present  so  far 
as  I  can  judge)  I  should  like  to  see  it  begin  at  17  or  18  years. 
I  believe  that  is  quite  early  enough,  when  a  young  man  has  a  general 
education.  That  would  give  an  opportunity  for  the  son  of  the  working 
man  just  as  for  the  son  of  the  duke  to  go  into  these  services.  It 
will  all  depend  upon  whether  he  feels  it  in  him,  and  whether  he  is 
chosen  on  indications  which  satisfy  those  who  have  to  make  the 
selection.  At  that  age  he  will  have  gone  in  with  an  amount  of 
education  which  he  does  not  get  at  the  present  time.  I  do  not  believe 
in  special  schools,  because  they  are  never  so  good  as  the  schools 
which  give  a  broad  general  basis  on  which  to  develop  the  mind.  He 
would  then  go  in,  and  his  first  years  of  course  would  be  thorough 
education  in  his  duty,  naval  or  military.  A  little  later  he  would 
specialize  more  and  more  in  those  duties.  He  would  go  into  the 
field  and  go  on  board  ship — whatever  might  happen — and  then  I 
should  like,  if  he  has  aptitude  for  what  I  may  call  general  staff  duties 
as  distinguished  from  others,  to  see  him  trained  for  those.  If  he  is 
the  sort  of  young  officer  that  has  it  in  him  and  if  he  has  the  aptitude 
for  the  other  side  equally,  then  encourage  him  to  train  for  the 
administrative  side.  That  administrative  side  would  have  to  be  organ- 
ized and  developed  and  recognized  to  an  extent  which  it  has  not 
been  up  to  now.  Then  when  he  was  25  or  26  he  might  feel,  "  Well, 
I  have  great  aptitude  for  administration.  I  have  distinguished 
myself  so  far  as  I  have  gone.  But  it  is  peace  time  and  the  Army 


NEW  CLASS  OF  GOVERNMENT  SERVANT     485 

and  Navy  do  not  seem  likely  to  want  me.  I  have  a  better  chance 
if  I  can  serve  the  State  in  another  Department."  Then  I  should  like 
to  see  the  State,  having  kept  a  watch  over  that  class  of  officer  and 
selecting  the  best  of  them,  put  them  through  a  special  course  of 
training.  I  am  not  sure  I  know  anything  much  better  than  the  kind 
of  atmosphere  we  had  in  the  London  School  of  Economics.  It  was 
purely  civilian  and  free  from  militarism,  and  it  was  very  good.  There 
they  were  trained  in  making  contracts  and  in  local  government,  in  the 
law  of  administration,  in  railway  management,  and  a  variety  of  other 
things  which  they  could  choose,  or  all  of  which  they  could  take.  A 
comparatively  short  course  of  that  develops  enormously  and  very 
rapidly  the  capacity  of  a  really  first-rate  man  already  trained  in  his 
own  profession.  He  becomes  very  capable  and  apt  as  an  administrator. 
I  have  seen  it  over  and  over  again  in  officers  of  that  kind  who  later 
in  life  have  gone  into  civilian  administration,  and  they  are  very  good 
indeed.  Then  there  is  something  else  to  be  seen  to.  It  is  not  at 
present  the  business  of  the  London  School  of  Economics  to  teach 
initiative.  Initiative  is  a  matter  of  the  spirit  and  a  matter  of  tem- 
perament. Like  courage  and  temperament,  initiative  can  be  developed. 
I  should  like  to  see  a  school  of  the  State  teach  the  necessity  of  that 
and  the  necessity  of  a  man  relying  upon  himself  and  making  his  own 
decisions.  As  you  see,  I  put  education  in  a  very  wide  and  broad 
sense  as  the  foundation  of  the  question  whether  you  can  train  admin- 
istrators for  the  service  of  the  State. 

On  the  question  of  salary,  do  you  think  the  State  would  have  to 
raise  the  scale  of  salary  to  make  it  correspond  with  that  which  prevails 
in  private  employment? — I  am  all  in  favor  of  paying  good  salaries, 
because,  in  the  main,  you  get  what  you  pay  for,  and  it  is  still  more 
clear  that  you  do  not  get  what  you  do  not  pay  for.  That  is  human 
nature,  and  it  is  as  strongly  implanted  in  the  miner  as  in  the  State 
official.  The  State  official,  hitherto,  has  been  the  patient  beast  of 
burden  who  has  been  underpaid,  and  whose  salary  has  risen  very 
slightly  compared  with  the  cost  of  living.  Equally  good  salaries  do 
not  mean  the  salaries  which  rich  men  require  in  order  to  live  as  rich 
men.  Your  general  in  the  Army,  your  colonel,  your  captain,  your 
admiral  in  the  Navy,  your  commander,  live  on  what  the  rich  man  often 
calls  very  little  indeed,  but  their  reward  comes  to  them  in  another 
way.  They  have  social  advantages  which  he  has  not.  They  are 
rewarded  by  the  public,  by  honors,  and  by  positions  which  tell.  I  do 
not  like  that  being  a  monopoly  of  the  fighting  services.  I  want  to 
see  it  extended  to  the  other  administrative  services  of  the  State,  and 
I  think  it  can  be.  It  has  been  partly  extended  to  the  Civil  Service, 
and  I  want  it  extended  to  those  larger  Civil  Services  of  which  we 
are  speaking. 


486  THE  PUBLIC 

Mr.  Justice  Sankey,  as  chairman  of  the  Coal  Industry  Commis- 
sion, reported: 

The  Civil  Servant  has  not  been  trained  to  run  an  industry,  but  the 
war  has  demonstrated  the  potentiality  of  the  existence  of  a  new  class 
of  men  (whether  already  in  the  service  of  the  State  or  not)  who 
are  just  as  keen  to  serve  the  State  as  they  are  to  serve  a  private 
employer,  and  who  have  been  shown  to  possess  the  qualities  of  courage 
in  taking  the  initiative  necessary  for  the  running  of  an  industry. 

Hitherto,  State  management  of  industries  has  on  balance  failed  to 
prove  itself  free  from  serious  shortcomings,  but  these  shortcomings 
are  largely  due  to  the  neglect  of  the  State  to  train  those  who  are  to 
be  called  on  for  knowledge  and  ability  in  management. 

The  experience  of  the  last  few  years  has,  however,  shown  that  it 
is  not  really  difficult  for  the  British  nation  to  provide  a  class  of 
administrative  officers  who  combine  the  strongest  sense  of  public  duty 
with  the  greatest  energy  and  capacity  for  initiative.  Those  who  have 
this  kind  of  training  appear  to  be  capable  in  a  high  degree  of  assum- 
ing responsibility  and  also  of  getting  on  with  the  men  whom  they 
have  to  direct 


CHAPTER  IV 
WHAT  PEOPLE  SAY 

The  Social  Revolution 
ON  September  24th,  1919,  the  Manchester  Guardian  said: 

Privilege  of  class,  of  wealth,  of  opportunity,  and  of  birth  is  not 
to  be  swept  lightly  away.  The  struggle  will  not  be  a  short  one,  and 
if  at  times  both  sides  take  breath  to  recover  there  is  no  need  to 
delude  ourselves  into  the  belief  that  we  are  yet  all  members  of  one 
family  with  common  objects  and  a  common  outlook.  The  new  spirit 
of  Labor  cannot  live  with  any  spirit  of  pure  industrial  efficiency  which 
denies  to  the  worker  essential  human  interests.  The  satisfaction  of 
these  interests  may  be  unprofitable  and  economically  unwise.  But  it 
is  the  whole  point  of  the  new  Labor  movement  that  it  thinks  less 
in  terms  of  economics  and  more  in  terms  of  self-development,  self- 
expression,  and  the  capacity  for  power. 

Viscount  Esher  on  March  23rd,  1919,  wrote  (The  Weekly 
Dispatch)  : 

The  new  forces  of  democracy,  reflected  as  they  are  in  the  awakening 
of  the  vast  masses  of  what  are  called  the  lower  classes,  are  a  far 
greater  dynamic  power  than  were  those  of  the  middle  class  of  a 
hundred  years  ago.  The  danger,  therefore,  of  disturbance  is  more 
acute. 

Dean  Inge  wrote  on  November  26th  (Manchester  Guardian)  : 

I  believe  that  our  industrial  system  is  dying.  It  may  be  that  the 
industrial  revolution  was  a  biological  mistake,  that  the  human  organ- 
ism is  not  adapted  to  that  kind  of  life.  If  so,  we  shall  revert  through 
infinite  discomfort  and  suffering,  to  a  simpler  economic  structure  and 
a  much  smaller  population. 

Bonar  Law  said  on  June  5th,  1919: 

It  is  idle  to  hide  from  ourselves  that  there  is  in  our  own  country 
something — not  enough  to  frighten  anybody,  but  more  perhaps  than 
is  generally  recognized — something  of  a  real  revolutionary  movement. 

487 


488  THE  PUBLIC 

On  June  5th,  1919,  Sir  Robert  Home  said: 

We  have  skipped  a  generation.  Five  years  of  war  have  taught 
men  more  and  created  more  aspirations  than  half  a  century  of 
peace. 

Ramsay  MacDonald  in  the  Labor  Leader  of  August  28th  writes : 

We  cannot  create  a  revolution,  in  the  constructive  sense  in  which 
I  use  it,  by  superficial  changes  in  wages  and  hours.  That  is  only  to 
destroy  the  capitalist  system,  to  throw  certain  groups  of  nations  out 
of  the  highways  of  great  world  commerce — or,  at  best,  to  readjust 
capitalist  relationships. 

The  war  has  ended  British  commercial  supremacy.  All  that  the 
so-called  patriots  have  done  is  to  dig  the  grave  of  the  British  Empire, 
and  if  all  that  we  can  do  between  the  time  of  dying  and  burial  is 
to  fight  over  the  distribution  of  what  remains  of  the  old  inheritance, 
it  is  not  worth  doing. 

The  conflict  in  which  we  are  interested  is  not  that  which  is  confined 
within  the  walls  of  factories  and  counting  houses,  it  is  that  broadened 
out  in  its  significance  until  it  is  seen  as  a  conflict  between  the  capitalist 
and  the  industrial  State. 

Such  combinations  of  workmen,  as  the  miners  and  the  railwaymen, 
are  in  a  position  to  fight  as  sections,  and  it  is  right  that  they  should 
do  so.  But  they  should  fight  as  advance  guards  of  the  community. 
Their  battle  is  not  theirs  but  ours.  Herein  lies  the  genius  of  Smillie's 
leadership.  From  this  is  also  apparent  the  short-sightedness  of  direct 
action  as  opposed  to  political  action,  and  the  utter  vanity  of  thinking 
that  under  a  democracy,  or  anything  approaching  to  a  democracy, 
there  is  any  practical  value  in  a  "  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat." 

On  March  igth,  J.  T.  Brownlie,  Chairman  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers,  told  of  his 
interview  with  the  King: 

The  King  at  once  said  that  it  was  in  order  to  get  an  absolutely 
frank  expression  of  views  that  he  had  sent  for  me.  Then  I  spoke 
out.  I  explained  that  I  had  been  a  Socialist  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
and  that  I  thought  the  time  had  come  for  a  great  and  historical  change 
in  social  and  industrial  conditions.  Such  changes  had  been  the  history 
of  the  race,  and  the  evolutionary  forces  which  had  produced  them 
were  assuredly  as  potent  as  ever. 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  489 

Labor  and  Capital 
R.  H.  Tawney  (Daily  News,  July  nth,  1919)  says: 

The  truth  is  that  we  are  all  hampered  in  our  efforts  at  clear 
thinking  by  phrases  which  never  meant  much  and  now  mean  nothing. 
One  of  them  is,  "  Labor  and  Capital."  This  venerable  formula  is  a 
fraud  and  it  is  time  that  reputable  writers  ceased  repeating  it. 
"  Labor  "  consists  of  persons ;  "  Capital "  consists  of  things  or  claims 
to  things.  To  lament  "the  strife"  or  to  plead  for  "co-operation," 
between  "  labor  and  capital "  is  much  as  though  an  author  should 
deplore  the  ill-feeling  between  carpenters  and  hammers  or  undertake 
a  crusade  to  restore  harmonious  relations  between  mankind  and  their 
boots.  The  muddle  is  not  mended  by  the  fact  that  by  capital  is  meant 
"  capitalists."  For  the  vice  of  the  phrase  is  that  it  treats  the  claims 
of  "  labor  and  capital "  as  co-ordinate.  If  they  are,  and  were  generally 
recognized  to  be,  co-ordinate,  cadit  quaestio.  But  the  problem  only 
arises  because  an  increasing  proportion  of  mankind  believes  that  the 
world  should  be  managed  primarily  for  those  who  work,  not  for 
those  who  own.  To  start  by  burying  that  fundamental  issue  beneath 
smooth  phrases  as  to  "  the  common  aim  of  industry "  is  to  assume 
the  very  point  which  requires  to  be  proved,  and  which  alone  provides 
matter  for  discussion. 

Religion 

On  "  The  Religion  of  Labor,"  the  Rev.  R.  W.  Cummings  (Vicar 
of  Hurst,  Lancashire)  writes  (Daily  News,  September  5th) : 

It  is  the  futility  of  a  religion  of  mere  subjective  metaphysical 
idealism  that  needs  emphasis  to-day.  It  has  been  the  so-called  ma- 
terialists who,  by  the  methods  of  scientific  economic  reorganization, 
have  shown  to  a  fumbling  idealism  the  method  by  which  justice  and 
fellowship  could  be  woven  into  the  physical  texture  of  man's  earthly 
life.  And  it  is  the  accredited  champions  of  Idealism  who  are  the  fore- 
most defenders  of  the  pitiless  and  illogical  competitive  system  which 
Labor  knows  it  must  destroy,  that  it  may  rescue  the  soul  of  the 
world. 

Before  we  can  appreciate  what  the  "Religion  of  Labor"  is  likely 
to  be  we  must  realize  that  the  Labor  movement  is  only  incidentally 
an  economic  revolution.  Fundamentally,  it  is  the  practical  expression, 
in  the  field  of  politics,  of  a  newly  emerging  philosophy  of  life  that 
has  scant  reverence  for  the  beliefs  and  thought  forms  molded  and 
shaped  out  of  the  imperfect  and  even  erroneous  knowledge  of  the 


490  THE  PUBLIC 

pre-scientific  period.     With  perfect  courage,  candor,  and  intelligence 
it  is  going  to  think  out  all  the  implications  of  historic  materialism. 

Whether  this  religion  will  be  definitely  Christian  or  not  will  depend 
on  the  intellectual  honesty  and  spiritual  candor  of  the  Church's 
leaders;  the  present  outlook  is  not  hopeful.  We  shall  not  affect  the 
matter  by  abusing  "  materialism."  If  we  would  be  hopeful  we  had 
better  accept  the  modern  materialist  movement,  as  of  God,  and,  fol- 
lowing the  Divine  method  of  the  Incarnation,  weave  or  incarnate  into 
it  the  ideals  of  fellowship  and  service  and  love.  For  only  by  weaving 
these  ideals  into  the  material  fabric  of  the  common  life  can  we 
change  them  from  the  disembodied  ghosts  they  are  to-day  into  physical 
embodiments  of  the  attributes  of  God. 


Nationalisation 

On  nationalization,  the  Bishop  of  Peterborough  wrote  in  The 
Times  on  March  2ist,  1919: 

I  doubt  whether  those  who  are  not  in  close  touch  with  the  workers 
realize  the  intensity  of  the  feeling  in  favor  of  the  nationalization  of 
those  vital  services  on  which  the  life  of  the  community  depends.  As 
a  most  conservative  and  law-abiding  ticket  collector  said  to  me  not 
long  ago,  "  We  railwaymen  want  to  feel  that  we  are  working  as 
directly  for  our  country  in  peace  as  we  fought  for  her  in  war,"  and 
in  saying  so  he  was  doubtless  speaking  for  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  like-minded  men  and  women. 

Can  we  expect  it  to  be  otherwise?  For  nationalization  is  simply 
the  projection  into  the  paths  of  peace  of  the  spirit  which  captured  our 
industries',  and  still  more  our  Armies,  in  war  time,  when  no  man 
thought  of  personal  profit,  but  all  of  the  common  weal. 

The  point  I  would  venture  to  emphasize  is  that  strong  currents  of 
opinion  in  the  country  are  setting  towards  such  a  revision  of  outlook 
as  will  regard  the  great  industries  as  national  services  rather  than 
private  ventures. 

Viscount  Milner  said  on  July  i6th : 

Whatever  may  be  our  own  feelings  and  inclinations,  it  is  impossible 
to  deny  that  there  is  an  irresistible  trend  of  opinion,  not  only  in  this 
country  but  in  all  civilized  countries,  which  will  result  in  a  greater 
measure  of  public  ownership,  or  public  control  in  connection  with 
fundamental  national  industries  such  as  coal. 

The  old  industrial  order  is  passing  away,  and  we  have  to  try  to 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  491 

lend  a  hand  in  the  peaceful  establishment  of  the  new  order.  I  believe 
that  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  there  will  always  be  room  for 
private  enterprise,  but  also  believe  the  trend  of  modern  thought,  both 
in  regard  to  social  and  political  development,  is  all  in  favor  of  greater 
socialization  of  certain  fundamental  and  basic  industries,  of  which 
coal  must  be  one. 

Capitalism 

Bertrand  Russell,  in  The  Nation  of  June  7th,  1919,  wrote: 

The  Labor  Movement  must  be  international  or  doomed  to  perpetual 
failure;  it  must  conquer  America  or  forego  success  in  Europe  until 
some  very  distant  future.  Which  of  these  will  happen,  I  do  not  profess 
to  know.  But  I  do  know  that  a  great  responsibility  rests  upon  those 
who  mold  progressive  thought  in  America:  the  responsibility  of  real- 
izing the  new  international  importance  of  America,  and  of  under- 
standing why  the  shibboleths  of  traditional  Liberalism  no  longer 
satisfy  European  lovers  of  justice.  The  only  right  use  of  power  is  to 
promote  freedom.  The  nominal  freedom  of  the  wage-slave  is  a  sham 
and  a  delusion,  as  great  a  sham  as  the  nominal  freedom  which  the 
Peace  Treaty  leaves  to  the  Germans.  Will  America,  in  her  future 
career  of  power,  content  herself  with  the  illusory  freedom  that  exists 
under  capitalist  domination?  Or  will  her  missionary  spirit  once  more, 
as  in  the  days  of  Jefferson,  urge  men  on  along  the  way  to  the  most 
complete  freedom  that  is  possible  in  the  circumstances  of  the  time? 
It  is  a  momentous  question;  upon  the  answer  depends  the  whole 
future  of  the  human  race. 

War 
Of  war,  Lord  Robert  Cecil  has  said: 

Do  not  be  blinded  by  poets  and  historians.  There  has  been  a  con- 
spiracy not  yet  broken  down  to  dwell  on  the  glories  of  battle  and 
cover  over  its  horrors.  The  truth  is  that  war  has  always  produced 
these  results,  more  or  less  marked  according  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  struggle,  and  war  always  will  produce  these  results.  Lord  Grey 
has  pointed  out  to  you  that  a  future  war  will  be  more  terrible  than 
this  one.  I  believe  that  that  is  a  prophecy  which  may  be  made  without 

fear  of  falsification. 

r 

The  Press 

Jerome  K.  Jerome  has  clearly  said  what  an  increasing  number 
of  the  workers  feel  about  the  press.  His  article  has  been  widely 
used  in  the  Labor  papers: 


492  THE  PUBLIC 

Nine-tenths  of  the  press  of  this  country  is  in  the  hands  of  a  small 
group  of  rich  men  who  mean  to  rule  the  nation.  It  is  the  press  that 
has  killed  constitutional  action.  The  press  seeks  to  kill  Free  Thought 
— to  kill  Free  Speech.  And  it  is  succeeding.  It  has  monopolized  to 
itself  all  the  sources  of  information.  It  stands  between  the  thinkers 
and  the  people.  It  will  not  allow  anybody  but  itself  to  be  heard.  It 
poisons  the  mind  of  the  people  with  false  information.  It  suppresses 
facts  that  it  does  not  wish  the  people  to  know.  It  doles  out  to  them 
only  such  "  news  "  as  it  considers  good  for  them.  It  colors  the  truth 
for  its  own  purposes.  It  dresses  up  lies  in  plausibility.  It  is  the 
press  and  not  Parliament  that  rules  England  to-day.  Parliament  only 
registers  its  decrees,  and  the  Government  is  nothing  but  its  tame 
executive.  No  politician  who  wishes  to  succeed  dare  flout  its  com- 
mands. It  makes  and  unmakes  Cabinets.  The  Public  Service  is  its 
plaything.  The  press  itself  in  its  turn  is  ruled  by  the  Capitalists. 
It  depends  for  its  existence  upon  the  great  advertisers.  In  its  turn 
it  is  the  instrument  of  the  great  financial  interests  and  their  aris- 
tocratic dependents.  The  press  is  the  enemy  of  the  people.  It  has 
usurped  the  entire  authority  of  the  country.  Exempt  from  all  re- 
sponsibility, with  neither  a  body  to  be  kicked  nor  a  soul  to  be  damned, 
it  has  become  the  most  dangerous  despotism  that  Democracy  has  ever 
been  called  upon  to  face.  The  press  of  to-day  exercises  the  same 
vicious  tyranny  that  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  exercised  by  the  Church : 
the  tyranny  over  men's  minds.  It  rules  by  the  same  weapon :  lies  and 
humbug. 

The  New  Order 

When  General  Smuts  left  England  for  South  Africa,  he  gave 
this  statement  on  July  i8th: 

In  spite  of  the  apparent  failure  of  the  Peace  Conference  to  bring 
about  the  real  and  lasting  appeasement  of  the  nations  to  which  we 
had  been  looking  forward,  our  faith  in  our  great  ideals  should  be  kept 
untarnished.  The  sting  of  bitterness  should  be  taken  out  of  the 
great  disillusion  which  is  overtaking  the  peoples.  Instead  of  sitting 
down  in  despair  as  reactionaries  or  anarchists,  we  should  continue  to 
march  forward  with  firm  step  as  those  who  have  the  Great  Hope. 

A  new  life,  a  new  spirit  is  imperatively  necessary  if  Europe  is  not 
to  fall  backward  and  lag  behind  other  continents  in  the  great  march 
of  humanity.  Her  lot  is  indeed  pitiable  beyond  words.  The  Con- 
tinent which  is  the  motherland  of  our  civilization  lies  in  ruins,  ex- 
hausted by  the  most  terrible  struggle  in  history,  with  its  peoples 
broken,  starving,  despairing,  from  sheer  nervous  exhaustion  me- 
chanically struggling  forward  along  the  paths  of  anarchy  and  war, 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  493 

and  seeing  only  red  through  the  blinding  mist  of  tears  and  fears; 
almost  a  mad  Continent,  more  fit  for  Bedlam  than  for  the  tremendous 
task  of  reconstruction  which  lies  before  it.  It  is  the  most  awful 
spectacle  in  history,  and  no  man  with  any  heart  or  regard  for  human 
destiny  can  contemplate  it  without  the  deepest  emotion. 

Old  ideals  of  wealth,  of  property,  of  class  and  social  relations,  of 
international  relations,  of  moral  and  spiritual  values,  are  rapidly 
changing.  The  old  political  formulas  sound  hollow;  the  old  land- 
marks by  which  we  used  to  steer  are  disappearing  beneath  a  great 
flood. 

Among  the  nations  of  the  world  this  great  country  has  in  the  past 
enjoyed  the  most  splendid  reputation  for  political  wisdom,  generosity, 
and  magnanimity.  Let  this  mighty  Empire,  in  this  great  hour  of  vic- 
tory and  at  the  zenith  of  its  power,  win  a  great  moral  victory,  so  that 
the  ideals  which  have  shaped  the  destiny  of  our  great  Commonwealth 
of  Nations  may  become  the  common  heritage  of  the  League  of  Na- 
tions and  of  Europe.  Only  then  will  this  war  not  have  been  fought 
in  vain,  and  the  future  garner  the  far  off  interest  of  our  tears. 


IRELAND 

THE  Labor  Party's  Irish  policy  is  pretty  clearly  defined  as  far  as 
resolutions  go,  but  opinion  has  not  crystalized  upon  the  exact 
meaning  to  be  attached  to  Conference  resolutions.  Two  resolu- 
tions are  relevant.  The  first  was  adopted  at  the  i8th  Annual 
Conference  of  the  Party  in  London  in  June,  1918 — this  Confer- 
ence was  really  the  program  Conference  held  after  the  changes 
in  methods  of  party  organization,  and  the  resolution  is  based  on 
Labor  and  the  New  Social  Order.  It  runs: 

"  That  this  Conference  unhesitatingly  recognizes  the  claim  of  the 
people  of  Ireland  to  Home  Rule,  and  to  self-determination  in  all 
exclusively  Irish  affairs ;  it  protests  against  the  stubborn  resistance  to 
a  democratic  reorganization  of  Irish  government  maintained  by  those 
who,  alike  in  Ireland  and  Great  Britain,  are  striving  to  keep  minorities 
dominant ;  and  it  demands  that  a  wide  and  generous  measure  of  Home 
Rule  on  the  lines  indicated  by  the  proceedings  of  the  Irish  Conven- 
tion should  be  immediately  passed  into  law  and  put  into  operation." 

An  amendment  to  delete  the  reference  to  the  Irish  Convention 
was  carried. 
The  second  resolution  is  that  adopted  at  the  Amsterdam  Meeting 


494  THE  PUBLIC 

of  the  permanent  Commission  of  the  Internationale  appointed  at 
Berne.    It  runs: 

"  The  International  Conference  demands  that  the  principle  of  free 
and  absolute  self-determination  shall  be  applied  immediately  in  the 
case  of  Ireland;  affirms  the  right  of  the  Irish  people  to  political  inde- 
pendence; demands  that  this  self-determination  shall  rest  upon  a 
democratic  decision  expressed  by  the  free,  equal  and  secret  vote  of 
the  people,  without  any  military,  political,  or  economic  pressure  from 
outside,  or  any  reservation  or  restriction  imposed  by  any  Govern- 
ment. The  Conference  calls  upon  the  Powers  at  the  Peace  Confer- 
ence to  make  good  this  rightful  claim  of  the  Irish  people." 

In  mere  terminology,  the  Amsterdam  resolution  goes  consider- 
ably beyond  the  Party  resolution;  and  would  cover  the  demand 
for  an  Irish  Republic  if  that  were  expressed  in  a  plebiscite  of  the 
Irish  people.  Strictly  interpreted,  of  course,  the  resolution  would 
not  rule  out  a  plebiscite  by  districts,  which  would  give  Ulster 
the  opportunity  of  making  its  wishes  known,  leading  possibly  to 
a  partition  of  Ireland  along  the  lines  of  strict  self-determination. 
The  Labor  Party  would  find  it  difficult,  under  the  terms  of  this 
resolution,  to  resist  the  demand  of  the  Irish  people  for  complete 
severance  from  the  Imperial  system,  and  there  is  a  section  of 
the  movement  which  is  quite  logical  in  its  view  that  if  the  Irish 
people  want  a  republic,  they  must  have  it,  with  complete  control 
over  all  their  affairs,  even  the  creation  of  a  defense  force,  control 
of  their  economic  policy  (meaning,  possibly,  protection),  control 
over  their  police,  and  of  course  no  veto  by  the  Imperial  Par- 
liament on  any  legislation  of  the  Irish  House  or  Houses. 

This  policy  goes  a  good  deal  beyond  what  most  Labor  people 
mean  by  a  wide  and  generous  measure  of  Home  Rule.  A  majority 
of  the  Party  means  Dominion  Home  Rule,  which  leaves  foreign 
policy,  defense,  and  probably  trade  relations  under  the  control  of 
the  Imperial  Parliament.  It  is  true  that  Dominion  Home  Rule 
should  mean  freedom  for  Ireland  to  determine  its  own  fiscal 
policy,  like  Australia  and  Canada  now  do;  but  many  free-trade 
advocates  of  Home  Rule  would  hesitate  before  giving  Ireland 
freedom  to  impose  a  protectionist  policy,  which  would  probably 
be  directed  against  England. 

Broadly  speaking,  it  may  be  said,  with  some  confidence,  that 
the  Labor  Party  would  accept  Gladstonian  Home  Rule,  Do- 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  495 

minion  Home  Rule,  or  the  Home  Rule  Act  at  present  on  the 
statute  Book,  as  an  instalment.  They  want  to  get  the  Irish 
problem  settled,  and  the  reference  to  a  "  wide  and  generous 
measure"  really  means  the  utmost  concession  that  can  be  wrung 
from  the  dominant  minority  at  the  present  time.  It  is  not  that 
Labor  is  niggardly,  or  desires  to  limit  the  exercise  of  self- 
determination  by  the  Irish  people,  but  that  it  regards  politics  as 
the  art  of  the  possible,  and  would  therefore  accept  almost  any 
instalment  of  political  freedom  which  would  be  acceptable  to  the 
Irish  people,  if  only  as  an  instalment,  and  thus  get  this  problem 
out  of  the  way.  They  could  not,  on  their  principles,  refuse  an 
Irish  Republic,  but  there  is  a  feeling  that  they  ought  to  find  some 
means  of  preventing  Ireland  becoming  a  stepping-off  place  for  a 
continental  invasion  of  the  British  island,  or  a  mere  outpost  of 
some  one  else's  empire. 

As  yet  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  Party's  Irish  policy  implies 
that  Dominion  Home  Rule  is  as  far  as  they  can  go,  with  limita- 
tions covering  foreign  policy,  national  defense,  and  fiscal  affairs. 


In  the  House  of  Commons  on  December  22,  1919,  Arthur  Hen- 
derson said: 

"Considering  whether  the  Government  scheme  meant  self-deter- 
mination for  Ireland  or  even  for  the  whole  of  Ulster,  he  said  the 
Ulster  Unionists  had  never  asked  for  anything  in  the  nature  of  a 
separate  Parliament.  It  was  not  proposed  even  to  consult  the  whole 
of  the  Ulster  people  by  conferring  on  them  the  right  of  a  county 
vote.  At  best  the  Government  scheme  could  be  regarded  only  as  a 
half-hearted,  unsatisfying  compromise.  The  Government  might  have 
produced  its  scheme  on  the  lines  usually  described  as  Dominion  home 
rule  minus  the  control  of  the  navy  and  army  and  giving  county  option. 
Another  course,  and  one  which  he  thought  preferable,  would  be  to 
allow  the  Home  Rule  Act  to  have  come  into  operation  and  to  have 
left  to  the  Irish  Parliament  which  would  be  summoned  the  working 
out  of  its  own  constitution.  That  would  have  been  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  self-determination.  The  members  of  the  Labor  Party  were 
anxious  to  assist  the  Government  in  ending  the  long  night  of  ill-will 
and  misunderstanding  which  had  dominated  the  life  of  Ireland. 
When  the  time  of  the  final  test  came  their  attitude  towards  the 
proposals  would  be  determined  according  to  the  principle  of  self- 
government" 


496  THE  PUBLIC 

THE  WEBB  "  HISTORY  " 

Twenty-six  years  after  the  original,  the  revised  edition  of  the 
"History  of  Trade  Unionism"  by  the  Webbs  was  published  in 
February  of  IQ2O.1  The  trade  union  orders,  prior  to  publication, 
reached  19,000 — the  largest  edition  of  a  serious  work  on  an  eco- 
nomic subject  ever  published  in  Britain.  The  publication  of  the 
Webb  History  in  1894  was  as  definite  a  landmark  in  the  move- 
ment of  British  democracy  as  the  various  acts  that  extended  the 
suffrage,  or  the  Trade  Disputes  Act.  The  unions  had  worked  in 
the  dark,  piecemeal,  instinctively.  Here  for  the  first  time,  they 
found  their  knowledge  pooled,  and  therefore  available.  What  had 
been  blind  groping  became  a  little  more  conscious. 

The  Webbs  find  to-day  over  six  million  British  workers  in  trade 
unions — 60  per  cent  of  all  the  adult  male  manual  working  wage- 
earners.  Trade  union  membership  has  doubled  in  the  last  eight 
years. 

"  The  growing  strength  of  the  Movement  has  been  marked  by  a 
series  of  legislative  changes  which  have  ratified  and  legalized  the 
increasing  influence  of  the  wage-earner's  combinations  in  the  gov- 
ernment both  of  industry  and  political  relations." 

Among  such  are: 

Trade  Disputes  Act — 1906. 

Trade  Boards  Act — 1908. 

Coal  Mines  Regulation  (8  hours)  Act — 1908. 

National  Insurance  Act — 1911. 

Trade  Union  Act — 1913. 

Corn  Production  Act — 1917. 

Trade  Boards  Extension  Act — 1918. 

The  Decline 

Among  the  changes  of  the  last  thirty  years  is  the  decline  in 
relative  influence  of  the  cotton  operatives. 

"  The  building  Trades  have  lost  their  relative  position  in  the  Trades 
Union  world  to  nearly  as  great  an  extent  as  the  cotton  operatives. 
They  have,  for  a  whole  generation,  supplied  no  influential  leader." 

1  In  the  United  States,  in  the  spring  of  1920. 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  497 

The  Metal  workers  include  Engineering  or  machinists,  boiler 
making  and  shipbuilding,  the  producers  of  iron  and  steel  from 
the  ore.  The  Engineers  (machinists)  have  greatly  increased  in 
membership,  but  not  in  strength. 

The  printing  trades  have  remained  stationary. 

A  relative  decline  in  influence  among  boot  and  shoe  makers 
has  been  manifest. 


The  Rise 

In  the  same  period  of  thirty  years  (1890-1920)  : 

"  We  have  the  rise  to  influence  not  only  in  the  Trade  Union  Coun- 
sels but  also  in  those  of  the  Nation,  of  the  Women  Workers,  the 
General  Laborers,  the  '  black-coated  proletariat '  of  shop  assistants, 
clerks,  teachers,  technicians,  and  officials,  the  miners  and  the  railway- 
men,  which  has  been  the  outstanding  feature  of  the  past  thirty  years." 

"  In  1920  we  find  the  organizations  of  the  despised  section  of  general 
laborers  and  unskilled  workmen,  some  of  them  of  over  thirty  years' 
standing,  accounting  for  no  less  than  30  per  cent  of  the  whole  Trade 
Union  membership,  and  their  leaders — notably  Mr.  Clynes,  Mr. 
Thorne,  and  Mr.  Robert  Williams — exercising  at  least  their  full  share 
of  influence  in  the  Counsels  of  the  Trade  Union  Movement  as  a 
whole." 

"  The  total  number  of  agricultural  laborers  in  Trade  Unions  in 
1920  probably  reaches  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million,  being  about 
one-third  of  the  total  number  of  men  employed  in  agriculture  at 
wages." 

"The  outstanding  feature  of  the  Trade  Union  world  between  1890 
and  1920  has  been  the  growing  predominance,  in  its  Counsels  and  in 
its  collective  activity,  of  the  organized  forces  of  the  coal-miners." 

The  Railway  Strike 

The  Webbs  give  a  summary  of  the  railway  strike.  The  Govern- 
ment learned  that  Trade  Unionism  is  not  easily  beaten,  even  when 
all  the  resources  of  the  State  are  put  forth  against  it.  The  great 
Capitalist  organizations  have  seen  the  warning  against  their 
projects  of  a  general  reduction  of  wages;  and  this  is  postponed, 
at  least,  for  a  year.  Labor  has  learned  the  magnitude  of  the 
struggle,  the  need  for  skilled  publicity  work,  and  for  a  General 
Staff. 


498  THE  PUBLIC 

"A  notable  feature  of  the  railway  strike  was  a  revolt  of  the  Com- 
positors and  printers'  assistants,  who  threatened  to  strike  and  stop  the 
newspapers  altogether  unless  the  railwaymen  were  allowed  to  present 
their  case,  and  unless  abusive  posters  were  abandoned." 

"  The  Cabinet  was  certainly  warned,  by  high  military  authority, 
against  attempting  to  use  the  troops." 

Structure 

"At  present  the  forty-eight  largest  Trade  Unions  of  the  Country 
concentrate  a  larger  membership  than  the  much  praised  forty-eight 
Trade  Unions  of  Germany  did  in  1914." 

"  Besides  the  active  soldiers  in  the  Trade  Union  ranks,  to  be 
counted  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  we  had,  in  1892,  a  smaller  class 
of  non-commissioned  officers  made  up  of  the  secretaries  and  presidents 
of  local  unions,  branches  and  district  Committees  of  National  So- 
cieties, and  of  Trade  Councils;  of  these  we  estimate  that  there  were, 
in  1892,  over  20,000  holding  office  at  any  one  time.  These  men  form 
the  backbone  of  the  trade  union  world,  and  constitute  the  vital  ele- 
ment in  working-class  politics.  .  .  . 

"  These  non-commissioned  officers  of  the  labor  movement,  from 
whose  ranks  nearly  all  the  Trade  Union  leaders  emerge,  actually 
determine  the  trend  of  working-class  thought.  Nevertheless,  these 
men  are  not  the  real  administrators  of  trade  union  affairs.  .  .  . 

"  The  actual  government  of  the  trade  union  world  rests  exclusively 
in  the  hands  of  a  class  apart,  the  salaried  officers  of  the  great  societies. 
This  Civil  Service  of  the  trade  union  world  numbered,  in  1892,  be- 
tween six  and  seven  hundred." 

In  1920 

"  The  affairs,  industrial  and  political,  of  the  six  million  trade 
unionists,  enrolled  in  possibly  as  many  as  50,000  local  branches  or 
lodges,  are  administered  by  perhaps  100,000  annually  elected  branch 
officials  and  shop  stewards.  These  may  be  regarded  as  the  non- 
commissioned officers  of  the  movement. 

"  We  estimate  the  total  number  of  the  salaried  officers  of  all  the 
trade  unions  and  their  federations  at  three  or  four  thousand. 

"  Whilst  the  movement  has  marvelously  increased  in  mass  and 
momentum,  it  has  been  marked  on  the  whole  by  inadequacy  of  leader- 
ship alike  within  each  union  and  in  the  movement  itself,  and  by  a 
lack  of  that  unity  and  persistency  of  purpose  which  wise  leadership 
alone  can  give.  .  .  .  The  British  workmen  have  not  become  aware  of 
the  absolute  need  for  what  we  may  call  labor  statesmanship. 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  499 

"  It  is,  we  think,  only  the  Iron  and  Steel  Trades  Confederation  that 
has  laid  down  and  acted  on  the  principle  of  intrusting  the  appoint- 
ment of  salaried  officials  to  the  Executive  Committee,  on  the  express 
ground  that  popular  election  by  ballot  is  not  the  right  way  to  select 
administrative  officers. 

"  It  looks  as  if  any  democracy  on  a  vocational  basis  must  inevitably 
be  dominated  by  a  diversity  of  sectional  interests  which  does  not 
coincide  with  any  cleavage  in  intellectual  opinions." 


The  State  and  Trade  Unions 

"The  trade  union  itself  has  been  tacitly  accepted  as  a  part  of  the 
administrative  machinery  of  the  state. 

"  The  getting  and  enforcing  of  legislation  is,  historically,  as  much 
a  part  of  trade  union  function  as  maintaining  a  strike. 

"Trade  unionism  has,  in  1920,  won  its  recognition  by  Parliament 
and  the  Government,  by  law  and  by  custom,  as  a  separate  element  in 
the  community,  entitled  to  distinct  recognition  as  part  of  the  social 
machinery  of  the  state,  its  members  being  thus  allowed  to  give — like 
the  Clergy  in  Convocation — not  only  their  votes  as  citizens,  but  also 
their  concurrence  as  an  order  or  estate.  ..." 

Trade  Unionism  is  now  distinctively  represented  on  Royal  Com- 
missions and  Departmental  Committees.  It  has  entered  the  inner 
Councils  of  the  Government,  and  is  recognized  as  part  of  the 
machinery  of  State  administration.  Trade  unions  are  agents  of 
the  National  Insurance  Scheme  for  sickness,  invalidity,  and  ma- 
ternity benefits,  and  the  State  Unemployment  benefit. 

"In  practically  every  branch  of  public  administration,  from  unim- 
portant local  Committees  up  to  the  Cabinet  itself,  we  find  the  trade 
union  world  now  accepted  as  forming,  virtually,  a  separate  constit- 
uency, which  has  to  be  specially  represented." 

"  After  two  years  propagandist  effort,  it  seems  as  if  the  principal 
industries,  such  as  agriculture,  transport,  mining,  cotton,  engineering, 
or  shipbuilding  are  unlikely  to  adopt  the  Whitley  Scheme.  The  Gov- 
ernment found  itself  constrained,  after  an  obstinate  resistance  by  the 
heads  of  nearly  all  the  departments,  to  institute  the  Councils  through- 
out the  public  service.  We  venture  on  the  prediction  that  some  such 
scheme  will  commend  itself  in  all  nationalized  or  municipalized  indus- 
tries and  services,  including  such  as  may  be  effectively  '  controlled ' 
by  the  Government,  though  remaining  nominally  the  property  of  the 
private  Capitalist — possibly  also  in  the  Co-operative  Movement;  but 


500  THE  PUBLIC 

that  it  is  not  likely  to  find  favor  either  in  the  well-organized  indus- 
tries (for  which  alone  it  was  devised)  or  in  those  in  which  there  are 
Trade  Boards  legally  determining  wages,  etc.,  or,  indeed,  permanently 
in  any  others  conducted  under  the  system  of  capitalist  profit-making." 


Workers'  Control 

From  the  collapse  of  Owenism  and  Chartism  right  down  to 
1910,  the  British  Trade  Unions  thought  of  themselves  as  organi- 
zations to  secure  an  ever-increasing  control  of  the  conditions 
under  which  they  worked. 

"  They  neither  desired  nor  sought  any  participation  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  technical  processes  of  industry;  whilst  it  never  occurred 
to  a  Trade  Union  to  claim  any  power  over,  or  responsibility  for, 
buying  the  raw  materials  or  marketing  the  product. 

"  The  pioneer  of  the  new  faith  in  the  United  Kingdom  seems  to 
have  been  James  Connolly.  He  was  a  disciple  of  the  founder  of  the 
American  Socialist  Labor  Party,  Daniel  De  Leon." 

Then  came  Tom  Mann,  fresh  from  organizing  strikes  in  Aus- 
tralia, and  inspired  by  a  visit  to  Paris. 

"  The  Syndicalist  Movement  had  died  down  prior  to  the  war,  but 
the  Industrial  Unionist  Movement  simmered  on  in  the  Clyde  district 
and  in  South  Wales.  Its  chief  organization  is  the  Socialist  Labor 
Party.  It  was,  we  think,  the  moving  spirits  of  the  S.  L.  P.  who  were, 
as  Trade  Unionist  workmen,  mainly  responsible  for  the  aggressive 
action  of  the  Clyde  Worker's  Committee  between  1915  and  1918,  and 
also  for  the  rise  of  the  shop  stewards'  movement,  and  for  its  spread 
from  the  Clyde  to  English  engineering  centers.  At  the  present  mo- 
ment (1920)  the  S.  L.  P.,  owing  to  the  personal  qualities  of  its  leading 
spirits,  J.  T.  Murphy  and  A.  MacManus,  holds  the  leading  position 
in  the  school  of  thought,  which  received  a  great  impulse  from  the 
accession  of  Lenin  to  power  in  Russia.  But  it  remains  a  ferment 
rather  than  a  statistically  important  element  in  the  Trade  Union 
world. 

"  The  revolutionary  Industrial  Unionism  and  Syndicalism  preached 
by  James  Connolly  and  Tom  Mann  and  other  fervent  missionaries 
between  1005  and  1912  did  not  commend  itself  to  the  officials  and 
leaders  of  the  Trade  Unions.  .  .  .  But,  like  other  revolutionary 
movements  in  England,  it  prepared  the  way  for  constitutional  pro- 
posals. The  bridge  between  the  old  conception  of  Trade  Unionism  and 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  501 

the  new  was  built  by  a  fresh  group  of  Socialists  who  called  themselves 
National  Guildsmen.  There  was  a  rapid  adoption  between  1913  and 
1920  by  many  of  the  younger  leaders  of  the  movement,  and  subject 
to  various  modifications,  also  by  some  of  the  most  powerful  of  the 
Trade  Unions,  of  this  new  ideal  of  the  development  of  the  existing 
Trade  Unions  into  self -organized,  self-contained,  self-governing  indus- 
trial democracies,  as  supplying  the  future  method  of  conducting  indus- 
tries and  services." 

The  Trades  Union  Congress  of  1917  pressed  the  Government 
to  place  the  railways  under  a  Minister  of  Railways,  "  who  shall 
be  responsible  to  Parliament,  and  be  assisted  by  national  and  local 
advisory  committees,  upon  which  the  organized  railway  workers 
shall  be  adequately  represented."  x 

At  the  Annual  Conference  in  1919  of  the  Postal  and  Telegraph 
Clerks  Association,  the  control  demanded  was  not  restricted  to 
securing  better  conditions  of  employment  but  aimed  at  participa- 
tion in  directing  the  technical  improvement  of  the  service. 

The  Miners'  Bill  is  given  in  full  at  Section  3,  Chapter  2,  of  the 
Appendix.  It  is  a  demand  for  full  joint  control. 


Direct  Action 

The  most  sensational  examples  of  Direct  Action  were  afforded 
by  the  National  Union  of  Sailors  and  Firemen  in  preventing 
labor  leaders  from  traveling. 

"  Another  case  was  the  withdrawal  by  the  Electrical  Trades  Union 
in  1918  of  their  members  (taking  with  them  the  indispensable  fuses) 
from  the  Albert  Hall  in  London,  when  the  directors  of  the  Hall 
canceled  its  letting  for  a  labor  demonstration. 

"  The  '  last  word '  in  Direct  Action  is  with  the  police  and  the  army, 
and  there  not  with  the  officers  but  with  the  rank  and  file.  The  vast 
majority  of  Trade  Unionists  object  to  Direct  Action,  whether  by 
landlords  or  capitalists  or  by  organized  workers,  for  objects  other 
than  those  connected  with  the  economic  function  of  the  Direct  Ac- 
tionists.  Trade  Unionists,  on  the  whole,  are  not  prepared  to  dis- 

1  From  that  modest  demand  to  the  Joint  Control  demand  of  1920 
is  the  measure  of  the  British  Social  Revolution.  Harry  Gosling,  head 
of  the  Transport  Workers,  has  made  the  same  psychological  change 
in  three  years. 


502  THE  PUBLIC 

approve  of  Direct  Action  as  a  reprisal  for  Direct  Action  taken  by 
other  persons,  or  groups.  With  regard  to  a  general  strike  of  non- 
economic  or  political  character,  in  favor  of  a  particular  home  or 
foreign  policy,  we  very  much  doubt  whether  the  Trades  Union  Con- 
gress could  be  induced  to  endorse  it,  or  the  rank  and  file  to  carry  it 
out,  except  only  in  case  the  Government  made  a  direct  attack  upon 
the  political  or  industrial  liberty  of  the  manual  working  class,  which 
it  seemed  imperative  to  resist  by  every  possible  means,  not  excluding 
forceful  revolution  itself. 


The  New  Unionism 

"The  Trade  Unionist  objects,  more  strongly  than  ever,  to  any 
financial  partnership  with  the  capitalist  employers,  or  with  the  share- 
holders, in  any  industry  or  service,  on  the  sufficient  ground  that  any 
such  sharing  of  profits  would,  whilst  leaving  intact  the  tribute  of  rent 
and  interest  to  householders,  irretrievably  break  up  the  solidarity  of 
the  manual  working  class. 

"The  object  and  purpose  of  the  New  Unionism  of  1913-1920  cannot 
be  attained  without  the  transformation  of  British  politics,  and  the 
supersession,  in  one  occupation  after  another,  of  the  capitalist  profit 
maker  as  the  governor  and  director  of  industry. 

"  Profound  was  the  disappointment,  and  bitter  the  resentment,  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  organized  Labor  Movement  of  Great  Britain 
when  it  was  revealed  how  seriously  the  diplomatists  at  the  Paris 
Conference  had  departed  from  these  terms  (labor,  Lloyd  George  and 
Wilson  Statements)  in  the  Treaty  of  Peace  which  was  imposed  on 
the  Central  Empires. 

"The  General  Federation  of  Trade  Unions  may  be  said  to  have 
now  disappeared  from  the  Trade  Union  world  as  an  effective  force 
in  the  determination  of  industrial  or  political  policy. 

"Any  history  of  Trade  Unionism  that  breaks  off  at  the  beginning 
of  1920  halts,  not  at  the  end  of  an  epoch,  but  at  the  opening  of  a  new 
chapter." 

The  movement  is  seething  with  new  ideas,  but  also  is  uncertain 
of  itself.  It  is  groping  after  a  precise  adjustment  of  powers  and 
functions  between  Associations  of  Producers  and  Associations  of 
Consumers. 

"  As  yet  the  mass  of  the  people,  to  whom  power  is  passing,  have 
made  but  little  effective  use  of  their  opportunities.  At  least  seven- 
eighths  of  the  nation's  accumulated  wealth,  and  with  it  nearly  all  the 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  503 

effective  authority,  is  still  in  the  hands  of  one-eighth  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  leisure  class — the  men  and  women  who  live  by  owning 
and  not  by  working,  a  class  increasing  in  actual  numbers,  if  not 
relatively  to  the  workers — seem  to  the  great  mass  of  working  people 
to  be  showing  themselves,  if  possible,  more  frivolous  and  more  inso- 
lent in  their  irresponsible  consumption,  by  themselves  and  their  fami- 
lies, of  the  relatively  enormous  share  that  they  are  able  to  take  from 
the  national  income. 

"  The  truth  is  that  Democracy,  whether  political  or  industrial,  is 
still  in  its  infancy." 

To  state  the  democratic  problem  in  fundamental  form,  "the 
sea-saw  is  between  the  aspiration  to  vest  the  control  over  the 
instruments  of  production  in  Democracies  of  Producers,  and  the 
alternating  belief  that  this  control  can  best  be  vested  in  Democ- 
racies of  Consumers." 

"  The  record  of  successive  attempts,  in  modern  industry,  to  place 
the  entire  management  of  industrial  undertakings  in  the  hands  of 
Associations  of  Producers  has  been  one  of  failure.  In  marked  con- 
trast, the  opposite  form  of  Democracy,  in  which  the  management  has 
been  placed  in  the  hands  of  Associations  of  Consumers,  has  achieved 
a  large  and  constantly  increasing  measure  of  success." 

Not  only  is  this  shown  in  certain  extensive  fields  of  industrial 
operation  of  Municipal  and  National  Government,  but  in  the  suc- 
cess in  the  importing,  manufacturing,  and  distributing  of  household 
supplies,  of  the  voluntary  Associations  of  Consumers  known  as 
the  Co-operative  Movement. 

A  vocational  democracy  is  now  to  be  superposed  on  a  democracy 
based  on  geographical  constituencies. 

In  each  generation  there  is  the  intolerant  fanaticism  of  en- 
thusiasts insisting  on  some  one  form  of  democracy.  To-day  we 
see  a  revival  of  faith  in  Associations  of  Producers,  as  the  only 
form  that  democratic  organization  can  validly  take. 

"There  would  seem  to  be  a  great  development  opening  up  for  the 
Works  Committees  and  the  '  Shop  Stewards.' " 

The  object  and  purpose  of  the  workers  comprise  "  nothing  less 
than  a  reconstruction  of  society,  by  the  elimination,  from  the 
nation's  industries  and  services,  of  the  Capitalist  Profit-maker. 


504.  THE  PUBLIC 

Profit-making  as  a  pursuit,  with  its  sanctification  of  the  motive 
of  pecuniary  self-interest,  is  the  demon  that  has  to  be  exorcised. 
'  Co-partnership/  or  profit-sharing  with  individual  capitalists,  has 
been  seen  through  and  rejected.  But  the  '  co-partnership '  of 
Trade  Unions  with  Associations  of  Capitalists — whether  as  a  de- 
velopment of  '  Whitley  Councils '  or  otherwise — which  far- 
sighted  capitalists  will  presently  offer  in  specious  forms  (with  a 
view,  particularly  to  Protective  Customs  Tariffs  and  other  devices 
for  maintaining  unnecessarily  high  prices,  or  to  governmental 
favors  and  remissions  of  taxation)  is,  we  fear,  hankered  after  by 
some  Trade  Union  leaders." 

The  above  are  a  few  extracts  from  the  new  "  History."  The 
Webbs  mop  up  every  salient  minute  fact.  They  operate  like  a 
vacuum  cleaner.  The  student  of  British  labor  need  hardly  be 
reminded  that  no  other  book  on  these  recent  years  is  so  necessary 
for  him  as  the  revised  History  of  the  Webbs. 

GENERAL  COUNCIL  FOR  LABOR 

The  special  Trades  Union  Congress  of  December  9  and  10, 
1919,  passed  this  resolution: 

"  That  .  .  .  the  Parliamentary  Committee  be  instructed  to  revise 
the  Standing  Orders  of  Congress  in  such  manner  as  is  necessary  to 
secure  the  following  changes  in  the  functions  and  duties  of  the 
Executive  body  elected  by  Congress : — 

"  (i)  To  substitute  for  the  Parliamentary  Committee  a  Trades 
Union  Congress  General  Council,  to  be  elected  annually  by  Congress. 

"  (2)  To  prepare  a  scheme  determining  the  composition  and  meth- 
ods of  election  of  the  General  Council. 

"  (3)  To  make  arrangements  for  the  development  of  administrative 
departments  in  the  offices  of  the  General  Council,  in  the  direction  of 
securing  the  necessary  officials,  staff,  and  equipment  to  secure  an 
efficient  Trade  Union  center. 

"Further,  the  Parliamentary  Committee  be  instructed  to  consult 
with  the  Labor  Party  and  the  Co-operative  Movement,  with  a  view  to 
devising  a  scheme  for  the  setting  up  of  departments  under  joint 
control  responsible  for  effective  national  and  international  service  in 
the  following  and  any  other  necessary  directions: — 

"  (a)  Research:  To  secure  general  and  statistical  information  on  all 
questions  affecting  the  worker  as  producer  and  consumer  by  the  co- 
ordination and  development  of  existing  agencies. 


WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  SAY  605 

"  (6)  Legal  advice  on  all  questions  affecting  the  collective  welfare  of 
the  members  of  working-class  organizations. 

"  (c)  Publicity,  including  preparation  of  suitable  literature  dealing 
with  questions  affecting  the  economic,  social,  and  political  welfare  of 
the  people,  with  machinery  for  inaugurating  special  publicity  cam- 
paigns to  meet  emergencies  of  an  industrial  or  political  character." 


INDEX 


Accidents  in  mines,  46 

Accountancy  and  audit,  350 

Adler,  Felix,  370 

Administration,  484,  485 ;  coal 
mines,  local,  431 ;  problem  and 
dangers,  477,  478 

Admiralty  coal,  440 

Amalgamated  Society  of  Engi- 
neers, 206,  230 

America,  civilization,  451;  finan- 
cial position,  261 

Americans,  attacks  on,  Bottom- 
ley's,  242 

Andrews,  Mrs.,  224 

Apprenticeship  and  the  Whitley 
Councils,  364 

Aristocracy,  450 

Army,  483,  484 

Artists,  17 

Aspiration,  265 

Asquith,  H.  H.,  123,  144 

Audit,  350 

Ball,  John,  458 

Basic  wage,  7 

Baths,  pit-head,  223 

Beer,  Max,  455,  465;  on  the  La- 
bor Party,  462 

Belgium,  labor  party,  in 

Bell,  T.,  203,  204 

Benbow,  463 

Benn,  E.  ).,  52,  58 

Bergson,  18 

Besant,  Annie,  on  India,  at  South- 
port,  94 

Births,  236 

Blacklegs,  142 

Board  of  Trade  and  the  Whitley 
Councils,  366 

Bonus  shares,  392 

Books.     See  Literature 

Bottomley,  Horatio,  240 

Bowley,  Professor,  298 

Brace,  William,  121 ;  on  nation- 
alization, 90-91 


B  ranting,  Hjalmar,  message  to 
British  labor,  no 

Bray,  J.  R,  467 

British  Labor  Party.  See  Labor 
Party 

British  Socialist  Party,  203,  204 

British  society,  274 

British  Trades  Union  Congress  at 
Glasgow  in  September,  1919, 
action  taken,  112;  composition, 
114;  leaders  of  opinion  and  ac- 
tion, 112;  resolution  as  to  di- 
rect action,  127;  resolution  for 
industrial  parliament,  118;  sum- 
ming up  of  results,  132-133; 
vote  of  censure,  117;  vote  on 
nationalization,  121 

British  traits,  258 

Bromley,  J.,  on  political  and  di- 
rect action,  90 

Brownlie,  J.  T.,  on  his  interview 
with  the  king,  488 

Building  industry,  Committee  of 
Scientific  Management,  mem- 
bership, 339,  356;  conditions  of 
entry,  352;  organized  public 
service — interim  report  of  com- 
mittee, 339 

Building  Workers'  Industrial 
Union,  202 

Burns,  John,  469,  470 

Bute,  Marquis  of,  51 

Cabinet,  industrial,  139 

Campbell,  Janet,  236 

Capital,  living,  349 

Capital  and  labor,  283,  489 

Capitalism,  breakdown  in  coal  in- 
dustry, 171 ;  railwayman  against, 
213 ;  Russell,  Bertrand  on,  491 ; 
Workers'  Committee  movement 
and,  199 

Capitalist  system,  281 

Caste,  250 

Cecil,  Lord  Robert,  on  war,  491 


507 


508 


INDEX 


Central  authority,  76 

Central  Hall,  Westminster,  317 

Central  Labor  College,  169,  205, 
212,  474 

C.  G.  T.,  in 

Chartism,  467,  469;  measures  pro- 
posed, 468 

Chicago  Convention  of  1905,  204, 
207 

Child  labor,  330 

Children,  employment,  237;  health 
and  medical  examinations,  238; 
health  and  welfare,  236-237 

Church,  picture  of  an  old  Eng- 
lish, 245 

Civil  service,  478,  481,  483,  486 

Class  idea,  250 

Class  warfare,  473 

Clyde  region,  472 

Clyde  Workers'  Committee,  187 

Clynes,  J.  R.,  at  Glasgow,  on  na- 
tionalization and  violent  meth- 
ods, 129;  at  Southport,  on  di- 
rect action  and  the  power  of 
the  workers,  102;  industrial 
council  suggestion,  71 ;  on  com- 
petition, 162;  on  failure  of  pres- 
ent Government,  254;  on  po- 
litical influence,  123 ;  personal- 
ity, 31,  102,  163;  philosophy, 
132;  source  of  power,  123 

Coal,  collective  production,  44; 
output,  153 

Coal  Commission,  26;  analysis  of 
classes  of  witnesses,  53 ;  col- 
lapse of  owners'  witnesses,  38, 
39;  composition,  37;  Gain  ford's 
evidence,  302;  Haldane's  evi- 
dence, 480;  individual  owner- 
ship, 44 ;  precis  of  evidence  sub- 
mitted by  G.  D.  H.  Cole,  409; 
sessions,  33 ;  significance,  28 ; 
social  revolution,  151;  spirit 
permeating  conferences,  39;  un- 
rest that  created  it,  39;  useful- 
ness, 216,  221 ;  Wallas's  evi- 
dence, 477;  women  witnesses, 
223 ;  work,  42 

Coal  industry,  case  for  self-gov- 
ernment, 170 

Coal  Industry  Commission  Act, 
1919,  report  by  Mr.  Justice  San- 
key,  422 

Coal  mines,  export  trade,  440; 
finance  and  publicity,  437 ; 


safety,  health,  and  research, 
439;  scheme  for  local  adminis- 
tration, 431 ;  state  ownership, 
purchase  and  operation,  426,  428 

Coal  owners,  37;  case  of,  48;  con- 
demnation of  system,  42 ;  feel- 
ing of  workmen  toward,  40;  re- 
buttal, 47 

Coal  royalties,  state  ownership, 
423 

Cobbett's  Register,  460 

Cole,  G.  D.  H.,  390 ;  colloquy 
with  Mr.  Justice  Sankey,  265, 
419 ;  on  syndicalism,  etc.,  475 ; 
precis  of  evidence  submitted  to 
Coal  Commission,  409 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  on  wealth,  462 

Collective  bargaining,  300,  369 

Combinations,  464,  465 ;  develop- 
ment, 282 

Commercial  control,  267 

Commercial  management,  297 

Committee,  term,  208 

Common  policy,  118 

Communism,  207,  458,  459 

Communist  League,  204 

Communist  Party,  204 

Communists,  208 

Community  enterprise,  6 

Competition,  158,  162,  289; 
growth,  282 ;  workers'  opposi- 
tion to  the  system,  256 

Compromise,  British  instinct  for, 
5,  161,  165,  258,  472,  473 

Compulsion  of  Government  by 
labor,  118,  121,  162;  way  they 
do  it,  147 

Concerted  action,  76 

Concession,  461 

Conciliation,  137,  473;  notes  on 
Whitley  Councils'  work  as  to,  363 

Connolly,  James,  202,  500 

Conscription,  23,  84,  87,  90,  127, 
128,  133 ;  Glasgow  Congress'  ac- 
tion, 112;  Southport  Confer- 
ence resolution,  105 

Conservation,  290 

Consumers,  278,  274;  associations, 
291,  502,  503;  relations  with 
producers,  283 

Contentment,  216,  217 

Control  of  industry,  as  a  remedy 
for  unrest,  382 ;  commercial. 
267 ;  democratic,  291 ;  germ, 
264 ;  indefinite  meaning,  264  ;  la- 


INDEX 


509 


bor  partnership,  138;  objections 
of  Baron  Gainford,  302-303; 
percentage,  265,  267;  railways, 
213 ;  report  of  committee  on  na- 
tionalization, 281 ;  sharing,  6,  7, 
27 ;  state,  285 ;  value,  284 ; 
workers'  desire,  269;  373;  see 
also  Joint  control 

Cooper,  R.  W.,  159 

Co-operation,  309 

Co-operative  Magazine,  461 

Co-operative  movement,  149,  218 

Co-operative  production,  293 

Co-operative  societies,  290 

Costing  system,  353 

Costs,  reduction.  See  Scientific 
management 

Councils,  310 

Coventry  Engineering  Joint  Com- 
mittee, 192,  198 

Cramp,  C.  T.,  on  self-government 
by  railwaymen,  212 

Crisis,  how  to  meet,  165 

Cummings,  R.  W.,  on  the  religion 
of  labor,  489 

Daily  Mail,  161 

D'Arragona,  Signer,  message  to 
British  labor,  109 

Davies,  Emil,  on  joint  control, 
156 

Davies,  Margaret  L.,  226,  227 

Debs,  Eugene,  20,  69 

Decasualization  of  labor,  343 

Decentralization,  215 

De  Leon,  Daniel,  203,  262,  470, 
473,  SOD 

Democracy,  291,  292,  452;  social- 
ism and,  471 

Democracy,  industrial.  See  In- 
dustrial democracy 

Democratic  control,  291 

Derbyshire  Miners'  Association, 
419 

Despard,  Mrs.,  224 

Devonport,  Lord,  140 

Dignity,  123 

Dilution,  185,  186,  188,  190 

Direct  action,  88,  123  ff.,  131,  133; 
demand  for,  501 ;  Labor  Party 
and,  83,  85 ;  meaning  of  the 
phrase  to  British  workers,  105- 
106;  political  aims  and,  89,  90; 
Southport  Conference  resolu- 
tion, 98,  105 


Directors,  boards  of,  264 

Discontent,  217 

Disputes,    cost    of    winning,    140; 

notes     on     Whitley     Councils' 

work  as  to,  363;  railway,  441 
District  Joint  Industrial  Councils, 

list  of  industries,  367 
District     Mining     Councils,     177, 

17.8,  433 

Dividends,  large,  statistics,  390 
Doctors,  17 

Domestic  service,  238-239 
Dukes,  216 
Duncan,  Charles,  202 
Dunraven,  Lord,  50,  52 
Durham,  47 

Durham,  County  of,  221 
Durham,  Earl  of,  50,  52,  165 
Dynevor,  Lord,  50 

Earnings,  large,  statistics,  390; 
surplus,  350;  wages  and,  379 

Economic  rent,  43 

Economic  system  as  foundation 
of  misery,  n 

Economic  waste,  284 

Edinburgh  Review,  460 

Education,  19,  205;  effect  on  la- 
bor, 251;  importance,  482;  in 
mining  industry,  480;  Whitley 
Councils  and,  364 

Education  Act,  237 

Elections,  municipal,  277 

Emergencies,  British  way  in,  273- 

274 

Emigration,  31 

Employers,  281 ;  attitude  to  la- 
bor, 381,  388;  trade  union  ne- 
gotiations, 326,  335 

Employment,  factory  department, 
313;  stabilizing,  328 

Engineering  Employers'  Federa- 
tion, agreement  with  trade 
unions,  195 

Engineering  workers,  186,  190,  192 

England,  beauty,  243 ;  condition 
in  1810,  460;  kind  the  workers 
want,  215;  Old  England,  243 

English  Rent  Act,  188 

Equality,  instinct  for,  455 ;  labor's 
feeling,  250;  political,  461. 

Equipment  of  workers,  269 

Esher,  Viscount,  59,  487 

Export  trade,  282,  287,  290;  coal, 
440 


510 


INDEX 


Fabian  Society,  470,  471 

Factories,  legislation,  235 ;  Rown- 
tree's  dream,  306 

Factory  and  Workshops  Act,  237 

Farrell,  J.  S.,  9 

Federation  of  industries,  281 

Finance,  mining  industry,  415, 
437;  national  conditions,  97; 
situation,  29 

Fisher,  F.  M.  B.,  quoted  on  man- 
agement, 285 

France,  federation  of  trade 
unions,  in;  working  class,  no 

Free  speech,  492 

Freedom.     See  Liberty 

Fundamentals,   165,  166 

Gain  ford,  Baron,  evidence  to  Coal 
Commission,  302 

Gallacher,  W.,  204 

Geddes,  Sir  Eric,  on  competition, 
158;  on  Government  offer  to 
railwaymen,  443 

General  Council  for  labor,  504 

General  Federation  of  Trade 
Unions,  502 

General  strike,  468 ;  term,  463 

George,  Henry,  470 

Germany,  91 

Glasgow,  industrial  unionism, 
202 ;  see  also  British  Trades 
Union  Congress  at  Glasgow 

Gompers,  Samuel,  22 

Goodrich,  Carter,  273 

Gosling,  Harry,  501 ;  on  a  labor 
movement  head,  139;  sugges- 
tions on  control,  292 

Government,  attitude  to  labor, 
381,  388;  character  of  the  pres- 
ent, 253,  254,  255 ;  condition  in 
1810,  460;  labor  compulsion, 
118,  121,  162;  policy  in  relation 
to  industry,  376,  384;  railway- 
men,  offer  to,  441 ;  workers' 
compulsion,  147 ;  see  also  State 

Government  servant,  new  kind, 
477 

Grand  National  Consolidated 
Trades  Union,  466 

Greenwood,  Arthur,  414 

Gretton,  R.  H.,  446 

Guild  organization,  266 

Guild  Socialism,  170,  182,  214,  215, 
292 

Guild  Socialists,  266 


Guildsmen,  262,  263,  271,  272 

Haldane,  Viscount,  265;  as  wit- 
ness before  Coal  Commission, 
480 

Hardie,  Keir,  470 

Hart,  Mrs.  M.  E.,  223 

Hartshorn,  Vernon,  47;  on  joint 
control,  156 

Hatred,  240,  241,  242 

Health,  coal  mining  industry, 
439;  industrial  workers,  super- 
vision, 236;  workers',  308 

Health  insurance,  237 

Hearst  newspapers,  242 

Henderson,  Arthur,  337,  390;  at 
Southport,  96;  on  international 
movement  and  ending  the  gov- 
ernment, 116-117;  on  Ireland, 
495 ;  on  President  Wilson,  86 ; 
on  the  Southport  Conference, 
108-109;  personality,  31,  163; 
position  as  labor  leader,  115 

Herd  movements,  210 

Hewlett,  Maurice,  quoted,  274 

Hobhouse,  L.  T.,  318 

Hodges,  Frank,  at  Southport 
Conference,  80;  at  Southport, 
on  direct  action,  101 ;  influence 
and  its  secret,  123 ;  on  direct 
action  for  political  ends,  122, 
123,  124;  on  industrial  conflict, 
77;  personality,  31,  34,  163; 
policy  and  philosophy,  127 ; 
sketch  of  his  life,  169;  typical 
views,  34-35 ;  on  workers'  con- 
trol, 170  ff. 

Holidays,  314;  work  on,  324 

Home  Rule,  493 

Home,  Sir  Robert,  488 ;  on  Gov- 
ernment and  industry,  376;  on 
trade  unions,  109 

Hours  of  work,  7,  308,  380,  386; 
miners.  42,  43 ;  recommendation 
of  Second  Industrial  Confer- 
ence, 74;  Smillie's  services,  64; 
weekly  maximum,  320-321 ; 
Whitley  Councils'  efforts  in  re- 
gard to,  361 ;  workers'  de- 
mands, 154 

House  of  Commons,  465 

House  of  Trades,  466 

Housing,  19,  328,  380.  387;  miners, 
46,  219 ;  miners',  women's  testi- 
mony, 223,  224;  soldiers',  255 


INDEX 


511 


Hovelaque,  Emile,  453,  454 
Humor,  British  sense  of,  164,  165, 

258 

Hyndman,  Henry  M.,  470 
Hynes,  J.  J.,  116 

Independent  Labor  Party,  203, 
470,  471,  472 

India  at  the  Southport  Confer- 
ence, 94 

Industrial  and  political  questions, 
89,  101,  121,  124 

Industrial  cabinet,  139 

Industrial  Conference.  See  Na- 
tional Industrial  Conference ; 
Second  Industrial  Conference 

Industrial  conflict,  77 

Industrial  councils,  329 

Industrial  democracy,  164,  183, 
475 ;  Smillie  as  leader,  60,  62 

Industrial  revolution,  185;  see 
also  Revolution 

Industrial  system,  487 ;  condition, 
277 ;  development,  281 ;  work- 
ers' opposition,  256 

Industrial  unionism,  198,  468, 
474 ;  change :  tendencies,  207 ; 
ideas,  201 ;  latent  ideas,  204 

Industrial  Workers  of  Great 
Britain,  201,  202 

I.  W.  W.,  201,  204,  207 

Influence,  political,  123 

Inge,  Dean,  on  industrial  system, 
256,  487 

Initiative,  482,  483,  484,  486 

Instincts  in  industry,  270,  273,  468 

Intellect,  451 

Intellectuals,  260,  261 

International  consciousness,  254 

International  movement,   116,   117 

Ireland,  493;  question  at  Glas- 
gow, 132;  self-determination, 

494 

Irish  Republic,  404,  495 
Iron  and  steel  trade  wages,  62 
Italy,  labor  organization,  109 

Jenks,  J.  W.,  on  prices,  283 

Jerome,  J.  K.,  on  the  press,  4QI- 
492 

John  Bull,  240,  242 

Joint  control,  7,  19;  coal  indus- 
try, 170;  definition,  155;  mines, 
42;  railways,  213;  railways, 
Government  scheme,  441 ;  work- 
ers' demands,  154,  169 


Joint  Industrial  Councils,  progress 
in  establishing,  workpeople  in 
each  industry,  368;  see  also 
Whitley  Councils 

Jones,  Kennedy,  16 

Jouhaux,  M.,  message  from 
French  C.  G.  T.  to  British  la- 
bor, in 

Jus  naturale,  458 

Key  industries,  107 
Kirkwood,      David,      personality, 
105 

Labor,  attack  on  old  British  or- 
der, 1 12 ;  basis  of  forward  move- 
ment, 106-107;  changes  sought, 
list,  19;  coming  into  power, 
147;  differences  as  to  method, 
108;  effect  of  the  war,  7,  249; 
immediate  gains,  19;  inertia, 
255,  257;  latent  power,  9;  mid- 
dle class  and,  14;  need  of  in- 
dustrial cabinet,  139;  philosophy 
lacking,  18 ;  philosophy  of 
younger  elements,  104;  political 
expression,  22;  religion,  489; 
slowness,  275 ;  unreadiness  and 
weakness,  253;  weakness  in 
Parliament,  115 

Labor  and  capital,  283,  489 

Labor  College,  169,  205,  212,  474 

Labor  leaders,  36,  115,  276;  im- 
portance of  knowing,  109;  past, 
470;  philosophy,  127,  132; 
Smillie,  60,  62 

Labor  Party,  470,  472;  direct  ac- 
tion, 83,  85;  early  dream,  463; 
impotence,  125;  Irish  policy, 
493;  issues,  80;  membership, 
81 ;  officers,  81-82;  women  and, 
225 ;  see  also  Southport  Con- 
ference 

Land  ownership,  217,  218 

Landlords,  217 

Larkin,  James,  475 

Laski,  H.  J.,  75,  265;  on  psy- 
chology of  industry,  272 

"  Lateral  pressure,"  370 

Law,  Bonar,  quoted,  487 

Lawrence,  Susan,  223 

Leadership,  133;  see  also  Labor 
leaders 

League  of  nations,  MacDonald 
on,  81,  91,  93 


512 


INDEX 


Leisure,  19 

Leisure  class,  503 

Liberalism,     457,     472;     relations 

with  labor,  461 
Liberty,  6,  458,  466;  spirit  to  win, 

159 

Lippmann,  Walter,  quoted,  272 
Literature,     books     which     have 
moved   the   masses,   457 ;    com- 
munistic,   209 ;    socialistic,    455  ; 
sociological,  203 

Lloyd  George,  David,  cure  for  un- 
rest,    252;     opportunism,     165; 
peace  program,  254 
Local  Mining  Council,  431 
London     Corresponding     Society, 

459 

London  School  of  Economics, 
482,  485 

Londonderry,  Marquis  of,  50,  165 

Lords,  as  witnesses  in  Coal  Con- 
ference, 49 

Lovett,  William,  467 

Luddite  actions,  460 

Macarthur,  Mary  R.,  226,  227 

MacDonald,  Ramsay,  on  league 
of  nations,  81,  91,  93;  on  the 
labor  conflict,  488;  personality, 
91-92 

McGurk,  J.,  address  at  South- 
port,  84 

Machinery,  468 

McLaine,  William,  on  President 
Wilson,  85 

Maclean,  Neil,  98 

MacManus,  A.,  203,  204 

Management,  coal  industry,  152; 
coal  industry,  state  share,  413 ; 
commercial,  297;  objection  to 
bureaucratic,  285  ;  problem,  272 ; 
state,  285 ;  wages  of,  347 ; 
workers'  share,  296;  see  also 
Scientific  management 

Managerial  classes,  264,  272 

Manchester  Guardian,  quoted, 
487 

Manchester  national  conference 
of  stewards'  committees,  191 

Mann,  Tom,  75,  202,  205,  474, 
500;  life  and  influence,  206 

Manual  workers'  equipment,  269 

Markets,  293-294 

Marshall,  Alfred,  on  Guild  or- 
ganization, etc.,  266 


Marx,  Karl,  472 

Marxian  teaching,  205,  212 

Materialism,  490 

Maternity  and  Child  Welfare 
Act,  236 

Maternity  Benefit,  236 

Middle  class,  associations,  13 ; 
bankruptcy  imminent,  12;  creed, 
457;  definition,  13,  17;  future 
prospects,  15 ;  history  and 
qualities,  446 ;  labor  movement 
and,  14;  protests  against  condi- 
tion, 12 

Middle  Classes'  Union,  16 

Military  service,  effect  in  organ- 
ized labor,  190 

Millionaires,  218,  219 

Milner,  Viscount,  on  nationaliza- 
tion, 490 

Miners,  bill  for  nationalization, 
172 ;  condition,  families,  etc.,  45, 
47;  condition  in  past,  39;  con- 
sciousness of  wrong,  171 ;  hous- 
ing, 46;  life  of  a  miner,  47,  58, 
216;  strength  of  their  union, 
113;  unrest,  55. 

Miners'  Federation,  172 

Miners'  wives,  223 

Miners,  accidents,  46;  joint  con- 
trol, 219;  ownership,  220;  see 
also  Coal  Commission ;  Coal 
mines ;  Nationalization 

Minimum  wage,  7 

Mining.    See  Coal  industry 

Mining  districts,  433 

Minister  of  Mines,  174 

Minister  of  Railways,  501 

Ministry  of  Labor's  notes  on 
Whitley  Councils,  July,  1919, 

358 

Ministry  of  Transport,  212,  441 
Mob  element,  240 
Mobilization,  481 
Money,  Sir  Leo  Chiozza,  35,  38 
Money,  446,  452 
Monopolies,  301 ;   state,   287,  288, 

289;  state  regulation,  289 
Morris,  George,  quoted,  32 
Morrison,  James,  464 
Mothers'  health  and  welfare,  236 
Motor  transport,  141 
Muir,  J.  W.,  203 
Municipal  elections,  277 
Municipal  enterprise,  287 
Munitions  work  for  women,  238 


INDEX 


513 


Munro,  Sir  Thomas,  318,  337 
Murphy,  J.  T.,  204;  on  shop 
stewards  and  workers'  commit- 
tee movement,  184;  on  the 
ideas  of  revolutionary  labor, 
201;  sketch,  184 

Napoleonic  wars,  459 
National  Guilds  League,  207 
National  Guildsmen,  501 
National    Health    Insurance    Act, 

237 

National  Industrial  Conference, 
meeting  of  Feb.  28,  1919,  70; 
party,  constituent,  71 ;  report  by 
subcommittee,  73 ;  resolution, 
71 ;  results,  73 ;  see  also  Second 
Industrial  Conference 

National  Industrial  Council,  330, 
336;  constitution,  332;  objects, 
331;  proposed,  74,  320;  trade 
union  representation  scheme, 
337;  Whitley  Councils  and,  3/0 

National  Joint  Industrial  Confer- 
ence, 26 

National  Mining  Council,  174, 
436 

National  resources,  conservation, 
290;  waste,  284 

National  Workers'  Council,  186 

Nationalization,  129,  133;  Coal 
Commission  and,  96 ;  coal  own- 
ers' position,  51,  53;  committee 
report,  281 ;  definition,  285 ; 
Glasgow  Congress  vote,  121 ;  is- 
sue at  the  front,  96;  key  indus- 
tries, 7 ;  Labor  Party  and,  83 ; 
Milner,  Viscount,  on,  490;  Min- 
er's bill,  172;  mines,  49,  80,  89, 
90,  91 ;  mines,  Glasgow  Con- 
gress action,  112;  mines,  San- 
key's  report,  54;  miners'  report 
rejected,  276;  Peterborough, 
Bishop  of,  on,  490 ;  public  utili- 
ties 19,  Smillie  on,  118;  value, 
284,  285;  Wallas,  Graham,  on, 

477 
Nationalization     of     Mines     and 

Minerals  Bill,  1919,  344 
Natural  law,  458 
Natural  rights,  458 
Navy,  483,  484 
Negotiations    of    employers'    and 

workers'  associations,  326,  335 
Neutral  trades,  137 


New  Age,  214,  475 

New    order,    General    Smuts    on, 

249,  492 
Newspapers,     disturbing    element 

m,  240,  241 
Nobijity,  165,  216 
Norris,  William,  243 
Northumberland,  Duke  of,  51,  96, 

165 
Notification  of  Births  Act,  236 

Old  age  pensions,  330 

Old  England,  243 

"  Old  timers,"  30 

One  big  union,  208,  466,  467 

Oratory,   123 

Order,  British  love  of,  163 

Organization,  by  industry,  207, 
208;  large-scale,  477;  Whitley 
Councils  and,  365 

Output,  restriction,   153,  342 

Overtime,  323,  328 

Owen,  Robert,  461,  463,  464 

Ownership,  mines,  national,  415; 
private,  220;  private  and  na- 
tional, 161;  public,  215;  state, 
267 

Oxford  movement,  468 

Parliament,  labor  groups  weak- 
ness, 115 

Parliamentary  Committee  of  the 
Trades  Union  Congress,  cen- 
sured, 117;  character,  114,  115; 
instruction  for  scheme  of  com- 
mon policy,  118;  slowness,  20, 
26;  Smillie  and,  66;  strength- 
ened by  Thomas,  133 

Participation.  See  Control;  Joint 
Control 

Patricia,  Princess,  73 

Paul,  W.,  203 

Peace  policy,  254 

Peet,  George,  204 

Pensions,  330 

People,  will  of,  166 

People's  Charter,  467 

Perry,  R.  B.,  quoted,  251 

Peterborough,  Bishop  of,  on  na- 
tionalization, 490 

Phillips,  Marion,  107,  224,  226, 
227 

Piece  work,  314 

Pit-head  baths,  223 

Plumb  plan,  213,  273 


INDEX 


Political  capacity,  166 

Political  influence,  123 

Poverty,  166,  274;  abolishing, 
159;  as  sequel  of  the  war,  29; 
British  workers,  n,  12;  pros- 
pect, 238,  239,  260,  261 

Press,  Jerome,  J.  K.,  on,  491-492; 
mob  and  hatred  elements,  340 

Pressure.  See  Compulsion  of 
Government 

Price,  Sir  Keith,  on  bureaucratic 
management,  285 

Prices,  261,  283,  373,  383 

Private  enterprise,  9,  52,  158,  163; 
failure,  152;  in  America,  10; 
mining,  43 

Private  interests,  162 

Problems,  223 

Producers'  associations,  502,  503 ; 
relations  with  consumers,  283 

Production,  30 ;  co-operative,  293 ; 
regulating,  464 ;  unemploy- 
ment and,  328-329 

Profiteering,  7,  374,  383 

Profits,  36;  conception,  446;  pool- 
ing, 299;  private,  19,  157,  158; 
questions  as  to,  41,  42,  43 ; 
shareholders',  9;  sharing,  298, 
299;  surplus  earnings,  350 

Property,  miners,  43;  rights,  49, 
52;  sacredness,  10,  62,  164 

Psychology,  change,  251 ;  need  of, 
270 

Public  opinion,  disturbers  of,  240; 
railway  disputes,  441 ;  reaching, 
143 ;  various  quotations,  487 

Public  ownership,  215;  see  also 
Ownership 

Public  service,  building  industry 
report,  339 

Public  service  industries,  287 

Public  utilities,  19,  163 

Publicity,  240,  505 ;  mining  indus- 
try, 437 :  trade  statistics,  297 ; 
Whitley  Councils  and,  365 

Radicals,  rewards  in  the  past,  469 

Railway  Advisory  Committee, 
441,  444,  445 

Railway  strike,  136;  fourteen  me- 
diators list,  136,  137;  govern- 
ment and,  140;  result,  142; 
Webb  summary,  497 

Railwaymen,  Government  offer 
to,  441 ;  self-government,  212 ; 


wages,  276;  -workers'  control, 
264 

Railways,  joint  control,  213;  or- 
ganization proposed,  213 

Recognition,  326;  of  trade  unions, 
380,  387,  499 ;  principle  of,  264 

Reconstruction,  28,  254,  257; 
failure,  275 

Rectory,  an  old  English,  244 

Redmayne,  Sir  Richard,  on  indi- 
vidual ownership,  157-158;  on 
ownership  of  collieries,  44; 
questioned  by  Smillie,  45 

Reform,  456;  revolutionary  char- 
acter, 457 

Reform  committees,  199 

Regularization  of  demand,  342 

Religion  of  labor,  489 

Renaudel,  Pierre,  message  to 
British  labor,  no 

Renold,  C.  G.,  269 

Report  of  Provisional  Joint  Com- 
mittee at  Industrial  Conference, 
Westminster,  April  4,  1919,  317 

Report  on  nationalization,  281 

Representative  machinery,  381, 
387 

Reserve  funds,  393 

Restriction  of  output,  153;  fac- 
tors, 342 

Reverence,  loss  of,  250 

Revolution,  as  organic  change, 
113;  British  attitude,  27,  28; 
change  by  constitutional  meth- 
ods, 167 ;  evolutionary,  128 ;  gen- 
tle, 152,  161 ;  "  humorous,"  164 ; 
social,  151,  153,  163;  without  a 
philosophy,  9;  workers  and,  99- 
100;  workers'  demands,  154 

Revolutionary  wing  of  labor,  201, 
209 

Rowntree,  B.  S.,  on  the  ideal  fac- 
tory, 306 

Rhondda,  224 

Rights,  458 

Royalty,  industrial  conference 
and,  73 

Russell,  Bertrand,  on  capitalism, 
491 

Russia,  British  Labor  Party  on 
ending  intervention,  80,  82,  85 ; 
direct  action  in  case  of,  122; 
Glasgow  Congress  action  on, 
112;  Glasgow  Congress  discus- 
sion, 117;  intervention,  84,  85 


INDEX 


515 


Safety  in  coal  mines,  439 

Salariat,  13 

Sanity,  258 

Sankey,  Mr.  Justice,  33,  54,  173, 
285 ;  colloquy  with  Cole,  265, 
419;  on  a  new  class  of  men, 
266;  on  administrative  officers, 
486;  on  incentive,  267;  report — 
Coal  Industry  Commission  Act, 
1919,  422;  report  on  Coal  Com- 
mission, 54;  report  rejected, 
276;  women's  testimony,  224 

Scientific  imagination,  269 

Scientific  management,  62,  315 ; 
building  industry,  340,  352 

Scott,  J.  W.,  on  syndicalism,  18 

Second  Industrial  Conference, 
April  4,  1919,  74;  Report  of 
Provisional  Joint  Committee, 

317 

Sectional  unions,  194 

Self-determination,  Ireland,  132; 
nations,  255 ;  various  groups  of 
workers,  268 

Self-government,  in  industry,  271 ; 
railwaymen,  212;  workshops, 
292,  294 

Seriousness  of  British  labor  lead- 
ers, 123 

Seven-hour  day,  43 

Sexton,  James,  at  Southport,  on 
nationalization  and  conscription, 
89-90 

Shackleton,  Sir  David,  318 

Shaw,  G.  Bernard,  471 

Shaw,  Tom,  121 ;  on  industrial  ac- 
tion in  political  matters.  122; 
on  Russia  and  conscription,  128 

Sheffield  Workers'  Committee, 
184,  189 

Shop  committees,  5°3 

Shop  steward,  503;  regulation  (of 
certain  trade  unions)  regarding 
employment  and  functions,  196 

Shop  Stewards'  movement,  27, 
184;  growth  and  character,  186; 
organization,  185 ;  philosophy, 
201 ;  structure,  principles,  ob- 
jects, shop  rules,  188 

Short  time,  organized,  327 

Slackness,  274 

Slesser,  Mr.,  172 

Slowness,  British,  20,  21,  164 

Slums,  218-219 

Smillie,    Robert,    19;    appearance, 


65 ;  at  Coal  Commission,  49,  56 ; 
at  Glasgow,  on  the  Russian 
blockade  and  intervention,  117; 
belief,  23;  eloquence,  66;  in 
Southport  Conference,  88;  moral 
authority,  68-69;  on  evolution- 
ary revolution,  128;  on  joint 
control,  156;  on  nationalization, 
118;  personal  life,  59;  person- 
ality, 31,  62,  134,  163;  power, 
28;  public  life,  58;  summary  of 
views,  215;  traits,  65,  66;  voice, 
67,  68 

Smith,  A.  M.,  337 

Smith,  Herbert,  37 

Smuts,  General,  on  the  new  order, 
249,  492 

Snowden,  Philip,  105 

Social  changes,  unconscious,  209 

Social  revolution,  what  is  said  of 
it,  487;  see  also  under  Revolu- 
tion 

Socialism,  definition,  31 ;  develop- 
ment, 469;  phases  in  history, 
470;  revolution  and,  220 

Socialist  Labor  Party,  202,  203, 
205,  468,  470 

Socialist  Labor  Party  in  Scotland, 

473 

Socialist  society,  215 

Socialist  state,  29,  31,  259 

Socialists,  origin  of  term,  461 

Soldiers,  houses  for,  255 ;  re- 
turned soldiers'  demands  and 
feelings,  82 

South  Wales,  205,  472 

South  Wales  miners,  172 

South  Wales  Miners'  Federation, 
206 

Southport  Conference,  June,  1919, 
discussions,  84;  foreign  dele- 
gates, 91,  93,  109;  messages 
from  foreign  labor  leaders,  109; 
resolution  on  conscription,  105 ; 
resolution  on  direct  action,  98, 
105 ;  summary,  79 ;  women  as 
speakers,  107 

Standard  of  living,  6,  19;  miners, 
42 

Standing  Joint  Committee  of  In- 
dustrial Women's  Organiza- 
tions, 226 

State,  aim,  289;  development  of 
industry,  328;  industry  and, 
300;  monopolies,  control,  285, 


516 


INDEX 


289;  ownership,  purchase,  and 
operation  of  coal  mines,  426, 
428;  ownership  and  purchase  of 
coal  royalties,  423,  425 ;  place 
of,  457;  see  also  Government 

State  management,  285 

State  ownership,  267 

Statistics,  Whitley  Councils  and, 
365 

Stevenson,  Sir  D.  M.,  57 

Storrs,  J.,  340 

Straker,  William,  409;  on  free- 
dom, 159 

Strike  committee,  term,  208 

Strikes,  dangerous  weapon,  122; 
for  political  ends,  85,  87;  gen- 
eral, 463,  468;  of  May,  1917, 
191;  on  political  issues,  113; 
principles  of  Government  ac- 
tion, 144;  right  to  strike,  213; 
universal,  256 

Surplus  earnings,  350 

Sweden,  labor,  no 

Syndicalism,  17,  156,  174,  214,  292, 
464,  467,  468,  472,  500;  British 
brand,  262 ;  French,  474 ;  inter- 
pretation and  adaptation,  475 ; 
new  phase,  473;  socialism  and, 
473 

Syndicalists,  206,  270 

Talbot,  Benjamin,  62 

Tawney,  R.  H.,  35,  37 ;  on  labor 
and  capital,  489;  views,  36 

Taxation,  19,  166,  167 

Teachers,  condition,  14 

"Team  spirit,"  341,  352,  356 

Technical  employees,  15 

Technical  officers,  479 

Textile  trades,  235 ;  women  in,  230 

Theft,  311-312 

Thinkers,  262 

Thomas,  J.  H.,  at  Glasgow,  on  in- 
dustrial action  in  political  mat- 
ters, 122;  Government  scheme 
of  joint  railway  control,  441 ; 
leadership,  133 ;  on  conscription, 
127;  on  demands  of  workers, 
154;  on  Ireland,  on  results  of 
Glasgow  Congress,  132,  133;  on 
state  ownership  of  mines,  120; 
personality,  60 

Tillett,  Ben,  on  direct  action  and 
revolution,  99;  personality,  99 

Titles,  450,  451 


Trade,  definition  in  committee  re- 
port, 325 

Trade  statistics,  publicity,  297 

Trade  union  leaders,  136,  220,  253 

Trade  unionism,  atmosphere,  295; 
conception,  457 ;  development 
before  1832,  463;  intellectuals, 
260,  261;  membership,  496,  498; 
new  unionism,  502;  representa- 
tion, 499;  slowness,  20;  state 
recognition,  300,  499;  strength- 
ening its  central  government, 
142;  structure  in  1920,  408; 
Webb  History,  revised  edition, 
496 ;  women  and,  228 ;  workers' 
control  and,  500 

Trade  unions,  309;  attitude  to- 
ward employment  of  women, 
228;  exclusively  for  women, 
229 ;  future  common  policy  pro- 
posed, 118;  leadership,  115; 
membership,  115;  minority  con- 
trol, 269;  negotiations  with  em- 
ployers, 326,  335 ;  old  timers,  30 ; 
partnership  in  control  of  indus- 
try, 138;  power,  29,  76;  pres- 
sure, 370;  recognition,  380,  387; 
scheme  for  representation  on 
National  Industrial  Council, 
337 ;  shop  steward  regulations, 
196;  value,  109;  women's  mem- 
bership, 229,  239 

Trades  Union  Congress,  what  it 
is,  26 

Trades  Union  Congress  of  De- 
cember, 1919,  142,  206,  504;  see 
also  British  Trade  Union  Con- 
gress, etc. ;  Parliamentary  Com- 
mittee of  the  Trades  Union 
Congress 

Traits.     See  British  traits 

Transport  Workers'  Federation, 
136,  139,  141 

Treasury  Agreement,  220,  238 

Treaty  of  Versailles,  253,  502 

Tredegar,  Lord,  50 

Tree.  old.  246 

Triple  Alliance,  19,  148,  150,  220 

Trust,  312 

Ulster,  494,  495 
Under-consumption,  328-329 
Unemployment,    19,    152,   316;    as 
cause    of    unrest,    377;    dealing 
with,  384;  maintenance  during, 


INDEX 


617 


329,  336;  pay,  345;  preventing, 
3?7,.  335 

Unionism,  industrial  versus  sec- 
tional, 107 ;  see  also  Trade 
unionism 

Universal  strike,  256 

Universal  suffrage,  466 

University  Socialist  Federation, 
263 

Unrest,  causes  and  remedies,  295; 
causes  and  remedies — memo- 
randum of  Joint  Committee  of 
National  Industrial  Conference, 
371 ;  extent,  255 ;  Lloyd  George 
and,  252;  miners,  55;  occasions, 

251 
Upper  class,  27,  216,  250,  449,  452 

Van  Roosbroeck,  M.,  message  to 

British  labor,  in 
Violence,  129,  259 

Wages,  earnings  and,  379;  effect 
of  war  on  the  question,  138; 
increase,  254 ;  iron  and  steel,  62 ; 
low  scale  in  past,  11,  12;  medi- 
ators in  railway  dispute,  136; 
miners',  42 ;  miners',  Baron 
Gain  ford  on,  303;  notes  on 
Whitley  Councils'  work  as  to, 
358;  of  management,  347;  pay- 
ment by  results,  300;  Pro- 
visional Joint  Committee  on, 
320,  324,  334;  railway,  scale  of 
Government,  143;  railway  war 
workers  in  19016;  378;  sugges- 
tions as  to,  385 ;  two  kinds,  313 ; 
women's,  232,  233 ;  women's,  fu- 
ture, 234;  workers'  demands, 

154 

Wallas,  Graham,  270,  271 ;  as 
witness  before  Coal  Commis- 
sion, 477 

War,  Cecil,  Robert,  on,  491;  ef- 
fect, 21,  252,  260;  effect  on  coal 
industry,  171 ;  effect  on  labor, 
7,  249 ;  effect  on  women's  wages, 
233 ;  poverty  as  sequel,  29 

War  advances,  dealing  with,  325 

War  Cabinet  Committee  on 
Women  in  Industry,  228,  230, 

233 

War  Office,  481 
Warblington,  243 
Waste,  economic,  284,  290 


Wealth,  Coleridge  on,  462;  redis- 
tribution, 455;  taxation  to  dis- 
tribute, 19;  unequal  distribu- 
tion, 378 

Weavers,  446 

Webb,  Sidney,  470,  471,  482;  on 
co-operative  production,  294;  on 
the  railway  strike,  144;  on  the 
workers'  pressure  on  the  Gov- 
ernment, 147,  148;  personality, 
35,  37,  81 

Webbs'  "  History  of  Trade  Union- 
ism," revised  edition,  496 

Whitley  Councils,  74,  296;  experi- 
mentation, 75;  failure,  70;  notes 
on  their  work,  July,  1919,  by 
Ministry  of  Labor,  358;  prog- 
ress in  1920,  369;  women's 
wages,  234 

Whitley  reports,  154,  155 

Widows,  239 

Williams,  Robert,  on  the  Triple 
Alliance,  150;  personality,  87; 
returned  soldiers  and,  82 

Wilson,  Havelock,  defeat  and 
cause,  120 

Wilson,  Woodrpw,  Bottomley  on, 
241,  242;  British  labor's  disil- 
lusionment in,  85,  86 

Women,  as  Coal  Commission 
witnesses,  223;  at  Southport 
Conference,  107;  economic  posi- 
tion, 227;  exceptional,  list,  227; 
future  wages,  234;  interests  of 
working  women,  226;  Labor 
Party  and,  225;  Labor  Party 
conference  at  Southport,  223 ; 
munitions'  work,  238;  prospects, 
238;  state  regulation  of  work  in 
the  past,  235 ;  technical  ability, 
479;  trade  unions  for,  229; 
wages,  232,  233 

Work,  British  scorn  of,  274 

Workers,  as  ruling  class,  103 ;  de- 
mands in  brief,  6,  7 ;  ideas  and 
elements  of  change,  201,  210; 
instincts  rather  than  conscious 
purposes,  210;  power,  456,  469; 
power,  unrealized,  131,  221, 
269;  sense  of  humor,  164:  so- 
ciety they  want,  215;  thinkers 
and,  262:  see  also  Labor 

Workers'  committee,  term,  208 

Workers'  committee  movement, 
184 


518 


INDEX 


Workers'  control,  169;  basis  of 
system,  263-264;  detailed  study, 
273;  reason  for,  in  the  mining 
industry,  410;  trade  unionism 
and,  500 ;  see  also  Control ; 
Joint  Control 

Workers'  council,  term,  208 
Workers'  International   Industrial 

Union  [Workers'  Union],  201 
Workers'  Socialist  Federation,  204 
Working       conditions,       Whitley 
Councils  and,  363 


Working    women,    226;    see   also 

Women 
Workmen's     Compensation     Act, 

237 
Works     committees,     297,     355 ; 

Whitley  Councils  and,  367 
Workshop  control,  184,  198 

Yew  tree,  246 

"  Young  Men  in  a  Hurry,"  30 
Youth,  philosophy,  104 
Youth  at  the  stirrup,  79,  80 


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