The house of Industry : a new estate of the realm

A PRECEDENT—WHAT TO AVOID 55

an unemployed benefit. The demobilisation of the soldiers reeked of monstrous blunders and stupidities. ‘‘ Key men’’ were retained in the Army, while thousands upon thousands anxiously waited their return. A Colonel would not release one of these ‘“‘key men’”’ because he was a good gardener and the Colonel was proud of his garden. Another ‘‘key man’’ was “‘such a topping batman, you know.”’ And so on, ad infinitum.

Had the disposal of Munition remnants and demobilisation been put under local democratic control, with all requisite authority, the saving in human suffering and material waste would be impossible to estimate. It would have materially affected post-war conditions. The task, so stupendous, so complicated, so human, was utterly beyond the powers of any centralised bureaucracy.

What we can say of the Ministry of Munitions is that, with its improvised machinery, with its centralisation, its untrained staffs, it did, in fact, “‘ deliver the goods.’’ This was done by the magic formula of “‘ control and co-ordination.”’ If this could be done with such a burden of inadequacies, what could not the House of Industry do? For it would not only have the brains, the credit, the goodwill of the community behind it, but, what is infinitely more valuable, it would have the moral sanction of the workers, who would know how, under democratic control, to make the House of Industry a great agent in the communal production of wealth—a long and firm step towards human equality.