Socialism and Democracy in Europe

ii. Agricultural property.

7. Autonomy of public services.

(a) Administration of the public services by special autonomous commissions, under the control of the State.

(b) Creation of committees elected by the workmen and employees of the public services to debate with the central administration the conditions of the remuneration and organization of labor.

B.—Particular Measures for Industrial Workers

1. Abolition of all laws restricting the right of combination.

2. Regulation of industrial labor.

(a) Prohibition of employment of children under fourteen.

(b) Half-time system between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.

(c) Prohibition of employment of women in all industries where it is incompatible with morals or health.

(d) Reduction of working-day to a maximum of eight hours for adults of both sexes, and minimum wage.

(e) Prohibition of night-work for all categories of workers and in all industries, where this mode of working is not absolutely necessary.

(f) One day's rest per week, so far as possible on Sunday.

(g) Responsibility of employers in case of accidents, and appointment of doctors to attend persons wounded.

(h) Workmen's memorandum-books and certificates to be abolished, and their use prohibited.

3. Inspection of work.

(a) Employment of paid medical authorities, in the interests of labor hygiene.

(b) Appointment of inspectors by the Councils of Industry and Labor.

4. Reorganization of the Industrial Tribunals (Conseils de Prud'hommes) and the Councils of Industry and Labor.

(a) Working women to have votes and be eligible.

(b) Submission to the Courts to be compulsory.

5. Regulation of work in prisons and convents.

C.—Particular Measures for Agricultural Workers

1. Reorganization of the Agricultural Courts.

(a) Nomination of delegates in equal numbers by the landowners, farmers, and laborers.

(b) Intervention of the Chambers in individual or collective disputes between landowners, farmers, and agricultural workers.

(c) Fixing of a minimum wage by the public authorities on the proposition of the Agricultural Courts.

2. Regulation of contracts to pay farm-rents.

(a) Fixing of the rate of farm-rents by Committees of Arbitration or by the reformed Agricultural Courts.

(b) Compensation to the outgoing farmer for enhanced value of property.

(c) Participation of landowners, to a wider extent than that fixed by the Civil Code, in losses incurred by farmers.

(d) Suppression of the landowner's privilege.

3. Insurance by the provinces, and reinsurance by the State, against epizootic diseases, diseases of plants, hail, floods, and other agricultural risks.

4. Organization by the public authorities of a free agricultural education.

Creation or development of experimental fields, model farms, agricultural laboratories.

5. Purchase by the communes of agricultural implements to be at the disposal of their inhabitants.

Assignment of common lands to groups of laborers engaging not to employ wage labor.

6. Organization of a free medical service in the country.

7. Reform of the Game Laws.

(a) Suppression of gun licenses.

(b) Suppression of game preserves.

(c) Right of cultivators to destroy all the year round animals which injure crops.

8. Intervention of public authorities in the creation of agricultural co-operative societies—

(a) For buying seed and manure.

(b) For making butter.

(c) For the purchase and use in common of agricultural machines.

(d) For the sale of produce.

(e) For the working of land by groups.

9. Organization of agricultural credit.

III.—Communal Program

1. Educational reforms.

(a) Free scientific instruction for children up to fourteen. Special courses for older children and adults.

(b) Organization of education in trades and industries, in co-operation with workmen's organizations.

(c) Maintenance of children; except where the public authorities intervene to do so.

(d) Institution of school refreshment-rooms. Periodical distribution of boots and clothing.

(e) Orphanages. Establishments for children abandoned or cruelly ill-treated.

2. Judicial reforms.

Office for consultations free of charge in cases coming before the law-courts, the industrial courts, etc.

3. Regulation of work.

(a) Minimum wage and maximum working-day to be made a clause in contracts for communal works.

(b) Intervention of trade associations in the fixing of rates of wages, and general regulation of industry. The Echevin of Public Works to supervise the execution of these clauses in contracts.

(c) Appointment by the workmen's associations of inspectors to supervise the clauses in contracts.

(d) Rigorous application of the principle of tenders open to all, for all services which, during a transition-period, are not managed directly.

(e) Permission to trade-unions to tender, and abolition of security-deposit.

(f) Creation of Bourses du Travail, or at least offices for the demand and supply of employment, whose administration shall be entrusted to trade-unions or labor associations.

(g) Fixing of a minimum wage for the workmen and employees of a commune.

4. Public charity.

(a) Admission of workmen to the administration of the councils of hospitals and of public charity.

(b) Transformation of public charity and the hospitals into a system of insurance against old age. Organization of a medical service and drug supply. Establishment of public free baths and wash-houses.

(c) Establishment of refuges for the aged and disabled. Night-shelter and food-distribution for workmen wandering in search of work.

5. Complete neutrality of all communal services from the philosophical point of view.

6. Finance.

(a) Saving to be effected on present cost of administration. Maximum allowance of 6,000 francs for mayors and other officials. Costs of entertainment for mayors who must incur certain private expenses.

(b) Income tax.

(c) Special tax on sites not built over and houses not let.

7. Public services.

(a) The commune, or a federation of communes composing one agglomeration, is to work the means of transport—tramways, omnibuses, cabs, district railways, etc.

(b) The commune, or federation of communes, is to work directly the services of general interest at present conceded to companies—lighting, water-supply, markets, highways, heating, security, health.

(c) Compulsory insurance of the inhabitants against fire; except where the State intervenes to do so.

(d) Construction of cheap dwellings by the commune, the hospices, and the charity offices.

V. ENGLAND

GROWTH OF SOCIALISTIC SENTIMENT IN ENGLAND

In 1885 the Earl of Wemyss made a speech in the House of Lords deploring the advancement of state interference in business and giving a résumé of the Acts of Parliament that showed how "Socialism" invaded St. Stephens from 1870 to 1885.

His speech is interesting, not because it voices the ultra-Conservative's apprehensions but because the Earl had really discovered the legal basis of the new Social Democratic advance, which had come unheralded. The Earl reviewed the bills that Parliament had sanctioned, which dealt with state "interference." Twelve bills referred to lands and houses. "All of these measures assume the right of the state to regulate the management of, or to confiscate real property"—steps in the direction of substituting "land nationalization" for individual ownership. Five laws dealt with corporations, "confiscating property of water companies," etc.; nine dealt with ships: "all of them assertions by the Board of Trade of its right to regulate private enterprise and individual management in the mercantile marine;" six with mines, "prompting a fallacious confidence in government inspection;" six with railways, "all encroachments upon self-government of private enterprise in railways—successive steps in the direction of state railways." Nine had to do with manufactures and trades, "invasions by the state of the self-government of the various interests of the country, and curtailment of the freedom of contract between employers and employed." "The Pawnbrokers' Act of 1872 was the thin edge of the wedge for reducing the business of the 'poor man's banks' to a state monopoly." Twenty laws dealt with liquor, "all attempts on the part of the state to regulate the dealings and habits of buyers and sellers of alcoholic drinks." Sixteen dealt with dwellings of the working class, "all embodying the principle that it is the duty of the state to provide dwellings, private gardens, and other conveniences for the working classes, and assume its right to appropriate land for these purposes." There were nine education acts, "all based on the assumption that it is the duty of the state to act in loco parentis." Four laws dealt with recreation, "whereby the state, having educated the people in common school rooms, proceeds to provide them with common reading-rooms, and afterwards turns them out at stated times into the streets for common holidays."

Of local government and improvement acts, there were passed "a vast mass of local legislation ... containing interferences in every conceivable particular with liberty and property."

The Earl quotes Lord Palmerston as saying in 1865, "Tenant right is landlord wrong," and Lord Sherbrooke, in 1866, "Happily there is an oasis upon which all men, without distinction of party, can take common stand, and that is the good ground of political economy." And the noble lord concludes by predicting, "The general social results of such Socialistic legislation may be summed up in 'dynamite,' 'detectives,' and 'general demoralization.'"[1]

In 1887 the Earl again turned his guns upon the radical advance, but only seven peers were on the benches to listen. In 1890 he made a third résumé under a more liberal patronage of listeners; this time the factory laws and inspection measures came in for his especial criticism. He said: "Now, my lords, what is the character of all this legislation? It is to substitute state help for self help, to regulate and control men in their dealings with one another with regard to land or anything else. The state now forbids contracts, breaks contracts, makes contracts. The whole tendency is to substitute the state or the municipality for the free action of the individual."[2]

AN EARLY POLITICAL BROADSIDE BY THE MARXIANS.

The earlier attitude of the Marxian Socialists of London toward participating in elections is shown in the following broadside, dated July, 1895:

"We, revolutionary Social Democrats, disdain to conceal our principles. We proclaim the class war. We hold that the lot of the worker cannot to any appreciable extent be improved except by a complete overthrow of this present capitalist system of society. The time for social tinkering has gone past. Government statistics show that the number of unemployed is slowly but surely increasing, and that the decreases in wages greatly preponderate over the increases, and everything points to the fact that the condition of your class is getting worse and worse.

"Refuse once for all to allow your backs to be made the stepping stones to obtain that power which they (the politicians) know only too well how to use against you.

"Scoff at their patronizing airs and claim your rights like men. Refuse to give them that which they want, i.e., your vote. Give them no opportunity of saying that they are your representatives. Refuse to be a party to the fraud of present-day politics, and

"Abstain from Voting."

THRIFT INSTITUTIONS IN ENGLAND FOR SAVINGS, INSURANCE, ETC., 1907

(From Chiozza Money—"Riches and Poverty," p. 56)

CONSTITUTION AND STANDING ORDERS OF THE INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTY OF ENGLAND

Standing Orders (1911)

Contributions

Affiliation Fees and Parliamentary Fund Contributions must be paid by December 31st each year.

Annual Conference

1. The Annual Conference shall meet during the month of January.

2. Affiliated Societies may send one delegate for every thousand or part of a thousand members paid for.

3. Affiliated Trades Councils and Local Labor Parties may send one delegate if their affiliation fee has been 15s., and two delegates if the fee has been 30s.

4. Persons eligible as delegates must be paying bona fide members or paid permanent officials of the organizations sending them.

5. A fee of 5s. per delegate will be charged.

6. The National Executive will ballot for the places to be allotted to the delegates.

7. Voting at the Conference shall be by show of hands, but on a division being challenged, delegates shall vote by cards, which shall be issued on the basis of one card for each thousand members, or fraction of a thousand, paid for by the Society represented.

Conference Agenda

1. Resolutions for the Agenda and Amendments to the Constitution must be sent in by November 1st each year.

2. Amendments to Resolutions must be sent in by December 15th each year.

Nominations for National Executive and Secretaryship

1. Nominations for the National Executive and the Secretaryship must be sent in by December 15th.

2. No member of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress or of the Management Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions is eligible for nomination to the National Executive.

Constitution

(As revised under the authority of the Newport Conference, 1910)

ORGANIZATION

I. Affiliation.

1. The Labor Party is a Federation consisting of Trade Unions, Trades Councils, Socialist Societies, and Local Labor Parties.

2. A Local Labor Party in any constituency is eligible for affiliation, provided it accepts the Constitution and policy of the Party, and that there is no affiliated Trades Council covering the constituency, or that, if there be such Council, it has been consulted in the first instance.

3. Co-operative Societies are also eligible.

4. A National Organization of Women, accepting the basis of this Constitution, and the policy of the Party, and formed for the purpose of assisting the Party, shall be eligible for affiliation as though it were a Trades Council.

II. Object.

To secure the election of Candidates to Parliament and organize and maintain a Parliamentary Labor Party, with its own whips and policy.

III. Candidates and Members.

1. Candidates and Members must accept this Constitution; agree to abide by the decisions of the Parliamentary Party in carrying out the aims of this Constitution; appear before their constituencies under the title of Labor Candidates only; abstain strictly from identifying themselves with or promoting the interests of any Parliamentary Party not affiliated, or its Candidates; and they must not oppose any Candidate recognized by the National Executive of the Party.

2. Candidates must undertake to join the Parliamentary Labor Party, if elected.

IV. Candidatures.

1. A Candidate must be promoted by an affiliated Society which makes itself responsible for his election expenses.

2. A Candidate must be selected for a constituency by a regularly convened Labor Party Conference in the constituency. [The Hull Conference accepted the following as the interpretation of what a "Regularly Convened Labor Party Conference" is:—All branches of affiliated organizations within a constituency or divided borough covered by a proposal to run a Labor Candidate must be invited to send delegates to the Conference, and the local organization responsible for calling the Conference may, if it thinks fit, invite representatives from branches of organizations not affiliated but eligible for affiliation.]

3. Before a Candidate can be regarded as adopted for a constituency, his candidature must be sanctioned by the National Executive; and where at the time of a by-election no Candidate has been so sanctioned, the National Executive shall have power to withhold its sanction.

V. The National Executive.

The National Executive shall consist of fifteen members, eleven representing the Trade Unions, one the Trades Councils, Women's Organizations, and Local Labor Parties, and three the Socialist Societies, and shall be elected by ballot at the Annual Conference by their respective sections.

VI. Duties of the National Executive.

The National Executive Committee shall

1. Appoint a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Treasurer, and shall transact the general business of the Party;

2. Issue a list of its Candidates from time to time, and recommend them for the support of the electors;

3. Report to the affiliated organization concerned any Labor Member, Candidate, or Chief Official who opposes a Candidate of the Party, or who acts contrary to the spirit of the Constitution;

4. And its members shall strictly abstain from identifying themselves with or promoting the interests of any Parliamentary Party not affiliated, or its Candidates.

VII. The Secretary.

The Secretary shall be elected by the Annual Conference, and shall be under the direction of the National Executive.

VIII. Affiliation Fees and Delegates.

1. Trade Unions and Socialist Societies shall pay 15s. per annum for every thousand members or fraction thereof, and may send to the Annual Conference one delegate for each thousand members.

2. Trades Councils and Local Labor Parties with 5,000 members or under shall be affiliated on an annual payment of 15s.; similar organizations with a membership of over 5,000 shall pay £1 10s., the former Councils to be entitled to send one delegate with one vote to the Annual Conference, the latter to be entitled to send two delegates and have two votes.

3. In addition to these payments a delegate's fee to the Annual Conference may be charged.

IX. Annual Conference.

The National Executive shall convene a Conference of its affiliated Societies in the month of January each year.

Notice of resolutions for the Conference and all amendments to the Constitution shall be sent to the Secretary by November 1st, and shall be forthwith forwarded to all affiliated organizations.

Notice of amendments and nominations for Secretary and National Executive shall be sent to the Secretary by December 15th, and shall be printed on the Agenda.

X. Voting at Annual Conference.

There shall be issued to affiliated Societies represented at the Annual Conference voting cards as follows:

1. Trade Unions and Socialist Societies shall receive one voting card for each thousand members, or fraction thereof paid for.

2. Trades Councils and Local Labor Parties shall receive one card for each delegate they are entitled to send.

Any delegate may claim to have a vote taken by card.

PARLIAMENTARY FUND

I. Object.

To assist in paying the election expenses of Candidates adopted in accordance with this Constitution, in maintaining them when elected; and to provide the salary and expenses of a National Party Agent.

II. Amount of Contribution.

1. Affiliated Societies, except Trades Councils, and Local Labor Parties shall pay a contribution to this fund at the rate of 2d. per member per annum, not later than the last day of each financial year.

2. On all matters affecting the financial side of the Parliamentary Fund only contributing Societies shall be allowed to vote at the Annual Conference.

III. Trustees.

The National Executive of the Party shall, from its number, select three to act as Trustees, any two of whom, with the Secretary, shall sign checks.

IV. Expenditure.

1. Maintenance.—All Members elected under this Constitution shall be paid from the Fund equal sums not to exceed £200 per annum, provided that this payment shall only be made to Members whose Candidatures have been promoted by one or more Societies which have contributed to this Fund; provided further that no payment from this Fund shall be made to a Member or Candidate of any Society which has not contributed to this Fund for one year, and that any Society over three months in arrears shall forfeit all claim to the Fund on behalf of its Members or Candidates, for twelve months from the date of payment.

2. Returning Officers' Expenses.—Twenty-five per cent. of the Returning Officers' net expenses shall be paid to the Candidates, subject to the provisions of the preceding clause, so long as the total sum so expended does not exceed twenty-five per cent. of the Fund.

3. Administration.—Five per cent. of the Annual Income of the Fund shall be transferred to the General Funds of the Party, to pay for administrative expenses of the Fund.

THE INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTY: CONSTITUTION AND RULES, 1910-1911

NAME

The Independent Labor Party.

MEMBERSHIP

Open to all Socialists who indorse the principles and policy of the Party, are not members of either the Liberal or Conservative Party, and whose application for membership is accepted by a Branch.

Any member expelled from membership of a Branch of the I.L.P. shall not be eligible for membership of any other branch without having first submitted his or her case for adjudication of the N.A.C.

OBJECT

The Object of the Party is to establish the Socialist State, when land and capital will be held by the community and used for the well-being of the community, and when the exchange of commodities will be organized also by the community, so as to secure the highest possible standard of life for the individual. In giving effect to this object it shall work as part of the International Socialist Movement.

METHOD

The Party, to secure its objects, adopts—

1. Educational Methods, including the publication of Socialist literature, the holding of meetings, etc.

2. Political Methods, including the election of its members to local and national administrative and legislative bodies.

Program

The true object of industry being the production of the requirements of life, the responsibility should rest with the community collectively, therefore:—

The land being the storehouse of all the necessaries of life should be declared and treated as public property.

The capital necessary for the industrial operations should be owned and used collectively.

Work, and wealth resulting therefrom, should be equitably distributed over the population.

As a means to this end, we demand the enactment of the following measures:—

1. A maximum of 48 hours' working week, with the retention of all existing holidays, and Labor Day, May 1st, secured by law.

2. The provision of work to all capable adult applicants at recognized Trade Union rates, with a statutory minimum of 6d. per hour.

In order to remuneratively employ the applicants, Parish, District, Borough, and County Councils to be invested with powers to:—

(a) Organize and undertake such industries as they may consider desirable.

(b) Compulsorily acquire land; purchase, erect, or manufacture buildings, stock, or other articles for carrying on such industries.

(c) Levy rates on the rental values of the district, and borrow money on the security of such rates for any of the above purposes.

3. State pension for every person over 50 years of age, and adequate provision for all widows, orphans, sick and disabled workers.

4. Free, secular, moral, primary, secondary, and university education, with free maintenance while at school or university.

5. The raising of the age of child labor, with a view to its ultimate extinction.

6. Municipalization and public control of the Drink Traffic.

7. Municipalization and public control of all hospitals and infirmaries.

8. Abolition of indirect taxation and the gradual transference of all public burdens on to unearned incomes with a view to their ultimate extinction.

The Independent Labor Party is in favor of adult suffrage, with full political rights and privileges for women, and the immediate extension of the franchise to women on the same terms as granted to men; also triennial Parliaments and second ballot.

Organization

I.—OFFICERS

1. Chairman and Treasurer.

2. A National Administrative Council.—To be composed of fourteen representatives, in addition to the two officers.

3. No member shall occupy the office of Chairman of the Party for a longer consecutive period than three years, and he shall not be eligible for re-election for the same office for at least twelve months after he has vacated the chair.

4. Election of N.A.C.—Four members of the N.A.C. shall be elected by ballot at the Annual Conference, and ten by the votes of members in ten divisional areas.

5. Duties of N.A.C.—

(a) To meet at least three times a year to transact business relative to the Party.

(b) To exercise a determining voice in the selection of Parliamentary candidates, and, where no branch exists, to choose such candidates when necessary.

(c) To raise and disburse funds for General and By-Elections, and for other objects of the Party.

(d) To deal with such matters of local dispute between branches and members which may be referred to its decision by the parties interested.

(e) To appoint General Secretary and Officials, and exercise a supervising control over their work.

(f) To engage organizers and lecturers when convenient, either permanently or for varying periods, at proper wages, and to direct and superintend their work.

(g) To present to the Annual Conference a report on the previous year's work and progress of the Party.

(h) To appoint when necessary sub-committees to deal with special branches of its work, and to appoint a committee to deal with each Conference Agenda. Such Committee to revise and classify the resolutions sent in by branches and to place resolutions dealing with important matters on the Agenda.

(i) It shall not initiate any new departure or policy between Conferences without first obtaining the sanction of the majority of the branches.

(k) Matters arising between Conferences not provided for by the Constitution, shall be dealt with by the N.A.C.

(l) A full report of all the meetings of the N.A.C. as held shall be forwarded to each branch.

6. Auditor.—A Chartered or Incorporated Accountant shall be employed to audit the accounts of the Party.

II.—BRANCHES

1. Branch.—An Association which indorses the objects and policy of the Party, and affiliates in the prescribed manner.

2. Local Autonomy.—Subject to the general constitution of the Party, each Branch shall be perfectly autonomous.

III.—FINANCES

1. Branches shall pay one penny per member per month to the N.A.C.

2. The N.A.C. may strike off the list of branches any branch which is more than 6 months in arrears with its payments.

3. The N.A.C. may receive donations or subscriptions to the funds of the Party. It shall not receive moneys which are contributed upon terms which interfere in any way with its freedom of action as to their disbursement.

4. The financial year of the Party shall begin on March 1st, and end on the last day of February next succeeding.

IV.—ANNUAL CONFERENCE

1. The Annual Conference is the ultimate authority of the Party, to which all final appeals shall be made.

2. Date.—It shall be held at Easter.

3. Special Conferences.—A Special Conference shall always be called prior to a General Election, for the purpose of determining the policy of the Party during the election. Other Special Conferences may be called by two-thirds of the whole of the members of the N.A.C, or by one-third of the branches of the Party.

4. Conference Fee.—A Conference Fee per delegate (the amount to be fixed by the N.A.C.) shall be paid by all branches desiring representation, on or before the last day of February in each year.

5. No branch shall be represented which was not in existence on the December 31st immediately preceding the date of the Annual Conference.

6. Branches of the Party may send one delegate to Conference for each fifty members, or part thereof. Branches may appoint one delegate to represent their full voting strength. Should there be two or more branches which are unable separately to send delegates to Conference, they may jointly do so.

7. Delegates must have been members of the branch they represent from December 31st immediately preceding the date of the Conference.

8. Notices respecting resolutions shall be posted to branches not later than January 3d. Resolutions for the Agenda, and nominations for officers and N.A.C. shall be in the hands of the General Secretary eight weeks before the date of the Annual Conference, and issued to the branches a fortnight later. Amendments to resolutions on the Agenda and additional nominations may be sent to the Secretary four weeks before Conference, and they shall be arranged on the final Agenda, which shall be issued to branches two weeks before Conference. A balance sheet shall be issued to branches two weeks before the Conference, showing the receipts and expenditure of the Party for the year, also the number of branches affiliated and the amount each branch has paid in affiliation fees during the year.

9. The Chairman of the Party for the preceding year shall preside over the Conference.

10. Conference Officials.—The first business of the Conference shall be the appointment of tellers. It shall next elect a Standing Orders Committee, with power to examine the credentials of delegates, and to deal with special business which may be delegated to it by the Conference.

11. In case any vacancy occurs on the N.A.C. between Conferences, the unsuccessful candidate receiving the largest number of votes at the preceding election shall fill the vacancy. Vacancies in the list of officers shall be filled up by the vote of the branches.

12. The principle of the second ballot shall be observed in all elections.

13. The Conference shall choose in which Divisional Area the next Conference shall be held.

V.—PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES

1. The N.A.C. shall keep a list of members of the Party from which candidates may be selected by branches.

2. Any Branch at any time may nominate any eligible member of the Party to be placed upon that list.

3. The N.A.C. itself may place names on the list.

4. No person shall be placed upon this list unless he has been a member of the Party for at least twelve months.

5. Branches desiring to place a candidate in their constituencies must in the first instance communicate with the N.A.C., and have the candidate selected at a properly convened conference of representatives of the local branches of all societies affiliated with the Labor Party, so that the candidate may be chosen in accordance with the constitution of the Labor Party. The N.A.C. shall have power to suspend this clause where local or other circumstances appear to justify such a course.

6. Before the N.A.C. sanctions any candidature it shall be entitled to secure guarantees of adequate local financial support.

7. No Branch shall take any action which affects prejudicially the position or prospects of a Parliamentary candidate, who has received the credentials of the Labor Party, without first laying the case before the N.A.C.

8. Each candidate must undertake that he will run his election in accordance with the principles and policy of the Party, and that if elected he will support the Party on all questions coming within the scope of the principles of the I.L.P.