Pioneer

DR. SEGAL AND BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY. TO TrU; EDITOR. Dear ir.-Ptrniit mp. as writer of the article ¡; Impartiality at Birmingham," published in the J a?! nary Pl(-b-z Magazine" to reply to Mr. J. M. -VbictaviKlis' Iett er in your issue of the loth inst. as follows: -egards the postponement of Dr. Segal's lectures, my article does not implicate vhe W. E.A. It clearly states that the Birming- ham University Senate stopped the lectures. 2.-1t is immaterial that the fjrst lecture was held in the iltternoon. The point Is that it proved t, he too partial to the Bolsheviks, who, in overthrowing Keren sky's government, upset the hopes of our bourgeoisie that the Russian H evolution would favour Russia's Capitalist Class a-t the expense of her Working Class. 3.-—The pretext given by the University Senate for postponing the lectures, viz., the alleged ob- scurity of events in Russia, is untenable in view of the facts. During the period when Keren- sky's government was in conflict with the Bol- sheviks there was an absence of dehnite news. After the Bolshevik coup d'etat (November 9) the new Government, authorised by the Soviets, or Councils of Soldiers, Workers and Peasants, published wireless communications to the world of a very definite character. Between the date of the first, lecture, November 14, and the date of the postponement of the rest of the series, November 27, the Bolshevik Government made a definite offer of an armistice on all fronts with a view to an immediate democratic peace, and published secret treaties which proved conclu- sively that. England's war aims were Imperialis- t.ic and not. Democratic. In the meantime, the Capita-list press published defamations of Lenin and Trotsky and misrepresented the peace aims of the Bolshevik Government. 4.—That Dr. Segal was silenced without. his consent is proved bv the annouiK-euient made by the University Senate: "That owing to the disturbed political conditions and uncertainty of events in Russia, the Senate has requested Dr. Segal to defer the two remaining lectures (X ov- ember 28 and December 12) to some later date." The Birmingham Gazette in the interests of free public discussion, interviewed certain mem- bers of the Senate whose replies to its repre- sentative prove that the Senate fea-red further revelations of the disfavourablo opinion of the Bolsheviks, of which the first lecture had given it an unpalatable foretaste. He was too partisan and partial. o.—The "Gazette" invited its readers to send in their views as to the Senates' autocratic ac- 1.ion. On behalf of the Birmingham Social Science Class I forwarded :1 spirited protest-, but this and other protests were not printed because IJr. Segal requested the Editor to drop the matter. Therefore his letter was not a reply to agita- tors," but forestalled their agitation, owing, no doubt, to pressure brought, to bear upon him by the University Senate. This meek. apologetic letter cannot reasonably be described as a. "masterpiece of dignified and courteous straight- forwardness." It was a. report of a strategic movement to the rear, or straightbackwardness. 6.—If the postponement of these lectures is not an interference with free speech then Dora is an angel of freedom and Democracy. 7.—In view of o. 1, above, the resolution passed by the Central Council of the W.E.A. on January 26th "That this Council declares the W.E.A. free from all responsibility for the dis- continuance of Dr. Segal's lectures, etc." is quite superfluous. Why doesn't the Council follow the example of the Birmingham Social Science (lass and attack the perpetrators of this viola tion of fiee speech? Why Because the Birmingham University, in common with all other universities, (,Mitrolh W.E.A. education. As to the invitation which the Council urges the Midland District of the W.E.A. to extend to Dr. Segal to give the remaining lectures un- der W.E.A. auspices, the only difficulty in the way is Dr. Segal's connection with the Univer- sity. Thj". however. is-a serious mat.ter to him. as, in another sense, is the connection of the WT".E.A. with that bourgeois university 1.0 work- W'],.A. w't,h t,lia.t boiit-(-,eoi-c; iiiil,ei,.?;,itv t,(-) worl,- F. B. SILVESTER. Secretary. Birmingham Social Class. R. Evelyn Road. Spark hi 11, Birmingham, PV-bruary 17. 15>18.

r Scotch Seed Potatoes IMMUNE VARIETIES. SECOND EARLY Sutton's Abundance. 20th Century. Great Scot. LATE OR MAIN CROP: Golden Wonder. What's Wanted. Langworthy's King George. SECURE YOUR DOWLAIS SUfPUES FROM L??? TT JU/AIO CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY DOWLAIS. No. i Branch-STATION TERRACE, BEDLINOG. No. 2 Branch-HIGH STREET, PENYDARREN. No. 3 Branch-PANTSCALLOO, DOWLAIS. fc No. 4 Branch-HIGH STREET, CAEHARRIS. J

CONTRADICTING A PROHIBITIONIST. TO THE EDITOR. I Dear Sir,—Lieut.-Col. R. M. Dennistown. De- puty Judge Advocate General, Overseas Military Forces of Canada, would like the press to re- move the false impression which may haTe oeen created by the following statement made by Mr. J.imc, Simpson. Toronto, in Wales recently when addressing Prohibition meetings. Mr. Simpson has stated that a great number of young Canadians who had come over to "figbt for the cause of Liberty, pure and sol>er, had become sodden in drink and vice, and that twenty thousand of them had been sent back without ever having seen .France." Lieut.-Col. Dennistown, in denouncing this wicked misstatement of fact adds that "the general chai-apter of the Canadian troops is con- sidered excellent, and military statistics show that convictions for drunkenness" have been ex- ceedingly low. Ho not only charges Mr. Simpson with un- truthfulness but. points out that such untruth- fid statements are keenly resented by all Cana- dians. Comment surely is needless.—I am, etc. A. PAYNE. Bradford Place. Penarth.

A Tragic Find I "Rntering the house of John Francis, aged 67, a widower of 23, Primrose Hill, Twynyrodyn, Mei-thyr (to whose adopted son she was married) a Merthyr woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Taylor a Me?rtliyr wotn?iii, 4, struck a match, the premises being enveloped in darkness, and in the flickering light saw sus- pended by the neck from a rope secured to the bannister rails the oody of her father-in-law. A neighbour called in cut the body down. Life, however, was extinct. The old man lived alone and it appears that arrangements had been made for the Taylors to Kfeside with him, and their furniture was being moved in.

Trade Union Notes By Trade Unionist. I It is a lamentable fact that. Tnwle,s rnionif.ni. as such. has never paid much attention to the great question of the education of tile nation's children. It is true that at their conferences, .and at the Trade Union Congress, resolutions have been parsed in favour of raising the school- leaving age, and also advocating some few other very necessary reforms, but very little ind<>ed has been done to give effect to those resolutions. Increases of wages, shortening lioiii-6 of Labour. improving general conditions of labour—these the ,thI*ng, That have been deemed of real im- portance to them. The fael, that even those ?Ufstions arc intimately bound up with our edu- cational system has hardly dawned upon them yet. What ha provide t: o<x.ion for the ati?ovel remarks in the issuing of a Memorandum on Education by the Education Committee of a body called the Federation of British Industries. Perhaps the perusal of tiiLs Pi-ecioll, document will do something to make the Trade Unions ap- preciate the absolute necessity for bestirring themselves, and to insist upon a. proper system of education for the children being supplied. The employers, as this document shows, do appre- ciate the importance of the subject, and arc bent upon destroying those proposals in Fishers' edu- cation programme, which they deem to be daIl- gerous. Fishers' Education Bill, as you will remember, propose^—and this proposal is the heart of the Bill —to continue, under various forms, the edu- 1 atioii of the child from the age of L> to 18. The child who went to work at, 14 years of ago was to be compelled to attend school for eight hours every week, and his employer was to afford him facilities for such attendance. That meant 'eight hours less work. and eight hours more •school. Such a proposal, says the .Federa- T,i on, is impossible. It will shake the pros- perity of British industry to its very founda- tions." That, is to say, or course, that British industry depends for its prosperity upon being assured of an un limited supply of juvenile la- bour. Upon what a slender thread does British industrial prosperity iiang. Every Education Act, and every Factory Act that has ever been passed have been opposed for tlie very same rea-son: viz., the iiiin of British industry. w ? » iiiit it The Federation then does not bcheve that it ~wiII be good for the country to continue edu- cating its children after 14 years of age. But they go a step further. They do not believe in the desirability of continuing the child's educa- tion, even if it were possible. They say that •only a few out of the large mass are mentally fitted to receive higher education. For these few they propose full time secondary education. For the many who are not fitted mentally, ele- mentary education up to 14, part of which, in the last two years of school life, might be direct- ly vocational and intended to fit, the child for the particular industry which he will enter at 14. That hitter suggestion is a very sinister 14. That Ittt.t<t- 1.Iori. I, i N-en- ?,inist?i- that Again: ,?rik,v i?-oii for higher education -.•are should !>e taken to avoid creating, as was done in India, a large class of persons whose <I(m,6 in ln(llt. a lii-ge of L~xuuui;blt for tho-f-inployi»w»nt which All this means that to the employers, these employers at least, education is not somet hing to develop personality, and make men better ser- vants of their fellows, or to raise the level of society, but only something to provide for the ^possessing classes a more servile and manage- able body of wage slaves. There is much more of tins kind ot thing in "he Memorandum; let the Trade Unions be on -he a lert, and show some enthusiasm in the :iiatti«r of ion. __n-

Ynyshir Notes I T. C. Morris at C.L.C. Meeting. I A well attended public meeting under The iiuspK-es of the Central Laoour College Class was held at the Workmen's Hall on Sunday when T. iMorris (E.C. menibcr, N.U.R.) addressed the meeting upon" Labour and the Future." The speaker in his remaps pointed out that the problems arising as a consequence of the present war will make, it necessary for us to use every available weapon. He proceeded to set out that he was not in agreement, with t hose who would shun zi-er on with a view of utilising :>11h. the industrial. Whilst recognising that the industrial must at all times precede the political and must become the driving force in politics, a,t the same time, to fight the boss in the mine .o,nd elect him to administer and to legislate is to frustrate the efforts of the industrial weapon. Politics must not be ;1.11 end in itself, but f). meall" to an i,-nd, iin(I that to be the setting up of the V>-operati ve Commonwealth. To accomplish -f,Jlis we must dpstroy the idea of the pervading influence of politics to-day, which looks upon it a.s an hobby which reveals itself in the atmos- phere of the House of Commons, that- has well earned the title of being the best club in Europe. Problems effecting the working class must have iir.st consideration. Industry must come under the control of those that. work not I upon the lines of the* Whitley report, which ..wilv seeks to make more permanent th<V condi- tions of things that prevail. Conciliation has been tried, and in this report, it only sets up a glorified type of the same principle. Better housing conditions and better surroun dings must of necessity be pressed in the future, con- nected with which is the land problerp.^ This must be boldly tackled, not upon the lines of Lloyd George proposals of -a id. in the £ on unde- veloped land, but a complete restoration of the land to the nation. A revolution you may say, but this is no new phenomena in face of what -we are going through to-day. The speaker ad- dressed the meeting for upwards of an hour, and afterwards was submitted to a number of inter- esting questions from the students of the class I and the public.

Pontycymmer Notes. I i I "Maxwell's Visit. I Mr. J. H. Maxwell, M.A.. Glasgow, addressed an I.L.P. meeting of upwards a thousand at the Hippodrome. Pontycymmer, on Sunday. Twelve new members were enrolled and all literature offeroo was sold out." I.L.P. At the branch meeting of the Garw Valley  ?.L.P. at Pontycymmer, Mr. W. Hengoed read -a c!??er]y conceived esmy on D?r? w? Disarm." I

Unmitigated Scoundrelism. THE HORRIBLE. STORY OF LAND EXPROPRIATION. BY W. G. COVE. In times long gone by there were two sorts of ]K-i.ple: one, the diligent, intelligent, and, at>ove all, frugal elite the other, lazy rascals, spending their suostances, and more. in riotous living. Thus it. came to pass that the former sort ax T lunula ted wealth, and the latter had nothing to sell only their skins. Such insipid childishness." says Karl Marx. I,, every day preached to us in defence of property." and anyone who reads "The Village will realise the use made of this doctrine of economic original sin" by the aristocracy of the period., and the truth 01' Marx's characterisation or it as in- sipid childishness. The diligence or The time was displayed in pulling down jx-asan <-ot.ta-ge-s. enclosing their Jands, and in the ruth- less application of stringent penal laws; the in- telligence found expression in legal chicanery and a. class interpretation of "economic laws":) the frugality AN-a,, practised on labourers' wages and parish relief. If there were riotous la- bouivrs. they must have been very pessimistic ones, for the whole book is a record of the fear- ful condition of the agricultural workers, and the insolent ('ant of t,he "frugal elite"' who practised frugality on them. GOVERNMENT A SYSTEM OF PROPERTY. The landowning class preached to the poor that their poverty was either a natural or super- natural condition of their existence—in either case, inevitable—but they t.onJ. care to ensure that the machine of government was entirely controlled by them. The authors! make it. per- fectly clear that the government of the century, both parliamentary aud municipal, was a sys- tem of property. The English aristocracy—in contradistinction to the French—controlled fn'rT central and loud institution. Pir? -.0 far recognised the lo-eil liit,;t.iition. far tht? ownf,r-,Iill) t)f in 1785 to cojnp?n?a.tc the patrons of the boroughs he wished to disenfranchise." The bulk of the legal administration was carried out by the J.P. 's.'nnd as they were virtually appointed by the Lords Lieutenants, the aristocracy secured by .another method, the power they had lffst when Feudalism disappeared. There can be1 no mistaking of the fact- that the state I period w a-s the efficient executive committee of the landed aristocracy. PROPERTY AND THE LABOURERS. The aristocracy, through the medium of Par- liamentary Enclosures, used its power to blot, out the old village life and TO pauperise the labourers. The peasants, who previously had a firm anchorage on the ;011, became "mere casual figuix's in a drifting proletariat." In- de|>eiidence wa.s replaced by fear and hope by despair. The preservation of their communal rights depended upon their ability to make a. distant, and hostile parliament listen toO their claim* Often the promoters of enclosure a/rts were men who had lost their fortunes a.T, gaming: whIes. and who found in the system of enclosure a ready method for retrieving their financial and social position. Politicians, sol- diers and gamekeepers were engaged in substi- tuting law for communal rights. Living was standardised; labourers were terrorised. Sprang guns dealt death to starving men seeking food in game preserves, and hanging or deportation awaited innocent workers who dared to a-sk for bread. The most sacred things in England were the pleasures of the rich. No one can read of the trials and the hundreds of deportations and hangings that occurred in 1830. without a. thrill of horror, and a firmly rooted suspicion of aU that goes by the name of law and order." THE CYNICISM OF THE AGE. I While the labourers' wage-s were reduced to Mich a standard that they had to live on bread and potatoes; while many of theiq were found' dea-d of starvation under hedges; while they were worse housed than prisoners, the lives of judges, parsons and landlords were more spacious tha.n ever. The wages of upper class officials were raised to meet the extra cast of living, the diet of the poor wa.s reduced to enable them to exist. Religion, philosophy and political econ- cmy were ready with their explanations, and they satisfied the rich. The Archbishop was or- dered by the Privy Council to prepare a "furm of prayer to Almighty God, on account of the troubled state." He responded with alacrity. A few sentences will suffice. pity, 0 Lord, on the simple and ignorant., who have been led astray (they had broken out in mild riots) and recail them to a sense of duty (a state of slavery) and vouchsafe such a measure of Thy grace, that we may serve Thee with one accord, in duty and loyalty to the King, in obedience to the laws of the land a.nd in bro- therly love towards each other." This, after scores of men had been transported ON THE THRESHOLD—BUT! I Looking back over the tragic history of the period one cannot help but feel tha-L the \yorkers were wanting in breadth of vision and bound by what has been termed a bread and burtter theory of life." The revolt of the house- wives in 1795, when they seized the food and fixed prices, was right in method, but ineffec- tive in result. It. failed because they, recognised propqrtv and profits in tha.t they fixed a "fair prioe; it was spasmodic and limited- in scope, and had for its objective merely the sa- tisfaction. of hungev. They were consciojus of hunger but not of the social system that caused the hunger. The revolt of the labourer*, in 18:JÜ ended in hangings and deportations be- cause the labourers were unorganised and satis- fied with less than possession. But are we much better than they? We clamour for rationing, and thus for the standardisation of life. We still cOluinue to call on the G-o?rnmenT." and thus escape our responsibility. We still have increases of wages given toO the higher officials" and yet allow, the separation allow- ances of wives to be administered on the is of no grants must be made on account of the increased oost of living." The working-class of to-day may be more respectable than those of this period, but this very respectability is an unmitigated curse. In trades unionism it ex- presses itself in C'onstitu.tionalii-.m, in social life as conventionality. If the workers are to be emancipated they must cease to pass resolu- tions and take to swearing oaths. Formulas must give way to life. The attacks must be agamst the whole social system and not against petty shopkeepers, and the veneration of the workers for the Capitalist State must be de- stroyed. This book will surely destroy it.

FOR NEXT WEEK. I For our issue of next week Mr. T, 1. Mardy Jones has promised to contribute a biographical account of the work of Dr. Richard Price, The Apostle of Peace," who one hundred years ago forecast, the League of Nations of to-day.

I Correspondents are requested to condense their letters as much as possible.

I THE MUNICIPAL STRIKE. I TO THE EMTOL!. Dear .Sir,—Though not used lo writing to the press I would be glad of a little space in your valuable paper, first to thank you for your able leader of Feb. 9th on the Municipal employees' strike, and also to point out, one or two inac- curacies regarding school cleaners' rates of pay. I do not know -where you obtained your official information from, neither am I going to deny the figures generally, but- I wish to point out to you that it is not fairly put. In the first p lace sc hool clean el's are paid monthly (calendar month), one woman being genera.lly appointfid to a school, out the rimes at which she is able to do the work being so broken— early morning, noon, and after school hours at night, also during the week-ends—prohibits one woman being able to do it. alone, consequently s he ha.s to engage help, sometimes two others besides herself, espeeially dm-ing the week-end, and, Mr. Editor, she has to pay them out of her monthly wages, so that it is very unfair to give the wages as that of one person furthermore, the allowance^ for cleaning sundries are a monthly and no:, a. weekly one, as made to ap- pear by the information given to you (this al- lowance has not been increased since the war, although e*>mmodities have more than doubled). Now. Sir, 3. to the strike itself, although the refusal of our application • for an increase in wages was the primary, it was not the only cause that precipitated it. but the constant sneers- and offensive remarks niade in the Ooun- cil Chamber, both by members a.nd their officials, galled the men so much tha.t they determined not to put, up with it any longer; also the shuffling about of their application from one Committee to another, their endeavour to divide our forces bv such distinctions as skilled and iin- skilled, able-bodied and otherwise. were all causes that, helped to bring it about. Now, sir, I would like to make one or two suggestions to our La.bour members that, would, in my opinion, help to by-in- about a better suite of affairs. First: A Wages Board should be formed c.f council Members, that would deal with all questions of wages, that, would do away with the present system of having to aflply to each departmental committee sepaartely. Again. I would suggest that all persons should be em- ployed tiireet by the Council, and paid by them, and that no sub-contracting should be allowed. In conclusion let, nie. oil behalf or the M.E.A., thank the N.U.T. Executive for circularizing their members to a.dhere strictly to their own dutiefc and :n no way blackleg their humble, though useful fellow trade unionists, also all others that gave us their moral and sympathy .md advice.—I am, Sir. ONE or THE STRIKERS. FWo were aware that the cleaners arc paid calendar monthh wages, and reduced these to weekly wage* by multiplying by 12 and dividing by The wages were actually as given j!! our sample eases. We regret that the cleaning allowance was mis-stated.—Ed.1

A QUERY TO MARK STARR. TO THE EDITOR. Dot, >■—In his new book. A Worker Look*! ..1.t, History." Iark Starr tells us that The- Miners' Next Step deserves the atten- tion of the student as a clear statement- of the aims a.nd policy of the advanced section of trade or industry unionism. I am not going to take up much of your valuable space, but I shall be much obliged to Mark Starr, or anyone else, if he will clear up the following. At the end of that remarkable pamphlet, wo read that: livery tight foi- and victory won by the men, will inevitably assist them in arriving at a clearer conception of the responsibilities and d<uties before them. It will also assist úwm to see that so Ion- as shareholders are permitted to continue then ownership, or t,he State administers on behalf of the. share- holders, slavery anil oppression are lidund to be the rule in industry. And with this reali- sation. the a<ie-long oppression of Labour will draw to its end. The weary sigh of the over- driven slave, pitilessly exploited and i-egardp-d as a.n animated tool or beast of burden; the mediaeval serf fast bound to the soil. a.nd life- long prisoner on his lord's domain, subject, to all the caprices of his lord's lust or anger the modern wage-slave—(" The patient don key," said Sir Alfred Mond a little wliilo lgo)-with nothing but his labour toO sell, selling that, with his ma.nhood as a wrapper, in the world' market-place for a mess of pottage: these three phases of slavery. each in their turn in- evitable and unavoidable, will have exhausted the possibilities of slavery, and mankind shall At I&st have leisuj? and inclination TO really live as men.t and not as the beasts < which live as m,n., --n(I n,,r ) a.?, My questions are (1) Is progress the resu lt of fixed laws, "inevitable and unavoidable"? (2) Will not this doctrine induce many of our fellow-workers TO stand still and give them an excuse for so doing;? (3) Is it not quite as pos- sible for us to retrogress as it is for us to pro- gress?—I am. your faithfully. r ¡OF THE TVCONTHNTBD CHARACTERS,