Pioneer

1 'F 'f 1-r -1- South Wales Miners I II  <n:?'' ?  a n ?., t.h< e ?om?) Uut..? [BY A. COOK.] .For a short period the militarists have been shocked, all eyes have been tnrned to South Wales. That stubborn creature, the South Wales miner refused to consent to be sacrificed TO the God of War, he had no liking to be fodder for cannon. The conference of February 13th demonstrated this by a big majority, despite the pleadings of Hartshorn and Richards, two of His Majesty's recruiters. But what a calamity if this decision was allowed to stand. Reject the 1 advice of our class conscious (whose class?) leaders! Have not all their efforts been spent i making it easy for men to go to the army? Did they not wring concessions from the Home Secre- tary ?, then, why reject their advice? Why should not ths slaughter continue, so far the majority Of miners are exempt, only a very few (6,000 cr so now) will he taken. Do we desire a. British surrender?,says General Hortshorn. T b e?ii t]),e wiii, iiii:ist oil iiint)' l the az) d Then the war must go on until the last man and the last shilling. But remember, fellow-miners, you will be one of the last men and your shilling the last shilling, and what then? But. note, Monday, Febpuary 19th, brought. a relief, the South Wales Miners were still patriotic, oh, yes! Why only a few surface men will be taken. Miners' agents, checkweighers and underground men are safe. The comb is a very fine one, and! the war will soon be over. The capitalistic press —" South Wales Daily News," "Echo," "West- ern Mail" and Express opened its columns for special correspondents (no name), Comrade Hartshorn, Hodges and Father Abraham, who wishes to sacrifice the young surface Isaacs. One wonders when reading the articles and interviews of these men as to who they represent; they have found some strange bedfellows. How would the capitalistic class, especially the militarist party, manage without them. Conference decision re- versed, E.C. report accepted, what ctelight and joy this must have brought to the dove cots of capitalism. Telegrams of congratulation should be forwarded to Hartshorn and Hodges. Surely they ought to have full recognition in the next honours list. The South Wales Miners have agreed to the Comb-out." What can we do, we are beaten at conference ? Are the militar- ists going to win? ( These questions must imme- diately be considered. I am no Pacifist when war is necessary to free my class from the curse and enslavement of capitalism. What, then, is my opposition to the Comb-out ? 1st, The taking of the weakest section, surface men; the majority who are there because of sickness or accident; 2, the meanness of the underground workers while they are safe voting for others to go; 3, that the whole of the miners should be placed in the same position; what right have one section to decide in favour of others enlisting, especially when life is endangered. As a worker I have more regard for the interests of my class than any nation. The interests of my class are not benefited ly this war, hence my opposition. Comrades, let us take heart, there are thousands of miners in Wales who are prepared to fight for their class. War against war must he the workers cry, the majority of 25,000 for war must and will be turned ere long to a huge majority for peace. Then let us act like men. ,z.- -j''¡ci. 'OI:A:II!<r'i.' .it"¡""r.xJä:1""I"Iiu:,P!,

Correspondents are requested to condense their letters as much as possible. Letters of a personal character will not be inserted. The Editor wishes it to be distinctly under- stood that he will not hold himself responsible for the opinions or statements of correspondents nor undertake to return rejected manuscripts. Correspondents MUST write on one side of the paper only. -H-H_H_

Socialism and Pacifism, TO THE EDITOH. bir,—iermit me to express the pleasure which I have experienced in reading Morgan Jones' statement on Alternativism in the columns of the Pioneer." I, also, began by taking up the" Absolutist, position, but modified my at- titude some time before my comrade, and liad some discussion with him upon the question last summer. Immediately that I began to consider what were the implications of absolute refusal (on grounds that had formerly seemed good to me) to accept the will of the community as ex- pressed in the Act of Parliament and rhe de- cisions of the civil authority, known as the Tri- bunal, I found that I was faced with the alter- native of Anarchism or Socialism, and as I am a Socialist, first and foremost, and a Pacifist second I had to reconsider my whole attitude. All along, since the first few months of the war, when indignation and reaction against the event completely disturbed my balance and caused me to consider even such Utopian propositions as those of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and such "remedies" as the four points of the Union of Democratic Control, I have felt a grow- ing uneasiness at the influence which our paci- fist associations have had upon our Socialist prin- ciples and propaganda. Whilst recognising that such an alliance of Radicals and Socialists was desirable during the war period to strengthen each others' forces in the common task of de- fending civil liberties and to keep alive and to express those international sympathies which the former have brought down the years to hand on to the latter, I have regretted that our mem- bers have so readily acquiesced in ideas and ac- tions which have their origin in a political phil- osophy diametrically opposed to our own. In our enthusiasm for our new friends and our un- fortunate alienation from our former colleagues, who are now in favour of the war, we have not retained our critical faculties or kept them so acute as was desirable. Criticism can be friendly as well as hostile, and there is no need to spoil friendships in seeking to modify the judgments of others. The Radical Individualist's opposition to Con- scription is not and cannot be the same as ours, for he brings with him an antagonism to the operation of the will of the organised community and an objection t6 a communal interference with the rights of the individual which we, as Socialists, cannot approve. Our opposition to Conscription and to compulsory national service as such is based upon our hostility to that class or that blend of classes who, to-day, constitute the State and maintain it for the protection and advancement of their interests. We are-at least, I am—opposed to the State, because it is the expression of the corporate will of the land- j lortl and capitalist classes and not because j \J. J.J.f' .1.1-7:t. rv¡¡1W>J. "O's:t.Jv TL^nCXl*XX 11X11 7 tw df-v tc J mine the course of action for the individual. Our objection to participation inW al" S{)vvie.e is grounded in our Socialist Internationalism, j which causes us to refuse to forego the class struggle for the reactionary struggle between. the nations. We believe that Nationalism, with its U Knltur" and its supposition of the superior- | itv of its own race, and Imperialism, with its I i L lilisstoii, are reactionary and di- rectly subversive of that ideology which pro- motes the international solidarity of the working class. That b'Ji'?f in the class struggle, to which I have, been relentlessly df-awn in the formulation of a sound Socialist case against Conscription and, the expression of my intense antipathy to present-day tendencies in legislation and admin- istration, does net cause us to preach a u holy war" against the members of the dominant class or classes, but against the continuance of their domination beyond the moment when they have; achieved their historic mission. We regard the i dominant class as U merely a. super-allimtted class, a class which has outlived its usefulness." We regard it as a stumbling block in the way of human progress, but we, readily, accept those contribution. which the capitalist class has made to human society. We will not assist the govern- ing class in one part of the world to despoil the governing class in another or help it to dispossess the occcupiers of another territory, but we will- we believe that our Socialism demands it of us— protect the social stability and the economic life of the community. We would be disloyal to our mission, we would be unfaithful to our Ideal, to the living society, if we did not use all our en- deavours to prevent, so far as in us lies, the disintegration of the nation. We must be true to our vision of the Interna- tional. We must not, therefore, be untrue to the reality of the Nation. We do not ask for exemption from military service on condition that we give an alternative form of service. Rather is it that, within the present legal forms and so far as we can make effective our Socialist will, we claim the right and make the opportun- ity to render service to the national foundation of the International. We will not, if we can avoid it, refuse all service and. then accept our punishment from the dominant class. We are resolved, forthwith, to demonstrate, to act, and to conquer, continuously expressing, within the existing Social Order, the ideology of the revo- lutionary proletariat. Such are the ideas which determine our atti- tude to "Absolutism" and Alternativism." We do not, however, put much trust in the effi- cacy of the absolute individual refusal to parti- cipate in war. We have been considerably en- tertained, when our sense of humour has over-: come the natural seriousness which we share with them, at the fuss which many comrades are making about Militarism." This new demon, whose horrific face is discovered at every turn, together with those other furies, "Secret Diplo- macy and" Protection," sits gibbering on the I bedpost of our I.L.P. propagandists. It never leaves them nor forsakes them. They are pos- sessed with the terror of this unholy thing. Like their Radical colleagues, they gird at efiects and ,learning from the demon ologic litera- ture of Angelf, Morel and Roden Buxton, dis- cover there are more causes in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in the philosophy of Social- ism. Yet amid all these prompters of human strife and national antagonism they scarcely' ever seek beneath the surface of things to find in, the operations of Capitalism with its creation of the unmarketable surplus, the genuine saiise of 1 this war. They do not point out that Secret Diplomacy is the natural means employed by a class-ridden government to negotiate the ques- tiona ble "deals" of a sordid and profiteering Capitalism. The commercial trickery of fiercely competing economic interests must be manipu- latel in secret. "Militarism" amd 'Armaments" :-<1:.Y7"¡ )t. i",WO'lr.J 'n'II-i"w''I.I'(C; are weapons of Capitalism used in the lateral con- flict of capitalist groups and in the vertical war of the classes. Armaments," also, are a means of marketing the surplus production of capital engaged in manufacturing reproductive commo- dities. Surely, the signs of the times are written big so that no Socialist can fail, if he will look, to read the significance of this war and of the measures adopted by the ruling classes to safe- guard their interests. Capitalism has failed, I failed its own directors and, ahead, looms the fear for them, the joy for us of its dissolution. •Full well, in their hearts, they know it. 8u do we, who know our Boudin, our Engels and our Mark. Knowing that national wars are always op- posed to the class-interests of tliose engaged in the class-struggle from below, wherever 'the war of the classes' is in progress," we believe it becomes the duty of the Socialists to work for its speedy termination, and to use all the power at their command, utilizing the political and' economic crises produced by the war, in an offiort to arouse the discontent of the people so as to hasten the abolition of the rule of the capitalist class. A very stern and terrible struggle lies ahead of us in the years to come. Let us, there- fore, buckle to, in earnest, and double 4nd re- I (JoubIe the educational efforts of the Plebs League. To all mY comrades in the I.L.P. and 8.8.P. I cry Rally to the Plebs! ¡We have ne' time or energy to spare for any- Û¡ing ebe but Socialism !—Yours fraternally, J. T. Walton Newbcxld.

I It Must Be Altered, I ,:¡ SJI., tt.. t, !-THE SYSTEM OF VOTING AT THE LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE. TO THE EDITOll. Dear Comrade,—I desire to express my ap- preciation of the extra-splendid pennyworth in your last week's issue. One would like to ask j questions or say a few things with reference to more than one of the t,imulatingand inspiring articles. But the immediate importance of Mr. Jowett's report of the Labour Party Conference interests me more completely than do the others just now, and I should like to be allowed a little further consideration to the system of voting at the conference, with which Mr. Jowett so help,- je l l I(yWetL J fully deals. I naturally rejoice in the intellec- tual freedom of the "Pioneer." for ideals are 11 surley of primary importance. But it. is not unimportant, I think, to remem ber that the larger life of mind and spirit seeks shape and form in political and social structures. I be- lieve the larger life of the Labour Cause seeks n fuller and more fitting expression than the present machinery of the Labour Movement pro- vides for it. That is why I feel concerned to follow up Mr. Jowett's criticism of the voting system for adoption in its stead. Mr. Jowett | shows that the present system is really inde- fensible. or any decent grounds: He say, for instance, that "on the present system of voting :ilt is possible—if a few of the larger Unions which together have a membership of well over a million) throw their block votes in one scale on a question respecting which their delegates are'J 'n fact, almost equally divided—for a conference 1 ? i'?" Tr .], "'?priiv of ?i,. ?IJeg..t? wtshto be pH?sed. Mr. Raa?.avMac- donald says in last week's fll,? -?,. did actually happen at the recent conference mi' j tlJe,H.>so'ltrtlo 11 for the resumption of international rolm:ions, Here ere a few figures to illustrate how that i? possible —The m'tners have 6?(1,000 votes the cotton operatives 350,000 ?the enginrs 136,000. These votes might, for example, be I diyided for and "'against on any question, as follows:— For. Against. 600,000 299,000 301,000 j Cotton operatives 350,000 176,000 174,0001 Engineers 136,000 69,000 67,000 Totals ,1,086,000 544,000 542,000 •314.000 "For. 542.000 Against." 2,000 Real Majority ".For. Yet under the present block vote! system of voting that real majority j of 2,000 "For" would be received as 114,000 ? Against," because the miners, having but thesmaH majority "Against" would com--J mand theii very large minority and ca?b? their total 600,0?)0 Against," Ind so exceed! the joint tobls of the Cotton Operatives and en-} gineers—480,000—which would for the same rea- F,)i- son of the block vote be cast For, by 114,000. A system liable to such fictitious results cannot surely be defended. It is supposedly based on democratic grounds! Our thanks are due to Mr. i Jowett for reminding us of the results of its] operation. But we need also to try to seenre I some more truly representative system under which conference decisions would at least be de- termined by real majorities. Not only because the present system operates against the I.L.P. just now, but because it is wrong. It ? wrong and unsatisfactory because it is never reliable in it's operation. But its defects are not irre- mediable—if some other radical changes, bound up with the remedy can be brought about on present lines. The evil is not simply and solely the system of block voting, and it seems to me t I i, t' some other difficulties will have to be tackled if that system is to be abolished, al- though I am not at all sure that tackling them thoroughly will result in simply abolishing that system. But whether it would or not I am con- vinced that the earlier they are tackled the betj ter. The non-representative character of the voting is in my opinion a possibly worse evil than the system of block voting. It, at any rate, I think, conduces to encourage the evils of that system. The delegates hold votes on the strength of their respective societies because they are supposed to be representing their mem- bers. But as a matter of fact, as nearly every- body knows they really do not represent their members. There are Trade Union members, as Mr. Jowett says, who are members for the sake of benefits which cannot be obtained except by members." I do not say that thit is an ignoble reason: I think, rather, that it is a legitimate and indeed a reasonable one. But Labour Party Conference delegates cannot be said to be, repre- senting such members for probably, they are not only unaware of the items of the agenda, but also of the fact that they are "represented," and even of the fact that there is a conference. There are still other members of whom it would be still safer to say that they are not repre- sented by any delegates. I mean such members as are politically opposed to Labour "or opposed to Labour politicians—for various rea- sons, but still remain unestempted by the poli- tical exemption clause of the Trade Union Acts. Those whom Mr. Jowett refers 1ro are, perhaps, only politically indifferent. But both classes certainly amount to a large number in the trade union ranks. It is bad enough that they are numbered in the voting strengths of the Unions. It is worse that the active interested memoers even are not represented. Mr. Jowett cites "the practice of various bodies repre- sented at the Annual Labour Conference to assemble their delegates before and during the period of the Conference to determine their at- titude towards the issues to be decided by the conference. That little is more than is allowed in many bodies. In some cases, apparently, delegates simply attend the conference: the voting is determined mysrerilmsly-or has been determined—by some official caucus. That state of affairs evidently must be altered before much benefit can be derived from the arbitration, oi the block vote system. And even the as- sembling of the delegates during the conference cannot be said to be a representative method, unless the delegates have mandates from those whom they represent. And they haven't such mandates, it seems, in any case. As it is the I conference appears farcical for if the rank and file have not been consulted for a mandate, how can it be said that they are represented? And on the other hand, if they have and (or) their wotes have been determined, what's the use of a conference? If the Laboui- Party is to be a reality at all we may certainly say that rank and file conferences of its affiliated bodies must be held to give mandates to their representatives. And not only that, but minorities must be re- cognised and allowed to combine and vote col- lective^' in final votes. That seems to be the only sensible remedy to the block vote 6vstem. ¡It will mean its abolitioR. And there "ought not to be any dimculty about it if the Labour Party were a Labour Party instead of a hetero- genous group of separate societies mostly bossed and manipulated by a few" officials." The i Party must he regarded as a democratic unit just- as its affiliated societies are within them- selves democratic units. Just as a vote of the whole membership of a society is supposed to be taken upon a question affecting the whole j membership—irrespective of districts—so also | snould the votes of the whole membership of P arty as a unit be recognised irrespective of (♦societies up to the first voting.—Yours frater- j Ha 11 •" MANSEL GITE-NFELL.

A NATIONAL SERVICE PROBLEM. I TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ovr that (m Xatiohal &lTiee •7 is occupy- i. ng the ?.tention of our legtsiatoi-s, and that the application of "OM' I in this direction has oecome a i, oils possibility, it would be -as well to warn those who will be responsible for the preparation of any such proposals against a pit- fall which will most certainly enmesh them un- less they guard their steps more carefully than did their predecessors in connection with the Mihtary Service Acts. I refer to the position under any such scheme of those who have already oeen granted exemp- tion from Military Service conditionally upon undertaking work or National Importance. Those acquainted with the point of view of these men will scarcely need to be informed that, inasmuch as their objection is not merely to the personal shedding of blood but to enrolment in any or- ganisation for the prosecution of war. they will vigourousiy resist any attempts to bring those Members of Parliament who are concerned re- garding the preservation of Civil Liberties to in ke ,h' ps as will effectually prevent a recur- rence of the combination of tragedy and fai-ce which followed upon the introduction of Gon- scription in Great Britain. The simplest way of dealing with the matter would be to P1'ov^° that ??ny exemption from vir "a' v" Service granted on conscientious "pij;1o- unds s, nould carry with it, ipso facto, a simi- ?!xeitiptio-t i' t-om i ?ne?"'l??? ?m Compulsory War '?,e -vice. ;.i:¡>:n( 6r"son? t?ib?H&?'c'??d be thQ im- you'ng men who are quite willing to assist^ifS^ community in anything other than war, and who a riiattei, of ?r are as a matter of fact at present engaged upon work which, after the severest and most critical examination, has been finally scheduled as of National Importance. Needless to say, the most important point is to defeat, if possible, the infliction of Industrial Conscription upon any section of the Community. But should our efforts in this direction fail it. would be well that our legislators should bear in mind the matter raised above.—Yours, etc., Minastka. G l asgow, February 19th. 19?. — — —

Nurse Vindicated. RESULT OF MERTHYR GUARDIANS INQUIRY. NO FOUNDATION WHATEVER FOR ALLEGED STATEMENTS." The nurse at the Merthyr Infirmary e.grdnn. whom allegations were stated to have been maue by an ex-patient—a woman from Abercwmboi— has been vindicated. This woman, when applying for outdoor relief was advised to return to the institution.. She declined to do so when before the Aberdare Poor Law Relief Committee, stating (so it was said) that she was advised not to remain in the In- firmary by a nurse who told her she could get better treatment and food outside. Both the nurse and the woman were asked to come before the House Committee for an investi- gation of the charges. According to the report of the Committee pre- sented to the Merthyr Hoard of Cuardians at their meeting on Saturday, the woman did not accept the invitation to appear to substantiate her alleged statements. She, however, sent a letter to the effect that apparently the state- ment she made at the Aberdare Relief Committee. meeting had been distorted to give them an en- tirely different meaning from that, which she wished to convey. She had no complaint what- ever to make against the Infirmary or any of the staff of her treatment whilst in the. work- house infirmary. Her refusal to re-enter the institution was due to the fact that she had a natural dislike to the stigma attached thereto. "If I received the kind consideration and treatment at the hands of the committee as I did at the infirmary," she con- cluded her explanation, this affair would not have been brought about. The treatment of the nurses and officials at the infirmary was all that could be desired." After the letter was read to the committee it was decided to intimate to the nurse that in view of the fact that the statements were so obviously unfounded they would not require her to appear before them. The Rector of Dowlais (the Rev. Llew. M. Wil- liams) said that the result of the committee's en- quiry was that there was no foundation what- ever for the statements. Mrs. P. Williams said that the woman was treated with exceptional kindness by this nuqse and all other officials during her stay at the infirmary. The report of the committee was adopted unanT imously.

This terrible war is tailing a lot of businesses. Make it a personal resolve that the Pioneer" shall not be kMed. t j_.