LABOUR UNREST: A PLEA FOR A CLEARER AND BETTER DIAGNOSIS.
[To TER EDITOR OP TER "SPZOTAT03.1 Six,—It is a commonplace that the world is suffering from malaise. This fact cannot fail to impress itself upon the intelligence of anyone who reads the bead-lines of a daily newspaper. The plain man who sometimes thinks will add that the nerves of the world have been on edge ever since the South African War. The causes of world-wide unrest, it must be conceded by the most cocksure scientist, are elemental and largely, if not wholly, beyond our ken; but as a practical nation the effects of such unrest concern us very closely. It may be asked whether any attempt is being made to probe the mani- festations of Nature's murmurings which have displayed themselves in England. I must confess I know of no such attempt. The looting of Tonypandy, the mad hysteria of the suffragists in Downing Street, the Sidney Street affray, the recent strikes entailing the fatal use of ball car- tridge at Llanelly and Liverpool, form a chain of incidents each of which may give us pause as to whether such happenings should be inevitable in England in 1911. For the moment there is a lull, but another storm of " indus- trial" disorder may burst at any moment. If there is a lesson to be learnt from the past it is that the forces of anarchy give no warning that they are about to break loose. The wreck of Tonypandy, the attack upon Mr. Asquith's house in Downing Street, the insensate destruction at Llanelly, the Sunday riot in Liverpool, and the attack a few days later upon the prison van which compelled the soldiers to fire upon the mob were evil inspirations of the moment—not deep-laid plots. Is it not worth while to study the psychology of those people who are liable to be swept by a gust of pas- sion into actions which have in some cases recalled to eye- witnesses the scenes of the French Revolution, to estimate their numbers and to take steps to save them and the country from themselves P A warship lay in the Mersey with her searchlight playing on the docks, a brigade of infantry, two regiments of cavalry, and thousands of police seemed to those on the spot a force which might prove quite inadequate for the by no means remote contingencies which threatened. Rightly or wrongly, the peace of Europe was held to hinge upon the termination of such a state of affairs. All this is now for- gotten. Public opinion, we are told, would be so strong against a repetition of the performance. If the worthy people who with such fatal facility hug the delusion that the righteous indignation which they express in armchair or train is an effective curb to the forces of anarchy could once hear the blood-curdling yells of a savage and unbalanced mob they might feel a wholesome apprehension. It is easy to say that the scenes which have disgraced our country in the last year,
and which caused spectators to rub their eyes and wonder if they could be in England, are due to hooliganism, and that the mass of the people are law-abiding and reasonable. This may be true, but it is equally true that the hooligan leaven causes an unpleasantly large number of people, who should know better but who have not sufficient moral equilibrium, to rise in a mass, inspired for the time being by ill-omened impulse. Hooligans made the newspaper boys' strike in Dublin the occasion for the destruction of some thousands of pounds' worth of property, with its attendant casualties, due to the collision of the rioters with the forces of law and order. The subtle influence which seems to draw together affinities among the criminal and ignorant more quickly and cer- tainly than among the sophisticated was causing tramps and vagabonds to concentrate on Liverpool in the vague expectation of securing some prey. The term " hooli- gan" is not properly understood. It should be extended to embrace both sexes and all ages. There are forty thousand, old and young, male and female, which come under this definition in Liverpool. The hooligans are the allies of a pro- portion of the working classes who care little for their bond, and who will only follow a leader who is nothing more than a gramophone which voices their crude desires. The nominal leaders of the working classes were as much staggered by the unexpected excesses of their so-called followers as were the general public. They probably can guess no better than out- siders what is likely to happen in the future. But it is not necessary to remain so much in the dark as we are at present. It should be possible to estimate approximately the number of the hooligans and of those among the various working classes who may be expected to enter into partnership with them when opportunity arises. It should be possible to gauge the extent of the human material which is so benighted or volatile as to become on occasions a menace to the security of the State, and a close study of this material should suggest a method of dealing with it. If, as we all hope, the mischievous section—" Vice rumbles in a noisy car"—is a comparatively small proportion of the community let us have adequate ground for the faith that is in us, and if it is unfor- tunately unfounded let us abandon it and face the facts. At present our heads are in the sand. A systematic and scientific study of the extent and psychology of the so-called labour unrest remains to be undertaken. It is not an investigation which might hold out attractions to the Government, but that is no reason why the Press should not enlighten us on a subject of painful interest about which there is much dis- agreement and confusion of thought, and the authorities upon which have had their judgments rudely shaken. The diffusion of light would dispel much mischievous nonsense which is talked and written upon the subject. Let us know the numbers and see into the mind of the hooligan and his partner in disorder. When we do, it will be better both for them and for us others.—I am, Sir, &c., Z.
[We agree with " Z's " warning and also with his plea for what Burton, were he alive, might have called an anatomy of hooliganism. Revolutions of the bad kind have never been made by the majority, but always by a small minority who have usurped power through the mobilization and employment of that standing army of disorder which we term the hooligan class. Till there is a correct diagnosis there can be no effective remedy. Therefore we welcome any suggestion for a careful diagnosis of hooliganism.—ED. Spectator.]
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