i/ie Kevlew or Kevieu/s, 



April, 1912 



If an employer emjiloys two men, one of whom is of 

 a peaceable disjxjsitiun, working in with his em- 

 ployer, anxious to give as much as he gets, eager 

 to bring tiie brotherhood spirit into his work, and to 

 settle any dispute bv friendly argument instead of 

 violence, anil the other regards him as an enemy, 

 as a man who will rob him. ami by force 

 if he cannot get ai his p(;<-ket in any odier wa\ . 

 who perpetually insists that he and his employer are 

 in irreconcilable camps, is it anv wonder that the 

 employer favours the fcitmer ? 



l$lat.-int Blatant unionism iloes not recognise 



and that it estranges public sentiment by 



Reasonable its violence. The independent 

 Uniunisni. u<>rkers aim at bringing into every 



factors and workshop an Arbitration Court, Vjut 

 one tiiat is free from aspersions from either side. 

 It w^ould do away with all the paraphernalia 

 that now covers attempts at industrial settle- 

 ment. It is no wonder that employers wel- 

 come it as being an outward and visible 

 sign of a \ery healthy sentiment that is springing 

 up in the breasts of thousands of workers. For 

 the wek-ome they give it they are blamed. Em- 

 plovers are not to be blamed for not encouraging 

 unionism that is not happy unless it is engendering 

 strife, and is peri>etuallv warring against their in- 

 terests. The very fact that they welcome and may 

 support Independent Unions shows that they are not 

 averse to unions as such. But they do want some 

 guarantee of good faith, some certainty that agree- 

 ments will be kept, and the passing away of the 

 class war spirit. Moreover, unions that preach 

 goodwill and harmony should be as acceptable to 

 an Arbitration Court as the other kind, and that 

 judge should he the happiest who has no work to 

 do, becau.se ma.sters and men work in mutual agree- 

 ment, and with brotherliness and good will. That, 

 Trades Hall unionism will never bring about. 



f l,j In spite of efforts to put out of court 



ladependent the Indeiiendent Workers' Union, it 

 Workers' is steadilv gaining ground. Its 



Union. numbers are increasing, and it is 



dailv becoming a greater power. One rememl)ers 

 wiih amusement the fear of some of the Federal 

 memliers of Parliament, and their efforts to try to 

 draw away some of the prominent men who were 

 lending their sympathy to it, as they pointed out that 

 it would interfere with Trades Hall unionism, and 

 kill strikes ; remembers, too, that Mr. Fisher, after 

 manv mental throes, decided that Independent 

 Workers' unions would not come in the category of 

 unions to which preference could be given. Rut 

 in spite of this, the movement is growing, and the 

 leaven of its brotherlv principles is begiiuiing to 

 work. The fcnr was justified. 



An unexpected move has bten taken 

 Queensland hv the (Queensland Government, but 



Elections. f,,,,. ^^\^^^ jj- j^ fully justified in mak- 



ing. It has determined to dissolve 

 Parliament, and to submit it to the suffrages of 

 the people, although there was another session to 

 run. This is a direct result of the strike. The 

 Government is really submitting its recent actions 

 for the approval of the country. It h to be hoped 

 that thev will be fully endorsed. Mr. Denman, 

 in a manifesto upon the matter, recalls the 

 recent trouble, when business was dislocated, 

 the city held up, and seaborne trade stopped. 

 But for the prompt action of the Government, 

 and the loval help of the citizens, disaster 

 would have come to the city. He then states that 

 .some twentv legislators were involved in the trouble, 

 and that one of them was the mouthijiece of the 

 revolt. " Other members of the Opposition en- 

 couraged the forces of disorder, and condemned, 

 in the strongest words at their command, the 

 efforts of the ci\il authorities to defend liberty, 

 and assailed with the coar.sest invective those 

 who came forward to take up the duty the 

 Commonw^ealth declined to perform. It was 

 not pleasant to realise that one-fourth of the 

 members of the pre.sent Assembly had a reverence 

 for democratic institutions, and had acquie.sced in 

 the attempt to subvert it. It would be absurd to 

 invite such to meet in Parliament, and join in ad- 

 \'ising the Goxernor as to the best means of promot- 

 ing the welfare of the State after they paraded their 

 complete indifference to its welfare, and their de- 

 cided preference for mob government to Parlia- 

 mentary Go\'ernment. Therefore he proposed not 

 to hold another session of the present Parliament, 

 but to bring these imworthy members before an even 

 higher tribunal than Parliament. The people would 

 be asked to pronounce judgment on some of those 

 seeking re-election. It would require no little 

 courage to canvass for \<ilrs in hundreds of homes 

 into which thev helped miserv. Unfortunatelv the 

 dissolution would ajiply alike to the friends and 

 foes of social order and tranquillity. .-Ml must go 

 to the Cf)untry, and bow to its decision, but he was 

 confident that Queensland would stand by the men 

 who stood by her in the hour of her danger." The 

 elections will take phice on .-\pril 27th. 



Au ominous debate took place in 



Urgnnising Labour circles during the month. 



Strikes. ||^ ^y^^j^ ])roposed that an effort 



should be made to control strikes 

 generally, to prevent a union striking without the 

 consrni of a general executive apjiointed to deal 

 with such matters, and to bring the whole question 

 of strikes into .some sort of order. Some of the re- 

 cent strikes were deprecated bv some speakers, and 

 at one stage it looked as though the party was op- 

 l)Ose(l to this method of gentle comj)ulsion. But 

 as the meeting advanced, it was very apparent 



