THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1912. WHAT IS SYNDICALISM?

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10667, 24 June 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1912. WHAT IS SYNDICALISM?

" No "ward lias 'greatqr significance in the industrial world to-dhy 'than "-Synt. dkia&m."' iW.fcai ' does' it mean? Whence its derivation:? . Although it has found ia palace iji) the; English language during .the last twdlve months, it bus already constituted itself the isyn'onym elf sod'ait dev/aebaticin, the antithesis of law and' order, tjie appeal of revolutioniapeis to the worst ipassioms in hiumam kind. I'ihe syndicalist movietmeii;t h'ad its origin in Fiance, where' it ewiftljy guppTainted Sotoiailiism and Anarchy, and giave to the world a new form of revolution—a revolution based upon a 'unive'.nsa'l refusal to engage in amy forth- of aictivity dr to utilise any means of production. Put into rjtis concrete farm, it 'means tlid destruction of capitalism by iv process df .general starvation. A ifew -months iago, iat a conference of Socialists in Sweden, Ma - Keir Hairdi'e, the greatest firebrand in; .England,, emmcia'tiqd a -pdlicy akw, to 'that df France; ibiiiti it is significant rflh'ait on tilie first 'attempt to apply it iin. the Mc'therteid ihe repudiated it, •as ineffective. The leaders of the poPitical Labour .movement hiave no sympathy with Syndicalism.. In an adfclresis before .the Anglkiahi Synod at Dunned in. Bishop iVevill gave a very good definition of the new revolution. He: said The underlying idea of what has icome to bp known as Syndicalism is by fiafet precipitati'nig a general ruin. Certain visionaries propose to poetess tlhamiselvas cf a r .fl the materials amd all the ins.tramc.nta'litiies made use of in all the industries and trades which are carried on. Tihey demand a strike n'lijcli shall ibe nnwersa-l among the Workers in, all modes of produotion aintd m all means of transport, and then, in r the gone-rial ciifcacjysm, to •seize the materials a-iid instruments,l- - and use them for tbcunsellves. | They propose to do this by the instrumentality (if the separate union, ■or syndicate, which presides over each distinctive trade or industry, and this for the benefit of the members of that union, and not for the world at large. There is htere no question of exchange or balancing of wa'ges or -profits; m.e glide of that eikl-fasliion-■eid compact is simply to be destroyed ; capital is to be tiransferwd to labour,- . that there will be no need to pay

wages, because capital and lulbouT will 'be one. Tin's is 'Syndicalism. Mr Tom Mann lias his own definit ion, which probably is as good as any. Writing in ,tho 'Syndicalist' last January on the objects of the Indus, trial Syndicalist Education League, Mr Mann says it is to carry 011 among trade unionists aaid tiio workers gen. era'lly a campaign of Education in the principles of Syndicalism, which ima> be described as revolutionary trfide since its immediate purpose ■is to-conduct a scientific class war against Oiijpiti.ilLsm, 'such war Jwmmg uis its objective or (ultimate aim tli capture o'f 'the industrial system ana its Tiuniagement .by the workers them selvcls for the benefit of the who'e ooni'imrnity. Or, to shite its meaning and objects in yet arJother way:-r— f.i ■is to hand eve'r the means of production, aind disitirJbu'tion- to the trade I unionls, whose members now opera 4: llfchem, so iluvtiefaic.li amnion will c<mtr</l ■its own me<anls of livelihood in thv common interest, .aaili the workmen "will become their own employers, thu* securinig the whole product for themselves. To same .Syndicalists this i.a AM and sufficient 'purpose; toothers it is only a istep towards the coinpldte "emancipation," of the ■i-ork-nuui; but all pursue it 'as the present objective. •Recent events have ohown that v;e possess in New Zealand a speees of the Syndicalist, a body of men whoso objective is the destruction of capitalism and the usurpation by i!io worker of the: franotiions of th? employer. The Federation cif Labour i>s cttit .to seize the meatus .of production) and distribution, and to achieve it* purpose it ealllis upon men to starve tfteir wives and families by refusing to work". Fortunately for socety ana the workers themselves, tihe rovolutionary propaganda ie notfc appealing to /tihe miultftude. Education has taught the people that mere pennuanent advantage may be derived from evolution! than from revolution. Ho >q<; we find .the great hulk of the workera resenting the importunities of the Labour Federation.