28 FEBRUARY 1920, Page 3

Mr. Thomas Richards, the Labour Member for Ebbw Vale and

the Secretary of the South Wales Miners' Federation, made-an honest and manly speech on Monday, warning his fellows against the insidious Bolshevik propaganda. " Pacificista who, during the war, would not shed the blood of a German because they held that fighting was wrong were to-day heading a movement calculated to end in revolution and create bloodshed among our, kith and kin." Such men, said Mr. Richards bluntly, were hypocrites. They knew what " direct action " would involve. Mr. Richards hadthe courage to tell his hearers that the British Constitution was the best in the world, and the British workman the freest of human beings. It may be said by the superior person that these are truisms. But in these days, when, ail Lady Astor said on Tuesday, the world is sick of lies, any speaker who condescends to utter a. few plain and elementary truths about our country deserves encouragement. If British workmen hear nothing at their meetings but abuse of Britain and praise for Bolshevik Russia as a realized Utopia, they may well be convinced against their better judgment by the revolutionary hirelings.