The Sun WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1920 COMMUNISM IN BRITAIN.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2144, 29 December 1920, Page 8

The Sun WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1920 COMMUNISM IN BRITAIN.

Two of the most significant developments in Britain's industrial world were outlined in cablegrams received and published yesterday. One is the gigantic amalgamations of unions and the establishment of a "general council" of 30 members. The other refers to the growth and aims of Communism. The activities of the Communists are our chief concern for the present. The discovery by a special correspondent of "The Times" in this particular connection is belated and secondhand. Horatio Bottomley's virile weekly, "John Bull," exposed the machinations of the so-called National Union of jgx-Soldiers months agp. This is an association which is avowedly Bolshevik. Behind it are people like Lansbury (editor of the "Daily Herald," which is regarded by the Soviet as its political organ in the United Kingdom), the two-faced Ramsay Macdonald, Snowden, E. D. Morel, Fenner Brockway and that weird creature Sylvia Pankhurst. This body boasts of 250 branches, and a membership of over 300,000. Both figures are a gross exaggeration. There can be no question, says Mr Bottomley, that the object of the association is to create the nucleus of a Red Army in Britain, preparatory to the general revolution for which it is working. The general secretary stated during the great railway strike that "the Issue between the workers and the exploiters has got to be fought out. . . . One class or the other must ,be decisively defeated." And this precious gentleman goes on to toast The Day!" the good old German slogan. The Executive Council of the "Nux," by resolution, declared that Territorials or special constables should not be eligible /or membership: for obvious reasons. None but revolutionary spirits are wanted in the movement. And it is a promising fie'ld for cultivation by revolutionary spirits in Britain. The Socialist Labour Party speakers organise meetings and lectures on Com•munism—the I.L.P. sends literature free of cost —and everything possible is being done to win over to this traitorous organisation exservice men in trade unions and elsewhere. There are two other bodies which are concerning themselves with the interests of the exfighting men: the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers and the Comrades of the Great War.- Fortunately, in the circumstances, these organisations will have nothing to do with the Bolsheviks who are trying to entrap the out-of-work, whilom soldier into their sinister net. They repudiate Communism most heartily. At the same time, it cannot be denied that, so far as many exservice men are concerned, conditions make for deep-rooted unrest and bitter resentment. Take the tragic fact that there are 200,000 exsoldiers who have been unable to find employment. Most of these men were assured that their jobs would be kept open for them, that they would never want, and that when they returned from the Front at least they would be in no worse position than they were before. Today, they tramp from labour exchange to labour exchange, seeking work unavailingly. They find in many cases, says Mr Bottomley, their old berths filled either by girls or younger men. They are called on to subsist on a miserable dole from «. Government which is at its wits' end to act squarely by its erstwhile defenders. And all the time much work is waiting to be done. This state of affairs is not all the fault of the Administration or the; great body of employers. Tens of thousands of "demobs" could obtain employment if the trade unions would admit them, and allow them to work. But union after union shuts the door in their faces: they are not members! Thousands of houses are waiting to be built; thousands of men are waiting to build them. But unionists will not relax, and the men -who made the biggest sacrifices between 1914-1918 are dogged by hunger and misery in 1920. Is it any wonder

that Bolshevism finds willing listeners and recruits in the ranks of this unhappy and gravely-wronged army? Dr Macnamara stated in the Commons last Veek that early in December the uircmployed numbered over, a quarter of a million. Half of these were young, active men, to whom the nation was under profound obligations. It is a desperate problem. To meet immediate ne.cessities, the Government has set aside a sum of to be expended in relief Works, other than housing and road-making of a remunerative character. That £3,000,000 may be regarded as a ne,w front-line trench against' Bolshevism. We ought to be thankful that no such precautions are called for in this fortunate, wellfavoured little country.