Friday 2 November 2012

The beginning . . . .

*THE WORKER*
Brisbane  July 22, 1893


HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT.

Saturday, March 20th 1886, was an eventful day in the history of Labour. Before that the organisations of Queensland had been jogging along in the humdrum style of old day Unionism. Organisation was not pushed ahead in any way. If bodies of men wanted a union they could form one, if they didn't it wasn't anybody's business. Unions then existed for the sole purpose of obtaining what advantages they could for their own members and cared little or nothing for those beyond their ranks. Politics were looked upon as altogether outside Unionism. Indeed, I can remember when delegates to the old Trades and Labour Council threatened that their societies would withdraw if the Council was turned into a political “talking shop.” Politics had nothing to do with the Labour Movement; a man could be a good unionist and a follower of M'Ilwraith or a follower of Griffith. Poor dear old creatures! it never occurred to them that Labour could become something different from and better than either. However a great change was in store for both it and the politicians. A brighter day was dawning and in
GRATITUDE TO THE “OBSERVER.”
Let me here state that particular paper deserves the sincere thanks of everyone who believes in the New Unionism that is making this old world hum now and is most certainly going to make her hum some more. It happened this way : On March 20th, 1886 a column of “Labour Notes” by “Sketcher” attracted considerable attention in Labour circles. Henceforth the Saturday evening's edition was eagerly looked for and read by both unionists and non-unionists and men who had never thought of the matter before became interested in the Labour movement. The circulation of the observer most likely increased. This I know, the number of unionists did and the new members joining and the new unions springing into existence were animated by the new doctrines they were in the imbibing through the columns of this evening paper. The influx of new members meant the death of Old Unionism and the exclusiveness of the skilled trades. Organisations of unskilled labour began to take a prominent part in the deliberations of the Council, and the Council began to turn its attention more and more to politics and the organisation of other unions. “Labour Notes” was this: “ The labourer's best friend and worst enemy is himself.” After that came the week's Labour news and then a few parting words under the heading of:
TRUTHS FOR SUNDAY THOUGHT”
These were very valuable seeds and were distributed in very small quantities at first. Some of them struck fertile soil and have since produced a very fair crop but the most amusing feature of the incident is the way in which the Observer has gone back on its teachings. Let me cull you a few of these Truths: “Every man has the right to accumulate wealth so long as it hurts no one.” “ No man has the right to accumulate wealth if it becomes injurious to the Commonweal.” “Every man has the right to employ his Labour or his Capital to the general harm” -- these were the tiny doses of Socialism given by
THE PECULIAR PRESSMAN
who now began to frequent the Maritime Hall which was about this time the centre of Queensland Unionism. Here he found eager listeners among the unemployed wharf labourers and seamen who lived about the place. The unemployed are listening still. The quiet, demure little reporter used to talk to them of Labour Organisations elsewhere, but among themselves they regarded him with suspicion. He was altogether too friendly for the ordinary pressman, so therefore he must be something else. What could he be? Not honest and sincere surely! No: that was impossible in a pressman. He must be a
CAPITALIST SPY
and it would be the best to watch him closely and meanwhile quietly draw him out. He, on his part, attended the meetings of the Trades Council regularly and gave splendid reports of the proceedings, reaching often times a column and a half of the generous Observer. Every Friday he went round the societies and the Maritime Hall collecting material for his Labour Notes and scattering a few seeds by the way. About this time, too, he began to invite two or three of the fellows to his house of a Sunday night. There it was that the Movement made a real start. Men who knew nothing got their first insight into the social question: ideas were carried from these little Sunday gatherings and discussed on the wharves, in ships' holds, down in the coal-bunkers of steamboats, and gradually they spread to the miner working underground, to the shearer and rouseabout in the back blocks. Nor was this the only way in which the unknown educator and organiser spread his gospel. To the Maritime Hall this most “peculiar pressman” used to come on Fridays with a book or two, sometimes with quite a parcel of books. These he would lend to whoever he thought most likely to read them with instructions to pass them on to a mate who would also read and profit by them.

It was no longer possible to regard him with suspicion. The really valuable advice and assistance rendered by him to the unions destroyed the “capitalistic spy” theory, and the wise men now began to cast about for some other reason for his unselfish devotion. Without a motive the whole thing was incomprehensible. There must be something in the background. What could it be? Occasionally we used to read of the paid agents of the Internationalists. Yes he was one. Why did he so freely distribute those works of Socialism? He must be the paid
EMISSARY OF A SECRET SOCIETY
He is a dangerous man, one that we must guard against, otherwise he may involve the Trades and Labour Council in serious frightful plot to overthrow the Czar of Russia.” This was how he was read then. In spite of everything, however his personal influence became greater and greater, his sense of justice of the employment class and his sympathy with the workers made a firm friend of everyone who came in contact with him, and it can honestly and truthfully be said, that no man ever came in contact with Billy Lane without being a better man for having done so. To know him thoroughly was to make one ashamed of oneself: to know him was to hate one's own selfishness and ambitions; to truly appreciate his devotion to the Labour Cause was one's own insignificance and unworthiness.

THE REAL LANE

The influence for good exercised by this man on the Queensland Movement can never be fully estimated by those who did not know him. He has been charged with inciting revolution and war between Capital and Labour, where as his whole teaching was directly the reverse of that. He always insisted upon recognising that it was the system that was at fault and not individuals, that the employers were as much the victims of circumstances as the employee's. His teachings inspired men with hope who had previously been filled with the desperation of despair. Instead of being the enemy of society he was its truest and best friend, in as much as he shed the Light of Socialism upon those who were struggling in a sea of doubt and darkness and could find no way out.
Fully occupied with his own work he always found time to give assistance where ever and whenever it was needed. Anyone could approach him and the kindly sympathetic nature of the man compelled confidence. Right here was his strong point, in this the real man stood out. One always felt in speaking to him that he could be trusted. While speaking with him one felt that he was speaking in deed with a “human being,” one who was an equal with the highest and yet on the same level as the lowest. Such a man was bound to attract, to inspire confidence to excite better feelings, and while making men more trustful of others to make less distrustful of themselves. He it was who planted the seed of New Unionism in Queensland with the motto “ that men should organise for the good they can do and not the benefits they hope to obtain,” and one result of his teachings was the donation of the Brisbane Wharf Labourers to
THE LONDON DOCKERS.
In August, 1889, the Brisbane Wharf Labourers' Union called a special meeting and in violation of all rules cabled 150 to their English brethren. Their example was followed by the unions throughout Australia, and was the first practical illustration of the principle of Labour Federation on a large scale. From this time forth Labour organisation boomed, and event followed event in such quick succession that it is almost impossible to remember them.

In June, 1889;
THE A.L.F. WAS FOUNDED.

And in January, 1890, the Shearers' and Labourers' Union became affiliated. On March 1st of the same year THE WORKER was first published. In May the Jondaryan wool dispute arose and was amicably settled. On August 1st the General Council of the A.L.F. Met for their first annual session. The same month the maritime strike was forced upon us by the ship owners, squatters, and financial institutions as a return blow for the Jondaryan business, and in March the squatters forced the bushmen into what is known as

THE SHEARERS' STRIKE OF 1891.

This was for Capitalism the most disastrous of all strikes on account of the bitterness and hostility of a class Government to the workers. On this occasion all politicians joined hands in downing Labour. Capitalism was now organised. The two forces were arrayed against each other and the workers' eyes were opened for the first time. There was no mistaking the fact that the “friends of the working man,” “the representatives of the people” were on the side of monopoly. There they stood: there we stood. The industrial division had taken place: the line of cleavage was clear and distinct: All that it now wanted was an opportunity to carry that division into politics. Sooner or later it must take place. All changes in the political world are preceded by change in the industrial world. However the time was put off as long as possible, but finally in May of this year Labour achieved its first victory at the ballot box. The victory great as it was is only an earnest of what the people are going to obtain in the near future by the establishment of a Social Democratic Federation which should absorb the whole of the A.L.F. and the Workers' Association at present in existence.

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