Pioneer

Education and the Workers Good Meeting in the Rink on Sunday Class Teachers explain the Need and Objects Owing to the unfortunate illness of our Com- rade Bob Williams, and his consequent inability to fill the I.L.P. Rink platform as advertised, the local Branch consented to a suggestion put forward by the Social Science classes that we should stage our two teachers, Mark Starr and E.J. Williams, and derate the afternoon to education, and am explanation* of the new movement that is running so strongly throughout the South Walian valleys. It was unfortunate that the day was so bitterly cold, and so untempting out of doors with its driving sleet and frequent rain showers, and in face of those conditions we can pat ourselves on the back that such a splendidly satisfying audience should have been interested enough too turn out to learn something of our educational aide. The meeting was precluded with a pleasant surprise; one of our local police offieials having become so impressed by his attendance at our meetings as ve have decided on a course of reading, to meet which he purchased. several copies of the pam- phlets that Comrade Arthur Ayles had or ought down to sell. Amongst those bought being Morel's Tsardom's Part in the War," and "The Communist Manifesto" of Marx and Engels. Both are excellent, and presuming we are right as to his motives, as we hope we a,re, he should get some serious food for thought out of these. WHICH EDUCATION? Mr. Dai Morris did admirably from the chair, and Mark Starr was his usual fluent self in his discourse on the claims of independent educa- tion on the working class. It might seem a little out of place in times such as these to occupy a platform with such an apparently abstract topic in education; but a little reflection would show that whilst the excitements of Bolo-hunting with Clem Edwaids ltiigh- be more dicwy, it .as' really education that should be talked about to the working-class. We of the working-class had been "wanting it upstairs" for a long time, and it was time that we decided to give some at- tention to the contents of our ganetB." Ex- perience had taught us that in industry we could not trust our bosses, and had oompelled us to appoint ehockweighers and workmen's examiners; and in politics experience had taught us the same bitter lesson and had led to the creation of the Independent Labour Party. But in education we were still content to rely upon the education that was dictated for us by these men whom we had learned to distrust on the other fields of life. He divideri education into three arbitrary sections of general elementary education in the three R's; which was beneficial to the workers and the Capitalists, but was sub- verted to Capitalistic and National ends by its drum and trumpet history; patriotic poetry, and the ideology intended to make the worker a do- cile wage-slave; technical education, which he declared served no communal advancement, but merely aided the Capitalists* and individual mem- bers of the working class; and education in the sciences, arts and humanities that were excel- lent in their way, but which tended to absorb a man in a specialised branch as a hobby. It was by the worker studying industrial history and economics that he realised his position; that he came to know how the labourer of the past had fared, and from the past gained guidance for the present and future. A SNAP-SHOT OF ECONOMICS. Mr. Ted Williams, our popular economies lec- turer, followed with an interesting sna,p-shot sketch of the confusion on the economic side of the science, with a popular exposition of the Marxian interpretation of value as an illustra- tion of the scientific nature of the Socialist theoretic basis. Many of the orthodox econo- mists, lie pointed out, were quite well-intentioned persons, but the incompleteness of their analysis, due to an attempt to ignore the es- sential clash of interests, and to apologise for the Capitalist position in society, produced only panaceas and not remedies for the social evils that existed in our midst. For instance, the Welsh League for the Taxation of Land Values attempted to trace all the evils of the day to landlordism, an obviously incomplete cause since landlordism was merely one of the factors in Capitalism, and not the whole. The criticism of the League was three hundred years out of date. Had it been advocated in the days of feudalism when the whole hierarchy did rest on the land and its possession it would have offered a complete' answer to the social evils, but with the coming of the social revolution that criticism became an anachronism. All that these projects of new-Liberalism did to-day was to side-track the working-class interests from trades unionism and independent Socialist political action. The.? projects did not pertain in any regree to the modern problems which we had to solve.. It was because the" other side" could not solve our problems that the working-class had had to de- velop its own educational institutions. It was the recognition that if the workers desired emancipation they must emancipate themselves and must do it from the rank and file indepen- dent of hero-worship and demi-god creation that had lead to this great educational advancement, in which he invited all to participate. The Chairman of the I.L.P. Social Science Classes extended a hearty invitation to all in- terested to join the Merfchyr Classes held at Bentley's on Friday evenings at 7 p.m., and Sunday moraiings at 11 a.m.

| SWT HELP THOSE WHO HELP .1 YOUR PAPER!

Sent Into The Firing Line INFORMATION OF NEW ZEALAND CON- SCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS. 'News has been received from one of the New Zealand conscientious objectorst who were re- cently sent, handcuffed, to Franee from Sfririy- Camp, Salisbury, that three of his comrades, who had refused to obey military orden; on con- scientious grounds, have been gent up to the firing line. Their names are Little, Baxter and Ballantyne. The man who sends the imforma- tion, Harry Patton, has consistently refused all Military ordeTB since his arrest in New Zealand, despite harsh treatment, and is at present in an isolation camp at Etaples he has, however, been told by his officer that lua also will be sent vp to tke irktji )iR<0 and will profaablf ba shot.

TRADE UNION NOTES.. f SEE PAGE 3

ALLEGED GERMAN GOLD IN WALES PAGE 3.

Political, otes- —*—■— By F. W. Jowett, M.R. 11 POOR CLEM! Mr. Clement Edwards has said that ha seat details and particulars, proving that German gold has been circulated among the miners in South Wales, to the Law Officers of the Grown. The chief Law Officer of the Crown, the Attor- ney General, denied this statement shortly after- wiards.. This week the Home Secretary has also contradicted the statement so far as he is con- cerned. Mr. Edwards was present on the latter occasion and tried to find a way of e-scape from this network of denials by suggesting that he I had supplied his proofs to the competent mili- tary authority." This, however, is not what he said, if it had been, nobody would have thought any more of his statement than if h. had said he had told it to the Horse Marines. THE DELUGE OF FEAR. I The effect of the new regulation relating to the printing and distribution of leaflets and pamphlets has been further defined in reply to questions in the House of Commons. It is now clear that the reprint of a newspaper article, is- sued as a leaflet, if it deals with the war or the making of peace, is prohibited unless the Gov- ernment, through the censor, has agreed to its publication. It is also clear that extracts and reprints from the Official Report of Parliamen- tary Debates can only be issued by consent of the Censor. The Home Secretary would not even promise that a pamphlet or leaflet consist- ing entirely of biblical quotations would be al- lowed until he had seen it. The explanation of all this conduct is that the Government ia in despair. The Deluge is coming, and they are afraid. HYPOTHETICAL DANGERS. J Under the new regulation the mere possession I or a leaflet or pampJt that has not been passed J by the Censor may be made suie;"llt ŒCUl!\e forl ?i''(?-<t.ti?un. jioreov er, the onus ul pfeui oi in- nocenee rests upon the accused person. It fol- lows, therefore, that a leaflet or pamphlet could be planted on a person and made the subject of a prosecution. How real this danger may be- come if the regulation is allowed to stand may be calculated from the answer given by Mr. Bonar Law to a supplementary question the other day. On being asked what evidence he had for his statement that a leaflet had been distributed advising people not to invest in the War Loan he curtly replied, I havo the foes-b of evidence. I have seen it." It did not occur to Mr. Bonar Law that a leaflflet could be printed with the deliberate object of making a case for the suppression of leaflets opposed to the war. But there are pro-war organisations in existence at the present time that would HOT; hesitate to print dummy leaflets to give the Government- an excuse for persecuting their op- ponents. With respect to the particular leaflet referred to. nobody has yet stated when and where it has been distributed. æ sfe sfc THE FIGHTERS' REVISED PAY. I The mountain in labour has at last brought forth the mouse. Soldiers' pay is to be in- creased to 1/6 a day, and sailors are to be blessed with an extra. 2d. a day. The compul- sory allotment that soldiers must make to obtain separation allowance is to be taken over by the Government within the limits of 3/6 per week. What may be the precise meaning of the term "oompulsory allotment" is not clear and has not hitherto been explained. A soldier MUST make an allotment to his wife of 3/8 per week, so we are sure that married men will be relieved of their allotments. If, however, a soldier claims separation allowance for other dependant rela- tives the claim is only admitted if it is proved that he was contributing to their support before he enlisted, and, in that ease, he must make an allotment according to scale based on the amount of dependence. If, in accordance with this scale, his compulsory allotment is 2d. a week he will be relieved to this extent. As a matter of fact nearly all soldiers who claim separation allowance allot the full 3/6 out of their pay and know nothing at all about the scale but they will, I presume, be relieved only according to scale, which may be anything from Id. to 6d. a day. Soldiers who have been un- able to claim separation allowance because they were apprentices or were in receipt of low wages prior to enlistment and therefore were not then contributing to the support of their parents or the homes they belonged to, hut who, as soldiers, allow their parents 3/6 a week out of their pay, will not, if I have read the statement correctly, he relieved of any portion of their allotment. This intensifies a grievance which before was "tuitc indefensible. Sailors' allotments to dependant relatives will only be relieved in any case so far as to leave the sailor charged with 1/6 per week. The ex- cess over 1/6, and up to the limit of 3/6, will be taken off them, but no more. THE RITZ EXPOSURE. 1. J The reproduction in the Herald last week of the lengthy and varied bill of fare offered at the fashionable Ritz Hotel and the recorded ex-, i^erience of a representative of that paper who had dined there .has ownsed a commotion. Even r; official organiser of the food ecxmomy cam- Pa-ign Sir A. Yapp, recognises the futility of preadaing economy in food to people who have l to staad for hoars together in queus cm the «oM pavernefit for at* insufficient supply of certain necessary artides of food in face of such an ex- posure. Frequently the available supply is ex- hausted when hundreds who have been waiting to buy have not OOE-4N. served. The Pitz is not without its defenders, how- ever, in the public press. One London evening paper, noted for its outspoken demand for the shooting of pacifists, has endeavoured to coun- teract the effect of the" Herald" revelations by taking a working man to lunch at the Ritz. I Lunch was selected, on this occasion, in prefer- ence to dinner because, of course, the bill of fare is shorter for lunch than for dinner. After his lunch, consisting of hors-d'-oeuvre, turbot, chicken, two vegetables, rice-pudding, fodlOlWod by coffee and cigars, the working-man is said to have gone away, unsatisfied, to eat the lunch he declared would be waiting for him at the works, consistering of "a thundering big steak, a, pound and a half of potatoes, college pudding, bi-eiald, and a pint of beer." This is the story, told seriously in a well known London evening paper, of how a working man starved at the works," after having eaten a full Itinel-i at the Ritz. Who will now be so unreasonable as to suggest that rich people are not bearing their share of the burden of food shortage along with the poor people who stand in queus P ALTERNATIVE VOTE WRECKERS. I La»t Thursday the House of Commons decided in favour of the alternative vote for Parlia- mentary elections. The method of voting and counting^ theij contemplated was that in the ease of, say, three candidates contesting for one seat eaph voter would he able to mark the candidates 1, 2, and 3 in the order of his preference. If no one candidate secures a clea r majority of the votes recorded the candidate with the smallest number of votes would drop o 'and the second i prefc-renees of11 the rr» <•»•••; v* him their first preference would be added to which- ever of the other two candidates they had been marked for. This method ig. quite, imple and need give no trouble to either voters or enu- merators. But on Monday last Dr. Chappie, a Liberal member, with the help of a num- ber of members who are opposed to the adoption of the alternative vote, succeeded in carrying an amendment in favour of a highly complicated method of counting the votes which may result in .wrecking the alternative vote proposal alto- gether. » ife afc sfc MADE UNWORKABLE. I Under the system favoured by Dr. Oil apple voters would mark their papers 1, 2, or 3, in the order of their preference as previously mention- ed, but the process of counting would be differ- ent. Instead of allocating the second prefer- ences to the candidate lowest on the list and leaving him out altogether under Dr. Chappie's method a mathematical value would be given to the votes cast in order of their preference, and the lowest man on the list might in the end actually come to the top if he had such a large number of No. 2 votes given to him as would make up for his deficiency of No. 1 votes. For the purpose of this mathematical valuation No. 2 votes would be reckoned as half-votes as compared with No. 1 votes. It is, therefore) clear that the bottom candidate on the list if the partisans of the other two candidates had freely favoured him for their second choice might with the help of his half-votes be brought to the top of the poll. It is almost inconceivable that this complicated system will be kept in the Bill when the schedules come to be considered, and yetj, if it is eliminated there will be nothing in the Bill providing for the alternative vote be- cause the other and more simple and workable plan has been defeated alreadv. If the change had been made when the Bill was in its commit- tee stage the decision could have been reversed on Report, but Dr. Chappie has moved his amendment on the Report stage and there is no further opportunity of dealing with the matter unless the House of Lords deals with it. It is believed in some quarters that the Tories sup- ported Dr. Chappie with the object of making the Bill unworkable and giving the House of Lords an excuse for throwing it out on that ground. acs V V PROTECTING CAPITALISM. I The Government is taking elaborate precau- tions for the protection of Capitalism during and after the war. Since the beginning of the war there has been a steady flow of picked re- presentatives of the Capitalist interests in finance, commerce and industry, into govern- ment offices to deal with problems arising out of the war with the least, possible disturbance of Capitalist profiteering. The other day there wa-s published the names of a dozen bankers and profiteers who are to arrange financial facilities for the conversion of works and factories now engaged upon war work to normal production and to consider the demands for raw material, Huge sums of public money have been spent on bu ildings, plant and machinery for the produc- tion of munitions. New systems of produotiotn, developed during the war under the pressure of I national emergency, will open up fresh forms of exploitation if the buildings, plant and machin- ery can be conveyed over to syndicates of pro- fiteers. It will be the business of the committee of twelve I have mentioned to make a plausible case out for this transference, when the time comes, meaitwhile they will be preparing their plans. This sort of thing is going on m every department 0f industry, finance and commerce. (Om*inuod at foot at next column).

Labour and Political Power. 1-  I A Marxist on Leonard Woolf I TO THE EDITOR. I Sir,—I am a Socialist, a Trade Unionist, and a. Go-operator. I am a Co-operator who believes that the Co-operative Movement per se has aa much chanoe of solving the Social Problem as Co-partnership, the Single Tax, or Adult uf- frage. I am a Trade Unionist who believes that trade unionism is decadent, and that the Labour Party, its political reflex, is in powar and effi- ciency a great illusion. I am a Socialist of the school of Marx, who believes that not until all trade unionists are industrial unionists, all Co- operators are genuine believers in the practica- bility of establishing a Oø-opeirative Oommon- wealth, and all Socialists believe in the scientific principles of Socialism will there really be an effective Labour Movement in this country. I reflect with no little satisfaction that I am not alone in upholding this creed. I belong to a minority who are in the British Isles what the Leninites are in Russia, i.e., Maximalists. To quote your contributor, Mr. L. S. Woolf, The kind of world and country which we wish to exist is versus the kind of world and country which the duke and shipowners wish to exist." In other words, the kind of world we want is the confederation of Socialist Republics estab- lished in all the countries. I define our kind of world as Mr. Woolf, advisedly, does not define his. I say "advisedly" because it is notorious that the Labour Party which he de- sires to become more united is not aiming poli- tically at the establishment of a Socialist Re- public. Nor is the Co-operative Movement. Nor are the trade unions. The first aims at political representation with a programme of social re- forms which cannot possibly alleviate the ills to which the proletariat is heir to. The second aims at profit-sharing and tteaching juvenile co-oper- ators the exploded utopia of the Rochdale Pioneers so gushingly dilated upon by Co-opera- tive leaders, who vote Liberal, quote Smiles, hate Socialism, and wlshthe A.U.C.E. to the dev; T'f<- thit-d H.uns. ii, .t.).rds of Marx, as being "centres of resistance against the encroachments of Capital. They fail partially from an inj udicious use of their power. They fail generally from limitino; themselves to a guerilla war against the effects of the existing system, instead of simultaneously trying to change it, instead of using their organised forces as a lever for the final emancipation of the work- ing class, that is to say, the ultimate abolition of the wages system." Those words of Marx reveals the source of the weakness and disunity in the Labour, Co-opera- tive, and Trade Union Movements. Fighting only the effects of the existing system the ma- jority of the workers in all three movements do not necessarily entertain ideals which are funda- mentally different from that of the duke and shipowner. They seek only to make the "world and the country of the latter a better one for Labour to live in. That's all. If, as air. Woolf assumes, these workers really had the ideal of creating a different kind of world to that of their exploiters we would not find their trade union I official and political representatives boasting of their elevation from the occupation of, say, an engine-cleaner to that of a privy councillor. The Privy Council of the British Constitution, the mother of Parliaments, is not exactly an essem- blage which confers on ways and means of founding a Socialist Republic in order to abolish Capitalism and its monstrous offspring, Militar- ism. The political ideals which enable Labour Leaders to secure government jobs and Cabinet Ministerships may be labelled "Labour," but the Word is as much a misnomer as the word freedom" applied to the war aims of the Entente powers. I am sorry to disagree with Mr. Woolf, but I must say with emphasis that the present ideals of the British Labour Movement are an obstacle which must be rooted out if the working class is to win the kind of world and country it is Labour's historic mission to establish. He well says that Labour is standing at the crass-roads, but the path ho indicates will only lead Labour back by another route to the place from which it started. The right road is the one Marxism has for ever pointed out-the high- way to the Socialist Republic. Short cuts on the trail of political adventurers, radical consti- tution menders, and social reform homoepathists will only result in mirage hunting and the neces- sity of seeking again the abandoned highway to the industrial commonweal; h,—Yours, etc., F. B. ISILVESTER, Hon. Sec.. Birmingham Social Science Classes. 8, Evelyn Road, Sparkhi 1, Birmingh am.

THE RUSSIAN REVELATIONS. I The Manchester Guardian of to-day, the 28th inst., should be consulted by all who wish to obtain the rullest report published as yet in this country of the secret treaties revealed to the world by the revolutionary government in Russia.. Only very fragmentary versions are being published by most of the other leading British newspapers, and the provincial evening papers appear to have boycotted the revelations altogether. There is also in the same issue a remarkable article by Mr. Philips Price which makes known for the first time that there was a risiag of Nomads beyond the Siberian Zone in Russia in 1915 which the Tzar ruthlessly re- pressed. 500,000 people were massacred, and something like a million people were driven from their homes. The suppression of news of this evewt is one of the most remar kable instances of suooesaful censorship that was ever known. The contrast between the widespread publication of information on the Armenian massacre* swnd the Bfuasian saessaoreiii is mosrfc illuminating.