The British Experiment
Scheu, Friedrich
The British Experiment labor Government Tackles Nationalization. Reconversion Problems By Friedrich Scheu New Leader London Crrespondent THE British Experiment is under way The sew I'arlLement...
...Reconversion Problems By Friedrich Scheu New Leader London Crrespondent THE British Experiment is under way The sew I'arlLement hm ,to/ted its first legislative inssiin...
...What is new hi that ha eaae of a crisis, of a real ceelirt of interest between the Government and the City (the English equivalent of Wall Street), the policy ef the Hank will be decided in the last resort not by a group of shareholders but by the State...
...There will be little change in the Bank's normal activities...
...Labor Minister George Isaacs' promise to have 3.000,000 men and women (out of a total United Kingdom force of over 5,000,000) demobilized by June 30, 1946, has somewhat cleared the air...
...At the end of SO years the Government wul ess* the right to redeem the stock St its nominal value...
...This is a step towards a joint control of industry by tripartite bodies...
...He has appointed "working parties" to make proposals for the reorganization and modernization of certain key industries--the cotton, pottery, hosiery industries...
...Three days ago the building workers engaged on bomb repairs in London downed their tools for an afternoon, assembled in Hyde Park and marched to the Ministry of Health in the Whitehall government quarter...
...His father waa killed in the first Woi Id War, leaving a widow with eight children...
...What will tht worktrt of th* prohibited induetrie* tfi> in Ihe mean timet Thue the result of the resettlement proposed by Morgenthsu would be the impoverishment of millions of new fanners...
...The Bill ia interesting because it gives ta insight into the methods which the I^bw government are likely ta use in adwr cases...
...John Hynd is a name to remember...
...The now Department is in charge of John Itynd, 48-year-old Scots railroad clerk, who is s member of the Labor Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The "Chancellor of the Duchy" ia not exactly a Minister without Portfolio...
...As the Bank has paid an arrrage dividend of 12 percent Uiii ¦nana that the shareholders will get deck at a nominal value four times as high Us their share capital...
...Each 'working party" consists of an equal number of representatives of the workers and the managements, and a number of government representatives, engineers, scientists and the like, under a government official as chairman...
...Curtailment of consumption must result...
...Dock workers are striking in a number of British porta...
...Even more important is the decision to continue and expand the wartime "regional organization" of industry, formerly under the (now defunct) Ministry of Production...
...But tin: Minister holding this job is usually principally concerned with special duties assigned to him by tho Government Hynd has until now acted as a British liaison man with UNNRA...
...For this purpose Britain was divided into eleven Regions, each under a Regional Commissioner...
...The building workers can no longer work overtime...
...This means that the days are shorter...
...tk* Labee Government ha* iatre-jjr-i ita first Socialist Hill that <•* y^^.ity the Baak er England...
...At .irst the owners resisted...
...It gives the ¦Ink of England the right to collect in-frrmstion from the other banks, to make "eommendations to them and, if tho frfweury requires It, directions...
...In 1944 he was elected to Parliament...
...Even with all that taken into consideration, an Increase ef 6 to 8 percent of the total agricultural production seems the limit ultimately attainable from this source...
...Later he became a railway clerk and an official of his trade union...
...Within the borders sgreed upon at Potsdam, there will he about 1.14.tot square miles, with a popula-tiM of a boat 7A.MO.0M...
...It is revealed that the 17,000 shareholders of the Bank of England will get fererneseat stock at 3 percent interest, far the next 80 years they will receive a tied ansa of interest each year calculated ta equal the average dividend they have received from the Bank during the iast 10 years...
...It is characteristic **»t the Government considers it neces-JJ*I to insert this clause mto the Bill...
...This organization which in the war dealt with armaments only will now include most industries...
...Doaasark had 22* The Potsdam aoctaeesni raise Germany's aesnatty ef population te that ef the United Kkog-does, 449 persona per aamare mile In 19S7...
...equally significant that thit it th* one clause which tkt Con*ir*ativt* are esfferi...
...The expanding of the present land in agricultural use by improving wasteland and deforestation may turn out a more important source of additional production than the farms on the former estate land, provided the little matter of coat is entirely disregarded...
...He will now have ?400 in stork and receive S percent interest: emWtf...
...The strikes are "unofficial" and were started againat the will of the i"LMilar trade union officials...
...or f 15 per square mile...
...Minister for Commerce and Industry) Sir Stafford Cripps has introduced two important measures...
...It ia onscially proclaims I dart the Bill creates no precedent, and that the earners of concerns less ethci catly managed than the Bank may get Jan compensation...
...Meanwhile the Bank will pay the Stats each year a sum out of its profits sufficient to mane the State to pay tho I percent interest The ssosias Board of Directors is «» he replaced by a new Board ep-jMtinted by the Government But it is expected that Lord Catto, the Scottish financier who last year succeeded the famene Montague Norman as Governor, will retain his job under tho Treasury...
...atiacfcinj...
...He also helped to build the workers' educational move— m-ot When he found time to attend evening classes in French he discovered h« already knew moat of what waa taught there...
...It creates a territorial network while the working parties spsn Britain industry by industry...
...Imagine Brit.in importing all products ef heavy Industry aad exporting farm predaets...
...When the prewar level of production is reached Germany Is likely to have more people to feed...
...Though he is not yet well-known to the public at large, it may be that Attlee made one of his beat appointments when he put the problem of the reconstruction of Germany into the hands of the young "Chancellor of the Duchy...
...Meanwhile the Government, anxious not to let reconversion degenerate into a struggle of every man for himself, has kept a firm hand on the controls...
...There are rumblings in other trades...
...They want their loss made up by a wage increase...
...The man witfc *100 in shares used to get a diviand of 412...
...Still, It is a significant beginning...
...Csocboslovahia, with a fairly well-developed heavy industry, had 291 persons per square mile la 1M7...
...The City's first line of defense, the Bank of England, has fallen, the elections have decided that But the Conservatives defend mora bitterly their second defense line, the private banking corporations...
...There are signs of widespread dissatisfaction shout the tempo of demobilization...
...No compensation would be made for the losses suffered by the destruction of heavy industry...
...Provided adequate outlets for animal products are available, these farms may ultimately *after many years—exceed that level...
...He spent his evenings reading books from the public library, particularly language self-educators...
...Tho *»nk of England and the great joint-¦*** banks have In the past worked in eloseet friendship...
...However, a 20 percent increase in value of the product per acre over that obtained from the same land by the large landowners is the limit...
...This means that the Government may have to pay a lump •ass of about *»,000,000 ($232,000,000...
...Its committees will, however, have only advisory powers...
...He Is one of the hopes of international Socialism...
...The demand for the goods and services of light industries would not l>.- improved by this migraton to the land...
...Though he can be called a left-winger, he Is not asaoeiated with any >f the left-wing cliques...
...John Hynd PrIME MINISTER ATTLEE has established a new Government Office to deal with the administration of the British Occupation Zone in Germany and Austria...
...A wave of strikes is sweeping the country...
...Reconversion and ihe Strike Wave T IHE change-over to peace conditions in Britain is as full of problems aa elsewhere...
...it has always worked in close cooperation with the Government...
...So he learned German instead...
...Exports of food from niicli a densely populated country cannot be seriously considered...
...There they lodged their protest against the loss of wages caused by Britain's return to ordinary Greenwich Mean Time...
...25,000,000 Germans Too Many a great shortage of capital, especially livestck, and would not be able to produce as much as the large firms did...
...As President of the Board of Trade (i.e...
...But they have finally agreed to join these "working parties...
...In a mistaken attempt to return to normality the Government re-introdneed Greenwich Time...
...So John at 13 became a butchers' errand boy...
...And the Government is already trying to breach this aeeond line...
...All during the war Summer Time had been observed during the Winter to increase the number of daylight working hours...
...of hew to compensate the .-« areeriated capitalists are not clear...
...The inevitable conclusion, that there is no room in the agricultural economy oi Potsdam Geraaeny for 25,M0.M» new rural dwellers, or even for I :>.ooo.OOO...
...This work waa formerly shared between the War Office and the Foreign Office...
...ran be reached froas another angle...
...Migration or no migration, Potsdam Germany will produce less food for many years than was produced l>«fre the war...
...He is responsible for the a-l ministration and surveying of certain Crown Estates in England...
...Farmers on deforested land may also need subsidies for yean—to compensate for the low fertility of the soil...
...In each region meetings of the workers, management and government were convoked regularly to ileal with increase of munitions productions, to air grievances and discuss improvements...
...The majority of those formerly employed in heavy industry would he deprived of a means of livelihood...
...As this sum has to be paid by the taxpayer it will depend on the taxation system of 1965 bow far the capitalist class will have to finance its own ex-pro eriation...
...Bnt the general arise...
...During the war he made many broadcasts to the German workers maintaining a firm internationalist and progressive line...
...Slightly built and unassuming in manner, Hynd, through his linguistic abilities and his interest in foreign affairs, haa proven very useful to Britiah Labor...
...T»« ¦owners' Second Um of Defense [ThERE Is one clause in the new Bill which has created a stir...
...This would increase the total agricultural production of Germany by only 2 percent...
...What it comes te ia this: both Labor and Conaarvatirrs reckon with the possibility of a showdown between the Labor Government and the City, some time...
Vol. 28 • November 1945 • No. 44
