Pioneer

To John Jones, Industrialist. AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SOUTH WALIAN ON SOME POINTS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST. AND ESPECIALLY THAT OF HICH WACE8 AND INCREASED PRODUCTION* To JOHN* JONES, Industrialist, South Wales, My DEAR JOHN, As a member of your class, and one whose task for the past four years has consisted of endeavouring to get you to realise the reality of your class bonds, and your duty to yourself I can claim an interest in you, if not a friend- ship with you, that justifies me in taking the step of addressing this letter to Xou. I admit that it is a liberty that I am taking, and pro- bably I should have been loathe to address you an just this way were is not that within the next fortnight I am afraid that the honeyed tongues of self-interested flatterers will turn your head so that you are diametrically in opposcition to your interests and those of your class. Industrially you have learned the lesson of solidarity, and if the call ahead was a trade- union one pure and simple I should stand at one side confident that you would handle the case with delightful brevity and completeness, for, travelling with you in workmen's trains, and sitting with you in the evenings I have ever applauded the forceful language with which you have expressed your contempt for the non- unionist, the black-leg and the leader whose leadership is not free from the suspicion of per- sonal vantage seeking rather than union ad- vancement. But the case is not so simple as that at all. Politicians whose all outlook on life cuts right across all that means your advancement, and the party hacks of those politicians, are going to tell you within the next few days that you are as skilled in politics as you are in your union affairs, and like a silly school girl you are going to blush internally and bolit-ve it, although the man who so seeks to flatter you will be laugh- ing at your gullibility the while he is "soft- soaping" you. At least he will if he looks at the hovels you live iii if he sees who you re- turn to the town and rural and urban councils. To tell the truth, although there may be a germ of truth in n candidates remark when he refers to you as the backbone of our glorious em- pire," so far yon have shown, for the most part, an absolute failure to comprehend the importance of your vertebral position, and you have allowed yourself to be deluded into throw- ing away your power so easily that many have grown to believe that you arc absolutely devoid of any semblance of political sagacity, to say nothing of real class-consciousness, which is far more developed frame of mind, or condition of being, than you have ever aspired to. J WAKE UP! Now, personally, I do not take a hopeless view of your position. I am not one of those who de- clare that nothing short of a social revolution will remove the scales from your eyes. I believe that if you can only be got to exercise the shrewd' common sense that you exhibit in fol- lowing a good mill in the ring, or in comment- ing upon the work of a strong half-back or centre-forward, or, perhaps most of all, in se- lecting a whippet, then I believe that not all the charmed talk of capitalistic politicians who desire to use you to return themselves to power would avail to secure your vote. If you would exhibit the interest that you exhibit in a hun- dred other pursuits in selecting your M.P., then T am positive that we should have a La- bour Party in power at the next election. The pity of it is that in this all important task that devolves upon you about once every five years, you show less concern than you do in buying a collar stud. And yet the tost that you are called upon to apply in this casf is not one whit different from that you automatically apply when you are buy- ing a whippet. What do you want to know then ? You are not satisfied to take the dog be- cause a wily seller tries to flatter you that you can jndge his blood and speed and record from his outline, or the gaudinesR of the coat that covers him. No r You want to know his pedi- gree, you are scrupulous in your search for weak points; and you insist on examining his record. UNTRUTH. I Now, I suggest to you that the test that you insist upon applying to the purchase of a sport- ing dog, is not too hard a condition to lay down in choosing a man, or woman, to represent you ir the councils of the nation. Are you willing to apply thoi-e tests? Take that of record. The onlv point that the Edgar Joneses, the Stantons, and the Lloyd Georges are going to draw your attention to in their unsavoury record is that they have won the war for you. They lie. They haven't assisted in the ending of the war one happ'orth. Tndeded, if they make a point of that it would not be without relevance if you were to ask them why they refused such an excellent opportunity to accomplish that purpose when the Emperor Karl gave them the opportunity many months before the end came; and which in refusing they showed themselves so oonscious of wrong-doing that thev never even mentioned the offer to their own AltieR-America. and Rus- s i n. Tt is, of course, difficult to say yet whether or not the war could have been ended months ago on just terms if a determined effort had been made by both sides in that direction, but at all events we have had precious few evidences of any desire to end it on the part of the politi- cians, who have talked not in accordance with definite settled principles, but in terms that have followed accurately the fluctuating fortunes on the field of battle. APPRECIATING THE SOLDIER. I But the great beauty of the politician who would have you believe that his tongue has been the great factor in the war, is the care he is taking to exclude the actual fighting man—the man who has actually bled and suffered the hor- rors of the batt-fipld-over three minions of whom have been killed, maimed, hurt, blinded or impnsoned-tb exclude these men from any real share in this election—an election, mark you, that is totally unnecessary, and which has only been entered upon because the politicians are calculating that you can be caught easily whilst the frothy intoxication of victory is seething in your head. But you do not play unfairly, and I know that you will want to know why this ap- peal to the electorate has not been delayed, as it could well have been, without inconvenience to anyone, until those men who fought shall have come home. You know as well as I do that if anyone ought to have a chance of saying what course reconstruction and government shall take, it is these men who have been torn from home and peaceful occupations, often at the sacrifice of a lifetime's work, to turn butchers and be butchered in the mad, bad Armageddon that top-heavy Capitalism bequeathed to the world. I HICH WACES-IFf But most of all you are going to be told, I think, what a fine fellow you are and how neces- sary it is that your wages shopld be kept high- though, and here's the rub, to enable Capital to do that it has become imperatively necessary that you should produce more. Let us see what this means. You know, of course, though you will be told differently these next fourteen days, but you know, I say, that the only possible way to create wealth is to employ human labour- power on the land and raw material provided by nature. There is no other way. What, then, is profit Profit is the time that you work for your boss and for which you are not paid. That is you, by reason of the competition amongst your fellow tradesmen for jobs contract with your boss—generally through your union—to work 50 hours per week for, say, 50/ But you earn that 50/- in the first 20 hours. Yet you have contracted to work 50 hours, and so after earning your wage you have to go on working for a further 30 hours for nothing. That is your boss' profit. The Government's census of Production in 1909 showed that the new value created for each worker employed—young and old, male and female, averaged over 762 per week. The census of wages gave the averages of wages from 9/3 per week to 27/4—certainly on a general aver- age under :Cl. In America the workers produce two or three times more than the British workers—hence, the anxiety of our Capitalists .to adopt the American methods of scientific management, patent machinery, etc. Let us look more closely at this, for it is important. SECRET OF INCREASED PRODUCTION. Let us take John Maclean's example, and his name may remind us of the "justice in war- time that has led the Government to imprison persons whose opinion it has not liked. Says our Glasgow Comrade who languishes in gaol: Suppose a worker makes 200 commodities in a ten-hour day and these sell at 10/ that the worker gets 5/- as his wage. The surplus-value (profit) would be 5/- on the assumption that nothing is allowed for the cost of raw material, depreciation, etc. If, however, the output be doubled the worker could turn out 360 commodi- ties in a nine-hour day, and these might sell at IS/ The worker might get 61- as his wage. The surplus-value would be 12/ Suppose, again, that the output were trebled, then 360 commo- dities would be created in a six-hour day, and I sell still at Its/ If the Capitalist arranged to keep his plant going continuously, then he could easily run three shifts instead of two, and so gain 38i- instead of 24/ a greater surplus- value than ever before." T hope, John, that. you will go over that extract again, for it tells you plainly and unmistakably all about the bogus philanthropy of the keep wages up conditional upon increased efficiency and output cry. IANOTHER WAR. But let us pursue this matter a little further, for its implications are important in a nation that for four years has been talking ahout "the last war," "never-again," war to end war," and all the rest of it. Now, listen carefully. If the workers only receive back a portion of the wealth they create, then it follows that they can only buy a portion of the wealth created. That is simple, since to buy all would need the whole of the value created. Who, then, will buy the rest? The Capitalist class is comparatively small and will consume very little. Where then?. Ob- viously larger foreign markets will be necessi- tated to consume this new surplus wealth, and so will he developed a more intense. economic war than that which led up to this one. Every nation will strive as in the past to dump its sur- pluses on the undeveloped nations of the earth, and the intense rivalry that this sets up, the need for zones of influence, protectorates and the like to safeguard the Capitalists of every nation must inevitably land us back in the vicious circle that landed us into this terrible four years slaying, and that has meant death and damage to over three millions of our country- men. I had intended reminding you of the home re- cord of the present government, but space has gone and I will merely remind you that trade- union privilege. the growth of years of hard effort, liberty of the individual, and of the press and meeting, Habeas Corpus, and, trial by jury have all been suspended, and so far without sign of their return, though the need that was urged for their passage has now ceased to exist. You can look into those things for yourself, John, and I will close by pointing out to vou how you can escape the next war that inevitably must follow the adoption of the policy of greater output. THE ONLY WAY. I How can we avoid another war as evil, or more evil and greater, than the terrible one that hasiust concluded Not by any means that the Coalition candidates will suggest to you. Yet there is a way—a simple way. a just wav. Do not dump that surplus on the undeveloped coun- try. I have pointed out already that profit con- sists of the time that you work and expend your labour power, but for which you receive no payment. Is that fair. We of the Socialist Party say No," and we would see to it that the worker does not work any hours for which he does not receive payment. What we are out for is not extra nrofits for the Capitalists, but the elimination of the Capitalist and the alloca- tion of this land of Britain to its people—Bri- tain for the British is what we are out for; and we are a part of the Labour Party, whpse can- didate—a member of your class, Tobn-will also seek your suffrage this election. He will tell you of the steps on the way to the bringing of Britain to the British that the Labour Party want to take. and will take if you will return them to power—housing, pit-head baths, provi- sion of proper safety devices in mine, factory and on the railways; the proper care of the (Oontinued At foot of next column).

Armistice Election I TO DESTROY THE GROWING LABOUR I MOVEMENT. MR. FRANK HODCES ON THE COALITION I STRATEGY. This is a great historical moment for the working people of our country. So far, the or- ganised political Labour Movement has done the right thing. The decision to withdraw from the Coalition is a sound decision. When viewed in perspective it must be seen by every thoughtful worker that the decision to establish the inde- pendence of the Labour Party is justified from every point, of view. Generally speaking, the Labour Party has rarely shone in political tactics or strategy. The traditional parties with their, wealth of experi- ence and their wealth of funds have always out- manoeuvred the Labour Party. This is but natural. The tactics of the infant Labour Party had not got beyond the stage of an infant. Mr. Lloyd George believed that the characteristics of infancy still dominated the Labour Party. He was perilously near the truth. How near can now be plainly realised. The reluctance of cer- tain Labour members to conform to the decision of this Labour Party Conference is proof of this. They display the characteristics of the spoiled and wilful child. The decision of Mr. floyd George to have an election following the armis- tice was part of a strategical plan to destroy finally and absolutely the growing power of the political Labour Movement. The continuance of the Labour Party in the Coalition was a tactical movement in that direction. WHAT MICHT HAVE BEEN. Had lie succeeded he would have discredited the Labour Party in the eyes of the public, and more especially in the eyes of the working-class itself. He would have committed them to such legislation during the life of the next Parliament as would have hopelessly compromised them. They would, with himself, have been involved in the welter and chaos of the next few years. The Labour Party would have borne the ignoiny of it all, Lloyd George knows that the working- ilass are more prone to curse their own leaders than they are to curse or revile their opponents. Besides, he could always say that the Labour members were his principal advisers. It is true that more Labour men would have been returned to Parliament under the Coalition scheme than under the glorious banner of independence, for there is political safety in numbers, and Mr. Lloyd George understands that. I WHAT IS. Happily for this country* the Labour Party were not quite so infantile as had been surmised. Political thought in the country was in advance of the political institutions. In consequence, we are in the throes of a great political conflict. It is true we are at a disadvantage. The virile democracy of Britain is still mobilised in the Army and Navy. The plan for enabling our sol- diers and sailors to exercise the franchise is an obvious sham. But it pays the powers that be q o l d i erg an d sa i lorr, to perpetuate such a sham. Soldiers and sailors are more intimate with the political Labour Party than with any other. They are for the most part workers. It is therefore tactical to demobilise them after the election rather than before. By all means have an election during the armistice, says the Prime Minister. The Army, Navy, and the munition workers are onlv demobilised on paper. As yet they know noth- ing of unemployment, or of out of work dona- tions for 26 weeks at 24/- per week, which will buy them the magnificent amount of not quite 10/- worth of food and clothing. + they are not aware that they will have to pa; for the war as well as having bled for v ictory. They are not in possession of tlfe faot that interest on War Stock will cost the country 400 millions per annum that this will mean an income tax of 7/6 in the t; that the rich will get richer because of huge holdings in War Loan that the poor will get poorer because the poor must ensure the interest upon the holdings of the millionaire. They have still the mud of the trenches of another land on their boots, but no security that a Coalition Government, which includes the landed proprietors, will voluntarily legislate to provide free access to the land for which they have fought. They hope for substan- tial allowances and pensions, but as these re- quire over GO million pounds annually, such sum will threaten the normal payment of dividend upon War Stock. LABOUR'S AIM. I The Labour Party knows all this. TT knows more. Tt knows the time is not far distant when the whol e country will both know and feel it. Tho Labour Party is sure that soon after peace has been signed public opinion will turn upon those legislators who will not attack the vested interests represented in the Coalition. The Labour Party will keep its hands clean; It will assist the Government in promoting radical legislation even if it be only temporary in char- acter, hut at the riglit, moment it requires the liberty to oppose the Government and appeal to the country when it is clearly in the country's interest to do so. Let us work now, and vote so that there will be returned a sufficient num- her of Labour Members to force the issue,at the appropriate moment so that the Labour Party's programme of Reconstruction may take the place of the so-called orocrramrnc of Reconstruction of nn impossible Coalition FRANK HODGFS I

Eight-Hour Day. I CRAFTSMEN AND ALLEGED INTERFER-I ENCE BY MINERS' FEDERATION. A PROTEST. I TO THE EDITOR. I Dear Rir,-T notice in last week's issue of the Pioneer a report of the result of the South Wales Miners' Federation conference which considered the Executive's recommendation on the eight-hour question. Up to tho present the M.F.G.B., with the same degree of intelligence, arrives at the same conclusion to take effect at a later date. We have seen several reports in the press during the last twelve months of em- ployers in the different industries reducing the hours of their employees from 54 to 48 hours per week, and in Friday's issue of the Daily News" we notice that the Directors of Messrs. Huntley and Palmers have informed their work- men that immediately after Christmas their working week will be reduced from 54 hours per week to 48 and a week's holiday with full pay. It is a strange world when directors of capi- talist concerns are more humane than some Trade Fnion leaders, and less reactionary than the Miners' Federation of Great Britian. A QUERY. I The M.F.G.B. have now began an agitation for a six-hour day and a pound a day, etc. It would be interesting to know why the Miners' Federation, whose members are enjoying eight hours a day, and who are asking for six hours a day, should make a deliberate attempt to pre- vent the Craftsmen from obtaining eight hours, by recommending to their members who are Craftsmen to betray their fellow workmen by working 49 hours per week. This last act proves conclusively that ex-col- liers do not understand the Craftsmen's point of view, and until they do they should be hon- ourable enough to let the Craftsmen work out their own salvation. The redeeming features about the whole questions were: firstly, the protest by Mr. Caradoe Jones, of Pontardulais, a promi nent mem ber of the Miners' Federation, to which T have already referred and, secondly, the fact that an effort was made at the Confer- ence to adhere to the principle of the eight-hour day. T believe that if the full facts of the case had been plaeecT before the rank and file of the Miners they would not have committed this blunder. I am sure that the Editor of the "Pioneer," whose printers are 48-hour men, will allow one of those who was responsible for the recommenda- tion to explain this betrayal. The Enginemen, Stokers' and Craftsmen's Association has al- ready won an eight-hour day, inclusive of meal- t imes, for Enginemen and Stokers, which reform benefitted those who were also members of the Miners' Federation. The Miners' Federation cri- ticised the Craft Union very severely for accept- ing the 1915 Agreement for the crafts on the pretence that we were going to ask for a higher rate. What have they to say in defence now? Tn addition T desire to draw the attention of all Trade Unionists to the treatment meted out to bona-nde members of Trade Unions by the Miners' Federation, and to appeal to the begt ?pleint,tit in their ranks to put a stop to an un- warrantable interference with the rights and liberties of their fellow workers. FREEDOM OF UNION. I In the "Western Mail" of November 13tli. we find Mr. James Win stone stating to the Coal- owners "that colliery clerks must claim freedom to join any Trade Union they desired." This same freedom is what the Craft Union demands for. its members; the freedom for every Crafts- man, Engineman, or Stoker to join any union he desires. This freedom is dented them by the very same people who demand it for a solitary [colliery clerk. If there is anv man in the Craft Union who honestly feels that he should be a member of the Miners' Federation, he should be honourable enough to pay his dues to the Miners' Federa- tion, and there is nothing to prevent him front excercising that freedom, but, on the other hand, there are hundreds of men in the Miners' Feder- ation who are denied this freedom to join the Craft Union. Tn one instance, when one of onr, Enginemen refused to leave his union at the dictates of the Pit Committee, 400 brave miners marched to his house presumably to demonstrate how much freedom he was entitled to and as a warning to othfr freedom-loving citizens. For sheer hypocricv the German Militarist has been beaten again. I believe that the intelli- gent section of the Miners' Federation are against robbing his fellow workman of the great- est of his possessions, the freedom of opinion, of expressing those opinions, and of acting in accordance with them. A DEMONSTRATION. Tn his article to the "Routh Wales Daily News" for Saturday last, Mr. Vernon Hart- shorn describes this freedom won hy the mar- tyred dead as a "priceless heritage." I trust that Mr. Hartshorn will prevail upon his colleagues to grant that same measure of liberty and freedoin to others as they desire for themselves. Millions of the world's bravest and best have laid down their lives during the last four years and three months, and what for? Thousands of our vounsi men have been attacked by hooligans, imprisoned bv soul-less authorities, and were even prepared to face death, and what for? Was it not for Liberty and Freedom ?--T am, ote., D. B. JONES, Agent. Sunny Bank, Thomas Town, Merthyr Tydfil.

Steve Walsh to Resign. CHESHIRE MINERS' DECISION. At a special conference of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation at Bolton on Saturday it was decided that Mr. Stephen Walsh, M. P., should leave the Coalition Gov- ernment as soon as arrangements could he made for a successor to take up the office which he holds. With regard to the Inee Division, it was agreed that Mr. Walsh should run as a Labour candidat.e at the election.

Mr. Clynes' Seat. IRISH OPPOSITION WITHDRAWN ON RI" SICNATION FROM COALITION. GREAT SPEECH BY T. P. O'CONNOR. A CAMOUFLACE TORY GOVERNMENT. In the Platting division of Manchester it was resolved at a meeting of Irishmen on Sunday that, in view of the withdrawal of Mr. J. R. Clynes, the Food Controller, from the Coalition Government, and the fact that the first of his reasons for withdrawal was that he could not Support the Government's Irish policy, he should receive the full and hearty support. of the Irish electors. The candidature of Mr, D. Boyle was withdrawn. AN ANTI IRISH MINISTRY. Mr. O' Connor said the Michael Davitt Branch of the Irish National League had struck one of the deadliest blows that had vet been struck agahist an anti-Irish Ministry, as the present Ministry was. Let them not underrate the vic- tory obtained by the branch and by Irishmen in the Platting constituency. Mr. Clynes had left the Ministry. (Hear, hear.) He had stated the reasons, and they would note that the first rea- son was Ireland. Mr. Clynes realised, as the Irish Party realised some time ago, that Mr. Lloyd George had made a complete—he had al- most said, but he desired to avoid strong lan- guage, a base—surrender to the Carson Party. (Hear, hear.) In Ireland to-day there was a Carson Junker militarist regime, and that re- gime had behind it the full support of Mr. Lloyd George. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Clynes took the wise decision that it was incompatible with his long career as a Nationalist, a member of their organisation, and at one time one of the best, most effective, and most powerful of their speakers, that he should remain, and that it was better for him to break with even his high posi- tion and the emoluments of a great office in the Government rather than break his noble tradi- tion as a consistent, loyal, and Honest Irish Na- tionalist. (Cheers.) CAMOUFLAGE. "This election and Government, to use a popular phrase borrowed from the battlefield, is camouflage. (Cheers.) This Tory Government. posing as a Liberal Government, this reaction- ary Government posing as a progressive Govern- ment, this anti-Irish, anti-Home Rule Govern- ment, posing as a pro-Irish Government, as time goes on and as searching analysis is concentrated upon it and its policy, is shown to he camou- flage, it will deceive no one. Four hundred Coali- tion candidates, [ understand, have been se- lected up to yesterday or the day before, and of those 400 candidates who have the impri- matur of the so-called Liberal Prime Minister only 140 are Liberals, and those Liberals of the comparatively mild and compromising Lloyd George type. Does not that really demonstrato to the w hole world that it is the old reactionary Government- under a new mask, a new disguise P If they had relied upon the trtie policy of de- mocracy and progress they would have been anxious to admit to their ranks Liberals as well as Tories. But the temptation was too great, and we are face to face now--Iet there be no concealment about it—with an attempt under the mask of Liberalism and the domination of a so-called Liberal Prime Minister to create in the next House of Commons an overwhelming Tory majority. TORY REACTIONARY NAKEDNESS. The resignation of Mr. Clynes, he had no doubt, would lie followed by ot her resignations. He could not think that a man like Stephen Walsh would remain in an Orange-Carson Min- istry. He did not know what Mr. Hodge was going to do, but he knew that he had definitely separated himself from the Labour Party, and could no longer be called a representative of La- hour in the Ministry. He believed Mr. George Roherts would remain in the Ministry, and per- haps Mr. Wardle, but they had taken out of the Ministry the best Labour man in it, a man of their race and blood. (Cheers.) They had exposed its Tory reactionary, nakedness to the world. (Cheers.) The course of the Irish in the Platting division was quite clear. They had won. (Cheers.) Mr. Clynes had remained faith- ful to his principles as an Irish Nationalist and as a Labour member, a.nd they would support him against anyone who came forward. (Cheers.)

Uncompromising Opposition. CO-OPERATIVE CANDIDATES' ATTITUDE TOWARDS COALITION. The attitude of the ten official candidates put forward by the Co-operative movement towards 4 h e Go. I the Coalition was set forth by Mr. W. H. Brown, the co-operative candidate for the Mos,Iey divi- sion, at a co-operative demonstration at Oldham j on Saturday. It would, he said, be one of un- compromising opposition, for the Coalition com- promised every financial and commercial inter- est that had sought to thwart the organisation of consumers and producers on mutual lines. It was significant that the Prime Minister was t avoiding the question of how to prevent the working classes having to pay for the cost, as j, well as the sorrow, of the war. As the repre- v sentatives of consumers, co-operators wanted ex- plicit pledges with regard to the freedom from taxation of food and raw materials. ——

Clem Edwards to fight Arthur Henderson. MRS. DESPARD, WOMEN'S CANDIDATE FOR BATTERSEA. Mr. Clem Edwards, whose constituency of East Glamorgan has been swept away in the re- shuffling of South Wales constituencies, is being put forward as the Coalition opponent of Arthur Henderson in West Ham. The official sanction of the Coalition organisation was issued to Mr. i Edwards on Thursday last week, and in addition t he appropriately has the support of the British Workers" League, and the Merchant Sea- men's Union. Mrs. Despard, Lord French's sister and the I well-known suffrage speaker, is to contest Bat- terSea as the women's candidate.

HELP TO DO SO BY RETURNING WINSTONEl

aged nnd sick, the education of the young in a much better way than we have known hitherto, and tlie-bi-inging of opportunity to all to de- velop the inherent natural inequalities, that the present machine svstem paralyses. Your child, John, may be a Lister, n Dickens, a Shelley, or a Shakespeace, hut he will have little chance to develop those god-given gifts under onr present system. Help us to alter it. Show the common- sense that you have been endowed with and which you can use in so many directions, to im- prove your life and to give a chance that is to- dav denied to the little ones. Don ft be tricked hv the honeyed words or the camouflage politics of the Capitalist politicians—- they are vour natural enemies; the representa- tives of the Hun a.t Home—the Hun we had to stav from his fell work bv means of Controllers, and fines, and big taxation. Trust vour own class this time and-VOTE LABOUR! I Your friend, A.P.Y. j