The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 16, 1924, Page 11

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THE TRANSITION Loe to the spirit of make-be- lieve which characterizes parlia- mentarism the transition from the Baldwin Government to the MacDon- ald Government -had to be carried thru with all the formalism and ceremonial associated with the change of Gov- ernments. The Baldwin Government made the King’s speech as if it were going to carry on for generations. The King and his horses trotted up to the House of Lords to open the proceedings in all majesty as did the kings of old. Standing before his throne he read to his Lords and Commons the strange shopkeeper’s document in all seriousness, asked God’s blessing upon everybody and departed. The commoners ran back to their own little show where the! effectively, say, as Mr. Lloyd George. But the most important statements for the workers are those relating to his new position in the Parliament and his disovawal of the class char- acter of his position. “No, I am not at all sure that I am sorry no party has a majority, be- cause I think that if this House is to go on for a century or so, and always with a Government in it that has a majority of votes in its pocket, be- fore the end of that century there will be no private members rights left. * * * I was thinking only of Parliament as a great national in- stitution which I wish to leave behind more powerful, more respected, and with more authority than it has even in our own days.” Here at one stroke is the surrender king is not permitted to attend and jof the Labour Party to Parliament, began to repeat the performance in/the affirmation of the individual there own sweet way. against the party, and, the pledge to Two members of the Conservative the strengthening of the Capitalist Party dressed in the Court dress of jinstitutions which can only be done centuries ago gravely attempted to |at the expense of the workers. But represent no party, and read the |if anything more was wanted to com- speech to the House of Commons in jPlete the picture and to justify every the language of the age their dress |¢titicism the Communists have made represented thus: against the Labour Party leaders the “I beg to move: ‘That an humble | following from the same speech fills address be presented to His Majesty | the bill. When challenged Lone to his as followeth: interpretation of “the Nation’s Gov- Most Gracious Sovereign, ernment,” he replied,, “I do not dis- We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful|tinguish between the ,Nation’s Gov- and loyal subjects in the United |ermment and the King’s Government. Kingdom of Great Britian, in Par-|The Nation’s Government—the King’ 's liament assembled, beg leave to offer | Government—must be carried on. our humble thanks to Your Majesty The deterfnination of MacDonald and for the Gracious Speech which your|his colleagues is thus clear—to dem- Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.’ ” After this most moving resolution the mover proceeded, “Dressed as I must be in the mode of the age of Fontenoy and girt, as I am, with the weapon of that age, it is not my duty to commence the onslaught, but rather, having made a few observa- tions on the Gracious Speech, to make what I believe has been called the gesture of Fontenoy and say to honorable Members opposite: ‘Gen- tlemen of the Guard, fire first.’ ” He then made references to the resolutions of the Imperial Confer- ence and considered them binding], upon the Parliament. Of course, he got disillusioned on that matter later, but observe the affectionate terms with which he spoke of the Dominions. “Of those Dominions we may well say: ‘The lot is fallen unto us in a fair place; we have a goodly heritage.’ What, one wonders, would any other nation in Europe, in these times of darkness and distress, give for those vast territories and varied resources which are at our command?” And so the game went on and con- cluded with a final prayer that they would be worthy of “the blessing which His Majesty invokes upon them.” Then followed another in court dress of the same period who also pleaded, “The main theme which runs thru the Gracious speech from’ the throne is the plea for stability. Without that neither our Imperial de- velopment nor our foreign relations, nor our home reforms can possibly proceed on their, steady course of growth and improvement.” Then Mr. MacDonald continued the first act to its conclusion by flatter- ing congratulations to the mover and seconder of the resolution for the ad- mirable performance. He said, “Still, my function, my duty, in congratulat- ing the mover and seconder of the address to his Gracious Majesty is | most sincere, after listening to the two honorable members today.” Then the fun began on the twen- tieth century platform. MacDonald began at once to strip the address of what he called; “the stock in trade of a penny bazaar.”” This he did as (Written on reading Mrs. Ethel Snowden’s Article ®n Lenin in the London “Daily News,” January 21st, 1924.) GCs there was a vety great ng Like most really t men, was quite simple in his He had hearty friendships, and he enjoyed a jest amid the hurry and turmoil of his labors. " fl . a i detente city came flying over where the great man lived. Sh rched upon the walls, and him going about his daily and she was angered at the love and respect shown by the for this man. onstrate that they can run capitalism better than the capitalist parties. ve oe J of revolution, as he was of the opinion that imprisonment was a more costly and uncertain way of sweeping away the disease. Mr. Churchhill got into a panic and tho soundly defeated in the elections of 1922 and 1923, he appealed to the Liberal Party to vote against the “Socialist Party” and has thus driven himself into the camp of the con- servatives. The leader of the Liberal Party dis- posed of the campaign as a whole and emphasised that the Labour Party would not be permitted to introduce any of their socialist nonsense. He said, “I have never come across more virulent manifestations of the epi- demic of political hysteria. Not- withstanding my own compromising past—I am supposed to have been the associate of rebels, and worse than rebels, in days gone by—I have been in turn, during these weeks, cajoled, wheedled, almost caressed, taunted, \threatened, brow-beaten, and all but blackmailed, to step in as the saviour of society.” “* * * What is the real situation. Nothing can be more absurd than the contention that, because by voting for this amendment, the House of Com- mons is giving a blank cheque, a free license, to the suecessors of the Gov- ernment to do what they like with the interests and institutions of this coun- try. * * * We of the Liberal Party are pledged to give no more counte- nance to Socialistie experiments than to a Protectionist policy.” There was really no need to be alarmed. The speech of MacDonald had nothing alarming in it, and by A Guardian of Civilization \o ee ASS ALS Reaction’s Ambition. But the Conservatives have a clearer conception of the significance than have the Labour leaders them-|freely at least for a time. a time that Clynes and Thomas|munist Party’s opportunity. { By J. T. MURHPY tian were coming to power as the democratic movements in other coun- tries in other days. Then it came to power, perhaps temporarily, thru riot, revolution and bloodshed. Here it is coming to power by the con- stitutional genius of our people. * *” and so on until one gets tired. The voting time came. The’ gov- ernment fell. Mr. MacDonald was made Prime Minister and he changed his trilby for a top hat fitting “the traditions of his high office.” Then jeame the new government. Of the ; Cabinet proper only nine are drawn from the trade unions. The remain- ing 17 are drawn either from the middle class or the aristocracy. From the standpoint of Parliamen- tary democracy MacDonald has scored in the direction of blending the classes, the right, the centre and the left. Old Conservatives and Lib- erals are drawn in, in the persons of Lord Chelmsford and Lord Haldane. The former has been out of politics for twenty years. He was placed in charge of the admiralty and knows as much about ships and naval require- ments as he does of the life of the workers. Apparently neither is essentigl in a Labour Government. But other anomolies are the appoint- ment of F. Hodges to be his under- secretary. Hodges comes from the Miners. But Shinwell- who is sec- retary of the Marine Workers Union is sent to look after the mines. These are incidentals in the new arrangemnts. What is more disap pointing is the acceptance of office by the leaders of the Clyde socialists whom we had hoped to be the rally- ing ground in the Labour Party it- self, anticipating the maneuvers of MacDonald and drawing to itself, along with the Communist Party, all the results of the resentment which is bound to arise in the process of MacDonald’s attempt to stabilize capitalism. We are in the midst of big indus- trial disputes which are likely to ex- mand during the yoming months. The immediate policy of every member of the Government is in the direction of the strengthening of conciliation boards and compulsory arbitration, ete. The whole Labour Party lead- ership is now utterly bewitched with the Parliamentary success. Even Lansbury has gone off the handle and appealed to the industrial movement to have “patience,” to look to the Labour Government first, ete. If it were not that Lansbury’s actions are usually -unconstitutional and con- trary to his pacifism we should dis- pare of him. And now Wheatley, Maclean, Stewart, practically the leadership of the Left wing in the Labour Party are tied to the wheels ef office and debarred from playing their true role as the rallying forces of the discontented in the Labour Party. But their decision is the Com- It is had given their quota every property |now the only Party of the workers of the advance of the Labour Party |owner in the country could breathe | outside the Labour Government, the Mr. {only centre to which the workers selves. They see beyond the inten-|!Clynes emphasised that the Empire|can turn for alternative leadership. tions of MacDonald and his col-|should be dealt with in a non-Party |For the Communist Party every mo- leagues and recognize their leader-/|spirit, as something above Party. | ment is now rich with opportunity. ship as a temporary thing. They see; Whilst Mu Thomas amplified the pow-|The big in¢rease in its vote during the rise of the working class and er and dignity of the Empire. But the elections and the important part their bitterness even at this stage|Mr. Hodges, the ambitious young /|we played in returning many Lebour knows no bounds. Both_in the debate in the House }man of the Labour Party put the tin {hat on the whole proceedings. After of Commons and in the‘ Press, they |referring to the horror which char- have bitterly criticised the Liberal!acterised some of the honourable |tack upon men to parliament will make the La- bour Party leaders think twice be- thee daring to renew the open at- the The Party. last Party and appealed to it to make a|members speeches at the thought of !eighteen months have demonstrated class alliancee against the Labour Party. Sir Frederick Banbury talked about the coming necessity to call in the Horse Guards to do what Crom- ;@ Labour Government he went on “What is more extraordinary is that i there is a possibility of Labour com- ing to Government in the easy, quiet, the futility of the policy. Hence whether the Labour Party now gives way and permits affiliation of the Party, or whether it continues the well did at an earlier period. The | non-revolutionary manner that it is|camnaign against us, the Communist Christian Dean Inge talked of exter-| coming to power. There might have Partv is forthwith the new centre of minating revolutionaries as the only been some occasion for horror if the |eravity for the discontented and dis- means of exterminating the disease democratic movement of Great Bri-' jllusioned of the working class. THE CROW AND THE GREAT MEN .. #ycaarcesasniricn eal shrillness. upon me!” to twitter little man and his comrades, and about the work upon which they were engaged. Rather base and Oe ny The little carrion bird primped her ragged feathers, stretched her scraggy neck this way and that, and piped with a loud and rather hysteri- “I also am great!” she cried. “Look little songs about the great passed by. And this made the little crow angrier and angrier, and she twitched and bridled more and more, under her absurd raggedly feathers, with outraged conceit. And she flew away, and no more was heard of her for many a day. Then, one day, the great man died, He died in the midst of his work, and because of the great bur- den of his work, which is tle noblest and most desirable death for all true men to die. And, when the little crow heard of this, she came flying back again. She came back to the place where the body of the man lay in sun. His limbs were at rest, at last. His strong, steady hand lay still. His face, rugged and powerful, and beau- tiful because of the love and intelli- gence of the man, was turned, in death, fearlessly to the sun. His jeyes, those eyes in which once played jthe lights of understanding and of jhumor, and which had once shamed jthe little crow, were turned towards the sun. The warrier’s battles were ,over; the worker’s task was done. Then the little scavenger fluttered excitedly down. She perched upon the dead man’s white forehead. She began to peck at those fearless eyes, “You see,” she cried. “This man is nothing. I always said so. It is I alone who am great!”

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