In the House of Commons on Thursday, May 6th, Sir
John Simon gave an admirable explanation of the law about strikes. Nobody is better equipped with a combination of legal knowledge and the habit of lucid exposition to set the rights and wrongs of such a subject before ordinary people. If such a speech had been delivered in France it would have been posted all over the country by a vote of the Chamber. The speech came with particular effect from Sir John Simon, because he has repeatedly been the spokesman of trade unionism, and in particular has defended the Trades Disputes Act. He pointed out the fundamental difference between an ordinary strike and what is now known as a general strike. It is lawful for any man after giving due notice of his intention to withhold his labour. But a general strike as conceived by the T.U.C. is in quite a different category because it requires all the strikers to cease work without notice, and thus to break their contracts.
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