SOCIALISTS IN CONFERENCE

Otago Witness, Issue 3337, 27 February 1918, Page 16

SOCIALISTS IN CONFERENCE

The French Government is not obstructing the attendance of Labour delegates- to the London Inter-Allied Conference. The delegates have received a mandate to favour returning the occupied colonies to their pre-war owners; also favouring an economic "open door" policy. The General Confederation of Labour demands a referendum in Alsace-Lorraine as to its future, under the guarantee of an international commission. The real business of the Inter-Allied Labour Socialist Conference has been postponed, owing to the non-arrival of French, Italian, t and Serbian delegates. Only Britain, Belgium, and Rumania were represented. Mr Ogden (chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade "Union Congress), who presided, described the gather mg as unique. It was the first evidence of the workers' determination to take a deciding part in the war. The Inter-Allied. Socialist Labour Conference decided to emphatically repudiate the suggestion that the conference is under German influence. * It is understood that the principle of a leaguo of nations was approved, but there was a cleavage of opinion oh the question of territorial adjustments. The' Inter-Allied Socialist Conference agreed to a memorandum on the war aims, declaring that the peoples in Europe were the chief sufferers by the war. though not responsible for its outbreak. The invasion mf Belgium and France threatened . the very existence of independent nationalities, and struck a blow at the faith of treaties. Therefore a victorious German imperialism would mean the defeat and destruction of European democracy and liberty. The Socialists were not warring with the Austro-Gcrman peoples, but with the Governments who opposed them. While inflexibly resolved to fight until the_ task of liberation was achieved, the Socialists opposed our conquest. The conference appointed Mr Henderson, Mr Albert Thomas, and Mr Vandevelde a commission to endeavour to secure from the Allied Governments an agreement that at least one of Labour Socialism would participate in the Peace Conference. The Inter-Allied Socialist Conference agreed to the suppression of secret diplomacy and to the placing of the foreign policy in the hands of a leaguo of nations. The commission which is considering territorial adjustments is unable to reach any thine like unanimity. The British trade union delegates have entered a vigorous protest against some of the proposed territorial adjustments. They ridicule the French .proposals regarding the German colonies. 9 M. Vandcrvekle, the Belgian Minister, who presided, declared: "We cannot ignore the fact that the" Bolsheviks are discredited. , Russia is international and Socialist, but we must not forget what the Russian revolution has done for internationalism and Socialism. The great lesson derived is that democracy would commit an mistake by throwing away arms before imperialism was defeated." The Inter-Allied Socialist Conference decisions included the following clause regarding the, colonies: —"That the return of colonies to their pre-war possessors, > or such exchange and compensations as might be effected, should not impede the making of peace. Those colonies that have been taken by conquest from any belligerent must bo made the subject of special consideration at a peace conference to which representatives of communities in their neighbourhood will be entitled to take part. By a clause in the treaty of peace on their part they must secure economic equality in such territories for the peoples of all nations, and thereby guarantee that none be shut out from legitimate access to raw materials and prevented from disposing of their own products or deprived of their proper share of economic development." After an all-day discussion, the French Socialist National Council voted by 1548 to 415 in favour of war credits being continued to be voted in the Chamber of Deputies. The National Labour Conference overwhelmingly accepted the British Labour programme for Wednesday's London Conference, with two amendments —the first condemning a capitalist colonial policy and insisting on self-government for all peonies who have a sufficient degree of civilisation ; and the second demanding the restitution of Alsace-Lorraine, this being regarded as not a question of territory, but of right. M. Vandervelde (Belgian Socialist), interviewed by Petit Journal, discussing the

Continental Socialists' general agreement with British Labour's war aims, said:

"We shall submit a formula for a democratic peace to the Socialists of the Central Empires, and if they reject or refuse to impose it on their Emperors we shall then have arrived at a state of bankruptcy of ideas." Mr Arthur Henderson, M.P., who with Mr Ramsay Macdonald is attending the Labour Socialist Conference in> Paris, has been interviewed. He said ho. had succeeded in smoothing out many difficulties ■with the French and Italians. "We agreed," he said, "that a workers' conference jwas necessary in order that it might act simultaneously with the conference of the Governments. Only thus will it bo possible to secure a people's peace. International 00-opcration must replace international aggression."