THE WORKMAN'S CLUB-UNION.
IF there is one thing more than another which disappoints those who are deeply interested in the working-men of England, it is their want of cohesiveness for smaller purposes. They have, thanks to the hard work of some of their modern leaders, out- grown the period when they would not combine at all without external force. A great idea, a burning grievance, will now drive them together,—aye, and keep them together. They have gained the conception that they are a claw, with common interests and objects, and on the basis of that unity they can combine without need of compression from without. But for objects of less mag- nitude they are still too like bits of wood collected into a faggot, which falls to pieces with the untying of the cord that bound it.
This want of cohesiveness is particularly apparent in connection with that most useful group of institutions, Workmen's Clubs. A certain number of these societies, the members of which are of a higher and more skilled type, find in classes and lectures strong enough bonds of union, To the energy, which leads them to seek for these classes and lectures as a prominent object of their association, they add an industry and self- denial which make the classes and lectures a success ; and these, in their turn, react to strengthen the institution in which they thrive. But the larger number of Clubs, unless they struggle to outbid the public - house by a similar gratification of the grosser tastes, after the first flush of enthusiasm has passed away, languish and decay, not because the members do not appreciate the comforts they provide, but because the desire for those comforts is not sufficiently strong to bind them long together. Those who have worked long among the ordinary class of labourers know how much their clients depend upon them, how helpless they are not only to originate new modes of action, new kinds of entertainment, new objects of common interest, but even to maintain the existing constitution of their society, or so much as enjoy by themselves the pleasures or comforts which they find there. If a club is successful among this class it is for the most part due to personal influence alone ; and that the club may continue, the personal influence must be in constant operation. This is a serious drag upon even the most energetic promoters of a club, who, nevertheless, are fully conscious that if they relax their efforts for a moment, their past work will be instantly undone, and the unconscionable stone will have to be rolled up the hill again.
This want of cohesiveness is not special to any class or nation in particular, it is but a part of the imperfect organisation which forms a stage in the development of every class and nation alike. Man is a social being,—se the old Spectator begins his essay upon Clubs, We might adopt the contradictory proposition for our text, for man is by nature an unsocial animal, and only developes his tendency towards combination in society, which is inborn in him without doubt, by slow and strenuous efforts, It is something when he has overcome the first mutual repulsive- ness at all. It is better still when, as we have said, he can unite at the bidding of an internal motive, and not merely in obedience to external force. But even then his organisation is far, from complete. Meanwhile we do not hold with those who would leave Nature wholly to herself, and forbear to encourage the working- classes to greater union, for fear such union should he premature. Nature may be helped in many ways without being injured in the process, and so the growth and development of a cines or nation may be fostered without impairing its healthiness or vigour. The whole question turns upon the manner in which Art interferes with Nature, education with natural development. If many children have been killed with too much kindness, many also have perished through neglect. if art has Suffered from patronage, how many artists would not a little timely patronage have saved I
The Workman's Club and Institute Union seems to have been happily designed for the purpose of giving just that aid and en- couragement to workingmen's societies which they stand in need
of, and which they can without injury receive. The Union forms a centre to which all clubs may turn for help and advice, and these its information and experience eminently fit it to bestow. TO A ilkesee clung:meet orrOuTfotrestreeesarpecessanns red ey '&trry no sense of overpowering patronage, to deaden individual energy or damp the independence of the men. Its library, extensive and well chosen, puts within the reach of poorer clubs, the entertainment which would otherwise be confined to those whose members are more numerous and more comfortably circumstanced. It originates a variety of amusements within and without the walls of its clubs, calculated to relieve the monotony of their programme and retain as members those who are not affected by any conscious zeal for education or self-improvement. Its journal, the weekly medium through which club knowledge and experience is communicated or exchanged, is an organ also for the diffusion of much useful information on political and social economy, subjects in which the working-classes, as a mass, are at once most interested and most ignorant. Above all things, the Union fosters the idea of unity. It kindles that en- thusiasm which is bred of numbers, and that energy which springs from competition. We can remember well in one instance—that of a little club formed of the poorest of the poor, herd by Drury Lane—the anxiety that existed to be affiliated to the Union, and the delight with which the notice of affiliation was received. The small society rose in sense of dignity forthwith. The demands for the journal were repeated, the spirit of competition awoke among the members. "We will make our club as good as any of them," they said,
A few words on the work which the Union has accomplished, or aided in accomplishing. When it began its work, fifteen years ago, there were fifty-four dubs in existence, of which at the end of the first year twenty-seven were affiliated to it. There arc now no less than 800 clubs in this country, and of these 05 are affiliated. As many as 120 are to be found in the metropolis alone. Its various methods of usefulness, to which we have already alluded, have been developed gradually. The Council till insist on the need of yet further development, particularly in the increase of its library and of its lecturing stuff.
The Union, however, does not do away with the need of personal labour and influence altogether. In the poorer and less educated districts the want of a more direct guidance is felt, and there is plenty of room for the wealthy to devote their riches, the learned their culture, the leisured their time, to help their fellow- citizens to help themselves. This help should be rendered as unostentatiously as may be, while it is required, and with the object continually in view of encouraging an independence of it. It is not always easy to efface ourselves, or to deny ourselves the pleasure of feeling that others are dependent on us. But he loves himself better than his Club who would not gladly see it ready and fit to change its state of dependence upon him for one of actual independence, or of affiliation to an Union of Societies like itself.
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