42 



Till': Revikw of Rf.vir\v.<^.. 



officers of the merchant service against the appalling; 

 conditions existing in the shipping workl to-day. A 

 strike of this nature, to secure to all who go on the 

 sea a chance of life, would be a national strike in the 

 true sense of the world. 



WANTKD : SANITY IN COMBINATION. 



Trade unions arc ])art of the machinery of the 

 nation, and we do not think that any employer is 

 against the idea of trade unions, although the majority 

 rightly demand that 

 those men who do 

 not become trade 

 unionists should be 

 allowed to work and 

 to be employed. 

 Trade unions and 

 those responsible for 

 them must surety 

 realise that combina- 

 tion by compulsion 

 must sooner or later 

 weaken and destroy 

 combination. Let 

 trade unions be 

 purged from the 

 tyranny of their 

 leaders ; let them be 

 constitutional and 

 not despotic organ- 

 isations, and then far 

 more men will volun- 

 tarily join them than 

 can ever be forced to 

 do so. Let us, there- 

 fore, have sane trade 

 unions, which repre- 

 sent the wishes and 

 interests of the men. 

 and then there will 

 be fewer strikes for 

 insignificant details, 

 and far more pro- 

 gress without Ih'' 

 need of strikes. l.(.t 

 labour be really or- 

 ganised, a sentient 

 and thinking mass, 

 acting in its own 

 real interests, and 

 haTf the necessity for 

 disappear. 



LACK OF SLITABLE I.KADERS. 



'{'he difTiculty seems to lie in the lack of leaders 

 who are sufTiciently developed to be able to lead 

 without being tyrants, who can be selected lo be the 

 head and executive of a combination without desiring 

 to be its body and legs also. Where such men 

 have been found we see tmdc unions which are really 

 trade unions. It is perhaps inevitable that during the 



transition stage of trade unionism these competent and 

 self-.sacrificing leaders should not come from the ranks, 

 but from other classes of society. But time will 

 change this, we suppose, although there is no real 

 necessity for change as long as the right men are 

 found. Without such leaders, trade unions must 

 inevitably fall into bad hands, since unscrupulous 

 leaders generally advance to the detriment of more 

 honest candidates. Tt is so in politics as vi-ell as in 



the labour world ! 



The Burden of Labour. 



t//i'' r.-.'ple. 



"I li.Tvo sine!: by you lor tliirly years, 

 by mo . . . Oh, lads, you don't know 

 Ti'lcU on 1 



ind I dciii.iiul lliat you will stick 

 wh.Tt the fight lucaiis." — Mr. Ben 

 wer IJitl. 



striking will automaticallv 



A MODEL TRADE 

 UNION. 



In the present 

 strike there stands 

 out a shinifig ex- 

 ample to trade unions 

 generally in the shape 

 of the National Sail- 

 ors' and Firemen's 

 Union. This is a sane 

 trade union, and in 

 its sanity it prevented 

 the unconstitutional 

 action of Ben Tillett 

 and Co. from bring- 

 ing about a national 

 strike. This union is 

 a striking example of 

 what these combina- 

 tions can be, and will 

 be, when organised 

 b\- the right man. The 

 Sailors' and Firemen's 

 Union is composed of 

 o\er 70,000 men, and 

 the credit of its 

 sanity is due to 

 one man — the Rev. 

 Father Hopkins. He 

 has made a union to 

 be copied, just as 

 last year he made a 

 strike to be imitated, 

 if strikes must be. 

 The national strike of 

 seamen in 191 1 was a 

 wonderful contrast to 

 the strike of the agi- 

 had been going on for 

 Mated organisation was 

 .All- members were 

 The maritime section 



tators in igi2. Preparations 



nearlv two years. Every affi 



consulted, and all agreed. 



consulted, and all agreed. 



of the Transport Worker.-,' Federation wa--' alone 



in\-ol\-ed at the start. It was onl\- when the 



r.mk and file of other unions .saw the success 



of organisation and the capitalists in retreat that the\- 



rushed in and brought llieir leaders with them. The 



terms of settlement were di-^i-usicd, always with repre- 



