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IND
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INDUSTRY
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SATYA BANNERJI lives and works in Calcutta.
He is the Secretary of the Light Railways’ Staff
Association of West Bengal. He is also President of
the Hindustan Drivers’ Union in West Bengal.
Mr Banneiji has been two months in Europe, half
of that time in Britain, and attended the special
Transport Session of the World Assembly for
Moral Re-Armament at Caux, Switzerland.
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India
come from Calcutta, where we have five million people
of whom one million have no shelter over their heads.
Thousands are born, exist and die on the pavements. In our
present political climate, rioting mobs burn, loot and destroy
the railway stations, factory premises and office buildings.
Democratic trade unionists are under constant attack by
extreme leftist parties linked with the State Government,
which by policy gives us no police protection. There have
been over two hundred political murders, many of whom were
trade union workers who believed in democratic trade
unionism.
Coming to Britain, I marvel at the achievements of the
Labour movement, both in the trade unions and in the Govern
ment. I am impressed, not only by the standards of living, but
by the status achieved by Labour men. As a worker myself, I
feel a sense of pride about these achievements.
However, I must speak out and say that amid this economic
advance I also see certain dangerous trends which could be
corrected if the Labour militants took their social revolution a
stage further. For, just as man has two legs on which he walks,
so I believe, we must balance the economic and social advance
with the other leg of moral development and character in man.
For many years we have been rightly concerned with feeding
the stomachs, but now we Socialists need to concern ourselves
as passionately with the feeding of hungry hearts and minds.
I have been astonished to find when meeting many trade
unionists and Socialists in Europe, that they still talk and think
and live in terms of the outmoded theory of the class struggle.
They cling to outdated dogma, despite the high standard of
living that they have attained when compared with that of
India. It seems to me to be childish and immature to think in
terms of the class war in an atomic age. For the explosive forces
of hate, which class war magnifies and uses, could, unsolved,
lead to total world destruction.
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Our European brothers should keep in mind what certain of
the Communist Chinese leaders have said: “The next phase of
the class struggle will not be between have and have not
classes within a country, but between have and have not
nations.’’
It is clear to me that class war is a game of brinkmanship.
Just as some industrial methods have been outdated for over a
century, is it not time that we modernized our attitudes? For
class war not only divides nations, but also our society, factories
and even our homes.
If catastrophe comes from this class war brinkmanship and
war follows between Russia and America, or between Russia
and China, then your country and mine will both suffer.
It is hollow-sounding to talk with envy and hatred and fight
class war, when the trade unionists who speak in these terms
have a standard of living which we Indians would regard as
being capitalist. In many homes I have visited, I have seen the
wall-to-wall carpets, the television and in some cases even two
cars parked in front of the house.
I am pleased and proud that our British brothers have made
these advances. But at this point of time in history, when the
gap between the rich and poor nations is widening, not
lessening, we may need to have a wider definition of the word
“brotherhood”. Some of the energy which is still going into
fighting for a larger slice of the cake in the European countries,
could, if diverted towards the less fortunate countries, be a
tremendous boost in lifting our lot to even a minimum standard.
We need now a new definition of brotherhood, within
nations as well as between nations. In Londonderry, for
example, I met dockers who are still on “casual” labour, who
told me that they have suffered because of unofficial strikes in
the ports of Preston and Hcysham in England. Though I
sympathize with the undoubted grievances of the dockers in
Preston and Heysham, can it really be brotherhood when our
fight makes other brothers suffer without their consent ?
I would like also to enlist the help of the European trade
union movement in the job of taking the Communist world to
the next stage of revolution. They too need to concern them
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selves with the whole man and not just the economic man. It
has been said that Communism is due to the neglected con
science of the West. It may also be true that the neglected
conscience of the Communist world will lead to anarchy and
nihilism in their society, and in turn throughout the world, with
power struggles and disintegration.
In the same way, Western societies which lack a bigger
purpose than bettering only themselves arc leading to anarchy,
nihilism and rebellion, especially among the young.
One trade unionist in England said that he could not
negotiate on the basis of absolute honesty. His negotiations were
conditioned by the mathematics of how much money there was
in the industry and how much of it the workers could get. I told
him that the mathematics of a true Socialist should include
what is best for the entire industry and for the consumers of our
products, both at home and in other countries.
I see that there is no end to the game of comparing my lot
with that of the man who is better off. As Mr George Brown
said at the Labour Party Conference last year, “The battle for a
pound a week more is a battle we can never win”. Unless these
claims are in a bigger context than what we want, they result in
divisions within the Labour movement, between the skilled, the
semi-skilled and the non-skilled workers, and between manual
workers and white-collar workers. Each group fiercely main
tains its right to be better off than the others or to catch up, and
this causes conflict.
The marvellous technological advances I sec should be
matched by broadened and heightened conceptions for labour.
I remember the Prime Minister of Britain, Mr Wilson, in 1964
talking of harnessing the “white-hot heat of technological
revolution”, but today there is far too much heat caused by the
friction resulting from factional fights in the ranks of labour, by
wild-cat strikes and by sectional thinking.
During my visit to Europe I had some very encouraging
encounters with men in industry, which showed me how men
of labour can take the initiative. One was in Limburg in
Holland where I visited the headquarters of the Christian
Mineworkers’ Union. The union officials told me that more
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than ten years ago they foresaw that there would be redundancy
in the Dutch coalmines, due to uneconomic workings and due
to the Common Market mergers which were envisaged.
Rather than waiting for this redundancy to happen, the union
leaders approached the Dutch Government and offered to
co-operate with them in closing down uneconomic pits on
condition that alternative employment was developed side by
side with pit closures. This has worked and in effect, as a pit has
closed, a factory has opened. I learnt that a number of the
senior officials of this union have taken part in the Moral
Re-Armament conferences.
In Northern Ireland also, where I met trade unionists from
the shipyards, docks, aircraft factors', transport and Trade
Union Congress heads, I found a common concern by these
men for the tragic divisions in the whole country and not only a
concern for their own particular section of industry. The effect
of this sense of responsibility has been that in all these major
enterprises, the communal disturbances between Catholics and
Protestants have been kept out of the factories and off the
quaysides.
The lead was given by the shop stewards of the huge Harland
and Wolff shipyards, where 9,000 men are employed. It was
in this yard 30 years ago that similar troubles began. This time
both Catholic and Protestant shop stewards approached the
management and then convened a mass meeting, attended by
5-6,000 workers. It was unanimously decided to keep the ship
yard running normally and to keep the religious disputes out
side the gates. A cabinet minister was invited to speak at the
meeting and a well-known clergyman closed the meeting with a
prayer, at the workers’ invitation.
Here were men who thought in national terms, not parochial
ones. I learnt that if the troubles in the streets had reached the
factories, then civil war might well have erupted. In the homersof one of the shop stewards I learnt that a number of the men whe^
took a good deal of the initiative in this matter were, lik
myself, men who had experience in Moral Re-ArmamciK^
which had contributed to their giving responsible leadership.
I met employers, too, who are as concerned about
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condition of my people as I am. For cxampiu,
Swiss Construction Company Director, not only builds IIUIIJUII
for 20% less than anyone else. He has also come to India to
help us re-shape our society.
Originally, the trade unions were a defensive movement,
developed in response to capitalist excesses. Now that labour
has made so many advances and has acquired such powers in
society, we ought to go on the offensive. The trade unions
should be a spur to management and government to see that
industry meets the needs of millions all over the world. A
wholly new teamwork would follow if we challenged the
management to join us in the bigger fight, that of putting the
welfare of mankind before pay and profit. The Welfare State
needs to be extended to becoming the state of welfare of the
world as a whole. Further, in a welfare state no system of social
security or of social welfare can meet man’s deepest longing for
security and care if it is not run by men having an answer to
selfishness and bitterness in their own hearts.
Despite our dislike for the trappings and injustices of the old
Imperialism, thousands of us Indians have looked to Britain to
find the glories of a new civilisation. I must say that coming to
Britain this time I have been taken aback on feeling the impact
of your “permissive society”. Perhaps there is a link between the
idea that you can do anything you like morally and the
growing practice of workers downing tools in factories, mines
and docks, in the expectation that by walking off the job and
abdicating responsibility they will get what they want. Is it
likely that the irresponsibility of immorality which conditions
a man in his private life, will drop away from him as he steps
inside his factory gates?
Yet, as I understand it, the Labour Government, while not
necessarily advocating permissive legislation officially, has
stood to one side and allowed it to become law. The Govern
ment then cannot blame anyone but themselves at the lack of
discipline in industry. It is not enough to be neutral in moral
matters. We need to pursue as vigorously the lifting of the
moral level, as we have the lifting of living standards.
We workers have been reared in the conception that the old
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aristocracy and the privileged section of society are greedy and
selfish. Yet workers who, though they call themselves militant,
blackmail their other colleagues in the industry and also
blackmail the industry itself, for wage gains for their particular
group and sectional interest, arc surely behaving just as
selfishly and greedily.
The British Labour Party is entering the pre-election period
with new slogans which I read, such as “Labour has soul”.
But what kills the soul is greed, selfishness and immoral living.
Big-hearted Britishers could restore the soul of this country and
of Europe, by concerning themselves with all those across the
world who are worse off. The British workers could humanize
an industry which has become mechanized and computerized,
and show the way for a new industrial revolution.
It may be unfashionable to utter warnings about some of the
trends I see in Europe, but I do think that an affluent society
which has no purpose is in fact a deadly danger. We see in
Germany how the old militarism has been replaced to a certain
extent by economic dominance and though this has provided
prosperous living for the German people, this materialism is no
answer to Russian or American materialism. In fact, this
common pursuit of materialism by management and labour in
Germany is causing divisions in their own industries now
that the economy has reached a certain static plane. This
somewhat artificial sense of economic security which the
German people have is no answer to their constant fear of
national insecurity.
While in France recently I saw that, although the workers
made considerable gains after the disturbances last year, certain
unions are using industrial disputes for political ends with the
avowed aim of toppling the Government. One danger I see is
that insistent provocation and encouragement of economic
anarchy from the Left might result in a reaction from the Right,
just as in pre-war Germany and Japan Fascism grew as a
reaction to Leftist extremists.
In America too it is clear that material progress unaccom
panied by moral development brings chaos in its wake. In what
is per capita the most prosperous country on earth, the Ameri
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cans say they live on a powder keg of racial hate; and in some
cities it is unsafe to walk alone on the pavements late at night.
In Britain it is not enough for the Government to plead for
the workers to help them improve the balance of payments,
there needs to be an appeal to the heart and conscience. I have
noticed a strong common-sense in the ranks of British labour;
their capacity to apply their mind thoroughly to a job when
they want to do a job properly, their strong sense of humour
and warmth ofheart.
I find a warmth of heart in Britain which moves me very
much. It is enough to use the very word that I am from India
and people open their doors and hearts. It is a pity that our
Indian Government does not take into adequate account this
fund of goodwill and take advantage of it for our mutual
progress.
I have worked in a Railway for the last 23 years. This is the
only remaining privately owned railway in India. It is losing
money. The Government do not want to take it over, for this
same reason.
Not long ago, during the political swing to the extreme Left in
my State, the men I represent voted an “outsider”, having no
connection with the industry, to become the General Secretary
of my Union, instead of myself. This hurt me very much,
because I have always been the Union head, doing the best for
my men.
In a spirit of bitterness I did everything I could to undercut
this man’s position and because I worked in the office I was able
to frustrate his attempts to deal with workers’ complaints. The
explosive situation created by unsolved grievances threatened
to erupt in a spontaneous strike. At this point, I had the
compelling thought. “What is more important? Your pride
and position? Or the welfare of the 2,000 men whose livelihood
depends on this industry?” For I knew that if there had been a
strike, then this railway would have lost its traffic to the roads
and it never would have come back, and the industry would
have closed down. So I went to my opponent and said I was
sorry for the difficulties I had caused him. I said, “You have a
right to your political opinions. I have a right to mine. But I
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have no right to undermine your position and I want to work
with you for the good of the industry'.”
At first he did not trust me and indeed there was no reason
why he should do so. So for six months I laboured to undo the
wrong I had done. The time came when we got together, sat
down with the management and an agreement was signed for
three years, thus stabilizing the industry for that period. The
management put right certain grievances and gave us some
increases in salary.
This agreement made news, because in Calcutta never a day
goes past without some industries having strikes, lockouts and
in many cases closing down altogether.
Just shortly after our agreement was signed, I was working in
our head office when news reached us that a rioting mob of 500,
led by extreme Left-wing students, had attacked our main
station. They had smashed windows, ransacked the building
and were tampering with signalling equipment.
Again I had a forceful thought: “Go and meet the situation”.
Humanly my knees were trembling, but I had the compelling
thought to go on the spot, though I knew that the police would
not protect us, because in our State the Government’s policy is
that the police should not interfere with student activities,
because students support them. When the Traffic Superinten
dent and myself reached the station, we were immediately
surrounded by this howling mob.
They gave us stools to stand on and for six long hours we
endured their insults and slogans without respite. When we got
a hearing we told them how this industry was running at a loss
and that its sole purpose was to serve the 30,000 people whom
we carry to and from work daily. The flimsy reason of the
attack was the late running of a few trains, but they added a
whole list of impossible demands.
We said that as we had no police protection, then our fate
was in their hands. We also said that the running of the
industry itself was up to them. They could break it or they
could enable us to continue providing this service.
After six hours, a section of the crowd sided with us and then
chased the extremist students away and together we lifted the
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barricades which had been put across the railway tracks. Normal
service was resumed.
I learned that as I am responsible for labour, so I am
responsible for my industry and nation. I also learned that in a
crisis God plus one equals the majority.
In my own life I have learnt that in terms of attitude and
motive the poor can be as selfish as the rich. We workers can
behave as greedily towards those who have even less than us,
as many capitalists behave towards the workers. We must
aim to answer the spiritual poverty, as well as the material
poverty. This is why Moral Re-Armament is a total revolution
and needs to be the basis of Labour’s next great forward leap.
In all of these endeavours we must create new leaders and
must ourselves become leaders with new motives. For too long
now, leaders have told us, “Give me the power and I will lead
you to the Promised Land.” But we need leaders who will
place the responsibility squarely where it belongs, on the head
of the ordinary man. The leaders must demonstrate in their
own lives the quality of unselfishness they want to see in the new
society they are out to create.
This requires of us to live by the absolute moral standards of
Moral Re-Armament - absolute honesty, absolute purity,
absolute unselfishness and absolute love - and to learn to obey
what Mahatma Gandhi used to call “the inner voice”. This
means cutting out moral compromise in our own lives. We will
have a clear aim. We will have more inner fire than the fire
which comes from a cigarette end or from a whisky bottle.
As I have moved about Europe, shared my experiences and
learned from workers and management who have likewise
applied Moral Re-Armament, I have formed the strong
conviction that just as a problem anywhere is a threat to
security everywhere, so an answer anywhere is applicable
everywhere.
In this way, Europeans and Asians can share a common aim.
So can workers and bosses. Such an aim, if it is global and if it
embraces the moral and material needs of all men everywhere,
will be larger than our present divisions. In this context lies the
hope of progress for world labour.
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