Do Strikes Pay ?

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 November 1913, Page 4

Do Strikes Pay ?

MR SNOWDEN SAYS "NO."

"Strikes do not pay. They are a barbarous, cruel,/costly, and ineffective way of trying to remedy the wrongs of labour," says Mr Philip Snowden (Socialist member of the House of Commons), writing to the Morning Post. "They uo not pay the workman; they do not pay the community; the employers are the only party who can be said in any way to gain by them. They have powers in their hands by which they can speedily more (than recoup themselves for a temporary loss a strike may inflict upon them. "The irresponsible sections of the Trade Unions to-day exercise an influence altogether beyond their numbers. They are mainly responsible for the strikes ■which have taken place in the last two years. The leaders of the unions have been led more often than (hey have led. They have allowed themselves to be carried into a turmoil against their better .judgment, because they had not the courage to face a temporary unpopularity. This new policy of militancy in Trade Unionism will certainly ruin the movement if ii is not subdued. The practice of it during the last two years habeen a failure from whatever point of view it is considered. "Not for two generations has labour had such favourable conditions for improving its lot by Tin do Union action as is has had since 1910. Trade has been wonderfully good; unemployment has touched jhe lowest point on record ; it has been almost impossible to get strike-breaking labour: the profits of the employers have been so enormous that they could afford to concede substantial advances of wages without feeling the cost. But in spite of these rare and favourable circumstances the advances of wages have in the aggregate been very slight. "The first lesson to learn is that the strike is not a means by which any substantial and permanent improvement in the lot oi labour can bo secured. The second matter aiising out of modern economic developments is that the public are now a third party to every big strike, and their interests are <|iiite as important as those of the other two parties. The Trade Unions will have to accept tins fact. After all, the community is bigger than organised labour, and it is a mistake for Trade Unionists to suppose (hat the methods of dealing with labour disputes and the regulation of wages will be .just what they desire them to be."

roLilii a.lj ai i iUA. i-ifLuutjj iiiu .Labour x'uiiy at Home mailt' Ulu JoJknvjng uj iraat! unuHiiiit,-. lo suppmi Uic political siue 01 hit uiovt'iutMii : "Hi a low weeks many trade uuiuiis w ill lake a ballot ui members oh lilt supremely important question ui polilleal action, ami it was, iliereloie, accessary tiiat

ieau siiould bo forthcoming from | Uiu irade l/ mull Congress. A | lead, strong, sane, ompiuuic, iius but-li issued lu tlio rank-and-file, only .three delegates 111 llie largest Lougiess ever called together ui : industrial and political power, .that is tko right way; indeed the onij way to achieve victory. "To light uut industrial battles, i whiie neglecting the political side, is like trying to hula a wuii' by tne ears. In tkese days, trade unionists are sometimes urged to } ignore politics, but il they lollow I this loutish and short-sighted coun- I sel, they will put a rou in pickle lor themselves. Workers may at their peril turn their backs upon .Parliament, but Parliament assuredly will not turn their back upon theiu.. Parliament regulates at many points the conditions of their employment, and employers and landowners do not spend hundreds of thousands oi: pounds on the retention of political power without a definite purpose. The influence of Parliament roaches to workpeople in factories, workshops mines, and railways as wieff as in theii homes. There lS' iiio escaping it, try we ever so hand. The hours and wages of increasing numbers oi' wage-earners will be ;ifleeted by legislative enactment. Parliament affirms a standard of safety and sanitary conditions. Parliament decides what amount of compensation shall be paid to the injured workman, wtiat the amount the pension shall be to the old workman. in sickness, or health., at work or play, in istrikes and loekouls, ilie workers arc governed by law, and they a re living in a fool's paradise if they imagine there will be no difference iu the scope and character of the laws made by their ni asters and by their own representatives. To vote against a, Parliamentary levy, and by ihis means to leave the shaping of legislation in the hands of those who think aiul privately speak of the toiling millions as 'the lov.'cst orders,* 'the ignorant mob,' 'the great unwashed,' would bo, indeed, a penny- wise-pound-foolish policy. True, the employers at electrons render lip-service to the democracy and commend the workers for their patience- the patience of the labouring ox. But the intelligent workman of to-day wants i more solid pudding and empty praise. ISToi- is he bliiul to the fact that, election blarii ey apart, the true attitude of Capital towards Labour rightly struggling to be free reveals itself i.xi the policy of the Dublin employers, who, after calmly witnessing the headsmashing- and imprismvmeiit of strikers, have decided 001 a general lock-out in the hope th at tire hunger of the children and the famine of the wives may bring- the men to a humbler frame of nr'ind.