man with one eye whilst the other watched the speaker, and as soon as there was a motion to resume his seat a score of delegates would spring into the air, shouting “Mr. Chairman.” Imagine the competition between three and four hundred delegates and nearly half of them wanting to speak on every subject!
Mr. Rigg used to try and distribute the speeches all over the room. He would ask me to watch one side of the room and to inform him if any delegates there had jumped to their feet, meanwhile keeping an eye on the opposite side himself. Sometimes he would remark to me that we had not had a speech from such and such a section for some time, and for me to keep an eye open for any delegate there that was desirous of speaking. As chairman, he knew no party and took no sides; the only preference he ever gave was when a member of the Unity Committee arose to give reasons why certain proposals had been decided by them.
Congress lasted ten days, and at the conclusion of its deliberations had established as going concerns the United Federation of Labour and the Social Democratic Party.
It speaks volumes for the work of the Unity Committee to be able to state that the constitution, rules, by-laws and declaration of principles submitted to Congress were adopted without material alteration, except that the suggested Preamble of the United Federation of Labour was knocked out and the following inserted as Object No. 1.
“To organise systematically and scientifically upon an industrial union basis, in order to assist the overthrow of the capitalist system, and thus bring about a Co-operative Commonwealth, based upon industrial democracy.”
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