Pioneer

— The Seamen again Boycott Huysman JOURNEY TO BELCIUM PREVENTED. AFTER WILSON HAD PROMISED NOT TO INTERFERE. The Seamen and Firemen's Union have again played the boycott game upon M. Camille Huysman, who was on Friday refused passage from Folkestone to Belgium, to where he had been summoned by the Belgian Government to attend the re-opening of Parliament at Brus- sels. With painful recollections of his former ex- periences at the hand of the irresponsible union, the Secretary of the International Socialist Bureau took the precaution two days before the date of his journey of seeing Mr. C. W. Bower- man, M.P., secretary of the Trades Union Con- gress Parliamentary Committee, who, in turn. obtained a promise from Havelock Wilson that no action would be taken by him to hinder the return of M. Huysman to his native shores. Nevertheless the passage was refused, though the arrangements had been made by the Belgian Government, who had a motor-car awaiting M. Huysman at Boulogne. There is every proba- bility that the incident will be raised in the Belgian House of Representatives. It would be interesting to know whose inter- fering hand has taken the autocratic power of issuing the embargo orders in view of Havelock Wilson's promise; or whether the Union that has been so badly educated under him is merely ex- ercising a power that resides in every individual seaman now. At all events this dirty game has to stop, even if the British Labour Movement has to turn union breaker to stop it. An union that discriminates against the representatives of the working-class, is no source of strength to that class. Rather it is a weak link in the Labour chain, and we can't afford weak links in the days a head. A straight warning is needed, and should be given, after which the Labour Movement—which includes the Trades Union Movement in this solitary and dispieable exception—should pro- ceed to action. CHECKMATED. Later, the British Seafarers' Union, the rival organisation to the Sailors' and Firemen's Union —which it will be remembered offered a crew to convey Macdonald, Jowett and the others across the North Sea on the occasion of their hold-up, came to the rescue, and M. Huysman was earripd to the Continent on a boat that put out- from Southampton. The delay, however, lost him his presence at the historic re-opening of the Belgian House, but the Secretary of the International Socialist Bureau was able to transact important work in Belgium. The question of the boycott will in all proba- bility become a theme of discussion with the In- ternational and with the International Federa- tion of Trades Unions.

PONTYPRIDD I.L.P. PRIZE-DRAWING. WINNING Numbers: 922; 2; 3500; 1502; VV 3381 1386 3339. All prizes to be claimed within fourteen days from Owen Hughes, 10 Pwllgwaun Road, Pontypridd.

-I 1- The Irishman in Britain. NOTHING has served so powerfully to display to the people the important development of the Labour Party as a national party of real power and potency, as the action of the Irish League in actively allying itself with us in our fight against the Coalition. Xot even the growing respect- with which we are treated by the Liberal who still conceives his politics as embody- ing inviolable principles which he will not sell at the bidding of a political buffoon, and by the dwindling remnants of the Press that made Eng- land famous, and which has escaped the octopus arms of the bourgeoisie politicians who have syndicated the press as the cheapest way of poisoning the wells of opinion—not even the co- operation that belated comes from these sur- vivors of the classic political economy has served to mark off the beginning or a new era as has the activity with which the Irishman in Eng- land, under the veteran T. P. O'Connor, have thrown themselves so whole-heartedly upon the side of Labour—a side which the Home Ruler has ignored signally in his compromi ses with the political factions in the fights of the past. Perhaps, that ignoring was not altogether so enigmatical as some Labourites have thought in the past. The Irishman more than any of us is a natural politician, and to that instinct for politics which he draws with his mother's milk, the Irishman adds a practical training in politi- cal strategy, and intense personal concentration on a single objective, unequalled in any other body than those he has builded up as well on the alien mainland, as upon the wholly devout emerald green of the homeland isle. Politics and not economics are the Irishman's strong point and politics divorced from economics, are instruments to be used to an end, and not moral codes. Such a. view naturally would lead strate- gians to ignore a Party which was safe on the end to be striven for, and would lead to an attempt to trade upon the votes one could cast. But disillusionment has come. That trading, what did it brings Waste words and empty professions that produced not statutes, but tender consciences for the short period w hen trading again became necessary. With all his political cleverness the Irishman has time after time for decades now been forced to eat the bitter dead sea fruits of hope deferred. Always there was some fly in the ointment that made the redemption of pledges sworn with the sincer- ity of binding oaths impossible, and the wonder has been that the Irishman's cheery optimism has withstood the constant buffetings that the parties have in turn subjected his faith to. But at last those parties have cast off the cloak of conflict which they had used to gull the home voter as well as the Irish aspirant to a just liberty; and with cynical disregard of the living lie that has been their past, they have announced that they twain are one, a fact that must have been apparent to the 1-rislimin as he scanned the Coalition vote when Irish Conscription was before the Parliament. The ultra-sordid history of the treatment of Ireland during the past four years, the misrepresentation and lying, deliber- ate and deep, that has been maliciously exercised by Liberal-Tory and Tory-Liberal alike when speaking of the loyalty of Ireland, have at last served to sweep away the scales from the eyes of our Irish voters; and they have turned as they were bound at last to turn, to Labour with its clear shining faith in the liberties of people at. home as well, ay, and before, as on the con- tinent of Europe. Labour has always declared itself unmistakably as the protagonist of Home Rule. The sufferings and injustices that oppress the people of England's ''nearest colony" has never failed to awaken the sympathy and con- demnation of Labour, and has served as an in- troduction to democratic politics for hundreds of our best workers in the Labour Movement. Ire- land will not be brought to Labour by empty promises and meaningless rhetoric, for Ireland's unreserved and unqualified right to self-deter- mination is a fundamental plank in our platform, a fact which at once removes it from the sordid market-place of huckstered votes. We are de- lighted that at last the logical development of events has revealed the camouflage of the Coali- tion, and has given to us the comradesship of the Irishman in our midst. We are doubly pleased that that comradeship should have been cemented at a time when we have need for the splendid organisation, the unequalled enthu- siasm, and more particularly the inherent in- stinct for political strategy which the Irishmen in Britain to-day add to our lighting forces. That that strategy has already exercised an in- fluence in determining the actions of many we cannot doubt; and that they will be the means of decisively turning the tide in many South Wales constituencies we know but depends upon the loyalty with which Ireland in Wales regards the compact of brotherhood which has been born. We do not doubt that loyalty. We know that every loyal Irishman's vote is Labour's this time; and we know, too, that as a result of that loyalty the Irishman will not have occasion to weep the bitter tears of remorse that he had to weep yesterday over a shell-scarred Dublin, or the more heartfelt sorrows that we shared with him as we and he read of the judicial murders of Sheehy Skeffington and our own brilliant ex- ponent fellow-countrymen of his, the martyred James Conolly and their fellows. Xor will his nation be subjected to the discord and disruption that has marked the immediate past. We may not be powerful enough this time to give Home Rule by our political effort, but we shall be powerful enough with the assistance of our Irish friends to stop jerrymandering with a question that calls for a straight issue, and mayhap will, by the exercise of our subsidiary powers, be able to force the straight issue. But next time, and it is nearer than most think, will be our time, and with the dawn of our day the long-deferred liberty that Ireland has yearned for, becomes the possession of Ireland unequivoeably. That is what Labour offers to Ireland that is what the sweeter and purer Coalition of the lovers of real freedom and liberty means. Every vote cast j for Labour is a vote given for Home Rule. The Irishman to-day knows that and his allegiance is sure and sympathetic. May the bonds now ce- mented last through all time, and be a pleasant recollection of the new living as the sister coun- tries march together in a newer and better and freer unity down the fruitful groves of a world sanctified to Democracy.

A BENEFICIAL TRUST. In Western Australia a trust has been formed for the purpose of providing scholarships for the children of fallen or incapacitated soldiers. Scholarships to the value of £6,000 have already been allotted. Western Australia, which has held pride of place among the Australian States in every branch of war effort, is showing com- mendable activity in safeguarding the interests of the returned soldier and his dependents.

A Word With The New Socialist. i OT even on the ever of a General Election, when the natural atmosphere of the old politics was one of camouflage and lies. "can a real Democracy afford to lie about its position and its strength, and for that reason we have no hesitation in con- fessing to the growth in South Wales of the spirit of new Socialism that accepts Marx as the master, hut modifies him under the impulse of pioneering enthusiasm to a use of purely in- dustrial weapons. We ourselves take pleasure that the "Piollcpr" has done what it could to aid the educational work that has been one of the splendid visible accomplishments of the new spirit, but we have never taken the view of the few that the exercise of industrial strength rendered the use of the political weapon unneces- sary. Our knowledge of the history of the movement is not so confined that we have not been able to realise clearly that nowhere has the new Socialism been able to triumph where the existence of the political party was still a. thing of the future. We have recognised to the full the truth that Robert Rives La Monte—himself a disciple of the new Socialism and one of its best scribes—uttered when he said "To give your Labour unions an atmosphere in which they can develop a healthy and vigorous life, you must put just as many Socialists as possible into political office," and again, It is well to re- member that the new Socialism has never yet become powerful in any country where there was not a lready in existence a more or less potent Socialist political party. And in all of its strug- gles it has been aided by Socialists in Office. Here in America, as a matter of chronology it was not until after Berger was elected to Con- gress that Haywood led the Lawrence strikers to victory. And Berger helped very materially in that fight. Without the active aid of the Socialist Party the Lawrence strike would have tailed." And what is true of America is true of EIIgland, and of France. Tom Mann and Ben Tillett, we are sure, would freely concede the use and power of the assistance of such idealist Parliamentarians as Lansbury during the Lon- don Dock Strike and other great conflicts that they organised and waged. If Socialism in Par- liament has not been able to assist more in the past the fault is not the Socialists there but the workers in the country for their blindness to their own interests. But let the past stay dead, from it we can only draw the historical data wherefrom to adjudge principles. The future is Ours. The fight more than ever before will be waged on the industrial field—at the seat of ex- ploitation, as our comrades would say. We ad- mit that, but concurrently we ask you to realise the need to back that army in the field by in- vading the "Capitalist Executive" with as many members as possible. Invade it so that the reforms that come to us, the reforms we need, are not the philanthropic reforms of Coali- tionists that mean a little for the workers and a lot for the workers' economic owners, but real revolutionary reforms that lessen the ever widen- ing gap b(twixt the classes. That work must be. done, that the new work can be carried forward whether Parliament will be necessary or not in the future we may leave to the future to decide. At the moment it is an imperative need, and we appeal to our young and enthusiastic comrades who would fold their arms in indolent indiffer- ence when politics are mentioned, to recogni se that there is synthetic relationship betwixt union and Parliament-, mid re-organising that throw-off in the crusade against the bourgeoisie that is now* being waged with all that splendid enthusiasm they possess. Not an atom of power that can be exerted dare we leave unexerted this time, or ever, till the fipflit is won, and we call upon all who name themselves Socialists of whatever school to demonstrate their faith in their actions. To the task, comrades, the rivets of the chains that we must lose were fastened in Westminster as the economic conditions heated them, use Westminster in the task of breaking them too.

The Charge of Bolshevism. A PAST practical experience of the filthy methods of party politicians in attempting to degrade their opponents by vague charges that appealed to the ignorance of the electorate, has left us cold when we have read in the less responsible of the Coalition Press, and heard from the plat- forms of its approved candidates the whispered odious charge that every Labour candidate is a Bolshevist. Indeed, from the fact that they are Coalitionists we had expected more deadly things than this. For what is in the charge If you analyse it, nothing at all. It is trup that ac- cording to the horrible stories that ilave been revealed to Britons through the media of a purchased press, and for the purpose of justify- ing an unjustifiable and pretextless invasion of an ex-ally, every crime in the calander and many that never were committed outside of the ima- gination of fictionists turned journalists has been made to attach itself to the word Bolshe- vist. But be the crimes of the Bolshevists what they may, and history will alone reveal them in their truth, the fact that Bolshevism represents the will of New Russia is amply and clearly de- monstrated by the fact that Bolshevism has stood firm for a long period, and still stands firm and strong to-day despite the most energetic attempts to disrupt it from within and without —attempts that have included financial and economic opposition of a kind that would have brought crushing down any weak Government, and actual invasion in force. If it is meant that the Labour candidates in Britain equally repre- sent the will of the people, then we are lial)py- to plead guilty on their behalf to the charge, and we trust that the electorate will see it in its right light. But that is not what is meant. What it is hoped that the charge will accomplish is to impress upon the minds of the people a gory picture of guillotines and murders and anarchy in the centre of which Winstone, and Jimmy Edmunds, or T. E. Nicholas will figure as the British prototypes of "Peter the Painter" or some other individual whoso real existence will probably prove a puzzle to the historian who seeks to find the basis of many of our Russian paragraphs of the past year. Such a charge is ridiculous, and the mere fact that it can be hinted gives us a clue to the curiously warped morality of the orthodox party politician. We may safely leave the embryo Bolshevik propensi- ties of all Britons, as well as of those few of them who are Labour candidates, to the day when Bolshevism shall become the political sys- tem of Britain; a consummation which we be- lieve to be as remote as the day of final Judg- ment of the Theologian. That most of the candidates are Socialists they would be proud to admit, but the man who confounds Socialism and Bolshevism as synonymous terms is not fit to exercise a franchise, let alone canvass one for the purpose of securing return as a representa- tive of -the People.

Truth Will Out. ] WK suppose that it is the tremendous excite- ment of ehntion time in Fleet Street and its in- toxicating effect upon highly-strung literati that leads so many journalists to commit indiscre- tions of exposure of reasons for policy that must prove very disconcerting to suave politicians whose platform explanations are scarcely likely to fit in with the real explanations so foolishly revealed to the electorate by impetuous friendly writers. For instance, what could be more in- discrete just at this time than the revelation of the real reason for continued railway control made by the writer of Wales in London in the "South Wales News" of Monday. For the purposes of securing your vote your local Coah- tion cainouflagist has probably already told you a weird and wonderful story of the reason for continued governmental control of the railways, and it is scarcely fair to topple that airy fairy creation for an anonymous writer in a friendly capitalist organ to come along before December 14th and bluntly declare that the decision to continue control arises from the fact that in 1911 the profits of the railways available for divi- dends only amounted to £ 66,000,000. Since that increased wages have been given which amount to £ 6-1,000,000 a year. If the railways should revert to private ownership they could only pay dividends by doubling their tariffs which at present are far too high." We commend that paragraph to every working inan and woman voter as a true indication of the reasons that will operate with the present Government, should they be unfortunately returned to power, in dis- criminating as to what shall continue to be "controlled" and what shall cease to be held by the people in the State. The touch-stone test will be the power of an industry to pay profits to stockholders. if the industry can yield its normal rate of profit or over on its watered stock, then that industry will be ready for re- lease from control if, for any reason, the normal rate of interest cannot be returned by an in- dustry then the Government will continue to guarantee- the old rate of interest to stock- holders out of the national exchequer, until such time as that industry shall have been nursed back to the capitalistic standard of health. All profits are the product of human labour-power, your labour power exorcised now. What have you to say to this playing with the nation and with you? It is an important question. May we suggest that your best interests will be served by voting for the Party that cares for you as a worker, and not a cent's worth for the profits of the idle rich a Party that seeks Na- j tional Control for the efficient service that pro- per National Control—meaning thereby owner- ship—spells for the people—you. That Party is the Labour Party see that it gets your vote, and the votes of all with whom you come in con- tact, and end for ever this shameful use of the nation in the interests of the para-sit-es who too long have drained the life-blood of you and your family who have condemned you to hovel s for homes, to long hours of unnecessary degrading toil, that their fair bodies might feel the fresh touch of clean linen, their minds be untroubled with the problem of to-morrow's food, and their hands be unsoiled by the labour that alone turns the wheels of the world.

They Who Were Lost. ( A SI HSIWARV useful }>ur!>»»»*■ tlmt <»fcf"eTion has served has been To mark off the slieep from the goats among the Labour members who had ac- cepted office—mistakenly as Ave think—under the Coalition. Whilst welcoming back Clynes, and Brace, and the rest who have returned to their political alma mater, we are not unaware that something other than sentiment has oper- ated to bring them back to the fold. The hesi- tancy that has been displayed by these men- whose return we heartily welcome—demonstrates that it was not love of the Party alone that caused their resignation from a political alliance y that had been defended so assiduously by them for so long after it had become apparant to all that the Party as a Party had ceased to look with kindness on the. association of its members with the Cabinet. Perhaps we shall never know the deciding reasons that swept t hese men back into the Party, but an intelligent assessment of those reasons would lead us to the opinion that the hnal cleavage between the Labour members of the Government and Lloyd George and his I Tory friends should be ascribed to the fact that ( guarantees of pursuance of a policy in accord with the principles of their Labour supporters | were refused by the Coalitionist leaders. On such an assumption, and on such an assumption alone, the return to the fold becomes a clearly understandable proceeding. If those guarantees [ have been refused, however, then it ought to be known by the nation. and in particular by the working-class, to which it is so important. At all events it is good to have Clynes and Brace and Walsh and the rest back fighting shoulder to shoulder with us in the only cause that is worth while, and although it will be impossible to ever forget that Brace's name more than any other was as- sociated with the cruel things that have been the accompaniment of the Government's brutal evasion of their own conscience clause, still it will be possible to forgive much if the abilities that should have been in opposition these last four years, are unreservedly used in the Service of the workers' party from this time forward. Every Socialist and every Labourite remember- ing only the Party is in duty bound to place his fullest, and most complete energies at the dis- posal of they who were lost and are found again.

The Aberavon Muddle. BALLOT FOR CANDIDATE COMPLETED. The ballot for the selection of a. Labour candi- date for Aberavon, so unnecessarily entailed by the disloyalty of Mr. W. Jenkins, J.P., towards the constitution and the weak-kneedness of the Labour Party, was taken last week and the ballot papers have been forwarded to the Labour Party. Mr. Arthur Henderson will announce the result in due course. The rival nominees are Bob" Williams, head of the Transport W orkers, and Mr. W. Jenkins. a local miners' agent.

No Labour Meetings on Dec. 12th. IN ORDER TO HELP MUSICAL SOCIETY CONCERT. The Merthyr Labour Party has decided not to run any meetings on December 12th in Merthyr, in order to give a chance to the Merthyr Musical Society, conducted by Dr. D. C. Williams, to have a free running with their concert. The concert is being run under great difficulties and at enormous expense, and the Labour Party trusts that all the workers will rally to their support..