William Lyon Mackenzie King

“ No longer must industry be thought of as a mere revenue-producing process, in which Capital, Labor, Management, and the Community meet like so many rival and contending factions, each to appropriate to itself by force or might the largest possible share of the fruits of industry. Industry must be thought of, as in reality it is, as in the nature of social service, and participation in industry, whether in the form of labor or capital investment, as social service of the highest kind, since upon its successful accomplishment rest all other forms of human service. ”

“ What we need quite as much as a League of Nations is a League of the Parties to Industry to see to the enforcement of this great principle, and the moulding of public opinion to that end. Such a league, I believe, would lead, even more quickly than a league of nations, to the maintenance of international, as well as of industrial, peace. Accustom men to the adoption of fundamental principles in adjusting their industrial relations, something which immediately concerns their everyday life, and the application of like principles to international affairs will take care of itself. ”

“ War ridden, hungry, and penniless, men and women have witnessed the wanton extravagance of many of those possessed of luxury. They have become bewildered with a condition which enables an idle investor to reap a fortune while the masses toil excessive hours for a bare subsistence. They have lost sight altogether of the services of Capital and Management in witnessing the debauchery of indolence combined with riches, and the unearned millions of profiteers. ”

“ But let the service that Capital and Management are capable of rendering industry once be lost to sight, and industry itself will be ruined, and with it the well-being of Labor and the Community as well. What is needed is, not the ruination of Capital and Management, but that each be given its rightful place in a system of the government of industry which will make for the good of all the parties to production. ”

“ Obviously, what is most needed is recognition of the fact that industry is not a matter which concerns only one party, but that it is of vital concern to all four: to Capital, to Labor, to Management, and to the Community, and that no one of the four is entitled to a monopoly of control. ”

“ I have chosen as a subject "The Four Parties to Industry," in order to emphasize a truth which seems to be fundamental in any attempt to cope with the industrial unrest which has followed so closely, and, one might add, so inevitably, in the wake of war. If there is to be release from the thraldom of fear in which men's minds are everywhere held, it is the Truth that shall set us free, and the enforcement of that Social Justice which the Truth demands. ”

“ Industrial autocracy and political autocracy may go hand in hand, but not autocracy in industry and democracy in politics. The latter combination is as ill-mated as the former is natural. To the nations that have won political freedom, there remains the task of re-organizing their industries into harmony with their governments. Anything short of harmony means perpetual conflict. Institutions opposed in organization and spirit can work against each other only till one or the other prevails. ”

“ Some managers there are who obtain their positions, not in virtue of any special skill in managerial ability, but because of personal ownership of large quantities of capital, or intimate association or relationship with some investor. The incompetence of such managers, and their slavish subservience to privilege and position, to the exclusion of a due consideration of the rights of Labor and of the Community, only serve to rouse the bitter antagonism of both these parties, who feel that their rightful interests, as necessary partners in industry, are being thwarted and jeopardized. ”

“ It was not until the Government of Britain, representing the Community, invited Capital, Management, and Labor to meet in common, and policies were arrived at as the result of Round Table Conference, that the necessary adjustments of industry were so arranged as to make possible the vast production of munitions required to win the War. What was necessary to the winning of the War is equally necessary to the winning of Peace — which we can hardly say exists so long as international strife gives way only to industrial unrest. ”

“ The Meaning of Industrial Unrest Especially in industrial relations have we accepted with complacence an order of things to which we have grown accustomed. The shock of war, stirring the world's soul to its very depths, has brought before our eyes the shattered image of an industrial civilization which is full of injustice. ”

“ Existing Organisation of Industry Inadequate Is our present organization of industry in any way suggestive of a partnership, in which Labor, Capital, Management, and the Community are regarded as interrelated and interdependent? ”

“ The Necessary Transitions If to secure a just consideration of the rights of all four parties to industry something in the nature of a partnership, involving community of control, is necessary, how, it will be asked, is that transition to be effected? Certainly, it will never be brought about by violent upheavals or revolutionary methods, which serve only to disorganize industry and occasion loss to all its parties. ”

“ Deprive managers of the right of membership in an employers' or manufacturers' association, and they would be the first to say that their liberties had been infringed. Where, then, is the justice of denying to one party to industry a right which is conceded as just and necessary to the other three? If Capital, Management, and the Community have the right to organize, so also should Labor have this right. ”

“ Managerial ability, on the other hand, is in the nature of personal service of the very highest order, and is wholly necessary, not only to bring about efficient co-operation between Labor and Capital in the work of production, but also to effect and maintain right relations with the fourth party, without whose cooperation in all that pertains to industry the other three parties could accomplish little or nothing. ”

“ A Guide to Government in Industry There is much in the government of the State to give us guidance as well as hope in the evolution of government within industry. The British constitution may have its limitations, but no instrument of government has ever been devised which has so effectively helped to preserve and extend the freedom and liberties of men. What the British constitution stands for in the government of the State, we should aim at effecting in the working out of a constitution for industry. ”

“ Like State Socialism, it would rule out Capital's right to joint control just as effectively as Capitalism seeks to rule out Labor's right to joint control; but as the predominant factor in control it would substitute national guilds for the state. Industrial unions would select the managers, would own the capital, and would determine alike wages and prices. ”

“ It is coming to be seen that the control of Labor by its leaders is wholly dependent upon its organization into conservatively directed unions; that it is among the unorganized and undisciplined workers that Bolshevism and I.W.W.-ism recruit their armies of terror and destruction.
In a union of the organized forces of Labor and of Capital, against a common enemy which menaces all human society, lies the hope of the future. ”

“ Labor and the Community become a consideration only in so far as they are able to make their power felt. Profits for Capital are a first consideration ; profits usually as high as it is possible to make them. Wages to Labor, prices to the Community, are what they can be kept at, what the market will allow. Labor and the Community are not regarded as partners, entitled to share, through common knowledge, in a common venture, in gains and losses alike. Such control as they exercise is a control that forced, not a control that is voluntarily shared ”

“ The truth is mightier than the sword, and in conference and co-operation between all the parties interested, not in coercion of the others by any one, lies the only hope of an ultimate solution.
What is Industry? We shall reach no understanding of the problems of industry until we adequately appreciate what industry itself is, and who the parties are that are responsible for the carrying on of industry. ”

“ It may be that Labor needs educating, that its leaders need more in the way of experience; but, in the absence of other opportunities, whence are education and qualities of leadership to be gained if not in the industries in which Labor is employed, and through joint dealings with parties more highly favored? ”

“ Once recognition is given the four parties to industry, the solution of the problem of industrial relations is a matter simply of proceeding in accordance with principles which have long been regarded as obviously fair and just. ”