The Dominion FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1916. LABOUR AND COMPULSORY SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2669, 14 January 1916, Page 4

The Dominion FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1916. LABOUR AND COMPULSORY SERVICE

The announcement that the three Labour of the British Ministry have withdrawn their resignations is a hopeful sign. There, are still, unhappily, considerable differences in the ranks of Labour concerning compulsory service, but there is every reason to believe that tho opponents of the measure introduced by the Asquith Government form but a comparatively small part of the population of Britain. The great mass of the people is undoubtedly in favour of waging the war with the utmost vigour until the enemy_ is thoroughly beaten, and of adopting whatever measures may he neoessary to secure victory: The anti-conscriptionists did not have a happy time at the last week-end meetings. Mr. Winstone, who was recently rejected by the electors of Mcrthyr Tydvil, was given a disorderly reception by a meeting of miners, and Mr. Thomas was severely heckled by working-class audiences. The most definite declaration of tbe mind of Labour regarding the war was made on November 25, when the result of the Merthyr Tydvil poll-was announced, and nothing has happened since to weaken the force of that emphatic expression of opinion. During the election contest Me. Stanton's opponents strove to secure his rejection because he was a oompulsionist, and it was as a compulsionist that he was returned, defeating Mr. Winstone by a majority of over 4000 votes. It is estimated that three-quarters of the electors of Merthyr Tydvil arc miners. It was this constituency which elected the late Mr. Keir Hardie, as a pro-Boer in tho middle of the South African War, and remained faithful to him to the end of his life. That an electorate -of this character should have decisively rejected the official Labour candidate, and accepted tho candidate who stood in protest against" the anti-recruiting and pacifist policy of the Independent Labour Party, is a most convincing refutation of the assertion that Labour is opposed to the Compulsory Service Bill. The result of the election shows the danger of accepting the official Labour view as representing the views of the mass of the actual wage-earners.. Both the candidates for the Merthyr Tydvil scat were Socialists, but official trades unionism did its utmost to secure the return of Mr. Winstone, who is president of the South Wales Miners' Federation and an active member of the Independent Labour Party, whic.li passed a resolution in Glasgow in January last to the effect that all its members should "be requested not to assist in tho recruiting campaign." Mr. Winstone declared that he was opposed to conscription of any kind, and would do all he could to prevent it. Mr. Stanton told the electors that if it was proved to be necessary be would give unequivocal support to any measure of compulsion which the Government might demand. The significance of the contest is well brought out in the following letter by' Mr. H. M. Hyndman, a.. well-known Socialist, which appealed in the Morning Post: The other day it was pointed out to me by a very well-known man that if Mr. Winstone, the I.L.P. peace-at-any : price candidate., were to lieat the Social-Democrat'pro-British miner Mr. C. B. Stanton, at Merthyr, such a political victory would have a -very bad effect in France, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, and elsewhere. I attached little importance to this at the time, because I believe our Allies know tho position here very well, and are convinced that, in epite of the desperate blundering of-nnr politicians, this nation is quite deter-, mined to win the war at ltd .costs. Since, then, however, I have learnt that the I.L.P. leaders attach the greatest possible importance to the contest, and.that they intend to represent Mr. Winstone's success should he win as clear evidence that the workers of Great Britain are ready to accept any terms of peace from Germany. Under these circumstances tho support given to Mr. Winstone by Mr. Arthur Henderson, as the Cabinet Minister representing Labour, caiinot fail to be misunderstood and misinterpreted abroad. I hope sincerely no effort will be spared to return Mr. Stanton by' a large majority. There can be no doubt that if Mr. Winstone had been elected the anticompulsionists would have claimed' the result as proof positive that the British wage-earners areiopposed to conscription in any shape or in any circumstances. If the verdict had been in their favour they would have used it as a trump card, and if they could have obtained an anti-con-scriptionist mandate anywhere it was at Merthyr. But the decision went against them, and they must accept it. Mr. Stanton, was a straight-out advocate of a policy of "thorough." He told the people that it was because he believed so strongly in the duty of defending tho country and preserving it against foreign aggression that he'sacrificed everything to qorne out and fight "the discredited and so-called Independent Labour Party," which had pursued a policy on the question of the war that was abhorrent to the overwhelming majority of their fcllow-citizens. In his address to the electors he. said: Ido not appeal to-you as Conservatives, as Liberals, or as Socialists. I appeal to you as, Britons against men who say behind closed doors what they dare not say in public, who have received- the hateful praise of the German Press, and who. having first refused all help to voluntary recruiting and schemed against it in the dark, intend, if it is in their power, to make every possible difficulty- for their country in the hour of her distress of which they are capable should any form of universal military service become necessary. This appeal to the great mining constituency of Merthyr Tydvil was not in vain. The electors sent Mr. Stanton to Parliament with a mandate for the most vigorous prosecution of the war and for whatever measures may be necessary to achieve complete victory. This .means that if tho war cannot be won without conscription, then the requisite amount of compulsion must bo applied. It is regrettable that a section of the community seems determined to offer organised resistance to the Government's compulsory service scheme. In the name of democracy these people are attacking tho fundamental principle of de-mocracy-—majority rule; in the name of freedom they refuse to throw themselves whole-heartedly into the greatest struggh for freedom which tho world has ever seen.