of the earth by the Germans. I do not complain about that, because it may be an act of war, but what I do complain about is that the German trade union movement and the International Secretariat (of which the Serbian and Belgian trade unionists are a part) have never raised a voice of protest. It is a most extraordinary thing to me that while the German trade unionists claim to be democrats and socialists, yet the only autocratic powers in the world today are the central powers, and the Governments of Germany and Austria are backed to a man by the trade union movement of their respective countries. There can be no liberty for the trade union movement in the event of inconclusive peace or a victory for the arms of the central powers.

"The war has been a terrible tragedy to every movement in the world. I speak for the Management Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions when I say that we believe that only when the German military machine is smashed beyond all possibility of repair will it be possible for free men, free peoples and free nations to breathe the atmosphere of liberty. Until that is done the existence, the life and the well being of our trade union movement hangs in the balance. And so our money, our influence, our industrial and political power shall be used to assure that the great democratic movement of the world shall not be called upon by men or by governments to undergo the hell of torture, suffering and sacrifice that it has undergone during the last three years."

Secretary Appleton explained the reasons for the calling of this conference at this particular time, going into detail regarding the international situation, and explaining the present affiliation of the International.

The labor movements of the following countries are at present affiliated: Great Britain, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Spain, Austria Bosnia, Herzgovina, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Switzerland, Italy, United States of America.

The General Federation's Attitude Toward Conferences with Belligerent Nations.

The following statement of the attitude of the General Federation of Trade Unions to conferences with belligerent nations was then submitted by Secretary Appleton and translated to the Continental delegates:

"The General Federation of Trade Unions has never deviated from its attitude toward the origin and enemy conduct of the war and toward the various proposals for peace conferences which, during the last three years, have emanated from different groups in different countries.

"It has held throughout that no such conference. including representatives of enemy countries, could meet without discussing, in the spirit of recrimination, the origin of the war and the unusual brutalities perpetrated in Belgium, France and Serbia. Obviously such discussions would embitter rather than relieve the situation in which International Trade Unionism found itself.

"The General Federation has consistently opposed any attempt to exclude, even by inference, the trade union movements of the colonies from conferences and discussions. It has held also that the entry of the United States of America into the struggle against the Central Powers introduced new factors and placed new responsibilities upon the trade union movements, both in Great Britain and her colonies. The incoming of America emphasized the moral factors operating against the Germanic powers, and established her right to participate in any conference called to consider programmes or to determine peace

terms.

"Further than this, the Management Committee has always been

alive to the fact that all the nations engaged in the war will determine to discuss peace terms from the national rather than from the party point of view, and that the partisan, pressing his own ideas to the exclusion of all others, might do much to retard peace, and might even help to bring about the defeat of those countries where democracy is a factor rather than a name. Such a result would not help democracy, but might easily involve the destruction of institutions and cultures which, by comparison with Germany, are liberal and free.

"Least of all has the Federation desired to hamper Russia in her efforts at regeneration. Neither foreign bayonets, nor foreign panaceas, nor frutiless discussions, nor fulsome compliments can establish higher standards of conduct, of happiness, or of liberty in this unhappy land. Sympathy she needs, sympathy she has, but her salvation can only be won by her own brain and blood, and ordered effort. To encourage contrary assumptions is to do Russia a great dis-service. Unpleasant as it undoubtedly is, the truth may awaken and save Russia, but she must awaken soon if she is to escape the reimposition of an autocratic regime. From the Romanoff to the Hohenzollern will not be a satisfactory ending of the revolution.

"It has been held that general conferences of the workers of belligerent nations should be held because the Russian Government desired them. This contention is disputed, but if it were true, it should not be accepted merely because it has been advanced. American, British, French and Italian democracies possess that intelligence and experience which justifies them in determining their own action and they would not necessarily be either unkind or unwise in declining to accept the determinations of people pre-occupied with revolution and compelled to make many doubtful experiments in the business of governing a nation.

"The Management Committee has difficulty in understanding the value of general conferences before the representatives of allied countries are agreed upon the objectives of such conferences or without being sure of the possibilities or the conditions of German participation. Even today the only specific terms of peace that have been stated are those emanating from the allied countries. Germany has hitherto dealt in generalities and has measured her demands by the extent of European territory she has been able to occupy. She has offered no definite statements concerning evacuation, restitution and reparation. If members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany were permitted to attend at a general conference, they possess no power, nor is there any proof that they possess the inclination to discuss terms of peace other than those outlined by their Government. Even if they did discuss less onerous conditions, they are powerless to enforce either in their own Parliament or in their own country any conclusions reached by any general conference.

"The confusion which exists concerning international conferences is both lamentable and expensive. Recently we have had Russia demanding a mandatory conference, Great Britain insisting that it should be consultative only, France insisting upon the discussion of the origin of the war, while Germany declines to attend any conference which makes the origin and conduct of the war a serious point of discussion. The formula, 'No indemnities and no annexations,' needs definition and explanation before it can be discussed seriously. It ignores the point of view of the self-governing colonies, and its adoption by Britain would immediately antagonize Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. All the friends of Germany know this, and to involve Britain in conflict with her colonies would be for them a diplomatic triumph of the first magnitude.

"It is obvious that general conferences of belligerents must be preceded by general understanding amongst the Allies, and that these conferences must takę cognizance of all the facts affecting the unofficial but effective Anglo-Saxon confederation.

“An attempt to reach a general understanding of the trade unionists affiliated to the International Secretariat was made at Leeds in July, 1916. The conclusions then reached have been adopted even by the belligerent nations, and they offer the most reasonable basis for further trade union effort.

"In opposing the various proposals for conferences to be held in Stockholm and in Berne, the Federation has been actuated by the sincerest desire to avoid embittering a deplorable situation. Neither hostility to other organizations nor desire to continue war for war's own sake, has influenced its decisions or colored its publications. It has, without thought of advantage or disadvantage to its own present or future, taken the facts of the situation as they appear, analyzed them and corrected its impressions by the experiences gained during its fifteen years' official association with the international trade union movement. Its conclusions have been given to its members and events have hitherto justified its foresight and its action and saved both the money and the reputations of its members. Up to the present it sees no reason to depart from the policy it has consistently pursued during the war.

"(Signed)

MR. J. O'GRADY, J. P., M. P.

(Chairman) Furnishing Trades Association.

MR. JOSEPH CROSS, J. P.,

(Vice-Chairman) Northern Counties Weavers.

COL. JOHN WARD, J. P., M. P.,

(Treasurer) Navvies, Builders, and General Laborers.

MR. JAS. CRINION, J. P.,

(Trustee) Amalgamated Card and Blowing Room Operatives.

MR. ALLEN GEE, J. P.,

(Trustee) Yorkshire Textile Workers.

COUNCILLOR ALEXANDER WILKIE, J. P., M. P.,

(Trustee) Associated Shipwrights.

MR. J. N. BELL, J. P.,

National Amalgamated Union of Labor.

MR. F. BIRCHENOUGH, J. P.,

Amalgamated Cotton Spinners.

MR. BEN COOPER,

Cigar Makers' Mutual Association.

COUNCILLOR IVOR H. GWYNNE, J. P.,

Tin and Sheet Millmen.

MR. BEN TILLETT,

Dock, Wharf and Riverside Workers.

COUNCILLOR T. MALLALIEU,

Amalgamated Felt Hatters' Union,

COUNCILLOR ALF. SHORT,

Boilermakers and Iron and Steel Shipbuilders.

MR. T. F. RICHARDS,

Boot and Shoe Operatives.

MR. JOHN TAYLOR, J. P.,

Midland Counties Federation.

September 10, 1917.

"W. A. APPLETON, Secretary."

AGENDA
1

Declaration of the Management Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions, as per attached circular.

2

Resolution No. I

"That the National Centers of the countries, together with different National Federations affiliated to the International Trade Union Secretariat, confirm the resolution already adopted in 1915 by the General Federation of Trade Unions of Great Britain, the American Federation of Labor, and the Confederation Generale du Travail, to press for and to obtain the transfer of the Secretariat of International Trade Unionism to a neutral country; the administrative work of the Secretariat being assured and controlled by an executive representative of each country affiliated. The Conference decides that this measure is rendered necessary by the war, and that its consummation is in the highest and future interests of the world's workers."

Resolution No. 2

"The Conference considers that the finish of hostilities will reveal an accumulation of new rights of workers; it demands that social progress shall be effective and international, and fully realize conclusion that 'the worker is a citizen of the world.' It demands that the workers in very country endeavor by similar and concerted action to compel the acceptance, by the governments of the Entente, of the workers' program, adopted in Leeds in 1916, and it declares that this program must be inserted-as the workers' charter-in the future treaty of peace. The Conference asks that the workers in every country will concentrate upon the same measures and aim at the same goals.

"The Conferences desiring that on all great questions affecting the future of the world's workers, all necessary measures should be taken to secure understanding and concerted action, instructs the Bureau of Correspondence to make translations of, and in all languages, to comment upon, the resolutions adopted at the Conference, and at the same time to follow and note all the efforts and successes that become operative in each country.”

3

WAR AIMS

Points to Be Discussed

1. That peace must result in the abolition of all militarism, not only in Germany, but in all other countries.

2. That there shall be suppression of all secret diplomacy in the relationship between peoples; democratic principles must tomorrow rule national and international relationships, and the people must have exact knowledge of the responsibilities and engagements made in their name.

3. That there shall be complete restoration of liberty and independence to all the nationalities violated and oppressed.

life.

4. That there shall be neither annexations, nor any mutilation of national

5. That in the future there shall be freedom of trade traffic and commerce. 6. In order to perpetuate a state of peace the Conference demands the

organization of an International, having as its basic principle equality of right for all nations great and small.

7. To enforce the assent of nations to these principles and to assure the continuance of peace it is indispensable that there shall, at the end of hostillities, be constituted a "League of Nations," instead of any division of the people into two federations distinct and hostile.

8. The Constitution of the "League of Nations" or of the "United States of the World" must be completed by the institution of "Compulsory Arbitration" and the provision for means of settling pacifically all international conflicts. Each state must have the right of appeal the tribunal sets, up, and each state must be under obligation to submit to its decisions.

9. The Conference declares in favor of a limitation of armaments, not as an effort to secure equilibrium, but as a measure precedent to general international disarmament.

10. Declares that all these necessary measures cannot be secured unless the workers of every country unite in a workers' international and seek to realize and secure their aims in a truly international spirit.

11. In the spirit of the aforesaid propositions, the Conference, following the declaration of President Wilson "that peace must mark the advent of the society of nations," declares that all the efforts of workers in democratic countries must themselves strive for that principle of the society of nations which has already been partly realized, and press for the creation of treaties between the countries of the Entente, which must include clauses ensuring that all conflicts arising between any signatories shall be dealt with by the international tribunal representative of all the contracting nations.

4

Democratic Representation on Peace Commissions

"The Conference places on record its appreciation of the sacrifices made and the losses endured by the working men and women of all the Entente countries. It considers that these sacrifices and losses have purchased right to direct representation from every country on any commission which meets to discuss or detremine terms and conditions of peace, and it instructs the Federation of each Entente country to press upon their governments the necessity of an immediate acceptance of this request."

The Serbian Outlook

M. Novakovitch (a Serbian delegate), said that, of course, he was a champion of trade unionism, but he looked upon it as part of the Socialist movement. The object of all of their efforts was Socialism, and Socialism would be helped forward by the trade union organizations. The Chairman had said that the Conference was not a political but an economic gathering. He would have them bear in mind that so far as the Balkan Peninsula was concerned the political situation was far and away more important and urgent than the economic situation. However, he would endeavor to conform with the spirit of the gathering, and as far as the restricted scope of the subject would allow he would speak mainly from the trade union point of view. The movement in Serbia began to considerably develop after 1903. By that time the system of government had become more democratic, but the working classes of Serbia, insofar as they could take any action at all, had to concentrate on acquiring the necessary liberty to form trade unions and to take a share in the economic development of the country. A very great struggle was the consequence of their attempt to form trade unions, but they had succeeded, and succeeded in a large Before the war there were something like 40,000 trade unionists in

measure.