THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 23099, 27 October 1938, Page 17

THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

[By Trade Unionist.] LABOUR DAY. It is my usual practice on the eve of Labour Day to make some appropriate remarks regarding the importance of the day to the trade union movement in New Zealand. The following comments are rather belated, but “ better late than never.” A good many cf the present generation that axe employed in industry are of the opinion that the eight-hour day that is now the custom has always been so. They never think that their forefathers had to work 10, 12, and even 14 hours a day ,to earn their daily bread. Further, neither do they understand that a 'strenuous struggle was maintained for many years to get the eight-hour v orkmg day established.

In New Zealand it was the henevo- • lence of a Liberal Government that finally passed the law fixing an eighthour day for a fair day’s pay. _ When this law was passed, colebrai ' tions took place all over New Zealand, and the first anniversary was celebrated in a most spectacular manner. Each trade union or calling became responsible for the decorating of a horseI drawn vehicle, displaying, in most cases artistically, the goods they manufacI tured or produced. _ A monster procession then ivended its way through the city streets, winding up at a well-known sports ground, where usually the classic athletic events of the year took place. ! The Government, after a few years of I continuous celebrating of the eight-hour j day in this manner by the trade union movement, decided to make tr.o day a statutory holiday, fixing it to fall*on tne fourth Monday of October in each year, and it has continuously been held on this day in New Zealand for over 30 years. Last Monday (Labour Day), I suppose, is the first occasion that the organised trade union movement in this centre has not in some way or other celebrated the day. More is the pity, when one knows the keenness and enthusiasm that animated a lot of men, most of them now, unfortunately, passed to the great beyond. * » * * TRADE UNIONISM IN ENGLAND. English papers coming to hand at present contain reports of the English Trade Union Congress, which opened at Blackpool on September 7. At this time_ .momentous questions were being considered, as a further world war looked inevitable. Mr H. H. Elvin, chairman, who presided, said, inter alia, in his presidential address:—“ It is my task to show that this , great movement has not weakened in its objective, and that, in view of the threats to civilisation, it is incumbent upon us to strengthen it by uncompromising hostility to all forms of capitalism and dictatorships, by unswerving loyalty to principle, and persistent, determined, and single-minded effort to achieve our purpose.” Mr Elvin, after outlining the social aims of the trade union movement, reviewed the expanding field of trade union endeavour as described in the report of the General Council, and declared, with justice, that “ startling Rories could be. told of men and women who owe ranch to the reclaiming power of trade union effort.” * * * * WARNINGS AGAINST AN ARMED PEACE. Mr H. H. Elvin, president of the English Trade Union Congress, speaking at a great gathering of trade union delegates, warned his audience against the illusions of an “ armed peace.” “ We have to beware of the subtlety of the enemy. He has repeated so often that the League of Nations is dead that many of ns are prone to believe it. The enemy wants the League to be dead. The same method of suggestion was adopted regarding unemployment pay. The damaging description of the 1 dole ’ created in the mind of the unfortunate recipient of unemployment pay that he was dependent upon charity, and it has beoomo difficult to satisfy many that physical fitness is an inherent right of every individual in the State, that it is the duty of the State to provide the means “ Our policy is peace, and peace means life. The League of Nations is the modern instrunient by which the vision of the old-time prophet can bo realised. What is wrong is not the League but those who have controlled it, and by throwing sand into the machine they have prevented its working

satisfactorily. What is needed to-day is the will to work it. We have to create that will. “ There must be no dubiety as to what we mean by support of the League. It is lamentably true that the League Covenant envisages the use of force to deal with the aggressor. It details the methods of leading ultimately to military means, but only as a last resort undertaken co-operatively through the League Covenant. If the Great Powers had done their duty to the League and to humanity, the present chaotic condition of the world, with brute force in the saddle, would never have been created. “ Those Powers, including our own, cynically denied the German Republic (with a Socialist as its President) its rights under the Treaty of Versailles. They paved the way to the reign of terror. When brute force first showed its head in the march to the Rhineland, if. Great Britain in concert with other Powers had not betrayed its trust, the-world could have been saved for democracy. Peace and democracy are on the lips of the Government, but war and Fascism are in their hearts if deeds are to be their judges.” * * * * FRENCH TRADE UNION CONGRESS FACES SERIOUS SPLIT. 1 A French trade union split which may have serious repercussions at the approaching annual conference of the French T.U.C. has just occurred iu the mining industry. A large body of minors has to accept a wages agreement drawn up after long negotiation between trade union delegates and employers. After the miners’ congress this year it was decided to demand a 5 per cent, wage increase, while the employers wore offering only a 1 per cent. rise. Trade union delegates, after an interview with Premier Daladier, signed an agreement which would hold good until March 1, 1939. By this a 6 per cent, increase was granted on condition that the men would furnish 89 extra hours’ work each between now and the time of expiration.

This would mean an increased output of 2,000,000 tons and avoid the necessity for £11,500,000 worth of foreign coal purchases. Two days earlier, however, the Communist miners of the Anzin and Donai district of Northern France refused to agree to the proposal and ca'lled for an extraordinary miners’ conference. The miners’ union, therefore has decided to take energetic measures to counter ivhat is considered a political move against its orthodox leaders and the refusal of members to agree to proposals already endorsed by their elected delegates. » * n KARL MARX’S GRANDSON. Jean Longuet, who died recently following a motor accident in France, was born 62 years ago in London, where his grandfather, Karl Marx, had lived in exile since the breakdown of the German revolutionary movement in 1848. His father, Charles Longuet, was also living there as a political refugee, and married one of Karl Marx’s daughters, Jennie. Barrister and journalist, and later a French Deputy, Jean Longuet, early in life, became prominent as a French Left Wing journalist and belonged to the first editorial team of ‘ Humanite,’ when Jean Jaures founded that then Socialist daily newspaper in 1904. (ft was taken over by the Communists iu 1921.) Jean Longuet, who was his lifelong and devoted friend and collaborator, sat next to Jean Jaures at dinner on that night of July 31, 1914, when a Nationalist fanatic shot Jaures dead at point-blank range. Longuet helped launch the first Socialist dally newspaper which later became the ‘ Populaire,’ official organ of the French Socialist Party. He met with the fatal motoring accident on his way to the local meeting in Savoy district, near the place where he spent his summer holiday. He was all his life closely connected with the British Labour movement and its leaders. • » • * MINERS TAKE TO SAFETY GEAR. Among managers and miners at British collieries, the “ considerable scepticism ” which met the introduction of hard hats and other modern safety equipment is gradually disappearing This is stated by the Safety in Mines Research Board, in its annual report. Since the previous report there has been encouraging progress in both the development and use of this equipment.

The board records that at a large group of collieries where an intensive safety campaign has been carried out, the number of three-day injuries to head, hand, foot, and eye has been reduced by 45 per cent, in the past three years.

Mo™ than 147,000 hard hats were supplied to British mines during 1937, making a total of 435,000, but “ many head injuries which could have been prevented by the wearing of hard hats are still being reported.” The report notes as a “ retrograde step ” the issue at several collieries of soft caps for use with cap lamps. In an attempt to have the practice discontinued, all hard hats are now obtainable with cap-lamp brackets. • * • * HEALTH OF GIRL WORKERS. When you eat sit down and take your meal slowly—particularly breakfast; scamped breakfasts are the root of a lot of evil So says the English Committee Against Malnutrition, in its current bulletin. Citing an experiment among Barking school children, the committee says 50 from poor homes put on 441 b in weight, and gained 10 per cent, in progress when given breakfast at school. Civil service medical departments are, it is stated, dealing with a large number of debility cases. Here are the signs:— “ The girls are thin and anxious in appearance , . . hands are cold and clammy. Although reasonably mentally alert, they cannot work fast enough or do overtime without collapsing.” And here is the cause:— “ These girls rise early and gulp down early morning tea. If they do breakfast it is in an atmosphere of ■rush and muddle, snatching bites between household tasks, “ They take sandwiches—a most indigestible form of food for lunch—in order to economise.” Often, when father is dead or out of work, the girl is the family’s breadwinner and housekeeper. On return home she may have to cook dinner, clean the house, and make the beds. When finally the girl has to go into a convalescent home, says the bulletin, “ the shock administered to the patient’s family may be the best part of the treatment.” The “ vicious circle ” of overstrain and malnutrition has to be broken. Then, says the bulletin, the girl may, like the Barking children, start putting on weight and improving in work.