The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1927. WISE ADMONITION.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1927. WISE ADMONITION.

Thu Queensland Premier has done tlio cause of Labour further goad service by the wisdom expressed in his general admonition to the party to get rid of the disrupters in the ranks, and it is satisfactory to know that the seed sown 1 lias germinated quickly and the Trades and Labour Council of the State has decided to “clean-up” the existing Labour Party. The benefit of this to the movement generally will be realised quickly. Another phase of this class of sane and sound advice to the Labour organisations was disclosed at Home within the last few days. One of the most significant signs of the times in the British industrial world was the letter addressed by Mr J. H. Thomas to the National Union of Railwavmen urging them to work hand in hand with their employers for the establishment of an efficient and prosperous railway service. Mr Thomas is well known as the secretary of the N.U.R., and during a long public career lie has firmly established his reputation not only as a courageous champion of the rights of Labour, but as a capable politician and an efficient administrator. Gifted with a singularly well-balanced mind, remarks an exchange, Mr Thomas lias always opposed the extremist elements in bis party, and it was largely owing to his ■influence that the recent Trades Union Congress so emphatically repudiated the Communists. Mr Thomas, in his communication to the members of the N.U.R. takes ns his text a circular recently addressed by n well-known economic and statistician expert. Sir Josiah Stamp, to the staff of one of the principal British railways. Elaborating Sir J. Stamp’s suggestion for hearty co-operation between all grades in the railway service, Mr Thomas points out that it is to the interest of the workers to do their duty efficiently, and thus to promote the prosperity of the industry on which they depend for the mean of subsistence. Obviously such advice as this is wholly inconsistent with the Communist doetrine of the “class war,” which in its modern form forbids the peaceful co-opera tion of the wageearner with the hated capitalist and aggravates in every conceivable way the natural antagonism between workers and employers. But Mr Thomas, like Mr Ramsay MacDonald and Mr Snowden has thrown over the Marxist implications of the “class war” doctrine, and he now urges the wageearners to recognise that their own prospects of security and comfort depend upon the prosperity and the success of the industries in which they are engaged. A special feature of Sir ,T. Stamp’s circular was its reference to a pronosal for conferences in the L.M. and S. Railway Company between the management and representative employees for the purpose of considering some of the more important problems of railway administration. ~\ few years ago such a department might have seemed impossible, and so recently as 1900 Mr Asquith was compelled to inform the railway companies that if thev persisted in their refusal to recognise the representatives of the unions for the purpose of discussing questions at issue Parliament would compel them to modify their attitude. Since then the recognition of the official representatives of the unions has gained ground rapidly so much so that My

Thomas is now in a position to say that “there is scarcely a single question arising in the course of railway employment which may not he freely discussed between the management and iepre.se 11 1atives of tho men.” This practice, which has grown naturally out of the system of collective bargaining, is, as Air Thomas maintains, entirely consistent with trade union principles and traditions, and be urges upon the workers the advisability of accepting such opportunities' for discussion whenever they arise But there must always he two sides to a bargain, and at least as much depends upon the attitude of the employers as upon the temper of the wage-earners. Looking at the problem from this point of view, it seems that Air Thomas lias made his appeal at a fortunate juncture. For the recent Trades Union Congress at Edinburgh not only rejected the principles and nrncticc of Communism, hut pronounced emphatically in favour of the conviction that trade unionism is a constructive force in industry, with a special part to play in “the establishment of a new system of economic relations dominated liy the ponce spirit.” The employers will lie wise to encourage this frame of mind by all means in their power, .