LABOUR POLICY—FALSE AND TRUE LABOUR POLICY—FALSE AND TRUE A Study in Economic History and Industrial Economics BY LYNDEN MACASSEY [Illustration] ‘Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.’ THORNTON BUTTERWORTH LIMITED 15 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C.2 _First published August 24, 1922_ PREFACE Portions of some of the chapters in this book have already appeared in _The Times_, the _Quarterly Review_, the _Edinburgh Review_, the _Nineteenth Century_, the _Sunday Times_ and the _Evening Standard_, and are now incorporated in their proper place in the larger scheme on which they were originally written. I am indebted to the proprietors of those publications for their kindness in permitting me so to reproduce them. An old friend and valued colleague of mine in the Department of Shipyard Labour—Mr. C. F. Farrar—did me the great service of assisting to get the book through the press. To my Secretary, Miss K. I. Toogood, I owe the preparation of the Index. L. M. _August 12th, 1922._ CONTENTS PAGE Introduction. 15 PART I. THE FALSE POLICY OF LABOUR CHAP. I The Labour Party’s Constitution and Its Defects 21 Origin of the Labour Party—Reconstitution in 1918—The Trades Union Congress—The National Joint Council—The Parliamentary Labour Party—The Labour Party, a Class Party—The Party’s Want of Leadership. II An Outline of the Labour Party’s General Policy 32 A National Minimum Standard of Living—Effective Personal Freedom—Socialization of Land and Industry—A Revolution in Public Finance—The Surplus Wealth for the Common Good—International Co-operation—No Protective Tariffs—Freedom of International Trade. III The Labour Party’s Adoption of Socialism 40 1. Meaning of Socialism.—The Common Characteristics of all Socialistic Creeds—State Socialism—Syndicalism—National Guildism—Nationalization and Democratic Control. IV The Labour Party’s Adoption of Socialism 46