THE TRADE UNION QUESTION
rT^HE rapid growth of the Movement obliged us in A 1922 to adopt an attitude towards a question which was then not altogether clear.
In our efforts to study the quickest and easiest methods by which the Movement might penetrate into the heart of the masses, we were continually met by the objection that the worker could never completely attach himself to us as long as his professional and economic interests were looked after by men holding other opinions than ours and his political organization was in their hands.
Previously I have written on the nature and aims and also the necessity of Trades Unions. I gave it as my opinion that unless, by means of State measures (which usually lead to nothing) or by a new ideal of education, the attitude of the employer towards the worker underwent a change, the latter would have no course but to undertake the defence of his own interests himself, by appealing to his equal rights as a contracting party in economic life. I went on to say that such defensive action impinged on the entire national community if, by reason of it, social injustices, involving serious injury to the life of the community, could not be pre¬ vented. I said, moreover, that the necessity of Trades Unions must be taken for granted so long as the employers included amongst their numbers men who had of themselves no feeling for social obligation, nor even for the most elementary rights of humanity.
In the present state of affairs, I am convinced that 23B MY STRUGGLE the Trades Unions cannot possibly be dispensed with. In fact, they are among the most important institutions in the economic life of the nation.