15. An Efficient Labor Parliament
Delegates listened eagerly to the address. When President Swales ceased speaking they gave him round after round of applause. During the remainder of the Congress the address was one of the chief themes of conversation and discussion. The Congress President had struck a note to which hundreds of the delegates responded: a note that they had been waiting to hear—a note of hope and of determination to wage the class struggle incessantly until labor had won its freedom.
President Swales delivered his address late Monday morning. On Monday afternoon Congress got down to work. There were no reports on credentials; no public contests over the seating of delegates; no selection of committees from the floor.
The Congress is organized in 17 industrial groups, each of which is entitled to a specified representation on the General Council.[1] The actual work of handling the Congress procedure was in the hands of the General Council and of the General Purposes Committee, elected at the previous Congress. All resolutions, except emergency resolutions proposed during the Congress by the General Council or by the General Purposes Committee, are submitted in advance, printed in an Agenda, and mailed to the delegates. On all important issues, therefore, delegates come instructed, or delegations caucus and reach decisions before the debates begin. Within five minutes after the Congress was declared open for business the President was reading the Report of the General Council (also submitted in printed form) and resolutions were coming before the delegates for their consideration and decision.
A business-like air pervades the British Trades Union Congress. There is no oratory. The mover of a resolution has ten minutes; the seconder has seven minutes; speakers who can get the floor have five minutes each. Delegates speak to the point. If they begin to wander, they are promptly called to order by the Chair or by fellow delegates. Most of the delegates remain in their seats. Speakers receive careful attention as long as they have anything to contribute. The moment their fund of material has run out they are invited from all over the hall to "Sit down!" or else the delegates make the appeal to the Chair: “Vote! Vote!”
There is a great deal of sharp repartee, much laughter, some banter, a very little recrimination, and an almost complete absence of personalities. The delegates are past masters at keeping one another up to the mark.
The question as to whether a delegate shall get the floor on a particular motion is determined, in the main, by the delegates themselves. There is little appeal to parliamentary procedure. Discussion continues until the delegates feel that the problem has been fully stated, whereupon they begin to shout: “Agreed! Agreed!” or “Vote! Vote!" If there is evident agreement, the Chair does not put the motion, but simply states: “The motion is agreed to.” If the demand for a vote predominates the motion is put and a vote is taken, ordinarily by a show of hands. Where there is any question as to the sentiment of Congress the President orders a “card vote.”
A card vote consists in a showing of the cards held by each delegation. On the card there is printed a number giving the paid-up membership represented by that delegation. The Miners, for example, in the last Congress held a card reading 800. This meant 800,000 paid-up members and therefore 800,000 votes in the Congress.
When a card vote is ordered, tellers, previously elected, take their places in all parts of the hall; cards are held up for and against the motion; the vote is tabulated and is announced from ten to fifteen minutes after a card vote has been called for. Delegates may call, from the floor, for a card vote on any motion, but during the 1925 Congress only half a dozen card votes were taken. The Congress shows a disinclination to waste time in voting unless there is real disagreement.
With this spirit of “Go at it and get it done with” the Congress of 1925 went to its task of organizing the struggle for working class emancipation in Britain.
- ↑ The General Council elected at Scarboro is made up as follows: Mines and Quarrying, 3 members; Railways, 2; Transport, other than Railways, 2; Shipbuilding, 1; Engineering, Foundering, and Vehicle Building, 3; Iron and Steel and Minor Metal, Trades, 2; Building, Woodworking, and, Furnishings 2; Printing and Paper, 1; Cotton, 2; Textiles, other than Cotton, 2; Clothing, 1; Leather, Boot and Shoes, 1; Glass, Pottery, Chemicals, Food, Drink, Tobacco, Brushmaking and Distribution, 1; Agriculture, 1; Public Employes, 1; Non-manual Workers, 1; General Workers, 4, and Women Workers, 2.