Danger Signal in Britain

...It is the fundamental question of home policy in our age, it is the question which, by our failure to solve it, dragged Britain down before the war into alow decline and nearly into utter defeat...

...That is why I believe with snv fidence that the two wings of oar movement will work asm closely together than ever in pursuit of aa objective that is both industrial snd political—the objective of an indues* harnessed to national well-being instead of to private or sectional profit the objective of expanding production asi employment for all...

...The reel ia—e will be whether centrally ergaadaal industries shall be allowed to ram their own affairs hp*, * .ehmhr ears as par a to wop «n s heats ef nstihliau am., nopoly ssd ssfety first, or whether the State win tad control, te ensere that they are apsfatad in the huarausr...

...That's a sag hh There will be some very powsKari Interests and mac very plausible arguments in the way...

...We most present the country with the spectacle of a well-organized, well-led movement with fts own ides of what it wants ssd what the country needs and its own idea of how to get there...

...It looks to politics for practical and realistic objectives...

...What I mean is that trades unionism wants action snd effective action in this regard...

...Anyone who wants to understand its history Will do well to follow the two strands of development, the industrial and the political, that were separate throughout the nineteenth century | and were joined together early in the twentieth...

...Nowadays the trades unions are in* creasingly able to deal on equal terms with the big employers and their federations...

...In Britain, particularly, the political power wielded by organised industry has been potent and apparent Recently s group ef the most powerful industrialists of Britain fawned ¦ document called A National Policy for Industry which proposes s virtual cooperative system fat the British economy...

...The point I want to make is that, that is less true than it was...

...Here ia tht hf crusade of public education On which we of the labor meatmen t ought now to he setting out...

...What matters ia that it should command the effective loyalty of a very considerable part of the country end, if it is not actually in power...

...Danger Signal in Britain Morrison Warns of Fascism in Return of Pre-War Order By HERBERT MORRISON LONDON, England.—This Labor Party of ours haa from the beginning of its twentieth century life been partnership between what is called the political aide and the trade unions...

...Threat HERBERT MORRISON...

...The effect , of Socialist asd Liberal propaganda (it waadd be churlish to deny the Liberals some share of the credit) has gone % heme to the public mind asd to some extent to the Conservative Party...

...s moderate wages policy coupled with control of prices, has been implemented with complete success as part of the national policy of economic mobilization involving enormous possibility Of stress and friction has been carried through with the very minimum of both...

...had much to do with Labor Party politics ss we understand them today...

...It is tht working people, the trade union membership...

...Pa who suffers worst of all when policies of monopoly asi restriction flourish...

...For a long time labor was the pioneer party in that field...

...Indeed the great majority of trades unionists in the early nineteen hundreds were conservatives and liberals, and the "shocking" ideas of Socialists were apt to cause nearly as much scandal among them as among more prosperous . classes of the community...

...But at what cost r At the east of unemployment for the rest of insecurity for the rest, of keeping dowa tht national income se a whole by producing less than «S could produce, at prices higher than we need at tht cost of installing ia the seat ef power asd actios s philosophy which, whatever attractive baits it may heli oat to ssese fraction ef she working rises.,is bound t» mess ha the end the defeat snd destruction of the whole,, lahor movement and everything for which it stands . A people's movement which became the hirelini any of a restrictive monopoly capitalism would ssd as the ted of economic fascism...

...We've taught 'em quite s lot...

...The Labor Party and the trades unions have always been keenly interested in policies of social welfare, social security, housing, education, health service and so on...

...From the outset the government has accorded to the trades union movement a recognized high, status in everything connected with Ha field of interest...

...I am entirely in favor of our keeping that flag of social welfare policy flying, keeping the spur applied to public feeling and opinion,.keeping the good work of propaganda going...

...But the partnership of the two sides began to produce its results...

...Ia the industrial field a' Utter, wrecking, war-like atmosphere with all too little sense ef public naspusalbfllty on either side...

...in politics an ineffectual rtarisnst movement which preserves the parity si its ideology at the cost of getting no chance to carry say ef it into effect...

...I believe that the country snd the Labor Party are aware, of these facta at the back of their minds...

...The history of the political side from the Chartist agitation onwards is a history of the gradual spread of a body ef ideas which in the main stopped short of practical political expression until after the turn of the century...

...tsWsdisg a good properties of young people who will represent the great body of youthful up-and-coming thought sad feeling with which the country will abound after the war...

...There is probably rather teas difference between parties os social reform within the established order st this present time than there haa ever bees...

...They were among \ the most deplorable sad ahsmefsl years ,hy fjl jjntnj,, British history—the years of shilly-shally, ef septus -mest, the years when the attitude ef British governments shocked enlightened ssd progressive minds in every democratic country is the world, the years of ¦ economic restriction, of poverty in plenty...

...There are plenty of ideas in the party...

...Here, then, ia the real M of work for us who believe in social security...

...Before trade unionism existed and later while the unions were illegal or still weak, the mass of the people lived in a condition well below what we would nowadays call subsistence-level...

...One can say a good deal on that point but I will earn it all up in three words...

...1*HE mecsure of the growth of trades unionism can be seen * in the position snd work of its leaders...

...Now that asset has been turned to account from the national point of view the history of industrial development is this war amply shows...

...It seems te aa that precisely the opposite is the ease...

...Men like Sir Walter Citrine and his colleagues of the General Council meet employers on wide issues of policy and conduct their discussions on level terms in every sense of the Word...

...The relstion of confidence have been such that the trades Unions have been ready to accept the sacrifice of advantages snd privileges that were very dear to them...

...should give the impression that it might be at any moment, and that it would be a very good thing if it were...

...There is s certain amount of word-spinning about erratm enterprise...

...It would be foreign to its whole approach to favor the idea of a labor movement which was more interested in slogans than in concrete achievement, that could talk glibly about going into the political wilderness for ten years ss though it were something to be proud of...

...it helped the trades unions to become increasingly important and responsible organs in the direction and management of our economic life, which is Just what it is today...

...I imagine, is a party filled with ambition to see its programs ssd policies carried into practical effect, s party with s responsible approach to politics—s party which intends, whether it is in office or out of office, to exert a real weight ha the councils of the nation...

...I do not at all mean by this that, as political critics sometimes suggest, it regards politics as only a means for the achievement of better hoars and wages...

...Nowadays the greet majority of the membership of trade unions consists of men who vote labor from conviction and no proposal for advance oa socialist lines ' shocks the trad* union movement and its leadership...

...There is just one particular point about policy that I think is worth making...

...More asd more of its major industries Were running their own affairs in their own way on a basis of effectual monopoly without real positive control by the State sad without any true regard far the wider iaUrests el tm" nation...

...Where you have separation bet wees as orgastsed industrial move-movement on the one hand and extreme Radical or Socialist politics on the other, you are apt to get two evil results...

...So the trade unions ha ve achieved for IhirasijSsf' and for the organned working people of our country a self-respect, a social importance and a public statu re which are both a credit to the movement snd as asset to the country...

...Early labor leaders bad to be very cautious about proposing Socialist programs to the trade " union membership...

...I solemnly warn the movement that it trill neglect, subordinate or tarn hs back m this issue st its peril...

...The marriage was an excelltnt thing for each ef the partners, sad for the notion, too...

...The rise of the British working* class in the nineteenth century is en the whole the achievement of trade unionism, with a few helpful political interventions by humanitarians...

...Critics in other countries sometimes talk as though it were a weakness is the British lsher movement that trades unionism plays so great a part in it...

...It is a thought worth remembering that so far as concerned the direct relations between labor and capital, little cane to labor by gift—almost everything had to be fought fbr.' It was the'trades unions that gradually built op ' minimum wage standards, agreed limitation of boats and improvement of Working conditions...

...Bet if the modern trades union movement owes something in that sense to its close association in the Labor Party with Socialist thinkers and politicians, it is quite certain that the political side owes an enormous debt to the trades unions and their wise end realistic leadership...

...Moreover, as Mr...

...How can we get a party, of this kind...

...Who suffers most when plsets are sat on part-time or closed down, when whole towns are put est of action and entire industries half throttled...

...By the very nature of its own function and form of activity the trades union movement has a practical, realistic approach to political questions...

...plenty of determination, and certainly plenty of youth...

...For quite a number of years after the two sides began to work together, it was thought to be a wise role to hasten slowly in the matter of propounding Socialist policies...

...What the trades union movement wants...

...and lastly, punch—s liveliness ef approach, a quality of ' resolution and personality, a seams ef knowing where one's going sad leasing to get there...

...Here is a quastka absolutely fundamental to the future progress and eea> perity of the organised working class—a question which eat-not be solved by industrial action alone but needs a ansa program of political development Indeed the trades union will be deeply interested in the success of that program...

...the public goto sa its guard ssd begins u sah itself "Should those words be translated Monopoly, Ring, Restriction Group...

...e • e IN my judgment the real post-war issue, the real question * on which the Labor Party, will be well advised to be formulating its own policy and setting about its work of public education, it the great issue of the relation between i the state and industry...

...The history of the industrial side, on the other hand, is one of definite and practical achievement within the limits of the industrial field...

...f MOW, if the trades unions want a labor movement well * * equipped to carry forward the cause of social progress with which the future of the working class is bound up, then they want what I believe the country wants and needs too...

...Mot that nineteenth century industrial achievements...

...They kste that private monopoly and full employment ere like oik ant water—they don't mix...

...of expanding natfamnl wealth and s policy •< ta ' m , ;-e e VW wfll remember that tile Bevwridge Report is >a*ed m * three assumptions...

...It helped the political movement to keep its programs sad policies closely geared to concrete realities...

...This issue is one upon which I believe the trades najm movement itself has a great part to play...

...Over a very roasts** able part of the economic field there won't be genuine shahs enterprise in the old sense—or sny prospect of it...

...They ore led by men highly skilled in the subjects with which they have to deal, snd those subjects in one way and another caver a very large part of the field of social snd economic policy...

...We have to keep rubbing in the fact that between the wars Britain was drifting towards a form of organisation that was thoroughly bad...

...Most of the steps which they took in their move up from the depths of poverty and oppression represented trades union victories in bitterly fought industrial contests...

...Ia this article eae of the foremost leaders of British Labor traces the evolution ef British Labor ia relation to the pressing problems ef post-war reconstruction...

...It made the running and was considerably ahead of other political forces in its ideas and in readiness to apply them...

...Bat I say quite frankly that ha my view, that ia so / longer the hag sod almost the only controversial issue, last because it isn't important but becanac public opinion and opinion ia other parties is increasingly catching up with as...

...A few generations ago the trades union leader was in the best sense of the word an agitator...

...The nine years frees 1931 to 1940 may well go down <j to history as "the little-minded years...

...That is absolutely right But let the Labor Party take note of s chsnge that is coming over the situation in that regard...

...It most be the Labor Party's business to extent is aa a sham For some time to come after the war -wad t don't mean only the so called transition period when »» still in a state of economic emergency, but a period sffMrn than that—the real practical issue in Britain wfirl nets, the maintenance of private enterprise...

...The difference between the two parties now is one of function, not of status...

...If we don't face it squarely and est the country on to the right line, so ss to ensure that tht public interest be first in fact as well ss in words, we alt heading towards the end of working-class progress, ssj towards our country's decline into s miserable, comptamj* "Little Englandism...

...British Minister ef Home Security, in tins article seat to The New Leader, focuses attention on the central issue of this past decade: "the great issue ef the relation between industry and state...

...plenty of brains and go...

...On the contrary, the Trades Unions are fully alive to the fact that wide political issues are involved in the true welfare of their memberships not only issues pf social policy but of industrial organization and international politics...

...Those are the things we need snd there's no reason on earth why we shouldn't have them—all three...

...Morrison points out, the vital post-war aim of fall-employment snd the ambitions of private monopoly are oil and water—they cannot mix...

...rv...

...This industrial power, unbridled asd unchecked can lead to restrictions snd damps on the functioning ef democracy fox Britain...

...Certainly tht philosophy of monopoly may offer to s limited number ef work people some relative stability of employment at a restively satisfactory wage...

...It must Be the dety ef the Labor Party te erits these facta home to the whole population so that evJT time anyone SMinltnns tike word "Federation- or - w ciation...

...werktagrtprogram which Wall kelp to trasstate ear So-ciaflst earned bate sctisn along sheas whack the progressive, i immnssraai people ef the cosstty will ¦¦assetasd and accept: plenty of food eamsBiatos...

...Of course the labor movement, close as it is to the sentiments and the needs of working people, will always be in a special sense the exponent and advocate of policies of social welfare...

...Every ounce ef its character aa a genuine working-class movement weald he» drained or beaten eat of it And the trades unions know it As their wsr-t me poliej shows, they are both realistic snd far-sighted...

...government in industry whidHBslly means the 'region at industrial monopolies from a^H cdhtroi...

...Whet her such a party is in office or in opposition at any given mom eat does not matter in a long-term sense...

...Anyone who has token part in conferences between employers and trades union representatives knows that there is now no trace of the difference of "status that was associated with the semi-feudal ideas of the nineteenth century...

...Children's allowances which wf iaag I believe get, s comprehensive health,scheme whicr I aha believe we shall get, snd a policy of full employme-t we stay get But if we don't get it Beveridge and » wkda lot of ether things will in the end go down the drain, fit only way we shall get it is by turning our bsclc* on fin philosophy of restriction, prices, of ao-cal,ed aatf...