S INCE Southern Ireland is predominantly an agri- cultural country and

the Land Acts have created a large class of peasant proprietors, it is commonly assumed that whatever effective Government may ultimately be established in Dublin will rather be con- servative than radical in temper, and that no attacks upon the principle of private property are likely to succeed. Fifteen years ago this assumption would have been better justified than it is to-day, for, under the Wynd- ham Act of 1903, the purchase of their holdings by the peasants had proceeded apace, the remaining tenants looked forward to becoming owners soon, and the young men who had no prospects at home could easily find openings in the United States or the British Dominions. Ireland, by universal consent, had never been so pros- perous or so contented. The condition of the unskilled labourers in the towns, indeed, was often appalling ; but they formed a small minority of the population, and they were as yet unorganized and all but inarticulate. It was not till 1910 that the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union was founded.

Very different is the situation in 1922. Apart from the disastrous results of the civil strife, with its ruinous effects on industry and trade, various causes have operated to produce a condition of things which, after assisting to overthrow the old political order, now threatens the old economic and social order as well. Of these causes the first was the breakdown of the financial basis of the Wyndham Act, which led to Mr. Birrell's Land Act of 1209, under which, for reasons into which I need not enter, land purchase practically ceased while a third of the available land remained undistributed. The second was the stopping of emigra- tion during the War. Even before this the class of landless labourers had largely increased, while their lot had not improved ; but the excessive redundancy of the population, which in Ireland ever presses on the margin of subsistence, had been counteracted by the fact that every year some 80,000 young people left the country. For eight years past this emigration has been stopped, first by the War and later by the action of the Sinn Fein organization, one of whose tenets has always been that the " depopulation " of Ireland, ascribed to the deliberate wickedness of England, must be arrested. The result is a vast accumulation in the country of young men, without money, without work, without prospects, and demoralized by six years of civil war conducted by savage methods and with an utter dis- regard for accepted moral standards. Nor is there much prospect of the pressure of this effervescing mass being relieved by emigration on a large scale, even if the Free State Government is forced to see its -necessity ; for it ' is understood that both the United States and the . Dominions are increasingly reluctant to receive any large number of immigrants whose only civic training has been in so sorry a school. But though they may be poor material as settlers in a new country, they are clearly excellent material as revolutionaries in an old country ; and in Ireland there is an organization ready to welcome them, in so far as it has not already absorbed them. This organization is the Transport and General Workers' Union, founded by James Connolly and Jim Larkin, which first came into prominence in the great strike of 1913. The secretary and organizer of the Union is now Mr. Thomas Johnson, an Englishman, whose keen if narrow intelligence and coldly dogmatic manner are far more formidable than Larkin's Irish eloquence and demagogic fire.

In a former article I remarked on the moderation and general good sense of the language of Mr. Johnson and the other Labour leaders in the Dail. It must not be deduced from this, however, that their proclaimed objects are either moderate or, from the normal point of view, sensible. It merely means that they intend, so far as possible, to use Constitutional methods for the attainment of their goal, which is " a Republic, based upon co-operative labour and service, not upon property and capital." This policy was adopted, on the advice of the National Executive, at a special congress of the delegates of the Irish Labour Party assembled on February 21st last, to decide whether or no the Party should take part in the new elections under the Treaty. The Report and Recommendations of the National Executive adopted by this meeting made no secret of the attitude of " Labour " towards the settlement effected by the Treaty. This, as in the case of so many trade union disputes with employers, had only been " agreed to sullenly " after a truce perforce accepted by the weaker party. The goal of Labour, as of both sections of Sinn Fein, was still that of " sovereign independence," and if Labour accepted the Treaty this was only because " it is the duty of the Labour Party to make use of whatever instruments and power the political struggle has placed in its hands." " We ought," runs the Report, " to work the new government machine if it is established, even though it is not built according to our design, provided it can be adapted for turning out the products we require." Before inquiring how far and in what way the Constitution of the Irish Free State can be so adapted, it will be well to examine more closely into what is the nature of the products required.

The Transport Workers' Union, which is the driving force of the Irish Labour movement, is hardly a Trade Union in the innocent sense of the term as understood here. Its founders were avowed Communists ; it remains a Communistic organization with well defined social- political aims ; and in 1918 it was affiliated to the Third International, of which the headquarters are at Moscow. The Union is, however, an " approved society " under the Act, and it has used this fact to spread its net all over Ireland, drawing into its ranks not only the labourers of the towns but very large numbers of the agricultural labourers as well. Its power was shown in the recent elections when, with a restricted franchise, Labour secured seventeen seats by enormous majorities. Future elections will be by universal suffrage, every boy and girl of twenty-one having the vote. In view of the vast floating mass of young people, demoralized by years of civil turmoil, unemployed and too - often incapable of employment, puffed up with vanity, always ignorant and often illiterate, and cast helplessly adrift from their old anchorage in the infallible Church, it is not very nnsPfe to predict that the specious programme of Labour will gain very many fresh adherents at the polls. What, then, is the programme and what chance is there of its being carried out by parliamentary methods ?

The Voice of Labour, which is the official organ of the Union and is edited by Mr. Cathal O'Shannon, does not disguise its wholehearted sympathy with the ideals of Soviet Russia ; the number for last November 11th contains a rose-coloured account by Krassin of the con- dition of the peasant proprietors in Russia to-day. But for the complete scheme of the " ideal commonwealth " we must look to the Workers' Republic, founded by James Connolly but now edited and printed in London, which is " the official organ of the Communist Party in Ireland " and " an organ of the Third International." Here is " Our Social Programme " as displayed on the front page of this ably written paper week by week :-- 1. Ownership and control of all the heavy industries by the State for the benefit of all the people.

2. Complete ownership of the transport system by the State—railways, canals, shipping, &e.

3. State ownership of all the banks.

4. Confiscation of the large ranches and estates without compensation to the landed aristocracy, and the distribu- tion of the land among the landless farmers and agri- cultural labourers. Election of Joint Councils repre- sentative of these two classes to distribute and manage the land. Abolition of all forms of tenure and indebted- ness either to private owners or to the State. Cancellation of all debts and mortgages.

5. Establishment of an all-round eight-hour working day.

6. Control of workshop conditions to be vested in a Joint Council representing the workers, the Trade Unions concerned and the State.

7. Municipalization of all Public Services—trams, light, heat, water, &c.—and free use by the workers.

8. Compulsory rationing of all available household accommodation, and abolition of all rents.

9. Full maintenance for the unemployed at full Trade Union rates until useful work 'at Trade Union rates can be provided.

10. Universal arming of all workers in town and country to defend their rights.

It needs little imagination to recognize the strong appeal such a programme would make to the multitude of the Irish " have-nots " and even to the large class of small farmers who are still paying the instalments of the purchase price of their lands. Up till recently these instalments were easily and willingly paid, and in many districts they still arc ; but over wide areas the temptation to obtain something for nothing prevails, and the insatiable land-hunger has led to the revival of the ancient enter- prise of removing the landmarks of neighbours— especially if the neighbours be gentry. " Sure, I'm looking at it too long ! " was the excuse given by a peasant for annexing a field belonging to a friend of mine. As for the • moral question involved, whatever excuse there may be for the town labourers, whose conditions of life are too often deplorable, or for the landless men threatened with serious cuts in wages already low, there is none for the peasant holders, who have passed through a period of unexampled prosperity. But, for the moment, morality is at a discount in Ireland.

In the not impossible event, then, of the substantial interests being outweighed at a general election, and of a Communist Labour Party coming into power, how far could this realize its ideal without violating the terms of the Constitution ? Except by implication in Article 11, the principle of private property is nowhere embodied in the Constitution, and the whole of the programme given above might be carried out without violatinz its provisions—only the property of religious denominations and educational institutions is specifically safeguarded under Article 8. On the other hand, the path to the .establishment of the Soviet system is smoothed by Article 45, which runs as follows :— " The Parliament (Oireachtas) may provide for the establishment of Functional or Vocational Councils, representing branches of the social and economic life of the nation. A law establishing any such Council shall determine its powers, rights, and duties, and its relation to the Government of the Irish Free State (Saorstat Eireann)."

Under this Article it would be competent for a Labour Government, without violating the Constitution, to set up the system proposed in sections 4 and 5 of the Com- munist " Social Programme." Thus it seems clear that the new Government machine can be worked so as to turn out the products which the Communists require, and this may explain the moderation of Mr. Tom Johnson and his colleagues.

There is, however, another and more violent element in the Labour movement which also has to be taken into account. For Ireland, which of all West European countries most closely approximates to the religious, social and economic conditions of Russia before the Bolshevist revolution, has been prepared by the methods of Sian Fein for those of the Bolshevists, and they are making full use of their opportunities. A committee of the Third International has its seat in Dublin, and this, I am told, includes several foreigners well known to the London police. It is said—I know not with what truth —that the " Irregulars " are but the dupes and un- conscious tools of these men. Certainly the cutting of the arteries of the country has been too thorough and too systematic, and one may add too unpatriotic, to have been the sole work of a few Irish half-mad idealists. It looks as though there were a cold, masterful brain behind all this organized wreckers' -work. If this be so, and the plot have any measure of success, Great Britain may yet have to fight Moscow in Ireland. For, even if moral responsibility be repudiated, British interests are too great in Ireland for the Imperial Government to allow her to become a hopeless derelict. AN OBSERVER.

(To be continued.)