The Dominion TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1918. MR. LLOYD GEORGE AND LABOUR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 70, 17 December 1918, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1918. MR. LLOYD GEORGE AND LABOUR

, As it was summarised in one of yesterday's cablegrams Me. Lloyd George's election-eve attack on the Labour Party was surprisingly bitter in tone and sweeping in character. His denunciation of the pacifists and Bolsheviks who arc constantly attempting to capture and dominate the Labour Party is fully warranted. From the of war these men have been something worse than a drag upon their country, and it cannot be doubted that if they had secured the adoption of their insane doctrines Britain long ago would have been helpless at Germany's feet. Men who established this record in time of war arc least of all qualified or entitled to assist in piloting their nation through the intricate navigation of the reconstruction period, and so jar as he deals'with these men it is easy to understand the uncompromising directness of the British Prime Minister's attack. But if he said, as he is reported to have said, that the Labour Party has been run by pacifists and Bolshevik's, Mr. Lloyd George was decidedly unjust to Labqur and _to men who have been and are his own loyal colleagues. The record of organised Labour during the war period is one of which, it has every right to be proud. As a whole organised Labour and its leaders co-operated heartily with the Government in meeting the almost limitless demands of the war. No merely passive acceptance of the Government's i plans and proposals would have made possible the marvels that were accomplished in Great Britain in expediting a.nd augmenting production. There Avere, of course, somo exceptions to the common rule of loyal co-operation on the part of organised Labour, but it would be unfair and absurd to class organised Labour as a whole, or the Labour Party as _ a whole, with the pacifists. Britain, without a doubt, would have lost the war had not her people put forth as loyal_ and; unsparing efforts in the domain of industry as on the field of battle and at sea, and this concrete fact ■ heavily outweighs all_ the vapouring in which fanatical pacifistsspeaking ostensibly in the name of British democracy have indulged. As matters stand, the British Labour Party includes elements so illassorted that they might be thought absolutely incompatible. The distinction between pacifist extremists of the Ramsay Macdonald type and Labour leaders who take in all respects a more moderate and rational standpoint has been strongly' emphasised in recent times, notably in the adhesion of some Labour Ministers to the Coalition Government, while others broke away, in most cases at the bidding of their constituent organisations. The Labour Party split is an obvious' feature of the election campaign, and one that might have been expected to suggest some qualification of Mr. Lloyd George's vigorous denunciation. If he actually spoke with as little restraint a& the cablegram suggests the explanation presumably must be that the known features of the situation • have been changed. _It may be that the moderate section of the Labour Party has taken up a more definitely hostile attitude towards _ the Government' than it seemed inclined to in the opening stages of the election campaign. Such a development would be regrettable, but it would hardly justify the British Prime Minister in including all sections of the Labour Party in one comprehensive denunciation. A fuller report of his speech is needed to show what he really had in mind, but in one statement at least he rode somewhat roughshod over t"He facts. He said, amongst other, things, that the extreme pacifists "pulled Labour out of the Government at the moment when_ Labour was needed for reconstruction." This will not stand as a fair and full statement of the conditions under which' the Labour Party, minus those of its members who adhere to the Government, decided to pursue an independent course in the present election campaign. No doubt the agitators who were pacifist extremists during the war make it their aim to sow all possible dissension between organised Labour and the rest of the country. But it'is only fair 'to recognise also that the Labour T'arty, as the political expression of. organised Labour, is well entitled to maintain its independent existence and could hardly, be expected to go to the country as a minor adjunct of the Coalition Government in the first election under the new and immensely broadened franchise. Such a complete subordination of the Labour Party as this would have implied was not on any ground desirable. In its present shape and scope it does not rank as a comprehensive national party, but it represents a large and clearly defined section of the nation and would represent it better if it got rid of noisy extremists who take a share in its proceedings out of all proportion to the body of opinion they represent.