The Dominion. MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1917. PACIFISTS REBUFFED BY LABOUR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3037, 26 March 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1917. PACIFISTS REBUFFED BY LABOUR

, .The. spirit of the great bulk of the British L a bo..u\ Party in relation to: the .war < was strikingly shown nfc the remnb great conference at .Manchester. The- pacifist section of tlio Party met with a severe rebuff; friends of tho enemy did their utmost to secure ap r P r< y?al for'their .S ) .?^ c y) 'put motions giving expres- ' sion to", their views : were, rejected by overwhelming ■ majorities. (Shortly before the Conference met, the National Administrative Council of the. Independent Labour tarty sent a letter to the President of : the United Statea in which the writers, claiming to speak'■ "with a special Jinowledge of public opinion »in Great Britain, particularly among the workrrig classes," declared that '•'the desire to see' this-.■.'terrible war brought to an end at! once is widespread in all classes." The attitude of ,the" Conference provided a convincing'proof: of the baselessness of the, claim of the pacifists to authority to voice the views of tlie . w.orking^classes.of Britain in regard to tho war. ' Tho average British work,er is not so shortsighted as: the pacifists seem to think. Pacifist sophistry cannot divert his mind from the stupendous folly of a premature peace. His 'recognition of the absolute necessity of; continuing■'. the struggle! until complete victory has placed the Allies in,a position to impose their terms upon' the defeated foe was! made manifest by .the/Conference's emphatic rejection of a motion declaring , that;tlio best interests .of the working class will be served by a speedy termination of. hostilities, 'and calling upon the Government to announce its readi-ness-to enter into immediate negotiations for peace. Captain Albert Wilson, a; Labour M.P.; referred to •the great and noblo sacrifices that pur men have already made, and stated that after all they'had gone through they would go on fighting till the serpent of Prussian militarism was lor ever beneath their ; feet., The Conference expressed its approval of Captain Wilson's , sentiments by throwing put the pacifist motion by the enormous majority' of 1,395,000, only, 302,000 votes, being cast in its favour, while. 1,697,000. were given against it. A similar fate awaited another, "pacifist, motion'• the conviction that, the permanence' of .the peace settlement depends on the influence wielded by the united action of the international working class. The plea of themover , (Me. Bruce Glaciee) on behalf of our German. comrades" did not evoke much sympathy from the Conference.,.•Mβ. Will Thoknb, ■ M.P., brushed aside the;, false sentimentality, of the pacifists and their topsy-turvy ideas of justice, and went straight to the heart of the matter. • Hi mored an amendment on behalf of the National Union of General Workers setting forth some plain facts on which uncontrovertible conclusions were based.- It declared that the invasion of France an&r Belgium by the German armies threatened tho, very existence of independent nationalities, and struck at all faith in treaties; therefore, a victory for German Imperialism would be tho defeat and destruction of democracy and liberty in Europe, and Britain would fight until victory was achieved. One of the mont remarkable features of the pacifist propaganda, is a stupid unwillingness ,to look the facts of the war m the face, and a refusal to sjee that there pan bo uo real peace apart from justice. During the discussion on Me. Bruce Glacier's motion, Mb. Clynes, another Labour If.P., remarked that it would be impossible to appeal to the French and Belgian workers to meet the German Socialists. The feelings of the Belggians towards their German Øo-

pressors recently found expression, in a protest sent to GIiNERAr, von Bissing by the Confederation of Belgian 'Exadc Unions. Tho protest assorted that "tbo persecution, of the working classes and thu mfts'fortunes of Belgium—whose tonly crime consisted iu dcfendia^Ker,neutrality, which had been made her duty by the King of Prussia—will Caute between Belgium and- Germany a foottomJcss pit of hafcrexi which nothing will be able to bridge for generations to comq.. , * The manner in whiob. the British pacifist gushes over "our German brothers" must be. bitterly resented by .the working classes of France and Belgium. The cold-blooded manner in which iheso perverse peace advocates make a scrupulously equal apportionment of their sympathies between the murderous German and his helpless victjaas is positively repulsive. The pacifists seem to_ forget. thab the Germans still claim thai; they have been victorious, and that peace must be based on the existing military situation. Only., a few weeks before the meeting of the British Labour Conference, the German National Cq&mit.tee passed resolutions intimating tliab the,only' peace that Germany will consider'is one which, Will enable t Her to "exert her ' strength without hindrance, and which will compensate for the heavy sacrifices of blood and. treasures she has incurred through, the war." Inetead of making reparation and restitution' to the nations she has so greatly wronged, and giving guarantees for good behaviour in the future, the pan-Germans announce with brutal effrontery that they will demand compensation from the Allies. "We. must.not," they assert, "resign. _ our. claim to indemnities proportionate to our sacrifices." It is a. German peace that they : will have. They assert that "the problem of the octupied territories must be decided ,first of all according to. German interests, tho actual military. position being taken into account. First of all, frontier rectifications must be made from the point of view of strategic advantages. The talk about a policy of conquest need not trouble us in the least." Admieai. Tiepitz recently declared 1 in a letter to one of-., his followers that the coast of Flan dors must be annexed by Germany. "For 1917 (he wrote) our motto should be: Flanders." Ifc would bo an outrage on justice if the perpetrators of the monstrous crimes which' havedesolated.Europe were allowed to escape punishment or to retain any of the territory' they have ravaged at such terrible cost of suffering and anguish to their innocent victims. To parley with tiem would not only be dishonourable—it would be a crime against civilisation and, humanity. It is satisfactory to have the assurance' that the : great mass of the: British Labour Party is solidly,, /united on this point, and will never consc-nt to a premature peace. The British Labour Party made it .clear ■ at. the -Manchester, Conference that ib:is . too Well'aware - 'of the greatness, of tb'o issues at stake, and the dangers of a pabched-up settlement, to be persuaded by the eloquence of Mk. Ramsay Macdonald and other pacifists to giyo any support 1 or teriance to.any proposals for concluding .the war before the Allies have thoroughly beaten the Central Powers. ■ The , writer of a , letter in the Morning Tost, under the heading "Pacifist Pretensions," points out that the claims of the Independent Labour Party to speak for the working cJafiscs is sufficiently disposed of by the , fact that not a single I.L.P. member of Parliament dares to submit himself to his. constituents, and that' they all hold their seats now only by their prudent refußal to face the by-elections to which they have been challenged. Only- a few days ago the Stockton electors,had an opportunity of declaring their will' regarding tho continuance of the war, and they did, bo in no uncertain way.- The peace candidate could.only secure 596 votes, as against 7641 polled by bis opponent.