Trade Union Peace Conference

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 303, 20 December 1922, Page 11

Trade Union Peace Conference

Cabled froni ■-'Amsterdam -on Deceniber 11, : tTaat Mr. Arthur Henderson, addressing : - ibis- anteraa/Lional Trsde Union Teoco Conference at The. Hague, said 'that : -peace was most vital to all . . | '-Tlier.o \v«?Ee-* no rwn-eornbaiaiHS Jtu.; modern ; warfare. Won)en and children were exposed to the same risks of j death and mutilation as actual-fight-era. "The federation aimed at prociavn*-1 ing &n ' international strike in the event of war. but the cause of' peacft' would already have bee n .iost if this became : Tiooesssai-y. "Labour believed pcact; was only securable by encouraging every nation to ccelc guarantees of aecurity \vithi)i the League of Nations, which should act, in,.the direction of progressive disarmament. They must demand the inclus'to:i of full recognition of Russia, and also change <hemethods of teaching itfstory, which now glorified mi]iUuy achievements, a.nd ignored the more vital aspects, of: democratic growth. , * This conference ivas convened by ihe lnterna't*ioaijal Federation of Trade Unions- by which invitations to be represented were issued 1o the following organisations ia addition to its affiliat'ons: The American Federation of Labour; the Mexican. Federation of Tl7s.de Unions; the. Japanese Federation of Labour (Nihont Rode Sodomei Mita, Shibaku Tokyo); the Trades Union Congress; the German National Trade Union Centre in j Czechoslovakia (Reichenberg); the jKunvuiiaii Council of Trade Unions; UlO Trade Union Conirair,:ee at Banat; aad the Central 'Commiitbee of the -Hussian Trade Unions. The Gornpers organisation declined. The cost of tho conference was met. by the sale of pe&ce stamps to the Trade Unions throughout Europe. By Octcber 13 over 10,000.000 of these were cold.