Pioneer

The Poiic Strike. i One of the humours of k- we<jk's strike of the Metropolitan Police was at it found adherents and loquacious backers S the law and order press, which in the past. has always sliri<*fced hysterically for repros,. on and suppression whenever workers, with i aims as just as those of the Metropolitan torn, have adopted their only weapon of refusal tc corl, That this may mean a real change of ht. f1; in these matters it would be too much to e pect, but, at least it. will be possible for work -s with memories a little more retentive than. he average to remind the London and kindred J press of its one lapse from grace when in the fu ture it excitedly calls for t,he display of all the forces of the Crown against manual workers dr, ;veri by economic pressure to the adoption of t he strike weapon. Wbilst we congratulate the M, "t ropolitans upon their unity and determinati(, --n in carrying through the strike we cannot hi lp but fed that one of its main outcomes has bet "In retrogressive. For years there has been an o rganised effort made inside the police forces th .em.selves to se- cun) the elimination of the rest rvation of the high positions of the force for retired military men. "The police force for the policeman" I has been a real cry although i t may not have been raised loud enough to im pinge itself upon the consciousness of the gener al public. But in reaction it has a very import ant bearing upon the general public. The idea I of the policeman is as widely divergent from the ideals of mili- tary governance, as is chalk' from cheese. The policeman, the isolated guart lian of the liberties and property of the individu. il is called upon to display personality, tact, e itizenship: whereas the collected units flf the a1 .-my are called upon to exhibit none of these; iut to submerge the self into automatism by d iscipline and an un- questioning obedience to a centralised will specially trained for its pr rpose. And just as the military head must 01 specially trained to secure that unified machi ne-like docility; so also the head of the police force must be a man specially trained for the ta sk he has to perform. It is this aspect, a. eruci il one, that has heen declared for in a retros pective fashion by the Home Secretary. His s election of an ex-army man, no matter what 1 • qualifications may be, to fill the highest polie, ost in the country—in succession to a man w was a trained police- man-is retrogressive. lid must be productive of considerable trowbl,- ,i the future. )

I The Presidential Address. I NO SPLIT WITH THE LABOUR PARTY. I THE NEED FOR AN INTERNATIONAL. Following the civic receptiou by the Mayor of Derby to the Jubilee Congress of the Trades t'nions in the Co-operative Hall oil Monday morning it was decided on the motion of Mr. J. W. Ogden (Hey wood), chairman, to send a mes- sage to Sir Douglas Haig. Admiral Beatty and lJord Weir heartily congratulating the Army, Navy and aerial tones on "their magnificent devotion and courage during the long struggle against Prussian Militarism. We are confi- dent," Congress added, "that the bravery shown and sufferings endured by all concerned will in the wat" ftltur" secure a lasting and tri- umphant peace for 1 lie peoples of the world." I TRADE UNION INTERNATIONALISM. I In his Presidential address Mr. Ogden took I just, pride in the fact that the Congress was numerically stronger than ever before—number- ing S79 delegates, and a constituency of I -J.o31,98.") meml>ers. But- the movement could not tail to grow for it was bigger than men; its bounds were not. confined to a nation it was world-wide and international. He welcomed the steps taken to make the Trade Unions Parlia- mentary Committee the central bureau for Bri- tish sections of international trade union federa- tions, as a step fraught with tremendous possi- bilities, and hoped that this jubilee year would •make a hold step forward in the building up of a solid live arid progressive international trade- union organisation. During the past year there had been closer co-operat ion between the Labour farty and the Parliamentary Committee of the Congress, a co-operation which, he hoped, would become even more active and cordial. The interests of our members are such that it is a matter of life and death to us that the political ■machine, as represented by the Labour Party, and the industrial machine, as represented hy the Congress, should operate in unison. It is imperative that this Congress should whole- heartedly support and uphold the Labour party which it-helped to ereate. (Cheers.) Our efforts shoutd be to minimise and eliminate the imper- fections attendant on such immense bodies. There should he friendly and loyal co-operation and reform inside the ranks rather than at- tempts to start more organisations—(cheers)— that will bring confusion, distraction, and divi- sion in our forces, and will inevitably disrupt at a rime when there is a greater call than ever to consolidate and build up. (Cheers). Whatever influences a.re used to threaten the Labour Party as we know it will inevitably weaken arul react, upon this Congress. (Hear, hear.) Even in a, so-ealled trade union labour party there would have to be room for honest doubt. toleration .and charity, and tliere is just a possibility that every member of that party would not think alike on every question, parti- cutarjy if the question happened to be one so vital toO the lives of the people as another ter- rible world war. INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM.. I One pha&e of the movement which would in the immediate future demand the earnest atten- tion of the Congress was that of overlapping between societies. The complaints were moro frequent than ever, and were coming from trade unions that were thought by the exclusiveness of their occupation to be immune from any dan- ger of clashing. In these harassing and un- pleasant circumstances it was becoming increas- ingly difficult for the Parliamentary Committee to lay down lines of demarcation, influence, and priority be tween societies. The trouble was bound to increase as time passed, and the move- ment had to seek earnestly for a remedy. The solution, he thought, would come not by laying; down geographical and other lines of demarca- tion. but with the establishment, of one trade union only, embracing all classes of workers. They were all parts of one great army of La- bour. and while they might have to specialise, and sectionalise to deal with the technicalities ef machinery and labour, there was no differ- ence in the great principles which hound them together in their unions. With that reservation as to each trade or craft dealing with its own special work. there was no reason why, in every other respect, all workers should not be mem- bers of one national trades union. Federations, [amalgamations, confederations were all attempts to gr;t the unions to act as one. Why should they not start out with the straight course of establishing one union, instead of working round to it by more tiresome and intricate methods? "MY BROTHER'S KEEPER." I Touching upon the war, Mr. Ogden proceeded: sword with all its attendant horrors has been tried for four terrible years, and surely it is not too much to claim that who ought to he free to suggest supplementary methods of settlement—which tho soldiers and active belli- gerents. those making the greatest sacrifice of all, are not allowed to do--should lie on the alert to discover some method of bringing the world back to peace and righteousness. Is it to be implied for a moment that we have no ob- ligation and responsibility but that of supinely allowing the sword to go on year after year doing its awful work, while we stand by unmoved V That is not my idea of being my brother's keeper.' I hope it is not yours." (Cheers.) Mr. Ogden believed that there was now a possibility of agreement on the conditions under which an International Conference should be held. Parties could put their point of view without finding themselves under an obligation to decisions of the Congress. The delegates would be in the nature of conversations. Dis- cussion could take place on the basis of the neu- tral Socialists' manifesto—signed by Braiiting,- Allied Labour's war aims, and the memoranda submitted to the Dutch Scandinavian Commit- tee at Stockholm. Resolutions would only be adopted with the unanimous consent of the parties represented. This would allow of dis- cussion on all the general principles embodied in our war aims—the League of Nations, dis- armament, the abolition of compulsory military service, after-war economic policy, and all the territorial questions, including Alsace-Lorraine. A discussion on the origin of the war could not be excluded if this were desired by any section. THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. Disowning all intention of trying to do the work of the official Peace Conference, I feel we have been confirmed by subsequent events in the view adopted by the Blackpool Conference that an International Labour and Socialist Con- ference would be of the greatest service, and is a necessary preliminary to the conclusion of a lasting and democratic peace. (Cheers.) But however useful such an exchange of opinions Blight be, our recent experiences strengthen the view that the British Government has no inten- tion of granting facilities to the workers to hold a conference. Your own representatives have been refused passports to America and Switzer- land, and this Congress of trade unionists is told, in effect, to keep the ring, supply the men and the tools for the fight, but under no cir- cumstances to attempt to enter the path of con- ciliation. Summing up the position, f feel it is not surprising that some hesitancy and uncer- tainty should exist in the minds of wrtain peo- ple as to the meaning and accuracy of the re- plies we have received from enemy countries, in view of the obstacles placed in our way to con- vey and secure response to our message, and remembering also the press camouflage, dilution, and misrepresentation to which those messages have been subjected. I believe that we, at any rate, have nothing to lose by the unrestricted dissemination of light and truth. SECRET DIPLOMACY. "it may be thought, futile, and probably is. to argue after four years of war as to the im- mediate causes of the present conflict, so far as that argument would help us in the effort to end the sacrifice of human life. But with all its horrors, even this will not be the last war un- less the democracies of the world make up their mind to take the sceptre from the hands of th ose who in the past have had the power by devious, secret, and questionable diplomacy to unsheath the sword in its awful slaughter and act themselves as the deciding factor in all mat- ters that so vitally affect their welfare and their very existeiicc. (Cheers.) I firmly be- lieve that whatever may have been the causes of the outbreak of this war the peoples of Europe, who are necessarily the chief sufferers from its horrors, had themselves no hand in it. That is the initial declaration in our war-aims memo- randum and I am confident its truthfulness cannot be disputed. ('Cheers.) Yet we must not despair. We must do what we can to secure for those who have to live after us immunity from war such as we have known it. The world musi realise now, as it never realised before, the hi essings of peace. The greatest purpose to which we can dedicate our lives is the mainten- ance of peace and the ridding of the world from militarism. (Cheers.) World-brotherhood may seem farther away to-day than over. In spite of that T shall still look forward towards it as the sa lvation of the world and the only hope of the workers." (Cheers.) EASY PASSACES. W it h very little debate Congress adopted re- solutions c alling upon the State to make ade- quate provision for thf support of all widows and f at he r less children under 16 years of age; to provide mothers' pensions, and to take the piece,s.sary steps to abolish the present poor law and institutional systems. By 250 votes against 138 Congress declared that the present rating system m-a.,3 unjust and inequitable and demanded a direct tax on land values in the next budget. A Non-Controversial Day. Dkhby, Tuesday. Tuesday at the Trades Congress was largely devoted to non-controversial matters, owing to the failure to prepare composite resolutions on war questions. In ♦he morning Mr. Bob Smillie was outspoken in his criticism of the weakness of Parliamentary Committee in face of the Gov- ernment refusal of passports to Miss Margaret Bondtield to visit the U.S.A. He declared it to be obvious from the Report that the Parlia- mentary Committee did not believe the Govern- ment's excuses, and he felt that a conference should have been called to challenge the Gov- ernment position instead of lying down before it. Mr. Bob Williams extended the criticism to cover the Troelstra incident, but Mr. Bowerman, M.P., thought that the Committee bad ex- pressed themselves strongly. THE MINERI AND CRAFTS. The Enginemen and Stokers showed some re- sentment with the consolidating policy of the M.F.G.B., and a plea was"entered for friendly discussion and understanding, but Bob Smillie declared negotiations to be futile, and was nor, altogether popular in his declaration: "We are able to use the knock-out blow to bring this matter to all end." C.W.S. STRIKE. An urgency resolution was introduced dealing with the present C. W.S. strike, in which the Society directors' action was endorsed, as well as that of the allied printing trades, in com- batting the demands of the A. U.C.E. The re- solution further called upon the strikers to join their respective unions, who should negotiate with the directors in their belialf. A Composite Peace Resolution Derby, Wednesday. With tho exception of a speech by Haveloek- Wilson—who failed completely to impress Con- gress—the war discussions were not acutely controversial, though momentarily partisanship was exhibited. This was due to a preliminary meeting between the representatives of the various sections, whose deliberations produced the following composite resolution, moved by J. H, Thomas and supported by G. H. Roberts, M.P., Mr. Will Thorne, M.P., Mr. Ben Tillett, M.P., Mr. Ben Turner and others:- This Congress reaiffrms the Blackpool Con- ^jrejjs resolution, and calls for the war aims of the Labour-and Socialist parties of the Central Powers, in answer to the war atnis of the Intcr- Alli«Hl Conference held in London, which n-sks for the destruction of every arbitrary power anywhere that can separately, secretly, and of its single choice (itsihit-b the peace of the world, or, if it en 11 not he presently destroyed, at the least its reduction to virtual impotence; and that the Congress further demands that when peace is discussed adequate Labour representa- tion be afforded at the Peace Conference. It urges the Government to establish peace nego- tiations immediately the enemy either voluntar- ily or by compulsion evacuates France and Bel- gium. and reaffirms its belief in the principle of the International as the safest guarantee of the world's peace. This was (tarried -on a show of hands with not more than a score of dissentients; as also was a. motion of Mr. Bob Williams protesting against the refusal of passports to Congress delegata- tions, and warning the Government that unless its policy was altered different steps would be I taken—Mr. Williams suggested the strike.

TRADE UNION CONGRESS (Continued from Page 1). that would lead to a single great, trade union, with officials and departments devoted to the special work for which they had been trained, and embracing a.ll the federations, confedera- tions and amalgamations—in short. Industrial Unionism. This aspect of the years ahead will be but faintly thrown upon tho screen, but that presidential utterance is a prophetic, enunciation that will be filled in by Mr. Ogden's successor in the near future at what will be the most. im- portant Trades Union Congress ever held in this country.