REBUFF TO THE COMMUNISTS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 45, 17 November 1925, Page 9

REBUFF TO THE COMMUNISTS

AT BRITISH LABOUR CONGRESS DECISIVE VOTE TOTAL EXCLUSION CARRIED Those who have faith in the future of the Labour Party as a great political force can have no complaint against the way in which the deliberations of the. delegates to the annual conference were guided during the opening day (wrote the London “Times” special correspondent from Liverpool of the opening dav’s proceedings at the British Labour Congress). Grumblings have been heard that at the recent Trades Union Congress at Scarborough the moderate wing were outgeneralled and outmanoeuvred by the extremists. To-day at the Labour Party Conference, the procedure has been reversed. Air. C T Cramp (the new chairman), Mr. MacDonald, Mr. Arthur Henderson, and Mr. Ernest Bevin, all of whom have played their part in building up the movement, have led their forces so effectively that there has been no-need to bring up the reserves, of whom manv are available. The Communists, on tlie other hand, appear to have been disheartened. From the start they seemed to realise the hopelessness o. their struggle in a conference which was'obviously dead against them. After Sir. MacDonald’s timely intervention this afternoon, there seemed to be nothing else to sav, and by majorities of more than 2,000,000 the conference supported the action taken bj the Executive Committee in endeavouring to define the future attitude of the partv towards the Communist movement. The report of the Parliamentary Committee, which is concerned particularly with the publication of the Zinovieff letter, will be taken as the first business to-morrow morning. Labour and Peace, The proceedings, at to-day’s sessions of the conference should serve to put the decisions of tne Trades Union Congress in their true perspective. Mr. Cramp set the right note at once in his presidential address. Io thos who scoffed at the achievement of the Labour Government Mr. Ciamp, as a railwayman, likened that Government to the breakdown gang clearing the line of obstructions before the non-stop run of the express tram could begin For the benefit of those who pass resolutions condemning the Dawes scheme, Air. Cramp reminds them that Labour has already decided that in the circumstances the carrying out of the Dawes pan was the onlv immediate solution possible, and that to repudiate it would be equivalent to an invitation to the German workers to destroy the precarious balance of European peace and to plunge their countrv once more ’into the horrors of military occupation. He recognises that the scheme has its defects, but under it Europe is becoming stabilised and peace is made possible, though he looks forward in due time to a reasonable limitation of the number of payments of the Dawes annuities. To those who challenge the ambition of the Labour Party to establish through the instrumentality ot the League cf Nations . the principle of arbitration in international disputes, Air. Cramp replies:— “Those who challenge, this policy of ours do not challenge it because they have found an easier and safer path for the peoples to tread on the long and wearv journey to peace, security, and happiness. The road upon winch they would lead.. the international proletariat ends in a shambles.; the peace thev would achieve by their policy of world resolution and armed dictatorships is a peace of utter desolution and universal, ruin. We will have none of it.” . Air. Cramp scoffed at the idea of a revolution bv force. The position of those who would apply methods of force to this highlv developed capitalist State, with its huge population and its present inability to feed its people, he declared, was a position about 100 years behind the times and should be scrapped as antiquated.. . A protest against the malignant criticism of some of the leaders of the party—a criticism which was heard on more than one occasion during the after-noon-led Air. Cramp to declare. that the organised democracy still believed in the efficacy of patient constructive work in Parliament. Finally, he summarised the work that lay before the conference: —

"We have the opportunity this .week (lie said) to give the lie to the charge that the British Labour movement is moving oh the path that leads to a destructive upheaval of society, to armed revolution, to the slaughter of men and women in insurrectionary outbreaks. Our duty is to state clearly and firmly where Labour stands, what Labour demands, and what methods Labour .will pursue to the attainment of its ends.” Having thus put the conference train on the right rails, the Industrial Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen took care to see that it did not leave them during the day. A Call to War. , The report of the Standing Orders Committee, which proposed that the’ whole debate on Communism should take place on the report of the executive committee, gave an opportunity for some preliminary skirmishing, but the issue was really joined when that section of the report was reached. The aim of the report was to interpret the resolution, which was carried by a small majority last year, that no menu her of the Communist Party should be eligible for membership of the Labour Party. It was obvious at the time that difficulties must arise in its interpretation. It was accordingly proposed tljat the conference should make the position clearer bv passing two further resolutions, one declaring that no member of the Communist Party should be eligible to become a member of any individual section of any affiliated local Labour Party or be entitled to remain a member, and the other appealing to trade unions not to elect as’ delegates to Labour Partv conferences known members of non-affiliated political parties, including Communists. Time only allowed the Communist speakers against the first .resolution to address the conference before the luncheon interval. The cheers which punctuated the excellent speeches by Mr. Bevin and Mr. MacDonald soo'n after the adjournment showed the temper of the conference, and paved the wav for the contemptuous rejection of the amendment to refer the resolution back. Mr Bevin, from his personal experience within the Transport Workers’ Union, spoke of the Communist efforts to undermine the attempts at amalgamation that were being made by a number of unions. Mr. MacDonald, speaking from a makeshift rostrum in the centre of St. George s Hall, poured scorn upon the Communists and their works. They came to the conference on their best behaviour, but he held in his hand the “Third International thesis,” with its message, “the workers should prepare, not for an easy Parliamentary victory,, but, for victory by heavy civil war.” ‘‘lf I were a Communist,” he exclaimed, “and if I believed in those views, I

would not ask -'’ ou /°J ia 1 ve nf n \ d onring this conference.”- Instead of “ do P that attitude the Communists scattered resolutions and amendments broadcast, so that Maryhill and Richmond t ought in exactly the same phrases and the Communists could say: "’ ar ' spread the feeling is. lh “„f fiOO actually 30 Labour Parties out of 600 who have said the same thing. The ringing cheers winch R . cx-Prime Minister’s speech showed the feeling of the conference towards the “malignant criticism” to winch Mr Cramp had referred in Ins preside!! address. The delegates were , f 0 mood to discuss the matter The first resolution was csrned more than two and a half million votes, and there was a majority of over two millions for the second rqsolution, though one or two delegates to the idea of the nfc J r to the local bodies. Mr- H.ndcr. effectively pointed ont, however,. that the second resolution was mere appeal to the local, bodies loyally to carrv out the decision take conference. Organised P olllu! “ \ our. therefore, has confirmed, - cisivelv as ever, its determination to h'ave nothing to do with the Communists, but nobodv suggests for a ” ,on . e ” t that Communism will accept the ter diet. One speaker blnntlv declared to-dav that whatever was done the Communists would still find their way into the Labour movement bv one door or another. The Labour Partv Conference has banged and bolted the main gale of the citadel: .t remains for the trade unio is and the . ’ oca , l ganisations to see that the side are not left unlocked.