THE NATIONAL CITIZENS UNION.
AHEARTY welcome to the National Citizens Union I Such a body has been long needed, and at last we have .got it ; or at least we have got a nucleus which, if properly handled and fully recruited, may develop into a body capable of making us absolutely secure against surprise • revolutionary action. The National Citizens Union is the new name for the Middle Classes Union.
The Middle Classes Union laboured under a heavy load of misunderstanding, and it has done well to adopt a title which more accurately describes its principles. In vain it used to protest that it called itself the Middle Classes Union because it represented the interests of those who were in danger of being ground to pieces between the upper and nether millstone. In vain it used to explain that it represented the huge intermediate section of the population and that its name had nothing to do with the " middle class " in its conventional social significance. After all, what is the " middle class " ? Where does it exist Who belongs to it ? it is an ironio phantom which is lightly called in by those who wish to emphasize the fact that they have no connexion with it. It is a iudibrium for those who behave in the spirit of the lady who, when asked by a canvasser if she would join the Middle Classes Union, replied : " Certainly not. My husband is a stockbroker." The conventional " middle class," indeed, is as dangerous to play with as the " lower orders." The phrase may be a boomerang, as Uncle Joseph in The Wrong Box discovered when he was imparting to the driver of the carrier's cart a great deal of salutary information suitable for the consumption of the lower orders. " Who are the lower orders ? " exclaimed the exasperated driver at last. " You're the lower orders yourself 1 " But all these misunderstandings are now a thing of the past. The National Citizens Union is simply an organization for all men and women, whatever class they belong to or think they do not belong to—who want to conduct themselves as good citizens and con- stitutionalists. It is for those who want to make sure that the will of the majority shall always prevail over that of the minority, for those who are willing to band them- selves together to prevent the community from being deprived of its right to exist. We know perfectly well that the revolutionaries are not only a minority but a small minority. Yet history shows that all revolutions have been brought about by a determined minority, carefully prepared and organized, imposing' its will on an inert majority. The National Citizens Union, if it does its work properly, will put an end to inertia. It will associate itself with other bodies. It will provide against the surprise attack. It will be enrolled and ready for emergencies. Of course, preparation " to carry on essential public services during industrial disturbances " is only one of the aims of the Union. The Union has done much good work already, and will continue to do it, in advocating economy in national and municipal administration, in oppos- ing the nationalization of industries (which always means waste all along the line), in resisting Communism and i Socialism, and in insisting upon the great importance of consistency in public policy, of stability in public finance, and, last but not least, of peace in industry. The Union has. necessarily opposed Direct Action, which is an attempt to undermine constitutional democratic methods and make the will of a few people prevail over the will of the many by paralyzing the life of the country. It has .fought against an inflated bureaucracy, has attacked the ineffi- ciencies and wastefulness of the existing public services, has fought for the principle that no new charges shall be levied by the Government upon municipal authorities before Parliamentary sanction has been obtained, and has tried to secure that there shall be secrecy in trade union ballots in order that intimidation may be prevented. We want to deal now particularly with the opportunity which the National Citizens Union will have of enrolling men and women in order that the work of the country may be carried on however hard a blow may be struck by organized Labour led by extremists. In our opinion, the•most important thing of all is for the Union to form a register or muster of persons willing to do their civic duty— willing to prevent illegal and revolutionary acts and to prevent revolutionary strikes, not by violence or by depriv- ing the strikers of their rights, but by carrying on the vital work of the country and protecting themselves and their fellows in doing that work. Every worker has a right to withhold his labour if he pleases, but he has not a right to prevent others from working. The National Citizens Union would supply the labour that was withheld. By being ready at a moment's notice to step into the gap it would eliminate the one real source of danger—suddenness. We hope it will be understood that mere enrolment is not enough. If the help of volunteers is to be of value it must be classified. Every man and woman, after accepting the general obligation to support law and order and to do his or her utmost to keep the country going, must register himself or herself specially for some particular work.
Railways, bridges, mines and so forth would need guarding. The machinery of mines and the plant of power-houses would require specially skilled attention—a job for engineers. Those who had ever driven a locomotive would be put in a list by themselves. Motor drivers, stokers, electricians, and so on would all be classified, and there would be plenty of duties left over for those who were no longer active enough either to protect the workers or to do hard manual labour. It might be necessary to sort and deliver the mails. This is the barest sketch of what would be necessary. The obvious point is that it cannot be done in a hurry. If the organization we are imagining is really perfected, it may never have to operate. That is the best thing about it. Those who want to hold the nation up to ransom. will be very shy of making a desperate attempt if they know that people are ready for them. The probable result would be a prolonged industrial peace. Sectional strikes, of course, there might be—and we can conceive cases in which there ought to be strikes—but a revolu- tionary attempt to bring about national paralysis in order to cheat democracy of its right to the final decision would be ruled out. The benefit to the manual workers themselves would be even greater than that to any other class. And the vote would remain a thing worth having.
For such an organization it is useless to rely upon this or any other Government. When the last national strike was threatened the Government announced the formation of a Citizen Force, but nothing came of it. When the need became less obvious the whole idea was dropped. Yet, as we have said, if organization is to be effective it must be developed gradually and long before there is a positive call for it. The work must be began at the bottom and gradually rise to the top. It must be done unofficially. It can be taken in hand precisely by some such body as the National Citizens Union. Such a Union must be wholly independent of party politics ; it must comprehend all who are good constitutionalists and good democrats. Its aim must be not to take over-the work of the Government, but to help the Government to do their work. The National Citizens Union ought before long to have such a roll that if the Government applied for men to do engineering work or dock work, or if they suddenly wanted some thousands of special constables, the Union would be able to supply them at once. A splendid example of what can be done by men of the right spirit has been provided by the R.V.W., or Roll of Voluntary Workers, in Glasgow. In the autumn of 1920 Mr. J. W. Tennent, well-known as an " international•" in Rugby football, and others resolved, " in the interest of public safety," to make a register of all persons in and about Glasgow willing to place their services at the disposal of the Imperial or Civil Authorities in an energency. All those enrolled were classified. In their statement of policy the leaders of the movement were careful to disavow all Idea of violence. They said that, with the franchise as wide as it is now, there is no justification whatever for Direct Action, and that they regarded any strike or lock-out which interfered with the supply of such necessaries as food, fuel, light, and water as an attack upon the com- munity. Finally, they pointed out that they took no side • in politics, but had for their one aim the determination to protect the community, and support lawful authority. The Committee of the R.V.W. appointed various members to canvass particular interests,. such as insurance, law, accountancy, golf clubs, hockey clubs, cricket clubs, the Royal Exchange, the Stock Exchange, and so on. When the first strike crisis after the formation of the R.V.W. occurred in October, 1920, in Glasgow, the authorities would not recognize the R.V.W., stating (as might have been expected) that there need be no recruiting of voluntary workers until a strike actually began. The Committee nevertheless kept in close touch with the railways, for it was a railway strike that was then threatened. The transport drivers who were enrolled in the R.V.W. were warned to be ready for service. The strike, as it happened, was called off, but the R.V.W. had some useful pre- liminary practice. When the coal strike began in April the R.V.W. had another trial trip, but the proposed national strike fell through owing to the collapse of the Triple Alliance. In May of this year the R.V.W. actually got to work, and rendered service of incalculable value during the Glasgow dock strike. A committee of shipowners and stevedores was formed to work the docks, and this commiteee appealed to the R.V.W. 'Within 48 hours the R.V.W. had sent 50 men, and before the six weeks' strike was over the number of men supplied had risen to 2,000. Emergency Powers were never applied by the Government in Glasgow. No doubt they were con- templated, but they were rendered unnecessary by the R.V.W.—the body which at first had been discouraged and had been refused all recognition I No doubt many members of the Middle Classes Union were among the volunteers.
We sincerely hope that the National Citizens Union will now have a tremendous addition of strength. It proposes to do exactly what is wanted, and to do it in the right way.
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