events, syndicalism itself commenced to go under, and its "perfect organisation" to disappear. It began, in its turn, to be ousted by something akin to anarchy.
The latter word is accurate. There is no other suitable to describe the events of the summer of 1911, when the chief port in the world was held up for ten days; when our second port, Liverpool, was in a state of siege; when disorder spread from Southampton to Glasgow, and from Hull to Cardiff; when for two days the railway system was partially paralysed; when for four whole days the transport trade of North-Eastern England was shut down; when Irish railwaymen struck for no adequate reason; and when, in a word, famine began to present itself as a practical possibility.
Thus, in the brief space of a decade, trade unionism was jostled by socialism, and socialism by syndicalism, and syndicalism by anarchy. We reached the flash point of England.
What has been the cause of this quick revolution of events? To answer that question correctly is vital for those who wish to know the England of our own hour, and to look ahead. For the national future itself is at stake.
The development of English industry in our day has had a double effect upon the condition of our working classes. It has exposed them, as it were, to the simultaneous play of two opposite influences, the former leading many of them upward to a better fortune, and the latter dragging
