13 AUGUST 1927, Page 2

When Mr. Hicks, who is Chairman of the Genet'', Council

of the Trades Union Congress and who is not a Communist, had been elected, the British delegates walked out. The matter is now referred to the Trades Union Congress, which will probably try to patch up the breach ; but it will certainly have some difficulty in doing so, for it is never easy to retrieve a preposterous lapse of common sense. Consider the facts. Recently trade unionism here has been appreciably moving away from Bolshevism in deeds if not in words. The Trades Union ,Congress has repeatedly repudiated Communism. It must be admitted that many moderate British trade unionists approve of an indulgent policy towards Russian trade unions on the ground—sound enough in principle— that no man should be excluded from a trade union organization because of his political belief. Continental Socialists, however, cannot abide Bolshevism. They live too near to it and they know that Moscow is the chief enemy of the ordinary forms of Continental Socialism. * *