The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 20, 1926, Page 14

the portrait gallery of prominent men in the contemporary trade union movement in England by no means the last place belongs to Mr. Havelock Wilson. It certainly takes a man of personality to create a mighty union in one.of the most im- portant branches of the economic life of Great Britain, in the sea transport, to overcome all the tremendous ob- stacles, and to retain a firm hand in the affairs of this union in the course of nearly forty years. Havelock Wilson has managed to do it. And even today, almost a ‘sep- tuagenarian, he has shown superb strategical ability by joining the In- ternational Transport Workers’ Fed- eration at the time of a strike of British seamen which is essentially directed not so much against the ship- owners as against himself as the head of the union. There has recently been an increase of attention and interest in regard to Wilson’s personality in connection with the September strike of British seamen, on the one hand, and the ap- pearance of his autobiography upon the literary market on the other hand. The question of the strike is already familiar to the readers of “The Revo- lutionary Transport Worker,” and here we propose to deal with Have- lock Wilson’s autobiography. Th book, (“My Stormy Voyage Throur Life”) has many interesting feature and to the student of the history « the trade union movement it is pa ticularly interesting as the living pe sonification of the history of the strug gle and organization of the seame: of Great Britain. Perhaps nothing like this biography Teveals more clearly the process which leads to the degeneration of the foremost leaders of the organized masses of the European workers, turn- ing them from the champions of the workers’ interests, hated and perse- cuted by the capitalists, into the tools of capitalism, pampered and honored by people in high places and despised by the very masses whom they had served during the earlier, better part of their life. On reading Havelock Wilson’s story about his own life and activity, one cannot help drawing the odious com- parison between his past and his pres- ent, Havelock Wilson of the Past. T 6 years of age Mr. Wilson began to lead an industrious lifey selling newspapers in the streets of a certain seaport town. Being a smart lad, he quickly disposed of his rivals among the newsboys. A little later he se- cured a job in an iron-monger’s shop THE POOR FELIOW 15 GRIEVING OVER SS A Labor Turncoat - (About Havelock Wilson’s Autobiography) at the regular wage of 2s 6d per week. At the age of 10 he became a “print- er’s devil” on a weekly newspaper. At the age of 12 he responded to the “eall of the sea,” which has given to Great Britain many a famous seaman, whose literary type we find in the un- forgettable figure of Robinson Crusoe. In the company of a playmate he ran away from home to go to sea, but they were captured by a detective and the little “printer’s devil” was brought back to his family ‘and to the printing shop. Nevertheless, he ran away again and became a seaman. For 20 years he sailed before the mast, put- ting. up with all the hardships and dangers of the seaman’s calling, and experiencing on his owm back the en- tire horror of the life of the unorgan- ized seamen, of the ‘unfairness of the, courts which always interpret. the law to the advantage of. the shipowners. He saw the unscrupulous way in which the seaman was robbed of his earnings, and the unrelieved misery of the unorganized masses of the sea- men, On reaching the age of discretion, Havelock Wilson arrived at the con- viction that the only way to help the seamen was to organize a strong union which would enable the seamen to fight their battles collectively and to resent a solid front to the employers. "e resolved on creating such a union id to this purpose he dedicated the hole of his life. How did Mr. Wilson’s life proceed ?ter that momentous decision? He ive to his autobiography the title: My Stormy Voyage Through Life.” It was indeed a stormy voyage, full of daring and stupendous persever- nce. It can hardly be imagined what t meant to organize the National Sea- men’s and Firemen’s Union of Great Britain and Ireland, which has now become the greatest organization of seamen in the capitalist world. Ona great day in July, 1887,,he made the [- first step to-form “a naticdhal union: After canvassing and distributing thousands of handbills he got one sea- man to come to the meeting. Never- theless he did not despair, and he went on canvassing and distributing handbills. With his audience of one he held a meeting at which he was unanimously elected president, and his audience secretary. Jointly with his secretary he drew up the agenda of the meeting and discussed the stat- utes of the organization, which were carried unanimously. Such was the beginning of the union which, accord- ing to the statement of the president, the same Mr. Wilson, has now a mem- bership of about 100,000 and about £600,000 in funds. Soon after the unique founding of the organization there began the “stormy voyage:” lo- cal and general strikes, meetings and conferences, a campaign in the press, legal prosecution, and so on, Mr. Wilson’s reputation in those days among the capitalists, and particu- larly among the shipowners, was cer- tainly an evil one. This much we learn from the reminiscences of a shipowner’s paper in reviewing his autobiography, recalling the time when Wilson was a “stormy petrel” and an organizer of strikes. By his untiring efforts for the recognition of the seamen’s union Mr. Wilson gained great popularity among the masses of the seamen in Great Britain, After a meeting and demonstration in the London docks he wags tried and sen- tenced to six weeks’ imprisonment, but ctowds of his friends and follow- ers gathered daily in front of the prison walls, acclaiming him as their léader, As to the ideas Which actuated him in those days, we may quote the fol- lowing paragraph from his book: “The owners at this time had an ordinary way of dealing with seamen’s wages. If trade was not good they would convene a meet- ing of their association and decide to reduce the seamen’s wages by 10s or £1 a month. They would never consult the men at all, but simply announce that from a given date the wages would be so and so. This did not please me at all, and | advocated what | called a conciliation board, where the masters and the men would come together and discuss guch ques- tions, hours of labor, and other conditions, “The owners would have none of this; they did not think it was necessary. Year in year out since 1880 1 continued to preach the same doctrine.” Havelock Wilson Today. HIS untiring “stormy petrel” of = limited. outlook but of unbounded enthusiasm had to be trapped into a cage. This was necessary because the thunder was already heard of the approaching world war. The British capitalists saw the need of harness- ing the great masses of the seamen which had been organized by Have- lock Wilson. And the British capital- ists have managed to tame Wilson. How the job was done is well told by Sir Walter Runciman, the shipowner, who writes in the foreword to Mr. Wilson’s book: “Two years before the world war the Newcastle shipowners wisely took the definite step of recommending the federation council to recognize the seamen’s union, and Mr. Wilson as its IT PRETTY BAD BUT _ ILLGET OVER THIS DEPRESSION AL— j es-| * aERTaRTAoRI eS The Labor Skate’s Lament ~ A Doleful Cartoon by the Famous Artist, Leff Wing. leader, The council, with com mendable wisdom, decided to close the long years of tragedy and begin a new era. It was not only wise, but providential, for looming in the distance there was a great human upheaval sweeping along, and when [t burst upon us the nation had a contented, pa- triotic mercantile marine led by a great leader, without which we could not have survived.” Thus it happened that Havelock Wilson was recognized and confirmed as the leader of the British seamen by the very same shipping federation which had been created for the spe- cific purpose of fighting his union, and which has done so in the course of 20 years, Ever since his “recognition” we find Wilson a changed man. First and foremost he advances the interests of national shipping, which. he. stoutly defends in ‘times of war. and peace. He solidly identifies ‘himself and. his. organization with the shipowners, by whom he is treated as a sincere: friend. Together with the shipown- ers, he orders the arbitrary reduction of the seamen’s wages without con- sulting the latter, entirely forgetful of his vigorous resistance to such things in the past, and oblivious to the fact that such things will.not be liked by the masses of the seamen today. Resting on the laurels ten- dered to him by the capitalist ship owners, Havelock Wilson grows wise and confesses that in his past activity he had been frequently unfair to- wards the shipowners, committing numerous mistakes, which he now sees in a different light. To his old comrade in arms, Tom Mann, now a Communist, who has fought side by side with him in the famous dockers’ strike of 1899, he now reads lectures on sweet reasonableness, which he does also to other leaders of the trade union movement who _— eajlen: info. the sin of leftism.. « % © He is now completing his career as an out-and-out traitor to the interests of the masses of the seamen, who em- ploys blackleg methods in combatting the strike of his own British seamen, thus completing the process of his own conversion from a labor leader into a tool of the oppressors of the seamen of Great Britain. Wilson’s autobiography, an ex- tremely valuable and interesting con- tribution to the “history of the sea and the seaman,” clearly and elo- quently reveals the process of the transformation of a leader from a fighter into a traitor, which is so char- asteristic for a number of past tragie union leaders who are now disappear- ing from the stage.