Page:George Henry Soule - Recent Developments in Trade Unionism (1921).pdf/13



In pressing emergencies, particularly of a political nature, British Labor could not wait for the slow building of a general staff. This was the case recently when Labor feared that the government was about to enter the war of aggression against Russia, and so start a new European conflict. A special convention of the unions was called, and a resolution was passed to call a nation-wide general strike if necessary to prevent armed intervention in behalf of Poland. In order to leave some body to put this action into effect in case the circumstances warranted, the Council of Action was formed. The result was that the government backed down, and announced that it did not intend to fight Russia. The Council of Action was formed for this purpose alone, but it is an interesting sign of British labor's earnestness in threatening direct action for a political purpose.

During the war an interesting new movement arose from the rank and file. Many of the unions for years had had shop stewards, who performed part of the duties of the shop chairmen in the American clothing industry. That is, they saw that workers in the shops had union cards, paid their dues and assessments, etc. But during the war they took on new duties. The higher officials of the un-