Lesson in English

Now that the trucking strike in London has presumably been settled--on the strikers' terms--the vivid drama of another government's wrestle with the labor problem will no longer be flashing danger signals in front of American congressmen. The course of the strike would bear trenchant reading for those who believe government intervention is the key to labor peace.

The Labor government had every advantage on its side at the outset. English unions have been recognized as among the most mature in existence. The central organ of collective action, the Trade Union Congress, has good disciplinary control over member bodies, and is the sparkplug behind the present cabinet, which was so gravely threatened by the strike. With Britain fighting for her commercial life, there has been a strong prejudice against any form of work stoppage. To prevent grievances, pecuniary and spiritual, there exists a well defined system of mediation boards with broad powers, set up by the Attlee cabinet in 1945. Ernie Bevin, Britain's Foreign Minister, was formerly boss of the truckers before elevation to his present position. By any standard the strike should not have taken place, and surely not in the union which threw a scare into all London.

When the trucks stopped rolling and the threat of food shortages became very real, the British threw in what Washington has so often in the past considered the final, unanswerable weapon--the troops. The response was immediate, and directly adverse to what Americans, judging from past faith in the efficacy of olive drab uniforms and bayonetted rifles, would consider natural. Instead of calling the men back into the driver's seat, the truckers felt disposed to shout "Blacklegs!" at the Tommies who were learning a new twist to the King's service. Hopping mad, the Union began bellowing for a general strike to end the "betrayal" by its own national leaders, voting at the same time to keep away from the garages. The strike finally ended only when employers managed to crawl out of their dugouts and reportedly offered to give in. Troops are being taken out of their unwanted task, not because the strike was broken, and a truck strike is comparatively easy to beat, but because the unruly men had won. That school of thought which considers be-tough-on-labor the final panacea for American working ills has considerable reading to do in the weeks ahead. Labor can be tough, too.