COOK GOES TO RUSSIA

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1926, Page 13

COOK GOES TO RUSSIA

MOSCOW WANT TO KNOW CAUSE OF STRIKE FAILURE TRADES UNIONS BLAMED By Telegraph—Press 'Assn.—Copyright. London, Dec. 2. Mr. Cook, the secretary of the Miners’ Federation, has left London .for Moscow. Interviewed by the Daily Express, he said: “Russia will want, me to answer various questions.- I will tell exactly what I know, namely that the miners’ defeat was due to the policy of the Trade Union Council—firstly, in calling off the general strike; secondly, in refusing to enforce the embargo on foreign coal; finally, the trade unions of England left the miners to fight alone. “I will tell them that the inaction and opposition Of the British leaders, particularly of Messrs. Bromley and Thomas, prevented a levy on workers’ earnings. Russia will regard the absence of the delegates from the Trade Union Council as a rebuff to the Russian workers. Nevertheless, I will tell Russia that, despite Britain’s trade, union leaders, the rank and file are heart and sou] with .the Russians, also that the increased bitterness of the Government was due to the £1,250,000 sent to England.”