23 MARCH 1912, Page 3

In charging the Grand Jury at the Old Bailey on

Tuesday Sir Forrest Fulton, the Recorder, referred to the cases of the brothers Buck, printers, and Guy Bowman, a journalist, who are accused of inciting soldiers to mutiny. The Recorder referred to Syndicalism as "a diabolical system invented by somebody or other for the purpose of promoting a general strike and apparently to establish a Socialistic Republic. It means striking in one trade and inducing workmen in other trades to strike." " Syndicalism " in its cant usage of course means this and much more. It is, as many of its apostles preach it, a fraudulent and predatory method of ousting the owners of property in order to replace them by new owners— the present workmen. But though the associations of the word " Syndicalism" are infamously bad there is nothing whatever criminal in its essential idea. Apart from its methods, Syndicalism means no more than a form of co- operation. We must really protest against this irrelevant harangue by the Recorder, which had nothing to do with the charge of inciting to mutiny and was most improperly incor- porated in the charge to the Grand Jury.