The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1922. MILITANT STRIKERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1922. MILITANT STRIKERS.

The latest development of the industrial troubles in South Africa give some idea of the length to which militant strikers will go in the direction of criminal action and defiance of law and order. The first outrage, which occurred early in February, was the blowing up of a portion of the railway, fortunately without any disaster happening. Since then violence has been increasing, owing to the action of organised commandoes of strikers, many of whom are armed with revolvers, while others have clubs, stones, or any weapons that can be acquired, necessitating the use of firearms by the police. The worst feature of these miners’ strikes is that they were encouraged from the outset by the Nationalists under Hertzog. A Press cable from Capetown on January 22 stated that Nationalist leaders, in their speeches at the week-end, urged the miners to persist in the strike and do everything in their power to support the .Nationalists in sweeping Gen eral Smuts’ Government from power, Aus giving a political aspect to the industrial position. It can readily be conceived that a conjunction of extreme militant Labor with an equally hostile element of Dutch irreeonqilables created a position that was bound to be productive of outrages and mob violence. At the same date it was reported that the coal strike was settled, and that it was believed the gold-miners’ dispute would end by the close of the week. The events of the subsequent six weeks have proved that instead of drawing near to a settlement 4;here has been an increase of outrages and violence, although 'the Government has tried with much perseverance to arrange means for ending the strife, and conferences between the miners and owners have been resultless. The action of some of the men in resuming work added fuel to the flames and was productive of brutal reprisals on the part of the strikers, while the imprisonment of some of the leaders for inciting the men to violence was the signal for open hostilities, in which several lives have been lost. The ugly feature of this upheaval is the formation of militant commandos, including women, 'tq tackle the “scabs,” rescue prisoners, and generally terrorise the authorities by means of a genera] offensive, although it was proclaimed a few weeks ago e by one commando leader: “We do not want to risk a conflict that might mean loss of life. The time is not ripe for revolution.” All the same opinion inclined to the belief that the strike was being exploited for revolutionary purposes. It is the militant section in the East Rand that is responsible for the advocacy of strong measures in order to gain a victory. Recent news shows all too clearly that the trouble has grown rar more serious, and it would seem that the declaration of martial law has become a necessity. The Premier (General Smuts) considers that, a final settlement must be left to Parliament, after an impartial inquiry, which he promised should be instituted. That he has no faith in larbitration is evidenced from his reply to Mr. Hertzog’s motion to appoint a permanent body to decide industrial disputes, when he said that compulsory arbitration in Australia and New Zealand had been a “ghastly failure. It was one of those devices which was wrecking the whole industrial system of those countries.” Although this is certainly an exag-

gerated view, it is quite certain* that arbitration has not eliminated strikes, and nothing but a new spirit of conciliation and cooperation on the part of the workers will put an end to direct action. There is, however, a vast difference between a strike and an organised campaign of violence. While the former can be tolerated, the latter cannot, and it is the phase of the matter to which the serious attention of the Government must be given if incipient revolutionary action is to be stamped out. In view of the alarming increase of industrial warfare, it is worthy of note that, early in the present year the trade unionists and members of the Coalition Labor group in the British Parliament signed a manifesto to the Prime Minister urging the introduction of legislation for the establishment of peace in industry so that strikes and lockouts could be averted for at least five years. Such an industrial armistice would, if it were possible to evolve it, be a boon of immense and far-reaching value in restoring trade and overcoming the present financial stress and consequent unemployment. The manifesto points out that many honest trade union officials are being compelled by the competition of the extremists to choose between being hounded out of their unions or agreeing to policies they know to be wrong. If this sane view were generally adopted the Labor world would enter upon a new and prosperous era and militancy would no longer hold sway.