SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS CRITICISED BY THE BRISTOL WORKERS

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 January 1947, Page 5

SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS CRITICISED BY THE BRISTOL WORKERS

HIS REMARKS AS TO ABILITY TO MANAGE Recd. 7.15 p.m. London, Jan. 20. A letter from Sir Stafford Cnpps (who represents East Bristol in the House of Commons), in which he reasserted his statement of October 27, that he did not consider the working classes yet fit to take over Uje managerial side of industry, received a very hostile reception from the Bristol Trades Council. When Sir Stafford Cripps first made this statement in October at Bristol, the press was accused of deliberately misreporting him. The Trades Council, accordingly, wrote to him asking for a correct version of his speech, and Sir Stafford Cripps provided by confirming the accuracy of the Press reports.

Sir Stafford Cripps said:— “It is no use misrepresenting the facts in order to appear pleasant. No one is more anxious than I am to let the workers play their full part in management matters, but I am not responsible for the fact that for the past 50 years they have had little or no opportunity of obtaining experience in these matters. Give them the opportunity and education, and we shall find among them persons as good as, or better than, those who now hold managerial positions, not just because they are workers, but because they have brains and ability. “It is an absolute insult to the workers that a theoretical Socialist like Cripps should make such a statement,” said Miss Jessie Stevens, a member of the Council, when the let* ter came up for consideration. Shi claimed the majority of people in the room had had administrative ex-perk ence and that Sir Stafford Cripps implied the workers were so silly and incompetent that they would fall down on the job. It was decided to arrange a meet* ing between the council and Sip Stafford Cripps. At the conclusion of the meeting a Bristol journalist remarked that he was glad nine reporters present at the October meeting had 'been vindicated. “It is increasingly becoming a tendency,” he said, “for people who read unpalatable reports in the newspapers to accuse the Press of misreporting them.”