New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-20
ENGLISH LABOR.
THE TRADES UNION CONGREss-A DE-
ClsIvE BREAK WITH SOCIALISM,

ClsIvE BREAK WITH SOCIALISM
London, September q
The sessions of the Trades Union Congress this
nook at Edinburgh dull in comparison with
the exciting debates at Cardiff last year The
victory then won for conservatism by revolu-
,onary processes has completely restored the
,r,cinal character OF the Congress as a repre-
o,,ative Parliament of Labor held for the pur-
nose az considering questions relating to the
.e,fare OF wage-earners. The New Unioniss
With their schem - Of Socialism and land ma
,ionalizat ion. If not silenced. have beer dis
armed The first vote on the election OF the
Standing orders Committee disclosed the fact
that the Socialists were in a minority and the
oneration Of the new rules In excluding repre-
sentatives who were neither workers at their
trades nor permanent union officials under sal
airy has tended to emancipate the assembly
fro,n the control of political agtat0rs and to
store the ascendency of the largest and most
nowerful trades unions. such as the GOLFERS
miners and textile workers unions. If there
Sas no forensic duel. there was last year. be-
tween Henry Broadhurst and John Burns there
was resumption Of the ordinary functions of
q wage-earners Parliament; and. while the pro-
ceedings quiet and orderly. the resolutions
adopted were an authoritative expression of the
lions which deeply concerned them.
kerr HARDIE's WORK
For several years Mr.. Kerr Hardie and the In
sependent Labor party were able to do what
ever they liked AT the Trades Union Congress.
They had accepted Henry Georges land ma
tonalzation scheme an essential part Of the
trades union programme. and after being in
minority of only twenty-five votes at Glasgow.
, majority at Belfast and had reafiirmed it at
Norwich in a more radical form. 1t was an ex-
rlIcit declaration on the part of the chief coun-
I'll Of British wage-earners in favor Of the ma
humiliation Of land and the whole of the means
Of production distribution and exchange. Mr..
Harde himself interpreted the policy as 1.-The
denomination of our industrial system the
basis of an industrial commonwealth in which
the whole Of the wealth produced by labor shall
belong to the workers. and in which it will not
be possible TO have overabundance on the one
hand and death-dealing poverty on the other
Henry George seemed TO have succeeded in
converting the English working world TO his
main doctrine the panacea for poverty and
social unrest. The toling millions in English
factories and mines. who had long been con-
spicuous for their conservatism and lucidity of
Judgment We're apparently following Cont
pental leadership and advocating the abolition
=. private property. Louis Blanc had contended
shat the State should he the only capitalist and
should find employment for every worker and
Lassalle. Marx and the German Social Demo-
Gratis had demanded the conversion of the means
Of labor into the common property of society
with an equitable distribution Of product on
as,lectivist principles; and here were the plain
workers in the chief English trades stalking out
II Eliav, ,s,,,,N
everybody was to have share in everything.
LAST YEARS REVOLT.
Last year there was revolt against these
carries Of Socialism. The old-time es-union
leaders perceiving that political agitators had
displaced them and that the cause Of organized
labor was losing ground in the United Kingdom,
resolved to bring back the Congress into touch
with the workshop and the mine, and to make it
again the representative body Of the millions Of
workers. whose average wages were thirty shil-
ungs week The New Unionists in their hour
of triumph at Norwich had passed a resolution
empowering the Parliamentary Committee to re-
wise the standing orders. The Old Unionists.
curing control of the committee through the cast
ing vote Of the chairman, accepted this resolu-
ton as general warrant for radical revision
OF the standing orders and for an ingenious
method of gerrymandering by which delegates OF
trade councils and small unions were excluded
and the control OF the Congress was RENTED to
the largest trades-unions on the basis Of the &C
tual number Of workers represented by each
member. a new constitution was put in practice
al Cardiff before IT had been adopted by the Con-
gress; but this revolutionary procedure was justi
fed on the ground of expediency. and was sane
toned nv an overwhelming vote. The profess
sional agitators were dismissed to the rear. The
Norwich Socialist resolution would have been
rescnded outright if a motion for its repeal had
not been excluded on technical grounds, for on
the basis Of actual representation of workers in
the trades-unions there was large majority
available for repudiatng Henry Georges teach
ings. The tone Of the Congress could not be mis-
understood. 1t represented the sober second
thought Of the skilled and intelligent labor Of
Great Britain on the impractcability of the So
cialst programme.
IN WORKINGMEN'S HANDS AGAIN
In consequence Of the revision of the standing
orders and the Acknowledgement Of labor coun-
ellis and minor unions whose representation was
formerly out OF all proportion TO their numerical
strength this years Trades Union Congress Is
distinctvely a wOrkingmen's council The ora
tors Of the Social Democratic Federation nave
disanpeared The master wirepuers of the In
dependent Labor party are no longer the organ
izers Of the Congress. Two important unions,
the Northumberland and Durham Miners and
the Boilermakers', with over ll3O0o members
between them are again represented in the Con-
gress after having broken away from II last year
4 dozen new trades have also sent delegates; and
the 352 enrolled members vote in the name Of
over / 200 600 yorkmen organized in trades
unions It is a genuine wage-earners' council,
rarrasa,,ino tho interests Of labor as whole,
and II is gathering Of workers worthy of the
earliest traditions Of the movement before the
leaders introduced politics and proclaimed the