New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-08-30
The LONDON STRIKE.

English workingmen have awakened this
week to consciousness Of their power. by
the strike of the dock labOrers, carriers, steve
dores lightermen. river sailors and engineers
iron. workers and other working organizations
in London, the shipping trade has been par
ayzed food and coal supplies have been cut
of. and business operations of the metropolis
virtually blocked With 10000 men, Oh
whose daily toll the English capital is depend
ent for the transfer and shipment OF cargoes
and the delivery of -four coal and merchandise
at distributing warehouses i'll revolt against
the deck companies and other employing
agencies, commerce and general business are
suspended. For two weeks incoming vessels
have been unable TO discharge Their caIgoes
outgoing steamers have gone away empty the
Thames fotilla Of fIeighters has been notion
less at the Wharves; carts and drays have dis
appeared from crowded thOroughfates; rail-
way consignmentS of goods have been block
AIDED, and the whole course of business has
been impeded and interrupted. This uprising
Of the laboIing classes along the river front
has been organized by one man. working
engineer and Socialist, and the metropolis
at the end of fortnight is at his mercy. If
the same movement were TO extend to South
ampton, Liverpool and Glasgow English COM
merce would be completely paralyzed and that
morbid dread of famine which inspires cease
less activity in Strengthening the navy would
become a real menace without the presence OF
a biockadng squadron in the Channel and oil
the Alersey
One of the most singular features Of this
strike, the largest ever known in London, is
the popular sympathy shown for the work
ngmen engaged in it. Their conduct under
Burns's intelligent and wise leadership has
been orderly and peaceable They have Or
ganized great mass meetings and parades, and
have shown signs of Cancellation III their con-
ferences with their employers, and have sys
tematicaly RETAINED from acts Of violence aud
lawlessness. Public feeling has been strongly
enlisted on their side, as the poverty and
wfetchedness of the under-paid laborers Of the
London wharves are notorious. Extraordinary
pressure has been brought to bear upon the
dock corporations to yield to the demands Of
the strikers but arbitration was withheld in
the first instance and the demand Of siXpence
per hour for outsiders. or casual laborerS hired
for special jobs has been persistently refused.
The strike originated not with the regular
dock ab0rers and stevedoleS, but with the
great army Of irregular workers who are paid
by the hour and hiIed only for special jobs.
The regulars made the cause OF the inegulars
their own, and under Burns's organizing hand
the movement extended to carriers, sailors
lightermen, river engineers iron-wOrkers coal
beavers and other classes Of labOre1s. The
strike would come to an end Immediately if
the dock corporations were to concede sixpence
an hour where the pay is now fiyepence and
guarantee the abandonment Of the contract
system, by which they and the, middlemeD
profit at the expense of the men. The strikers
are holding out for the full siXpence, and their
demonstration remaining orderly, they seem
TO have the support of English public opinion,
even if an avdwed Socialist be at their head.
American sympathy naturally will be com
handed by men who work for lvepence an
hour, and want >iXpence with immunity from
the sweating system. by which the wages are
squeezed by mddlemen contracting with the
corporations. WOrbingmen whose interests
are protected by the tariff are not hired here
at such starvation rates nor are they subjected
TO the eXactiOns of contractors by the sweating
process. This uprising of London 'longshore-
men to obtain an extra penny an hour, when
they have to stand and wait for jobs some
times day or two at time, is a revelation Of
iree-trade wages which ought TO enlighten
American wofkingmen respecting their own
superior lot under the bcneiicent system of
Protection The strike itself il an effective !
reply to the specious reasoning Of Democratic |
congressman and orators in the Cleveland cam
paign TO the effect that worliingmen here are |
not benefited by the tariff since labor revots |
have been common. Strikes there have been |
in America under Protection as there are strikes
also in England under free trade, but labor
Prs here are never known to be in revolt against |
heir employers for the last penny Of a beggar-
y siXpeuce an hour for pecework.