The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-04-17
BY r. Paine Dutt.

laration of war on even the existing
low standards Of the working class Is
q decisive pronouncement OF the flu
ture policy Of capitalism in Britain
1t is of International Importance for
the immediate future struggle Of the
working class movement, and heavy
blow to all conceptions of "stabiliza-
ton" save on the basis Of the COM
plete defeat Of the working class
The Dilemma Of the Mining Industry.
TvTIE crisis of the coal mining indus
try in Britain is the crisis of Brit
ish capitalism In its sharpest form
Coal production in 1913 was 2S7,-
100000 tons, in 1924 1t was 267,O00,O00
tons, and in 1925 1t was 245.O0O,0OO
tons. Coal exports in 1925 were 22To
less than the pre-war average This
decline in the ability to produce mar
ketable coal severely affects British
shipping (four-ffths of whose outward
cargoes are coaD, and paralyzes all
British industry with heavy costs,
thus adding to Industrial stagnation-
For this reason coal has been the CEN
ter Of the economic problem in Brit
ain after the war, and the center of
conflict between the capitalist class
and the working class.
The reasons for this decline lie,
firstly, In the charge OF technical con-
ditions, the development of new meth
- A. ~ ~. rrfSl4 ffnTN rf
coal as well as of new sources OF
power, the emergence of new centers
of production, and the consequent de-
cline Of the world coal industry as
whole, but most heavily affecting Brit
ish coal, because British capitalist or
ganization has been most heavily
rooted in the past and unable to re-
spond to the new conditions (French
coal production, owing to the install
ment of modern machinery since the
war has increased; German coal has
been driving out British from the
European market).
= Second, the reason for the high
costs lies in the extreme disorganiza-
ton and anarchy of the British Goa.
industry, the technical backwardness
testified in official commission after
commissioned the wasteful bur
Of inflated capital Between 1914 and
1921 the coal industry, with a Ca.
value of 1876 million pounds steriln
was made to yield profits to the ex-
tent of 30S million pounds st
n fo,Oo 1Nr%4o~. - fhoua r~1A{1
was turned into nominal new CAPITA
on which today further profits
to be raised. On the other hand,
modernization and technical dew
ment have been heavily neglect
and fallen behind France, Germany
and America
This situation can only be met by
complete reorganization in respon
to the changing conditions Of moderi
technique, cutting across the tangle OF
accumulated capitalist interests and
eliminating wasteful burdens and un
productive organization. Such a re-
organization. however, cannot be car
ried out within capitalism. but can
only be realized on socialist lines. In
consequence, the only alternative for
British capitalism is to endeavor TO
economic on the workers. conditions
by lower wages. But wages are al
ready down to breaking point. ac-
cording to a recent statement OF
Bevin, the trade union leader, in Jan
uary, 1926, five hundred thousand min.
ers are receiving less than a2 week
This is the problem confronting the
commission. The commission was ap
pointed as a sequel Of the failure of
the coal owners attack on wages last
July. The united resistance OF the
working class on RED Friday com
PEELED the government to intervene
and postpone the conflict by the de-
vice of nine months subsidy to the
@,.snan~ ~ than