Pioneer

Socialism, Syndicalism and Industrial Unionism. By MARK STARR. I How universal is the application of the saying Give a dog a bad name and hang him." What a great deal of thinking we can save ourselves, and how very convenient it is in everyday life that, by attaching a term or name to any person, we can abruptly dismiss that person without any further consideration or examination of his position. Every new movement and its adherents are thus labelled and dismissed. Early trade un- ions were looked upon as secret societies hat- ching desperate conspiracies against society; now they are cursed with respectability and receive civic welcome." The time was when Socialism was the bogie word, and to call a person a Socialist was to put him outside the pale of all sensible folk; now the word no longer terrifies, and the most vague expressions of sympathy with Labour entitle the local curate to be dalled a Socialist, and gives him popularity with the working class of his congregation. In the height of the Labour Unrest (1911—12), a new bogie word—Syndicalism—was trotted out to "frighten timid souls.' Socialism became the policeman of this new terror which was supposed to contain anarchist plots to overthrow all la.w and order. It is the purpose of this article to compare these two movements—Socialism and Syndical- ism—with a third. Industrial Unionism. The difference between Industrial Unionism and Syndicalism is one arising from the differing conditions of their birth. Syndicalism is essen- tially French in its origin and nature. In- dustrial Uaionism had its origin in America, and while differing in many respects from Syndicalism, may be said to be the American phase of the same idea; they share a similar aim but differ as to methods.. In England we have also the movement for National Guilds, of which later mention will be made. All these later movements seem to have arisen in Eng- land out of the disillusionment following upon the political activity and success of 1916. The pendulum swung from political to industrial action. It will be well when Labour can bal- ance these oscillations and convert the pendu- lum into a battering ram with a forward stroke directed against the citadel of capitalism, But this is an aside thought; let us attempt to define Socialism and Syndicalism before we proceed further Socialism is a system of society in which the ownership and control of the instruments of production (i.e., land and capital) shall be vested in the State for the common good" and in England it attempts to reach this aim by the capture of peliticalpower, in order that by legislation it may reconstruct on collective lines. Nationalisation, in fact was the univer- sal panacea. We had only to municipalise eur gas, milk and trams, etc., and hev presto! the millennium would have arrived. The Post Office was our object lesson of how costly competition could be avoided and a cheap service provided. Only send enough Socialists to Westminster and all other industries could be carried out on the same basis. Undoubtedly Collectivism is come to stay; we even shift the hands of our clocks collectively in these days. Individual ownership of the means of production is gone with the dodo. Now. however, we are faced with the :problems of control" there is a change in the battleground of ideas, and Syndicalism has been a factor in that change. Syndicalism might be best decribed as revolu- tionary Trades Unionism. It believes that the mines should be run by the miners; the railways by the railwayman; and likewise all other industries by the men employed therein; through their industrial organisations, and that these organisations should meet in common council and arrange the whole of industry. Syndicalism has in common with Socialism: (1) an opposition to capital and a desire for its end only perhaps the antagonism of Syndoalism is more implacable and pronounced, and more is heard about the class war in it. (2) A desire to substitute common for individual ownership of land and capital. The chief differences between the two are as follows (1) Syndicalism is definitely anti-political. It arose through the failure of the political Socialists wlv) became lost in Reformism. Like the Co-operative Movement and the Guild Movement, it does not look to politics but believes in direct action by the workers them selves. Its chief weapons are the general strike and sabotage, though there is no agreed policy' -as to the application of the latter. It argues that the working class must emancipate itself. The general strike may be costly, but it enables each worker to do his bit in the class war; it deepens the class antagonism and strengthens cla-ss consciousness. Politics is bargaining with the other side, ancl it breeds corruption— the soap-box agitator is lost in the smoke-room of the Horsse of Commons. The benefits of legis- lation are not appreciated like those which have come, not from. lengthy political agitation, bsfc from the direct action of the workers themselves. Again, politics are based upon geographical distinctions. Handesons, at var- iance with their industrial organisations, can appeal to their geographical constituents in Barnard Castle. Wham can the elector in the Shetland Isles know about the management of 4tke mining industry in Sowth VV alE\.? Organi- sation should be based upon industry and occu- pation rather than upon geography. (2) Syndicalism is Anti-State—This opposition to the State is the cause of its aversion to politics. It points out the dangers ofi nationa- lisation: nationalisation would buy out the mines and create a number of 'bond holders whose interest would be the first charge upon the industry, and it would set up a State Board of Mines swathed in red tape and admin- istered by a hierarchy of officials. Is the condition of the Post Office employee so ideal that we all wish to share it? Are not Govern- ment Departments harder to move than private employers ? Do we not hear of municipal strikes ? In fact, Syndicalism voices the growing opposi- tion to State Socialism, Collectivism, or as "Punch" called it Sidney-Webbicalism, which was busily engaged in making a Servile State to be manipulated v middle-class experts. State Socialism looked to the power of legisla- tion and'the State for emancipation; Syndical- ism looks to the general strike and the efforts of revolutionary Trade Unions. To me, the Statae ie-the people in which all rival interests are gathered. To the other, the State is, in the words of Engels, the executive committee of the ruling class from which no good can come and whose power must be desrtoyed. Eng- lish Syndicalists in 1902 were prosecuted for attempting to seduce soldiers from their loyal allegiance to the State, by the distribution of leaflets asking them to refrain from shooting in strike riots. j ? q (3) Producer v. Consumer—The emphasis pla- ced by Syndicalism and Socialism upon the importance of the producer and consumer res- pectively betrays ants ther fundamental differ- ence between them. Collectivism looks at things from the consumers' viewpoint. The advantage of the Post Office example are that you can send a letter so far and so cheaply. Competition was costly to the consumer..Fab- ianism, which was formed by a small body of middle-class folk most employed in the Civil Service, has largely influenced English Socialism with this point of view. Socialism would come, not because the worker was robbed, but because it was a, more efficient businesslike form of society in which the waste of competition would be eliminated. The Syndicalist places the con- duoer before the consumer; the factory, before the finished cloth; the mine before the coal scuttle. It is in the workshop that the worker expends his labour power and creates surplus value; here is the source of profits. It is in working, not in consuming, that he is ex- loited. Politics are a remote sphere in the worker's mind when compared with his every day work. Why get excitee d over exercising your one-ten-millionth part in the election of Parliament once in seven years when you have no voice in the appointment of your workshop officials and managers, whose conduct affects you every day of your workinp- life, and who, by control of your working conditions. have you practically at their mercy? Why wax enthusiastic over cheap postage if we feel that the postmen have to figh tfoi- a living wage I and the postmasters hare to keep their mouths shut in public life? Therefore the worker must control the workshop, and his industrial organi- sation is the means whereby he will control it, and politics do not matter in the slightest. The Trade Unions, with all their faults, are essen- tially working class; no squire or parson's ad- vice is requied therein. Syndicalism in its em- vice 1-,5 re,qu i e d t h -ei-e,in. phasis upon the producer, might well take as its motto 2 Thess., 3, 10: "If any would not work neither should he eat." 8y Before dealing with Industrial Unionism it might be ntotetl. that, unlike Syndicalism, the modern Co-operative Movement is an associa- tion of consumers, and that the National Guilds believe in a partnership between the State and the National Guilds the State repre- senting the consumer. All the arguments used by the Syndicalist against State Socialism can oe used by the Industrial Unionist. He, too. places emphasis upon the need for a strong industrial organisa- tion looks upon the Industrial Union as the unit of future society by which industry shall be controlled; and recognises the inevitability of a fight to tiie finish between capital and la- bour. He also shares the Syndicalist's belief that they who would he tiet themselves must strike the blow that emancipation will not be won by Acts of Parliament; and that the State and its function ol politiea-l government will one daty be superfluous, being superseded by industrial administmtion. Where, however, lie differs from the Syn- dicalist is in that he believes in direct action on the political as well as on the industrial field. The State cannot be ignored now. Poli- tical power is but the reflex of economic power —the shadow of the aubstance. Tim truism is recognised by the Industrial Unionist, and it is in no danger of grasping at -Olie shadow and losing the substance i.e.. economic power. His- tore. however, reveals this fact-that the rising economic power has always made itself felt upon the political field; its triumph has always been signalised by its capture of political power; and then it has hastened and developed its economic power by the use of legislation gained upon tha political field. Political power may be the shadow or reflex of economic power, but its existence and influence cannot be denied. For example, in Brisbane, in 1912, the tramway employees were on tsti-ike, and they were supported by strikes in other industries. The State Governor applied- for the use of the ca- pit.alis-ts, bludgeon, i.e., the Army; but all a Labour Premier was in power the apnlication was refused. Readers of that historic docum- ent, "The Miners' Next Step," will remember that independent political action was therein advocated (page 19). TIIQ Industial Unionist believes that in the words of Marx, "Only the Trades Union can give birth to a tue poli- -gical party of labour." The Labour M.P. of the future must bq the servants and spokes- man of tSie organisarbion he represents, keeping in close touch with,o and receiving his instruc- tions from, the rank and file, and aiming to help on economic development by political >effort Another point of difference between Syndi- calism and Industrial Unionism is the import- ance placed upon the use, and consequences of the general strike weapone Manv English writ- ers are fond of connecting Syndicalism with the philosophy of Bergson which has discarded the road of reason for tke blind leap of intu- ition. Certainly some of the French Syndical- ists believe in the philosophy of violence, and that the worker should make life intolerable for the capitalist by any and every means. The General Stike is to them what the Coming of the Kingdom was to the Early Christians -a long-looked-for event which would make all things anew. This general holiday of the wor- kers is to be the great signal of the downfall of capitalism atid the triumph of the workers; the -dramatic episode in which the new will triumph over the old, and after which the new society will be organised. However real all this may seem to the nimble minds of men like Pouget and Pataud, it lias no attraction for, and does not appeal to, the more stolid English mind. In England the failure of sectional strikes is admitted by all. Yet while strikes widen in their area they are always used, not to usher in the Revolution, but tog,ain -immediate ends, e.g. the princilpe of the Minimum Wage or higher wages. He who thinks however, that the final change is being delayed by these more immediate ques- tions is mistaken; for the desire # for this change is not built on empty bellies. The strike of th-c future will be a larger affair the clash of big battalions instead of the skirmishes of guerilla warfare. The Industrial Unionist believes that "the very organisation which will win the fight will carry on work after the victory is won, and that without any interval of disorganisation." It seem a far cry from the usual Trade Union lodge meeting, with its often easy going conservative officials and the dead-weight apa thy of its rank and file to a body of men cap- able of the control of their part of the industry. But from the election of a, checkweigher to- the election of a men's mine inspector; froifl the repeal of the Truck Act to the regulation 1 of modern wage .lists, this interference with-' the employers' right, this attempt at control of wages and conditions has been growing. Is ifc beyond the realms of possibiltv that a council of miners could not, out of their collective wis- dom, arrange the coal production of their col- liery better than a set of Government officials? Do not measure the future by the present. Edu- cation, born of conditions is the trallfiforminJ power which will create Industrial Democracy- The immediate step is the amalgamation by industry of the rival craft unions—the present towards a future end. The shortcomings of this article are obvious- The movements which have here been briefly touched are worthy of that lengthy treatment which only books can give. Much has been om- itted or only suggested. But if any remarks, therein will stimulate the reader to make further inquiries in regard to these movements- he will gain some of the education wa, a& workers, so sorely need, and the writer's pur- pose will have been achieved. 'a

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Chains and Whips. I By A. E. COOK. The year 413 B.C. seems a far cry from our year of "progress," A.D. 1916; 2,329 fraughtful years of human suffering and struggle have elapsed since then, and yet across the ages a bond of sympathy runs that connects and binds the workers of all times in one vast brother- hood The brotherhood of the workers, alas! has been and is a brotherhood of common suf- fering, a fraternity of the oppressed and the enslaved, whose souls and bodies have been ground down at the behests of brutal tyrants. It is a fraternity, too, whose history is illuminated by many bright acts of bravery, revolt and rebellion, for the Light of Freedom burnt in the breasts of slaves thousands of years ago, and their struggles are continued by us, their descendants, and must be continued until we end them by sweeping away the last vestiges of a centuries old slavery. In the year 413 B.C. the most renowned war of ancient times had reached its ninth year, a war between Sparta and Greece, known to historians as the Peloponnesian War. One of the bloodiest wars of classical times, it lasted twenty seven years, and resulted eventually in the defeat of the Athenians and the triumph of Sparta. It was in the ninth year of the war that an incident occurred that eventually contributed in no small measure to the defeat of the Athenian forces. This incident shows up in lurid colours the terrible conditions of the labouring peoples of Ancient Greece, and illus- trates a potent point in the class struggles between oppressor and oppressed, and con- tains a lesson applicable to the slaves of all times—even to the "wage slaves" of to-day. Thirty miles south from the city of Athens were the renowned silver mines of Laurium, and here under the most inhuman conditions toiled twenty thousand Greek slaves. Some were ex-Athenian citizens, some convicts; but the mass of them were labouring people whose only crime wars that of being born slaves. They I were herded together worse than swine. and driven, under the lash to toil at the hardest and most degrading of toil. They were worked three hundred and sixty days in the year, and though nominally Athenians it can hardly be expected that love of Fatherland and pat- riotism would be a strong virtue with them. The mines of Laurium provided Greece with money and., arms for the carrying on of war, but the treatment of her labouring class there was not calcul ated to increase their loyalty. Sedition and disaffection were rampant, and though the facts have been obscured and dis- torted by prejudiced historians. yet it is certain that a strong and powerful trades organisation existed among the workers of ancient Laurium. The facts are related barely by Thucydides, the Greek historian, but bv Hiie researches of Dr. Bucher in his work "A-tif,i,t,lilide der Unfreien Arbeiteren." and those of Osborne Ward. in his "Ancient Lowly," we have had them amplified. On a pre-arranged date twenty thousand miners, mechanics, teamsters. etc., struck work simultaneously: overpowered their guards; fought themselves free from the slave drivers; and then marched -on to the Spartan camp at Decelea. and threw in their lot there with THEIR country's enemies. Under tke protection of the Spartans, they received partial freedom, i.e., liberty to hire themselves as free labour- ers at their own terms, but their defection was a great blow to their former countrymen, and finally it lost them the campaign. Across the centuries we can exonerate the revolted slaves for their lack of patriotism, and even lGrv in the rebellion for we know that it was the brutality of their masters which ilrove them to the desperate step. We can grieve that the finer eivilisatiop. of Athens went dOWJií before the barbaric Spartans, even ap that of Rome went down before the uncouth fluns and Goths—yet we know in both casea ihat their beautiful civilisations were but one class-civilisations, built up on the backs of slaves, and doomed because of that fact to iotteji and decay as the evil of slavery under- mined and destroyed their vitals. To-day most people pride themselves that tbef live in an enlightened age where slavery is but a thing of the past. There are some, n«wever, who know that this is not so; the form of slavery has changed. but the essence of the hateful' thing still remains. No longer is the raw hide whip of the bullying slave drivers needed to drive the slaves to work; a steam whistle blows, and the toilers tumble ovei- each other in indecent haste to reach 4he slave compound. Kinds-hearted, respectable "Christian jteople think it an exaggeration to speak of the long suffering British workman as a wage slave, but then kind-hearted, respectable "Christian people have acquired the comfortable habit of closing their eyes to unpleasant facts. ffhey are the people who think that (there are no £ jB.ngji of brigands and buccaneers in existence to-day; they forget that the brigand has long since discarded hi,\¡ melodramatic rig-out, and no, longer meets in caves, but instead wears a fí-.t:>ck coat and silk hat, and meets in company board rooms. That he no longer holds up casual eitiafcns and commits petty thefts, but on the con wary holds all the community up and commits wholesale thefts Instead of Manipulating blunderbusses lie manipulates markets, and wheDQ one led to the gallows the ether one new leads to the garage and the ownership of a few Rolls-Royce cars. There is no doubt that chains and whips were very ineffectual weapons for taming slaves and per- petuating the slave system. The histories of aiicient slavery prove this, for they abound with records of slave revolts and uprisings; after all, no orator- or sophist could convince the bitter slave of old that his. the slave's, ii4tere»?t was identical with that of the master who exploited him; and the chains could but kind his body, his rebelliol spirit being beyond their power. In our "enlightened" age the slaves' body is left untouched by chains and whips; it has onlv been found necessary to enslave the mind and bind the intellect in order to secure a docile slave. And intellectual slavery is the order of the day; all the forces of the churches, of the press, of the political orator are used with one -and one on.l.v--specific objewet, namely, to make the worker content in his lot; to make him satisfied to toil in poverty, and undergo privations with meek and mild submissiveneas, whilst the ruling class continue to contrdl and abuse their pojsvers over the uncomplaining majority. Slaves of three thousand years ago, and slaves of to-day! Slaves of body and slaves of mind! Yet brightly burns the fire of holy revolt in the breasts of a few who will never submit to slavery. In prison and in thrall are many brave hearts who cannot resist the call of the highest within them. and who are ready to immolate themselves on the altar of Freedom. Across the centuries a bond of I .broth(orlioo,.i unites us with the oppressed and weary of all time; we must not falte, now be- cause a dark hour hovers over our rebel Social- ist movement; we must not flinch because the, odds are nigh overwhelming, and because we are abused, despised and maltreated of men. Fools and dreamers we may be, but the deep heart of suffering humanitv calls, and we must hold the cause more precious than life itself. sorrowing hearts of slaves, we heard you beat from far! We bring the Light that saves,- we bring the morning star; And Freedom's light we bring you, whence all good things are. Rise, ere the dawn be risen; come, and be all souls fed; From field and street and prison come, for the feast is spread; Live, for the Truth is living; wake, for the night is dead."

OUR PRINTING IS GOOD, OUR TERMS ARE MODERATE. OUR STAFF IS TRADES-UNIONIST, And we give a jjuaranteed undertaking to DELIVER INTI M E.

?  House Coa! Du?ng ComingJ Winter.j • OMMJTTEE OF SUPPLY'S ARRANGE- MENTS I AS LAST YEAR. I Mr Finlay A. Gibson (the Secretary to thrl 1 District Ooal and Coke Supplies Committee for, [ijouth Wales and Mon., has supplied us withr the subjoined copy of a circular which he hM .f forwarded to the Clerks of the County Borougba- < Boroughs and Urban District Councils 1 South Wales and Mon., setting forth the ar- rangements for the supply of house coal during- the coming winter — I DISTRICT OOAli AND COKE 8 U PPL IBS COMMITTEE FOR SOUTH \VA LI V MON- (Appointed by the Board of Trado). Park Place, Cardiff, .'ea l', 8. September, 1916. Bea« Sir, SUPPLY OF Mouse COAL DURING THB coming WlNTEJR. to my letter of the 16th June last; in regard to the question of tiE, supply of Ooal to House Coal Merchants clurin"- the coming wmter; — The Committee have further considered tho matter m view ofinformertion and particiiia-ro- which haNo been supplied to them by the Clorkl, of th County Borougho, Boroughs and YrbaJli District Councils in South "Wales and Mon- mouthshire. After a very careful discussion of the wholr facts and circumstances the Committee hay0' decided that all the Colliery Companies ilf, the South Wales and Monmouthshire District shall be instructed to supply the same inerc-, ants with the same quantity of house boal eaeb month from September to December inclusive was supplied in the corresponding months of last year. It is considered that this is bhe 11 pi course to adopt, as each colliery company wil* ..1 then know to whom, and what quantity. thef', have to supply each month, and the merch- ants will know to which colliery companies, they have to apply for their house ooal, and* the quantity they are entitled to order frail each company. ij For example, assuming a merchant bought, from a colliery company (B) 500 tOl1.i ct fwma colliery company (C) 200 to as iO September, 1915, he would be entitled uJIldøJI the above arrangement to buy from colfier/' company (B) 500 tons and from colliery cottf- pany (C) 200 tons in September, 1916. Will you please tilce the necessary steps to" advise the coal merchants in your district of the above arrangemenrts, and of the important of their applying to the s«me colliery compalliell or middlemen for the same quantity of coal they purchased in the corresponding month Q last year. The scheme has received the approval of th* j Board of Trade, and must not be deviatedfro by the merchants. It is most important that everv effort should ?; be made by any committee appointed in y?? district, and by the coal merchants, to po? out to the householders the urgent necessity  the strictest economy in the use of fuel, and th0 j Committee request that every assistance pos;1bl ,j shaU be rendered to keep the requirements doW? to the lowest possible limit. It is hoped that any Committee appointed< 1 by your Council will assist in carrying oat th _• above arrangements. and will deal with !? detailed complaints, from householders befoi'0 any appeal is made to the Board of Tsad? Committee. • "j Yours Faithfully, I FINLAY A. GIBSON, Secretary. I

BW HELP THOSE WHO HELP YOUR PAPER! Printed and Published by the Labour P.ío:e8 Press. Limited, WiUiams) Square. Glebed Street, Merthyr Tvdfil, September 1916. i