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LABOUR I NOTES. PAGE 2.
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Political Notes
Political Notes By F. W. Jowett. PROFITEERS' FOUR YEARS FLINC. I For more than four years war profiteering has been rampant. Profiteering always exists un- der the Capitalist system, and war profiteering is but an extension of an evil that is a vital ele- ment in the system itself, and on which the sys- tem depends. So long as the workers are com- pelled to sell their labour for money, profiteer- ing in the products of labour will go on. ft is one of the features of the evil system. The Government has no objection (jll principle to pro- fiteering, throughout the four years orgy of the rampaging profiteer, it lias made no serious protest against it. This, it will he remembered, is one of the points of the indictment levelled against tho Government by Lord Askwith in his recently published letter. A DUD COMMISSION. The Government is, however, aware that the orgv of profiteering during the war has in- tensified labour unrest. Thi: ba-t became too evident to be ignored any longer some months ago, and a select committee was appoi_ nted to enquire into the subject, in the expectation that thereby labour unrest might be quietened for the present. The Select Committee met in due course, and on the second day Mr. Robert*, the Food Controller, gave evidence before, it. The constitution of the Committee was not so pro- mising as to lead to the expectation that it would serve its purpose as effectively did the Coal Commission, but even so there was danger of awkward disclosures, and Big Business became alarmed. Consequently, on the third day Sir Auckland Geddes, the janitor of the Big Busi- ness Interests, who is stationed in the Govern- ment at the Board of Trade, appeared before the Committee with his new "Tribunal" pro- posal. He effectively wet-blanketed the Com- mittee by telling it that it could perform no use- ful service by remaining in existence. INTER-DEPARTMENTAL TREACHERY. As fur poor Mr. Roberts, the Food Controller, who had given evidence the day before t as the Minister chiefly concerned in the Gopniiittee s deliberations ), he was obvidiisiy unaware of tn, plot. What he thinks of iii, treatment we have yet to learn. WHAT IS A PROFITEER? Mr. Roberts had carefully explained jn ins evidence before the Committee that it is quite impossible to determine what is profiteering. Sir Auckland (Jeddes followed him into the witness chair next day and gravely announced that the Government had decided to establish County and Leical TI i huna ls to punish offenders guilty of profiteering, which the responsible Minister, Mr. Robert.. declared it was not possible to define. For the purpose of the tribunals, however, Sir Auckland Geddes has defined profiteering to be the addition by the seller of an "unreasonable" profit to the cost of the article. What is the percentage or the amount ol the profit winch will be deemed to be unreasonable profit un- der the provision.- of tho Act of Parliament which it is proposed to pass, neither Sir Auck- land Geddes nor anyone else can say. Different tribunals will hold different views on the ques- tion of • unreasonable profits," and we have no faith in the Appeals Tribunal which Sir Auck- land Geddes proposes to set up. The super- profiteers are certain to he well represented on it, either directlr. or indirectly by their lawyer friends. Big Business interests would have little to fear from such a body. RED HERRINC TRIBUNALS. The chief advantage that Big Business will de- rive from the tribunals is that it wi-il set tlio public hunting the wrong hare. The small shop- keeper and retail traders will have a rough time. Some of them douhtles- deserve it, but the chief offenders are the manufactuicrs and merchants. They do not come into actual con- tact with the consumers, who a itllv be re- lied upon to complain. It is more likely, in- deed, that the most culpable persons will sit on the tnbuiiais passing judgment on the lesser culprit- for selling single articles on which they have charged unreasonable profit." Under cover of clouds of indignation directed against the small man. the big man will escape. PROFIT HIDING. How. for example, will the position of the Im- perial Tobacco Company be affected by the sys- tem of Tribunals? The balance sheets of this and other companies indicate that war profiteer- ing on a colossal scale has been going on. Ac- cording to information collected by Mr. Emil Davies this company paid 10 per (.-cut. free of income tax on its ordinary shares in 191), hut the dividend on these shares dropped to 22i er cent, in 1017. and fell again to lOi t,i* cent. I]] lD, What the public does not see and the pro- posed tribunals will not deal with, is the system by which this and other companies have dis- ?]ist"d their huHeprontshy the issues of honus pi I)V t l l(' I', Of liollit'; AND TAX DODCINC. I Holders oi ordinary shares III the- Imperial To- bacco Company were given one bonus share free for each share they held out oi accumulated re- serves of profit in 1.91 ti. On that occasion no fewer than 2,osi4,4J>9 free shares were distributed to the shareholders of the company. In 191s another free distribution of shares took place. This time one ordinary share was given for every two ordinary shares held by the Company's shareholder-. The effect of these transactions is that the dividend is now reduced in ptjgK'cntage because it is paid oil ordinary capital amounting to £ 8.359,872. of which amount no less than £ 5,571.123 represents bonus shares created for the purpose of concealing the results of profiteer- jn, and of (IOLigilig BIC MEN CO FREE. Shipping C-MrtiipcVnies, IOIIKMY wmpanio:* and I textile companies in large numbers have pursued the policy of hiding their profits after the man- ner of the Imperial Tobacco Company. The pro- posed tribunals therefore afford us no means of bringing back to the people the money which has been stolen from them by the really big thieves—not forgetting the wool merchants whose profiteering operations have never been discjoscd, even in part, because their businesses are not conducted through limited liability com- panies. THE ONLY WAY, -1 What is required to meet the situation is that the Government should take over control of all supplies on behalf of the community. It should further prohibit as it did during the war, the manufacture of articles and means of luxury. It should destroy the t(,iii])titioik, of the w ealthy (seetiou of the community to employ labour on non-essentials by making a levy on their accu- mulated Avealth. It should cease to blockade countries like Russia that are anxious to send us valuable ra.v materials, of which we are in need, in exchange for things less useful to us. It should release the ship* and men engaged in carrying munitions of war (over long sea voy- ages and great distances overland) to perpetuate civil war und famine in foreign countries in the interests of reactionary despots, at the bidding of nig Bu siness interests and ifninciel"14. It should open the ports for free importation of all useful commodities, and cease to serve the super-profiteers by excluding foreign goods to enable them to keep their prices in a protected market. WHY NOT PEACE AND PLENTY? In November last some 9,000,000,000 persons over working age were employed in the fighting forces or on munitions of war and war work. They were all engaged in destroying life and property. The remnant of the working popula- rion could not produce sufficient for the needs of all, and yet make good the wastage due to war and war conditions. A proportion of the men. women and children engaged in war and on war work wer' V-- unfit to work. but after I ma ki Hg the most liberal allowance for the weaklings, there Is now set free some 8,000,000 persons to do the work of the nation. If all this vast army of available labour were employed in the national service, and not in the service ot the capitalist class, the work of reconstruction would be light and easy. They would build houses before mansions. Ships for carriage of merchandise before yachts for pleasure or war- ships for destruction. Motors for transport of I goods, before motors for the joy-riding rich. The main problem of our day and generation would be on the way to solution if all the available la- bour and raw material were appHed to nationa) service and not to the service of the capitalis: profiteers. But our rulers will not have it so. They offer the people more tribunals instead. THE HUNGARIAN TRAGEDY. I Hungary, in its own way, was organising itself for national service. The big four" at Paris decided that the effort should be stopped. But armies were necessary for the purpose. Inva- sion and starvation blockade were impossible without armies; and the armies of France, Italy, America and Great Britain could not be relied on. Therefore, it became necessary for the "big four" at Paris to employ Roumanian serfs and the black levies of France for the job, and it was done. The crime of Bela Kuii and his Government is that regardless of the pro- perty claims of the class that previously ruled Hungary, they were proceeding to house the homeless and feed and clothe the hungry, so far as resources were available. The British Wa1* Office itself lias recorded the fact, in an Econo- mic Supplement issued for the use of the official classes, that the socialisation of industry and agriculture was being carried through in Hun- gary "without friction and with such success that all future Governments would have to build on the foundations of the Soviet regime. LENIN'S SPORTINC OFFER. I The Nation quotes a suggestion made by Lenin, to avoid settling by force the question at issue between the Big Four on the one hand and the Communist governments of Russia and Hun- gary on the other. Why not," said Lenin, "fight the matter out with pamphlets; Let us freely exchange accurate descriptions of what each system of government really is." Instead of responding to this rea-sonable and democratic suggestion the Big Four has set the Three "Bloody Men," Koltchak, Denikin, and Mann«r- heim on to slay and starve the Russian people; and bv means of Roumanian serfs and n(,?,,i- 11 levies has once more elevated a Hapsburg to power in Hungary. 1 AN IMPARTIAL ACCOUNT. I Concerning the work of the late Communist Government in Hungary, the Nation com- mented as follows A very alluring description could lie writ- ten of what Bela Kun attempted and partly achieved—the self-governed factories^, which worked well; the ambitious transformation of schools; the theatres, in which artisans lis tcned to good opera in the stalls; tlit career open to every talent and service. The worker cannot be indifferent; the artist may be en- thusiastic; and the puritan will recollect flirt alcohoi was prohibited and the bi-otilels clis- appeared. On the other jiand, Liberals will hate the repression of individual life and choice, the war on a free press, the useless orders and small ukases of a government based on Marxian ideas." THE BEAM IN OUR OWN EYE. I The Nation does not ma ke any allowance for the a nnormal conditions which prob?My led Bo)a Kun and his Government into acts of re- (Continued at foot of next column).
The Mass Picket.I
The Mass Picket. I DAVID KIRKWOOD EXPLAINS ITS I EFFICACY TO A MERTHYR AUDIENCE. I There was a trace alia-iixiety in the faces of the major portion of the large crowd that gathered on Thomastow n Park last Sunday after- noon, when, after listening patiently to local substitutes in the hope that David Kirk wood would turn up and keep his advertised engage- ment to speak there, it was announced that there had been riots at Brynmawr, where he had spoken the previous day. it was t fear not so much for his physical safety, hut 'it was an uneasy feeling freely expressed tha|f"the Clyde leader had not lost his facile knack of getting locked up by mistake. It was mentioned when the afternoon meeting was reluctantly aban- doned at 4 o'clock that Kirkwood might yet ar- rive, and if he did, then lie would turn up on the Park in the evening, and spotk from that spot, thoTigh it was distinctly implied that this was only a forlorn hope on the part of the ut- terer, and the crowd was so apprised. However, forlorn hopes do ocotisiona ily become tangible facts, and so it proved, and though the crowd was by no means so largo as in the afternoon, still sufficient people felt that the off-chance was worth while taking to pre-ent David with a quite respectable* audience. BROKEN CONTRACTS. And that audience was well rewarded for its faith in coming. For the story of the Glasgow strike, the meanness of the spirit of the official action, and tito final tragedy of the manufactured riot as told by David Kirkwood has a. power that no reading of those exciting episodes can reproduce. But first of all he had to apologise I for his absence in the afternoon. The Bryn- mawr trouble he dismissed as a mere nothing— an organised break-up of the meeting not worth thinking over twice in the history of Socialist propaganda; nor did he mako much of the sub- sequent refusal of the garage proprietors to keep their contract and carry him to Merthyr on Sun- day morning. Everyone with a car refused to place it .at the disposal of the renowned hearer of the name of Kirkwood, and so, at last, lie had to begin the journey on foot. And on Shank's mare he did .arrive in Beaufort, where a conveyance was happily obtained and the jour- ney completed in grateful oa.se—for Sunday was scarcely a day for ti-ainpi.(- the mountains. MASS PICKET. In its main outlines Kirk wood's story of the Glasgow strike and its consequences are well- known to all readers of- 'he press last January and on but what they probably have not heard is the importance of the mass-picket as a ,strike manoeuvre. Kirkwood wa. strong for the mass picket," though he admitted that it was illegal- a mere trivial detail which the crowd agreed did not count, besides the moral good achieved. The mass-picket. Kirkwood explained, is a force of hunelreds, in Glasgow it was thousands, put on where in the past a mere group of strikers served to watch the black-legs. At meal times this mass-picket forms a long narrow lane of strikers along which the b'ack-legs must pass to their meals and—they never returned from those meals to work. Moreover, the mass-picket is a versatile weapon., For instance, in Glasgow they required large halls last January to hold their meetings, and they applied for the picture pa l aces. The application- were refused by the proprietors. The mass-picket was put on again, and since, apparently, not even the Glaswegians can face the silent disapproval of a lane of strikers, no one went to the pictures that night. The next day the proprietors of the halls fell over themselves in placing them at the disposal of the strike leaders. Kirkwood strongly ad- vised its univeisal adoption as a most useful figlitilig weapon for the workers. MORAL OF THE STORY. And the moral of the story that ivirkwooel told was the same old moral of Socialism. The Gov- ernment and officials he conclusively proved to be the dirty despicable gang that he called them. The only way was in the recognition of the importance of the class-struggle, and the glories that would follow in the successful issu- ance of that struggle between the classes. The emancipation of the workers was the emancipa- tion of the human race, for there being no class beneath the working-class to exploit—exploita- tion Tvonld cease, and humanity take the place of cupidity and greed, and inhumanity, the un- godly products of Capitalism. It is the same old moral, the imioral that the people are at last be- ginning to see and believe in and yet it is a never stale moral when drawn from the facts as Kirkwood drew it forth, with the conviction of unflinching earnestness and courage; with the rough eloquence of a worker speaking to and with workers, and with that tiny touch of dis- tinctiveness that belongs to the Scotsman.
S. W. M. F. Executive.
S. W. M. F. Executive. LETTERS ON INCOME TAX AND OF PRO- TEST FROM YORKSHIRE^ BEDWAS DEPUTATION'S ALLEGATION. I t James Winstone, J.P., C.C., presided over the meeting of the S.W.M.F. Executive held at Cardiff on Monday, at which several letters were read asking for information as to the application of the decision of the miners' conference some time ago advising the non-payment of income- tax by the miners unless the £ 250 abatement was secured. It was resolvexl that the miners be in- structed to fill the returns at present asked for by the authorities, and that the whole matter be further considered at the next meeting of the council. BEDWAS AND NtXON DEPUTATIONS. A deputation attended from the Bedwas Col- liery and alleged a departure on the part of the management from the terms of the agreement made some time ago by Mr. Brace respecting the method of working at the colliery. It was resolved that Mr. Brace should accompany a de- putation to wait upon the owners on the sub- ject. A deputation representing the surface workers at Nixon's Collieries sought an explanation from the council respecting the position of this class of workmen under the Sankey Award, as they were paid on a tonnage basis. Mr. Enoch Mor- rell was deputed to endeavour to effect a set- tlement of the points at 'issue. YORKSHIRE PROTEST. A letter was received from the Yorkshire miners protesting against the sending of South Wales ooal to Yorkshire. It was decided to re- ply that the council had been informeel that no ooal was despatched to Yorkshire from South Wales. Complaints respecting the alleged non-pay- payment of the minimum wage to workmen at the Abercrave Colliery were referred to Mr. James Winstone for investigation. A dispute at the Great Mountain Colliery re- specting the time of starting of the afternoon shift was referred to the miners' agent for the district, while a dispute at the Ffaldau coke ovens with regard to the hours of work under the Sankey Award was referred to the disputes committee. The return was received of the ballot of the colliery officials upon the question of tendering notices to enforce recognition of the Union, and the general secretary was instructeel to commu- nicate with the secretary of the Officials' Union upon the matter. The sub-committee appointed to deal with the question submitted a report of an investigation made into the advisability of the federation form- ing a central indemnity fund and paying com- pensation in respect of aocidents to the employes of the workmen, such as checkweighers, work- men colliery examiners, and miners' agents. It was resolved to accept the principle of the report and to secure further particulars regarding the working of the proposed rund.
An -Example -To -Us.
An Example To Us. SWISS WORKERS" EFFORTS FOR I STARVING CHILDREN. "ALTHOUCH SUFFERINC WANT, WE MUST HELP PROLETARIAN BROTHERS." From the Berner TagAvaelit. August 2nd, 1919:—" An appeal is being published in favour of the proletanier children of Austria, Germany and Hungary, addresseel to the workmen of Switzerland, and signed by the Working Com- mittee of the Social Democratic Party of Swit- zerland the Committee (Bureau) of the Trade Unions, the Sw iss Democrat i c School Society; the Social Democratic Juvenile organisations, Social Comrades. "German, Austrian and Hungarian comrades have appealed to us to remember the distress of their children. In spite of the charitable action, called into life by the bourgeoisie, thousands and thousands of proletarian children are faced with death by starvation. The commission, consist- ing of members of the school society of the party and of the trade unions, has discussed the situation. We know. that you have very little yourselves. We know that our own children are suffering want and that it is our duty to find means and ways to help them. But all that must not prevent us from showing our prole- tarian brothers in Germany, Austria and Hun- gary that we arc willing to help as far as it is in our power. We intend to let children from these countries come to Switzerland for a holi- day of several weeks and to find accommodation for them amongst our comrades. We request those amongst you, who are willing to take care of a child, to send your addresses to the Secre- tary of the Swiss Social Democratic School Society, Glasmalushassi 5, Zurich iv., and state at the sswne time what age the child is de-si reel I to be and when it is intended to be accommo- dated. "But this will cost money; therefore we arc going to send out collecting lists within a few days and we ask you for your donations. Money may be sent now. Postal cheque*—con to viii. 5281 Zurich, but it is necessary to state what it is meant for. The received money will be pub- licly accounted for, As frequently the chiklren are prevented from starting on their journey for want of cloth- ing to the starting points. For this end we will I open a collection of clothing within the next few I days, the address where to senel them will be made known later. « We know that you have but little. But the I poor best understand the poor and that is why we have no douht- you will support us. Remem- ber the starving children, these unhappy victims of the capitalistic war."
Banishing Love of War.
Banishing Love of War. ANATOLE FRANCE AND THE TEACHERS' DUTY. 1 heir task of creating a new humanity was the theme of a powerful address delivered by M. Anatole trance, tite novelist at the Congress of the Trade Unions of French Elementary School Teachers at Tours. In the work of re-organisation of elementary education, he advised them to count only upon themselves and what a task wa- theirs at this moment, when the old social systems ii-cre, crumbling uneler the weight of errors, and vic- tors and vanquished, exchanging looks of hatred. were falling into a common abyss of misery. Tu the sex-ial and moral disorder produced by the war and perpetuated by the peace which had fol- lowed it, they had everything to make and ro re-make. They must create a new humanity, awaken iieii if they did not wish Europe to fall into imbecility and barbarism. In the first place they must banish from the school everything that ceulel make children like war and its crimes, and that alone would de- mand long and constant effort, unless indeed all the panoplies were, in the near future, swept awav by the blast of universal revolution. WAR SPIRIT CULTIVATED STILL. In the French bourgeoisie great and small, and even in the proletariat, the destructive in- stincts with which the Germans had been justly reproached were sedulously cultivated. Only a few days before M. de la Fouchardiere had asked at a bookseller's for books suitable for a little girl, and had been offered nothing but aexxmnts and picturesof slauglitei-, massacres, and exter- minations. Next mid-Lent they would see in Paris in the Champs-Ely sees and on the boule- vards thousands and thousands of little boys elressed up by their inept mothers as generals and field marshals. The kinema would show children the beauties of war and thus prepare them for the military career, and so long as there were soldiers there would be wars. The diplomatist1, of the Allies had allowed Germany still to have soldiers in order to be able to keep them themselves. Children were going to be brought up to be soldiers from the cradle. It was for the teachers to break with these dangerous practices. They must make the chil- dren love peace and the works of peace. They must teach them to hate war. They must ban- ish from their teaching every tiling that excited hatreel of the foreigner, even of our enemies of ye»te £ duy. 2Iot that one ou ght, to be, ii>«.lalgcEt to crime and absolve all the guilty, but because every people, no matter what, at any time what- ever, included more victims than criminals, be- cause innocent generations must not be punished for the guilty, end above all because all the peo- ples had much to forgive one another. The most necessary and most simple task of the teacher was to make hatred hated. The state to which a devastating war had reduced France anel the world imposed upon the teaehers duties of exceptional complexity and difficulty. Without hope of obtaining help or support, or even consent, they had to change elementary education from top to bottom in order to train workers. There was no room in the society of to-day for any but workers, the others would be swept awav by the hurricane. And they must train intelligent workers instructed in the crafts that they practised, knowing what were their duties to the national community and to the human community. INTERNATIONAL DELECATION OF TEACHERS. No more industrial rivalries! No more wars I Only Labour and peace' Whether we like it or not the time has come when we must either be- come citizens of the world or see the whole of civilisation perish. Mi. France sugested that there should be attached to the International of the workers a delegation of the teachers of all nations to formulate in common a univeisal sys- tem of instruction, and considr the means to be taken to implant in young minds the ideas from which would spring the peace of the world and the union of the peoples.. Reason, wisdom, intelligence, iorces of the mind and heart, you that have always invoked, come to me, aid me, strengthen illY feeble voice. carry it if that be possible to all the peoples of the w or lei, and diffuse it everywhere where men of good-will are found, to listen to the beneficent truth! A new order of things is born The powers of evil are dying poisoned by their crime. The covetous and the cruel, the devourers of the peoples are perishing of a surfeit of blood. Sorely smitten by the fault of their blind or villainous masters, mutilated, decimated, the proletariats yet stand erect. They are going to unite in order to form but a single universal proletariat, and we shall see the fulfilment of the great Socialist prophecy-" the union of the workers will bring pea "f' to the world."
India Reform Bill.
India Reform Bill. Mr. K. V. Reddi, a barrister, who claimed to represent 28,000,000 non-Brahmins, out of a oopultaion of -10,000,1)00 people in Madras, gave evidence on Tuesday before the Earl of Sel- borne's Joint Committee on the Indian Reform BiH. He saiel the elifficulties of caste in India in- stead of passing away were increasing. He could not say what the non-Brahmins might do if the scheme of reform were not what they wished but the non-Brahmins could not, as had been suggested, afford to threaten. Questioned by Mr. Montague, the witness said his impressioi) was that the Brahmin interest in the social improvement of the depressed classes was not genuine but merely words, and nothing more. Mr. Rama Rayaningar, an ex-member of the Imperial Legislative Council, and representing Madras Zaminelars and the All Indian Land- holders' Association, askeel that there should b- second chambers in the provinces as well as fo' India. He protested against the proposed allo- cation of seats to Zamindais and landholders, pointing out that these classes would have less representation under the new scheme than be- fore
Political Notes
p res si on and interference with the freedom of the press. We are not without unpleasant ex- perience, even in this country, of both these ob- jectionable methods. Here, however, the press is more effectively controlled hy mon< and by indirect methods than by actual suppression of offending newspapers. But the result is the same so far as the public is concerned. The capi- talist profiteer provides the chief source of in- eoTne to the British In return the British press serves the capitalist profiteer. The Gov- ernment follows the example of the ca. ita'ist profiteer, its master, in elealing with the press. It pays the money and calls the tune. For ad- vertising the recent Victory War Loin the Bri- tish press wijs paid the sum of £ 132,000. (Ha i sard, August 5th, (260J). WINSOME WINSTON'S LITTLE LIE. I Mr. Churchill has himself provided an answer to the statement that the British forces in Rus- sia cannot be withdrawn safely. He was asked in the House (August 27th question concerning the evacuation of Odessa by the French, and We had to aeimit that the Bolsheviks prevented cli.gorclei, in(I I)%- tlic% (?ivii population on that occasion, and that th?y.?id popiil.it;f)ii oti tli.i,t, tnd flitit tli.v '?i(I