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Titled Trade Unionists Since a Labour Government has itself bestowed honours it may be taken that the Labour Party has settled the 'question of the propriety of its members receiving titles frOm their own side. So Sir • Walter Citrine, Whose knighthood was distressing to members of the 'trades Union Congress, had only to defend himself on the kround of accepting it from a Government " not estab-. lished in the interests of the workers." But the feeling was evidently against the ,receipt of titles in any eircuinstances. It was suggested that it implied that the recipient had passed out of the ranks of the working class and risen higher in the social scale. It had the taint of a snobbery .which the Trades Union movement cannot tolerate. Sir Walter might have pointed out that the Movement is not exclusive', and indeed aspires to include every kind of worker in its ranks ; to democratise the aristocracy, not to ban it ; that it demands equal repre- sentation in the House of Lords ; and that the retention of the monarchy, of which it approves, presupposes that the humblest 'of workers should be considered fit nominees for honours. This is a rational argument under an ideal democracy, but only plausible under a democracy which, it must be' admitted, remains open to the charge of snobbery and class-consciousness on both sides. Perhaps Sir Walter's plea is the best—it should be left for each individual to decide fdr himself.
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