New-York tribune., 1917-12-30
Believes State Control
Means Political Rule,
and He Dislikes Poll
ticians of Every Stripe
By Arthur Gleason.
Of The Ti1ilnnfes.

PARIS, Dec. lO.-The British labor
movement is more interesting than the
war. because greater issues are in
yolycd. 1t is the most radical and the
least socialistic labor movement in the
world. A. the present momen: It IS
distinctly anti-socialistic. /. is neces-
sary 20 define terms, or else my friend
Joseph Wanhope will be jumping IN
me for talking loosely.
Socialism. as understood b. English
workers, is the state control Of the
means of production and distribution.
State control means government cor
troll. Government control is control by
Il Cabinet directorate (Milner, Carson,
Curzon and company, By Parliament
professional politicians modified by
big business men and few gentlemen
of leisure) and by set Of permanent
officials tcivil servants in government
Departmental. The English worker dis
trusts all three of these agencies OF
government fuBctioning. lie is unable
20 see that the tendency toward state
control of public utilities has brought.
him any comfort in wages or hours as
"A matter OF fact, il has bettered his
status. He believes that state con-
troll means control b. politicians. and
he dislrusts politicians. M Lloyd
George. who for a time charmed him,
has lost influence with him because
Of Mr.. Georges new alliance with the
Tories.
II state control is under suspicion By
the British worker, what, then. is the
direction OF his radicalism? II is in
the direction of workers control" OF
syndicalism. The British worker wishes
to share the management of the factory
with the capitalist. He wishes TO have
a say on wages, hours, discipline, en-
ployment and discharge of workers. As
soon Is the war is over the great trade
unions will be in control in Britain. The
Triple Alliance (the miners, railway
men, the transport workers., the Anal
gamated Society of Engineers and the
cotton trades will be the masters Of
Great Britain. They represent an or
gan:zed power. which power is irresist-
ibe. They will not attempt TO own the
factory. nor 70 organize the market.
nor sell the product. Their exercise of
function in the immediate future) will
stop with what concerns their own
status piece rates, hours of labor, dis
cipline, etc..
Ii Is the habit of the British mind,
like the American mind. to push un-
pleasant facts into the background. Let
the future deal with women, with un-
skilled labor. Meanwhile the organized
trades push on TO mastery.
State Control Increases
And in this syndcalist advance Of the
trade unions what becomes Of So
cialism2 Actually. the tendency tow
ard state control of industry increases.
The radical movement includes (active-
IL and consciously management Of the
factory Gin hours, wages, etc. by the
workers and ownership of the indus
try by the state. The only questions
now OF living interest are which in
dustries shall be stste-owned and what
shall be the percentage of control in
the factory, assigned, respectively, to
the owner and the workers.
One Of the places to-day TO study the
British radical movement is, amazing
TO say. in the Y. VI. C. A. huts. There
the British Tommy speaks his mind,
and il is a new mind, different by far
from the stolid. stubborn, middle-of-
the-way mind of the traditional for
mula. The most popular lectures in
the British Red Triangle huts have
been those on the social and industrial
reconstruction after the war. The
Tommy is eager TO listen, and is then
full of questions, and woe to the
speaker who has a set speech and no
elasticity Of margin for ready response
to rapid-fre criticism. So keen has the
interest been in discussing the remak-
ing Of England that the authorities
have shut down on reconstruction
talks. Radicslism is perilous yeast
these days. Once the people rose in
France. And lately they rose in Rus
sia. Perhaps a third time nearer home :?
IL j. safer TO talk history and reel oil
films and sing OF the home fires.
Mostly Blind Impulse
Let no one think that the British
workers are carrying through these