Despite this the miners kept in close touch with the General Council Sub-Committee, which on February 26th made clear their stand by declaring that they stood in the same position as they did last July, and made the following declaration:—
The Industrial Committee has been in regular consultation with the Miners’ Federation, and while it would be premature at the present stage to attempt to formulate any detailed policy which may have to be pursued, the Committee has already reaffirmed the attitude of the Trade Union Movement as expressed in July last, namely, that it would stand firmly and unitedly against any attempt to degrade further the standards of life in the coal fields. There was to be no reduction in wages, no increase in working hours, and no interference with the principle of national agreements.
From then onwards, even before the Commission’s Report and during the sittings of the Commission, we were in constant touch with the Committee, and for the first time in the history of the Labour Movement arrived at a joint policy and programme to place before the Royal Commission. The only difference of opinion was between the industrial movement and the political movement regarding compensation for the royalty owners. Strange to say, the leaders of the Parliamentary Labour Party who had been preaching Socialism for many years, were the ones who opposed the policy of the Miners’ Federation and the Trades Union Congress in regard to the question of compensation or confiscation of royalties.
Mr. MacDonald said that while no economic or moral case could be made out for compensation to the Royalty Owners, and indeed it had been the policy of Socialists for many years to oppose such compensation, we had arrived at a stage in the history of the Labour Party when political expediency necessitated that we should support compensation for Royalty owners.
The Parliamentary party thus stood for compensation, while the miners and the T.U.C. stood for taking their "rights" away from the royalty owners without compensation, believing that these owners had robbed the community and the workers, particularly the workers in the mining industry, quite enough during the past years. The policy we put before the Samuel Commission was thus the first constructive policy (apart from our previous nationalisation proposals) agreed
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