LEAGUE OF YOUTH AND PROGRESS.

Northern Advocate, 8 January 1920, Page 4

LEAGUE OF YOUTH AND PROGRESS.

BIG BRITISH ORGANISATION

LLOYD GEORGE THE PRESIDENT

In quarrelling as to the road the very purpose of journey is sometimes lost sight of; and yet there is some agreement about the destination. This could not be put more pointedly than by the young soldier who spoke to Mr Ernest Rhys on tn*e pier at Havre. "We are not going back," he said, "after the war to the same old state of things. No, we shall not be satisfied till we have swept away some of the rubbish, and made the world a better place to live in."

THE LEGACY OF THE TRENCHES

But there was more in this utterance than a definite expression of opinion; there was purpose and energy, and the assertion of a claim—the claim of youth to influence that future in which it has the predominating interest. The young soldier spoke for all the soldiers, for the trenches and the battlegrounds have been a university for the study of life and its ideals, personal and social. Most of the soldiers now returned to civil life are eager to realise the first fruits of their crusade in three continents. And they find —what? Disappointment and disillusion. The tremendous, ly powerful forces of inertia are clogging the march of humanity. Lip-ser-vice is being paid to the cry of " a better world," while nothing more than patchwork is being atempted. Nay, the patching is being actually fobbed off as real reconstruction. The crusaders of the army find themselves scattered among the mass, and their I fine impulse lost among minds, that have not been spurred by the lessons of the war.

DIONYSIUS NOW?

The strong tendency for the social machinery to drop into its old routine is disconcerting and depressing, until we realise that we are merely in a state of equilibrium between forces that are static and force s that are dynamic. A litle extra pressure on the latter side > and we shall really be em. barked on high adventure in social and political progress. On the dynamic side stand the demobilised citizen armies; but they do not stand Fresh and strong the world we seize, a band of New Crusaders to ensure alone. There is eagerness, too, among those who have remained civilians during the war—abundance of it.

It only requires leadership and organisation to convert all forwardlooking spirits, men and women, into for civilisation a start on the fairway opened up by the sacrifices of the war. And that leadership and that organisation are offered by the League of Youth and Progress. PIONEERS, 0 PIONEERS. The League has adopted as a watchword the stirring lines of Walt Whitman: "All the past we leave behind, We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world, world of labour and the march, Pioneers, 0 Pioneers!" As the founders of the League regard the contest of forces, it lies between youth and age. But they do not measure youth and age by counting (birthdays, which are merely physical milestones. The distinction, as Mr Oswald Mosley has put it, is between the mind of youth and the mind of age. The latter is a weary organ, inclined for rest, submissive to evils which it has no confidence in its power I to overcome. The former delights in exercise, and refuses to regard anything a s inevitable. Mr Mosley suggests that if the mind of youth ! had prevailed during the years before 1i914, the world's statesmen would not have accepted the inevitability of the war, and their acquiescence in it would not have contributed to the catastrophe. It is this optimistic power of righting against the inevitable that we need now, in order to combat the fatal tendency to compromise with the bad, because it is well established. So it was with a view of organising the buoyancy, the optimism, and the daring idealism of the nation that the League of Youth and Progress was initiated toy Mr J. Aubrey Rees. Concisely put, its aims are to establish a progressive and intellectual force that shall be expressive of the political thought and idealism of the time, that shall seek to translate it— by constitutional methods —into action; and that shall assert the right of youth to a greater voice in the direction of national and imperial affairs. The League i s entirely free from the old political shibboleths, and knows no distinction of party or denomination. It is going to write its history on a clean slate. A glance at its list of officers is sufficient to show that it is being supported in no j partisan spirit. Mr Lloyd George is the President, and among the other names on the list are those of Miss Lena Ashwell, Mr John Glasworthy, Viscount Curzon, Mr P. D. Acland, M.P., Mr John Drinkwater, Captain W. E. Elliott, Mr Oswald Mosley, M.P.„ Dr. Purves, Sir William Seager, MjP., Mr T. Howard Deighton, Mr Cyril Entwistle M.P.. Mr Ernest Rhys, Sir Vincent Evans, Major David Davies, M.P., and Sir Hamar Greenwood. THE NEW CRUSADERS. The League i s housed in a set of chambers in the Temple, overlooking the Temple Gardens and the river, one of the most characteristic spots in the centre of our national life. The associations could hardly he more appropriate for a society of New Cru. saders. The Templars themselves were Crusaders, and since their departure the courts and lanes of the Temple have never lacked the exubrance brilliancy, and hopefulness of youth. In his fine old embrasured room, where he has on the table for inspiration a charming little figure of the Infant Philosopher, Mr Bees

chatted about the League with a representative of "The New Commonwealth." It is evident that the League is going to be very different from a mere dilettante society of people with good intentions. LOOKING AT LIFE. "We are setting up," said Mr Rees, "a bureau of political and social subjects. We want our student s to know what life means, especially to those who have a struggle for livelihood. We want them to know what it is like to work in a coal mine or a cotton factory, and how hard it is to rear children on slender means, and in an unhealthy environment. And we want them to understand what the spectre of unemployment means to the workers. A s to the political side we shall establish a panel of lecturers." "Then you organisation is developing on very broad lines?" A BIG SCHEME. "Yes, and before long we shall have working centres in every large town in Great Britain. The people are ready for us, and, in fact, we are deluged with correspondence from young people anxious to join and help us. Our work is divided into three sections, for each of which there is a National Council. The first, the Re- ! constructional council, is concerned with production, .housing, and nationalisation. Committees are considering these questions, and will submit recommendations to the Political Council. In this way we shall arrive at a national policy of non-party origin, devised to carry out the ideals of the League—that is, the ideals of Youth. The second Council deals with education, and is aiming at a conference in the spring of next year to be attended by pupil-teachers, undergraduates, and the older pupils in the public schools. This council is also preparing a scheme for the teaching of civics. The third is the Political Council, which will receive the recommendations of the other two councils and prepare proposals for legislation.' "That is very comprehenisve and thorough." HANDS ACROSS THE SEA. "Yes, but there is another point, and a very important one—the international side of our work. We are in touch with groups of men in America, Scandinavia, Greece, and the Argentine, and the result will probably be an international conference in 1920 which will definitely help the League of Nations. We are going ',o be the backbone of the League. If things move too slowly we shall use our organisation to expedite them. | We are definitely out for the prevention of war in future t and for general disarmament." "That, then, is your international policy?" "That, and the universal establishment of democratic government. But there are one or. two other things I should like to lay stress on. We want to inspire and stimulate an uplifted social consciousness to build a better Britain by eliminating preventive poverty, by humanising industry and fixing definite standards of life and labour. Through the bureaux we shall encourage young men and women to think out problems for themselves, in order that they may produce leaders, teachers, and workers with trained intelligence, high ideals, and lofty vision. To sum it all up: We wish to emphasise the truth that the hope of the world i s the expression of freedom and personality with regard to the rights of others and j full recognition by the individual to render service to the community in which he lives." Let Youth speak now!