The Henson Journals

[238]

Tuesday, September 15th, 1925.

The strike if Labour's expression of free will: surrender that, & the worker becomes the merest wage–slave. The greatest task of the present is the awakening of individuality & spontaneity in the worker: the apathy is the nation's weakness: & the finest thing that can be accomplished by Labour Unrest is a heightening of Labour's being alive, an awakening that will lead men on from mere discontent to the positive striving for a better life. 'Social peace' is the cry of mediocrity striving against 'social awakening': it is the miserable demand of the narrow–minded egotist to be let alone. But, if the public cannot be made to realise its responsibilities without being kicked into a sense of them, the public has got to be kicked: & strikes & Labour Unrest are the best way. The demand for 'social peace' is an attempt to send Labour to sleep: but Labour is beginning to articulate a new demand, & the morning of a new day is not the right time for a sleeping–draught.

Cole. "The World of Labour" 319.

[239]

The morning brought an interesting letter from Arthur Shadwell. He has been "on a tour of investigation into the strength of the left wing". He adds:– "You will be interested to know that of all the districts I visited including the Clyde I found Durham and Tyneside the worst. But everywhere I met with the same opinion, strongly held by everybody, that it is high time for the Government to deal firmly with seditious agitation & incitement to violence". This is disconcerting, for hitherto it has passed as an incontrovertible proposition that, if only Durham & Northumberland were left alone, there would be no difficulty in maintaining harmony!

I motored into Durham after lunch, & attended a meeting of the Council of Bede College. After having tea with the Bishop of Jarrow I returned to Auckland.

The 'Times' contains an excellent letter under the heading: "Prius Dementat" – The Soviet Square", and signed 'Veritas'. It quotes large from the Report of the Trades Union Commission, which went to Russia to ascertain by personal observation what the situation under Bolshevist rule actually was. Unhappily, the dupes of "Labour" will not believe anything from the mouth but their own!

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