BRITISH LABOR OPPOSES COVENANT
British Labor Opposes Covenant Royal W. France Reports On Situation To Group of United States Senators; 14 Points Are Scrapped, He Says "THE unofficial representative of a group of 1 United...
...Liberals are Disappointed...
...The speakers also denounced the withdrawal of allied troops from the country...
...The pity and hatred engendered by the war have given way, so far as the great laboring classes of England are concerned, to a feeling of pity and to a desire for fair play, and the surrender which they feel President Wilson has made to the bitter and violent spirit of the re-actionaries of England and France has filled them with the deepest disappointment...
...they are calculated to fasten compulsory military service on this country, and as a permanent part of national policy...
...with Arthur Henderson, secretary of the British Labor Party, and with many other persons, both of liberal and conservative views...
...that the Fourteen Points have been thrown into the scrap heap, and that the Paris Conference, like previous conferences of unholy memory, has degenerated into a scramble for the spoils, which will leave the world embittered and divided and ready for new wars...
...In no quarter did I find any enthusiasm for the Paris proposal...
...IT is not stating it too strongly," he said, "to say that the attitude of the liberals, both in England and France is one of bitter disappointment...
...They considered the President's Fourteen Points a basis on which the world could be united and its wounds healed...
...14 Points Are Scrapped, He Says "THE unofficial representative of a group of 1 United States Senators who were anxious to know the attitude of Europe toward the League of Nations covenant, but were unable to go over themselves and find out, sent to them yesterday a report of a European trip from which he has just returned, and informed them in positive terms that British labor is overwhelmingly against the covenant...
...Some Provisions Needed "IT should contain provisions for control of armaments, definitely declared to be a step toward national disarmament...
...They had looked to President Wilson as a great liberal leader who would show the world a way out of the abyss of hatred and despair in which it finds itself...
...On these points we regard the League of Nations covenant issued from Paris on February 15 as defective and unsatisfactory, and we are of opinion that the British representatives at the Peace conference should be called upon to propose and support amendments which will alter the scheme in accordance with the above conditions and so make it acceptable to the democracies of the world...
...Most of the persons with whom I talked expressed the feeling that great injury has been done to the world by the delay in arriving at a settlement of the peace terms and there is also a deep resentment at the secretive methods employed by the 'Big Four' at the Paris Conference, after the President's declaration in favor of open covenants openly arrived at...
...Royal W. France, a lawyer of New York, is the man who makes the report...
...New York Sun...
...The League of Nations in order to establish and maintain world peace, must be based on direct representation from Parliaments and not merely from Governments, so as to secure and maintain its democratic character and prevent it being used as a buttress to executive authority...
...for freedom of trade, and for carrying into effect an international labor charter...
...The executive committee of the British Labor Party met and the following statement represents the official attitude of this party which I believe will soon control the Government in Great Britain...
...We don't Fight Babies,' and similar inscriptions...
...In our judgment, therefore, the Government should be pressed to reduce these estimates and to instruct its delegates at the Peace Conference to work for the total and universal abolition of compulsory military service.' Raising of Blockade Urged "ON Sunday afternoon, March 30, I saw a great labor demonstration in Hyde Park, London, in favor of raising the blockade into Germany...
...The throng broke up into a great number of meetings, each addressed by different speakers, who depicted in moving terms the suffering of the people, particularly the children, in Germany...
...I discussed the question of the proposed League of Nations with William Adamson, leader of the British Labor Party in the House of Commons...
...Further, the joint committee is strongly convinced that the immediate and total abolition of conscription in all countries is an inseparable part of a successful league of nations...
...A large part of his stay abroad was passed in England, where he interviewed a number of leaders of liberal thought and obtained an official expression of the view of the British Labor Party...
...The joint committee having considered the text of the League of Nations covenant is of the opinion that it is defective in certain important particulars and requires to be amended to bring it into conformity with the proposals of the international working class movement...
...It was a most impressive spectacle...
...He is a brother of Senator Joseph I. France of Maryland...
...We consider that the gigantic military estimates recently presented to the House of Commons are conceived in the old spirit which brought about the war and have been discredited thereby...
...There was a gathering estimated by newspaper representatives present to contain at least 100,000 workmen, led by bands and bearing banners on which were inscribed 'Raise the Blockade...
...with George Lansbury, editor of the Daily Herald, the official organ of the British Labor party...
...It should impose upon the signatory nations the responsibility of holding colonies and dependencies in wardship for the purpose of training and educating them in the political qualities which will enable them ultimately to practise self-determination...
...Time and again I was told that had the President realized the strength of the people and their sincere wish for a peace of justice and understanding he would never have yielded his position...
...it should include all the nations of the world willing to join in creating it and accepting its obligations...
...He gave in an interview the substance of the report he has made to the Senators...
...They feel, however, that he has abandoned his position...
...and in accordance with the proposals in the Labor War Aims this provision should apply to all such colonies and not merely those lately under German eontrol...
Vol. 11 • May 1919 • No. 5
