Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Editorial: What Is Lacking. (1918)

Editorial from the October 1918 issue of the Socialist Standard

Both at the Trades Union Congress and the Inter-Allied Conference the question of the war and its aims was discussed by the representatives of the workers organised in trade unions.

While the Defence of the Realm Act prevented a full and free discussion on the question, yet the debates, so far as published reports give us any information, were conducted on a level that showed a complete failure on the part of the delegates to grasp the actual situation of the working class in modern society, with the result that resolutions were accepted and passed that did not contain a single sentence voicing the real interests of the workers, or giving any clear guide for them to follow.

Thus at the Trade Union Congress Mr. Havelock Wilson led a small group in favour of the "Knockout blow" who are willing to shed the last drop of somebody else's blood to beat the Germans.

Colonel W. Thorne and Mr. B. Tillett were the spokesmen of a section who desire a "fight to the finish with Prussian Militarism"—in the meantime doing all they can to extend British Militarism.

Mr. J. H. Thomas and Mr. B. Turner carried the banner of the Party out for "Peace by Negotiation" —after the Germans are out of France and Belgium.

The two latter sections agreed upon a composite resolution, containing things neither side wanted, that Colonel Thorne in seconding said "was a great mistake." Mr. Wilson opposed it because no reference was made to Russia. In other words, he wishes the war to continue till the Allies can "annex" Russia as well as beat the Germans. His jibe against Thomas & Co. for "sitting on the fence" fell flat, as the other side sat there as well, and both Thorne and Tillett went to considerable lengths to explain how strongly they were in favour of peace. Minister G. H. Roberts pleaded for a unanimous vote for the resolution, pointing out that as it deferred "negotiations" till the Germans were out of France and Belgium, this obviously meant that Germany would have to be defeated before negotiations could begin. He then called upon the "negotiators" to state how they were going to give effect to their own resolution and assist in driving the Germans out of those two countries.

Now it was distinctly unkind to Mr. Wilson that the resolution should have been carried by a large majority. A large majority of the delegates had attended the free Lunch, with liberal supplies of champagne, that he had done so much in organising, and yet they failed to support him in open Congress.

The "Boycott" resolution met with a similar fate. A delegate of another seaman's union—Cotter, of the Ships' Stewards—stated his belief that Wilson's motive was a political, and not a sympathetic one. Robert Smillie pointed out that others besides Germans murdered British seamen and referred to Plimsoll's charge of "coffin ships," and Thomas gave an unkind cut by quoting from Wilson's own speech at the Conference of Firemen and Seamen held shortly after the sinking of the "Lusitania," where Wilson had opposed a similar resolution on the ground that the boycott would result in the replacement of British sailors by Germans after the war.

The resolution was shelved by the carrying the "Previous Question."

At the Inter-Allied Labour Conference a resolution was presented stating, among other things that the Conference recognizes :—
  "In this world war a conflict between autocratic and democratic institutions, the contest between the principles of self-development through free institutions and that of arbitrary control of government by groups or individuals for selfish ends. —"Daily Telegraph," Sept 9th, 1918.
The stock phrases of the Liberals here and the Democrats in America about "democratic institutions" is sheer cant. What are "democratic institutions"? We are not told. Now, if the phrase means anything, it surely is intended to convey that the majority of the people rule in society. Yet both in Britain and America millions of men have been forced into armies and navies to slaughter their fellow-workers by these ''democratic'' governments without the people being consulted in any way. Nay, more—the powers of D.O.R.A. and other Arts have been used to prevent any expression of opinion these governments did not wish to be spread over the country to a degree and in a manner quite equal in severity to that used by any "autocratic" government.

Mr. Kneeshaw, of the I.L.P., protested against the resolution, and stated that 
"the secret treaties of the Allied Governments made it clear that the purposes of the Allied Governments is the same as the Governments of the Central Powers,"—"Daily Telegraph," Sept. 21, 1918.
Will Mr. Kneeshaw, then, explain why he remains a member of an organisation whose M.P.'s have in some cases accepted jobs from the Government, and in all cases have voted for the war credits?

Kneeshaw's remarks, of course, drew forth protests from the supporters of the government like Sidney Webb, J. Sexton, and J. H. Thomas, the latter describing it as "a most unfortunate speech." Like his fellow-countryman Lloyd George, Mr. Thomas delights in trotting out old lies with an impressive air, as when he claimed to meet Kneeshaw's statement with "one cold hard fact," namely, that the British nation were not ready for war. By "British nation" Mr. Thomas, of course, means the "British Government," and that they were ready is proved by the fact that the British Navy bottled up the German Fleet and swept German commerce from the seas far more rapidly and much more effectively than the German army was able to progress in the warfare on land.

The great fact standing out in these conferences, and the resolutions passed, is the utter darkness in which the organised workers are groping about, a darkness due to their ignorance of their own place in society. Through the scores of years that the workers have been organising on the economic field to debate the price and conditions of the sale of their labour-power, despite the desperate struggles they have fought and the forces they have seen the masters use against them, they have clung to the stupid superstition that the real interests of the masters and the workers are the same, that it is only the "bad" masters who are responsible for the rotten conditions under which the workers live, and that if only all the masters became "good masters" and were satisfied with a "fair" profit, the world would be a haven of happiness for all.

It is this appalling ignorance, so carefully fostered and perpetuated by the agents of the master class in Press, pulpit, and on platform, that allows the master-class to continue their savage domination.

The workers must first study their own position in the modern world ; must ask themselves why, with powers of production growing at an enormous rate, with the workers slaving harder than ever, with women and children swept into the whirlpool of capitalist industry, their actual situation grows steadily worse, while the insecurity of life becomes more pronounced than ever. 

Right at their own door will they find the answer. When a worker goes to work it is always for somebody else. Why ? Because he cannot obtain the raw material, cannot use the machinery, cannot carry out the processes or move the finished articles without the permission of someone else. When the worker looks around he can see the fact existing in every branch of production and distribution. The general situation thus revealed is that in society the section who perform all the work— useful or other—are shut out from any control of the means of producing wealth, that is, from the means of living itself. The other section, performing no necessary function in society, own and control these means of life. But if one section in society owns the means of life, the other section must necessarily be slaves to those owners.

And this is exactly the great essential fact the organised workers have failed to grasp. Once they do understand it the superstition of common interest between master and slave will be dropped, and taking its place will be the recognition of the fundamental and unbridgeable antagonism between the two classes while capitalism lasts. Then will the organised workers start to fight the master class in earnest and build their organisation upon a class basis instead of splitting up into crafts, industries, or any other anti-working-class division. Understanding also that the masters' centre of power rests in their control of the political machine, they will enter the ranks of the Socialist Party for the purpose of capturing political power from the masters and establishing Socialism in the place of slavery.

2 comments:

Imposs1904 said...

Hat tip to ALB for originally scanning this in.

That's October 1918 done and dusted.

Imposs1904 said...

At the time of writing - to the best of my knowledge - this is the list of completed Socialist Standards on the blog. It stops at the end of 1997 'cos the SPGB website was up and running in 1998:

September 1904
October 1904

February 1912
January 1913
September 1918
October 1918
November 1918
April 1919
May 1919
June 1919

January 1920
February 1920
March 1920
April 1920
May 1920
June 1920
July 1920
August 1920
September 1920
October 1920
November 1920
December 1920
January 1921
February 1921
March 1921
April 1921
May 1921
June 1921
July 1921
August 1921
September 1921
October 1921
November 1921
December 1921
January 1922
February 1922
March 1922
July 1922
January 1923
February 1923
April 1923
September 1923
January 1924
March 1924
June 1926
July 1927
December 1928
January 1929
February 1929
March 1929
April 1929 (tbd)
May 1929

March 1930
May 1930
January 1931
August 1931
September 1931
September 1932
May 1933
August 1934
December 1935
April 1936
June 1936 tbd
February 1937
April 1937
November 1937
April 1938
May 1938
May 1939
February 1939 (tbd)
December 1939

January 1940 (tbd)
July 1941
March 1942
January 1943
February 1943
March 1943
April 1943
May 1943
January 1944 (tbd)
May 1944
December 1944
January 1945
April 1945
December 1945 (tbd)
April 1946
December 1946
January 1947
February 1947
June 1947
July 1947
August 1947
October 1947

May 1950
April 1951
March 1952
June 1954
December 1956
May 1957 (tbd)
January 1958
March 1958
November 1958
December 1958
February 1959
March 1959
April 1959
May 1959
June 1959
December 1959

January 1960
March 1960
December 1960
May 1961
June 1961
July 1961
September 1961
April 1962
November 1962
May 1963
February 1964
March 1964
April 1964
December 1964
January 1965
February 1965
December 1965
January 1966
April 1966
June 1966
July 1966
December 1966
January 1967
February 1967
April 1967
August 1967
September 1967
November 1967 (tbd)
January 1968
February 1968
March 1968
April 1968
May 1968
June 1968
July 1968
August 1968
September 1968
October 1968
November 1968
December 1968
January 1969
February 1969
March 1969
April 1969
May 1969
June 1969
July 1969
August 1969
September 1969
October 1969
November 1969
December 1969


January 1970
February 1970
March 1970
April 1970
May 1970
June 1970
July 1970
August 1970 (tbd - see correction)
November 1970 (tbd)
December 1970
January 1971
February 1971
March 1971
April 1971
April 1972
May 1972
August 1972
January 1973
March 1973
April 1973
July 1973
November 1973
January 1974
April 1974 (tbd - see correction)
May 1974 (tbd)
November 1974
December 1974
January 1975
February 1975 (tbd - see correction)
December 1975
January 1976
April 1976
January 1978
February 1978
April 1978
May 1978
June 1978
December 1978 (tbd - see correction)
January 1979
February 1979
April 1979
May 1979
June 1979

January 1980
February 1980
March 1980
April 1980
May 1980
June 1980
July 1980
August 1980 (tbd )
September 1980 (tbd - see correction)
October 1980
November 1980
December 1980
January 1981
July 1981
August 1981
December 1981
January 1982 (tbd)
February 1982
March 1982
April 1982 (tbd - see correction)
May 1982
June 1982
April 1983
May 1983
November 1983
December 1983
January 1984
February 1984
April 1984
May 1984
July 1984
January 1985
February 1985
April 1985
July 1985
August 1985
November 1985
January 1986
February 1986
March 1986
April 1986
May 1986
January 1987
February 1987
March 1987
July 1987
August 1987
December 1987
January 1988
February 1988
March 1988
April 1988
August 1988
December 1988
October 1989
November 1989
December 1989

January 1990
February 1990
March 1990
April 1990
May 1990
December 1990
January 1991
March 1991
April 1991
May 1991
December 1991
April 1992
May 1992
July 1992
October 1992
November 1992
December 1992
January 1993
May 1993
January 1994
February 1994
March 1994
April 1994
October 1994
December 1994
January 1995
January 1996
February 1996
March 1996
April 1996
May 1996
August 1996
December 1996
January 1997
February 1997
March 1997
April 1997
May 1997
November 1997
December 1997