EUROPE ORGANIZES FOR PEACE
Laidler, Harry W.
Europe Organizes for Peace The League, The Socialists and TheillSafll Three Forces Observed at dose Range % 1 By HARRY W. lAIDIJEB EUROPE today is replete with movements dedicated to...
...Powerful as the southern magnates are they are not concentrated in pne or two areas as the steel masters were when they defeated a similar mobilization in 1919 to organize the steel industry...
...Organising the South TN accord with the decision of the Toronto convention of the American Federation of Labor President Green has called the 105 presidents of national and international unions to meet in Washington November 14 to organize a campaign for the unionization of the workers of the South...
...At this summer session of the Executive, however, the delegates agreed with Frederick Adler that the subject could no longer be ignored, and voted that it occupy a, prominent place on the agenda at* the congress two years hence...
...Little Flower believes that our sole mission is to bold ourselves hi readiness as doormats over which he may walk into public office...
...held the impanaasa J the United States sad On* sal aln up to scorn...
...Many times I have cried when I would go home and find how they had gone to school...
...He simply ignored the nasty mess that came down from the days of Harding...
...We must educate and work, recruit and train our forces, and prepare to move forward as a still more effective army in the electoral battles that ate to be fought ia the coming years...
...No one can travel long on the continent and on the British Isles without coming across some of these variegated movements to make aa ead of international conflict...
...and Mrs...
...If capitalism lasts a few years longer there will be no individuality to destroy.—J...
...Frankfort...
...To Back MacDonald The delegates further decided, following an earnest address of Otto Bauer, to throw their full weight back of ovary eetort of the MaeOeaall auiainnient m behalf of dttatassaaaat by hand aad by sea and to regard the British Labor party as a leader of the »sropean Socialist uauiseserrt durtag its present term of offlee...
...wide expense of beautiful Lake Geneva, and breathing the air of International brotherhood...
...At least the problem should be tackled more effectively than In the past and the International should clearly state its attitude on this question...
...EgrptJ^jJ tionaUsts that they bad eaS lated to imperialism, unaatZl pressed races to civil war aria] surrectlon...
...In New York City the spread between the vote cast for Norman Thomas and for the other citywide candidates is large and yet the normal SocEttht vote appears to be about 90,000...
...Thus the City Hall boy smeared the respectable flag and Smith took it...
...To the extent that The New Leader can be helpful in this work its services will.be gladly given...
...At the Century Theatre Jimmie spoke of Curry's "character so splendid," his "integrity so high," and "the progressive thought ever utmost in his soul, with a moral and social and political standing greater than any human being ever had or ever is likely to be entitled to...
...She didn't have time aa other children to warm herself, play or study her lessons, as she should have done...
...The generals, or capitalists, vie with one another as to who can dispense with the greatest number of his soidiera—Karl Marx...
...such emphasis should be avoided...
...We would get up at 4 o'clock In the morning, get breakfast and dinner and get to the mill at 15 and 20 minutes to six...
...aad tab] the Communist movement Resolutions were pesaeJ al detuning various forma of as*] ialism: supporting the SorktQjfl eminent and denouncing tat kjl ure of the MacDonald minatoj] set free a number of Indiana atl trial in India for anti-Britats] tivities...
...I have ironed, sewed and lots of times cooked and washed at night in order to keep my kids in school and stay on my job...
...GRACE ELLIOTT IWAS raised in the country and at the age of 18 years I went to the mill to work...
...There is no reason whatever why the working class in southern industry cannot be organized with the organized workers of the North supporting them...
...Cooperation DtfteaB I Kirk wood of Vfrf'Mtd...
...To what extent should these movements be encouraged by the Socialists within their borders and by the International ? Encouragement might mean rebellion and the resulting violence might lead to a widespread conflagration...
...The awakened southern workers have made unionism almost a religion and they have faced malice and brutality with a courage that is inspiring...
...It was my fortune to sit in at this meeting and to hear this committee, representing the victorious British Labor party, the powerful Social Democratic movements in Germany, Austria, Sweden, France, Belgium, Denmark and other countries, discuss what their respective movements should do to advance human brotherhood...
...It is significant that where the Labor and Socialist parties worked with some consistent planning and demonstrated intense earnestness substantial gains were realized...
...During the eight months of schdbl we found it very, very hard indeed to pull through...
...Jean Longuet of France, Dr...
...When I arrived in Geneva this summer, I found everybody talking about peace...
...They were always nice and clean, wellfed and clothed, and when school let out they were to go home in a car and find a nice cosy room and a warm meal prepared for them...
...They are arrogant and confident of no effective opposition...
...E. Alexander...
...He was so notoriously the sap that Walker took his revenge near the end of the campaign...
...This whole situation should be a matter of profound humiliation to the organized workers...
...This was too mad ¦ James Maxton...
...Maxton felt that] perialism was one of the tarsal issues in the world today salt] it was a shame to leave th» sal ership in the fight agatait keel ialism through this Leagua ssj] to the Communists...
...They have the advantage over most all the workers' children because they are not burdened to death with things their parents should do for them and are not able to like the workers...
...The rpr^nt elections, let us hope, reveal the beginning of a contest for power by the workers that will ealminate in a greater party of their own...
...Finally, its existence serves to stimulate international conferences and international agreements on problems of public health, of labor, of industry and assists in bringing the standards of backward nations nearer to those of the more advanced...
...But she was busy all the time...
...The war had intervened...
...It weift§fij9 conference, with its taanasft from the whits, yefaa ssj Zjl races in different assta world " —r rriraahdb/fi 1 fcrence of the Tea* Z which was entirely Cssasal I its complexion aad bsa*ar* I thing aad everybody aaasjtj daTl^cre^l^ahS^H Figure...
...The staff of the Club in turn was...
...Otto Bauer, leader of the Austrian Socialists...
...The permanent center of peace saltation is, of course, Geneva, Switzerland, the headquarters of the League of Nations...
...F. M. Wibaut, former Mayor of Amsterdam...
...The Chinese government in that ease, however, should give its guarantee that the railroad hi China be not used to advance the cause of the White ^Russians...
...Within a number of nations today in Eastern Europe distinct ethnic groups are demanding separation from their present rulers...
...Jimmie Walker declared that John F. Curry, leader of the Tammany squads, is a man "with a moral and social and political standing greater than any human being ever had or ever is likely to be enUtled to...
...As a rule the respectable flag stands on his dignity and ignores the muck that clings to his cronies...
...One left the gathering of the Executive with a distinct feeling that here was a powerful force working for world peace...
...The League Not Magic The international educators were holding forth when I arrived...
...She was to do the washing, cooking, cleaning and ironing, and a cow to be tended to...
...Socialism, it is said, would destroy individualism...
...Hke Heart P4SJhaawl color to the maetssg...
...On the *)] hand, many Social Democrat**] tended that they were Bfbtsl imperialism in their own way, *J that the presence of non-Osaj nists in the Anti-Impefldi League served only to caaost] Communist control...
...The Communist Forces A third force busy in European international affairs in Europe this summer was the Communist International . The Communists are active, not necessarily against war as such, but against "capitalistic wars", both through their party organizations and through various auxiliary groups which they control, under a variety of names...
...Despite his reputation for being a clever politician the Smith flag came out of the campaign a tattered rag...
...tatftl MacDonald government eat 3 worst -enemy agaiast abaft 9 anti-Imperialists had to oast*] and plead with Maxton tea*] the "vacillating and contansssaa elements" in the LLP...
...With the arrival ia Washington of the "Ohio Gang" under the leadership of their chief, Harding, the profiteering swine have been as bold as the gas, copper and railroad gangs some thirty years ago...
...Although the United States is outside of the League, it exerts a veto power over the League's activities that is very real and, within the League, it is rather pathetic to see how many of the small nations fear to make proposals unless the larger nations take the lead...
...One of these organizations is the AntiImperialist League...
...The Socialist campaign was a clean fight all along the line but the clerical-capitalist forces of the Hall revealed a powes that will require years of undermining to overthrow...
...Governing at'Washington THE conviction of an ex-Secretary of the Interior for accepting a bribe, the censure by the Senate of one of its members for placing an agent of the Connecticut manufacturers on the Senate Finance Committee, and the presence of Joseph Grundy, chief representative of Pennsylvania capitalism, in Washington to collect legislation bought by Republican campaign contributions last year, may be somewhat shocking to those who read of all this...
...Wilsonian platitudes are not enough...
...Since the world catastrophe, the heated atmosphere in some of the countries and various problems of Immediate import had kept the question off the agenda...
...The Executive likewise considered the effect of the struggle of racial groups for independence on the peace of the world...
...The Committee recognized that China had broken Its 1034 agreement, aad that the present Chinese government was reactionary, but felt that complete Chinese control of the railroad in Chinese territory Should ultimately be assured...
...Many times they had gone with their little stomachs helf empty for lack of food, because I didn't have time to help cook them something...
...One tragic phase of the campaign in New York Gty was the lack of any political influence on the part of the trade unions, with a few notable exceptions where local organizations supported Norman Thomas, the only labor candidate for Mayor, and his associates on the Socialist ticket...
...These consist of men whoso hands have not been soiled with muck...
...Roger Baldwin, durstM conference, was unable ret] his position...
...The majority of the union leaders were for Tammany ia spite of the violation of the uniform wage law an public works and Walker's assistance in keeping a company union on the Interborough lines...
...told the National atl Congress and the...
...However, it is nothing new...
...So you can easily see that work like this, -long, hours and low srages not only makes it hard on the parents but it makes hardships on the children, who should feel free and have the privileges aad enjoyments of child life while they are children The Socialist Vote *T*HE Socialist vote in New York City, the returns from Boston, Reading, Niagara Falls sod a few other cities, show a slow but certain drift away from the parties of capitalism1...
...It was very definitely an executive session and little time was spent during the two days of the conference in spectacular efforts, oratorical flights...
...The main dad e] tween Maxton and the Chas] nlsts came when the latter hi] duced a resolution condemns**] LLP...
...in the abstract...
...M The convention of the a***] perialist League was scaiesy»*j before the August 1 ckeraedfj i tiona of the Commimtata, dtg however, were not' pertsstsB successful...
...With the resources of northern unionism behind these men and women workers it is possible to accomplish a task that will thrill the whole labor movement...
...available today, the arrest saa^l airplanes and the potest *JJJ which, as Stuart ChssesdfPJ in His Two Hew War...
...Shades of Lincoln, Jefferson, Mssxlnl, Marx and Debs...
...IN A NUTSHELL Our Absentee Mayor declared that be bad "a better right to appeal for the support of the Socialists than has the Socialist candidate...
...I soon found that people don't get rich very fast at a cotton mill...
...Gupta, one of ikt mm leaders, rlrnlnl Jflr rg|^f|J method of non-ooeperaaei reft] than bloody revolt Unierbass] the American member sf th) a] ecutive...
...Since the election of Senators by the voters confer, gas, steel, railroads and oil continue to be femeseated but the capitalists who collect at selected by these same voters...
...The Respectable Flag HOWEVER sodden and corrupt either wing of the tvavparty ruling political firms may be they must always keep a few respectable flags in stock to cover their questionable goods during a campaign...
...On the other hand you would see the bosses' wives bringing their children to school in cars, protecting them from the weather...
...see *Aad even LaGuardia wept because the Socialists refused to give their votes to him...
...Labor International...
...A few others supported LaCuardia despite his fight for the nomination and support of one of the most notorious injunction judges in New york Gty...
...There is little doubt that the party will bring all the members together into a general meeting soon to review the fight we have waged, the experience we had* the results obtained, the prospects ahead and plan for continuous organization aad educational work...
...As such it is performing an important function...
...This infusion of youth and enthusiasm are not shown fa the election returns and yet they constitute gains that are important for the future of the party...
...Their faces were sometimes streaked with dirt, hair not combed and their clothes just half thrown on them...
...Many of the activities in Geneva are of a most superficial nature...
...The coming of the Labor party to office, its attitude toward disarmament and arbitration, its desire to strengthen those efforts of the International Labor Office In behalf of higher living standards—all had stimulated League activities and had created a feeling of expectancy that the League might be on the eve of achievements of a signal character...
...When my little girl was 8 years old, she was left to be mother, father, sister and brother to three other children...
...All recognize that the struggle over the control of raw material—of oil, of rubber, of cotton, of minerals—is one of the potent causes of war, and yet the subject will not be effectively tackled—despite the desire of the staff of experts to undertake it—, until such leading nations as Great Britain and the United States give their approval...
...The delegates included the brilliant Emile Vandervelde, former Foreign Minister of Belgium, and the new chairman of the International, successor of Arthur Henderson...
...the popular a] lovable leader of the Indeaata Labor party, and chairman at ¦ League, who declared that, Via] resolution were placed befonfl] conference, he would for**] The Conference again bat] into clear relief the difftcolos] Socialist-Communist cooper**] The Second International beis] ed Socialist groups as suck at] Join the anti-Imperialist Lrefjal Individuals could decide for da] selves what their ows ess] should be...
...Nothing to do but romp and play or study or whatever they wished to do...
...Former Governor Smith played this role in the recent city campaign but he played it badly...
...In the words of Smith himself, that incident was "the kiss of death" for him...
...w] gave a sweeping nrUm at sari lalistie tendencies threapaafl world...
...The Committee, among other things, was of the unanimous belief that the time had come for the International to put itself definitely on record on the question of war as such...
...I In the meanwhile, sliswja the new implements of **^5g...
...selling tons of literature about the League to the aforesaid visitors in the hope that sometime they might cease asking questions and read...
...Although this attempt to mobilize the whole power of the organized workers for the big southern job comes late, the fact that it is now to be undertaken should hearten every friend of the serfs of the South...
...Dozens of groups were being led around the charming, though temporary, headquarters of the League of Nations and the new and imposing building of the International Labor Office of the League, both facing the...
...Oshen type of Mayor Cast IshfJl were placed on the prcfnmT] "window dressing.'* But da *9 note speech was left h>aj3I Pollitt, Communist lead* *y small left wing trade aaheaal ment in Great Ttmtds...
...Its chief function at present is to provide a forum in which representatives of countries large and small can come together, and have an opportunity to protest before the world against injustices and demand that these injustices be remedied...
...This is a substantial gain and it summons every party sarmber to the task of gathering new supporters tSBb-the organization...
...And everybody was discussing the Assembly meeting when MacDonald, Henderson and Lord Cecil would represent Great Britain and expressing the hope that another step forward would be taken on the rocky road to disarmament...
...I like the League of Nations," said one, "How can I join it...
...Whan science subdued the forces of nature to the service of man...
...This wjas due to the excellent research work carried on !»¦ the party's research bureau...
...The most i active non-Communist personality 1 in the League is James Maxton, chairmen of the XaaawJH I party of Great tttM|S orM-P...
...And when one looks over the European scene and sees the political progress of labor, oae can visualize the League of tan years hence as one dominated increasingly by representatives of progressive and Socialist governments and as a great force In the affairs of men...
...We would all go home at 12 o'clock and eat cold lunch, and back to work and school at 1 o'clock...
...ought aba not to have changed the "vale of tears" into a dwelling place of peace sad joy...
...There is nothing magic about the League...
...There, gentlemen, passed the Happy Warrior...
...At 4 o'clock, when school was let out, the children had to go home, through sleet, rain and snow, not to find a nice warm fire and a good meal awaiting them, but instead, a cold, bleak house and with little hands frozen almost blue, and danger of burning the house down, she had to make a fire for them, prepare the supper meal for the whole family as beet she could...
...It is not so many years ago that if the clerk in calling the roll of the Senate had called copper, fas, steel, railroads and oil there would be a response on the part of men who had purchased a legislature as the Indian nabobs used to purchase pbruamentary borough-, at auction in England...
...Never in the history of American politics has a man playing the respectable role been so humiliated by the chief vulgarian his flag was shielding...
...The Committee also took notice of the fact that the Economic Section of the League of Nations was actually operating and that labor and socialist forces should spur that section on, if possible, to investigations of a fundamental nature...
...While the majority of the ExecuI tlve Committee of the League are | members of the Third Internation| al and the administrative office at | Berlin is in definite Communist control, many other elements are ! In the League...
...American professors were on duty in the great, sunlit Council room explaining just what the League had done and what it might be expected to do if America were a member...
...Emil Burns, English communists...
...The Happy Warrior also became the Sappy Warrior in Manhattan where he gave his blessing to the Curry-Walker vulgarians...
...A four hours' ride from Geneva through same of the most beautiful portions of Switzerland lies the picturesque industrial city of Zurich...
...Smith in a number of speeches had mentioned Walker only incidentally and Jimmie must have been peeved...
...It is limited in its activities by the individual nations composing it...
...At its center are the business man-communist leader, Munzenberg, member of Parliament from Frankfurt, Melnitchansky or Russia and Mr...
...The little girl, 8 years old, was left to clear the dishes, make beds, clean the house, see that the cow was milked, and get the three other children ready for school by 8:30...
...ought she not to have given leisure to (he workers that they might develop themselves physically aad intellectually...
...Ia late July the Executive Committee of the International held its regular meeting in Zurich to consider various concrete problems of labor solidarity and of International Socialism...
...It seemed that I was compelled to work to help make a living and pay our honest debts...
...I ask you: Has not science failed in her mission o% emancipation ?—Paul Laf argue _ (C—tl—« treat r«s» Oae...
...The comparatively young American Club was swarming with visitors asking all sorts of questions which indicated that many of them didn't know the difference between the League of Nations and the National or American Baseball League...
...The most imporj tant of the non-Communist groupi is the National Indian Congress which affiliated itself with the League this year and was its most important acquisition...
...The League la mtf aa Second World Qeayta* i quaint, yet t i lslliasaj...
...declare...
...c«a**T| a great city whfle B'^'Sbs ting dowa to haaeh, saret<JM hope that the forces ward peace will be ahW*»f*3 the world from mteratddWJl flict during the perdsd WSjJ transition away frost **L*j| economic system to a *df£] ' based on cooperation, staj flict...
...Already some fine young spirits have cut their ties with the old parties and have enlisted their service as party members...
...ssajbal Marsh of America, and sen al the Indian delegates trass] against the rigid r>Wt,'w'tTt Is] trol of the Conference *jg ypm against some of the asm gested...
...We hope that the organizers sent into this Egypt will be men of the same spirit as the workers who are to be organized and that the plans adopted will be comprehensive and adequate for the big job...
...It is safe to say that the voters of New York City learned more about the real character of the political junto that rules the city than they ever did before...
...Europe Organizes for Peace The League, The Socialists and TheillSafll Three Forces Observed at dose Range % 1 By HARRY W. lAIDIJEB EUROPE today is replete with movements dedicated to world peace...
...Meeting at af time whoa, war between Russia and China seemed a possibility, the executive urged the Bsetansts in every lead to bring pressure to bear on their respective governments to prevent war and, should war break out, to do everything possible to bring about an early peace...
...It proclaims to the world that they have wasted their political power and that the owning classes have no fear of that power as it is now exercised...
...There wsa wood and water to get and the cow to be milked, and no one but her to see that it was done...
...Moreover, the southern workers have demonstrated a fighting stamina in the past year or two that compares with the best spirit of sacrifice so often displayed, especially by the miners, in the period before the World War...
...Times have changed a little but there is little change in political finesse...
...International organizations were holding conventions in the Geneva hotels, grasping the hands of delegates from the four quarters of the globe...
...Nothing, of coorw, em said about political prtaoeen | Russia...
...Each speaker felt that he was speaking for his constituency and that the resolutions passed were not mere words—that in many countries they meant definite and constructive action in behalf of peace...
...In Paris, the SWjjW the, leaders of the ConuuurawPJ Jty and the appearance *f *¦ sands of gendarmes In squares of the city eflectWdf J vented the planned deaaoadstW In all of the meetings m**M held, the Third InteraatkeddJ it plain that the CoinmushtSPB ment was against lmpn'MlsQj capitalist countries, not *jBM war...
...Smith went so far as to give his blessing to the remnants of the sewer ring in Queens...
...It is also developing a machinery to which peoples might ultimately turn in time of crises and of hysteria...
...In the trim appearing workers' Bank building ten minutes' ride from the center of the city is the headquarters of the Socialist and...
...In the meer.wttk« 0m possible should be down tariff barrieraJi armaments, to give f^RXm j tunity to the utflhadlav*5js*l 1 resources, aad to.bttagnjaj : man people of theSSh^^ J I closer bonds of m*}**Z^j3f9 I is a case of civm**0** ^ ta ! The two cannot e**?-^^J ] gear Hardships of Mill Life An Authentic Document Written by a North Carolina Woman Mill Worker By MRS...
...The situation at Washington would be unthinkable in a nation where a labor party was powerful...
...The industrial war of capitalists had this peculiarity, that its battles are won less by means of enlisting than of discharging its industrial recruits...
...The VaillantHardie resolution urging that a general strike be declared in case of an imminent conflagration, had been scheduled for discussion at the 1914 congress, but the congress had never taken place...
...One gets a feeling, as a result of conversations with those on the inside of the machinery, of the great difficulties, for instance, in the way of any comprehensive study by the League's Economic Section of the allocation and the ownership of the raw materials of the earth, with a view to giving to each nation equal access to the world's resources...
...Hoover, although not a professional, carried out the role to perfection in his campaign last year...
...And the subway did not cave in...
...They are brought forward to lead the corrupt squads and give a "moral tone" to the regulars...
...My children were left at 5:30 in the morning, before daylight, till 6 at night...
...The main aim of Socialists should be to advance democracy and world peace and when undue emphasis on selfdetermination defeats this aim...
...While the two major party machines sleep we must be awake...
...The Socialist Influence It takes a trip to Europe oftentimes to realize the influence of the Socialist and labor forces on Europe's government and on the movement for the peace of the world...
...At congress after congress before the world war, the problem of what Socialists should do in case of threatened war had been debated, but no real decision had been arrived at...
...is B they felt that another flict was well-nirt laevlhwjfa that such a conflict was I^H a necessary preliminary *,**£| revolution to which they *f*9 looked forward...
...It is possible that the menacing changes going an in the industrial world are responsible for the symptoms of political revolt in a number of cities, [with millions of workers being thrown upon the damp and no effort whatever being made by city, state aad national authorities to face this great human tragedy, there is hope for the masses only is turning to Labor and Socialist politics...
...Brockway, Gillies and Jenkins of England, Crispien of Germany, Frederick Adler, the International's faithful secretary, Hillquit of America and numerous others...
...It is in no sense a super-government...
...Nothing was exaggerated and the facts were presented in a way to appeal to those who were at all capable of being reached by intelligent argument...
Vol. 9 • November 1929 • No. 14
