THE INDUSTRIAL UNREST.
THE strike of London tramway and omnibus workers is at an end, after ten days of wholly unnecessary expense and of acute suffering on the part of the public. But we are faced with the possibility of a national lock- out in the Shipbuilding and Engineering Trades, arising out of the strike of the shipyard workers at Southampton ; there is a strike of the coal-trimmers at Leith, a building strike at Wembley, and a crisis in the Pottery industry; whilst over the whole country the terrible menace of another strike in the coal industry broods.
Never, perhaps, in all our history has the industrial situation been so uneasy. Over a million unemployed tramp the streets—most of them young men, who ought to be learning a trade. Such skilled workers as are left are earning admittedly low wages or making arrangements to join their comrades in the United States. The housing situation is intolerable, and is becoming more acute, for the Government have so far done little or nothing to help (they have, in fact, stopped the construction of houses in certain parts of Scotland), and the employers, in their turn, cannot afford to pay wages proportionate to the rents demanded for decent houses. Buyers in this country are placing an ever-increasing quantity of orders abroad—even for ships. The last humiliation ! We may balance our Budget, the merchant bankers may continue to make huge profits, the " Big Five " to increase their dividends, and the insurance companies to distribute large bonuses, but these signs, satisfactory in themselves, are apt to give a false impression. As long as the industrial position continues as it is, the economic state of the country is, as Mr. Baldwin frankly described it at Edinburgh, " rotten."
What is the root cause of the trouble in the industrial world ? In our opinion, primarily the disparity in the wages of the " sheltered " trades and those subject to foreign competition. How can you expect the skilled worker in a Southampton shipyard to watch a street scavenger earning twice as much as he does without some resentment ? Can you blame him for emigrating to the United States ? Can you even blame him for striking ? As long as the unskilled man can earn more than the skilled worker just because he happens to be in a sheltered trade, so long will you have industrial unrest ; for the whole ratio of wages is upset. The advent of a Socialist Government to office no doubt encourages the workers to suppose they will get better terms from the employers, but a more probable cause of these incessant strikes is the rise in the cost of living consequent on the depreciation of the pound sterling.
Whatever the causes of our unhappy state, the fact remains that we are in a situation of great difficulty and danger. It is no use exaggerating the danger, or getting into a panic. But unless we can find some remedy for our industrial ills—unless we can do something definite to relieve unemployment, to improve housing, to revive trade, to readjust wages, to stop skilled workers leaving this country, and to get our industries going again— we shall go under. For it is our industries that support our teeming population. If they fail, we die.
The political situation is particularly unfortunate. The Labour leaders look to Socialism and the national- ization of industry for a solution ; but industrial unrest is by no means confined to capitalist enterprises, as the Clydeside dockers have proved often enough. And in any case the Government has no mandate from the country to experiment in Socialism. The Liberals pin their hopes on a revival of European trade, of which there is, at present, not the slightest sign. As Sir Robert Home pointed out the other day, the trade agreement with Russia was signed by him as long ago as 1921, and so long as 80 per cent. of the export trade of that country remains in the hands of the Communist Government, the mere exchange of Ambassadors will not increase our Russian trade by a shilling's-worth. It is necessary to utter this caution, though we are strongly in favour of trading with Russia to the greatest possible extent. Some of the more ardent of the young Conservatives insist on profit-sharing as the panacea for all our evils, but it is a bitter fact that too often there are no profits to share. Many of the workers themselves declare that they would regard an adequate minimum wage as much more satis- factory. Mr. Amery continues to advocate Protection, though it has been rejected by the country and abandoned by the leader of the Unionist Party.
It seems to us that the first essential is to put an end to strikes and to secure agreement in industrial disputes by arbitration. The terms of settlement of the recent strike only prove once again how easy it would have been to achieve the same result by arbitration. These strikes cost the country millions of money annually ; they add enormously to the already crushing burdens of the tax- payer. And the money might just as well be thrown into the sea. No policy could be more insane and suicidal from the point of view of every class, and especially the manual workers, than the policy of ca' canny and of strike action to raise the standard of living and increase wages.
It was in February, 1919, that the National Industrial Conference met and appointed a Joint Committee of representatives of the Employers and the Trades Unions to consider the industrial situation. This Committee was presided over by Sir Thomas Munro, the chairman of the Employers' representatives being Sir Allan Smith, and of the Trades Unions' representatives Mr. Arthur Henderson.
It recommended the formation of a National Industrial Council to act as a sort of final court of appeal in industrial disputes ; but the opposition of the Triple Alliance and the Engineers wrecked the project, and the Joint Com- mittee resigned in July, 1921.
In our last issue we emphasized the desirability of a political truce at home in order to allow the Prime Minister to deal effectively with the reparations pro- blem. Let that truce be extended to industrial affairs. There are certain matters on which we are all agreed. One of them is the necessity of putting a stop to futile and crippling industrial strife. Socialists themselves realize that no sort of reform, short of violent revolution, is practicable until we get a return of some degree of prosperity. To many of them industrial warfare is just as abhorrent as international warfare. Compulsory arbitration is no more practicable in the industrial field than it is in the international field. But the existence of the League of Nations is a proof of the growing desire of men to submit their quarrels to an impartial tribunal rather than to fight. All we desire is that machinery should be set up for the arbitration of industrial as well as international disputes. The institution of a " Parlia- ment of Industry," acting in conjunction with, and in addition to, the Whitley Councils, would be a big step in the right direction. For the belief that nothing can be achieved without the sanction of force is one to which we cannot subscribe. The settlement of Europe, the development of our Empire, improved housing, industrial as well as international peace—these are things the crying necessity for which is disputed by no one. Con- ditions are too dangerous, and the time is too short, for party strife to hinder or delay.
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