THE SPIRIT OF ASSOCIATION.*
THE title of this book might lead one to expect a book of abstract theory, but Miss Robinson, while keeping before us the spirit that has led British workers to combine from the days of Alfred till to-day, presents a narrative of facts rather than a theoretical treatise. She gives a general history of gilds, social and religious or of trades and crafts, of friendly and co-operative societies, and of trade unionism. She pre- tends to no original research, but has read widely and sifted successfully a great amount of writing on the subject. In doing so, while battling against ill-health, she has earned the gratitude of many who will find great value in her comprehensive survey. For the history, we must be content with advising those who have not read more specialized studies to seek it here. They will find it set out in a lucid and interesting manner. In one direction the emphasis seems to us wrongly placed. Miss Robinson weighs the harm done to the gilds by Henry VIII. and those who ruled in the name of Edward VI. The dissolution of religious corporations entailed the extinction of many bodies formed for various purposes, and incidentally including religious functions. Most of them were industrial, and were then struggling to keep protected monopolies, and to restrict competition from without and also from within by limiting apprenticeship. In those days of rising individualism, such efforts inevitably meant the rapid ruin of the gilds, and the emphasis laid upon this cause cannot be too strong. The lesson is the same through the ages. The spirit of association is a noble one, but, like all others, can be corrupted by power. It may be worse that trade unionists should tyrannize over non-unionists to-day with the approval of legislation, but the fact remains that even when the law was against it the same tyranny existed. In 1538 the pickets of Wisbech shoemakers warned their masters that if free labourers were introduced "we woll have an harme or a legge of hym, except they woll take an othe as we have doon." Only in its frankness does this differ from modern intimidation. In some respects there are changes which are not for the better. All associative effort entails some fine qualities of sacrifice or forethought, but there is more immediate materialism to-day. The old gilds showed ideals and responsibility in their work for religion and education by endowments and otherwise. Barring the admirable but very limited educational work of some co-operators, there is little of this now among industrial associations ; even technical education in their own trades must be given at other people's expense, and good workman- ship has not the same value as a test of membership that it had in the early days of existing unions ; a subscription to be taken, a vote to be controlled, are rated more highly. Again, the old gilds, probably as the best-organized bodies in the towns, often undertook the military defence.
Though Miss Robinson follows the fashion in saying that
• The Spirit of Association. By M. Fothergill Robinson. London: John Zdurray. [6a. net.] the days of laisser faire are past, we rejoice to see that she supports no illusory doctrines of reliance on the State and legislation for ready-made benefits. She admires the Christian Socialists of the last century, as all must in spite of their economic mistakes. It is a pity that those men, who "were never weary . . • of pointing out that independence and self- help would do more to change the face of society than State aid," should have any part of their name in common with the State Socialists whose doctrines are opposite. Miss Robinson knows that competition is the life-blood of industry and progress : she points out that though the followers of Owen professed to abhor competition, it was just their own com- petition which largely drove the ill-conducted mills to reform. While describing the hardships due to the industrial revolution, when status gave way to contract, she gives weight, but scarcely enough, to the counter-advantages which have proved of such inestimable benefit to wage-earners. When she reviews or foreshadows the effects of the Insurance Act, Minimum Wage Act, and other interferences with the freedom of contract, she
shows how little faith she has in the fulfilment of the State's good intentions.
"Voluntary association may build more slowly than legislative action, but it tends to act more surely. It is in its essence more truly democratic ; its well-spring is conviction. It is infinitely more elastic than are the crystallized results of statutory regula- tion. . . . Legislation in a progressive community is continually outgrown: it lags behind, while voluntary association constantly leads the van. . . . When the Legislature adopts the rete of pioneer, unsupported by the real desire of the nation as a pro- pelling force, the task it attempts too often proves beyond its powers."
Just as thrift, if compulsory, loses its virtue, so the whole spirit of association, if it is not voluntary, has lost its savour. By its means, we read,
"Character has been trained and raised, a religious spirit has been manifested, discipline has been enforced, and also the various forms of association in England have served as schools of citizen-. ship."
Miss Robinson's praise of trade unionism is qualified by the comment that it tends to stereotype mediocrity. It
"Is the gospel for the average workman but its action may, and sometimes does, tend to check the artisan who is above the average in skill, strength, or ability, from gaining the full fruits of his labour."
The Trade Disputes Act (1906) is strongly condemned : its effect has been, she believes, "To promote irresponsibility, the violation of agreements and contracts, tyranny and violence to non-unionists, and anxiety, distress, and suffering among the poorer classes. . . . I believe also that one of its most serious results has been the injury which it has inflicted on the prestige and the value of the work of organized labour."
Miss Robinson's general view may be gathered from this last quotation :—
" Heroic remedies, such as the State ownership of all the means of production and distribution, are being widely advocated, but even were such a remodelling of society practicable, it is bard to conceive any system of industrial life under which discontent would be greater than under the regime dear to the heart of the Socialist. . . . There is, I believe, a growing conviction amongst thoughtful men and women that nothing but a national turning to righteousness, bringing a higher conception of justice and a fuller obedience to the claims of duty, will finally allay the trouble, and that all the moral, educational, and religious forces which tend in that direction serve to help travel-stained humanity to make its halting way along the road of progress."
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