Our Home Letter

Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 476, 28 April 1920, Page 2

Our Home Letter

fcOAIITIOJT POLICY; INDUSTRIAL MOTEMENT; DOCKERS* ETQUIEYj STATE OF EUROIPEi UEWS OF THE WEEK.

London, February 18, 192J),

At home and abroad the policy of the Coalition is failing utterly to carry conviction with any section of the community. Mr. Lloyd George's flirtation with a sane Russian policy, tempered by abuse of the Bolsheviks, pleases neither the reactionaries, who still vaguely deniajid intervention, nor Labor which uncompromisingly calle for open peace and abolition of the Blockade.. Nor does it give confidence to the trading interests of the country, v/hich .sees a prospect of future Russian business being diverted towards America or Scandinavia, or> any countries which have the. sense (o see the commercial potentialities contained in the word peace. At home the Government's attitude towards questions of mines and transport, which are of vital importance at the moment, wears the same complexion of attempting to please everybody and arousing universal distrust. THE INDUSTRIAL SITUATION The industrial situation is approaching a crisis. While the railwaymen have held over their dispute with the Government, pending the settlement of the miners' demand for nationalisation, and while the dockers await the result of their inquiry now being conducted by Lord Shaw's committee into their industry, the miners steadily advance towards their goal, and upon their subsequent action depends not only the future of the coal supply in this country, but also to some extent the future development of the British Labor movement. For to-day, the members of the Committee of the Trade Union Congress will meet members of the miners' executive" in conference, for the purpose of deciding upon the date for- tJie special congress of the whole Trade Union movement, which is to consider what action shall be taken to "compel the Government to accept the majority report of the Coal Commission," in accordance with the resolution passed at the Glasgow Congress in 1919. No one can say with truth that the miners have been precipitate, co far, in their actions. They are content to waive their own bill, which would hand over the ownership of the mines to the State and their control, not to a bureaucracy, but to representatives of State, workers and consumers —because they are willing first to give a fair trial to the compromise course recommended by the S,ankey Commission. The Government, however, has refused to carry the latter recommendations into effect. Instead, it brought in an abortive* coal bill last session, which pleased nobody. Yesterday, it produced another, which threatens to prove equally abortive. Tlie Labor Party in the House dismissed it with contempt, as hiding the Government's real policy, which was to perpetuate all the evils of private ownership. The real issue, said their leaders in the House, was nationalisation, and there can be no settlement of the present coal muddle, until this question is faced and settled. The miners' amendment to the address, on the opening ot Parliament last week, regretting the omission of any reference to their question, wag of course, thrown out by the solid coalition majority, though their case was incontrovertible, as the debate proved. There is therefore no doubt left as to the crisis 'which is approaching. The question of vital importance at the moment is what the decision of the special Trades Congress will be. Will it be of a sufficiently drastic nature to induce the miners to be pa'ient still a little longer, before they resort to direct action. It Is known that there are two distinct parties within the Labor movement to-day; those who think it legitimate to uoe the weapon of the strike, not only to obtain changes in the conditions of the workers, but also to obtain changes in the method of ownership and control of industry; and those who urge that this use of direct action is contrary to democratic practice, and that the worker should be educated until a sufficient majority is returned to Parliament in favour of nationalisation. It may well be, therefore, that the final decision of the special congrese will mean a revolution in the whole conduct of the Labor Movement of this country. THE DOCKERS' INQUIRY The most democratic incide-nt of the proceedings of the Transport Court of Inquiry this week, has been the slashing onslaught made by Ernest Bevin, the dockers' organiser and advocate upon the idea of the "fodder wage," which seeks to base the workers' income upon the prevailing cost of living. "I will not go into the Court to discuss it," said Bevin. "It places the worker on the basis of the animal. We have got to get rid of this animal basis. Moreover, it does not follow that if the/ cost of. living goes down, profits will go clown likewise. We believe that, industry ought to give us new and progressively higher standards of life." FOREIGN AFFAIRS The first meeting of the Council of the League of Nations, which took place last week in London, has brought little hope to the hearts of those who looked to it for something more than a solemn pretence of securing the world's peace. Mr. Balfour's inadvertent candour in the House of Commons expressed what thousands feel about the matter, when he declared the League of Nations to be "exactly the same gentlemen v/ho sat'together in Paris from January till November, 1919. They represent the same people, they have the same objects, they mean to do the same thing." That, of course, is what advanced Labor in this country has said all along, adding the obvious corollary that the only effective League of Nations is the wpTkers' international. The mere fact that the proceedings of last week's meeting of the League were kept secret is sufficient evidence of its importance. Far more epoch making is the success of George Lansbury in reaching Moscow via Scandinavia, for he is able to defy the reactionary policy of our Government, by which passports were refused to leading- Trade .Unionists

here; nnd even his enemies are'rot likely to say of him that lie is a man tt'jo Vcuid'di-toit facts to prove h.fs point. Ills dispatches to the "Daily Herald" have been amongst the moat illuminating acccfints that have yet reached us of the general tendencies of the Soviet Government, and their effect is already evident, even in those capitalist papers which are most unscrupulous in their denunciation of Bolshevism. But it must be added that the commercial interests of the country are at last awakened to' the fact that they cannot have It both ways, and if they persist in fighting Soviet Russia because of her communism, they must be content to see her tynade passing away to countries which are wise enough to leave her to manage her Internal affairs as she pleaees. But this does not mean that even yet the diplomat* *d» l&ate tt» ■Oγ,

called peace which ; has plunged. Europe into chaos, are going to leave it at that. Labor is reserving its opinion here as to the meaning of, the Wilson note, until it knows, what js really behind it, but Labor opinion is quite clear as to* the plotß that are still being hatched In' Europe against Soviet Russia. When Mr. Bonar Law; in answer to a question in Parliament would not say definitely whether or not we are pledged to help the Poles Ii the war continues between them and Russia and even pretended that they are free to make peace or not as they liked, he reinforced the fears of those ■who knew how much pressure waa put upon Esthonia (though unsuccessfully), to prevent its making a similar peace; and who know also that plots are being made in Paris and Warsaw and Berlin at Allied instigation, to raise new armies to send againet the Reds in Eastern Europe. In view ol all these facts, it is interesting to not« that two large meetings are to Dt held in London within the next t&* days in support of peace with Russia. If peace Is postponed, it will he solely a diplomat's policy. ■■ -- NEWS ITEMS Sartng the ChildrenAn appeal on behalf of the starving ■ children in the famine regions oi Europe has just been made to organised Labor by the Save the Children Fund Labor Committee. It is signed by well-known Labor leaders here and points out that it is not only the death rate that matters, for the chil« dren who live, unless fed now, Will grow up diseased and deficient, "and if Europe is peopltft by a generation that is physically and mentally warped, there is little hope of progress or of establishing a'sound international relationship." It was stated in the House last week that the Government • intend this year to contribute a fur* ther sum for the relief of starving Europe, not exceeding half the sum contributed by America and : not U> any case exceeding £10,000,000. The Canadian Government will also contribute a sum. Shareholders and Labor— A meeting of shareholders was held in London this week, with Mr.Cramp of the National Union of Railwaymen in the chair, to approve a statement by a certain number of shareholders in which they declared that they are of opinion that the claims of the workers making it posible for them to live a full and free life must come before the claim of the shareholders to dividends. Mr. urged that unless this spirit became general on the part of shareholders and capitalists, and unless "capital retired as Labor advanced," there were in this country all the elements of revolution. Mr. Chamberlain and the Woman M.P. Speaking in the House of Commons debate on economy, the Chancellor of the Exchequer enumerated the causes of high prices, concluding with the remark that "to add to the misery of the world, America chooses this moment to go dry.' . This brought up Lady Astor, M.P. Oho is American by birth as well as an ardent temped • ance reformer), full of indignant pro* test. Mr. Chamberlain then finished his sentence by saying—"because they require an enormous additional amount of sugar to make up for it." The Dockers' AdTocate not a K.C^— Mr. Ernest Bevin, the able organiser of the Dockers who is presenting their case so ably just now at the Dockers' inquiry, eaid at a public meeting this week —"I am not a K.C. I am a PrO. —a counsel for the Proletariat." Irish Sinn Feiners in London— 10,000 Irish residents in London met at an enthusiastic meeting in the Albert Hall, last week, and declared , their adherence to the Irish Republican cause. The resolutions, which were carried with acclamation and much waving of the Sinn Fein flag, demanded (1) the recognition of the Irish Republic, founded by the rightful erercise of the principle of selfdetermination on the part of the people of Ireland; and (2) immediate release of Alderman Tom Kelly, Lord Mayor of Dublin, and of the 64 other Irishmen who have been similarly seized and imprisoned in recent weeks