The Press Monday April 18, 1921. The British Crisis.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17122, 18 April 1921, Page 6

The Press Monday April 18, 1921. The British Crisis.

sve»te ip. cpnnexio4 with the gresifcj strike at Home marched with sensa- j tion&l rapidity at.i&e-end of last-week.-On Thursday evening the country faced i, thf certainty, pit then seemed', that in swsity<-fco?. Jwdra t)j6 . forces of the great Triple Alliance of labour, supported .pqesibly by man;/ thousands of other workers, would be striving, by means of a general strike, • to CflfljpeV t|ie Gk>veriupept to abandon its opposition tp the miners' deoiands. But before tWenty-four houra had pass* 4ppe|> of pucji a dira cotas- ' trophetoadpaesed away,-with the an- . notincement that the ' leaders- oi * the, .; BHlw&ymiW flßij • trftssporteyfl 1»4 cancelled the strike so far as orgariisatiQpp Wpye the change of attitude being* dae to the refusal of the exwitive.to support the action df Mr Prank Hodges, ifoe xecjretary of , the Minors' tfejieratjon. The latter, «s i repprtp4' in odr oableapf Saturday, had ijlformod a midnight conference of mem-bßflj-ftf thft'tae ef w TJwf-jlay-that the mjpep wero prepared tp iPLisoyiaa with the mine-owfteiß the <ruestion of immediate Iy, fifing apy sottlenjpnt arrived at ■' be regardedTfeaonly temporary, <v'national'sool and a: national Tate of wGges. Jji view -of the previously expreßaad ,of the miners l§t,ter <jnesio?w crucial Irenes (>f • tha" depute,' although. they had At the wtsqfc. struck on the ques- ■ . ilion represented ljpdoubtedly a it«l surrender /fey the nien for wfcorn lje spoke, and offered a hope-that the additional time gained hy 're-opening, nego'tintioiis on this point might result in. settlement of the whole trpubjp. Pessimists are WidjtQ hftyopofftted out ' 'that the Federatjpn QuwJ previously rejected a flimilar Rpdk asked .whether Mr Hodges Iwaa, not speaking .. 't without authority, hut obviously the ?n4|ortts'of those who heard him accepted 1$ «fc£ genuine expression iirneis' views."- The pessimists,

.however, proved to he right, Mr Hodgea , terms pf Jijs brief, a|id rafvuied.tp ho, hound hy h 4; Ttipls Alljance, .that? tlj\e Miners were in the flp thia attitHde, withdrew their support, and called off the strihflc of;'their members which was to

havategun' night. In the 'words of ana of the executive of tjie : Alliance, "As the miners repudiated Mr . it was felt.that the Ajjiunce >" could not support them." The - . this . ®veat can - momentous and far-reaching. Its • immediate ©ffent? # largelytojplietfethe country ' from sha few. of a qfyuggle which would ;iav» inflicted widespread hardship and '.would. have wrought severe injury Jo IJritishindustry and • 'commerce. The relief, caused generally by the. sudden dramatic turn pf events was reflected'in the'pceiqe in the House lof Oommopß whenMr'Uoyd George annoqnced of the strike j\" aqaid excitement, emo- ." tlon, and The miners have V announced their datmnination to go on jwith : the strike alone, but at the consferepce of theirdplegates t<j be held /:• next Thursday counsels may, ?and, it is to be hoped, will prevail, since, the- mten apparently, recognise that the fighi would be ft' hopeless one, and that » they must he defeated. Bad, however, sBB' a coal' strike would be for the country, the, community has heen spared the strike, .and for this it should be pro-

: lotmdly grateful to Mr Hodges. A La- , Herald," mini-

mises the effect that the "one misunder- " standing or mistake", that he made had in bringing about the collapse of the Strike. "Not a hundred, not a thousand such trivialities," it declares, " could have affected the issue if the " whole Lahour movement had been 'solid in organisation and 'lndcrstand- " ing." That is possibly true, but the paper omits to take into account the human factor in what it describes as a "disaster" and a "crash." The leaders of the Triple Alliance would not, in all probability, have taken the decisive action by which Great Britain has been spared the tragedy of a war between organised Lahour and the rest of tho community if they had not known that the ranks behind thc-m were not with them heart and soul. Among the railway men. and transporters there was no enthusiasm for the strike. The inen were thinking for themselves, first, probably, of the fact that strike pay would fall far short of their present earnings, and secondly, perhaps, that the miners were not wholly justified in the attitude they had adopted, ,in view of the large wages they had been receiving for years past. The Alliance's decision must have important results as far as organised Labour is concerned, results which at present cannot he predicted with any certainty. But there is already open talk of tho disruption of the Triple Alliance, and of disunion within the ranks of its component parts. Of these and possibly other developments we. shall no, doubt hear in time; for the" present the .main thing is that by the barest margin, and as far as can be §eon now, by the action of one man, the Old Country has escaped, whether permanently or only temporarily has yet to be seen, the consequences of a struggle of dreadful gravity, which fliust Jiave been felt, in greater or less degree, in every part of tho Empire. For that there'is. indeed great cause for thankfulness.