128 Australian Life 



influence upon the conditions of life in Australia, 

 and as it advocates a wide extension of the prin- 

 ciples of State socialism, some account of it and 

 its aims is necessary. 



The weapon employed by the Australian work- 

 man to secure the eight-hour day was Trade 

 Unionism; and in order to celebrate his victory, 

 he appropriated an annual holiday. A monu- 

 ment bearing the inscription, " Eight hours work, 

 eight hours recreation, eight hours rest," is 

 erected in the city of Ballarat to the memory of 

 one Galloway, a protagonist of the cause in that 

 city. Elsewhere in Australia, men equally un- 

 known to fame are similarly preserved from ob- 

 livion, but the Festival of Eight-Hours' Day is the 

 most striking memorial of the first Labour vic- 

 tory. From that time forward, the Labour party 

 trusted in its unions, and fought Capital by means 

 of strikes and threats of strikes. For a time the 

 unions carried all before them, and the men 

 flocked to their banners. Trade was brisk and 

 work was plentiful, so that the unions were able 

 to accumulate very considerable funds They 

 pressed their advantage too heavily, however, and 

 drove the employers into a combination against 

 them. 



The two opposing forces came into collision in 

 the year 1891, with results from which Australia 

 has not yet recovered. The quarrel began with 

 a maritime strike, which laid up the vessels 

 plying between the various Australian ports, and 



