Labour policy—false and true

“The Conference hails the great political revolutions which, in Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany, have destroyed the old regimes of imperialism and militarism and overthrown their Governments.

“The Conference urges the workers and Socialists of these countries to develop democratic and republican institutions which will enable them to bring about the great Socialist transformation. In these momentous times, when the problem of the Socialist reconstruction of the world is more than ever before a burning question, the working-classes should make up their minds, unanimously and unmistakably, about the method of their emancipation.

“In full agreement with all previous Congresses of the International, the Berne Conference firmly adheres to the principles of Democracy. A reorganized society more and more permeated with Socialism, cannot be realized, much less permanently established, unless it rests upon triumphs of Democracy and is rooted in the principles of liberty.

“Those institutions which constitute Democracy—freedom of speech and of the press, the right of assembly, universal suffrage, a government responsible to Parliament, with arrangements guaranteeing popular co-operation, and respect for the wishes of the people, the right of association, etc., these also provide the working-classes with the means of carrying on the class-struggle.

“Owing to certain recent events, the Conference desires to make absolutely clear the constructive character of the Socialist programme. True socialization implies methodical development in the different branches of economic activity under the control of the democracy. The arbitrary taking over of a few concerns by small groups of workers is not Socialism, it is merely Capitalism with numerous shareholders.

“Since, in the opinion of the Conference, effective Socialist development is only possible under democratic law, it is essential to eliminate at once any method of socialization which has no prospect of gaining the support of the majority of the people.

“A dictatorship of this character would be all the more dangerous if it were based upon the support of only one section of the working-class. The inevitable consequence of such a regime would be the paralysis of working-class strength through fratricidal war. The inevitable end would be the dictatorship of reaction....

“It calls upon Socialists throughout the world to close their ranks, not to deliver up the peoples to international reaction, but to do their utmost to ensure that Socialism and Democracy, which are inseparable, shall triumph everywhere.”

“Under the wage-system the capitalist class endeavour to increase their profits by exploiting the workers in the greatest measure possible by methods which, if unchecked, would undermine the physical, moral and intellectual strength of the present and future generation of workers. They impede the development and even endanger the very existence of Society. The tendency of Capitalism to degrade the worker can only be completely checked by the abolition of the capitalist system of production. Meanwhile, the evil can be considerably mitigated, both by the resistance of organized workers and by the intervention of the State. By these means, the health of the workers can be protected and their family life maintained. They make it possible for them to obtain the education necessary to enable them to fulfil their duties as citizens in a modern democracy.

“The degree in which Capitalism is restricted varies to a very great extent in the different States. Through the unfair competition of backward countries, these differences endanger labour and industry in the more advanced States. The adjustment of national differences in the legal protection of labour by a system of international labour legislation has long been a pressing need. It has been rendered doubly urgent by the terrible upheavals and awful destruction of the vital forces of the people brought about by the war. At the same time, however, the war is bringing about the possibility of satisfying this need by the formation of a League of Nations, which now seems certain. The Berne Conference demands that the League of Nations, as one of its primary tasks, shall create and put into execution an International Labour Charter.”

“1. The political and economic organization of the working-class for the purpose of abolishing the capitalist form of society and achieving complete freedom for humanity through the conquest of political power and the socialization of the means of production and exchange, that is to say, by the transformation of capitalist society into a collectivist or communist society.

“2. The international union and action of the workers in the struggle against jingoism and imperialism and for the simultaneous suppression of militarism and armaments, with the object of bringing about a real League of Nations, including all peoples master of their own destiny, and maintaining world peace.

“3. The representation and defence of the interests of oppressed peoples and subject races.

“These principles find three forms of expression in the working-class movement, each at different stages of development, but each necessary; the political, the industrial, and the co-operative. These must, as autonomous bodies, continue to strengthen their national influence and their international unity, and, at the same time, as their ultimate aims are common, and as they are aspects of one great world movement, they should take every opportunity for joint action in an internationalist and revolutionary spirit for the maintenance of the world’s peace.”

“Socialization.—By Socialization we understand the transformation from ownership and control by capitalists to ownership and control by the community of all the industries and services essential for the satisfaction of the people’s needs; the substitution, for the wasteful production and distribution with the object of private profit, of efficient production and economical distribution with the object of the greatest possible utility; the transformation also, from the economic servitude of the great mass of the actual producers under private ownership, to a general participation in management by the persons engaged in the work.

“The continuous and rapid growth of monopolistic control of industry by Capitalism increases the power of private owners to manipulate the prices of all the necessaries of life, thus reducing consumers to despair. On the other hand, there is the growing unwillingness of organized labour any longer to support a system of production which keeps them in subjection and does not even enable them to raise effectively their standard of life. The consequent intolerableness of Capitalism renders every day more urgent the reconstruction of industry on the lines of Socialization.

“Socialization will proceed, step by step, from one industry to another, according as circumstances in each country may permit. Objectionable as private profit-making enterprise is to Socialists, they will refrain from destroying it in any industry until they are in a position to replace it by a more efficient form of organization. Such a gradual process of Socialization excludes, in general, expropriation of private ownership without compensation; not only because it would be inequitable to cause suffering to selected individuals, but also because a process of confiscation would disturb capitalist enterprise in industries in which Socialization was not immediately practicable. The funds required for compensation will be derived from taxation of private property, including capital levies, income-tax and death duties, and the limitation of inheritances for the benefit of the State.

“In a community of highly developed economic life, with an extensive population largely aggregated in urban centres, Socialization takes three main forms—namely, national, municipal and co-operative.

“For instance, whatever may be provided for the administration of agriculture, the ownership of land should be national, provision being made for the maintenance and security of peasant cultivators, wherever such exist. Other industries of supreme national importance, such as the transport system, the generation of electricity and mines, should also be national. But the management of a large number of industries and services will be in the hands of the municipalities and other local authorities, and federations of these, not only the provision of water and gas and the distribution of electricity, but also, in some countries, the provision of food, clothing and housing. The production and distribution of household supplies of every kind will form, for the most part, the sphere of the consumer’s co-operative societies.

“Industries which have not yet arrived at a state of concentration at which they are suitable for Socialization, or in which, for other reasons, Socialization is not immediately practicable, will be subjected to control by the community, with a view to effecting economies and improvements in production and distribution, fixing prices, and ensuring prescribed conditions of employment.

“It is important to notice that, in the large measure of individual freedom that will be characteristic of a Socialist community, the adoption of the principle of Socialization does not include agricultural production by individual peasants of the nation’s land, or by independent craftsmen working on their own account, or by artists of any kind, or by members of the brain-working professions—provided always that they do not exploit the labour of other persons. On the other hand, the principle of Socialization excludes the ownership of natural resources or of the instruments of production in the large scale primary industries by individuals or associations of persons of any kind, together with the dictatorship of any person or group over the industry in which they work.

“It is the function of the community as a whole to exercise control over the prices of commodities, and to provide whatever new or additional capital is required from time to time for Socialized industries.

“Administration of Socialized Industries.—A principle of the greatest importance in Socialization is that control must be separated from administration. The control will be exercised by the popularly elected national assembly. The organ of administration in each industry or service must be entirely separate and distinct from those of the political government.

“The National Industries.—Each industry or service will require an organization appropriate to its special circumstances. As a general type it is suggested that a national industry or service should be provided with

“(a) A national board to be composed of representatives of:

“(1) the workers concerned in the industry;

“(2) the management (including the technicians);

“(3) the consumers and the community as a whole.

“(b) Where considered necessary, also district councils for appropriate regional areas, to be similarly composed;

“(c) Works’ committees for each factory, mine or other establishment.

“In each national industry there will have to be separate machinery for collective bargaining between the management on the one hand, and each distinct vocation engaged in the industry or service on the other.

“There should accordingly be a Joint Board for each vocation that has separately organized itself, whether in a trade union or a professional association. Each Joint Board should be composed in equal numbers of representatives of the management and representatives of the trade union or professional association concerned.

“The Right to Strike—that is to say, to refuse collectively to continue to serve—cannot be denied to any man or woman consistently with freedom. When it is no longer a question of resisting the profit-making capitalist, but merely of obtaining from the community as a whole equitable conditions of employment and a proper standard of life, it may be expected that the public opinion of the community as a whole will be accepted as decisive.

“Municipal Socialization.—The large part of the industries and services of each community which will be in the hands of the local authorities will be directed by the popularly elected councils of the several localities, with participation in the management of their own services by representatives of the workers by hand or by brain. In municipal administration of industries and services there should be the same kind of machinery of Joint Boards for collective bargaining as in the national industries.

“The Political System of Socialism.—The progressive disintegration of the capitalist system, which has been increasingly taking place during the years of war, and not less during the years of peace following the war, makes it ever more urgent that Labour should assume power in society. In the term Labour we include not merely the manual working wage-earners, but also the intellectual workers of all kinds, the independent handicraftsmen and peasant cultivators, and, in short, all those who co-operate by their exertions in the production of utilities of any kind.

“1. It is an essential condition of this assumption of power by Labour that its ranks should be sufficiently united and that it should understand how to make use of the power in its hands.

“2. Whilst the Congress repudiates methods of violence and all terrorism, it recognizes that the object cannot be achieved without the utilization by Labour of its industrial as well as its political power, and direct action in certain decisive conflicts cannot be entirely abandoned. At the same time, the Congress considers that any tendency to convert an industrial strike automatically into political revolution cannot be too strongly condemned.

“3. The Socialist Commonwealth can come into existence only by the conquest by Labour of governmental power. The main work of a Labour Government will be to adopt, as the fundamental basis of its legislation and administration, both Democracy and Socialization.

“Socialism will not base its political organization upon dictatorship. It cannot seek to suppress Democracy; its historic mission, on the contrary, is to carry Democracy to completion. The whole efforts of Labour, its Trade Union and Co-operative activities, equally with its action in the political field, tend constantly towards the establishment of Democratic institutions more and more adapted to the needs of industrial society, becoming ever more perfect and of higher social value.

“It is to-day the forces of Labour that, in the main, ensure the maintenance of Democracy. Socialists will not allow factitious minorities, taking advantage of their privileged positions, to bring to naught popular liberty. Inspired by the great traditions of past revolutions, Socialists will be ready, without weakness, to resist any such attacks.

“4. The franchise for a Socialist Parliament must be universal, applying with absolute equality to both sexes, without exclusions on grounds of race, religion, occupation, or political opinions. The supreme function of Parliament is to represent all the popular aspirations and desires from the standpoint of the community as a whole. It will deal with defence against aggression from without or within. It will be in charge of the property and also of the finances of the community.

“It will make the laws, and administer the public business. The Ministers in charge of the various departments will be chosen from among its members; and the government of the nation will be its Executive Committee.

“But it will be free to delegate particular powers and duties to any of the other organs of the community hereinafter mentioned, in order to secure the greatest possible participation of those personally engaged in each branch of social life. It will be for Parliament to safeguard not only the interests of the general public of consumers for whose representation on special boards and councils it will provide, but also the interests of the community as a whole in future generations.

“5. It will be for Parliament to determine the general lines of social policy and to make the laws; it will decide to what industries and services the principle of Socialization shall be applied and under what conditions; it will exercise supreme financial control, and will decide upon the allocation of new and additional capital. In the last resort, it will exercise the power of fixing prices.

“6. In the development and expansion of the productive life of the community, a large part will be played by the various organizations formed according to the productive occupations in which every healthy person will be engaged. Thus, provision must be made, in the manner hereinafter described, for the participation in the administration or service of representatives of all the different grades of workers, by hand or by brain, engaged in that particular industry or service. At the same time, each vocation, whether of workers by hand or of workers by brain, desires to regulate the conditions of its vocational life, whatever may be the industries or services among which its membership will find itself dispersed. Each distinct vocation may therefore group itself in a professional association, to which functions of regulation, of investigation, or of professional education may be entrusted by Parliament.

“7. The organizations into which those engaged in the various industries and services will group themselves, whether trade unions or professional associations, may be made the basis of a further organ of social and economic life.

“Alongside Parliament it may be desirable that there should be a National Industrial Council, composed of representatives of the various organizations of trades and professions into which the persons belonging to each occupation may voluntarily group themselves. Such a National Industrial Council would be free to discuss and criticize, to investigate and to suggest, and to present to Parliament any reports on which it may decide. Parliament may, from time to time, delegate to the National Industrial Council the drafting of measures applicable to industry as a whole, or of the regulations to be made under the authority of a statute.”

“The great difficulty which confronts International Socialism, however, is the division of the movement into two camps as a result of the Russian Revolution of November 1918. Bolshevism tried to establish, not only over Russia, but over every other country in the world, the method of seizing political power by armed force, holding that power by the same means and changing the whole economic structure of society by decree and suppression. Since its first success in Russia, it has somewhat modified its position, and at the present moment in this country, it is informing its adherents that those who decry political methods are traitors to the cause of Communism, but that political action should be used solely to prove the abortiveness of the institutions which are to be captured. Obviously, such a compromise with the unclean thing is bound to defeat itself and will only make candidates who pursue such a policy ridiculous in the eyes of electors. It is political and revolutionary futility of the simplest kind. We do not wish, however, to argue out the matter. The policy may be more suitable to some countries than it is to ours, but obviously every Socialist who has any international instinct at all will see that an International based upon Moscow principles can never represent more than the smallest and least influential fraction of the Socialist movement in the various countries. The Second International has, therefore, rejected Bolshevism as the basis of its existence.

“Moreover, the attempts made by Moscow to control national organizations not only in general Socialist policy, but in the details of their own national work, must prevent every such organization with any self-respect and any sense of national freedom from putting itself under such a yoke.”

“There must be no doubt as to the basis upon which a Socialist International has to be built. It must secure to each Socialist group freedom to work in accordance with its own means towards its Socialist goal; there must be common determination to bring Socialism about; it must be prepared to give international support to all national strivings for liberty and self-government in ways determined by the nations themselves; it must in no way reject (as is now being attempted in some quarters) but unequivocally support the democratic method as that proper to the countries that have already gone through their political revolutions, and that have been put in possession of the political weapon by reason of the insurrectionary movements of their proletariat in days gone by.”