Pioneer

Civil Liberties Conference. Enthusiastic Conference at Swansea. I John Toomey and Awakening Democracy. Mr. W. C. Anderson, M. P., and Recent Legislation. I Rev. Herbert Dunnico and Negotiation. I An enthusiastic, huge, and thoroughly repre- sentative Conference of the Democratic, Trades Union and Religious Movements in the Swan- sea Valley was held by the National Council far Civil Liberties at the Central Hall, Orchard Street, Swansea, on Saturday last. Right from the outset -enthusiasm was the key note of the gathering; and the arrival of the chair- man and speakers was greeted with loud and continued applause. The Chairman (Mr. John Twomey, General Secretary of the National Amalgamated Lab- ourers' Union of Great Britain and Irela.d): sa,id: Comrades and Friends,—This Conference, as you are well aware, is held under the auspices of the National Council for Civil Liberties. They have had a great uphill fight since the promo- ters of this Council undertook to organise a National and District Councils throughout this country. Many of the active supporters have found their way to gaol; others have had their homes raided; whilst others, no less active, have had to suffer at the hands of the military for having a Conscience which the Government and military consider they were not entitled to. I do not mention the names of the gentlemen who are members of the Council; but there is one name in particular whom I think deserves mention at any gathering which is held to con- sider the question of Civil Liberties, and that is the name of Mr. Robert Smillie, the Presid- ent. (Loud applause.) He is for ever on the watch, and the pity of it he is not in Par- liament to ably support our friends Anderson, Macdonald, Snowden and Jowett. Now I want to enlighten the delegates present that there is a Local Council in Swansea—or at least the nucleus of a Local Council—and I would like to see that Council become a real live Council. When we circularised the local or- ganisations some time back most of those or- ganisations turned it down with some exceptions —but since then these organisations are com- mencing to realise the necessity of such a Council being in our midst; and to-day this Conference, at any rate, is indicative of the is indicative -o f the, awakening of the workers by such a large number being sent to represent some thous- ands of people. As far as my own Society is concerned there are two delegates not from the Local Society; but from the annual general meeting of the whole of the National Labourers' Union, which is more than a branch or district, and comprises some 6,000 to 7,000 members. Six months ago, if the question of sending delegates to a meeting like this was raised, they would turn it down. I know how. I have been vilified in Swansea by some of my own members, as well as others of the rank and file of the Trade Union Movement, for moving a Peace Resolution at Bristol last September, and again because I voted against Conscription of the Single Men. I was told I did not re- present the ones I was supposed to; but since then these same people are keeping their eyes open. and are beginning to realise where they are drifting to. For instance, although I cannot say this is altogether reliable, but b the man w ho told me this story to-day in public is not given to romancing, and when he makes a statement like this against the military, there must be some truth in it. He told me there were some 25 youths arranged to have a holiday at Blackpool. They booked a saloon and left Friday night before Bank Holiday. The col- liers before this decided on a two-day holiday. Then representations were made through the Government, and they decided to forego their holidays. When these youths arrived at Black- pool they were presented with a suit of clothes by the military! Another case in point. Some coal trimmers in Cardiff yesterday considered they were entitled to some extra charges for extra labour in work- ing a part of a ship. They informed their representative of this. The merchants said, "If you will not go on with your work we will hand you over to the military," and the military said, Go to work or come to us." The men put up a fight, with the result that in due course, when the military found there was a likelihood of others joining in, a com- promise was arrived at. Another case. There is a branch of a certain Trade Union at Llandebie. where the whole of the workmen are badged with the exception of one whose name was not submitted to the Ministry of Munitions, because he was absent from the works on that day. This man was the Branch Union Chairman. The manager of the works there has since picked a quarrel with the Branch Check Secretary and sacked him. Two days later he received notice from the military to report himself. Without taking up any more of your time I will call upon Mr. Ivor H. Thomas to read some letters he had received. Mr. Ivor Thomas hare read letters from the Rev. J. T. Rhys (Minister of Rhyddings Church Swansea) and the Rev. W. Jones (of Gorseinon Vicarage) regretting their inability to attend, but expressing their sympathy with the ob- jects of the meeting. MR. W. C. ANDERSON. M.P. moved the following resolution: This conference, holding that Military Com- pulsion cannot be separated from Industrial Compulsion, and that this form of compulsion in the workshops endangers the whole stand- ard of industrial conditions, and places the men in the mines, factories, railways, docks, etc., practically under military or semi-milit- ary law, and that this puts a weapon of great power in the hands of private employers working for their own profits and dividends, pledges itself to offer unrelenting opposition to any such proposals. and said: I had better explain to you the reason for which this Council exists, and I think every one of you will realise and admit that we are living in very strange environ- ment. I do not know that we properly ap- preciate what our forefathers have won for us. We are living to-day in an entirely different world from the standpoint of Civil and Industrial Liberty; the end is not yet, and there will be big battles to be fought. Some of us this last two years have had to fight again and again inside the House of Com- mona. knowing the forces against us were only too strong, but it was absolutely essential we should fight, and although we have apparently been defeated, we have bean building up the! way to victory I There have been three main pieces of legislation which are cumulative in their effect supplementary to one another, and which have enormously deprived the working people of the rights and liberties which they had. They are the Defence of the Realm Acts, the Munitions of War Acts, and the Military Service Acts; and when you begin to consider their combined effect upon the workers and the status of Labour, it is astonishing. There are politicians in this country who have made no secret of the fact that during the war they think it would be a good thing if they had the power just to order the working class about. One of the men who feels like that is Mr. Lloyd George. He is constantly boast- ing about the great amount of power he has under the Defence of the Realm Acts, and he was not satisfied even with that, because under the Defence of the Realm Acts, wide as the powers are, they were not wide encAigh to prevent a workman who was not satisfied with the position where he was, though he might have any number of reasons to remove; the Defence of the Realm Acts, would not prevent him leaving that employ, and a special Act was brought in to prevent him moving from factory to factory, or district to district. The workmen in Controlled Establishments to-day are tied to the establishments as the slaves of old were tied to their work. These Acts, I say, are supplementary to one another, and so that to-day if a man has a grievance and he begins to talk about his dissatisfaction, an- other Act is brought into play. the Defence of the Realm Act, wherein it says any man who speaks words which may lead to disaffection amongst His Majesty's subjects, that man is liable to be taken to prison, as some have. for saying things which we claimed the right to say from this platform, and which we are going to continue to claim the right to say, be there ever so many Defence of the Realm Acts. Now let us consider Industrial Compulsion. What is it? Industrial Compulsion is simply the power to compel a workman to remain with one employer and one firm and to remain under those conditions, and the Munitions of War Acts were the beginning of this. It began long before the Military Service Act. It began with the Munitions of War Act. No matter how much a workman may be grieved to-day—he may have an invalided wife -but that workman cannot leave his employ- ment without getting the express and written permision of his employer, or of a special tri- bunal; and that man must lose work and wages for six weeks, inside of which it is il- legal to employ him. This does not apply to numbers of workmen. To the miners, for instance, for the reason that the miners did not want to come under it. (Laughter.) So far from making things better this makes them worse. The miner is as much a war worker as the munition worker or anybody else, and you have no right to impose conditions on engineers and others in controlled establish- ments which you are not pepared to impose on other men: The miners were left out be- cause they did not want to come in. It was not that the statesmen did not want to bring them in, and they have made matters worse by making differentiation. I remember moving the rejection of the first reading of the Military Service Act, and this is one ol the points I argued. I argued it then and I argue it now. However much you try to put Military Compulsion and Industrial Com- pulsion apart and into separate watertight compartments, you cannot do it. All the as- surances given us by our statesmen may be given genuinely. It is not what statesmen intend to do. It is what happens from the results of the statesmen's actions, and from my knowledge of industrial conditions and the con- ditions under which you are working to-day, I have no hesitation in saying, You cannot sep- arate them. Let us take some cases. Suppose you have 50 men maried and single of military age, ,and the military authorities say to the em- ployers, We must have some of these men." The employers say, "I might spare you 15, but if you take more I shall have to close down." Well, the Tribunal will say, "If you spare 15 we will let you keep the remainder." Who is to decide which shall be taken? Who is to pick out the 15 men who are to be taken? Why, the manager, of course! He will say, these are the men who are indispen- sible and perhaps not these are the men to go; and therefore you put at once a weapon of selection by which he can fix upon a man who, from a, Socialistic or a Trade Union point of view. does not agree with him. When one comes before a Tribunal on the ground that he is necessary to his employer, say he gets three months and he is to come up ag- ain at the end of the three months. Who is going to decide at the end of that 3 months whether he is still indispensible; whether he is to go on with his industrial work or into the army It will be the employer who will say whether he is indispensible or whether this man is not so indispensible now as he was three months ago, and if you care to ask for him you can have him. Every workman is working with a shadow over him, that unless he does what is wanted of him he will have to go. On condition that he is long-patient, and willing to suffer, or whether he is a brave man stand- ing firm for his workmates; these determine whether he is to remain or go. How can you get rid of the Industrial Compulsion? I have seen Mr. Walter Long almost shed tears over the fact that it was not industrial compulsion that was meant. Hear the methods of judging the workmen and hear the methods of how some of these workp-eople are being harassed by the military authorities, and you will hear some very curious doings indeed. I have had reported to me a case of a man in Sheffield who held a badge as a skilled man and was not therefore eligible. The military authorities have three times served papers call- ing him up. He has taken them back to them. The military have got the employers to take his badge from him, but he still held his certificate. I wrote the Ministry of Mu* aitions, and the man was aide to work edoe- where. Immedwtalj he had goae they posted his name up as an absentee under the Mili- tary Service Acts. How can men settle down under these conditions to do their best work, when they are being harassed in this way ? There was a Trade Union Congress held in London the other day to consider food prices, etc. That congress passed a resolution that the Military Service Acts were being used for the purposes of Industrial Compulsion, and I believe that resolution was drafted by the Par- liamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress. The Parliamentary Committee is mostly composed of old men. and when you hear that those old men talk like that, you maybe sure that the young men of the Trade Union movement think more. I will read three questions to be raised in the House of Commons, by three members who supported all the legislation which led up to the military situation: o  v situation: Mr. Crooks will ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that 200 soldiers have recently been employed in the army ord- inance at Woolwich in two batches on day and night of 13 hours per shift, and were marched to and from the place ef work and whether the Secretary of State for War is aware that numbers of men who are married and em- ployed on this class of work have recently been discharged; and whether in view of the pledges given against industrial oomipulsion, he will take into consideration the placing of all departments at Woolwich under industrial compulsion? It means in Woolwich there are 200 soldiers who are marched back and forth to work and work for 13 hours, without any extra pay for the work, and the very men who were doing the work these soldiers are now doing,, have been discharged from Woolwich. Mr. Wiardle will ask if the Secretary of State for War will state under whose authority sol- diers have been loaned to the Llanellv Steel Company for civilian work? Under what Act of Parliament this has been sanctioned? Whether men have been under civilian control and civi- lian wages? You all know about the Llanellv case, as it has been dealt with in the House of Commons and in the Press. Mr. Will Thorne will ask whether a wagon builder at work in Yorkshire has been dis- charged from his employ owing to his Trade Union activities, and that the manager wrote on his discharge: Wanted by the Military Authorities"? Whether the manager exceed- ed his powers in doing so That the man is now employed by Camel Laird, and has received his notice to appear before the military autho- rities? Whether he is aware that the manager and the Chief Recruiting Officer are fast friends or relations, and if he can state whether wagon building is a reserved occupation, and the man is entitled to at least 14 days notice when he is called up? By Myself: Whether the Secretary of State for War is aware Messrs. Brunner Mond have had 200 soldiers employed at their works in Norfolk, and these men are receiving army rates of pay? I am going to investigate the full facts of this case; therefore I will not say any more of it now. The cumulative effect of all this is that the workmen are ceasing to be free workmen, and this is restricting their labours in many ways, and it is tremendously important that you should guard any liberties which you have left. You must try to build and establish new con- ditions. I believe this degrading of the status of Labour is the worst thing which can hap- pen. I believe we ought to stand firm, even in these dark days of war, by our old ideals of Democratic Labour. We ought to say firmly the real curse of the whole thing has been the profiteering which has gone and the people who have been using the war for their own advantage and end. I believe, personally, if Labour had had a fair deal, this industrial difficulty would not have arisen in the nation's present difficulties. The workpeople put aside their strikes and troubles; and the cost of living rose and rose; the shipowners were allowed to pile up pro- fits. From this it became absolutely essential Labour should guard its advantages. What will the workmen-the soldiers now fighting in France—say to you if they come back to find an infinitely worse place than they went from ? You have frontiers to defend—frontiers of Labour; your rates and traditions; let them not be taken away. In Wales, and Scotland, and England, there is still left some spark of fire. I appeal to the instincts in you that at the end of the present troubles there shall spring a new and better England! Take your part in the great fight which is growing in all directions. We know the people of Wales will take their part in the making of a better world. (Loud applause.) Mr. W. Morgan, a delegate representing some 400 men, seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. COUN. DAVID WILLIAMS. J.P.. who sup- ported the resolution, said: I only want to say a word or two. A meeting was held not so very long ago under the auspices of this local Council of Swansea at a hall kindly loaned by the Quakers of Swansea—the Friends' Meeting House in High Street-but at that time the sec- ond Military Service Act had not become law. I said at that meeting that the Militarv Service Act would mean Industrial Compulsion, and I remember the very next night one of our local papers-the" Cambria Daily Leader "—said Mr. Williams, as usual, takes a gloomy outlook, forgetting that Cabinet Ministers are men of honour and have a happy knack of keeping their word. Well, Mr. Chairman I have waited patiently to see how this honour was going to be carried out and their word kept, and, be- hold! one morning last week I saw in large type Soldiers at Llanelly." And I invested one half-penny in the "Express." I am told it is the only truthful paper in circulation! I found from this Mr. Llewelyn Williams—Radi- cal Member for Carmarthen Boroughs- had raised a question in the House of Commons, and here I found, in all its nakedness, that which I feared had actually come to pass in this country where we proudly sing" The Land of My .Fathers." They had actually been allowed to introduce industrial slavery into these bord- ers. This is because the Trades Unionists of Wales, in common with the Trade Unionisti of Scotland and England, have allowed themselves to be hypnotised by the men of honour who compose the Government to-day! They have had their liberties filched from them by some of the men they put there! Friends! As a Trade Unionist and one who has done something in the fight, as a repres- entative of the people in the most important part of Swansea., and who has done something there for Civil Liberty, I am looking with some amount of sorrow at the present tend- ency. Not only have our industrial liberties gone, but our civil liberties are gone, and our religious liberties are being taken away from us to-day. A few short months ago a body of devout lad- ies and gentlemen met together to worship God in their hearts. About half a dozen or seven men made it their business to raid their place and break up the meeting. Not only did they break up the meeting, but the next night