The situation which has thus been created requires extreme watchfulness,
for in creating the Council of Action the Labour leaders constructed what may be called the scaffolding of revo- lution. Nobody supposes that the present members of the Council of Action want a " heavy civil war " or a bloodstained revolution, but these men are the Girondins, and if ever trouble should come the moderates would be inevitably displaced by the extremists who are waiting behind the scenes to capture the whole machine if they are given a chance. It seems to us that, except for the creation of the Council of Action, Labour has done nothing worse for years than this treatment of the unemployment question. Surely it must be obvious to Mr. Henderson and hid friends that unless Labour co-operates with the Government not nearly as much as would otherwise be possible can be done to alleviate the distress. To refuse to combine forces in order to find a cure for misery which affects the whole country is to forswear the elements of statesmanship. This is the kind of thing which gives an excuse to those who repeat.the threadbare phrase that Labour i3 "not fit to govern."
