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Australia's Awakening Thirty Years in the Life of an Australian Agitator

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Australia's Awakening Thirty Years in the Life of an Australian Agitator Australia's Awakening Thirty Years in the Life of an Australian Agitator Spence, W G William Guthrie (1846-1926) A digital text sponsored by New South Wales Centenary of Federation Committee University of Sydney Library Sydney 2000 http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/fed/ © University of Sydney Library. The texts and Images are not to be used for commercial purposes without permission Source Text: Prepared from the print edition published by Australia: The Worker Trustees, Sydney and Melbourne 1909 First Published: 1909 Languages: French Latin 329.994/13 Australian Etexts 1890-1909 labour history prose nonfiction federation 2001 Creagh Cole Coordinator Final Checking and Parsing Australia's Awakening Thirty Years in the Life of an Australian Agitator Sydney and Melbourne The Worker Trustees 1909 To The Tyrranical Employer and the Aggressive Fighting Trade Unionist The Author [William Guthrie Spence, M.H.R., President Australian Workers' Union] .. .. .. .. .. .. Following Page 40 Contents. Chapter. Page. I. Bedrock .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 II. Gold Digging Days .. .. .. .. 18 III. The A.M.A. .. .. .. .. .. .. 24 IV. “He vos Come Back no More” .. 37 V. The King of the North-East .. .. 45 VI. Capitalistic Intrigue .. .. .. .. 51 VII. The Wool Kings of Australia .. .. 62 VIII. Organizing the Shearers .. .. .. 68 IX. A Fighting Union .. .. .. .. 80 X. The Employers and Freedom of Contract .. .. .. .. .. .. 94 XI. The Turning Point .. .. .. .. 111 XII. Incidents of the Big Strike .. .. 137 XIII. The Industrial Fight in Queensland 145 XIV. Law and its Administration .. .. 169 XV. The Press .. .. .. .. .. .. 195 XVI. Union Outrages .. .. .. .. .. 203 XVII. Catching “Scabs” .. .. .. .. 211 XVIII. Political Action .. .. .. .. .. 220 XIX. In New South Wales .. .. .. 230 XX. Queensland .. .. .. .. .. .. 267 XXI. Victoria .. .. .. .. .. .. 305 XXII. South Australia .. .. .. .. .. 338 XXIII. West Australia .. .. .. .. .. 351 XXIV. Tasmania .. .. .. .. .. .. 363 XXV. Labor in the Commonwealth .. .. 375 XXVI. The Suffrage and Self-Government 421 XXVII. Eighteen Years of Social Evolution 426 XXVIII. Socialistic Enterprises .. .. .. 448 XXIX. Conciliation and Arbitration .. .. 475 XXX. Labor Federation .. .. .. .. 494 XXXI. The Eight-Hour Movement .. .. 507 XXXII. Trade Unionism .. .. .. .. 519 XXXIII. Trade Unionism as an Investment 537 XXXIV. Propaganda Work .. .. .. .. 549 XXXV. Australia in 1908 .. .. .. .. 558 XXXVI. Labor's Objective .. .. .. .. 587 Preface THE hidden seed does not spring forth until it is surrounded by the necessary conditions to start its fermentation. When first its little bud reaches the light of day only the keen observer can tell to what family it belongs; by most it is unnoticed. In years it may become a very giant amongst trees. The Labor Movement in Australia has now become an almost dominant factor in the political life of the community; hence its history, its character and aims should be studied by every citizen of our great Commonwealth. The need of some work setting forth the causes leading up to the present position has been felt for some time. I have in this book attempted to meet that much-felt want from the Labor point of view. In what I feel to be an incomplete form I endeavor to furnish a mirror of the past, and to present from the inside what I conceive to be the future outlook. If the Socialist Movement of the world is helped, encouraged, and stimulated by this record of our success in Australia, I shall have ample reward. W. G. SPENCE. Parliament House, Melbourne, June, 1909. AUSTRALIA'S AWAKENING Chapter I. Bedrock. SETTLEMENT in Australia took place under conditions which differed vastly from those obtaining in other countries. At first it was merely a convict settlement under English rule. The Aboriginal race was a comparatively weak one, and gave but little trouble to the pioneers, and there were no dangerous wild animals. In America the pioneers were forced to settle on small areas of land, so that they could mutually help each other in defence and development. When the white man came to Australia he found in possession the aboriginal squatter, whose runs were tribal and whose stock were kangaroos and opossums. The white man gave no consideration to the black man's rights, but drove him off, took up enormous areas, and stocked them with cattle and sheep. The early white squatter secured Crown grants, others have since purchased; and thus we had the evil of private ownership of land before we had population. Naturally the best land was secured by the first landgrabbers. One of these, in the Western district of Victoria, took up blocks in his own name, then in the names of each of his family and of the servants, and finally, when these ran out, it is said he dummied blocks in the names of his working bullocks. The story may not be true, but it is a fact that Australia starts its national life with its best lands monopolised by a few families. In Sutherland's “History of Australia” the following appears, under the heading of “Edward Gibbon Wakefield”:— “In 1829 a small book was published in London which attracted a great deal of attention, not only by reason of its manner, but also on account of the complete originality of the ideas it contained. It purported to be a letter written from Sydney, and described the annoyances to be endured by a man of taste and fortune, if he emigrated to Australia. He could have no intellectual society; he could not enjoy the pleasures of his library, or of his picture gallery; he could hope for none of the delights of easy retirement, seeing that he had to go forth on his land, and with his own hands labor for his daily food. For, said Mr. Wakefield, the author of this little book, you cannot long have free servants in this country; if a free man arrives in the colony, though he may for a short time work for you as a servant, yet he is sure to save a little money, and as land is here so excessively cheap he soon becomes a landed proprietor. He settles down on his farm, and though he may have a year or two of heavy toil, yet he is almost certain to become both happy and prosperous. Thus, the colony is an excellent place for a poor man, but it is a wretched abode for a man of means and culture. “Wakefield, therefore, proposed to found in Australia another colony, which should be better adapted to those who had fortunes sufficient to maintain them, and yet desired to emigrate to a new country. His scheme for effecting this purpose was to charge a high price for the land, and so to prevent the poorer people from purchasing it; the money received from the sale of land he proposed to employ in bringing out young men and women as servants and farm laborers, for the service of the wealthier colonists. Now, said Wakefield, on account of the immense natural resources of these colonies, their splendid soil, their magnificent pasture lands, their vast wealth in minerals, and their widespread forests of valuable timber, which stands ready for the axe, a gentleman possessed of only £20,000 will obtain as large an income from it as could be procured from £100,000 in England; yet he will be able to enjoy his learned and cultured leisure, just as he does at home, because all the work will be done for him by the servants he employs.” As a matter of fact, South Australia was first settled upon the conditions advocated by Mr. Wakefield as far back as 1829. The South Australian Association acted upon his suggestion, and at the outset sold land at not less than 12s. per acre, and subsequently at £1 per acre. The system adopted by all the States of selling at £1 per acre land worth, in some cases, £3 or £4 an acre, and in others only 15s. per acre, had its origin in Mr. Wakefield's suggestion. The foregoing gives us the bedrock of the Labor Movement. Place the essentials of wealth production in the hands of the few, and the rest of the community are little better than serfs. Those who control natural opportunities control the conditions of life for all. The worker depends on the will of another for the right to live. The other will only employ him if he pays tribute. In commercial life and in manufacturing, where employers compete with each other, they cut down the cost of production by lowering wages and by the displacement of labor by machines. Displaced labor increases the number of the unemployed, and decreases the purchasing power of the wage-earning class. Lessened demand affects output, and increases competition and the war of trade. The weakest are crushed out; the strong, the heartless, the least scrupulous, survive. Rapid invention forces the controllers of industries into combines, trusts, and monopolies, still further decreasing employment. The few required to attend to the machines are but a part of the machinery of the factory, and are counted, not as human beings, but as “hands.” They are unknown by name or person to the shareholders of the syndicate, company or combine whose riches they help to produce. The manager whose brains are hired to organize and supervise the work knows but a few of the workers, and to maintain what he thus terms discipline holds himself aloof as if made of superior clay. Employers all aim at securing a monopoly, and though they speak in favor of non-interference with a competitive system, in action they soon destroy competition and abolish the alleged law of supply and demand. When workers, by forming trades unions, attempt to secure at least a living wage, the employers are against them. They argue against any restriction, and want the iron law of wages to operate.
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