The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-05-07
- By Felix Morley, =

IONDON.-One of the outstanding
and most significant features OF the
british Labor Movement today Is tne
IGOR and unanimity with which agIi,
cultural laborers are now hning up siue
nv side with the industrial proletaria.'
Close to 100000, ar nearly fiIty poi
cont of all the rural workers in Great
pr;tain are now organized in the trace
nn;ons working in their behalf. meh''
bership figure approximately double that
of q wear ago. At the end of 1917 onLy
sbont 100 900 agricultural laborers were
organized 49,. ;roraase of
membership, and to growing ee'en' oa
bound up with it, is the blrtn Oh 1O'
c;al;stie spirit among the farm han1s'
A few wears, and even months agp,
al, that the downtrodden agriculture
workers of Great Britain thou9nV
about was an increase of wages whicn
would enable then to sustain the'r
families on standard of moderate
comfort and decencv. Today eonhluit' !,
istic sentiment is a real faetor an. anu
snreading rapidly. Particularly in SCOT,
land the demand for naturalization OIL
tbe land is too strong to be longer
ignored by the government. :,
To understand this situation IL Is
necessary to appreciate the present
lind system in Great Britain. land
system which is more medleVal anu
iStolerable than that OF any other
niv;lized state. Tt is fact, the reco5-
nit;on of which is by no means con-
fined TO labor circles, that tbe position
of the English agricultural laborer 10
day is in one vital respect worse tnah
# was during the reign of William the
C,ncueror, over eight hundred years
ego. In the year 1OS5 less than yen
ner cent. of the English agricultural
ponnlation were completely divorced
from land tenure. To-day, at q moderate
estimate. half Of this same population
are landless laborers not only with ne
chance whatever of achiving land
ownership but even without any hope
of advancing from an economic and so
cial position which is closely akin /;
that of the feudal serf. And while II
is most marked in the case of the agrl
cultural laborer the injustice OF tht
Fnglish land system does not even enc
With him. A great majority Of the SO
called farmers, who employ tins lapor
are only tenant farmers subject to the
artocratic control of a tiny minority
of landowners who exact tribute from
overy tenant and rarely interest them
selves in practical farming
A few figures will make the sltua
tion clearer. There are at the presen
time something over 6OO,OOo agrlcul
tural laborers of various types IN Eng
land and Wales There are sometime
under 100000 farmers and live-stocl
raisers. almost all Of them tenants OF
other peoples property. There arr
about is 900 large landowners who II
the aggregate own eighty per cent O.
all the land in England and Wales
exact heavy rents from those who til
it and give hunting and shooting par
ties for their friends in return. That
in a nutshell. is the reason OF the pres
Ascnt agricultural unrets in Great BIT
tain and the reason why "Hodge'
as the farm laborer is called is nov
Joining in with the labor movement i
tens of thousands. Less than two pc
cent. of those who make their llvin
off the land own eighty per cent. o
that land and in spite of possesin
give little or no service in return.
The first phase of the farm labo
movement in England began in 1873
and is now ending. 1t was the phas'
familiar in all industrial history. !
which the serf class in its blind struG
gle for something more than bar
subsistence found itself opposed by a
alliance of the middle and upper ella!
ses. In this case it was the struggl
of the unaided farm laborer agaius
IN all.powerful combination OF tenar
farmers and landlords. The secon
phase promises to be very much shor
er than the first and may end in th
naturalization Of the land in Grea
Britain. Il will be characterized by
fighting alliance of the tenant farm
ers and their laborers on the one sid
as opposed to the parasitic landior
class on the other. This alliance is a
ready in working operation in SEQ
land and is beginning to be formed
parts Of England. It's watchword ever.
where is nationalize the land"
While the first agricultural laborer'
union was launched in England in 1SS
It was many years before organizatlo
began to make tangible headway. III
chief reason for initial delays was I'll
prompt action Of the government, con
posed largely Of Gland gentry"
launching methods Of terrorism again
movement in which they rightly 50
contain elements Of danger to the
comfortable position. II is interestir
to note that the methods used
England then were very closely ak
to those which seem to be popular
another great English speaking d
mocracy today. :,
The cause Of. the founding of q
union was a warning by the farme
that the current wages of seven shi
lings ($1.75) week would shortly
reduced to six shillings ($1.50). III
action Of the government was TO thro
the six evil.disposed officers of Oh
labor fledgling into Jail and short
afterwards to deport them to Austr
liz.
There is not space here to discu
the long, up and down struggle I
organization which characterized q
history Of English agricultural lab
from 1888 until the late war. In 9
main these efforts were unsuccessfu
at best the farm worker was difficr
to organize. m isolated individual, u
able TO Join his fellows in associate
as easily as the city worker. Add
this the fact that the ambitious amol
the agricultural workers migrated
..-a.-. Al.a ttn.n xxrha