AN eminent divine was heard to remark recently: 'I do not belong to any political party; but if the Labour Party stood for the encouragement of labour I should certainly join it, for I believe in the dignity of labour and in the obligation which is upon every citizen to give of his best, whether by hand or by brain, for the good of the community.'

Immediately after the war the Labour Party had a great opportunity of enlisting the sympathy and support of a vast number of people of varied political traditions in a national programme of labour and reconstruction; it allowed this opportunity to go by, and adopted instead an attitude of slavish adulation of Bolshevism and international Socialism, which alienated the vast majority of sober-minded British people who placed the VOL. XCVII-No. 577

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welfare of their country, irrespective of class, before everything else, with the result that a very general tendency to discriminate between labour' and 'the Labour Party' became increasingly evident.

With labour' the Conservative Party has always been in close touch and sympathy, and this is more than ever the case at the present moment under the intensely sympathetic government of Mr. Baldwin; but with the Labour Party' there can be no agreement in regard to the principal planks of its platform, or in regard to the methods by which it would secure some of its objects. Hence it has become customary to speak of the Labour Party as the so-called ' Labour Party, or the Socialist Party. But there is no doubt that the Labour Party secured a useful asset in adopting this denomination for its official title, even though it does not accurately define its objects and principles. The same may be said of the Liberal Party, which undoubtedly in the past secured many adherents by the magic of its name who did not take the trouble to ascertain whether that name was not, in fact, a misnomer. There is a lot in a name, as I discovered not long ago, when the mother of a little girl who was attending a Communist Sunday-school remarked: 'I quite approve of the school; I am a communicant myself.'

In view of the importance of the London County Council elections on March 5, it seems opportune to study somewhat closely the organisation of the Labour Party, its close identification with political Trade Unionism, and its relation to Socialism and Communism.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE LABOUR PARTY

The Labour Party consists of all its affiliated organisations, namely, trade unions, Socialist societies, trades councils, and local Labour Parties, together with those men and women who are individual members of a local Labour Party who subscribe to the constitution and programme of the party, and who, if eligible for trade union membership, are trade unionists.

The financial backbone of the Labour Party organisation is the contribution in affiliation fees from the trade unions, amounting for the year ending December 1923 to 47,983l. 19s. 6d. The amount of the fee is 3d. per head. Trades councils and local Labour Parties contribute an annual affiliation of 30s., irrespective of numbers; the total sum received under this head was 8291. gs. 1od. The Socialist societies are affiliated on the same basis as the trade unions, i.e., 3d. per member; the total contribution under this head was 401l. 15s. 6d.

It will be seen, therefore, that the financial support from sources outside the trade unions is comparatively insignificant.

The voting strength is based on the proportion of one vote to every 1000 members, or fraction thereof, in the case of the trade unions and Socialist societies, and one vote for each affiliated local Labour Party or trades council. The numbers resulting from this allotment of votes are :

which again shows the outstanding predominance of the trade unions. Local Labour Parties and trades councils are trade union organisations. The membership of the forty-three parties affiliated in 1924 showed a total of 6,673,692.

PARTY OBJECTS

Among the party objects laid down in the Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1924, are the following:

1. Co-operation with the General Council of the Trade Union Congress, or other kindred organisations, in joint political or other action in harmony with the party constitution and Standing Orders.

2. To secure for the producers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry, and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible, upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.

3. To co-operate with the Labour and Socialist organisations of other countries, and to assist in organising a federation of nations for the maintenance of freedom and peace, for the establishment of suitable machinery for the adjustment and settlement of international disputes by conciliation or judicial arbitration, and for such international legislation as may be practicable.

TRADE UNION ORGANISATION

As regards (1), it seems unnecessary to stress the point that the trade unions are the driving force of the Labour Party, and that what is euphemistically termed 'co-operation' really implies giving effect to the policy dictated by the Trade Union Congress through the machinery of the National Joint Council, which in 1924 was composed as follows:-Chairman, A. A. Purcell, M.P.; General Council of the Trade Union Congress, four representatives; Parliamentary Labour Party, five representatives; Executive Committee of Labour Party, four representatives; secretary, Right Hon. Arthur Henderson, M.P.

The trade unions pay the piper and can therefore call the tune. They hold in reserve the power of direct action, which has shown an equal readiness to assert itself whether invoked by the authorised leaders or by unrecognised agitators or shop stewards,

and irrespective of the political character of the Government in office.

The trade unions further have a privileged position which enables them to wield a despotic power within the State which is a perpetual menace to the liberty of the subject.

This despotic power was conferred on the trade unions by the Trades Disputes Act of 1906, when Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman was Prime Minister.

The Attorney-General, in introducing the Bill' To provide for the Regulation of Trade Unions and Trades Disputes,' said :

The right of peaceful persuasion had been impaired, and funds contributed principally as provision against sickness or misfortune had been held liable for claims founded upon the acts of unauthorised agents. The law of conspiracy, as interpreted by the courts, operated unfairly against combinations of workmen, and this the Government proposed to remedy. Dealing with the law as to picketing, he said

that the Bill would enact in express terms the right to persuade peacefully. As to the law of agency, no conduct was to be made the foundation of a claim for redress out of trade funds unless it was perfectly clear that what had been done had been authorised by the governing body of a union. He was aware that representatives of Labour would prefer a general declaration that no action should ever be brought, but the House should hesitate before it endorsed a proposal of that kind.

Lord Robert Cecil asked the Government not to make an exception, whether in the law of conspiracy or in the law of agency, on behalf of one special class of men, however many votes they might command.

On the second reading, April 25, Mr. Bowles denied that the Bill would benefit the working class generally.

Mr. Rufus Isaacs, in supporting the Bill, said that 'the trade unions could be trusted.'

The most significant episode during the passage of the Bill through Committee was the complete surrender of the Government to the dictation of Labour in the amendment proposed by the Attorney-General on August 3 by the insertion of a new clause as follows:

An action against a trade union, whether by workmen or masters, or against any members thereof on behalf of themselves and all other members of the trade union, for the recovery of damages in respect of any tortious act alleged to have been committed by or on behalf of the trade union, shall not be entertained by any court.

This clause practically endorsed the Labour proposal against which the Attorney-General in his opening speech had cautioned the House. The new clause was carried; the third reading took place on November 9, and the Royal assent was given on December 21, 1906. The passing of this measure into law heralded the