£2 A WEEK FOR ALL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3345, 11 October 1911, Page 7

£2 A WEEK FOR ALL.

INDUSTRIE SOLIDARITY

.('Bv Tom Mann, the Strike Leader, in the “Daily Mail.”)

Those who listen to our speeches or read anything we write will find one phase much reiterated. It: Industrial Solidarity. . Industrial solidarity as we rise tho term means f the recognition by the workman that any section of any industry is interdependent upon every other section and that the growth of modern industrialism lias made tins absolutely necessary. : The progress of this conception is shown on the capitalist side by the development from a. private individual owning an industiial establishment limited liability companies to trusts and combines. In earlier stages of the workers movement trade unionism served a good purpose so long as the employing class were sectionalised, but since, for whatever reason, the organisations of the master class become a fact it Becomes proportionally difficult for tlie ordinary trade unionists of a sectional character to achieve any good purpose, and some dozen years ago many of the leaders among the working men came to the conclusion that trade-union methods had so lamentably failed that other means must be found. So they resorted chiefly to parliamentary action. F-ULURE OF PARLIAMENTARY ACTION. In the opinion of large numbers of us, however, even parliamentary action has not proved effective. Instead, therefore, of discarding organisation in the workshop, the movement we are identified with recognises that no social or industrial change for the better can take place except in proportion as industrial organisation is accompanied by the elimination of sectional trade unionism. . The older movement relied chiefly upon finance; that there should be no struggle unless there was a big war chest. Tho modern movement does not depend upon money. It depends entirely upon agreement among the men and the exhibition of what we term the spirit and practice of solidarity. More can be done in one week on the basis of solidarity extended over a wide enough area than can be done in a year with unlimited money in the absence pf this solidarity-. We are definitely aiming- at reducing poverty and ultimately abolishing it by the force of industrial organisation on the basis I have explained. We started this fight two months ago without money and with only some 12,000 or 13,000 unionists among seagoing men and dockers. Now the unionists have grown to fully 50,000. and each of the unions has considerable income and has also achieved substantial monetary gains and other conditions) favorable to the men. The railwayman for whom we are battling are the lowest paid in the service, their rates ranging from 14s a week to 245. Many of them are not organised, but these are now joining the unions and union men are -working with them and voicing their claims on the basis such as I have described. “WE ARE GOING TO WIN.” It is evident that we are going to win. It will not be a great win; the demands are small —merely the reduction of hours to fifty-four a week, two shillings a week advance in wages, and the recognition of the union. Bat this is only the preliminary to more complete. solidarity. I would not create the impression ' that any settlement arrived at will, last for any number of years. We still distinctly and l persistently encourage men to make further demands until -all men are able to- earn and enjoy a substantial livelihood. The general strike is the most .powerful weapon at our disposal, but at present we are only resorting to a general strike over a small area in the transport industry. It may spread, and it looks at the hour like spreading over the greater part of the country. If so «. will be all to the good. For it is worth a good deal of industrial disturbance to wipe out much of the accursed poverty that afflicts the people. The outlook for the workers is one of glorious promise. There is no real necessity for anyone in this country to be working under £2 a week income, not even a laborer; and we shall continue to fight on the basis of industrial solidarity, greatly extending the area we are covering and' the industries affected at one time to enable us to achieve our end. THE EFFECT UPON PRICES.

As regards the effect upon prices, we Kliall take special pains to prevent artificial prices being run up by traders and others launching out into co-opera-tive productions and distribution. This is a phase which will extend with corresponding rapidity to the present growth of organisation by industry as ngainst that of organisation by trade. An instance of the opposite method of procedure quite recently occurred with the woolcombers of Bradford, a branch of the textile industry, which was shamefully overworked and shockingly underpaid. The woolcombers struck work and were out for several weeks. Other branches of the textile industry loked* on and expressed sympathy, voted money, but did not exhibit solidaritv, so the woolcombers lost. It was a "mad method, and never could win. Another instance was that of the Rhondda Valley miners. They bad nearly a vear of unemployment through striking sectionally. If the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, with 600,000 organised members, had' taken up the case of these 12,000 men the affair would not have lasted a week. This shows the difference between a general strike and a sectional strike, the difference between trade union organisations and the industrial organsiation which' is our aim and method to-day.