FIFE FORCE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 90, 31 March 1932, Page 4

FIFE FORCE

A PHANTOM ARMY ITS INTERESTING HISTORY LESSONS ”UGHT IN 1921. QUIET, EFFECTIVE WORK. At a time when leaders of Political Labour are introducing such words as “industrial upheavals” and “insurrectionary developments” in their utterances inside and outside of Parliament, students of civil commotion, and, perhaps, even more, fomentors of it, may examine with interest the history of that unique organisation known as Fife Force. This history is outlined by Captain Alex. Scott, D. 5.0., M.C., in a recent issue of the “Sydney Morning Herald.” During its short life of 88 days in 1921, says Captain Scott, it shunned the limelight of publicity, did its work effectively, ami then, true to the old soldiers’ tradition, it simply faded away But the lessons Fife Force taught the British authorities certainly short ened the great general strike in 1926. and if the trade union mandarins bad watched its picturesque career more closely It is possible they might have avoided the folly of the general strike altogether. To understand the genesis of Fife Force it is necessary to recall the industrial unrest existing in Britain in the early months of 1921. They were days of disillusionment. The confederacy of trade unions comprising the transport workers, railwaymen, and' coal miners, known as the Triple Alliance, wore rumoured to be planning concerted action; the Sinn Fein rebellion was at its height in Ireland; the war had accustomed the manhood of the country to violence and bloodshed; mobilised men, trained in the use of firearms and bombs, were becoming unemployed and disgruntled in increasing numbers. As the unrest grew, the authorities became uneasy, and then positively alarmed. Nor can one say in the light of after-events that their panic was cn tirely without justification. In tho be ginning of April matters came to a head. Tho miners declared emphatically for a strike throughout Britain. Beyond doubt tho intention of the Triple Alliance was, by simultaneous action, to ensure that no coal could be mined, no reserve stores from pit-heads carried by rail, and no imported coal handled at the docks.

“STATE OF EMERGKXCT.” Tho British Cabinet declared a State of Emergency, and proceeded to mobilise the Territorial Force. It was then discovered that the T.F attestation form contained a clause which said distinctly that the T.F. soldier would not be used in civil commotion. That legal hurdle was overcome by printing new attestation forms under the name of the Defence Force, and enlisting trained T.F .men, or ex-soldiers, for a special period of ‘ ‘ 9q days, or such less time as their services might bo required.” The T.F. drill halls, uniforms, and arms were used, and in 48 hours 109,000 men were enrolled, but it would be exaggeration to say they were organised. It was intended to use tho Defence Force to guard strategic points, such as reservoirs, railway bridges, gasworks, and electric power stations; but events began to wove with unforeseen rapid ity. The county of Fife, on tho east eoast of Scotland, was ' the greatest storm centre for various reasons Hound Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly is clustered ono of tho most valuable coalfields in Britain, an area in which tho industry developed so quickly that the local supply of labour was supplemented by numerous drafts from Ireland. These Irish immigrants nover blended with tho native Scots, but gathered in compact little colonies of their own, and were a source of unrest even in normal times.

SIGNS OF ILL-OMEN. On Sunday, April 10, while the Defence Force was still a skeleton, there were signs of direct action in Fife. At various mines the volunteers manning the pumps were menaced, and the signalmen on duty at Thornton railway junction were actually attacked. On Sunday afternoon, Sir William Thomson, who commanded a territorial' bn gade, wont with his brigade-major to Edinburgh, leaving his staff-captain in sole charge. About mid-night, that young man received a telephone call from his chief that banished all thought of sleep. In effect, ho was ordered to start by special train from Sterling sta tlon, pick up a battalion of Seaforth Highlanders (regulars) then camped near Causewayhead, and bo in Fifeshire before daylight. The bounties of dawn are often very much overrated; certainly, there was little poetic about Cowdenbeath goods yard, when we arrived next morning. Police guarded the entrances, and muffling their overcoats up to their ears three shivering civilians greeted us. These were unfoitunte Justices of the Peace, whose humdrum lives had been rudely disturbed, their duty -now being to read the Riot Act when called upon, a preliminary to action decidedly more forcible. Simultaneously with the arrival of the Highlanders, there descended upon the Kingdom of Fife detachments of marines from Rosyth, and bluejackets from the battleship Hood, which was then in that naval base The official title of this curiously constituted brigade was Fife Force. Like the personnel, the staff was unique; it con sisted of three, a commandant, a bri-gade-major, and a staff-captain, Unolii dally, wo co-opted an intelligence officer, who roamed Fifeshire in mufti on a motor bicycle, and ore long it was necessary in the interests of health to add a medico from Edinburgh Castle. But to the end we never possessed a single clerk, or a typewriter, or a duplicating machine; we never issued one routine order, or a yard of red tape.

AN UNREHEARSED COMEDY. Strong as this disciplined force was, the effect on the people of Cowdenbeath was increased by an unrehearsed

comedy. As the staff-captain entered the town between two burJv policemen, lie met a convoy of motor buses loaded with sailors wearing steel helmets. Knowing that their destination was Lochgeliy, he asked what they were doing in Cowdenbeath. They had originally been sent from Rosyth to protect Thornton junction. Proceeding from Thornton to Lochgeliy, their guides, true to military tradition among guides, had lost their way in the dark. So, half an hour after the natives had been startled by this demonstration of force in their streets, they were again impressed by the appearance of another convoy, equally strong moving in the opposite direction. Before the day was over, fables rivalling those about the mythical Russians of August, 1914, spread like wildfire throughout Filo.

MINOR OBSTACLES. From a mining point of view, Fife is a “wet” coal-field. Constant pumping is essential to maintain the underground workings, and the protection of the pumps from sabotage was Fife’s first concern. We commandeered schools for billeting the men not accommodated on the pitheads. That w as all fairly simple. The rationing of the troops was another matter. Much of the provisioning of Fife is done by cooperative stores runs by the miners themselves. These, of course, were openly hostile to us; but the private shopkeepers, butchers, bakers, and grocers, also found various pretexts for not supplying us, the truth being that they were afraid of what might happen to them when our protection was withdrawn. We got over that difficulty by bringing the rations from Berth by motor lorries carrying armed guaids. For similar reasons there was great trouble in finding a convenient office from which to adminster this nebulous army. The town clerks said with olio accord, ‘‘No room.” In other words, they did not want their windows broken. The coal companies would doubtless have housed us with pleasure, but wo made it clear from the outset that wo were in Fife to see that law and order were preserved, not to benefit th© coalowndrs any more than the coalminers. Between these antagonists there is hardly a, halfpenny to choose in the art of driving a hard bargain,

and making the public pay the piper, ilfter an unrestful day in a police station, we moved our headquarters to Dunfermline, where, though only a few miles from the mining area, we were undisturbed and almost unnoticed.

COERCION CHECKED The next development was an attempt to coerce the men who were working the pumps. Their homes had the word ‘‘scab’’ painted on the walls by artists with pots of tar, and in some cases their wives also found difficulty in buying supplies of food. We took the bold step of holding a conference with the miners’ officials direct. To do them justice, the boycott was none of their work. They were undoubtedly impressed by Colonel Thomson’s judicial attitude; and, in spite of his tact, there was something about the set of his jaw that indicated he might be a tough customer to tackle. It was not necessaiy to threaten, but he hinted that it might be essential to close the shops and dispose of their supplies under military control. That waff the end of the boycott. But life in Fife force was not devoid of excitement; in fact, during the early weeks alarms were numerous day and night, especially night. About 3 a.m.. the telephone bell would ring, and the officer-in-charge of a detachment on some isolated pit would ' report that 300 miners were making a I threatening demonstration outside the i pit-gates. What was he to do? Our answer invariably was, “Sit tight; the chief constable will send down a few policemen”. In nearly every case the ■ “bobbies” good-humoured “Move on. ' boys,” was obeyed without more ado. Fife force remained out of sight, and so long as the pumps were kept going we left the industrial dispute severely . alone. After about a fortnight the marines. : blue-iackets, and Highlanders were ! withdrawn, and replaced by units of the specially enlisted defence force. The I discipline of these temporary units wns | inferior. The boredom of life on guard , at a bleak pithead they found irksome, and drafts had to be changed very freucntly; but the public knew nothing of that. Gradually, the situation became stabilised, the strike itself showed signs of ending, nnd the policy of interfering with the pumps was definitely abondoned. In the beginning of July, “peace was declared,” and Fife force became nothing more than a file of bills and barrack-room damages.