BRITISH LABOUR PARTY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16694, 28 March 1922, Page 6

BRITISH LABOUR PARTY.

INDUSTRIAL OPINION. ELECTION PROSPECTS, It iff extraordinarily difficult, even for the most experienced observers of working-class opinion, to gauge the state of Labour feeling at the present (writes Mr G. IT. D. Cole in ithe “ Westminster Gazette ”). Certain superficial fact-9 aro, indeed, obvious enough. The unprecedented boom which nearly doubled Trade Union membership in a, few years is over, and most Trade Unions are now losing members, especially in the lower-paid and stably organised occupations. There is a feeling of discouragement abroad—a growing sense of the weakness of ordinary Trade Union action in face of adverse economic conditions • —a knowledge that the road is more uphill than it seemed a year or two ago. Money is very scarce in the working-class movement. and those propagandist organisations which depend on voluntary contributions arc not finding it easy to keep their activities up to the standard set in the years of prosperity. NOT LESS CRITICAL/. Yet opinion, in my view, is now more, and not less, critical of the present economic order'; ft is less confident of its ability to effect a speedy change, but. more certain that at change ought to bo effected. That the active power in industrial Labour lias diminished is. of course, undeniable. Bad trade is inevitably a drag oil Trade Union action. But there are signs that the slump does not extend to a weakening in opinion. In the first place, the decline in Trade Union membership is, I think, considerably less than it would have been reasonable to expect. It is not easy now for the majority of workers to find the monev for their union contributions. Vet, although the unions have lost heavily in membership the bulk of the members are still paying regularly • There has been the inevitable big decline in the less organised trades, especially among the women, whose organisation wis always weak; but the,losses of the Wronger unions are still comparatively small. A loss of, say, ten per cent is small enough when, it is iemembered that the membei ship of many unions practically doubled storing the war and post-war period. The bulk of the members are maintaining their position, and t believe this indicates a change of attitude. The gains of the past few years cannot be w iped oiit even if the slump continues. Moreover, the condition of the educational movements amongst the workers furnishes an excellent barometer of industrial opinion. These movements are at present sorely hampered by lack of funds; but otherwise they exhibit no symptom of decline. Indeed, the demand for classes and educational facilities lias never been so great as now. Directly, of course, this demand still reveals the attitude only of a small minority; but it is probablv, as far as it goes, a good indication of the general state of mind. H is a part of the process of reexamination of policies and postulates in -which the more active members ot the Labour movement aro now concerned. What are the political reactions of the situation? From many platforms working-class leaders are now proclaiming that, in face of the diminished possibilities of industrial action. Labour must look more to polities for the successes of the immediate future. But there has* been, on the surface at least, no general awakening of political interest to compensate for the decline in industrial activity. It- is also, of course, the case that the political section of the Labour movement is exceedingly hard-up, and has very little chance of filling its treasury out of trade union or other contributions as long as the slump continues. THE GENERAL ELECTION. Yet nobody doubts that, whenever a general election comes, there will be large labour gains. These will be in part, of course, merely n readjustment of representation, a setting right of the ludicrously disproportionate election results of 191 S. But, at the least, it will be more thou this. Labour, as a political party, is far better organised, and has a far bigger hold on the electorate than it had three years ago. Even without more than the barest minimum of funds, it can reJy on considerable successes. 1 1 could count on far more were the funds available to contest every seat that might perhaps !>o won. Some degree of Trade Union apathy does not necessarily connote electoral abstention. Of course, by no means all Trade Unions vote Labour : but an increasing proportion do .so vote, and the greater numerical strength of the unions probably carries with it a corresponding increase in the minimum vote on which Labour can rely. Many of those who have lost immediate interest in Trade Union activities because of the present weakness of the Unions will vote for a Labour candidate when the day of an election comes. The anger created by unemployment and the failure to deal with it is widespread, and goes largely to swell the Labour vote, although other anti-Gov-ernment candidates get a share of it T am here discussing, not how many seats Labour will win at the next general election—which depends partly on the ground chosen for the election by the Government, and largely on the conditions under which it conies to J>e_ fought—but what is the state of political feeling among the workingclass electors. Labour enthusiasm, I think, has waned; but mild supper of Labour candidates and policies has gained, and is gaining, ground. And. at an election, a lukewarm vote counts for as much as any other. But. however well it may do. Labour will not have a majority in the next Parliament, and will be still almost certainly an “ Opposition ’’ party. The result of substantial electoral successes would !>e seen in a representation not only'Mumericnlly greater, but also far more powerful in debate. But its economic reactions would, T think, be no less important. It would revive the flagging energies of the Trade Unions, and would probably be followed. even by a revival of industrial activity, and a stiffening of the Labour attitude in industrial negotiations. The Mayor (Dr Thacker. M.P.> was indisposed last night and was unable to attend the meeting of the City Council . Mr O. E. Matthews, Controller-Gen-eral of Prisons, arrived from the north this morning to accompany the Minister of Justice on his visit to the Borstal informative institution at Invercargill. Mr A. C. Holms will be a candidate at the general election for the Masterton seat, which he contested in 1919. He “is in sympathy with the new Libera,! group, but retains his independent individuality. 99 Mr J. Woodside, assistant superintendent of the Seamen’s Institute at Lyttelton, who was recently married, received a. presentation of a clock from the members of the British and Foreign Sailors’ Societv, at the annual meeting last night-