INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17823, 3 January 1920, Page 12

INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

NEWS AND NOTES.

I By J. T. Paul.

LABOUR POLICY IN KEtANCE. " Ih© after-war developments within tho ■war zone aro becoming very interesting'. Especially is this the oase in i'Vance. Writing from Paris on September 16, tho correspondent of tho Morning Post said :— The Congress of tho French Confederation Gonerale dii Travail, which is now sitting in Lyons, is undoubtedly of much greater importance than any of its predecessors, not only becauso tho French Labour Parliament this year marks an enormous increase in!the number of unions represented, but becauso the Lyons meeting is expected to be characterised by a desporato effort of the <attrom,ists to capture tho organisation. The following table shows tho remarkable growth of tho federation during the past twelve months:— IYihlo Soctional Individual Year. federations, unions*, union*. 1018. 32 42 ll&l 1919 41 67 1807 Por tho first time in its history tho (J.U.T. .muy rightfully claim to include all categories,! of labour in Franco, from actors to strpet sweepers. Under tho wiso leading of Mi Jouhaux, its general secretary, and other officer!, tho O.U.T. has latterly, under tho pressur? of special conditions set up by the war, jettisoned a largo"proportion of dangerous ixjlitioal, not to say revolutionary, doctrines that formerly characterised it, and reverted to tho achievement of the purely eoonorhio objectives which formed its original programme. After dovoting some attention to the drift towards Bolshevism and analysing the recent French strikes this correspondent concludes by suggesting that the possible struggle of tho futuro will bo between the evolutionaries and tho revolutionaries. It is suggested that tho "extremist majority of the C-G.T. have lost- no opportunity to excite their followers to make use of the strike, weapon. All strikes, according to these extremists, aro political, 'seeing thai they tend' to bring about bankruptcy more quiokly.'" [/ ARE WE GETTING- BETTER? The' versatile editor of the Australian Worker writes interestingly on this interesting topic. After a reference to the hypooriteg who "told us that the war was going to':uplift us and ennoblo us, as if Satan could bo our redeeming angel," he refers to Mr Winston Churchill's statement that "never before was a more complete callousness and indiflererjco to human-life and suffering manifest throughout the world. Europe is a seething scene of misery and malevolence. . "Such being tho case, how can I believe 'that we, with our poison jjaa, are any better than the savage with his poisoned arrows? '■ * "And yet, by some queer contradiction of the faculties of observation and reasoning, I do. "The evictenco is all against it I have to confess its weight and cogency. It constitutes an indictment of out time the force of which I cannot resist. "Nevertheless I give my the evidence, in defiance of the evidence. ' "Man is progressive. He does advance. Ho has a acoret soul that urges him forward, that rebukes him for his iniquities, even while he seems to glory in that makes him yearn and strive for higher things. "It is a tetter world than it was 100 years ago. , "I doubt it, and at the same time believe it.' I must beliove it, or what a* - retched prison house, what an insane asylum life would be I" NEW TEAR PROSPECTS. Nineteen hundred and twenty will likely be a memorable year for organised Labour. Signs are not wanting to show that in various countries, especially those directly affected by tho war, tho time is pregnant with change. The forces of conservatism are again marshalling against any fundamental change, though during the war those forces were united in tho chorus that tho world would nevor bo tho same again. in spite of this, however, it is certain that strenuous attempts will be made to usher \jn: far-reaching changes. Tho railways in America are to go back to the companies. The voice of Labour on this proposal will be interesting. The nationalisation policy in Britain will also bo watched with great interest. The tmder-ropresentation of Labour in the British and colonial Parliaments is an important fact 'and a passing phases Unless it is remedied the workers' Faith in parliamentary institutions will vanish. '-In several Continental countries there appears to be a leaning towards the Soviet system of government. Altogether tho outlook is such as to make 1920 a memorable year. A FAROE IN REPRESENTATION. Recent elections in several countries have revealed tho inequality of present-day electoral systems. It has remained for the Australian Senate to burlesque representation to a greater extent than any previous example. The Australian Worker, writing when it appeared that the whole of the representation would go to tho party opposed to Labour, said:— "The whole 36 members of which the House is comprised will be 'Nationalists.' Labour, polling nearly as many votes, will HOT HAVE A SOLITARY SEAT. "This fiasco of a one-party Senate was always likely to occur. It once narrowly escaped being, consummated pn the Labour side. "It is inherent m the conception and character of the institution, and demons* trates the capitalistic mind, of which it is a pet product, to bo as puerile as it is crafty. For by succeeding too well, it has paved the way to defeat. "No longer is it necessary to argue for the abolition of the Senate. The Senate itself, by advertising its intrinsic preposterousness, is crying aloud to be removed from the landscape. "Nothing, after this, can save it. ■■ A scheme of proportional representation might' once have staved off the day of doom:- It; is too late now. "Australians can tolerate the.rule of in-> : justice. They will hardly consent to be governed by-a'practical ioke." TYRANNY IN AMERICA. • ,[ There is a dangerous spirit abroad- in the States tSo-day. At one. end of the social ladder there is an aggressive.. intolerance aiming at financial monopoly arid industrial tyranny. At the other there is a spirit <jif revolt whioh is not always intelligent, and sometimes borders on anarchy. It is alleged that this latter is directly due .to the former development. There is mudi more talk of liberty and less practice _of it than in most other civilised countries. The abominations of tho judicial system are a scandal. And the relationship between Capital and Labour is altogether unlovely. ,- The attitude of employers in America 's expressed in.these terms by tho San Francisco correspondent of the Auckland Star:--"TW must take what we offer or we will import cheap aliens," in effect is the outcry <J the average American captain of industry, Vbo is himself organised to a much greater d«s?ree than the forces of the working men are.

"The. Yankee employer cannot understand the" British 'boss' indulging in cooperation with his employees under a shop steward system. 'What is the matter -with John Bulf that he should agree to his workers having such ind!Ennntly asks the American employer. "The autocratic attitude of Judge Btbert Gary, head of the U.S. Sveel Corporation, caused a tremendous rumpus in America, ■when Gary, questioned before a Senatorial Committee, refused point Hank to talk' to any representative of organised Labour on the subject of the bis steel strike then in existence. Ho was roundly 'scored* by the press for his Prussianism, and it was mainly through his influence that the Labour Conference in "Washington between the three groups of employers, workers, and general public was abandoned abruptly by the withdrawal of tho Labour representatives, and subsequently by the members of tho public. John D. Rockefeller, jun., was deputed bv tho employing gronp to 'carry on' the work of tho crmferaice_. but he found it impossible, and sarcastically declared the gathering to be 'bankrupt-,' availing himself of tho opportunity to severely denounce the recalcitrant employers who had brought about tho fiasco. 'When the Labour group withdrew they announced that they had no alternative but to engage in a fight to a finish with the employing class who had refused to meet even the most- unimportant, recommendations, offered by the Labour" reprre«<nt.u----j tires."