THE COURSE TO FOLLOW

Maoriland Worker, Volume 10, Issue 421, 2 April 1919, Page 1

THE COURSE TO FOLLOW

(By TOM MANN.) The educational work that hae been systematically carried on during recent years, enabling the workers to s* , ® clearly where and how the exploitation of their labor takes place, and to see how and where this could and should be prevented, will now be able to demonstrate itself when the demobilise- j tiou of the Forces takes placo. The Trad* Union Movement, as meas ured by what takes placo at tbe annual : Trade Union Congress, is in a mental muddle as regards the direction in which the imioniots are- to put their energy while endeavoring to co-pc with hostile economic condition. ! The average trade unionist still (urns j to Parliament, relies upon the State, and rarely attaches first-class- importance 1:0 the industrial organisation uf j which h-ps it> a member, or even to tho j industrial movement as a whole. j In recent years various developments J hay© given indications of other views j and ideal , ?, and especially as regards the I machinery through which thoso ideal 5 * are to foe reached. The French and Kalians set the pace in Syndicalism, with increasing reliance upon the. industrial organisation, i'or ilto ' control of industry. The Americans ; Jaunched and developed "The Industrial j Workers oi the World" and Industrial i Unionism, a first cousin t<> Syndicalism ; I the Guild Socialists have very effectively j contributed to the view that industry ! should bo controlled directly by the j workers through industrial organise- I tions. The many hundreds oi' classes j Jiic-w being held in iiiost. parts r>f the ] country—such as the. Central Labor | College Classes and those of the- Scottish j Labor College. Study Circles under vari- j ous a*piee». the AV.L'.A.- v and T.T..P.—-j arc. all, with more or le=;s i r.ot only emphasising the paramount j importance of DIRECT ACTIOM, but I aro effectively imparting knowledge | qualifying* the persons who follow up the courses of study to know how to !'t>t «i. grips wiill tile situation. LS'o longer is Parliament' relied upon, by those who in any genuine sense can j be respected as well informed. Parli:i- j meat cannot "deliver iho good*, , ' and j this opinion is spreading rapidly. j The Russians havo phown. and nrr \ daily showing , , that a new order of so-j ciety lias arrived. We have boon prop- ' ing for it; striving for it, arguing for '. i.!:. JJus.«ia alone has ronlised .it. j In the Soviet Government they ,:k eo far i transcend our absurd Parliamentary in- j efficiency as to put up to shame a! 1 Ji" i very thought of it'; and in. tho manage- | men of shops, factories, mill*, mines., j etc., by and through Works Committees, they are a glorious example to the world, and to none more than vo British workers. • j The psychology evolved by those who | have relied upon State machinery carries witli it the atmosphere of a superior class, managing and boshing an in- \ ferior class. The workers of Britain are now evolving a different psychology, and it does not call for or admit of : industrial task-masters, who at best become socially superior persons, training themselves to tolerate the inferior— who are so purely because of environment—and at their worst become a class of vicious exploiter?, whose j requires no describing. J In my judgment the very best agency j through which to function to meet all j future emergencies i? that of Works , Committees. Sensible action here will j soon throw the trade unions on to tho i right track; and the chief point, never ] (■© be overlooked, is that we mH5t refuse , to havo a? an industrial objective the . capturing- of tho world's markets, and j aim straight at PRODUCTION FOB j USE AND NOT FOB PROFIT. |