LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] BRITISH BOLSHEVISM.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—Your summary of the Duke of Northumberland's charges against the Miners' Federation and the Labour movement generally must convince your readers that organized Labour is drifting towards revolution. The threats of the " Council of Action " confirm all the Duke has said about the menace to the country of the Bolshevik conspiracy. The British Labour movement is now practically controlled by extremists and revolutionaries, who are attempting to destroy all constitu- tional institutions and to set up a dictatorship of the worst kind.
The list of the societies in Great Britain which accept the programme of the Third International, which you quote from the Duke of Northumberland's articles an the Morning Post, is the list contained in a document issued from Moscow last year and sent to revolutionary societies in all parts of the world. The list now needs revision, and should read as follows :— "'Societies in Great Britain now affiliated to the Third Inter- national (Moscow) are : (1) The British Socialist Party (now called the Communist Party); (2) the Socialist Labour Party; (3) the Socialist Workers' Federation; (4) the South Wales Socialist Society; (5) the National Council of Shop Stewards and Workers' Committees; (6) the Irish Socialist Party."
The. Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) are affiliated with Moscow through their headquarters at Chicago, and at a recent conference of the I.W.W., held at Chicago, it was decided that, owing to the Shop Stewards and Workers' Com- mittees in Great. Britain having decided to affiliate with the I.W.W., the membership cards of the two organizations should be interchangeable in Great. Britain and America.
Within the Independent Labour Party (LL.P.) there is a very active "Left Wing " with a paper of its own. This section advocates the affiliation of the I.L.P. to the Third International and the overthrow of Parliament and the Con- stitution by revolution. This Left Wing has considerable support in Scotland and South Wales.
The success of the. Bolshevik movement in this country depends upon the Socialist control of the Trade Unions. Moat official positions in the Labour movement are now held by Socialists, and in the local organizations of Labour, i.e., Trade Union branches, Trades Councils and local Labour parties, the extreme, or Left Wing, of the Socialists is rapidly getting control. The national leaders of Labour are being stampeded by these local extremists, and we see the result in the " Council of Action," where even the "moderate" representatives of' Labour are talking revolutionary toeh. As a Bolshevik organ, the Communist, August 12th, puts it, the " Council of- Action' is a step on the road to the dictatorship of the prole- tariat."
If this Bolshevik policy of the Labour Party and the Trade• Unions is not checked it will become a real menace to this, country. It is a policy that will, if pursued, inevitably lead-
to civil war. It is frankly admitted in all the Bolshevik organs published in this country that the strikes of the future will be on an ever-increasing scale, and will be direct conflicts, not with the employers, but with the State. We see this pre- diction being realized in the case of the miners. The new strike threat of Mr. Smillie and Co. is part of the campaign for the nationalization of the mines on terms to be dictated by the Miners' Federation.
Now is the time to resist the Direct Actionists and their revolutionary schemes with all the means at our disposal. Any weakness on the part of the Government or the nation will be disastrous and will open the way to the red revolution.—I am, Sir, &e., W. FAULKNER. 17 Heather Gardens, N.W. 4.
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