THE CLYDE STRIKE AND ITS MORAL. T HE labour troubles on
the Clyde, which had been hinder- ing the work of the munition shops for more than a year after a settlement had nominally been reached, offer a more hopeful prospect to-day than at any time since the beginning of the war. The latest strike has ended, and the reason for its termination is the most promising part of the whole business. The Government in deporting a group of unauthorized mischief-makers acted strongly and in accordance with the full sympathy of all decent-minded citizens. Clear and strong action was all that was needed, and for our part we cannot understand why it was not taken sooner. We know and appreciate all the arguments that can possibly be advanced about the unwisdom of dragooning men on whose willing service you must ultimately depend, or of making martyrs by using force when a word of reason, or a small concession, would have purchased compliance. But for a long time it has been obvious that the source of the trouble along the Clyde was not a rational body with whom the Government could deal rationally. It was a group of usurpers who arrogated to themselves the power which properly 1.elonged to a soundly constituted and well regulated Trade Union. These leaders, who had captured the support of a large number of men, claimed or repudiated responsibility as they pleased. We believe and trust that they are now dis- credited. Long ago, so far as we can sec, the Government could have taken action with a certainty of success, and thus have performed the treble function of increasing the supply of munitions, relieving the Trade Union from an incubus and the men from false guidance, and saving all self-respecting persons in the Clyde district from the very unfair imputation that they belonged to the most renegade and nnpatriotic district in the Empire.
For of course Glasgow and its neighbourhood are popu- lated by people—including the vast majority of munition workers--who are just as sound at heart as the people of any other industrial district you could name. They have seen what has been done in their midst, and have watched with dismay and disgust the staining of their fair repute by men who preferred the assertion of some small etiquette of the shops to saving the precious lives of their brothers in the trenches. They have been waiting and hoping for a firm act by the Government, and we congratulate them on the result of the deportation of some of the mischief-makers, and the Government on having taken this decisive course. We suppose that the Government acted on Burke's principle that it is well to "bear with inconveniences till they fester into crimes," and they may argue that the admitted success of their policy proves that they chose the right moment. That is a contention difficult in the circumstances to disprove, but we fancy that all the level-headed people of Glasgow would say that the swift and sudden stroke was left till perilously late. As it is, all may go well on the Clyde, but we would beg the Government to consider, for their future guidance, the very remarkable lessons with which this war has provided them as to the absolute safety and certainty of boldness as a policy. All that a Government need fear in taking a bold line is popular resentment. So long as they have not merely no resentment against them, but enthusiastic popular support, they are perfectly secure. This has been proved at every point. The British people have never been more set on anything than they are on winning this war ; they will consent to any and every means, not only with resignation but with joy, that makes for that end. The Government at one moment hesitated to increase the financial burdens of the people. Then we saw the extraordinary spectacle of a deputation of business men waiting upon the Prime Minister in order to urge that they might be more heavily taxed. Did the Government fear that restrictions on the sale of liquor would cause anger, and be frustrated by a great movement of the people, bullied beyond endurance ? All the restrictions so far imposed have been accepted calmly, and, we believe, even gladly. In circumstances where the efficacy of the restrictions manifestly depended upon public good sense in working them, that good sense has everywhere been apparent. So again with compulsion ; public opinion was a long way in advance of the Government. And we can imagine no policy which the Government could possibly contemplate which would not be received with enthusiasm if it tended to win the war and bring the end quicker. There is only one test that need be applied when the Government ask themselves, "How would the country take this t" That test is the simple question, "Will the country know that this will help to win ? " A schoolboy mho was once asked the meaning of Laisser faire said that it meant bringing matters to a crisis and then letting them take their own course. The definition is a negative warning of some value. It is the firm, strong hand that the people always want to see in war. The recruiting question, the liquor question, the freight question, all need the same bold guidance to bring them past the stage of crisis.
The immediate cause of the recent strike on the Clyde was the assertion that shop stewards, who have a sort of semi-official position, were deprived of their privilege of interrupting their own work and visiting other departments in order to inspect the methods with which skilled labour is being mingled, or " diluted" as the phrase is, with unskilled labour. The Government said that old privileges were never withdrawn, but that new and obstructive privileges were demanded. The men's leaders, however, brought about a strike, although it was denounced by the head executive of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. The Times correspondent, whose reports have been most informing, says that some of the mischief-makers were not munition workers at all, but Socialists belonging to another class. Thus the obligation on the Government to act was peculiarly imperative. There was no excuse that a grievance was put forward by genuine workmen or by genuine represen- tatives of the workers. The law was openly flouted in seditious speeches and acts, and, as the Cabinet plainly saw, a Government who tolerated indefinitely such a state of things might as well go out of the business of governing altogether. As it is, the leaders of the strike have handed over the alleged grievances of the workers to the Trade Union officials, and the Clyde district is in a fair way to recover its reputation and to pull its weight in the industrial boat. How much this happier state of affairs will be welcomed by the vast mass of the population was shown by their attitude to the strikers at the end of last week. The strikers' demonstration was reproached in the streets with booings and shouts of " Shame ! " and at one point the onlookers were so threatening that the police had actually to protect the sedition-mongers from honest indig- nation that threatened to become violence. Such is the popular spirit which is the medium through which the Government work. We sincerely hope that henceforth they will never doubt that it is unfailingly on their side.
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