In Great Britain, political, industrial and social schemes of reconstruction have never followed strictly logical lines; they have invariably assumed a character of compromise, thereby giving effect to national idiosyncrasies of temperament. Accordingly we find a large body of Socialist opinion in this country advocating what it calls “nationalization and democratic control.” Perhaps the best illustration of what is meant by that baffling phrase is afforded by the scheme of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain for the reorganization of the coal industry. In that scheme, which is explained in the Bill presented to Parliament by the Miners’ Federation in 1920, the basic proposal is that the State should buy out the coal owners and that there should be established a National Mining Council. Since the Miners’ Federation as at present constituted could not appoint the technical workers, this Council would be composed, as to one-half, of representatives of the manual workers in the coal industry, and as to the other half by representatives of the Government. If, however, the Miners’ Federation could appoint the technical workers, I rather gather that they would not have been prepared to acquiesce in such duality of control. Under their proposal, the one-half of the National Mining Council representing the workers would be appointed by the Miners’ Federation and the other half would be persons appointed by the Government to represent the technical, administrative and commercial sides of the industry together with other persons to represent the consuming community. This Council would determine the annual output, fix prices and control finances. In addition, there would be District Councils for each coal-mining district, one-half elected by men working in the district, and the other half being technical and administrative persons and representatives of the National Council. Further, there would be Pit or Colliery Committees at every colliery comprised exclusively of the managerial, technical and manual workers. The manager as the person responsible for the governance of the mine, would be responsible to the Pit Committee, and the Pit Committee and the manager would be responsible for conducting the colliery. It will be observed that this scheme of organization, which is probably what the most thoughtful sections of Labour have at the back of their minds as the kind to be applied to a well-organized industry, differs from State Socialism in that the State is not the direct employer, and differs from Syndicalism in that the workers have not autocratic control, and differs from Guild Socialism in that the conduct of the industry is not entirely by a Guild representative of all persons concerned in the industry, but by a Council consisting as to one-half of representatives of the miners and as to the other half of Government representatives. CHAPTER IV THE LABOUR PARTY’S ADOPTION OF SOCIALISM 2. HISTORY OF THE ALLIANCE