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I S. O. DAVIES ON IRELAND
S. O. DAVIES ON IRELAND i Great Protest Meeting in Shiloh. I I The Cause of Ireland The Cause of Workers Everywhere. f Mr. James Win stone and His Abiding Faith. t y Although we were unfortunate at last Fri- j. day's I.I.P. meeting in Shiloh to demonstrate the workers' antagonism to the Government's r malicious suppression of the legitimate aspira- tions, of the Irish people in that Mr. Neil MacLean, M.P., who was to be the principal speaker, missed his train at Paddingt-on, still we, found an admirable sub- stitute in Mr. S. O. Davies, the Dowlais miners' agent, who lifted the audience to great heights of enthusiasm for the Irish cause. The other "speaker was Mr. Dan Driscoll, and Mr. James Win stone occupied the chair, though his late ar- r rival, through no fault of his own, found Mr. Brobyn subst-itut-ing him and the meeting well [ underweigh. Mr. Bert Brobyn opened with a strong appeal for subscribers for the enlarged "Pioneer," and put the resolution :— That this meeting of Merthyr citizens con- demn the past and present misgovernment of Ireland by the ruling and exploiting class of Great Britain, and hereby pledges itself to. support the demand for self-determination for' the people of Ireland. It demands the with- drawal of the army of occupation and the im- mediate release of all political prisoners." Mr. Brobyn did not think that the resolution asked for anything at all, which was his way of saying that the mere fact that such a demand had to be put forward, was not an appeal to but a condemnation of the ruling and usurping classes. DAN DRISCOLL. I With Mr. Brobyn's sentiment Mr. Dan Dris- eo11 was in entire agreement. The resolution asked for very little indeed, particularly having regard to the promises that had been made and the pledges that had been given by the Govern- ment, and the powers that be generally. When this nation went into war the orators of the re- cruiting platforms from Lands End to John O'Groats were clamorous in bidding youth and manhood to go forth to fight for the liberty of small nations, and their inherent right to give tree expression to their nationality; and the saime declaration of the purpose of the war was the cardinal point in President Wilson's memor- able fourteen. Yet when peace was declared the oppressions, suppressions, tyrannies and out- i-ages perpetrated upon the Irish people by the Bnitish ruling class surpassed anything that had preceded them in the long story of the British miwrule of that small nation. (Shame.) Ireland, India and Egypt—the three nations that were striving for the right of self-determination in- side the British Empire, were to-day in a worse state than ever before in the history of the world. (Cheers.) Dealing with the excuses made by professional politicians, and their deluded disciples for re- fusing the right of self-expression to the Irish people, Mr. Driscoll produced a map of Ireland that showed the areas of political solidarity in favour of self-determination at the last election, and upon which the North-East-coriier of Ulster looked insignificant in comparison with the bright green of the solidly Home-Rule majority. It was a convincing answer to those who declare 1 that by reason of the dissensions, factions, sects, and disagreement amongst themselves the Irish people were not to be trusted with their own destiny, a lie that was further nailed by Mr. DrificolPe statistics showing that at the last election four out of every five electors in Ireland voted for Home Rule. Mr. Driseoll was certain that it was only 1ilirough the free expression of t'heir nationalism that a people reached internationalism, and de- clared that .in .substance the Irish people said to the British workers—"If you will give us the opportunity to manage our own affairs in the way most suitable to our own people we will or- ganise our own people as a class conscious people and ultimately win emancipation. (Cheers.) The Ooalition Party was the most treacherous poli- tical party in Europe,—nay, that Europe had -ever seen or ever known. (Cheers.) HRt J. WINSTONE. I Mi-, Tas. Winstone, on taking the chair, ex- pressed his sense of privilege in being permitted to preside over a .meeting such as that. He was there because of his consuming desire to see jus- tice done to Ireland and the Irish people. For 30 years his determination to do whatever he could to further the cause that that meeting was called upon to support had never swayed, and that de- termination would never sway whatever effects it would have upon his political life. He was not like an ordinary poli-tic,.iait asking which way do the people here think as a guide to his course of proceedure. He was there because he believed, and had believed for over 30 years, in the prin- ciple that he had declared during the greater part of his life—the principle of self-determina- tion. Why should the Irish people be refused the right of self-determination ? Nay, for the matter of that, why should the "Welsh people not be accorded that right P (Oheers.) In the realms of culture, science, art and literature the genius of the Irish people stood level, if not ahead of the earth, whilst the great human heart of the Irish nation beat always in sympathy with the poor and oppressed, as was -evidenced by the fact that the sods of France and Flanders were still sodden with the life's- blood of Erin's soldier sons, who had gone forth -to fight for what they believed to be the right of self-determination for all people. He sin- cerely hoped the meeting would not be satisfied with merely passing the resolution, but would re- member that in standing for justice for the Irish people we struck a blow for justice for ourselves. (Cheers.) TRAGEDY OF IRELAND. Mr. S. O. Davies declared that no more ghastly ooninientory upon the hypocricy of the so-called righteousness of the war now drawing itself to a miserable end, could be found than the history of Ireland during the past two or three years. Some of us 'had refused to IK drawn into the war by appeals on behalf of little Belgium—and little Serbia, because we knew the history of lie land, not for two or three years, I)i.t for the lo;^ and weary centuries of English oppression. Tre truth was the last war was a purely capitalist concern, and that was the reason why that crowded meeting that night w(.uld agree that the very meeting itself and the reason for its being was the most damnable com- mentary on the WTar-to-end-war." A war-fr- end-war and yet there were 60,000 British troops in Ireland armed to the teeth, and costing the country £ 11,000,000 a year. (Shame!) In Ire- land were these armed force s--soldiers and con- stabulary—not only armed with rifles, bayonet's and revolvers, but equipped with hand-grenades, and provided with Lewis guns. In Ireland were many tanks—not only in the cities but in th> villages and the quiet country side, too. He knew of no history so tragic as that. of Ireland. During the past 90 years whilst the population of England and Wales had increased by 200 per cent., the population of Ireland, with its great natural riches and possibilities, had de- creased by 35 per cent. That wa<8 due to the oppression that had hounded out of Ireland every Irish land who had a spark of robust character, and the will to give expression to his national aspirations. And the oppressors had not been the Irish people, or people living in Ireland, but absentee landlords and capitalists, who used the whole forces of the State they controlled to. suck the very life's blood out of a nation that was not even good enough for them to live in. (Cheers.) 1914-1916. Proceeding, Mr. Davies remarked in burning words the treason of Carson, Galloper Smith and their Tory colleagues in 1914—a treason that was not punished with the gallows or im- prisonment for such statements .as If any at- tempt is made to revive or put in force the Home Rcle Act, I will at once summon the Provisional Government," and "I tell the British people that if there is any attempt to take away one jot or tittle of your rights-(th rights of the people of Ulster)—as British citizens, and the advan- tages won during the war of freedom, I will call ourt the Ulster volunteers." Though those state- ments represented high treason in its plainest aspects, the men who made them were allowed to control the Empire and its destinies. These were the men who in some mysterious, unintel- ligible manner succeeded in gulling the young manhood of the country into a fight for Free- dom." Whatever a man's views in respect to the late war, no man could justify the hypoordcy and cant associated with it. (Cheers.) That was in 1914. But what of 1916? What happened then when the men of the other parts of Ireland, than Ulster, emulated Carson's ex- ample? The moment the workers rebelled tha.t Easter, all the armed forces of the State were employed to shoot down one of the best and bravest and finest men that the working-class had ever called their own-and that at the be- hest of the class to which Carson belonged. (Cheers.) It would take some of us a long time to forget the murder of Jim Coaolly, one of the finest intellects born amongst us as a class, a man who rubbed the shoddy veneer of our so- called civilisation and taught the Irish people by the thousand that self-determination was not merely a political figment, but was a war for self-determination from every sort of economic oppression. (Loud cheers.) Jim Connolly was against the rebellion, he struggled -to prevent his class engaging in it, and told them they were but playing into the hands of Carson and the Government; but he would not desert his class, and he was shot—a wounded man seated in a chair. (Loud cheers. ) Jim Conolly, Sheehy Skeffington and the others were murdered in cold blood—(Cheers),—and that during a war for "freedom for small nations." SOME HORRORS. Even a summary of the oppression and ex- ploitation of Ireland during the centuries could not be attempted at a meeting like that. He had, however, a few typical oases of the present op- pression. During 1918, for instance, 1,107 ar- reots were made; 260 districts raided by police and military; 81 baton and bayonet charges; and 91 men and women deported to English gaols without trial. (Shame!) The typical of- fences and sentences were—October 3, 1918—one month for a boy for carrying a Sinn Fein flag. (Shame.) October 17, 1918, one month for a youth for whistling at the police. (Laughter and Shame! "-) October 17th, 1918, one month for being in the company of boys carrying a Sinn Fein flag. October 25, 1918, six months for having ia document which, if published—(which meant that it was not published)-might cause disaffection- (Shame.) September 5th, 1918, two years' bard labour for singing seditious songs at a concert. (Shame.) The British Army had apparently got bigger game than it ever had had. AV-Iiat was the conquest of South Africa, or India or America, besides that of run- ning in a boy for whistling at the police ? (Cheers.) During 1919 the numbers of arrests were stated to be even larger than in 1918, and in the first nine months of the year there were 5,588 raids made on private houses. (Shame.) Then there were the election figures of 1918. In that election Sinn Fein won 73 seats and polled 484,526 votes—and 25 of its members bng re- turned unopposed, those figures did not repre- sent the whole. The Sinn Feiners who were re- presented as the hot-headed irresponsibles, pos- sessed the confidence of the Irish people to such an extent that they were given 73 seats, leaving only 31 for the Constitutionalists and the Oar- sonites to share between them. (Cheers.) THE HIDDEN CAUSE. I The question that naturally struck him as a worker was what was behind all this oppression ? It would not he patriotism for patriotism was love of country—not love of the land, but of the people who constituted the country. (Cheers.) What war, the something that the Government valued so much above the humanity that was suffering so much under their oppression? It was .not a misguided idea- or a mistake in sum- ming up some part of the problem. That some- thing was Greed—the same thing that animated the South Wales coalowners; that actuated the grea,t companies, and the landlords and the other riders of the capitalist system the whole world over. (Cheers.) These people were afraid of the consequences of giving the slightest measure of freedom to the Irish people-for they knew that the Irish people had a very long score to wipe off with reference to these gentlemen, and that consequently t'he slightest concession of freedom might start a volcano in eruuption, which would only end when the oppressors and exploiters were swept into its fires. (Cheers.) The Irish people would never be satisfied with a mere political change called Home Rule-any more t'han the S.W.M.F. would be satisfied with a. mere politi- cal change called nationalisation. (Cheers.) Self- determination was certainly no mere abstract political change. If the change did not enhance man's oomfort, increase his leisure time, and place by his side the treasures of civilisation, then political change would never assuage dis- content at all. What the Irish people were really fighting for was freedom from eobnomic exploita- tion and the Irish people knew very well that they were more likely to secure that when they had had the political change which would mean keeping the armed forces of Capitalism out, of Ireland. (Cheers.) The fight for the emancipa- tion of t'he world from the thraldom of Capital- ism was a world-wide common fight, in the re- cognition of that truth let .us go forward assist- ing by every means at our disposal the struggle of the Irish people, which was the struggle of all the common peoples of earth. The resolution was carried unanimously and with enthusiasm.
Rhondda Teachers' -Annoyed.I
Rhondda Teachers' Annoyed. I EDUCATION COMMITTEE'S DECISION I INAUCURATES WOMEN'S ORCANISATION. 1 The decision of the Rhondda Education Com- mittee to ask all married women in their employ as teachers, and who have qualified for mini- mum superannuation, to resign from their posts at the end of the school year next July, has caused a stir amongst the women concerned, and on Thursday last week their representatives met representatives from the local Labour organisa- tions for women, and the Women's Co-operative Guild to discuss the whole question. Mr. W. G. Cove, the N.U.T. Executive Member, was present. The proceedings were conducted in camera, and a statement afterwards issued to the Press which indignantly oondemned the re- actionary and unfair decision of the local educa- tion authority. A deputation was appointed from the meeting to wait upon the authority. The meeting also decided upon the formation of a permanent women's organisation to enforce wohxen's rights in the Rhondda area, and with an Executive Committee composed of representa- tives of the teachers and the various Labour or- ganisations. The meeting instructed this new organisation to got busy in preparation for forthcoming municipal elections, and a fund was started from voluntary subscriptions then and there subscribed to meet the initial expenses. Miss Mary Williams, of Ton Pentre, is the secre- tary.
Question in the House. I
Question in the House. I MARCAM HOUSINC PLAN MENTIONED. I The Margam Housing scheme formed the sub- ject of a. question in Parliament last week, when Mr. John Davison asked the Minister of Health whether he was aware that the scheme for that area provided for 5 per cent. of the proposed houses having only one room downstairs and two upstairs; and, whether the Minister would take steps to have the scheme re-considered. Dr, Addison replied that two out of the 40 houses included in the scheme of the Margam District Council were planned with two instead of three bedrooms in response to a local demand for houses of this type. With this exception there is no difference between these houses and the approved three bedroom type, and they have all the necessary and desirable amenities.
[No title]
The Carpenters, Cabinetmakers, and Joiners have just voted by a five to one majority in fa- vour of increasing the levy for Parliamentary candidates. They also voted to continue affilia- tion to the Building Trades Parliament, and to allow districts to make regulations on overtime.
Preparing For The Crisis.…
Preparing For The Crisis. I BY J. T. MURPHY. I One of the most dangerous developments in the industrial organisations of the working-class demanding the serious attention of every worker and student, is-the growth of an official class with its own vested interests and an excessive control over all the movements of the workers. Centralisation is proceeding apace and as it does s) the officials fasten themselves in office for longer and longer periods, and become the veri- table rulers of the organisations. Centralisation is not necessarily bad; but centralisation which takes away all power of initiative, turns the rank and file of a movement into sheep-like beings de- void of individuality, and makes them blind wor- shippers of their rulers is a vicious development which must be checked. That it has grown quite naturally and almost unobserved by the mem- bers of the organisations and thrived on expe- diency we do not deny. That there are occasions when quick decisions are demanded by an exe- cutive body we also appreciate. But the fact remains that when all allowances have been made for these features, the gains. from them are outbalanced by the losses. Every time the rank and file members relegate their power to an elected person, lose control over such a person, cease to have the power to recall the elected officer, their fate is largely in the hands of officialdom. When it is remembered that trade unions are limited constitutionally to narrow channels of ac- tivity, and that officialdom is a product of this limited activity, it is only to be expected that the official leaders are essentially conservative in outlook and action. To-day they have a 19th Century psychology with which to face the 20th Century problems. We have entered an era of revolution, demanding revolutionary leadership: we get in response pathetic appeals to do nothing which will disturb the equilibrium of the exist- ing order. Issues are confined to narrow chan- nels. Sectionalism becomes a virtue to them and class-action a dreadful nightmare. The unity we have appealed for becomes a unity to stop action by the mass rather than a unity which shall lead them to victory. But worse even than these things have bcfallen us. They have confined the activities of the rank and file to negative acts. The most the rank and file have ever been asked to do is to stand still, to stop work, 311d. wait and wait until somebody has done something for them. What more pitiable than to see thousands and thousands of workers quietly, patiently waiting through weeks and weeks of a strike, appealing to those who arc working to contribute funds to aid them. We call it grim tenacity. It may be. But the work- ing-class needs more than the grim tenacity of negative pacifism. If we are ever to become free; if we are ever to stop the exploitation of the peoples of the world, if we are ever to cease to be a subject class, we must learn to act posi- tively and move to take that which by right is ours, to rise and sweep the capitalist class aside and take control. The time has gone by when we shall tolerate long-drawn-out sectional strikes. The bravery which can stand aside and see wives and children starve is not the bravery of the man who would be free. It is the bravery of obedience, the bravery of the slave, prepared to endure as a slave, created by sectional union- ism and encouraged by caucus control. None can deny these- features of trade unionism, and none can deny that more than negative virtues are demanded to-day. Anything more than negative virtues, how- ever, cannot exist apart from responsibility. Re- sponsibility, initiative, character, capacity to do things all go together. To thrust more responsi- bility upon the rank and file is therefore of para- mount importance for the checking of the bane- ful features we have enumerated, and for the de- velopment of the qualities necessary to achieve our freedom. We must transform the repre- sentative into a delegate and establish the power to recall elected persons. By these means and these alone can the rank and file assume full re- sponsibility. Immediately we proceed to consider how this can be accomplished we are faced with the cau- cus-ridden bodies in power, many constitutions and, long-drawn proceedings for alterations. Meanwhile Rome burns and deeds are demanded. Hence the only possible way to meet the situa- tion is for the rank and file to build an alterna- tive organisation which can exercise. its power to urge the trade union leaders forward, or act independently when circumstances demands We must be in,the unions, of the unions, but not determined by their limitations. The work- ing-class movement as a whole is greater than any section of it and our tactics must be deter- mined by correspondingly greater principles. To effectively accomplish these things a class-or- ganisation with its elected officers controlled by the rank and file is necessary. We have shown that such an organisation is essential from a structural point of view when examining the trades unions in relationship to their capacity to control industry. The industrial barometer steadily moves towards the storm signal urging continually that preparations be not delayed. We have had one great strike in recent months which found everybody at a loss and pathetic- ally gazing on London. The next great crisis with potentialities vaster than any wage issue must not find the workers unprepared. We must complete the local organisations, make a work- ing-class alliance in every locality that. will be far superior to a top-heavy Triply Alliance. Complete local organisation co-ordinated by a National Council, with a capacity to seize the situation developed through the acceptance of responsibility with courage and initiative gener- ated through conflict, such is the need of the hour and such is the immediate aim of the Workers' Committee Movement.
Notes for Workers.
Notes for Workers. HOW THE TENANT STANDS. The Ministry of Health has issued an authori- tative statement of the law regarding increase of rent and eviction tenants. This will be posted in Manchester and Salford, and may prove to be of value in other provincial towns; but it would have to be adapted as regards rental or rateable value in the case of London. The statement declares that a tenant cannot be ejected, except by order of the Court, from any dwelling-house where neither the rent nor the rateable vatue exceeds t52 a year; the Court will only make an ejectment order where it is satisfied that the landlord reasonably requires the house for occupation by himself or his em- ployee, and alternative accommodation for the tenant must be available in the case of an ow ner purchasing a house since September 30th, 1917. Rent can only be increased (1) to meet increased local rates paid by landlord; (2) by 6 per cent. on cost of improvements or structural alterations; (3) by an addition not exceeding 10 per cent, of the rent; and where the dwelling is rented at less than L26, this adclition cannot be imposed till 6 months after the legal date of the end of the war. WRECKERS. farmers and land-owners between them seem determined to wreck the 48-Hour Bill, and, as a. result, the National Industrial Oonference. Our readers will remember that a conference was ar- ranged between agricultural employers and workers to settle the questions of including agri- culture in the Bill. At this Conference the farmers took exception to the presence of the land-owners, who indeed have no particular func- tion that we can see in determining the hours of work in agriculture, and in this attitude they were supported by the workers. The landlords, however, sat tight, and declared that they em- ployed an enormous number of gardeners and under-gardeners and odd-job men directly, and that this gave them a claim to settle agricul- tural hours. At any rate, there they were, and there they were going to stay. So the farmers refused to discuss the hours question, and the Government are still saying that, of course, un- j der the ciFcumstam-es they cannot include a,gri- cu lture in the Bill. The long delay in bringing in this Bill has already made Trade Unionists very angry, and the present position is not likely to mollify them. The seamen are also protest- ing against their exclusion, and are entering on a big national campaign to get the 48-hour week applied to seamen.
Bit Of A Bother.
Bit Of A Bother. PORT TALBOT INSPECTORS' ACTION. NOT DISLOYALTY TO CHIEF CONSTABLE. With the entirely cryptic statement that They can read into it and out of it if t!hey like," Mr. T. May seconded the resolution of the Glamorgan Watch Committee that "the Committee decided after hearing the evidence of both sides to exonerate Inspector Williams from any intention of being disloyal to his chief," with which that body closed its enquiry into the charge of disloyalty that Chief Constable Lind- say brought against Inspector Williams, of Port Talbot for refusing. to allow the use of the local weights and measures office -to the local food controller during the railway strike. According to the Chief Constable of the County the room was demanded by Captain Pryse Jones,. but Inspector Williams, who is the inspector of weights and measures, refused the use of it, and the Chief had to telephone to Superintendent Ben Evans instructing him to take strong measures to secure the use of the room. Inspector Williams' defence was that he had only done what he considered right as the head of the weights and measures department in Port Talbot, and in. consideration of his t200 bond as custodian of the instruments and weightts. He had no intention of being disloyal to the Chief. The resolution should make things happy again, especially since in future it is to be made clear that telephone orders are to be obeyed; and the Chief Constable has to confirm verbal mes- sages over the phone officially afterwards.
|300,000 Jews in Britain.
300,000 Jews in Britain. The Zionist organisation Central Office states that David Trietsc'h, the Jewish statistician, es- timates the Jewish population of the world at 15,430,000, distributed as follows :-Paland 3,300,000; Ukraine, 3,300,000; United States, 3,100,000; Russia (including Siberia), 900,000; Rumania, 650,000; Germany, 540,000; Hungary, 450,000; Caecho-Slovakia, 450,000; British Isles, 300,000; Austria, 300,000; Lithuania, 250,000; Jugo-Slavia, 200,000. In each of the following countries the esti- mated number of Jews is between 100,000 and 200,000 :-FMnce, Algeria and Tunis, Arabia., Greece, Holland, Morocco, Argentine, Canada, Turkey, and Palestine.
Chief INSPECTOR OF MINES.
Chief INSPECTOR OF MINES. The Home Secretary has appointed Mr. Wil- liam Walker to be Chief Inspector of Mines in place of Sir Richard Redmayne, now Chairman of the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau.
[No title]
Women clothing opei-atives at Hebden Bridge and Calder Valley have aocepted a new standard rate of pay, to date from December 5th. All war bonuses are wiith-drawn, and new basic piece rates fixed, which give an increase of 115 to 140 per cent, over pre-war rates.