The Spirit of Militant Labour.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17115, 9 April 1921, Page 8

The Spirit of Militant Labour.

The feature of the present coal strike in Great Britain which distinguishes it from'other coal strikes in the past is thejfefusalof the strikers .to permit the continuance of the pumping operations necessary to save some of the mines from heing flooded 4 This is a now and unpleasantly significant development of Labour militancy. In the past tho leaders of a coal. strike were content to rely upon tho coercive' effect of stagnation' in the industry—tho losses to the mine-owners, and the hardship ■and•Bufferings of a population deprived of ..its, supplies of.fuel. To-day they go beyond that;, they have resorted to the , destruction of. property without regard to the ultimate consequences even to themselves. The conference between the Prime Minister and the representatives' of the Miners', federation came to grief. upon the pumping question : tile, Federation would not order its men to resume pumping,, on) the ground, we are told to-day, that to do so would be to surrender their only vital /bargaining weapon. This is sabotage naked - and undisguised. Between deliberately compassing the destruction of mines through flooding and deliberately blowing up the mining machinery there is no difference from any. point of view from which a rational | judgment can be formed. In 'oldeT days acts of violence by strikers were' common enough, but they had no very deep significance, since the older days were' the. dark ages of;, 'industrial thought. They had no more vital and enduring significance than had sbme of t the. barbarities of social life in a day before mankind was generally conscious' of a social destiny. But violence in industrial disputes to-day, undertakenwith tlfe approval of the leaders of | militant Labour,'and of set design for the furtherance of the aims of Labour, is very deeply significant. These are not ignorant and excited men who have approved the deliverance of tlfe mines to the flooding water; they are men who every day are, in full contact with modern industrial thought? men of ability, full of prejudices and impatient ,of Ithe economic teachings of experience, but fully aware'of modern social standards of law and order. •In this fact lies the significance of their refusal to order the pumping to continue undisturbed. What it means is that in order to further the aims of organised Labour, or a, section of it, the leaders of Labour are prepared to wreck tho sources of industry and production. That Way, as anyone may see, lies the breaking up of the social organisation. Few; people will maintain that the social organisation of to-day is incapable of vast improvement, or will deny that great changes may come as the years pass, but' fewer still amongst the thoughtful will see anything but complete disaster ahead of a society in which the leaders of organised Labour can, with success,, resort after cool deliberation to the weanons of destruction for temporary ends.