The Right Hon. A. Henderson’s Addendum
The Memorandum by the Right Hon. Arthur Henderson, on behalf of the Trade Unions’ representatives, appended to the Report, dealt further with the question of unemployment. This Memorandum, while in no way disagreeing with the Joint Report which the Trade Union representatives had signed, stated (p. v.) that “the prevention of unemployment and provision against unemployment should have been one of the first thoughts of the Government as soon as the question of industrial reorganization began to be considered. The workers fully understood that steps were being taken to bring into immediate operation, upon the conclusion of hostilities, a permanent scheme both for the prevention of unemployment wherever possible, and for the maintenance of the unemployed where this could not be done.” Further, “we are of opinion that the unequal distribution of wealth which prior to the war kept the purchasing power of the majority of the wage-earners at a low level, constituted a primary cause of unemployment.” Then followed this finding (p. viii): “We are of opinion that a general increase in wages by improving the purchasing power of the workers would have a general and permanent effect in the direction of limiting continuous unemployment by bringing consumption up to something more like equilibrium with production.”
They accordingly recommended (p. viii) first:—the appointment of a sub-commission to investigate (1) the whole problem of unemployment and especially under-consumption as a cause of unemployment; (2) the allocation of all Government contracts in such a way as to steady the volume of employment, and (3) the co-ordination of orders given by State Departments and local authorities; secondly, the establishment of a comprehensive scheme of unemployment provision extending to all workers on a non-contributory basis, providing for adequate maintenance of all workers unemployed, and for the making up of maintenance pay to workers under-employed. All were to receive a flat rate of benefit with a supplementary allowance for dependent children. The scheme was to be administered directly through the Trade Unions, or, where such were not available, through the Employment Exchanges, which were to be placed under joint committees equally representative of employers and Trade Unions. The Government were to pay to a Trade Union, providing an additional benefit out of its own funds, a subsidy equivalent to 50 per cent. of the amount expended by the Union on unemployment allowances. In addition special provision was recommended for the maintenance of widows with dependent children and for the endowment of mothers “to prevent their being forced into industry against the interest of society.”
The Southport Resolution of 1919
In June 1919, the Labour Party again considered at its Annual Conference the question of unemployment, and passed a resolution that full and adequate maintenance should be granted by the Government, through the Trade Unions concerned, for unemployed persons, mothers with dependent children and unable to work, juveniles leaving school and becoming unemployed below the age of eighteen, women receiving training under the Government’s training schemes, and women whose out-of-work donation had ceased and who had not secured suitable work from the Labour Exchanges.
The Resolution of September 1919
Again, in September 1919, the Trades Union Congress passed a resolution affirming the right of every member of the community to work or to the receipt of maintenance, and accordingly called upon the Government to regulate national and local authorities’ work, and to organize schemes of “socially necessary” work so as to provide employment, and, failing that, to provide adequate maintenance for all workers who could not find suitable employment, and facilities for training while they were out of work. This resolution contained this interesting sentence: “It deplored the inaction of the Government during the past year which had wasted the resources of the nation by allowing hundreds of thousands of willing workers to remain in a state of enforced idleness at a time when the needs of the world called imperatively for increased production.”
The decline in trade and failure of demand for commodities first appeared in the summer of 1920, and gradually increased in severity as that year went on.
The Recommendations of the Joint Committee on Cost of Living, September 1920
In September 1920, a Joint Committee on the Cost of Living was appointed by the Labour and Co-operative movements. That Committee made certain recommendations which were not original but a mere reiteration of matters which the Government had previously indicated were of prime importance in connection with the restoration of international trade. The measures which this Committee claimed to be essential for the revival of industry and restoration of trade were as follows: