TWO SIDES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3774, 13 July 1926, Page 61

TWO SIDES.

STRIKE IN RETROSPECT. MISTAKEN WRATH AGAINST PRBSS. (Tbom Oub Own Cobbbspomdkvt. ) LONDON, May 18. In the House of Commons last night Mr 'Winston Churchill made a statement, whose effect was electric, and the members loudly cheered. He announced that the direct expenditure by the Government in coping with the general strike was estimated at £750,000, or possibly less. There will be no increase of taxation at present, and better trade may cancel out the loss in profits during the stoppage. “In some cases, 1 ' said, the Chancellor, “there will be countervailing receipts, and in other cases the strike has caused savings in normal expenditure—for instance, in practice flying and at Woolwich. As regards revenue, increased Customs clearances before the strike may be set off against any reduction during the strike period. Assuming that the coal stoppage is not greatly prolonged, and that there is an early return to normal conditions, I do not anticipate any appreciable disturbance in the out-turn of tne current financial year.” On the other hand, Mr Betterton, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, outlined the other side of the question, when he said that the amount lost in wages by the general strike would run into many millions, but h 9 could not yet make an approximate estimate. As for the trade unions, it is stated by the Labour correspondent of the Daily Express that the strike has cost the trade union movement more than £3,000,000, or nearly half the accumulated funds of all the unions affiliated to the Trade Union Congress. The railwaymen alone have spent a million pounds, according to Mr C. I. Cramp, the industrial secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen. The total bill will be nearly £4,000,000 if the mining stoppage is prolonged beyond another week, for extra expenditure will be thrown on the other trade unions. > These losses are direct payments out of union funds. Interesting facts xmceming the secret history of the strike and tne influences which induced the General Council of the Trade Union Congress to call it off are now coming to light and are given by the same authority. He says that although the council went to the conference of the union executives in the Memorial Hall on Saturday, May 1, with a resolution that a general strike should be called, they did so without conation that the course they recommended would be successful. Mr Arthur Pugh, the chairman, was doubtful regarding its expediency. Mr J. H. Thomas, of the railwaymen, was against it. Mr John Bromley, M.P., of the locomotive engineers, stated privately that he did not see how a general strike would help the miners. Miss Margaret Bondfield and Miss Mary Quaile, representatives of the women workers, did not like the prospects. As a whole, the council accepted the report of the Coal Commission that some revision of the Honors wages would have to take place,_ and they were out of patience with the rigid declaration of the Miners’ Federation: Not a penny off the pay; not a minute on the day.’ liius the general strike was launched with its directors at sixes and sevens and lacking any real enthusiasm for the contest. . Days passed, and the national emergency services rapidly became more efficient/ The quick and complete dislocation which had been predicted had failed. The position was moving against the trade unions. THE PROBLEM. What was to happen next? That was the problem for the council. They came to the point of calling out all the workers in electrical generating stations and. gas works, and also the post office workers, including telephonists and telegraphists. Then the council realised that if such orders were given their strike would indeed become a revolutionary movement directed against the State and beyond their control. Information was brought to them that the Government contemplated calling out the Army Reserve; that the notices were already in the hands of postmasters awaiting release. They knew that this calling up of reservists would at once take scores of thousands away from the ranks of the strikers Tiny believed too—rightly or wrongly—that the whole council might be arrested and their office disbanded. they had no deputies who could carry on in trmir absence. On top of all came the High Court judgment that the general strike was So they decided that it was not worth while to continue. They held that the memorandum of Sir Herbert Samuel, chairman of the Coal Commission, should be accepted by the miners as a basis of settlement. “They came to us, states Mr Frank Varley, M.P., a member of the miners’ executive, “with the despairing cry, ‘lit us all go back together!’ In my wildest dreams I never imagined suoh an abject surrender.” POSITION OF THE LEADERS. Questions now arisa regarding the fate of the trade union leaders. Mr J. H. Thomas, M.P., although he has strengthened himself politically, and, m the opinion of the country at large, undoubtedly has lo*t part of his influence with the railwaymen So, too, has Mr John Bramley. One leader who has gained in trade union importance is Mr Ernest Bevin, of the transport workers, who proved himself to be the ablest organiser. Mr Arthur Cook, the miners secretary, has lost trade union caste. The principal leaders of the other union* think that he is quite unsuited by temperament to be head of a powerful organisation like the Miners' Federation. They consider that it would be better for the miners if he undertook leea conspicuous work. A strong anti-Cook faction ia growing up among the miners themselves, and ia prominent in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Midlands. It ia aaid that Mr Cook intends to write a pamphlet on “England Under the Ten Days’ Strike,' giving hi. personal opinion of other trade union officials. Whatever reshuffling of leaders may occur, there will not be another general strike. “Never again" ia the watchword given by Mr Cramp. “I do not believe." he now states, "that a general industrial strike can aver ba successful, because

if we carry it to its logical conclusion we starve and paralyse ourselves.” WH YTHE STRIKE WAS CALLED OFF. The Labour correspondent of The Morning Post tonday writes that many reasons have been given for the sudden decision of the Trades Union Congress in the small hours of last Wednesday to call off the strike. But while there were many reasons operating after nine days of the trouble, the chief reasons, in order of importance, were:— 1. The obvious success of the Government in meeting the menace. 2. The Astbury judgment. 3. The obstinacy of the miners. It is clear, however, and was clear from the beginning to close observers, that the T.U.C. never believed that the Government would allow the strike to take place, and that when it did begin the T.U.C. was not long in . desiring to disown the obstinacy of the miners. But the miners, who are clever negotiators, had tied up the T.U.C. The T.U.C. had undertaken the negotiations with the Prime Minister, but had agreed not to settle on any terms without the consent of the miners. When this agreement was made, the miners believed that Mr Baldwin at the last migute would succumb, and promise to continue the subsidy. Their advice to the T.U.C. was to bluff, and bluff, and bluff. When the conference of Trade Union Executives met on the Saturday none of the leaders believed that the threat would have to be put into t *cution. They were really surprised when JMr Baldwin called the bluff, because the bulk of them did not believe any Government could stand up to the threat, and there were some who were curious to see the machine of the Government for carrying on in actual work. RESISTANCE UNDERRATED. When that machine did get to work, continues The Morning Post writer, nobody was more surprised than the T.U.C. They soon realised that the paralysis they had hoped for was not coming about. They had underrated the resisting power of the nation. They had also, as Mr Baldwin told them, manufactured a machine they eould not control, and it was when signs appeared that they were losing control that they began themselves to waver. Some of them, however, wanted to throw other forces into the fight here, and the plan was engineers. Post Office workers, electric light and power worker*. But ootiocs had already

been sent to the engineers, and it was evident they were not going to be obeyed. The final blow, however, was the Astbury judgment. Sir John Simon's speeches in the House had surprised them, but when the judgment came, and they realised that not only was the strike unconstitutional and illegal, bat that the Trades Disputes Act did not apply, and that strike pay was in jeopardy, they knew that if the strike was not called off the men, as Mr Thomas says, would have “got out of hand,'* which means they would have gone back to work. By this time, too the T.U.C. were sick of the miners' obstinacy. The miners would not budge. They have not budged an inch since last July. The miners' view was that the job of the T.U.C. was to do as the miners told them, and not to have any views at all about miners’ wages or hours. THE EXCUSE. The ostensible reason for calling off the strike was the Samuel Memorandum. That was not the real reason, but tho excuse. The general strike had failed of its purpose, but its leaders knew they, could not win, and that if they kept their men out much longer there would be a terrible reckoning. There are some people who believe that the display of force at the opening of the docks on the Saturday was the real turning point of the struggle. Perhaps it did help to convince tne T.U.C. that the Governmeant business, but the Astbury judgment and the obstinacy of the miners were influential factors. A FIT OF PIQUE. One more thing needs to be said. Ths T.U.C. were sorry before 24 hours were over that they shut down the Press. It was done in a fit of pique. It had not been thought out. Some leaders thought the Press “needed a lesson," and so forth. But the plot to keep the country in darkness failed, because of the success of The British Gazette and because of the wireless. And Labour leaders were the last people in the world to vent their wrath against the Prtm, Since a newspaper writer labelled Mr Bevin “the Dockers' K. C.” there has been no holding him.