The Dominion. TUESDAY,- DECEMBER 3, 1918. THE BRITISH LABOUR PARTY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 58, 3 December 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY,- DECEMBER 3, 1918. THE BRITISH LABOUR PARTY

Some aspects of the British election campaign are not as clearly illuminated as they might be, but on the facts'in sight the Coalition headed by Mb. Lloyd Georqe. is being weakly opposed. Apart from the Irish Nationalists and Sinn ■Fcincrs, the ono important political group which stands definitely' opposed to the Coalition is the Labour Party. Unless the summarised reports of his spcechds are misleading/ Mn. Asquitii is at most a halfhearted opponent of the Lloyd George Government. When he adi dressed , the London Liberals about a fortnight ago he outspokenly condemned the decision to hold a general election at the present stage, but in the same speech, he said that he was prepared to support any Government which grappled with the problems of reconstruction on progressive lines. Even the Labour Party, though it has defined its attitude by voting to dissolve the Coalition, seems rather to be contemplating opposition than making a bid for office. Its election, programme, judging by the summary cabled a day or two ago, ;rs a distinctly uninspiring document, and it is far from being-true that it is marred only by negative faults. As it stands it represents an obstinate repetition and reassertion of errors which during the war period have enfeebled the Labour Party and made it a prey to internal divisions. The greatest error of all is a refusal to recognise, or admit that the war has demolished pre-existing conditions of party politics, and that, for some time to come at least, the only choice open will be that of supporting or hindering a 'national effort in politics. It goes without saying that if the Labour Party had the right it claims to speak for the British democracy it would command a most respectful hearing. It is agreed on all hands that a new age of democracy has opened and that political policy must bo shaped accordingly. But the claim of the Labour Party that it alone is entitled to speak on behalf of British democracy is evidently ill-founded. The hollowness of the claim is exposed by the attitude nnd action of Labour members of the Coalition Ministry. Some of them have determined,to adhere to the Coalition at the cost of breaking with the official organisation of their party. Others have decided'to let their actions be governed by the votes of trade unions and other constituent bodies, but of these several have openly declared that they do not approve the Labour Party's decision to leave the _ Coalition. Amongst Labour Ministers who have taken up this attitude Me.. John Hodge is conspicuous. '

The inability to rise to a national standpoint which' is betrayed in the genera , policy of the Labour Party appears also in the details of its programme. With Mb. Asquith it stands,for Free-trade. The innate conservatism in a political party which enables it to persist in the advocacy of Free-trade in spite of all the lessons the war has taught is a, thing to marvel over. What the possibilities of Free-trade would be in. ideal conditions, which have never existed and ar'o never likely to, it is difficult to say, but' it is plain enough to all who face' the facts that if Britain again opened her markets as unrestrictedly as in the days before the war she would be mviting economic disaster and sacrificing the security for which so heavy a price has been pa'fd. Unrestricted freedom of trade would doom to destruction industries like agriculture which the war has called into new life in the United ■Kingdom and which it is all-import-ant to maintain. > At the same time it would afford all the openings they might desire to Germans and other foreign exploiters intent on capturing vital British industries and establishing monopolies. In advocating Free-trade the Labour Party cither ignores the interests of British democracy or demonstrates its inability to ; understand them. It was not a happy thought on the part of the authors of the programme to claim that "Democratic diplomacy as expressed in Labour's war aims has been a powerful factor in. winning the war. . . ." Most people are well aware that while the winning of the war is essentially a democratic achievement, the contribution of not a few of the men who at present dominate the British Labour Party has been, to say the least, anything but helpful. As recently as the end of August Hn._ Arthur Henderson was constrained to admit that he had been "much too sanguine in the generous estimate he had placed upon the reply of the German Socialist Majority"—that is to say, in assuming that the German Socialist Majority would accept the principles of peace approved by the British Labour Party. Almost to the closing hours of the war the German Majority Socialists were the pliant instruments of Prussian militarism.. As far as can bo judged they are tho dominant faction in the present German' Government, but there is no evidence that they arc inspired by honest ideas of amendment and reform. In August Mr. Henderson asserted that Labour did not the war to end in a peace dictated at the point of the sword, which would not reconcile the sundered 1 peoples, but would sow the seeds of future strife. It is now evident that in making this statement he was utterly out touch with the spirit of the British nation and its allies and failed hopelessly to grasp the facts of the war. The Allies have prevailed by force of arms and tho immediate result is that the shackles have been struck from nations which had long been subject and oppressed. Ml!. Henderson and his colleagues aro constrained to join in the chorus of applause this achievement has evoked* but it is plain that if their advice had been taken and the Allies had rejected the idea of dictating peace at the point of the sword the oppressed nationalities in Aus-tria-Hungary and elsewhere would haw sighed in vain for freedom. With this striking object-lesson before them the British electors should have little difficulty in accurately assessing the claims and pretensions of the Labour Party,