Show 1 1 MARQUIS CHILDS j U. U S. S Rail Strike Recalls Brit Walkout of 20 Years Ag Ago V WASHINGTON ASHINGTON WASHINGTON Twenty T Twenty wen t y years ago Great Britain had a general strike It proved to be bean bean bean an almost unrelieved disaster for organized labor Tho railroad strike in this country was not intended to be bo bea boa a general strike But 1 if it had lasted only a n short time longer It would have shut down tho the nations nation's nations nation's na nn na- na tion's life lite as England was closed ed down In May of 1926 The parallel between the two situations cannot be pushed too far tar There are marked differences differences differences differ differ- at nt every point Both here and in Britain however the public reaction seems to have o b been en strikingly similar A Average e Citizen Shocked The greo great t middle class had not realized until tho the shutdown came what its stake was in this In industrial warfare The strife between labor and management had seemed rather remote remote remote-In- in interesting and maybe important but not directly related to the tho well-being well of the average citi citi- zen cn What industrial paralysis could mean came as a profound shock Kingsley Martin Marlin editor of the New Statesman and Nation published an extremely InterestIng Interesting Interesting Interest Interest- ing study of ot attitudes during and after aeter the great strike in England He Ho shows how the tories led by Winston ton Churchill Church Church- ill tried to scare care the public Into believing that the tho strike was led by revolutionists rc who wanted to overthrow the constitution and the tho government They were not of ot course revolutionaries any anymore anymore anymore more than A. A F F. F Whitney and Alvanley Johnston mean tion But the bulk of the news that got printed in spite of oC the strike of press men frightened Britain's Britain's Britain's Brit Brit- ains ain's middle class In itself the Ule shutdown was an alarming phe phe- Martin a labor party socialist comes out with an interesting interesting in in- in conclusion One important fact emerges from this story It is clear that thata a general strike which aims at ata a a. limited objective and is not revolutionary can only succeed if it it finds active sympathy among a considerable section of oC the middle classes Middle Class Power That is a fact tact which Johnston Johnst n nand and Whitney to say nothing of oC John L L. L Lewis tom l l nored In America dI dI opinion Is even more than It is I. In ln l mid middle cla claIn class chus suPPOrt sary earY to put a labor Cov raven In power Railroad engineer j ja mfr a n just cause cam of at c grievance wages may y have beer f tIft u l low But so ao far tar a. a as j I h hat able ablo to discover Joh Johna Whitney never t tried pled t Ii th that t case to the Public To two the public th the they y looked boSh at autocratic who paunchy of eo were saying no rod did no meant a sh of f services service d country Public Ignore td T The c public was com th nr nored That Is ol olof old lint line of ot the Gomper sere era en It Is not good Rood enough for tor j times On top of Ih u dent Truman 4 WU tray n point out In his address to i a d gross gress Johnston and were only two railway tt hood officials aj u agai lit 11 1 were willing to accept rho th a Loj award In Britain after mi Q opinion was frightened frighten ed or err If organized labor scat bitter revenge Worker tf returned after the to found the themselves ea t to tai t I In spite of ot Prime in 11 ter Baldwins Baldwin's promise that that t would be no t A year later in 1927 1911 pi JI men meat ment t passed the trade 7 d act That act applied allies alUes which set or 1 iS tl back many years both p pet cally rally and economically 5 gro est eat blow was the t fI bidding the Trades Union tt tc gross c central e n t r a I which would add up to ate a tt pined A F Land and CIO fa fn blanketing in mem member n ef tf b la unions Local wert i to apply specifically j membership in the central i In President U ti measure there are in 4 dJ gen gers It is to an n dent The Tho real danger tt n is in the Jong long term terra Prom If that is s merely n C revenge re I I cause of ot industrial peace i 1 have been retarded Copyright 1946 1916 by Unite Feature Syndicate |