“The changes involved in this reconstruction must, of course, be gradual, but if unrest is to be prevented from assuming dangerous forms an adequate assurance must be given immediately to the workers that the whole problem is being taken courageously in hand. It is not enough merely to tinker with particular grievances or to endeavour to reconstruct the old system by slight adjustments to meet the new demands of Labour. It is essential to question the whole basis on which Our industry has been conducted in the past and to endeavour to find, in substitution for the motive of private gain, some other motive which will serve better as the foundation of a democratic system. This motive can be no other than the motive of public service, which at present is seldom invoked save when the workers threaten to stop the process of production by a strike. The motive of public service should be the dominant motive throughout the whole industrial system, and the problem in industry at the present day is that of bringing home to every person engaged in industry the feeling that he is the servant, not of any particular class or person, but of the community as a whole. This cannot be done so long as industry continues to be conducted for private profit, and the widest possible extension of public ownership and democratic control of industry is therefore the first necessary condition of the removal of industrial unrest.” Nationalization of the Coal Industry As illustrating the position taken up by the Labour Party in regard to the coal industry, the following was the resolution settled by a Joint Sub-Committee representative of the Executive Committee of the Miners’ Federation, the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress and the Executive Committee of the Labour Party, which was submitted to, and passed by, all their local demonstrations throughout the country in 1919-20: “This Meeting declares:— “(1) That the coal of the country forms an obvious necessity to national life, and that its ownership should therefore be vested in the community. “(2) That the mines, machinery, and other means for the production and distribution of coal, being essential to the industry, should also be owned by the country. “(3) That the direction and conduct of the coal-mining industry, being of vital importance to the workers in the industry and the coal-consuming public, should be under the control of National, District and Pit Committees representative of the national Government and the various classes of workers including those engaged in the managing, technical, commercial and manual processes. “(4) That the objects to be sought by National Ownership and Joint Control on the lines indicated are:—