THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

Evening Star, Issue 21746, 14 June 1934, Page 3

THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

[By J.S.S.]

Brief contributions on mitten with refer •ace to the Labour Movement are invited. UPTON SINCLAIR AS DEMOCRAT. Upton Sinclair, noted American author and Socialist, has announced his. candidature as a Democrat for the Governorship of California. The election tvill now take place sooner owing to the death of Governor Rolph, which was recorded in the cables last week. Mr Sinclair has been prominent of late as a supporter of President Roosevelt’s policy of higher wages and reduced hours. There were 1,000,000 unemployed in California when President Roosevelt came into office, and it is the plan of Mr Sinclair to concentrate on the abolition of this problem. He proposes to put all the unemployed at work producing the products they-re-quire to consume by utilising the social credit of the State. His method is to establish farms for some, put others to work in idle factories, and make the products available at cost. The Sinclair Administration would make all the necessary purchases .of land and factories by issuing bonds. Some Socialist quarters in America regard unfavourably his alliance with the Democrats. but a leading propagandist organ, ‘ The World To-morrow,’ views it with equanimity—as a practical political method of applying the Socialist doctrine. His campaign is known as the E.P.T.C, (End Poverty in California). * * * » PASTORAL INDUSTRY WAGES. . The full Arbitration Court of Australia has issued a new award to apply in the pastoral industry of all States. Minimum rates for shearers elsewhere than in Western Australia are 30s per 100 (in the case of stud sheep 37s 6d). In Western Australia the normal shearing rate will.be 29s per 100. These rates are to apply to places where rations are not “found.” Shed hands will be paid £3 14s per week, with keep, or £5 per week without keep. In Western Australia the rates will be £4 2s 6d or £5 8s 6d, without keep. Overtime is at the rate of. time and a-half for the first two hours and double time thereafter (to apply in all States). ■ * + * * ASSOCIATE OF MARX. Theodore Frederick Cuno, said to be the last surviving member of the intimate group which included Marx and Engels, founders of the First Tntcrnatiqnal, died recently in the United States. He was eighty-eight. Cuno had lived a cloistered life with the cooperative group . for several years, though in the ’eighties and ’nineties he was an important and influential figure of the American Socialist and Labour movement. He left his mark in the Socialist Labour Party and the Knights of Labour, serving the latter as research director and statistician. His career as. a Labour journalist covered sixty years. ' * * * * LABOUR S LOSS. While the forces of the rival Labour parties are gathering ‘ themselves for the coming struggle at the Federal polls, the A.L.P. has suffered a very serious loss in New South Wales through the death of Mr Percy Coleman (states jthe Christchurch ‘ Star’s ’ Sydney correspondent). ..Though only forty-one years' of age, Mr Coleman had made an important place for himself in Labour circles, and he was recognised not only among his own friends, but by public opinion throughout Australia, as one of the leading lights of'the A.L.P. Moderate in his views, and bitterly opposed to the extremism of the Laugites, he was yet extremely vigorous and energetic, both as a politician and a public speaker, and ho had a reputation for honesty an'd sincerity, which many of our public men might well have envied. He sat in the House, of Representatives from 1922 to 1931, and at the last State election he courageously challenged Lang to mortal combat, contesting the Auburn seat with him and being defeated by less than 800 votes. He had been since the war intermittently an invalid, suffering the effects of'gassing, and was in hospital on and off during the past six months. His courage and perseverance were well illustrated in his determination to enter the legal profession, and only last year, after studying under great difficulties, he was called to the Bar. Unfortunately he did not live long enough to benefit by his success. .But he had also mado his mark outside Australia, representing the Commonwealth on the League of Nations and at the International Labour Conference. After the downfall of the Lang Ministry, Mr Coleman set himself to build up the A.L.P. anew in this State; and during the many conferences which have discussed possible unification with the Langites he has always been resolutely opposed to any compromise with them. It was in accordance with his plans that Mr Scullin came to Sydney to organise the party for the coming elections; and when Mr Sculini s acU dress at the Town Hall was interrupted hv pre-arranged disorder, Mr Coleman appealed so vigorously for fair play that Mr Scullin was able to regain control of the situation. He and ms friends knew that by persisting in his many public and professional activities he was risking his life, but he could not be deterred from the path ot duty, Ine strong sense of responsibility that made him. though a pacifist at heart and a strong opponent of conscription, volunteer for active service in the Great War was with him to the end. The death of Mr Coleman has cut short a career already successful and promising even more for the future; and perhaps his best epitaph would be the words of one of his A.L.I. colleagues;: “ He placed honour and integrity before position-and power; he died a martyr to the cause that lie held so dear.” . ' , . These things arc interesting chiefly to Australians, but the tact that Mr Coleman lived for some years in New Zealand is a further reason for drawing the attention of dominion readers to his brilliant career and its untimely close. It is possible that one ot the immediate effects of Mr Coleman s death may be the reappearance of Mr M. Charlton, who preceded Mr Scullin as leader of the Federal Labour Party. Mr Charlton has been in retirement tor five vears, hut be has remained closely associated with the A.L.P., and it is now reported that he means to stand in that interest at the coming Federal elections. Popular, experienced, and able, Mr Charlton would be a most valuable ally for ;Mr Scullin, and his return to public. life would help to nil the great gap in the State A.L. 1 . ranks caused by the death of Mr Coleman. * * * * WORKING HOURS. In order to show the arguments for and against the proposal of reducing hours, a report of the debate between Mr W. W. Sherwood, national industrial officer of the National Union of General and Municipal Workers, and Sir Herbert Austin, the motor car

manufacturer, was printed m the ■ Manchester Guardian.’ The debate took place at Oxford in connection with a conference of works managers, directors, and foremen organised by Messrs llowntree, the manufacturers of chocolate, etc. Mr Sherwood, speaking on behalf oi the trade unions, stated in support of a 40-hour week that a reduction of hours would not solve the unemployment problem, but it would do something to. relieve the situation. Ihe proposal was for a general reduction of hours to 40 a week without reduction of pay, but 40 hours was only the first stage. This proposal was not put forward merely out of sentiment, but because it was a hard economic fact that Unless working hours were reduced it would be impossible to get back to normal employment conditions. A reduction of hours without a reduction of pay would break up the vicious circle in which wages and prices were continually revolving. Since the war. largely as a result of new mechanical and scientific; processes, the output per worker had been greatly increased. The fact that fewer workers could produce the same quantities of goods was one of the main causes of unemployment. In the engineering industry, although the total number of employees was practically the same as in 1924. productive capacity had risen 26.7 per cent. Sii Herbert Austin, in reply, stated that the shortening of the working week to absorb more workers was just another aspect of organised short time, a system which had been tried qiit for a number of years in the cotton industry and had failed consistently. Under existing international conditions difficulties that would follow from the introduction of a shorter week would leave industry in Great Britain in a decidedly worse state than it was at present. How could it be supposed that the country could keep its vital export markets in view of the rising production costs which would inevitably follow, or even retain its own markets without raising a high tariff wall? Thero could be no doubt that the shorter working week would increase the incentive to replace labour by machinery. Even the 48-hour week was not being honoured by many countries, and it would be more advantageous to bring these countries into line with the 48-hour week than urge the 40-hour week in Britain. The 40-hour week was based on a fallacy. Hours might have to be increased and wages placed on a more economic basis. Although this might Ik l considered a move in the wrong direction, it would nevertheless have n much greater chance of solving tho unemployment problem than the 40-bbur week which was under discussion. * * * * A STRANGE PARADOX. A cable message received recently conveyed the news that Malcolm MacDonald, son of Mr Ramsay MacDonald, has been selected to represent the Empire Parliamentary Association at the Victorian centenary celebrations. Ft will be remembered that MacDonald, jun. (comments the ‘ New Zealand Worker ’), was a member of the Eng- : orsities’ debating team that visited New Zealand a few years ago. Admittedly he was by no means an ineffective debater, but it was generally decided that he was outshone hy young Baldwin, son of the es-Primo Minister, who is related to Rudyard Kipling. The very strange paradox is that the son of the Labour Prime Minister of years ago is to-day a confirmed Tory, while the sou of the Conservative exPrime'Minister is a Radical to his finger tips! . • * * * » .JAPANESE COMPETITION. The British Government is aggrieved at the cheapness of Japanese electric bulbs (states the Brisbane ‘ Worker ’i. and the British manufacturers of such goods are demanding that they he excluded from Britain. In Brisbane similar bulbs are being sold for iiinepence each, which is about Is 3d cheaper than the price for a bulb of good Australian manufacture. An electric light bulb is an article of very delicate construction, which, according to the extent of its voltage, greatly enhances illumination. Most delicate treatment is necessary in its manufacture, and the fact that Japanese bulbs can be retailed in Brisbane at ninepence tells all that need be told of the absolutely slavish conditions at the scene of manufacture. Cheap bulbs will not last as long as those produced in factories which pay a fair wage for expertness. That fact is well established here, but apparently in Great Britain buyers do not regard them with suspicion. * * * ♦ WOMEN’S RIGHTS. Whether married women should take paid employment was the subject of an essay competition conducted by ‘The Labour Woman ’ (London). One of the prize winning essays chosen from thousands sent in by women from various parts of England is printed below. The writer is Miss K. E. Mann. “ Everyone will admit,” she says, “ that the actual work done by a married woman differs no more from that done by a single one, than in tho case of married and single men. It is generally believed that married men arc more settled, both mentally and geographically, than unmarried men, and are therefore more satisfactory as employees, and the same might he held to apply to women, hi some professions, such as nursing, teaching-, and welfare work, a married woman is likely to take a broader view of the requirements of her work than one to whom it is her sole interest and only source of income. In other employment, office, shop, or factory work, the married woman is less likely to allow employers to impose upon her, and no doubt this is a cause of the objection many employers have to employing married women. Ae regards the attitude of the modern married woman, the right to economic independence is based on the idea of marriage as the union of two individual lives for greater happiness and strength. If the earning capacity of the couple is automatically halved by marriage, the prospect is not encouraging. In any case, a great number of women will never again be content to become house-slaves and centre all their interests in their own home. Smaller families, smaller dwelling places, lighter meals, all mean more leisure for the married woman. Just as much as men, women have faculties which demand expression in a wider circle than one small household. Tho alternatives open to them are to take up paid posts, or to go in for voluntary work, or else become pleasure-seeking, discontented women. We frequently hear the objection that married women at work means neglected homes and children. But the idea that there can be no home life unless the woman’s whole energy is given to it, and her own personality quite submerged, is an. exploded one. This can he done just as well by employed daily help. There are just as many homes neglected because the woman is bored as because she is at work elsewhere. As for the children. they arc far more likely In grow up independent and well-balanced human beings in company with an alert,

occupied, interested mother than with a nerve-worn woman who has sacrificed herself to the tradition of the house, or with a bored, trivial-minded, pleasurehunting mother. The only sound argument which is ever advanced against the employment of married women, is that in the present overcrowded labour market it is unfair for them to take posts which would otherwise be given to men with families to keep. But how often does this actually happen? The kind of posts open to both men and women are comparatively few.”