•
21.
(9)
"The first general strike in Hong Kong took place in 1922
pllowing a dispute over seamen's rates of pay for which there was
some economic justification. Most of the men's demands were granted
and the Chinese Seamen's Union obtained a considerable amount of
power and glory which it immediately set about to exploit. The second
general strike took place in 1925. It has no economic justification
whatsoever and was merely an attempt at revolution fomented by the
General Labour Union and the Chinese Seamen's Union in sympathy with
similar activities in Canton and Shanghai. This was the heyday of
labour power in Canton and the boycott of Hong Kong continued well into
1926. The general strike was a complete failure and in 1927, while
the powers of labour unions were being drastically curtailed in China,
the General Labour Union of Hong Kong was prescribed under the
Emergency Regulations, and the Chinese Seamen's Union was declared
unlawful under the Societies Ordinance, 1920.
22. "After the failure of the general strike and boycott and the
prescription of the Seamen's Union and the General Labour Union
conditions rapidly returned to normal and the surviving Hong Kong
unions became little more than friendly societies concerned more with
the provision of funeral expenses for the dead than the improvement
of the conditions of the living.
23.
"Since 1927 there has been no major labour dispute in Hong Kong.
The boycott of 1925-6 left the unions impoverished and unpopular.
The restrictions imposed on unions in China depressed the spirit of
unionism in Hong Kong, and several years of trade depression were not
conducive to their recovery.
24.
"The hostilities between China and Japan have established a
common front in place of civil war between the Kumintang and the
Communist Party and the revival of unions in China as a matter of
government policy has its repercussions in Hong Kong where the local
unions are moved by patriotism to renewed activity chiefly of a politica
and nationalist character. Many unions which for ten years have
appeared to be extinct have been recently revived.