American Labor Mission in Europe War Aims of Organized Workers Conveyed to English and French Labor Unions

An American Labor Mission visited England and France in April, 1918, to present the views of American workingmen regarding the war. The delegation numbered eighteen, headed by James Wilson, President of the Patternmakers' League of North America. In his first address at London, April 28, before the British and Foreign Press Association, Mr. Wilson said:

We recognize as a fundamental truth that there can be no democracy with the triumph of the Imperial German Government. The principle of democracy or the principle of Prussian military autocracy will prevail as a result of the world war. There can be no middle course nor compromise. The contest must be carried on to its finality.

The Central Powers have staked everything on the result of this struggle. Their defeat means the destruction of a machine which has been built with remarkable efficiency and embodies the very life of the German race.

On the other hand, every free man instinctively appreciates that if we are to maintain the standard of civilization as worked out by the free men of the world, and if posterity is to be guaranteed political and industrial freedom, the war must be won by the allied countries. Peace now would be the fulfillment of the Prussian dream, for they have within their grasp the very heart of Continental Europe and resources which would make sure further conquest upon the other nations of the world.

The American labor movement, in whose behalf my colleagues and myself have been authorized to speak, declare most emphatically that they will not agree to a peace conference with the enemies of civilization, irrespective of what cloak they wear, until Prussian militarism has withdrawn within its own boundaries, and then not until the Germans have, through proper representatives, proved to our satisfaction that they recognize the right of peoples and civilized nations to determine for themselves what shall be their standard.

Unless reconstruction shall soon come from the German workers within that country, it is now plain that the opportunity to uproot the agencies of force will only come when democracy has defeated autocracy in the military field and wins the right to reconstruct the relations between nations and men.

German freedom is ultimately the problem of the German people, but the defeat of Prussian autocracy in the field will bring the opportunity for German liberty at home.

BRITISH SEAMEN'S ATTITUDE

J. Havelock Wilson, President of the British Seamen's Union, conferred with the American Mission at London, April 30, and informed it of the decision of his union to transport no pacifists to any peace conference. He made the following statement:

On Sept. 21, 1917, we formed what we called a Merchant Seamen's League, and declared that if German terrorism on the sea continued we would enforce a boycott against Germany for two years after the war, and that for every new crime from that time on we would add one month to the length of the boycott. The length of the boycott now stands at five years seven months. We have reliable information that this action is making a very profound impression on German manufacturers and shippers.

The British seamen got their first intimation of German treachery when the international transport strike was first proposed by German delegates ostensibly to pledge support. But the British learned later that the German delegates had in their pockets as they talked contracts signed with employers.

After that we watched the German Social Democrats in the Socialists' international. But we never could get the Germans to face the issue. Always they had excuses and evasions. We never had confidence in them. When war came we felt it our duty to take care of the men on our ships who could no longer sail, and also to set a good example.

Here were Germans on our ships who had been in England so long that they had forgotten their language. On Aug. 20, 1914—you see we acted quickly—we bought an estate of thirty-nine acres and built the model internment camp of Great Britain. We asked the Government to give us charge of all interned German sailors, and, let it be known to the credit of Great Britain, that was done. The Government allowed us all 10s. per week per man for upkeep. The camp became a great success. There were 1,000 German sailors interned in it.

Until May, 1915, all went well. On May 1 the interned men celebrated May Day, their international revolutionary holiday. They had their banners, "Workers of the World, Unite," "World Brotherhood," and so on. We had planned a great fÊte to be held later and I had secured the consent of several well-known persons to attend and help make it a success. On May 7 the Lusitania was sunk. I called the Germans in camp together and told them the terrible thing that had happened. I told them they were not to blame, but that the celebration could not be held. And they made no protest to me.

Now here were 1,000 Germans not under control of the Kaiser. Some of them had been among us twenty or thirty years. As soon as I had got out of the place they sang and cheered and rejoiced over the Lusitania disaster. They kept this up for four hours. They made me conclude that the camp must be handed over to the military as soon as possible, and this was done. Six months after that came the U-boat campaign, and, what made that worse, the fact that the U-boats always turned their guns on open boats.

I have got hundreds of cases of boys whose arms and legs have been blown off by U-boat guns while trying to get away from sinking ships in open boats. I wrote the Secretary of the International Transport Workers' Union protesting against these crimes. His reply attempted to justify every crime. That showed us that not only was the Kaiser responsible, but that the organized trade union movement of Germany was also responsible.

On June 1, 1917, a Socialist congress was convened at Leeds. It was advertised as the greatest conference ever held. We sent two men there to tell our story. Our men found that small bodies of only a handful of members had been delegated, who got the floor easily for the pacifist cause. Our men could not secure anything like a fair chance.

In this conference MacDonald, Fairchild, and Jowett were elected delegates to Stockholm. We at once resolved that no delegates should leave this country. And none did.

That is the history of the seamen's determination to bottle up such British pacifists as may desire to go abroad spreading their doctrine. Mingled with it is the grim, sad story of 12,000 members of the Seamen's Union who have lost their lives on merchant ships through Germany's criminal conduct on the seas.

And while there is here and there one in England who resembles a leader of labor who is a pacifist, the determination of the British seamen to go through with the war to the finish is scarcely more than a reflection of the rank-and-file spirit that is to be found throughout the whole of British labor.

NO PARLEYS WITH ENEMY LABOR

The American delegates met the representatives of labor in London and in Paris. In England they found the sentiment almost unanimous in approval of their decision to favor no conferences with German labor representatives until a victory had been achieved. In France, however, they encountered a group that favored contact with the German and Austrian Socialists. On May 6 there was a conference in Paris between the American labor delegates and the members of the Confederation GÉnÉrale de Travail, the great French revolutionary labor organization. M. Jouhaux, General Secretary of the confederation, made the proposed international conference practically the sole note of his speech. France, he asserted, had no hatred for the German workers themselves, and he pointed out that if the conference took place it could have only one of two results. Either the workers in the enemy countries would refuse to join in the efforts of the workers of the allied countries for the liberation of the world's peoples, in which case the war must continue, or they would accept the allied view of what was right and would act with the allied peoples for the good of humanity.

The American reply was in these definite words:

"We don't hate the German workers any more than you do, but to give them our hand now would be looked upon by them only as a sign of weakness."

After reminding the congress of the hypocritical professions of the German Socialist Party before the war, the delegation declared itself in entire agreement with Samuel Gompers that American labor men would refuse to meet the German delegates under any circumstances so long as Germany was ruled by an Imperialistic Government. This declaration left Albert Thomas, former Cabinet officer and leader of the group, practically without a word to say. M. Thomas urged the same arguments as Jouhaux, but all the satisfaction the French labor men got was a promise from James Wilson, President of the American delegation, to report the matter to the American workers when he returned home.

Chairman Wilson reaffirmed at a luncheon given at the Foreign Office May 10 that American labor would not discuss the war with representatives of German labor until victory was won, because German labor, which was permitting the war, must do something itself in its own country toward ending the conflict justly before it could debate with labor representatives of the allied countries on what ought to be.

The luncheon was given by Stephen Pichon, Foreign Minister, on behalf of the French Government. With the exception of Premier Clemenceau, all the members of the Cabinet were present as well as other men notable in French public life. Ambassador Sharp was also in attendance.

The mission visited the fighting front and returned to London May 11 to hold mass meetings at English industrial centres. The members were received by the King and dined by the London Chamber of Commerce May 15.

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