HECKLING MR RAMSAY MACDONALD

Evening Star, Issue 15479, 29 April 1914, Page 4

HECKLING MR RAMSAY MACDONALD

A LIVELY MEETING. dlotfte of the most disgraceful scenes ever Wjto&tted »t a public meeting in London Wero enacted at a recent mooting at tho Memorial Hall convened to hear the Leader of the Labor party (Mr J. Ramsay Mac Donald). For close on three-quarters of an hoto’ he was subjected to constant iukrtuption, and the stewards—for the most part women —were engaged in the forcible removal of interrupters, one of tho first of whom, struggling vigorously, was Mr H. W. Nevin&on, the well-known war correspondent. He was ejected by the male stewards. Before (Mi- Mac Donald was able t)o proceed smoothly with his address women interrupters were seen struggling with women stewards, striking them in tho face, assaulting men, and shrieking at the top of their voices as they were removed. Most of the interrupters were women, and some of them were lifted bodily and carried out kicking violently and screaming. It is a marvel no one Was injured, for on several occasions women, in their desperate resistance a gained ejection, seized hold of chairs, and,“in the wild struggles for tho possession of them, they were raised on high in the manner ift which a chair is used in a public-house brawl. Fortunately the stewards were able to prevent the chairs being used as lethal weapons, and restored them to their legitimate purpose. But the Labor party, as Mr MacDomud remarked grimly to hia chairman (Mr W. U Anderson), will have to pay a heavy bill for broken glues, for the doors cf come of the bookcases in the library were smashed in the Course of tho various struggles, an well as the glass panels of tho doors through which the interrupters were ejected. • . , . It was obvious that the disturbance had been thoroughly organised, and, although there were no doubt some Socialists amongst the interrupters, the majority were suffragists. One of the first interruptions came from a woman, who declared “ Tho Labor party has not kept its pledges.” Interruption followed interruption, and although a good deal of latitude was allowed to the breakers of the peace, patience was exhausted, and woman after woman, and an occasional man, was shown a quick way out of the building It was —A Painful Scene, —

as Mr Mac Donald observed, and the pain of , it was not alleviated when, following this remark from the chairman of the Labor party, a young woman seated near the front shouted out: “I don’t care a hang what you think about it.” Over objurgatory and unladylike language was not considered a breach of the peace, and she was left severely alone, apparently to her great discomfiture. Tho meeting opened at 8 o’clock, and at 20 minutes past the hour Mr .Mac Donald had not mad© much progress with his speech. As nearly as could be estimated about 20 persons had been put out by this time, but suddenly a chorus of discordant calls and highpitched screams were heard outside the door from which, they had been ejected. They were trying to force their way back into the hall j but failed, the police, it is understood, foiling them in the attempt. Still the interruptions went on, always, so far as they could be heard, in the form of a demand for the enfranchisement of women. “You can’t got on unless you give women the vote,” Mr Mac Donald was informed when hj« asserted: “People are still in servitude, especially the women, and no on© has said so more emphatically than myself.” —Mr Mac Donald Defiant.—

But the Chairman of the Labor party stuck to his guns, declaring that if he had to stay there till the House of Commons met at 3 p.m. next day he would finish his address. And he did so. At its close, when questions were invited, a young fellow approached the platform and addressing Mr Mac Donald, said: “Would you' have thought, ten years ago, that such scenes were possible at a Labor meeting?” Mr Mac Donald; I never thought there were eo many fools in the country. (Cheers.) A little later, when the meeting had been declared at at. end, Mr Mac Donald said be could not think of the things he had seen that night without feeling absolutely humiliated. (Interruption, and a votes: “You ought to”) But he was gdifig to boar with things that he simply hated, and that were humiliating and disgusting m the extreme. His duty was to see that the right of public meeting was maintained, and he would do his duty. (Cheers.) He had never in all his life felt more inclined not to appear before an audience again' until this type of insanity had gone ,£>ut of some of the women and ir.cm of the country. “ But my duty is otherwise. We are going to express our opinions”— : (“And so are we!” called out a woman) —“ and the way for other people to express their opinions is to do as we are doing. So far as we are concerned these interrupters, who have declared war upon public speech and free meeting, shall b© regarded as tho enemies of free speech—(loud cheers) —and if they come here or go elsewhere for the purpose of brawling they have no business to object to rough handling when they are being put out,” Questions were invited, but many of those who interrogated Mr Mac Donald seemed to be under the impression that they had a right to deliver a speech. One man violently attacked Mr Mac Donald for not supporting thaJSocialist candidate, and when Hie chairman of the Labor party explained that he had not been asked, the man made a violent snecch, threatened to “ take on the best man ” in the hall, and left tho meeting gesticulating wildly, and calling out: “You axe a pack of dirty dogs.” The meeting was described as a “great I.L.P. rally,” but the attendance was not very great, and Mr MacDonald’s only supporter on the platform was Mr W. 0. Anderson, chairman of the executive of the Labor party.