BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 14, 17 January 1924, Page 3

BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

WHO IS TO GOVERN ? Will Labour Rule Britain ? t 3 Under the heading, “ Will Laboui ; Rule Britain? ” Mr. F. Britten Austii 1 contributes a lengthy article, to a pro nvinenl American magazine, in viev * of the political crisis in England wconsider the following passage- vi! I be of interest:— Whatever their differences, the twe - great parties which for 250 yean have alternately governed Great Brit- ■ ain stood and still stand upon a com ; non fundamental basis. Both accept ' as an unquestioned axiom, the indi--1 vidua! ownership of property. Neithei pretends to any higher purpo o that ! the well-being of the British Empire. But since November 15, 1922, for the first time in its history Great Britain has contemplated, as an imminent probability, the prospect- of being under a government returned For the specific purpose of revolutionising, ii ?iot by one dramatic stroke at least as swiftly as possible, the entire system upon which its prosperity babeen built up—and loftily prod u ling that it has international id • Y to which the mere conservatism of th' 4 British Empire is subordinate. .Should •such a government eventuate its reactions must be world-wide and quite ncalculable. SENT TO SMASH THINGS. What will it do with that command ? The visitor who for the first time looks down from the gallery to the historic debating chamber of the House of Commons upon some ordinary occasion, after the excited buzz of question time has subsided and the normal business of the day has begun, is curiously disappointed. The chamber seems absurdly small after his imagination of it, and surely those half dozen men, listless, and here and there asleep upon the benches while another member perorates drearily and interminably, cannot be serious legislators for the great British Eraoire? It is a mockery which he resents. This is a make-believe display of talk. No real business can be effected here. So felt the inexperienced members of the Labour Party when they took their newly-won scats after the last election. “ We have not eome here to imbibe Parliamentary atmosphere ! ” they shouted defiantly “ We have been sent here to smash things ! ” LIONS OF THE LABOUR PARTY. The little group of Labour leaders, newly constituted as the Opposition— Ramsay Macdonald, Arthur Henderson, J. R. Clynes, Phillip Snowden, and that - silent scraggly bearded figure whose flash of inspiration in the early days of the Fabian Society had made this penultimate triumph possible, Sidney Webb—sat quietly in their seats. They did not chide their turbulent followers for their ill manners—it is dangerous for Labour 1 eaders'tenrhide their rank and file - but they smiled. They knew that hi the British House of Commons they had, could they but seize it, a lever which could move the world. And, consequently, they have become adepts in that parliamentary manner which their followers scorn. The Fabian Society taught them long ago that permeation and not the redflagged barricade was the one and onlv way to establish socialism in England Before all things, the country must not take fright. The lions of the Labour Party roar with two voices—thrilling formidable when they address their supporters outside, as gently as any suckling dove when they speak in the House of Commons. Surely, these courteous moderate men are more than fit to govern ! Those who imagine that socialism in England or elsewhere, is merely a political shibboleth, more or less insincerely shouted by a political party not fundamentally different from any of our familiar political parties secretly pledged in advance to compromise, make a grave mistake. When Mr. Phillip Snowden, in the debate already mentioned, said that the ideas of socialism “are held with almost religious fervour by millions of people in the world,” he spoke nothing less than the truth. Socialism is only secondarily a theory of econo- < mics and a scheme of government; j it is primarily a religion; a religion that does not make the less appeal because its rewards are promised here and now and not in a hereafter. Its phenomenal spread in the last generation is comparable only to those great religious movements and antagonisms which swept over the world in former times, and its psychological basis is the same. The soul of man, bewildered by the difficulties and ( uncertainties of existence, craves ever for some indisputable dogma to simplify the riddle; and every now and then, when those difficulties are accentuated, the principle of mass suggestion. the contagion of the crowd, comes into play and some particular dogma is caught up to sweep with tremendous force across the word “ La Allah il Allah and Mahomet is His Prophet!” once swept from desert Arabia to the farthest confines of India on the one hand and almost to the gates of Paris on the other. THE MENACE OF UNEMPLOYMENT. The dogmatic belief of the Saracen was as independent of reason or experience as is the dogmatic belief of the modern socialist; it energizes him from a plane which is not that of rea-

son but of an emotional certainty that the way has been revealed to him. This aspect of socialism, as of other world movements past and pre •••in, has come to be generally recognised by psychologists, and even, hero am! there, by statesmen. But, theology apart, it may safely be said that no religion, true or false, ever became ;.i dynamic force without some unsatisfactory sociological condition from which it was a reaction, such as, for example, was the demoralised slavery 1 maintained pagan Roman social system which Christianity abolished. The sociological fact which domin- • ates Great Britain to-day is that there 1 are a million and a half unemployed and that it seems likely the coming 1 winter will see an increase rather ; Mian a diminution of this number, ar.d the appalling suffering ar.d degradation of morale implied in ii. Socialism, as a mass movement and not merely a professor’s abstract th?orv, is .i passionate protest agaii d a sk m of society where it happt ns that, h< .• - over desperately lie may ivy, jt >;«< possible for a man to find work that will earn bread for himself and his family. And Cor a generation pas:, a plausibly ‘ample solution jin-, h . ■ preached to the masses with eloquent ; ineevAy, a - early Christianity ’ was preach*id, from street corners and the market place by men who believed in their gespd as the old apostles behoved >n theirs, and who could inoratLt> their belief. They believe uncompromisingly —- am! ii is the dogmatic religious ferof their b< lief which, makes socialimn in Europe so dynamic a force—that the evils which afflict society are beyond remedy In any palliatives whatsoever; nothing less than a dias--1 o top-to -bottom reconstruction of society will suffice. They believe that such a drastic reconstruction of so- ; cicty is essential in every politically j conscious nation of the earth with the possible exception of that embarrassing Russia, which most of them curse in their hearts. Their ultimate aii-ii, reiterated explicitly over I and over again, is world revolution, i And. Mke Lenine, thev believe that revolution in Great Britain and, by ! , extension, the British Empire, is the , primary condition for such world }•<■- | . volution, that such a shock ac the ' nerve centre of a political system ex- • tending nl! round the globe and commercially intertwined with every other nation would bring down in im j mediate collapse the institutions of j them all- even ultimately, despite its i . majesties comparatively sell'-sufiicient • J isolation, those of the United States, j j They believe that in the British Labour ' j Farly, -with its prospect of peaceful ! I accession to the powers of government, they have the instrument for that cataclysmic change which shall | produce the millennium, and that its: j day of opportunity has already dawn - ! cii. Certain it is that should the freesent British Socialist-Labour Party step into the shoes of the Conservatives there is not a nation of the earth but will have to sit up and take notice, It docs not, of course, by any means fellow Mi at the 4,225,457 men and women who voted for the Labour Party at 1 lie last election are a!) of Ihom convinced socialists. Far from ; P. But the leaders are. Those who I them as merely sordid in- > tiiguer. nnuike an error. They are, it '■ mav fairly' bu assumed—at least tin* majonly of them—sincerely earm.v-1 j men, idealists, so far as my personal ‘ kuowledjji of them goes. That ' necessarily reassuring. Lend, a nicer /ally admitted to be the most sublime of idealists. They arc under no illusions that even half of their followers are whole-heartedly imbued with their doctrines—and even then they probably over-estimate the number* of the faithful. But the example of Soviet Russia has demonstrated the nower of a determined and self-con-fident minority, once it gets into a position of advantage. Only history will show the extent to which the masses will support them in their ult mate schemes. The immediate point of interest is whether they will attain the power to initiate them. That million and a half of unemployed is the barometer of their probability of success. THE LABOUR POLICY. The British Labour Party, if it comes to power, will come with a clearly defined immediate programme, i That programme is too long to quote j in full, but its chief points are: A capital levy. ! Nationalisation of mines, railroads | and land. Denunciation of the Treaty of Vev- 1 sail los. “ The recognition of the real in- ’ dependence of Egypt and self-gov- j eminent for India.” General disarmament. I The capital levy is undoubtedly the | first measure that would be in trod no • i ed by a Labour Government* It is a ! measure the expediency of which has j been heatedly, discussed, and not by j the Labour Party alone, for the past • two years in England. The dominant : problem for Great Britain is to get her industries started again at full i capacity as soon as possible—to absorb those unemployed. At the pre- ! sent time the service of the national debt withdraws in taxation £395,000,000 per annum from its potential employment in the expansion of industry. The Labour Party proposes to wipe off £3,000,000,000 of war debt, ! involving an annual tax charge of •; £150,000,000, by a levy on private for- ; tunes which, though exempting those I below £SOOO, would grade steeply from 5 per cent upon that amount to j 60 per cent upon fortunes of j £1,000,000 and over. After much debate the consensus of ! British public opinion is that the theoretic advantages of such a rncasure would be altogether outweighed by the gigantic disturbance'-or com- : mereial credit that must result from ‘ its practical application. This opinion is fortified by the experience of Switzerland, where the more serious ; proposal of such a measure early this 4 year, defeated though it was by a re- 1 ferendum. resulted in a financial panic and a shrinkage of 20 per cent in Swiss national credit, reflected in the fall of the exchange value of the Swiss franc from, approximately, its former four to the dollar to fiye to the dollar. SHOCKING THE HOUSE. The principle enunciated by its

t j pne ive government .tallies il . majority oi ik giishmou. In the <l- - .m («•: . •ament initiated by Ik : Labour Party in if. • oi Cos • on J J, L 928, Mr. Ramsa ! rJaerlci'.ahl. the presumable first L:i bo.:v Premier, said, with the quiet dc ■ liberation characteristic of him ! “Patriotism is not enough. it i quite true that by these military ex pendilures the rrmiv cxi hence of ; nation may be maintained. . think we can ay with a groat d» a! o assurance and truth that the move : nation spend.-, on mere defone ■ tin , more it neglects the moral and socia i riches which alone i ini e its coniinu • ■ existence of value to th rest of the | world.” i Never before in the House of Comn.on • h is a. responsible statesman go* up and announced that he was rioi primarily concerned 1o defend l.hc , mere existence of the nation he hac ■ very nr b ibility of governing. And ii was not mere verbiage. Th. Brill- b Par'Y • '•'}-<j Labour Pari v rv;-rh c-• <" socb ligu who firmly believe T a possible international cf the class conscious proletariat, and : who have already instrumented the I d'-liiv-’-.aU- policy to which they arc : pledged. In May of thi - year, the accredited representative. l of the Britj h offieiai Oi)oo.-; J ion. inchiding tlio i seert tary the Labour Party, Mr. Arthur Ifonder-on. M.P., and a proxy r •••.••• nhit ive of its lead. . M v. Pair.-Mimdonahi. M.P.. met the yo- . • . t ivo • of twenty-nine other corn' ies ad Hat-dv •• • g. where h ' fo mod them < f\*< s into nju* \ Try.; mational irrovorentl.v dubbed by Po'om.’ the Two-and-n'-hadf Interna* tional neither i:Vm .Secotid nor the Third. Put Pi-- 1' 1 isl) T.abour Party -onshluvc ii of such importance that. ■ls ii*.dugs art' given the place of honour in the 136-page Report of the . xecutivc CcanmiUee of the f.abour Pau'.y, i.’.-ucd on dune 26. 1923, and Pages 7 to 21 are devoted to a full account cf its deliberations and decisions. Delegates From all Britj ish -ocialisi » rican is aliens’ e.ccoinpan j icd those of the i’arliamcntary La- -. hour Pav ; \ , and the report commences i with tim sh-itement that “as all these j organ is a tic-ns are but parts of the one , British Labour and Socialist Movement, the British delegation to the Hamburg Conference was one delegation seeking common agreement on all questions with which the Tnternaiiiona! had to ileal.” s*o any possibil--1 ity oF a British La.botir Government, j however constituted, declaring- later eon I had il was not effectively bound : by fhe decisions of that International was eliminated in advance. The Congress, of course, debated many questions and passed a multitude oF resolutions. Those resolutions are all brought to a focus in sections L, 3. -I and 5 of the Constitution of the Labour and Socialist International —or, as it “ internationally ” calls itself, the Sozialistische Avbeiter Internationale. These sections are: ( ! ) The Labour ami. Socialistic International (L.S.T. ) is a union of such parties as accept the economic emancipation of llie workers from capitalist domination and the establishment | of the Socialist Commonwealth as 'their obicci. endj the class struggle, which finds its repression in the independent poliG -aajft industrial action of the u.'a us, as a means of : : '.! isiiie; that ( -1 . . TY- resolution*- of the Ini. unxiiovui! wid imply ii solf-impos-••d liu’ilation o! line autonomy of the affiliated organisations. (!) The L.S.I. is not only an effective instrument in peatfe but just as absolutely essential during war. In conflicts between nations the International shall be recognised as the highest anthority. (5) The carrying out of this task is entrusted by the L.S.L to (a) the International Congress; (b) the Executive Committee; (c) the Bureau; (d) the Administrative Committee; (e) the secretariat. It will be noted that one of the affiliated organisations, which under section 3 accepted a limitation of its autonomy and under section 4 agrees in conflicts between nations to recognise the International as the highest authority, is the party which is con fid on • that it will form the next British Government. “It is surprising how the middle classes * are coming into the movement,” said one, “ and the enthusiasm which they bring. Middle-class people arc constantly coming to me and begging* to be shown how they can help the cause—and their help is gratuitous and often, at the cost of self-sacrifice, very different from the industrial class, which always expects some sort of remuneration for whatever work it does. Tt is the middle class which will make socialism a success.” “ Hostile for the most part,” said another, “ but gradually cominground.” “Decidedly hostile,” said a third. There is no doubt that this third diagnosis is the most correct. The others were misled by that floatingpercentage of idealists whose political ideas are dominated by a generous* sympathy for the under dog, which is to be found equally among; the*wealthy class. The truth is that the middle class is decidedly hostile to the proletariat which is not black-coated, and the hostility is heartily reciprocated despite the efforts of the socialist leaders to impress upon both classes the solidarity oF all wage earners and the cessation of official sneers at the bourgeoisie. The great British middle class fights a desperate economic struggle to keep itself socially superior to the industrial class, and something very remarkable will have to happen before it changes that attitude. Call it snobbery if you will; it is the attitude which, translated into commercial activity, has meant prosperity for the. British race. It. is highly individualistic, and even if it is underpaid, overtaxed, and exploited both by capitalist combines and by the proletariat, whose* children are educated chiefly at its expense, if will not listen to plausible theories of the collective ownership of the .means of production and distribution. Tts instincts rather than its conscious reason tells it that such collective ownership means, in practice, bureaucracy; and it hates bureaucracy as it hates the income- tax collector. Tt is also intensely the international socialist would say barbarously—patriotic. It

' | lias been profoundly, shocked by th - j consistent display of anti-naliona e rot mcru’y international, sentiment o - j the part of the more tactless socia >' | hsts, such as the recent insulting rc ference by Mr. Kirkwood, M.P., in th - ■ House of Commons to the Union Jac : ; ns “ that lag!”—a deliberate insul •to the national consciousness whic .ed unrebukod and unapologisei i l for by -T ’lenders of the Labou • ’ vty. Furthermore, most of th pi•ominent socialists were cither con scion:;io-.y object •us or a.vowed pro Germans during the* war—and boll . a - - analh -ma to the British middle It- is -often asked whether a So : cialist Government will not provoke y Fa-cist i movement in England. L will—but not before the Socialisl Government is a fact. It is charac- • eristic of the Britisher as of tlie American that he hates to waste en••'•y on organised prepOiVation for ovonlvnlifies that may never arise. '•Tie absence of universal military ser- '• hx- in Britain and America before I-) - v.nr v::;s a symptom of this in rrrr.inod disposition. ’ K completely deceived the methodic-'1 Gormrin into believing that first Britain and then America would he poweiless on the , field of battle. But the swiftness and I efficiency with which the Englishj speaking people can organise them j selves to meet an emergency when it does occur, is no less symnathetic. Tt i•• symptomatic of what will occur in Britain if ever it finds itself under such a government as the socialists propose for themselves. A sample of what will happen has been given already in England. At the end of September, 1919, all the British railroads were suddenly paralysed by a great strike. There is no doubt that this was intended by revolutionary organisers to be the first phase of a general strike and an . eventual republic with “ all power to j the workers.” But they forgot the j middle class. That middle class was j totally unorganised, but. it spontaneously decided that this kind of thing could not be allowed. Tt did not give a straw for the nominal issues in dispute; it had to get to business itself and its families had to have food—--1 hat was all it bothered itself about. Tn almost embarassing hundreds of thousands of voluntary workers it manned the railroads, it organised and ran vast motor-lorry services, it saw 1o it that coal, food and milk supplies were distributed and that the transportation system of the country 1 ' till functioned. In a few days the railroad strike was broken. The general strike was never called. And. having given this demonstration of its potentialities for dealing with the great middle class put on its hi ick coats again anti went back to its desks. There is therefore no organised Fascisti movement in England—-vet. The constant socialist references to one show how profoundly they fear its appearance. It is even said, by people who should know, that the socialists themselves have more than once attempted to organise a dummy Fascist! movement, with the object of discrediting it in advance. If so. Jaev have Failed. There will be no Fascisti movement in England until —--a's happened in Ttaly before tibe advent of Mussolini—exultant socialists and communists attempt to hold up the entire nation for the benefit of a section and insult the national flag. ■ 1 ls only three years since, as l can i m -:>r-i|!\ remember, it meant death ; * •-•low an Malian national flag- in uiany Laban cities. FF anything approaching that state of affairs should occur in Britain and the British. Government of to-morrow may not improbably bo composed of doctrinwho tolerate if they do not applaud parliamentary refenences by their follower s to' the British flag as ‘that rag ” in their enthusiasm bn- Mu? red-flagged International Socialist Commonwealth of the day after to-morrow—then Fascismo wiil arise in England as it did in Italy, and with the same result. he men it will crush are not necessarily mere demagogues out for loot; they arc for the most part sincere idealists. But they are premature in their international ideal, and often obnoxious in their single-mind-ed fanaticism. The middle' class in any country is suspicious of farreaching* ideals. Tts main purpose ir life is to get ,»n with its job, and its loyalties are field, very passionately, near at home. The middle class in Italy found it could not got on with its job. w.lrle, at the same time its patriotic sentiments were outraged. It founded Fascismo, and in rather unexpected association with a surprising' number of Italian workmen it cleared out the interrupters rather roughly. The middle class and. 50 nei* cent oF the .industrial class in Britain will do the same if the necessity arises.