The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1926. AS OTHERS SEE US.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 July 1926, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1926. AS OTHERS SEE US.

It is interesting to read ironi the newspaper exchanges of other countries what was thought of ttie great strike at Home! It was an event of overmastering influence on the future, and it is well-known that foreign journalists rushed to England to chronicle the revolution! But the unexpected happened. The United Kingdom remained calm in the face of a great crisis, and the revolution did not come to pass. An American paper, standing afar off and viewing the situation dispassionately, thus refers to the alj important event in the 'history of.. Great Britain. The outstanding event in Europe in the past month has been the general strike in Great Britain ami the outcome of that has done more to re-estahlisli general confidence than anything which has happened since the war. It has deposed of whatever fears there were that Bolshevism had secured a substuntinl foothold in England or western Europe. The Soviet authorities in Russia hailed the strike as the beginning of a revolution after their own pattern and telegraphed a contribution of money in its support, hut the contribution was declined. The Trades Unions of England were making a fight—an iU advised one as they soon concluded—to enforce the wage demands of the miners’ union, but without any intention of overthrowing the political institutions of the country. They had no desire to take over the functions of government or revolutionise the industrial system. and when they saw where their policy was leading them they abandoned it. The

truth is that the Soviet authorities were correct in their conception of the issue. The government was bound to endeavour to restore the essential services upon which the community life depended, even to the care of the strikers’ families, and if the general strike had triumphed that triumph would have signified that a new government, organised by a comparatively small part of the population, had taken the place of the old. It is evident that an organisation which is able to paralyse the industries of a country and prevent people from earning a living or obtaining a supply of the necessaries of life will wield ■ a

power greater than that of the constitutional authorities and that two such rivals cannot exist at the same time. The men composing the Trade Union Council were too conservative for tho course they had started upon Less than two years ago the Labour Party was the governing party in Client Britain and several members ol the Council were Cabinet ministers, regularly invested with the authority of the State. They only have to get a majority of the voters with them to become the governing party again. Why should they a.s'representatives of the working masses of England wish to carry oil a struggle .against the lawful parliamentary government which if continued to the better end must lead to rebellion and civil war? These men saw they were on the wrong track, and that they did see it and had the wisdom to act accordingly is one of the best signs of the times. Of course their action will not end revolutionary agitation, for there always will be extremists. It probably will intensity the division between conservative and radical elements in the Labor ranks, but in view of the manner in which the former completely dominated the management of the strike, there is little reason to doubt that it will have its support of the mass of British workmen. On the continent Bolshevism has exhausted itself everywhere except in Russia, and is on the defensive there against the spirit of private enterprise, which is able to heat out the State-managed industries wherever it has a chance.