Page:William Z. Foster - The Revolutionary Crisis of 1918-1921 (1921).djvu/27

 as its three constituent organizations were able to exert such tremendous pressure while acting separately, all of them acting together would be able to deal a heavy, if not a mortal blow to capitalism. The Triple Alliance was the pride of the British movement, and the labor world awaited with anxious interest for the time to arrive when it should be tested out. This time finally came on the occasion of the great miners' dispute early in 1921.

The lock-out of the miners, primarily a great trial of strength between the workers and the capitalists generally, raged around the technical question of whether or not the system of collective bargaining to obtain in the mining industry should be operated upon a district or a national basis. Prior to the war the district was the unit: that is, the miners in each coal section drafted agreements with their respective groups of employers pretty much in accordance with local conditions. This worked out distinctly to to the advantage of the employers, who were enabled to play one district against another by sewing them all up with agreements expiring at different times, thereby making real solidarity and united action impossible among the men.

The miners early perceived the handicap to them of the district system and have long sought to so arrange matters that the workers' cause in the mining industry might be handled upon a national basis. They wanted to bring the full power of all the coal miners in the country unitedly against all the coal operators. The employers strenuously resisted every step in this direction. During the war, however, they had to yield, and when the mines were taken over by the Government negotiations between the employers and workers over wages and working conditions began to be carried out on a national scale. This constituted a substantial victory for the miners and contributed greatly to the growth of solidarity amongst them.