THE GENERAL STRIKE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 277, 20 November 1913, Page 2

THE GENERAL STRIKE.

! ITS ECONOMIC I'UTILITY. j FAILURE ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLE. , \ \ The following passages taken from an ; article by Mr. .T. A. Hobson, M.A., 'author "The Problems of Poverty," I'" The Industrial fyotem.' , e.tc., will 'be iof special interest to all persons affected '. by the present strike. "The rogue of the word 'syndicalism.' ! introduced irora France, seems to impiy a tendency to abandon the orderly ! methods of the old trade union organisa- , lions in favour of the sudden and forcible. : action of local group*, while it carries ; with it an avowed distrust of Parliamentary action ami, in general, of politi- ■ cal wea-;-*ont=. . . . Cv'ot only compul- • sory arbitration is eschewed by this new i labour movement, but the action of conjciliation -board?, trade boards, sliding ■ scales and other experiments in the ' settlement of difrpntes between employer I and employed is set aerde in favour of a ' policy of economic force. The tempo- ! rary failure of the more pacific methods ito secure, in recent years, an increase of i wages has thus brought about what j must be regarded as a reversion to the ' more primitive methods of a class war ; fought by cruder weapons and attended by greater violence and embittenment of feeling. "Xow, the notion that 'the general ; strike' can be made effective as an in- ! strument for . improving the economic • condition of the workers is vitiated by I three, fata! considerations. : "In the first plare. ite success implies J a power of organisation and of strategy ,' considerably greater than that which j would suffice to elect a Labour party I strong enough to control the Govern- | ment of the. country. There, is no cvii dence that in thw or any other country a sufficiently complete sinraltaneoi-fi stoppage of industry could, in fact, be j carried into effect and maintained Ion?

enough to forer , employers to their knees. "In the RpcoTui place, uip notion that the £i<rht could be kf.pt on a purely economic plane is pnerilp. The stoppage lof any fundamental economic functron iis necessarily attended by such <^rave I disturbances of public order that the I police and military forces are brought into acti<m toy the ("Jovernment, and such action i* essentially hostile to the methods of- the strike. Even if the strike were not conducted by definitely J illegal methods, the. incidental disI order evoked by stoppages of food I supplies and' by subeequeiit starvjrtibn i wo-.ijdefHnpel tbe pirbHe forces to inter- ! vene in the capacity of "blacklegs. . The I notion rfrat labour is better able to hold : out than capital in htich a struggle i* i faiee: nhe entire availaible food supply I would belong to the well-to-do, who alone, could afford to purchase it, and working-orasa starvation could only be ! averted by illegal violence, which nvonid ■ brin<» the striker? into conflict with the public foTce. I " FinaUy, the policy of the ppncral I strike would be mor? destructive of wealth, and of that public confidence in the regular working of economic, proI cefse?. upon which effective industry : depends, than any other form of labour , movement. Its practice would let down ] j enormously the productive, capacity, of ] any nation where it found harbonrape. I An-d the belief that the economic condi- | tion of the. workers coeld possibly be : raised by a process which so gravely j impaired the total economic -productivity iof the- nation cannot seem plausfble to i any thoughtful worker. ! "The solution from the standpoint of i labour is undoubtedly grave . . La/b----j our, in obber words, a-ppears, for the I time -being, in a state of relative overi supply, as compared with the otter facj tors of production. But. if this be so,

reversion t--> the penera.l strike, or to any more primitive modes of economic force, can have no possible efficacy. Disintegration anti purely anarchical action I can furnish no remedies. " Better or<rani«»tk>n is needed, more regular and intelligent interest in the local government of trade unione, better selection of, and fuller confidence in, the central exerutrvr-s of the trade unions, greater willinsmefs to utilise all instruments of conciliation atrd <rf arbitration which focus public opinion upon the justice and humanity of their demands for a fuller ftJiare in the wealth they help to make, ami, finally, a larger and more intelligent use of the power which a popular franchise places in their hands to control legislation a.n<l administration, and. to check the waste and extravagance of public revenue which is bo I injurious to the iirteTr.st of modern States. Such arc the lines of working-class progress to which I feel confident the main body of the ■workers of tins country wirl continue to adhere when they come to reflect ■more clearly on the situation. What they cannot secure by the intelligent use of collective bargaining, and of the political franchise, they will certainly not secure by the crude anarchism of a general strike."