BRITISH LABOUR PARTY

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14824, 15 November 1913, Page 15

BRITISH LABOUR PARTY

LOST INFLUENCE OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE MASSES.

(fSO« A CORRKSrONDEsT.) LONDON, October 2. Has the effort of tho English trade unionists and Socialists to build up their own political party in Parliament failed 'i All tho indications point to the . conclusion that it has, and that in a 1 few years Labour M.P.'s will bo as 3 scarce at Westminster as blackberries in " January. . Tho rise of the Labour Party at the I general election of 1905 was one of tho . romances of politics. Ueforo that there ) wero perhaps half a dozen Labour - Socialists in Parliament, led by the I veteran Ketr llardie. The miners ha<! "„ a dovseu or so of their own mcv, but r they wero Liberals and not fsjciahst-J. r wore there to lov/k alter the tp.citu 1 iui/cro£>i*> oi tuo uiiueix. out on an viiicr - iIUILUSI'S ClK'y i«lt HIIU VOLtU Willi ttlti ? juiborais. im , rauw«tyiueit v.so iwu oav or two reiirew.-ntutivt'a who wero al»o j. iuilt>.i on iy Luc iiu-u midl <j» mc luuiofe uiiu .u.x'.'o 3 H-ero iit-4>c<t in tlK'ir l-kchoii expt_-u.»At> uy liiovmt u»t>nt£, auu jjiv»r«i a fJt-«u' ufiU tne iory ci»uu.<iau's. in xooo. tne :it.-H party was born. .L'uuucuULs laugacd wJum X v, - u.-> aiinouncttt taat "lititv.iur' , u> onni-cv>t some sixty edd ar.fl preuici<Hi that tin: canuuai.es won id lw snowtsl uuder. When, novvever, tncy woii Hoariy 4U of tiieso scats, tlio \ron- ' ticians were seized With sometnmg I'KO ' it panic, and tenous men wvie uenra 1 to prcuiut tnat nctorc many years 1 tluMO would l»o a Labour J'rinie Aiinisr ter in resilience at 1') t 'owning sti - cet. I Wnen a little later the miners and rail--3 waymen s unions deemed that tneir re--5 prescuti!tive must ••sign tho Labour : I'arty ticket." by which was meant ' that they must pleu-ge tr.emselvos to oo governed l>y tnc I'arty caucus, these ' giooi/iy prophets saw tlie ronlirmation 'Jf their tears. Now all this is I changed. The Labour I'arty is the joko ot p<j;:tics and no ono L»!lioves tiiat 1 alter the next general election, wheui ever it. may come, "Labour," with a : capital '•?.,•*' will cit any stiious n»uro 5 in Parliament. Various explanations are oilered "»r ; " ihib astonishiu" collapse, but tho most "enuiallv aeceptnd is that the olhcial Labour "Party lias allowed itself to X! swallowed body, boots, and breeches hy tho Libarai I'arty. Certain it is tuat tho Labour members have eons:t;teiulv voted Liberal on r.U occasions wtieu their votes were required to keep tiio Liberals in office. On ihe one or two ■ occasions when Labour made a show ot ■ indcpc-.idcnco the Liberals were assured : of enough Tory votes to overcome tno ; Labour defection, and the' Labour men • knew it. Another and perhaps a more serious > factor is that tho Labour Party lias not ' "made When it came mto > btinrz eight yN»rs ago the kaders were • of nromisL'ss of a new heaven : and ;i new earth. Wages were to be • raised, hour s were to be reduced, work ■ was.to be made easier, and conditions ■ butter. Factories and mines wero to ; become like bidics' drawing-rooms, and ■ tho millennium was to arrive without ; further delay. Th« trouble is that tho niiliounium not only hasn't arrived, 1 but doesn't seem to be any nearer than in the- old days before Labour had its own party in Parliament! Factories and mines «re still grimy, unpkaesvnt places, and employers! still continue to insist that eight hours, or more, constitute a day's work. Wages have not gono up to any great extent, and the cost of living has beaten wages in tho climb, so that t3ie liritish workingman is worse eff than he was when the Labour Party began to promise him a jjoklcn future. Still another factor, .is the feeling that tne Labour leaders have succumbed to the flrahpots cf Egypt. The British Parliament is really" a very democratic place, and tl-o youajre-r son of a duke who is r-n do&su't mind beinp; seen walking arai in arm With anothor M.P. who has wielded a pick in his father's mine. H o pv?n invites him to his father's big political dinners and garden parties, and tho illustrated papers snapshot Bill Jones. Al P., who represents tho mim-rs of «omt> unnroijotincrable place in Wales m top hat and frock coat, talkinp to Lady Clara \ere de. at her papa* garden parties. Snaoshots of lUill Jones bnlancincr » cup oft?a whilo he chatted with her ladyship aro not t C *? n H -° , 8,11 ' S consiituents who drink their beer from a can ard take their recreation at football matchec or dps hghts. Then, too, Bill, who when he was n pJain trade union official, lived amonc the worKers and 'understood their problems, has lost touch. Ho has been at Westminster f (>l - eight years and J\cstmm«ter is a long way from Wales, in the old days when there-was a dispute between masters and men Bill could put on his cloth cap and walk round to the oflic.-e to talk things over with the mino manager. Ho knew all that was fioing on in tho mine and lie knew maybe that the man who was fomonting all tho trouble was a chronic sorehead and shirker. If the trouble was genuine his practical knowledge enabled him to point out in a little friendly talk with tho boss how it conld bo avoided. Now Mr William Jones, M.P., in hw top hat and frock coat, tomes down to A\ales, perhaps accompanied by a Cabinet Minister, when he is si?nt'-for to .settle a dispute.' He travels first class and pms up at a good hotel, and the mino man.igor, v/iio is >i rude rough person used to dealing with rude rough men, .doesn't understand him. Neither does Mr William Jones. M.P., know what has been going on in the mine and ho has not kopc up with the nw situation created by new machinery and improved methods. Hf, fails where ;>lni» Bill Jones succeeded and a strike follows. How true this picture is. is shown by the figures of tho time lost by strikes. In the: five years from 1902-1906 11,000.000 days werft lost in the United Kingdom. In the five y«?ars 1907-11. or since the rise of the Labour Party. 33,000,000 days were lost, and , in 1912 alone over -r0.000.000 days were lost by industrial disputes. A factor in tho situation which is too often overlooked is tho human factor. I'ritjsh workingnian is a very human man. He likes his bVer, he «»n----joys a do.<; or a boxing match, and Ihe doesn't mind a gina!l bet. Ij\* som« ; .-trango freak the great majority of J tho men whom he has sent to ParliaI incut are Puritans. Mr Arthur Ilen- ' derson, the official leader, but not the rc.'il Bir.nnK'-r of the Labour Party, is a Methodist local preacher. Mr Ramsay Macdonald, th? real "boss"' of th~" party, never was a workinjjman at all, but is a middle-class Liberal politician who knows nothing of the real life of the working people. Mr Philip Snow-tie-n, who is probably the cleverest man in the party, is also from the middle class. He is a bitter Socialist, but an ascetic in his private life, and cannot understand why his constituents prefer beer and doc-fights to Karl Marx and Bernard Shaw-. With all this the Labour politicians might have managed to keep their seats in Parliament if they had not made the fatal mistake of greediness. There was a tacit agreement that in certain working class constituencies returninc two members to Parliament the Liberals fihould hare ones member and the Labour Party one. Recently the Labour wire-pullers decided that they wore entitled to both, and in two or three by-elections they broke their barcain with the Liberals. At Hanley they won a seat and at- Crewe they were defeated. Then came the Chesterfield election a few weeks ago. This is a miner's constituency, and had

boon hold by a Liberal. The miners wanted Mr parnet Kenyon, the secretary of th«ir local union, and tho Liberals were willing to havo him, but j Mr Ramsay Mac Donald stepped in and i declare*! that Mr Kenyon would not do. j Mr Kenyon was willing to "sigu tho j ticket." but Mr Mac Donald was bonbon having someone olso, and refused him j the Labour Party endorsement. In the end Mr Kenyon was nominated over j Mr Mac Donald's head. Now the Libe- j rals declare that at tho next General election they will contest every Labour seat. If they do so the Labour Party is doomed. The result of it nil is seen in the cains which syndicalism is iriWinc i among tho British worker*. Labour j leaders like Ren Tillott. who ecorn all | political action, and preach the strike | or in tho last resort, force. sv# the j workincman's only are <*.*»«- j iii<z more and more influent:-* 4 , and sHll j more siTni'Vant is i\>e> revolt of tho j rnnk and f>to n«i\»»ie4. th«ir own leaders. T>i«cinlinp in K"«r?i«li trade union , ; »:»> rl'«nnoeared. nnd ma«v tr*>''e union"-** derlnro i*. i« duo to t'"» effort to mix trade unionism and politico. i