The Trade Union Congress opened at Hull on Monday. The
President, Mr. A. A. Purcell (one of the unofficial Labour Members whose intervention at the last moment saved the Russian Treaty for Mr. Ponsonby), warned the Congress that the opposition to the Russian Treaty might decide the fate of the Government. In his opinion, however, the potentialities of Russian trade were the largest factor in reducing food prices, and for that reason the whole weight of Labour must be thrown on the side of the Treaty. It was a pity that Miss Bondfield, who in the ordinary course would have been President of the Congress, could not attend, as she is a member of the Government. Although Mr. Purcell paid a tribute to the Government, it was rather a grudging one. The most striking part of his speech was that in which he insisted upon " a well-disciplined organization " as the principal weapon of the workers," " As surely,". he said, " as you lift your eyes from the workshop to gaze at Parliament, so surely do you weaken and dissipate your strength in the very place where capitalism for eight, nine and ten hours every day hits you hardest and hurts you most." The members of the Labour Government who do not conceive of an unending quarrel in the factories as , the only way of progress can hardly have read this diatribe with satisfaction.
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