Sir George Edwards

“ We are on the eve of a great social upheaval, the greatest the world has ever seen. It has already begun by the great Labour unrest throughout the industrial world. It is a proof that the workers are determined upon better conditions of labour. There is, however, a great fear that the capitalist class will use every means in their power to prevent the emancipation of the workers, and to be forewarned is to be forearmed. ”

“ Would you like to see our veterans of industry murdered, our homes burnt and our towns made desolate? No, I know you would not. No women are more devoted to their homes and loving to their children than the women of Norfolk. The danger, however, is very great and it can only be prevented by everyone doing all that lies in their power to help the nation in the hour of distress. It is for the protection of our own hearths and homes that we are engaged in this terrible war, hence the great call on the manhood of this country. ”

“ As in the days of Arch there is again another attempt to divide our forces by introducing what they call a New Union. This is being done by those who ought to have known better. Are the labourers going to let history repeat itself? If so, then all the sacrifice I have made and the years of labour I have given on their behalf will be thrown away. No, I cannot believe they will. I have too strong a faith in their good common sense and in their devotion and gratitude towards those who laboured so hard for them to be led away by the platitudes of some new-born friends. ”

“ What does the Land Settlement Act do? It compels us to give inflated prices for the land, and, having given inflated prices—not pre-war value, but war-profit value, the price to which it has been run up in the market by the land gamblers—we are compelled to charge these ex-service men, these heroes who have fought our battles, and who were told by the Prime Minister that they should have a land fit for heroes to live in, where no inhabitants should ever hunger—we have to charge them a rent that we know full well they will never be able to pay and get a living. ”

“ I am satisfied that nothing will ever prove effectual but the abolition of our present land system. This huge monopoly has, like Belshazzar, been weighed in the balance and found wanting. All history condemns the idea that a few people have absolute right to the use of the earth, to the exclusion of the rest. History informs us that landowners were simply trustees to the State for the land held, and were under the obligation to provide and equip at their own cost the defences of the nation, besides having other onerous dues to pay and duties to perform. ”

“ Writing twelve years after this dispute I can write more calmly and yet more deliberately, and I assert without fear of contradiction that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of someone to compel these poor people in some way to lay themselves open to be prosecuted, and that the authorities were anxious to embrace the first opportunity to punish severely these poor people for daring to demand the right to live by their labour and to see their wives and children properly fed and clothed. ”

“ It is the greatest joy of my life to know that I have been able to do something for these poor widows and children who have been deprived of their bread-winners when they most needed them, and further, to know that I have been able to help the poor fellows who have had their health wrecked through serving their country. During my term of office on this committee my house was always open to receive these poor fellows who sought my aid. ”

“ You must think and act for yourselves and take an intelligent interest in all the great social problems that affect you as a class.
Considering all the opposition that we shall have to meet, it will require our united efforts to prevent the privileged class crushing the noble efforts that are now being made for industrial freedom. We are now celebrating the first anniversary of the establishment of our Union. Its progress has not been quite so rapid as some of us had hoped after the bitter experience of the rural workers during their disorganized state. ”

“ Walker took the wisest course—far better than migrating to the large towns, to unduly compete with their fellow workmen. Nevertheless, it is a disgrace to the age in which we live that men should be found willing and anxious for work, but unable to find it.
This question of the unemployed is daily taking a more serious aspect. Year by year this menacing army of unemployed is on the increase, not only in this country, but in every other country, go where you may, and whatever form of Government it is, democratic or autocratic. ”

“ You were told in July last that it would be otherwise; you were led to believe that if there was a change of Government, and the farmers made more of their produce, you would get higher wages. No other evidence is needed of the foolishness of your conduct, as your past experience ought to have told you. It is only by having a good organization at your back that the farmers will ever pay you a higher wage, and there is nothing unnatural in that. The farmer is a merchant: he has your labour to buy, and he will always buy it as cheaply as he can. ”

“ I feel constrained to make an appeal to you in the hour of our [Pg 191] national danger to consider seriously the gravity of the situation and what it would mean to this country, especially the working classes, should Germany and her confederates win this war. Everything that is dear in our English life will be destroyed; all our hopes for improvements in our national life will be blighted; the working classes will be thrown back into far worse conditions than they were one hundred years ago; all our liberties so hardly won for us by our forefathers will be lost. ”

“ I have never known a strike so far as agricultural labourers are concerned without it has either ended in a split or a large number of the labourers concerned leaving the Union, and that is one of the reasons all through my long connection with the Labour movement why I have always been against the strike weapon being used until every other means have failed to secure justice. ”

“ A true record of the life of George Edwards would not only be a record of deep human interest on its personal side. He is the most lovable of the many lovable men it has been my privilege to know. But the main public interest and value of this book lies, I think, in the fact that it will give readers a glimpse of the conditions of agricultural England during the last seventy years, and some idea of the ideals and objects of those who have laboured to bring the country worker into line with other workers in the fight for democratic rights and political and economic freedom. ”

“ I am in favour of credit banks and a short credit system to enable the holder and the farmer to pay ready money for their goods.
The cruel and antiquated Poor Law must be abolished. A pension should be given to the poor widow with a family. There must be such a revision of pension rates and ages for eligibility for old age pensions as would enable the recipients to live in decency and comfort. A proper and adequate medical treatment ought to be secured to the poor, which in my judgment could be best obtained by a State medical service. ”

“ The war having left a huge burden of debt on the country amounting to over 8,000 million pounds, it will be easily recognized that this constitutes a terrible menace to the trade of the country and to the earning capacity in real wages of the workers. I advocate a levy of the fortunes of the wealthy people in preference to the taxing of the food and other necessities of the workers. Those who have made huge profits out of the sorrow and suffering of war should be compelled to disgorge this wealth, and so relieve the nation of a burden which will otherwise be too heavy to sustain. ”

“ The reorganization of agriculture and rural life in such a way as shall secure to the agricultural labourer a living wage that will lift him above the poverty line and the fear of penury and want, but if this is to be done agriculture must be so reorganized that it will secure to the farmer conditions that will enable him to meet it. I therefore favour first the strengthening of the clause in the Corn Production Act, and fixing the prices of his produce at a figure that will enable him to pay a living wage for his labour as fixed by the Wages Boards from time to time. ”

“ As they read the facts here related they will notice a touch of sadness running through it all. They will also notice the many bitter struggles I have had coming along this somewhat rugged road of life; how I have battled to lift myself above my environment; how I have laboured to educate myself and to inform myself on all public questions, and I hope they will also detect a burning desire from the first to use the knowledge I had obtained for the benefit of my own class, as I hope, with some amount of success. ”

“ You were then in a wretchedly disorganized condition—not more than one out of every four of the labourers being in an organization of any kind—but to-day you are in a far worse state of disorganization, and you are altogether powerless to help yourselves in any way; and what is far worse, there has been growing up amongst you a spirit of distrust and prejudice, until to-day your ranks are all chaos and confusion. You seem to be like Ishmaelites, every man's hand turned against the other. ”

“ As one of the much despised Labour leaders I feel that the time has come when we must speak out plainly to the working men, and show them their exact position. Now, first I wish to point out to you that so far as combination is concerned, and the means to help yourselves to resist unfair treatment, you stand in a far worse condition than you did at the commencement of the year. ”

“ In those days a man who had been a soldier was looked upon as being an inefficient workman, no matter what his experience had been before enlistment, and further, he was looked upon by the general public as a rather undesirable character, no matter what his record might have been whilst in the Army, and was considered fit only to be thrown on the scrapheap. Such was the experience of Thomas Edwards. ”

“ I contend we have, and have done more for the improvement of the working classes than all the blackleg crew from Suffolk or any other county. We may not have succeeded in every fight that we have been engaged in, but the reason for it has been because the men have not been united. Look at the miners' struggle last year, it was most severe, and showed to the country the power of combination and endurance on the part of the sons of toil. Have not these men benefited by their Union? I contend that they have, and the same benefits might be derived if all the labourers were united in this country. ”

“ Walker stated that he knew of cases in Norfolk of young men who are in the Union workhouse for no other cause than that the farmers will not employ them, and that other men are quite willing to work, but find it hard to obtain employment. Now, the question that presents itself to one's mind is: Is it right for men to starve and remain idle while the land is thirsting for labour? ”

“ We have constantly dinned into our ears that there has been such improvement made in the condition of the workers these last few years that there is nothing left to be done. We are told the life of the workers is all that can be desired. Now, in commencing to review the life of the toilers I have no wish to infer that there have been no improvements in the working classes; far from it, for the various political reforms that have been passed these last few years have had a tendency to give labour a stake in the country. ”

“ I am also in favour of so controlling the price of his feeding stuffs, seeds, and raw material that will prevent the profiteer from taking advantage of his needs in carrying on his industry. If the land of this country is to be brought back into a proper state of cultivation and be made to produce all the food it is capable of, then the farmer must have absolute security of tenure. All antiquated land laws must be abolished. ”

“ But alas! you the working men soon grew weary in well-doing, you allowed a spirit [Pg 93] of apathy to grow up amongst you, and what is still worse, you have allowed a spirit of mistrust and wicked prejudice to grow up amongst you. You have believed the vilest calumnies that have been uttered against the leaders of the movement by your enemies, hence your failure to emancipate yourselves. Leader after leader has fallen because when victory was within sight you refused to hold up their hands, and now you find yourselves to-day in a helpless state. ”

“ Poverty, servitude, oppression, the lack of what is regarded as education, as well as the active hostility of those who sought in order to protect their menaced interests to crush him, have all been factors in the life of George Edwards. But in spite of adverse circumstances, and it may be because of adverse circumstances, some men are capable of self-expression and refuse to be conquered. George Edwards is such a man. ”

“ That a large amount of time and money would have to be spent we were well aware, and that a great deal of opposition would have to be encountered, but the cost of establishing the Union has been beyond the wildest dream of any of us. ”