The Dominion MONDAY, APRIL 18, 1921. A VICTORY FOR COMMON SENSE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 173, 18 April 1921, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, APRIL 18, 1921. A VICTORY FOR COMMON SENSE

Some o£ to-day’s cablegrams from London suggest that- a disaster to organised Labour in Great Bntain is involved in the cancellation oi the general strike the Triple AUj" ance” had called for Friday last. The event has better claims to attention as indicating a timely Revival of common sense amongst the workers concerned and a section ot their leaders. Any disruption of the “Triple Alliance” or its affiliated organisations that may be involved is quite overshadowed by the fact that an emphatic halt has been called in a. policy which threatened, if it were carried much further, to lead to the destruction not only of industrial, but of national life. What has happened is that _ other sections of the “Triple Alliance have refused to paralyse the industries of the United Kingdom, and inflict sufferings on millions of innocent people, in order to support the miners in an utterly unreasonable stand. It is shown that the miners were advised by their own national secretary (Mb. Hodges) to negotiate for a temporary settlement .of the wages question without insisting upon the establishment of a national pool in the coal industry, and that it was when the miners rejected this counsel that the leaders of the railwaymen and transporters withdrew, their support and carried a vote which cancelled the order for a general strike. In the result, as far as it’ is disclosed, some illfeeling has been generated between and within the organisations .concerned, but the. action taken is so completely justified from the standpoint of common sense and that of a sound regard for the interests of Wage-earners and those of. the nation that, hostile criticism and angry feelins; may be **?pected to die away. It is reported that the railwaymen in some districts are furious with their national leaders, but the cancellation of the strike in itself offers convincing evidence that this attitude is taken only bjy a minority. The pith of the matter appears in an official statement issued by the “Triple Alliance” Executive that “in consequence of tho confusion confronting the conference” (after the miners’ representatives had refused to negotiate for a wages settlement)

no reasonable hope remained of securing the spontaneous, united action by the three bodies which was essential to give the miners the help they sought. A partial and hopelessly incomplete sympathy stoppage would have weakened the organisation without materially helping the miners.

The position was summed up in homelier language by the transport delegate who said: “We are sick of the whole damned business.” It will probably appear in the sequel that a large proportion of the miners aro as sick as other sections of the workers of a policy of developing industrial warfare on the greatest possible scale —a policy which can serve no other purpose than to destroy the welfare of the wage-earn-ers and the prosperity of the nation. Instead of being, as the Daily Herald describes it, “tjio heaviest defeat that has.befallen the Labour movement within the memory of man,” the cancellation of the general strike; may well prove to bo a new point of departure from which organised Labour will set out with vastly improved prospects of achieving its legitimate -aims.

Not much heed need be paid to the accusations made in some quarters'that the miners have been deserted and betrayed. Comradeship and loyalty arc the finest things in life, but they aro turned to a base use when they aro appealed to as a reason for supporting any man or Ifody of mon in courses plainly wrong and ill-advised. In the present case, the minors are betrayed only by the extremists who have induced them to persist in pressing irrational and unjust demands. It is an elementary part of the duty of comradeship to refuse to support a comrade or comrades in wrongdoing, and' the refusal of the "Triple Alliance” to go to extremes in supporting the miners most certainly falls within , this category. Talk ' about the . miners continuing their fight unaided until they are starved into submission is so much moonshine. What they intend to do will not be known until their executive meets on Thursday, but undoubtedly they arc better placed now to secure as satisfactory a-n adjustment of wages as the circumstences will permit than if other sections of the “Triple Alliance” had agreed to co-operate with them in wrecking lira industrial life of thi- Uniled Kingdom. Tho British coal mine owners seem to ho hoth ready and anx-

ions to arrive at an equitable settlement with their employees. Negotiations aiming at an amicable understanding in regard to wages and other questions were opened shortly after the strike settlement last year, and on the eve of the present strike agreement had been reached on a number of important issues. According to an official statement issued on behalf of the mine owners, both miners and owners had agreed that: Wages must conform to the capacity of the industry to pay them, and this, of course, excluded a policy of subsidies.

Tho receipt of a standard wage should justify a corresponding minimum profit to tho colliery undertakings, and Any surplus remaining after these, and, of course, the usual working costs, should be divided, between the men and the owners in agreed proportions, tho work-people’s share to be an addition to their standard wages. Joint audits of the owners’ books by accountants representing each side shall bo made to ascertain all the data necessary for She periodical determination in wages.

Remembering that wages, on. the basis of recent working, comprise 80 per cent, of the cost of British coal, and that other working costs absorb a considerable part, of the remaining 20 per cent., it seems obvious that in these negotiations the mine owners showed every disposition to make reasonable concessions, and that the miners turned their backs on an equitable settlement when they essayed by their own action and the help, they expected from their industrial, allies to paralyse the industrial life of the United Kingdom in order to enforce their demand for a national pool. It is a clear gain to all concerned that this attempt has broken down, and it niay be hoped that the event betokens. a widespread and growing disposition amongst British workers to discard, the policy of fomenting strife for its own sake and to concentrate upon practical measures of industrial and social betterment.