Clause 2. — (Whole-tine and part-time service.)

Part of Orders of the Day — National Service Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 7 May 1947.

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Photo of Mr Samuel Silverman Mr Samuel Silverman , Nelson and Colne 12:00, 7 May 1947

We are dealing with a perfectly simple point, namely, whether men conscripted under this Bill shall be used for purposes for which the Government do not claim the Bill is necessary. One of the important considerations in all these Debates is that this Bill is the only thing which the Government have done since they came into office, in which it can be claimed that they are making a fundamental change in the Constitution without any mandate from the people. They may be compelled to do that, and I am not regarding it as a conclusive point against the Bill, but it is a consideration which has to be taken into account when dealing with a point of this kind.

The two things which make the working classes deeply opposed to conscription are, firstly, the danger that military conscription may lead to industrial conscription, and, secondly, the danger with which this Amendment is concerned, that it might be used as a means to break strikes. It has been said that this Government may be under less temptation than any other Government to use this Bill in this way. I am afraid that I do not share that view. I think that the temptation for this Government to use the troops as strike breakers, particularly where an unofficial strike was involved, would be greater than for any other Government, because they feel—and I think they are entitled to feel—and the great majority of the people of this country feel, that a strike taking place in these circumstances is an evil thing in itself, and is hostile to the general purposes for which the Government were elected by an overwhelming majority. They might feel justified in stretching a point in this kind of issue, which no other Government would feel entitled to do.

It is in order to protect themselves against that kind of temptation that I urge the Government to accept this Amendment, or something like it. draw a distinction between official strikes and unofficial strikes in that matter. If we are conceding—and the overwhelming majority of this House has decided that we are—the rightness and necessity of this Measure, then it must be on the basis that the men who are to be subject to it are not used for a purpose outside the immediate necessity which leads us to give support to the Bill. That is why I thought that it was rather a mistake to drag into the discussion the question of the use of troops as strike breakers or in trade disputes. I would prefer the argument, on this occasion, to be limited to the narrow point which has been raised by the Amendment, and not to be confused by the general, although important, considerations which come into the question of the use of troops as strike breakers.