The Dominion. TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1913. THE TYRANNY OF OPEN VOTING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1796, 8 July 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1913. THE TYRANNY OF OPEN VOTING.

The Labour delegate who described tho secret ballot as tho refuge of the coward was either very ignorant or a believer in the tyranny of intimidation, even where it affected his own fellow-workers. The matter came up for discussion at the Unity Congress on Saturday during the debate on the strike clause in the Constitution, to which an amendment was moved to the effect that "no union or department shall inaugurate a strike in any trade or industry without taking a' secret ballot of tho members in the hall in such dispute." The amendment also dealt with other points, and therefore the fact that it was rejected by 222 votes to 91 may not accurately represent the feeling of the Congress as regards the principle of the secret ballot. Most of the speakers dealt with the general question of the right to strike, but the incidental references to the suggestion that tho voting on strike proposals should bo in secret were of a decidedly adverse character. The secrecy of the ballot in Parliamentary and municipal elections has been one of tho foundation principles of modern democracy, and it is astonishing to find anyone claiming to be a man of the people referring to this method of voting with contempt as "the refuge of employers and cowards." Tho secret ballot has been one of the greatest factors in the past in curbing tyranny in high places, and in the future it _ may prove just as effective in _ resisting the equally galling oppression of the modern. demagogue and the crushing yoke of caucus rule. It is one of tho surest'safeguards against victimisation and intimidation, and the most reliable means of arriving at a true expression of opinion without fear or favour. After all, it must be remembered that tho Unity Congress is mainly composed of what may be called the official element of the Labour movement, and not the rank and file, and it is perhaps natural that such a gathering should be disinclined to lose that ascendancy which is in a measure secured by the present method of controlling the industrial fighting machine. The average working man knows that he has no chance in open debate against the. ready tongue of the demagogue, and ho often sits silent and allows things to bo done in his name of which ho docs not in his heart approve, rather than run the risk of being held up to the ridicule and odium which disagreement with, the views of the official element might probably provoke. The secret ballot in connection with labour disputes ,would be a welcomo ' protection to tho mass of the workers, and would ascertain the deliberate conscientious convictions of each individual voter uninfluenced by undue pressure or intimidation. No strike should be started unless it has been authorised as the result of a secret ballot of the workers immediately concerned. It is the rank and file who have to bear the chief brunt of the suffering which industrial strife entails, and they should not be driven into a strike against their own unbiased judgment by the agitator and tho demagogue. And if the final decision should rest with thoso whose interests are most immediately concerned, there can be no doubt that the wives of the workers should be allowed to vote, for they and their children are always the first to feel the pinch when the weekly wago is not forthcoming. The secret ballot is one of the surest ways of securing freedom of action for the actual worker, and the only method of ascertaining tho real views of the majority. Those who really wish the people to exercise the right of unfettered judgment should be the most strenuous advocates of the secret ballot. That a Labour leader should openly declare it to be the refuge of cowards is a striking indication of the new tyranny into which we may drift if the working classes are going to place themselves, body and soul) in the hands of tho agitator, and deliberately throw away one of tho greatest safeguards of their liberty.