PRACTICAL UNIONISM.

Grey River Argus, 31 May 1922, Page 7

PRACTICAL UNIONISM.

(By “Rcwanui.") Unionism is at once the most innocent and at the same time the most admirable form of combination that is known amongst workers to conspire amongst ourselves for the happiness and well being of humanity, as a whole. It gives surely an ample reward for the ; efforts made to raise the status, and bring joy to the hearts of our less for- • tunale brethern. Industrial unionism began in certain civilised countries like religion. Some of the most formidable of the early unionists were local preachers—humble, God fearing men, who first organised that most-sweated of all workers, the English agricultural labourer. The ideals that these leaders of a century :go put before them, were the Uhristlike ones of service, and brotherhood. There was no payment, nor honour in those days for helping the cause of the worker or for upholding the principles of unionism. On the contrary hundreds of union commit tecs went to gaol—on masse—for the faith, and, if not in prison, shared the little they had with their more miserable brethren. As in the case of Christianity, the message of unionism was directed in the beginning to the poor ami the outcast. In those early days of unionism, there were only two crimes in the estimation of a certain class of the then society, viz., to be poor and to be weak. In short, that part of the world which was ' not under th'* sway of baric riaus, held with the employers that Nature intended all, except the few fortunate child- ' ren of the rich, to work from the mo ; incut they were capable of doing so, and to live wretchedly ami die early. Into • this desert of selfishness am! cruelty, unionism swept with its doctrine of democracy, and loving kindness like a ' mightv river, so unionism then became respectable, ami the character of the , world began to change. To compare the present aspect of unionism, with the past, is the privilege of the middl.'aged ami the elderly. T’he “Early F. thers” of New Zealand unionism are ' gone: their tvpe could not breathe the same air as some of the materialists who have turned religion into a machine, ami are exploiting the gigantic contrivance chiefly for their own personal benefit. Manners are everything, morals are nothing! (’reds are industriously manufactured, many of which have no relation whatever to unionism proper, ami whoever disbelieves in any of them, or openly criticises one of their articles of faith, becomes a heretic! At various intervals, J read from the dif ferent correspondents to the ‘‘Argus that universal slogan ‘‘Workers Unite! ” In the present state ami condition of unionism on the West ('oust, it is not worth the paper it is written on. W'e all seem to be antagonistic, each of us upholding our own separate views of the subject. I raise my hat to Mr Muir, of Ross, for his suggestion —through the column of the ‘‘Argus —that the ideals, aims, ami ambitions, of unionism should be instilled into the young, ami they should be educated from the bottom rung of the ladder For myself, I have alw. ys advocated this principle, but now, as Mr Muir has openly suggested this phase of the sub- . ject, 1 will try to bear him out. Some people say that it is useless to teach our juniors the benefits to be gained by 'the principle of unionism, but we can at any rate, attempt to elevate youthful ideals in such a manner, that even though the chief aim in life may be pleasure seeking, yet the success of our aims might be gained through such ' channels as will provide glimpses of a future life. Then, when pleasure seeking begins to pall, the high standarils set, by an earlier education will assuredly form the nucleus of a desire to seek the greater pleasure of co-op-eration ami unionism. In our present day system of educating industrially our young, we try to instil into the mind, “theory’’ without giving practical tuition for a start. When we send a child . of tender years to school as a begin-

ning to its education, the teacher does not place that child in the sixth standard at once. No, he places that child at the bottom of the school to learn the rudiments of education, yes, he places that child on to the bottom rung of the ladder, and quite right, too. Now the difference between education proper, and improper, is that we place our .juniors on the top run of the ladder, without even giving them elementary education on the principles of unionism! Our young people are far more handicapped than we were, life is so much easier and temptations arc more numerous. W'e know, ami we teach that the greatest civilising agent in the world, is the ideal British character. Yet wo wink at the development of characteristics worthy of the East, worthy of the indentured Labour of our neighbouring isles. The fault is ours. We do not set high enough value on the intellectual qualities of our juniors. During this last few months, I have had some quiet chats with the youths : round here, and, during conversation, I have led them carefully on to the subject of unionism and I found that these youths knew practically nothing about th.e elementary principles of unionism, but they had heard some of their elders arguing on economic theories, ■which, from what they told me, must have put false ideas into their heads. Unionism upholds the dignity of the worker, upholds the status of his occupation, however lowly it may be; and upholds the honour attached to Labour in general. Therefore we should try to instil, ami teach those principles to our juniors. Practical unionism was never meant for the purpose of keeping the worker poor, but for th-- uplifting of his mind, at the same time keeping pace with his abilities, so that in the future that lies ahead, his aims, and ambitions may be realised. Doming down to modern unionism, one begins to see the theory .. V i <

creeping into it, which causes much dissentation amongst and a “don’t earc” sort of feeling, that he takes no interest in practical unionism, which from the inception of this subject, is the main thing. During the last few years, labour leaders, in order Io gain a certain amount of popularity, have been placing the young worker on the top rung of the ladder, instead of starting to educate him from the bottom rung. All sorts of theoretical principles, now Fabian socialism, now M- rxism, now the creed of the Third International—and if he don't believe in any of them he is liable to ex communication with all the financial disaster that ban involves. Anyway, if it is not as b <1 as that, it is getting periously near it. This is not teaching the young practical unionism! These are the undemocratic methods, which arc doing the fair name of unionism no good. Craft unionism has been condemned and dishonoured by these same propag ndists, and yet true unionism had its birth, ami education from it. Yet these same scholars do not give any reason foi their attitude—l am not upholding it —but these theorists should give reasons, and give them publicly. Too mm-h listlessness, and selfishness is displayed by the rank : ml file of unionism just now. when the combined energy of all is most needed. W e are passing through a period, almost unp- rallelled in the history of unionism, when those two main principles of practical unionism are most urgently required. Service and Brotherhood! Unionism at present is at a low ebb, : nd conflicting opinions amongst us workers is tho chief cause. Some writers think that if they slather the employers publicly, am! call them all the nasty names they can I manufacture, they are doing the cause some good. These i<leas only c‘ use ill feeding, and undo what good has been gained in the past. Mutual confidence must be exchanged, constitutional methods must be adopted; the sympathy of the outside public must be gained, ami friendship must be restore-1, and cultivated between the two parties.. This writer is no “wowser,” but I have found in my wried experiences, that these methods, if adopted —with dignity—bring better results than the antagonism that has been displayed this last few years. Now that indust rml Unionism is no longer a thing apait from the nation now that unionism is in fact the n: tion, the nation has the opportunity of adjusting its point of. view, and you, and the fellows like you are a very large part of the nation. You fellows, who have never had anyone to think of except yourselves, you follows who have been merely ir-divid-nals, with an individual’s outlook, 1 w: nt you to realise, that, that state of affairs has ceased, absolutely and finally. When we tool; on practical unionism, with all its benefits to huniaiiitv , we took on a damn sight more than a piece of paper! W e took on a noble I principle, we took on a responsibility , a responsibility that le: ds to the looking after of the lives, comfort, ami wellbeing of our fellow ereaHires; and v. “ have got to fill the bill. Our success in filling it, will not. only be our success as individuals, it will be a measure of the change in the near future. We have got to get it into our hta-ls straight away that the fundamental ; principles of unionism are leadership, I without which it is not worth a curse; but the leadership must be noble, with those inspiring ideals, service and brotherhood.