Pioneer

Accidents in Mines. I MINERS AND LEADERS INDICTED. I The shocking increase in the number of fatal 1 accident* 1 ,hat, has taken place recently in the Soud. AN ales Coalfields, and the reports of IiIIn- questrj held in connection therewith, have forced certain conclusions upon me. The first is that, the majority of these acci- d('nt are avoidable, and are in a great measure due to the incompetence of the colliery ex- aminers. Bui. they are also due in as ?real a measure t,o the disinterestedness 0" the owners and of the miners. Personally, I have no hesitation in placing the major portion of the blame for the. abnor- mal increase in the number of accidents upon theynen and their leaders. 1 know it. is the general su bterfuge for the miners' leaders to place the w holt, on us for this deplorable state of affairs upon the owners, and to put it down to their callousness, their greed of --ain, and their indifference to the miners' working conditions. This may to some little extent oe true, but not. to the extent they would have us believe. The reason we have so many accidents is because the Mines' Act is not, observed, but is flagrantly violated every day. It the miners took advantage of the provi- sions of the Act and appointed permanent, ex- aminers throughout, the Coalfield to see that- the colliery oiffcial s observed the Act as well as the miners, the number of accidents would bo re- duced to a minimum. The greatest offenders in this respect, as I have already pointed out, are the officials them- selves. and as a rule a breach of the Act, when committed by an official, is far more fraught with dire consequences than that committed by a workman. LESSONS FROM INQUESTS. I fn relerenco to inquests I have noticed that invariably the miners' representative at the in- quest not seem to have a clear conception ot tlie conditions prevailing at the scene of the accident, or what questions to put, to witnesses. I have just ireen reading an account of an inquest in which it seemed that the salient points elicited wore: that the man was a Lon- doner. had years' experience underground, and was clearing the road when the fall oc- curred. Such questions as the condition of the place prior to the tall, how the fall was occa- sioned, what steps were t.aken to examine the place and render it sate if the hole was covered, and, if not, the reason for it riot Iwing covered, do not appear to have been asked. Ma sug- gested rt niedy is T-hat a man should be selected to visit the scene of an accident. This person could be either the permanent examiner ap- pointed by the men, or In cases where there is no permanent examiner. to select a man specially for the purpose. The real remedy is the permanent examiner, and it is futile for miners and miners' leaders to hold forth upon the large number of accident* in mines until they have taken advantage of the provisions provided by the Aet. I know many of the lesser fry amongst the miners' leaders regard attending at inquests as their pet. function, and are jealous of, and strenuously resist any en- croachment. upon, what they have come to look upon as their special preserve. But the miners must, not allow anything of this kind to stay in the way. It. it- they who have to run the. risk of being lulled by an explosion or a fall of roof; it is they who have to run the risk of being run over by runaway trams, of being maimed or crippled for life. It is their children who run the risk or being made orphans, and their wives of being made widows. And it is they who should decide this question, and not check- wpig-hers and agents, by their petty jealousies and intrigues. My remedy, as suggested above, is to appoint a man who is in constant touch with underground conditions to investigate the scenes of all serious accidents and to collect any information that will lead to living the respon- sibility upon the proper persons. We would then have a man who would be able to intelligently cross-examine witnesses and thereby elicit information in respect -to the cause of the accident, instead of as now btoing treated to the spectacle of an important inquiry being turned into a. whitewashing operation in the interests of persons who should have been imprisoned instead of being eulogised. Tn my opinion it is futile to expect agents, ebeekweigbers. and the like to serve any use- ful purpose in this way, without milking them- selves acquainted with the conditions prevail- ing at the scene of the accident. It is mani- festly impossible for them to do it. and some- t-ii iniz should be done at one-, as evidenced by the alarmingly lengthening list, of fatal ac- cidents in mines.

MR. McPHEE AT TROEDYYRHtW. I Held under the auspices of the T.I.P. an open- air meeting at Troedyrhiw was addressed on Friday by Mr. J. B. McPhee, who dealt with I the secret treaties.

Capitalism Its Origin and Development. BY TED WILLIAMS. I Colonisation and territorial expansion was es- pecially profitable to the English ruling class at this time—the beginning of our capitalistic era. England was especially to the fore in atrocious work of plundering unmercifully the natives of Africa and (tarrying them into slavery. The, treasures so gained helped to swell original ac- cumulations of our early industrial capitalist class, it being sent, back by the plunderers to their country where i:, was invested in the newly arising industrial centres. The Spaniards at this period were supreme in South America, and from time to time despatched to Spain galleons laden with treasures stolen from the natives or obtained by working the Indians in the silver mines of Mexico and Peru. It became quite a profitable and withal respectable pastime on the part of our gallant. English adventurers to lay in wait for these treasures and to com nut acts of piracy upon the high seas. And bo it re- membered that this was quite as much in ac- cordance with ethics as the watching of tapes at the Stock Exchange or the subsidising of sol- diers' pensions and dependents' allowances by sports and bazaarf, after having given of their best to a Government. The wealth gained in this way was sent home to build up England' s new industrial and manu- facturing system. This is the so-called process of Primitive Ac- cumulation as designated by Marx. To a very large extent, capitalist industrial property 1, like capitalist, agricultural property: the result of a long process of robbery, spoliation, murder, fraud and all the archcrimes of which capitalism is capable. The unctuous representatives of capital, with their plea for the right of a fair return upon the investment, of (not) their hard-earned savings are the lineal descendants of those who mainly, either by fraud or force, became pos- sessed of the original accumulations on which tho social and economic prestige of our modern capitalist, gentry in town and country is based. True, its representatives and owners sit in the University chairs and other chairs, and pews, and have therefore become resectable, but that ;s because the sweating <>f little children and aged men and women in workshops, mines, and factories for profits have become both moral and legal because the capitalist class earn the sweat, of their brow by it. Primitive Accumulation has to be buttressed by progressive accumulation, by exploitation of the wage-workers. Were that exploitation to cease the original accumulation would soon dis- appear. Exploitation is the source from which the river, Capital, must resuscitate itself. Hence capitalist- property is based upon original and open theft and maintained by inlirect. theft, i.e., the subtle fleecing of the wage-labourers. ECONOMIC EVOLUTION OF CAPITALISM. I We have now seen how the elements of capi- talist society have developed by a gradual pro- cess of development out of feudal society. Feu- dal society with feudal conditions and various classes is found at a certain specific period. Gra- dually the forces of production develop under Feudalism. They develop by the slow improve- ment of the means and methods of production. As the productive forces—inventions in tools LtlN-(,ntlons in too l and scientific discoveries—develop the old feudal economic relations are gradually changed and new ones arise. Improved tools gives rise to a surplus in the manor. Surplus of products brings forth a need for exchange. Exchange gives birth to a Merchant class, and money. Feudalism, with its old method of production for use commences to die. and production for exchange is born. Home markets expand, world markets are created. Inter-action of both gives rise to need for raw materials. Sheep displaces men. Sea routes: take the plane of land routes. Expropriating piracy, colonisation, territorial expansion, new technique and wars become the ever recurring necessity. Thus the old feudal classes disappear and new ones de- velop by the economic, forces in feudalism. The development of Capitalism is based upon the dissolution of Feudalism. It is not a series of leaps out. of one economic system into another, but is a gradual process of economic evolution. In the same degree as the old feudal economic relations dissolve the new capitalist economic re- lations are formed and take their place. One form of production disappears and an- other is formed by the silent development of the productive forces, a development which is based in the last analysis upon the changed means and methods of production. This development of the means and methods of production is brought, about by the efforts of the individual producers in feudal r-ociety. But they do not collectively and consciously work together in order to achieve some given social result. They only work consciously for some .individual end, the increase of their own imme- diate. profit or productivity of labour. But be- cause this is true of all individuals in feudal society, then a certain unconscious result fol- lows inevitably from their conscious individual efforts. In this way Feudalism gives way to Capitalism. In like manner does society evolve from stage to stage unconsciously, but through the conscious individual efforts of its members. Individuals may pass to the beyond but their achievements— inventions, improvements and discoveries—never die. In that sense is the individual—if not any other—truly immortal. His sociobility never dies. Nations may crum- ble, dynasties may fall, but society lives on by reason of the fact that achievement is not lost. Thus Feudalism is seen to breed in its decay the new conditions and create the new elements which later displaces and overthrows it. The feudal method of production is for use, that of capitalism for sale. Production for use develope develops the system of production for sale. Feudalism thus negates itself. This, then, is what is meant by dialectical development. The unfolding of one form out of another, the new the result, of the development taking place in the old. To consciously apply the dialetict.,il method to our modern movements and social problems is of utmost importance to the eman- cipation of the working-class and the freedom of human society.

TO BORROW £2!,300. I Merthyr Corporat-ion are arranging for a loan from the National Union of Railwaymen of C21,:300 at 51 per cent, to replace called-in loans on the Town Boys' and Girls' Schools, Darren Tiew Infants' Schools, Pentrebaoh In- fants' Schools and the Mount Pleasant Mixed Schools.

Pioneers! Oh, Pioneers! BY NOAH ABLETT. When I road the leading article in the Pioneer last week my temperature went up about degrees. I sincerely hope Sotdius does not think that article represents the opin- ions of all the readers of the Pioneer." If anyone will re-read the article he will find: (1) Sympathy with the Bolsheviki." (2) condem- nation or the Bolsheviks, (3) the uselessness of pious resolutions to help the Bolsheviks, and (4) the impossibility of getting pious resolutions because of the loss of faith in the Bolsheviki." (I hope the difference in spelling is noticed, be- cause "the conftilueni assemblies were not forthcoming.") NVe are all accustomed to these emotional displays (except -No. 1) in the capi- talist press, but who would have expected them in the P onc(,r Now let us briefly reason this n)atter out. The Editor complains of Jack of data. We all agrw t hat we should like more detailed information, but. still we know a few things. Two revolutions have occurred in Rus- sia, j.he first a capitalist revolution (though effected by tht- and the second a Socialist, revolution. In the second revolution the land and the means of production were seized by the workers. There is no parallel to this in the history of the world. The capitalists of every country-—Germany or Britain- cannot be expected to like, that second revolution. The Allied Powers have now succeeded in lulling la- oour opinion, so that only a feeble protest is heard against the expeditionary force on the Murnian coast. Indeed, some labour leaders are hailing that force, and the Czecho-Slovak coun- ter-revolutionary forces as an attempt to help Russia. They don't say which Hussia, but they don't mean Bolshevik Russia, which the Editor, like myself, fears will be crushed by capitalist governments. Crushed because it, is the first at- tempt to establish proletarian control of indus- try. How will it hü crushed By the "counter- revolution. in which the Bolsheviks will have to facv the armed powers of their fellow-country- men (landowners, capitalists, etc.), strengthened by a large measure of support from the Capital- ist. parties of Europe." It is in these circum- stances that the Editor ehoases to announce T-hat the Hritish Socialists have lost faith in the Bol- sheviks because the Constituent Assemblies were not forthcoming." If he represents British Socialism, then so much the worse for such Socialism. 1; for one, at least will hail the Bol- shevik Revolution not, the merely anti-Czar re- volution) as the most, glorious event in the his- tory of the working-class of the world. Consti- tuent Assemblies, forsooth? Because in this country we are soaked in capitalist parliamen- tary government, and capitalist, municipal bodies disguised by the presence of a few Labour members as tiii ',putille powers because of this are we to lose faith and withhold active support from workers, who faced with the most terriofr realities, grajjple in an original way with their difficulties. What are the difficulties of the Bolsheviks? They are thren.tened on every hand by the blood bath of a counter-revo- lution. NVhat are they a-ocused of ? Of retain- ing- power by the use of arm-xi force. How stranger Why don't they allow Constituent Assemblies to di-sohe their armed power* and so delight the hearts of British Socialist* ? Are there no British Socialists who realize that So- cialism means that private property in land and means of production must be eliminated? That there, its one place on the earth where this has been done—Bolrhevik Russia. And must wo now quarrel and refuse to support our fellow-workers who, faced with an armed counter-revolution, refuse to allow votes to replace effective resist- ance to the blood-thirsty dispossessed? Would the South Wales Miners on a wage question that they understood agree to dissolve a strike by a public vote of consumers? The Bolsheviks hare to provide- food for the people they have to pre- vent a counter-revolution; up to now they have done so. While I believe the Social Revolution must, be international, yet t.he Bolsheviks are holding the mirror to us as to how it witt be achieved. Let no word of ours daunt theso glorious pioneers, and I hope I shall never see such a word in the South Wal, Pioneer again.

The Electric Theatre Du,.ti11 Farnum, the breeziest of the juvenile lead s in the William Fox dramatic combination^ stars in a wonderful production of the war, The Spy," which tops t-he I)ill frotti Monday to Wednesday next at Electric Theatre. Revealed in the run of the film are the German secret service methods and the story, which is by George' Bronson-Howard (a name familiar in the upper reaches of screen- play writing fame), combines all the t-hrills and excitement, of war, with its attendant intrigues. Apart from the plot the production is an achieve- ment. in the c-onstantly progressive art of the film producer, mounted on such an elaborate scale and "û conceived in its lighting effects that- i, will live for ma.ny a day in the usually short, recollection of picture-goers. Supporting it are a host, of subsidiary features, including the cur- rent instalment, of the serial Lass of the LnDl- berlands." a Triangle farce His Tell-tale Shirt. with a laugh in every flicker, and the latest news animatedly presented by Messrs. Pathe, in the bi-weekly edition of their Gazette. Thursday's big feature is Double Crossed," with Pauline Frederick in the lead. It is a story of exceptional interest, woven around a series of unexpected and thrilling situations, with a fitting climax arising from an attempt to Mae km ail the husband of a Society young ma- tron, and giving Mist. Frederick wonderful op portunities of displaying her undoubted his- trionic talent. In this show the Red Ace" serial conies to a to be regretted conclusion, and amongst the other notable items in the pro- gramme is a Billy West comedy with that mirth- provider ,it lilq best.

COURAGEOUS YOUNG WORKMAN. riieir attention being called by Mr. Noah Ablett (Merthyr miners' agent) to a series of deeds 'oy a ycung man, Morgan Evans. Ply- mouth-street, Merthyr. who by his presence of mind and courage has during the past, few months been instrumental in saving several lives, the Merthyr Corporation on Wednesday decided to br ing the fa-ets to the notice of the trustees of t,he Carnegie Hero Fund with a view to their recognition of work. Mr. Ablett, in his letter to the counci l, stated that the young fellow by his efforts prevented a man, seized by an apoplectic fit in the street, fror) bleeding to death attended to another crushed by rail-waggons, until the arrival of a doctor and more recently rescued a drowning child from the Glynmil Pond into which he plunged fully dressed. Mr. L. M. Jones and other members of the council supplemented stories of further acts of a similar nature ascribed to Evans.

young chained eaglet the wor k ers feel t h eir ('hain'd ('3.c""ltt tht" worl,('n;; Ù) tht.ir capacity to fly in the open sky of control. In everv hamlet, in every industrial centre, in the minds of many dressed in khaki and mufti alike is coming an awakening, a glimpse of a possible glorious future. Our opponents have pictured often the work- ing-class movements as being like a blind man escaping from his capitalist guide. To avoid all possibility of this if over there was need of ac- tion on the part, of those who have already seen the light, it is to-day. In order to overcome that lack of self-confidence created by centuries of servile experiences and mis-education, and to show how simple and easy it would be, with in- dustry as now largely staffed from top to bot- tom by the workers, for them to work for them. selves locally, nationally and internationally. Labour would not then get the third of its pro- duce, but three. Educate, Agitate and Propa- gate as you have never done before. There is not e. moment to lose. Leave not the education of young and old to our foes. To you who are not yet Socialists. If you are satisfied with the present with its damning of genius and happiness in the larger portion of the world's occupants, with its unspeakable poverty of much that makes life worth while, with ite enormous wastage of men and things, remain where you are. But if you are convinced that the present is untenable and unbearable, if you want poverty banished; if you want pro- fiteering removed, and if you want to lift life to a higher level, there is only one place for .vou-that. is in the working-class movement. Comradeship there awaits you, and endless op- portunity for hard work and self-denial. But thousands of men and women testify that even the fellowship of the fight is worth while. Do not delay. Make up your mind and oome in to work for working-class solidarity. Only thus' can the huge benefits of Nature, machinery and science cause lightened, lessened labour, and plenty instead of poverty.