British Labor Bids for Power

Front matter

The Historic Scarboro Conference of the Trades Union Congress

by SCOTT NEARING

SOCIAL SCIENCE PUBLISHERS 7 West 106th Sreet New York City

Chapter 1: Making Labor History

BRITISH LABOR BIDS FOR POWER

1. Making Labor History

During the mine crisis of July, 1925, British Transport Workers and Railway Workers stood solid with the Miners. Labor strategy, throughout the period, was determined by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress. British Labor, showing a solid front to British Capital and to the British Government, won its point in the face of as difficult an economic situation as recent times have produced. The success gave the whole British Labor Movement a new sense of the power that comes with Trade Union Unity.

Neither the leaders of British Labor nor the members of the rank and file have any illusions about the 1925 coal settlement. The issue was not met. It was merely postponed until May, 1926. But the episode tested the new Trade Union machinery set up by the Hull Congress in 1924, and the workers feel that, both in the coal dispute and in the woolen textile dispute which occurred at the same time, the machine stood the test.

British Labor won a breathing spell in July, 1925—not a victory. Conversations among workers, speeches at public meetings and articles in the labor press are filled with the warning: "Next May!" It is in May that the coal subsidy comes to an end, and the issue between miners and mine owners over a wage reduction will really be fought out. Meanwhile unemployment mounts and wage reductions continue in other trades.

British workers face a real issue. Leaders and members of the rank and file alike realize this. All are preparing to meet it, and on a national and international scale.

British Labor's executive and administrative machinery is centralized in the General Council of the Trades Union Congress. Organized in 1868 as an annual meeting of delegates from Trade Unions, with a Parliamentary (or executive) Committee, very limited in authority, dating from 1869, the Trades Union Congress has developed until it is now the recognized centre of Trade Union authority in Great Britain. Its General Council, organized in 1921, and vested with extensive powers in 1924, is rapidly becoming the General Staff of the British Trade Union Movement. It was the General Council that handled the coal and the woolen textile disputes in July, 1925; it was the General Council that engineered the Russian Trade Union Delegation and issued the Report on Russia that has gone all over the world in the past twelve months; it was the General Council that carried on such insistent negotiations for Trade Union Unity, through 1924, against the stubborn opposition of Oudegeest, Jouhaux, Mertens, and other Amsterdam officials; it is the General Council that is expected to formulate and direct Trade Union policy when the crisis comes in May, 1926.

Chapter 2: Labor Statesmanship

2. Labor Statesmanship

Preparation for the coming struggle sounded through every session of the Trades Union Congress which met in Scarboro on September 7, 1925. During the previous session of the Congress at Hull, in 1924, extended powers had been given to the General Council. These powers had been put to excellent use the following July. Other struggles impended. Officials and delegates alike showed an eagerness to meet them.

More significant, perhaps, than any other single event of the Congress week was the opening address of the President, A. B. Swales (Amalgamated Engineering Union). President Swales is a trade unionist of long standing; he represents one of the most important of the national unions; for many years he has been looked upon as one of the "moderates" in the movement; he may fairly be said to speak for British Trade Union middle-ground opinion. Regarded from this background, his speech was doubly significant. It undoubtedly presents the point of view held by very large numbers of British Trade Union members at the present moment. Following are the main sections of the address:

Chapter 3: One Hundred Years of Progress

3. One Hundred Years of Progress

"Last year our movement celebrated the 100th year of our Industrial Charter. In the year 1824 the great Act of Liberation took place, and during the succeeding 100 years the best men and women that any movement has known have contributed to the building up of our movement as we know it to-day. Not only in Britain but in every country where the Trade Union Movement is now established the memory of the men and women who struggled to establish the Industrial Movement should be held in honour. They handed on to us a goodly heritage.

"When we last met, our colleagues of the political side of our movement were administering the machinery of government. As was truthfully predicted as being within the bounds of possibility by last year's President of Congress, 'the full and complete ratification of the Treaty with Russia' decided the fate of the Labour Government. Within two months of our dispersal from the last Congress, the Labour Government fell. After a vigorous campaign, in which Mr. Baldwin's friends produced 'red' bogies, 'red' in tooth and claw, brandishing a forged 'red' letter from Moscow, our Party lost some seats, but returned 161 Members to continue the fight at Westminster.

Chapter 4: Trade Union Sacrifices

4. Trade Union Sacrifices

"During the past twelve months economic and social conditions in this country have become increasingly serious. The working people have been called upon to make enormous sacrifices during the period of depressed trade, and have been unable to withstand all the encroachments of the employers upon Trade Union standards of wages and working conditions. The extent of working-class sacrifice since the economic slump began at the end of 1920 is not, I believe, generally realised by the country at large. Wage cuts totalling in the aggregate many hundreds of millions of purchasing power have been imposed upon the workers. In addition the Trade Unions have borne a dead-weight burden in the form of abnormal unemployment, which has depleted their financial reserves, and with a falling membership the yearly income of the unions has been substantially reduced. It is a wonderful tribute to the strength and solidarity of the Industrial Movement that it has sustained these burdens so well. Nothing but wisdom and prudence in the leaders and loyalty and devotion in the rank and file could enable the Trade Union Movement to come through a period of such unparalleled crisis with its essential unity unimpaired, its organisation fundamentally sound, and its future uncompromised. Fellow delegates, I make bold to say that the organised workers we represent have given in the last four years an impressive demonstration to the whole world of their unity of purpose, their capacity to make sacrifices for the cause in which they believe, and of their determination to maintain the industrial organisation they have built up. We are proud of our movement, and I believe we are entitled to take pride in its achievements, not the least remarkable of which has been its ability to weather the storm of the last few years and to confront with unbroken spirit and resolute will the powerfully organised forces of capitalism. Let the employers who think the organised working class can be driven still further back take warning from this, This movement of ours has learned many lessons during these years of reaction engineered by the employers, and one of the lessons is that a militant and progressive policy, consistently and steadily pursued, is the only policy that will unify, consolidate, and inspire our rank and file. When economic conditions forced the unions to assume a defensive attitude, the employers did not hesitate to take advantage of their stronger position, and they are still plotting and planning to undermine Trade Union standards. But there is a limit to the concessions the unions can be forced to make. That limit has been reached. Union policy henceforth will be to recover lost ground, to re-establish and improve our standards of wages, hours, and working conditions, and to co-ordinate and intensify Trade Union action for the winning of a larger measure of control in industry for the workers. And this policy renders necessary a greater degree of Trade Union unity.

Chapter 5: Miners, Textile, and Trade Union Solidarity

5. Miners, Textile, and Trade Union Solidarity

"The demonstration of Trade Union solidarity connected with the miners' struggle, a month ago, has given hope to the whole movement. The result will strengthen every section of working class organisation and help the unions to become 100 per cent. organised. That must be our aim.

"Those of us who were privileged to share in the victory and who helped to rally the forces of Trade Unionism behind the miners, lived a glorious week—one that will ever be remembered. It was historical.

"As we marshalled our forces, day by day, to meet the pending attack of the representatives of capitalism, the response of all sections to defend the standard of wages and hours was most gratifying.

"It must be our work to harness that spirit to our organising work, and weave it into the fabric and structure of the Trade Union Movement of the future. The capitalist class will learn lessons from this skirmish, and will use their great influences in present day society to compel a retreat.

"Congress must give to the General Council full powers to create the necessary machinery to combat every movement by our opponents. It was to that end that the General Council asked for greater powers to deal with industrial developments at Southport Congress in 1922, and though our claim was rejected, Congress gave more powers, though limited, at Hull last year. The miners asked the General Council to use those powers, and I think we can claim the result has been most encouraging, and justify me, as your President, in requesting that each organisation should give serious consideration to its constitution.

"Constitutions should be made flexible enough to respond readily to any calls made in the interests of the whole movement.

"The coming year should remove all these difficulties, and next Congress should be ready to pass in concrete form machinery which establishes the General Council of the Trades Union Congress as the central controlling and directing body of the British Trade Union Movement on all large issues.

"The miners' respite, gained under the difficult circumstances with which the General Council had to contend, has brought the position clearly into view, and we would be lacking in our duty to Congress if we failed to make the position quite plain.

"Similarly, in the case of the lock-out of textile workers, the General Council were instrumental in assisting the unions to resist effectively the most insistent attempts of the employers to force the men back to work at reduced wages. Occurring at the period when the mining crisis was at its most critical stage, the textile lock-out did not command the public attention it ordinarily would have done, but here, just as in the mining dispute, the General Council worked assiduously to strengthen and consolidate the forces of the workers.

"Our Movement cannot stand still. One hundred years of experience has taught us that neither our structure nor our methods can remain static, and that breadth of vision, responsiveness of mind, and a readiness to make necessary changes are imperative if the prestige and power of the Trade Union Movement is to be maintained and strengthened.

"Through a period of great difficulty and intense activity, the General Council have endeavoured to pursue a policy which is both soundly constructive and steadily progressive, and which they believe is in close conformity with the best interests of the great Trade Union Movement.

"I am confident that that policy as here expounded is one that merits and will receive the full and cordial confidence of the organised workers.

Chapter 6: Industrial Organisation

6. Industrial Organisation

"During the year the General Council, among many other questions, have considered industrial organisation. I am inclined to believe that the extent to which unification is taking place is not appreciated by many of our members. What has been the general trend of affairs in pursuit of this policy of unification? The answer is provided by the fact that, whereas the number of distinct societies has decreased since the beginning of the Great War, the membership represented by the smaller number of unions has, despite our losses, more than doubled. The Registrar of Friendly Societies states that since 1920 alone the number of separate unions has decreased by more than 15 per cent.

"This consolidation is most marked among the General Workers' Unions, who were formerly in a multiplicity of small, sectional, and local organisations. To-day over a million of these workers are banded together in three big unions.

"Then we have the Union of Postal Workers, which has brought together under one banner and one Executive nearly all the employees of the postal services.

"We have also the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, representing the various sectional societies with a member- ship that runs into hundreds of thousands.

"The textile and woollen industries of Lancashire and Yorkshire, though retaining their individual autonomy, are associated in a Federation covering 45 unions.

"In the building trade both amalgamation and federation have taken place, and carpenters, joiners, cabinet makers, and woodworkers have been brought together. The same applies to painters and to builders' labourers.

"Likewise in the foundry trades, ironfounders, coremakers, and other workers organised in their separate societies have been brought together under the National Federation of Foundry Trades, with a collective membership of over 50,000 members.

"In the engineering trade much has been done to bring all classes of craftsmen to a line of common agreement, but I would not suggest for a moment that the maximum in this direction has yet been accomplished. At the same time, we have formed an Amalgamated Engineering Union with close upon a quarter of a million members, and with a bargaining power that is far more potent than that previously exercised by its numerous smaller constituent bodies.

"In the same way we are experiencing a gradual closing of the ranks among other classes of workers, and the General Council, through the efforts of their special sub-committees, are endeavoring to bring about further amalgamations, A feeling among the workers for greater unity is steadily growing, and we hope that before long we shall be able to report further developments along these lines. …

Chapter 7: Relations with Russia

7. Relations with Russia

"Following on the discussions and decisions of the Hull Congress last year, a deputation proceeded to Russia and made an inquiry into the development of that country under the present form of government, inaugurated since the close of the war. The report has received a very welcome acknowledgment, not only in our own country, but throughout the continent of Europe and in America. Fifty thousand copies have been struck off as a first issue to Germany. The report can be looked upon as the first text-book indicating the recovery of Russia from the evil effects of war and all its attendant evils, and showing how a Workers’ Republic is rising, Phoenix like, from the ashes of the most despotic regime of history.

"The delegation have brought to the light of public opinion a fund of information dealing with the political, industrial, social, and financial life of the Russian Soviet State. In this respect the delegation have helped the British Trade Union Movement, through Congress, to maintain the best traditions of British democracy in rendering service to the development of working-class organisation, irrespective of creed, colour, or country.

"It is to be regretted that the defeat of the Labour Government resulted in the negation of the Trade Treaty which had for its object the granting of credits to Russia to enable her to come into the British market for goods. While conscious that the establishment of full trading relations with Russia would not solve our unemployed problem, we have sufficient evidence to show that the removal of political prejudices would improve the possibilities of private firms doing business with the Soviet Republic.

Chapter 8: Attacks on Russia

8. Attacks on Russia

"In directing the attention of the present Government to Congress resolutions passed at Hull last year, we met with opposition which did not encourage us to expect any improvement in the political relationship. The present Government has shown real hatred and hostility to Russia. In view of the present position due to unemployment this attitude is very serious. Many of our foreign competitors are now manufacturing for themselves the goods they used to buy from us. Russia, however, is eager to buy our manufactured goods if credits can be arranged. These can be provided under the Trades Facilities Act and the Overseas Credit Act. There still remain many millions of pounds of money voted by Parliament. Further, the amount can be increased by Parliament at short notice. Legislatively, the Acts are applicable to every country in the world, but the President of the Board of Trade has administrative power to preclude any country. It is interesting to note that at present Russia is the only country debarred from the benefits of these Acts.

"In view of the serious position of my own industry, i. e., engineering, it is of interest to note that the attitude of the Government prevents our employers from participating in the order indicated by Mr. Rakovsky (London Charge d'Affaires of the Soviet Union) in the Soviet Trade Supplement in May, 1925. He stated that Russia could utilise immediately credits to the extent of £90,000,00, and that large sums would be expended in the purchase of agricultural machinery, timber-cutting machinery, turbines, motors, boilers, machines, pipes, oil tanks, etc., etc.

"An order of this character would give employment to our unemployed members, who in turn would give employment to the industries supplying the goods necessary for our home market.

"Russia's total trade turnover from this country has steadily grown during the past four years from £6,086,000 in 1921 to £31,172,781 in 1924, and in no single case have the Russian trade organisations defaulted.

"That political prejudice is responsible is shown by the fact that Finland, Esthonia, Latvia, Lithuania, which were part of the old Russian Empire, and portions of what are now Poland and Roumania, which formed part of pre-war Russia, all enjoy the benefits of the Acts.

"We must bring all the pressure of our movement to bear upon the Government, for Russia is a potential customer, with a developing country, whose demands will expand. She is securing markets elsewhere, and Great Britain is in danger of finding herself left outside the demands of this great and growing country.

Chapter 9: India

9. India

"We have watched with much interest the struggles of the Indian workers in seeking to improve their political and industrial status. We have noted the steady growth of their Trade Union Movement and the demand of the Indian Trades Union Congress for the power to be extended to their Trade Union Movement to dispose of their funds as they please, a power denied them under the Indian Trade Union Bill. The British movement joins with them in demanding political freedom and the right of self-determination, voiced in this country on many occasions, along with a measure of franchise covering a large number of people of the depressed classes and of factory workers. We support them in their fight for the fullest right to organise in Trade Unions, and of the industrial workers to develop their trades organisation to enable them to bargain with their employers upon a basis of equality. The conditions under which the workers of India are employed call for the goodwill and hearty support of all their efforts for improvement. The wages paid to textile workers, miners, railwaymen, and other industrial workers, with their long hours of labour, have been voiced at our Congresses for some years, and are admitted to be a disgrace to any responsible Government or body of employers. We must help them to demand the right of combination and such measures as their representatives consider necessary as they work their way from the present slavish conditions to a higher standard of life. In recent years our mechanics have been busy manufacturing machinery for the textile factories of India, and the capitalists, who know no country, have used British made machinery and British capital and British management, which under-cut our Lancashire producers, and then quite calmly talk of being unable to compete with the 'foreign labour' and lower standards of India. In the interest of our own industrial workers we must help in any and every direction the Indian workers in their political and industrial struggles.

Chapter 10: China

10. China

"The whole British Trade Union Movement must rejoice at the revolt of the Chinese workers against the degrading conditions which have been made public during the past few months. There appears to be a repetition of the methods used in Great Britain by the employers over 100 years ago, when the workhouses were the recruiting ground for cheap labour, by the employment of little children. The whole Labour Movement was shocked to learn that under British rule little children are farmed out from their parents to employers at one to two Mexican dollars per month, i. e., from 2s. to 4s. per month, and are worked as long as 16 hours per day. These children often fall asleep at their work and many of them die young. Workers' wages range from 16s. to 80s. per month. The factories are mainly owned by British and Japanese.

"Attempts to form Trade Unions have met with similar treatment as was experienced in this country before the repeal of the Combination Acts in 1824, Meetings were broken up, the books destroyed, the officials interfered with under a policy of repression. These methods, together with the facts that the Chinese are denied any franchise in their most important towns and ports, being governed by the foreigner within their gates, local laws, taxes, etc., being imposed upon the Chinese people, who are denied a voice in their own local affairs, led inevitably to the revolt, which was fired by the killing of a Chinese workman by a Japanese foreman. Then followed the application of British Imperialist methods, viz., gunboats and armed forces, with the consequent shedding of blood.

"It is a significant reply to the British Government and their talk of protection of life and property that the Commission of Inquiry of the Diplomatic Corps at Pekin, which investigated the disturbances at Shanghai on May 30th, 1925, in their report recommended that the chairman of the Municipal Council at Shanghai, an American, should be censured and the British Chief of Police should be dismissed.

"I think Congress will agree with the General Council making it quite plain to the Government and the whole world that, being conscious of the fact that our British movement has won its way from such conditions of slavery as are being imposed in China to our present comparative or limited freedom, we are prepared, on behalf of the British Trade Union Movement, to raise our voice in condemnation of the atrocities committed by the British and other employers in China, and in wishing the Chinese people every success in their struggles against the employing and imperialist class in their country.

"The General Council, acting on instructions from the Hull Congress, have started upon an inquiry into conditions in Eastern countries, and hope to report to the movement the result of their investigations for consideration within the next few months.

Chapter 11: International Trade Union Unity

11. International Trade Union Unity

"Following upon the discussions at Congress last year in relation to International Trade Union Unity, and arising from which the General Council were instructed to take all possible steps to bring the parties together, I express regret that the desire of the Congress to secure more unity in the International Trade Union Movement has not yet been fully realised.

"No effort has been spared by the General Council to bring the parties together. The result of these efforts is embodied in the General Council Report. Acting in a mediatory capacity, by consultation with representatives of the All-Russian Trade Unions, an interchange of opinions again opened the way for discussion between the International Federation of Trade Unions and the Russian unions' representatives. In the opinion of the General Council, the Russian representatives showed an inclination and genuine desire to find agreement and a place inside the International Federation of Trade Unions.

"Though the door appeared to be closed owing to misunderstandings, at the request of and on the advice of the British representatives the Russian representatives offered to meet representatives of the I.F.T.U. in a conference to enable both sides to talk over existing difficulties. As a preliminary, Russian representatives agreed to a constitution similar to that of the I.F.T.U. The difference between the two parties appears to the General Council to be so small and their responsibilities to the whole Trade Union Movement so serious that, in my judgment, a very great disservice is being perpetuated by the parties being kept apart one moment longer than is absolutely necessary. The General Council having been charged by Congress to deal with this question and bring it to a successful issue, can do no more than report to Congress upon the present position.

"We note with regret that the Press has taken a hand, along with some of our friends, in challenging our right to continue these negotiations. We have never had a doubt that we were fully meeting your wishes in holding open the door to negotiations between Moscow and Amsterdam, and I feel sure our mediatorial efforts will ultimately meet with success. I can conceive of no greater blunder and disservice to the movement than that of raking up all the nasty and bitter statements that have been made during the past four to five years and trying to breathe new life into, and fan into flame, the hatreds arising from war conditions. There is now a new atmosphere, and it is our duty to bend all our energies to the reconstruction of the International Trade Union Movement on the basis of toleration, mutual understanding, and unity of purpose.

"We are told in some quarters that we are giving too much time to our Russian comrades, but does not every member who is desirous of establishing a world-wide international movement perceive the immense stride forward that would be made by bringing in six and a-half millions of organised workers? With these workers within the International the smaller nations would feel it imperative to link up.

"Already there are indications that the smaller countries are taking a new outlook.

"There are surely signs over the whole field of industry which indicate that vast and revolutionary changes must take place in industrial structure to meet the changed conditions. Men and women are not going to remain content with a condition of society which condemns millions of human beings to want the necessaries of life, while as a result of education and knowledge they know too well and see quite clearly that nature in its bounteousness can supply all their legitimate needs by the proper organisation of society upon a basis of collective ownership.

"Crowns have fallen and plutocratie Governments are being displaced by Workers' Republics and representatives of the people.

"It is imperative that we shall have a clear understanding with the Trade Unions throughout the world. A step in that direction is to strengthen and bring into the International Federation of Trade Unions all the countries of Europe, and the work of your General Council during the year will be looked back to in years to come as contributing to the building up of an effective international organisation.

Chapter 12: The Workers' Wage Sacrifices

12. The Workers' Wage Sacrifices

"From time to time the workers have been faced with demands for reductions in wages to encourage improvement in trade. As a result huge sums have been surrendered, amounting in the aggregate since 1923 to the enormous sum of £556,400,000 per year. I am inclined to believe that the extent to which the workers have conceded wages to help industry to revive is not fully realised.

"In the year 1921 there was a wage cut amounting to £6,000,000 in the weekly full-time wages of some seven and a-quarter million wage earners. In the following year, 1922, there was a further reduction amounting to £4,200,000 a week affecting some seven and a-half million, and in 1923 another cut of close upon half-a-million a week, which was sustained by three million workers. Nor did the downward tendency of wages end there. It has been going on in 1924 and 1925, and it is estimated by the experts that the National Wages Bill has been reduced by practically one-half since 1920.

"Instead of trade improving, the figures quoted show unemployment is again increasing. So far from improving trade, the loss of this spending power has helped considerably to destroy the home market. Every branch of the trades and industries supplying the home is necessarily affected by the loss of purchasing power by these successive cuts.

"The workpeople can claim to have rendered unto Cæsar that which he has demanded, but we still have the alarming figures showing the extent of unemployment in spite of the wages reductions indicated.

"Contrast the position of the wage-earner with the investor of capital. Figures show that 1,411 companies, after payment of debenture interest, distributed profits as follows: In 1928, £130,759,424; in 1924, £139,362,273; an increase of £8,602,849. There was a total return to capital invested in these 1,411 companies in a single year of more than £110,250,000.

"The average rate of net profits being about 10 per cent., the investor in these companies gets his capital back in profits every ten years.

"While wage-earners suffer reductions, the banking accounts of directors and employers increase, as the following figures show: In 1918–19 the receipts from super-tax were £35,500,000; in 1923–24, £62,500,000; an increase of £27,000,000.

"In 1918–19 the receipts from death duties were £30,750,000; in 1923–24, £59,500,000, almost double, and being an increase of £29,250,000.

"We are reminded of Oliver Goldsmith's lines:—