The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JANUARY, 24, 1927. GENERAL STRIKE LESSONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 24 January 1927, Page 8

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JANUARY, 24, 1927. GENERAL STRIKE LESSONS.

It is surely Urn wing* _ the long how for the Miners' J‘ eUeratiou, in its report on the disastrous mining' strike, to say. that “the general strike was> the climax oi the concentrated endeavours ul the employers for years to solve their wage-cutting" problem. ' Moreover, if is grossly untrue to state that the real purpose ol: the ltoyal Commission was to find the argument which divided (lie united front, of thc> whole movement.'' 5 The miners assert, that “if we were deserted and foreeu to light a lone hand, it was not by the workers wc were abandoned.” The inference is irresistible. The miners are attempting to undermine the confidence of the Labour movement in the moderate leaders, lu accusing' them of having led the whole Labour movement and eventually the miners, into humiliating deleaf. Doubtless, the allegations contained in the oilicial statement presented for the consideration of the Confci enco of British 'Trade Union executives, held in London last Thursday, will be freely debated, but we can state quite coulideurlv that the moderate loaders in British labour circles will survive: the extremist attack, if will be generally agreed, however, ihai tlie fight, is not, over.” INo industrial dispute which ended in the decisive defeat of the- worker has ever settled a. dispute between employers and employed. “Longer hours and lower ■wages,” the statement of the Miner's’ federation says, “'cannot bring peace' in the coalfields. We will not allow district agreements,” the statement, proceeds, "to shnlter our strength. The unity of our organisation is still intact, and. we are determined to recover the lost ground, and wo look confidently for the support of the whole 'Trade Union movement.” Whether the conference of Trade- Union Executives carried a vote of confidence in the General L'-ouncil of the Trade Union. Council, nr censured the Miners’ Moderation, would not confuse the real issue. The plain unvarnished fact rein ty ns that the miners were so badly led that their own tactics made defeat inevitable. Nevertheless-, it is sun clear that the struggle Avill be- renewed as soon as the miners have had time to regain their stiength. The decision of the miners to- reject the terms proposed by the Imperial Government was described as- “heroic-” by that noted Labour leader, Mr .Robert "Williams-, who compared Mr Cook and his- dupes “to the sightless Samson, feeling- for a grip of the pillars of the temple, the crushing of which may engulf this thing we call British civilisation.” Other critics deplored the “obduracy and folly” of the miners’ leaders in refusing to agree to the proposed settlement offered by Mr Baldwin, the London “Spectator” saying that the “dispute is being settled, but in a manner that, does not deserve the name of settlement,, because the drift of the men hack to work is becoming' a rush, and one wonders whether any shreds of reputation and authority will he left, to the- Miners’ Moderation.” The official organ of the Labour Party rightly claimed That “tlm spirit of the miners is .unconquered, and whatever the immediate results, unconquerable.” It is admitted on all sides- that the stubbornness with which the coal conflict was carried on, made it, the fashion to speak harshly of the British workman; moreover, he has had to submit to a. good deal of pleaching-, “some of it, rather foolish,” one writer suggests, and “some of it frankly impudent.” There is a tendency to undervalue the quality of the British worker. In the dam days of the World War, when the destiny of civilisation trembled in the balance, and death fell in showers upon the men who field th - thin red line, tlm British worker proved himself the soundest, citizen soldier in the wyrld —the most steady, courageous, human, patient. To-day he is- engaged in the hostilities! of peace—fighting- a pitched battle on. the; industrial battlefield, and it is questionable whether there was ever a time when he needed more tactful treatment. He knows that most of the mistakes, ho has ma.de were due to- blundering good-heartedness, not malice; lie knows, too, that most of the leaders who, landed him into the bogs of defeat erred more from' stupidity than from wickedness. The British worker is all rig-lit; give him a fair deal and good leadership and he will beat the, world at almost any job he undertakes 1 . What is more, according to Sir Frank Fox, in a London weekly, he will keep the British Empire on top, as he has done in the past, with the help,- of our captains of industry. W e read then: “He must be allowed his fair start, of the credit for the fact that there is hardly one of the great achievements in civilised industry which is not almost wholly a British Empire achievement.

“Jii engineering, transport, shipbuilding, railways, wool and cotton textile industries—indeed, in practically all things that mean progress the world owes practically everything to the British workers, organisers, and scientists.

“What the British worker has done in the past ho is ready and able to do in the present and future. But he must have a straight deal and a good example. “He must know that ‘the boss’ is doing his honest bit toward the common weal. Nothing sours him more than the idea that ho is being ‘put upon,’ or is being preached at by people who have no right to preach. “And if he turns pennantly sour we have no chance, for he can not bo

bullied or cowed. Great Britain is what it i-s to-dny, by reason of the fact that you cannot bully or browboa t the mass of the British people.”

British industry is supreme in the world 10-day—it is still supremo for quality, whatever pessimists may say—chiefly because the great hulk of: British 1 oilers are- pre-eminently faithful workers,. If peace is to reign in the industrial world, the rogues and fools who misled the workers must be put. out of action. Then it wilt he sufficient to make-a- straight appe-nl to tin honesty and the ennimonsen.se of the British worker—that honesty and commonsense which is acknowledged no less by the industrial authorities of all countries, than by the Red Internal tonal Congress which gave those virtuous characteristics, of the British masses such a. magnificent testimonial when British honesty, commonsense-, steadfastness and patriotism. were lamented “as the one obstacle, to tire world revolution.”