TOPICS OF THE DAY.
A LEAGUE OF GOOD CITIZENS.
THE clouds of revolution and of industrial chaos 1 which have been darkening the mind of the nation during the week bring to mind a very great weakness in what in America would be called " our political outfit."
Though we are still the most individualistic and the most essentially law-abiding nation in the world, and also the nation best qualified for self-help, we possess at present no civilian organization ready to stand by," not merely to combat the forces of revolution and minority rule, but no civilian organization ready to stand by," not merely to combat the forces of revolution and minority rule, but organized to carry. on the necessary machinery of life should that machinery be abandoned by those who at present work it. We know, of course, that the moment a great, emergency came, all good citizens would be willing to volunteer to do their bit and to help in the work of maintaining the vital services of the nation. They would not only prevent sabotage and interference with those who wanted to remain at work, but they would be willing themselves to undertake work, no matter how arduous or disagreeable. But this is not enough. There is a very real and great danger in relying upon everything being " all right on the night." No doubt we should all come forward with a rush if once the signal were given ; but this simply means that we should be all tumbling higgledy- piggledy over each other in our efforts to help. There would be too many people wanting to drive lorries, and too few offering to drive the pumps at the waterworks, to shovel coal or to unload cargo at the docks. The butter would be spread unevenly and wastefully, and so inefficiently.
What we want—as a correspondent, Mr. Laurence C. Perkins, pointed out so well and with such spirit in our issue of last week—is an organization which shall cover the whole country and all classes, which shall be not only democratic but purely civilian in its constitution. If we are wise we shall get this organization under way at once, and no longer suffer the reproach that what can be done in Italy (though, we admit, done with too much fierceness and not in a sufficiently democratic spirit) cannot be done in England. We do not want a body of Fascisti with their aggressive and provocative action, but we do want vigilance committees which will see to it that a man who desires to work shall not be trampled to death, thrown down a mine-shaft, or otherwise killed or maltreated because he is exercising the rights which every democracy ought to secure to its citizens. No doubt the essential work of a League of Good Citizens, such as we desire to see founded, would be to support the police and the public authorities ; but we would not make it in any sense a Government or official organization. The body we desire must not run the risk of being sterilized by Government control. It must be a body of good citizens bound together by the determination to resist those tyrannical and revolutionary organizations which, unfortunately, have so largely usurped the functions and powers of the once beneficent trade union movement.
Our " League of Good Citizens," " League of Freedom," ' People's League "—whatever be the exact title chosen —must stand for majority rights against minority tyranny. Though, as we have said, they will always be on the side of law and order, and will scrupulously obey the law till the law is changed, they will be the uncompromising guardians of the democratic principle. Should the powers of Government be threatened by a minority, committed to the use of arbitrary, illegal, and unconstitutional methods, the League will see to it that the Government do not yield to intimidators. The League of Good Citizens which we ask for and which we are certain that the good citizens of Britain can and ought and will give us, if they are properly approached, must primarily be a register or muster of men willing to do their civic) duty—that is, (1) to prevent illegal and revolutionary acts ; (2) to combat down-tool movements or general strikes, not by aggressive violence or by depriving the strikers of any of their rights, but by taking up and carrying on the vital work of the country and protecting themselves and their fellows in the prosecution of suoh duties. The nation has nothing to fear except from lightning strikes--blows at the social and economic heart. These, by the nature of things, cannot last long, for the strikers must live like the rest of mankind. The whole danger rests in their suddenness. But if we have got a machinery for " carrying on," the lightning and general strike fails, and fails in the right way. It is beaten by legal and constitutional methods, and not by force or violence.
But it is not enough for the goodcitizens, in every rural parish and in the wards of every town and city, to register their names and addresses as being willing to answer the call to resist revolution. To make their help of value the volunteers must be sorted out. After undertaking the general obligation to support law and order, to prevent revolution, and to do his best in work of vital importance to which he may be assigned by the committee of his own unit, each man (or woman, for there will be plenty of work appro- priate to women) must register specially for the work he is best fitted to perform. The young and adventurous would no doubt like to register for preventive work—that is, for guard- ing railways, bridges, mines, waterworks, and gasworks, for patrolling the streets, protecting free workers, and so forth. Other sets of men with special technical knowledge would register as road transport drivers, engine drivers, stokers, electrical engineers, and so on. Next there would be a large body of men who would no doubt offer to do the work connected with cleaning the streets, carrying away refuse, looking after horses, and, in fact, the sort of work which was done so well and with such public spirit during the great railway strike a year and a-half ago. Others, again, and these would be the men and women past middle life, would register to do clerical work and office work generally in order to free the younger volunteers for more arduous duties. These men, again, would be subdivided according to the particular sort of work they were best fitted for. For example, a man who had been trained to keep accounts in a draper's shop would not be sent to a shipping office, and vice versa. We must not expect a movement of this kind to come from the top. It must grow up from the bottom. The best precedent we can think of is that of the Volunteer movement, which did such magnificent, though grudgingly acknowledged, work during the war. In spite of every sort of opposition, much of it as well intentioned as it was mistaken, during August and September and October, 1914, men got together in every village and every town and organized volunteer units. They were told that their action was illegal. It was said to interfere with the Regular recruiting. It was " useless. " It " distracted the attention of the nation from more serious matters."
It was " a confusing and useless substitute for true patriotism." But the volunteers paid no attention to this hubbub of opposition. They went quietly on, organizing and drilling all over the country, and by a common impulse. Along with them grew up a central organization which most wisely set itself to federalize rather than to create ; to reap and make use of the harvest rather than to attempt to plough or sow the seed. The result was that the organization over which Lord Desborough presided, and of which Mr. Percy Harris was the Honorary Secretary, did such splendid service that there were soon a million men on its registers, and there would have been a great many more but for the fact that the volunteer companies were always passing their men on to the Regular Army. This is what we want to see happen in regard to the League of Good Citizens. Small committees should be started everywhere, and not dissolved immediately the present strike is over. It is no doubt a much harder task to prepare for the next occasion on which the poor misguided instruments of the tyrants of MOscow think it advisable to give another shake to the foundations of Liberty and Democracy in this country, but it must be undertaken if we are to be safe. Why should not a beginning be made not only by the same type of patriotic man whojoined the volunteer units, but by the persons who built up the organization ? Why should not Lord Desborough, Mr. Percy Harris, and their colleagues come together again and say to all and sundry, " We have once again got to deal with a great public danger, and with a dangerous and unreasonable public enemy, bUt alas I this time not outside but inside Our gates. We therefore appeal to the old volunteers, whether they remained volunteers all through the war or joined up, to come forward and form new volunteer bodies on the old lines and inspired by the old spirit." Unless we are greatly mistaken, the records of the old volunteer units—bodies so foolishly and . so cavalierly thrown on the scrap-heap by the Government when they might have been preserved for .this purpose without any trouble and very little expense—would, if happily they have been preserved, show in every section of the country who were the local leaders who raised the old volunteer units. These men should be asked to call together the old members and start a revived organization. It should be made clear, however, that extra volunteers and plenty of them were wanted, and that therefore every old volunteer who came to the preliminary meeting ought to bring a friend with him. The next thing that the local committees should do would be to start their register of names and addresses, and, if possible, to attach some special form of work or, qualification to each name. There would no doubt be a certain number of people who would say merely that they would do anything they were asked to do or could do. Opposite such names " general help " would appear in the qualification column. Naturally, men would want clearly defined " aims and objects." These should be very simple. We suggest the following :- 1. To help the Government to maintain law and order.
2. To give all possible assistance in the work of maintain- ing the vital and necessary services of the nation should they be endangered by industrial agitation, revolutionary action, or other cause.
3. To insist that any change in the law, the administra- tion, or the functions of Government should be carried out solely by constitutional means ; that is, through the will of the majority of the voters, men and women, of this country, constitutionally and legally expressed. 4. To resist all foreign dictation as to the management of our internal affairs, and to punish all persons who should receive or attempt to receive money or other help from foreign sources for the purpose of altering or conspiring to alter the Constitution of the United Kingdom by any other than legal and constitutional means.
We have only one caution to give, and it is that it must not be supposed that, because we want the league not to be a Government institution but an independent organization, that we are contemplating any hostility or friction between the two. On the contrary, the first duty of the league would be always to help the Government to do their work. For example, if the Government called, in any particular part of the country, for, say, fifty thousand special constables, it would be the business of the league to sift out the men specially able to perform this work and to assign them to their duties. Again, if the Govern- ment wanted volunteers, say, to open a pit or to do dockers' work, the Federation of the Loyal Citizens Committees would at once ask the local units to search their registers for men who were registered as having experience in mining, &c., and urge them to answer the call of the Government. Another advantage of an organization which was independent of the Government would be that it could mediate between the Government and the good citizen in the matter of fair and prompt treatment. It should, we hold, be a part of the scheme that all men working away from their homes and on whole-time jobs should be paid either by the Government or by the private firms whom they would be helping. Some men might often desire to use their pay in giving an extra subscription to the league, but that would be their own affair. Within the league there must be no distinctions and all men must take or go without payment, according to the nature of the work. The only exceptions would be that a certain number of men who desired to join the league and could lend it strength and support, but who through age, illness, or other reasons could do no actual work, should make payments of so much a week to the funds of their local unit and also of the federal organization during the period of emergency. It is right that those who cannot offer their youth, or who are unable to use their muscles, should at any rate be allowed to subscribe either in cash or in kind. The man who could not work himself and who was not rich enough to subscribe might lend a cart or a horse. No doubt some weak-minded and timorous people will say that what we are proposing is provocative and therefore dangerous, and that in the present state of the publio mind an attempt to form a League of Good Citizens might lead to riot and revolution. All such talk is as absurd as it is despicable. There is not the slightest fear of the organization we propose doing any harm. It could do nothing but good. Its foundation would have an immediate effect on the right side ; and when once it was properly organized, it is not too much to say that the fear of revolutionary Direct Action would have passed for good and all. Think of its influence on the wavering people. There are lots of men who take revolutionary action and appear to be convinced of its wisdom simply and solely out of terror and because they are afraid of standing alone. If these men knew there was an organiza- tion well equipped, well organized, and with plenty of funds ready to stand by them, they would think twice before they allowed themselves to be terrorized into taking part in a revolutionary movement which they really dreaded and detested.
Previous page
