Pioneer

Mid-Rhondda Ballot. MARDY JONES RUNS WATTS-MORGAN A TIGHT RACE. The subjoined official result of the final ballot for a miners" candidate for the East Rhondda Parliamentary Division, although giving a result that. we should have liked to see reversed, shows a substantial minority group of Socialists exist- ant in the Division that will be turned into a majority by the transference of 300 votes: a comparatively negligible number in these days of wholesale conversion to sane economies. We congratulate A lardy Jones on the popularity that the figures reveal, and remind him that the impending election is not for ever, and that he is a. com para tire vouth still. Lodges. Mardy Jones. Watts-Morgan Caerlan 22 21 Cilely HI 4.5 Clydach le 110 82 CViercae 113 87 Cynimer Steam 339 847 Cvrame'- H. C. 44 56 Ferndale 1,075 1,074 Ha fod 274 262 Lady Lewis 507 242 Lewis Merthyr 297 352 Llwynypia Steam 162 499 Llwynypia H.C. 34 30 Mardy 935 5.59 National 188 721 Naval 834 842 Penygraig H.C. 6 8 Standard 376 426 Tyloistown 1,345 1,250 6,814 7,403.

Theatre Royal I doubt whether we have had such a splendid drama so well played in Merthyr before as we have in Elinor Glyn's Three Weeks that is being presented at the Royal this week. Per- sonally I never thought that the book could he adapted to produce such a charming piece of work for the stage, and I want to set on record my personal thanks for a splendid evening's en- tertainment to Ro." Horniman, the adopter, and the fine players whom Leon Vint has brought along to interpret the work. The reception ac- corded the artistes on Monday, and each show sinc e, w as a fine tribute that can best be appre- ciated by those who know that Merthyr audi- ences are amongst the most critical and unde- monstrative in the British Isles. But Miss Jane Wood as Sonia." and Air. E. J. Hast, as the "Englishman," gave us work that will rank with anything in the history of the stage, and the supernumary artistes were one and all perfect players, with the hall-marks of the best schools of dramatic art. stamped deep on all they did. The whole thing is distinctive, and anyone who misses seeing Three Weeks at the Royal is to be commiserated with. For next. week the management have booked Leila zmwood's two dramas, A Boy's Best Friend." and "The Broken Rosary." Miss Zill- wood has a fine reputation of staging a good piece adequately and well, and with two favour- ites such as these down for showing we may look forward with interest to next week's visit. By the way. I would remind my readers that the houses will start a quarter of an hour earlier ill. each case. PLAYGOER.

(Contilined from Page 1). branches have been formed. The memoersliip reported by the Branches for January last was 90 per cent, higher than for March of last year. These figures but inadequtaely indicate the great revival of activity which has stirred the Party' during the la.st twelve months. When so many of our branches have achieved such highly creditable results, it might perhaps be invidious to select any particular branch for special refer- ence, but in the place in which this Conference meets I shall be pardoned if I offer the congra- tulations of the Party to our Leicester Branch upon its remarkable progress during the year, which has brought it to the proud position of the premier branch of the Party. A REVIEW OF THE YEAR. Many events have happened during the year upon which one is tempted to offer some com- ment. but the necessity of explaining once more ,oiii, views on the supreme question of peace makes it impossible on this occasion to do more than give a passing reference to some of these important events. The Representation of the People Act has embodied in legislation some of those political reforms for which the Independ- ent Labour Party has agitated for the last 25 vears. It is a matter of keen satisfaction to those of us who have helped the women in their struggle for political enfranchisement to be able to congratulate them upon the achieve- ment of a substantial, if incomplete, measure or ■enfranchisement. We welcome the women as ■co-partners in the exercise of the political power. We do so not only because this is an act of simple justice, but because we believe that the help of women in political work will be an invaluable advantage to all those causes and re- forms with which a democratic party is cen- (nl. PASSING PHASE OF THE MOMENT. I I address this Annual Conference under cir- cumstances of unparalleled difficulty. The mili- tary situation on the Western Front has for the time being made one indisposed to adopt the critical attitude. The appalling slaughter fils us all with feelings of anguish and pity. Mil- lions of homes in the land are to-day in dread of the news that their loved ones have been taken away. No human imagination can pic- ture, no tongue can describe the sorrow and suffering which is being endured to-day. Our hearts go out in sympathy to all who are in anxiety and grief. But in spite of the natural feeling of depression we all feel, I believe, that the best service we can render to those who are exposed to death and to those who anguish and <rieve a.t home is still to point out the only possible way out of this terrible situation. The present military crisis will, I sincerely hope. be only very brief, and that the immediate arrest, of the advance of the enemy will again create a situation free from panic where the n oiee oi reason may appeal for peace. In what I say this morning I am dealing with the real issues of the war, and not with the passing phase of the moment. STATEMANSHIP IN 1917. I I desli-e to briefly review the statesmanship ,anù diplomacy of the last year, and to outline the policy which I think ought. to be pursued uninfluenced by the emotions of a temporary it.,uation. & 1917-1918 FROM MILITARY STANDPOINT. I The practical results of the terrible battle which has now rwpn raging on the Western Front for the last- -ten days are still uncertain, but the indications seem to point to a conclu- sion similar to that which ha,s resulted from all the previous offensives which have been under- taken by the respective sides. A year ago the British Commander-in-Chief announced a coming offensive which was to break the enemy lines and achieve a decisive result before the end ot the last summer. That offensive was under- t.aken with the aid of all jxissible military equip- ment and of men whose courage and vatour and endurance have justly won universa l recognition, -and yet to-day the position of the British forces on the Western Front is behind the lines they occupied nearly two years ago. From the point '.of view of achieving a military success which would be decisive, the tremendous, efforts and incalculable sacrifices have been in vain. The enemy lines, in the words of Mr. Lloyd George. remain an impenetrable barrier to the pro- gress of the Allied armies. What is the obvious lesson to be learned from these exper'ences f It is that the evolution of warfare has now reached such a stage of devel- opment that. where well-equipped military powers face each other with all the machinery •of present-day warfare no decisive military vic- tory appears to be possible. If this be the fact, as the three and a-halt yean, experience of. this war seems to indicate, then militarism, as every ^vil thing eventually does, has reached a. stage followed )). i.t, of developed maturity which is lollowed >\ its own destruction. The experience oi this war rightly understood should force us to the eom »c- tion that military power is no longer an instru- ment capable of effectively serving the purposes -of aggressive Imperialism. if the honest aim oi the belligerents has been to destroy military power, that jmrpose has clearly been accom- plished already by the failure of military effort in this war. The facte of the situation plainly prove that the science and equipment of war have now readied such a stage of effectiveness in defence that no great nation can employ this means with the hope of success, but only with the certainty that if a war on a great scale is ,c,ont,Inued, it can only end in the utter ruin of all the belligereno tengaged in it. NOT LEARNfD. L I 1 I But this obvious lesson wtmn cut experience, of this war should have taught the governors ot the belligerent nations has apparently not been learned by them. Both s ides still persist in con- tinuing the struggle, recklessly expending the manhood of the nations in the enterprise, ap- parently controlled by the recklessness of tin1 gambler. After one or two lapses into what ap- peared to be a rather more reasonable frame of mind, the British Prime Minister has definitely reverted to the policy of the "Knock-out Blow. It is now sixteen months since the Central Powers made a definite offer to enter a Confer- sence for the discussion of terms of peace. This was interpreted by Mr. Lloyd (reorge as the -evidence of the impending collapse of the enemy and the offer was contemptuously de- scribed as a squeal for peace. The noble effort made by the Pope to induce the belligerents to try to settle the war by conference was treated -by the Allies with a contemptuous indifference. Every subsequent approach by the enemy has been repulsed, misrepresented, or ignored. When the Austrian Foreign Minister, and in a lesser degree, the German Chancellor, accepted a con- sidemble part of the su?estions of PreMdeot Wilson, their advance was met by the rebuff of the Versailles Council declaration, which gr-ly nu, srepresonted the facts and announced the determination of the Allies to continue the war to a military decision. The German an- swers to Versailles are the military peace im- posed on Russia and the offensive on the Western .Front. When Lord Lansdowne pub- lished his first letter appealing for the exercise of a little reason, he was denounced as a traitor by the Press, and the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer described his interference as mischiev- ous. SOME HIDDEN REASON. I cannot. believe that the statesmen of the Allied Powers can be so indifferent. or callous about the terrible daughter of humanity which j the prosecution of the war involves that they desire to prolong the war unnecessarily if their aims can be secured without, such further Sacri- fices. There must, therefore, be some reason which they themselves do not or dare not avow, which j) re vents them from giving a sympathetic response to the repeated peace overtures which have come from the Central Powers. The ex- planation of this is obvious. It is that the Al- ,e.s insist upon the prosecution of the war in the hope of a. military/victory, and reject all proposals for' peace negotiations, because they are committed to aims which they know it is impossible to secure unless they are in a position to dictate terms to a completely vanquished foe. We have never had from any of the statesmen of the Allied Powers an honest public statement of their real war aims. Their public declarations have been misleading. The three conditions of peace laid down by Mr. Lloyd George in, his speech to the Trade Union Conference in Janu- ary are conditions which could, months ago, have been agreed upon by all the belli- gerent powers if they had been the conditions on which the Allied Powers were willing to conclude a treaty of peace. But the real aims of the Allied Powers are not embodied in these three conditions, but in the Secret Treaties to which the Allies are committed, and which we have been repeatedly assured by the Government still stand in their entirety from which the British Government has no intention to recede. So long as the Allies pursue the aims to which they are committed by these Secret Treaties peace negotiations are im- possible. The aims embodied in these Secret Treaties violate every one of the principles of a peace settlement enunciated in the public de- clarations of British statesmen and the Ameri- can President. They violate the principle that Treaty obligations should be landing, that ter- ritorial settlements must be based upon the right of self-determination, and that some in- ternational organisation to limit the burden of armaments and to diminish the probability of war. should be establisshed. In the terms of these Secret Treaties, our Treaty obligations, for instance, to protect the national independ- ence of Albania is treated as a scrap of paper. Populations are to be handed over like cattle to Governments of alien race, and foreign terxi- tories are to be transferred to the Allied Powers by force, and are to be held in the future by the maintenance of military power. No peace is possible until all these Secret Treaties, made without the knowledge of the peoplet- of the re- spective countries, and utterly at variance with every principle for which the people themselves support the war; no peace is pos»sible until fSL»e Secret Treaties have been absolutely re- pudiated. And with the repudiation of these Secret Treaties the statesmen resjionsible for making them must be driven from power and influence and deprived of any opportunity for again abusing the trust and responsibility which they have enjoyed. The repudiation of the Secret Treaties is the first and essential step towards making peace negotiations possible. THE WAR SITUATION. The war situation to-day. more serious and more hopeless than ever, is one for which Allied statemanship is in the main responsible. Ilie incredible ignorance of our Government has lost Hussia for the Allies, has given Ge-rmany enor- mous political and economic power in the Ejast, and has liberated vast military forces to be em- ployed on other Fronts. The Russian Revolu- tion provided the Allied Governments with a great opportunity for proving the genuineness of their professions of Democratic faith. From the beginning the Russian revolution was treated with a coldness which chilled the hopes of the Russian Democracy. The mild expressions of approval with which the Allied Governments greeted the first Russian revolution were turned into open hostility when it hfeanu- apparent after the second revolution that it was' an economic as well as a political revolution. It was well known, at the time of the first revolu- Lion, t-ii-it Russia, as Mr. Kerensky so pathe- tically declared, was militarilly exhausted, a.nd wiv quite incapable of rendering any further effective military aid. But the Russian revolu- tionaries had no desire to desert the Allies. They did n it want, a separate peace, but they must have peace, and they endeavoured to in- duct the Allies to join with them in obtaining a. genera I P('H'P of a democratic character. The Pact of London had two sides. If Russia were 'I bound by that Pact not to desert her Allies, ?er A)iie? were cqu;)Dv bound to realise the situation in Russia and to help to save the i-evo- hinon. To save the Russian revohttion would have been to save world democracy. The re- vol utionary Government of Russia enunciated their historic formula* of no annexations and no indemnities, and the right of .self-determination. Knowing of the existence of the Secret Treaties, the Russian Government appealed to the Allies to revise their war a ims. They pressed for a conference for this purpose. The Allies dallied, promised, refused. Instead of generously meet- ing the request of Russia, which was in har- itioiin- with their own public declarations, they sent a, bogus deputation to Russia to urge the continuance of military effort upon an exhausted and weary people. They pressed upon M. Kerenskv's Government an offensive which they knew Russia was unable to cany through suc- cessfully. They refused to permit the Socialists of the Allied countries to go to Stockholm to endeavour to get agreement among the Social- ists of all the belligerent nations. CENTRAL AND ALLIED RESPONSES. Disappointed with the response from the Al- lied Governments, the Russian revolutionaries appealed to the democracies of the enemy and Allied countries. The, Austrian and German de- mocracies responded with great popular de- monstrations, demanding peace, and two Ger- man Chancellors were overthrown by the in- fluence of the popular feeling in that (country. The German Reichstag adopted a resolution by a large majority accepting the Russian formula1 of peace without annexations and without in- demnities. A similar resolution subsequently moved in the British House of Commons re- ceived only thirty-four votes in the Division Lobby. That was the response of British Demo- cracy to the Russian appeal. Russia, deserted in her helplessness by the Allied Governments, was driven unwillingly to meet the Central Powers in Conference. They still did not want a. separate peace. The Conference with the Central Powers at Brest Litovsk provided an- other opportunity for the Allied Goviernment to join in peace negotiations on the basis of the Russian formula. That opportunity, like pre- vious opportunities, was not accepted, and Rus- sia was left at the mercy of the victorious power of Germany. The Peace Treaty which Russia has oeen unwillingly compelled to sign is an il- lustration of the results and the futility of a military victory. If the Alilie-, had accepted the invitation to join in the peace negotiations a.t Brest, Russia, supported by their authority and power, would have been able to secure a peace treaty of a "ery differcnt character. The teams which Germany has imposed upon Russia are of the character which a victorious military power will always compel a helpless and defeated foe to accept, but there is no finality in such a treaty of peace. It is but a truce, and the fact that the Revolutionary Government is now pre- paring to resist this treaty is evidence of its inconclusive and temporary character. We are glad to learn that the German Socialists. Major- ity and Minority alike, have denounced the Russian Treaty, and that they have refused to regard it as a permanent settlement. A GREAT OPPORTUNITY. I It seems at the moment, in view oi the mili- tary situation, with the German Militarists in- toxicated with the successes of their army, al- most futile to talk of peace negotiations. But. the situation will quickly change, and t.he next few weeks will in all probability provide the greatest opportunity of the war for an appeal to reason and commonsense. When the acute stages of this battle is past, when a deadlock is reached once more, when the futility of these stupendous efforts and incalculable sacrifices is realised, surely that grett, body of opinion in all the belligerent countries which ctesires peace will be able to speak with greater acceptance and with practical effect. The present Gov- ernment must go, and its fall will bring with it the equally impossible Government of France. A Government must take its place which will not be encumbered by commitments to the impos- sible aims of the Secret Treaties. It must be a Government with dean hands, a Government which can honestly declare We desire no ter- ritory, we desire no dominions. We only seek such a condition of things as will be a security for the future peace of the world. If need be. we ourselves are prepared to make sacrifices and contributions to attain tha.t end. We desire- only to live in peace and goodwill with all na- tions of the world." We must have a Govern- nwnt. which will say these things and mean these things. We must have a Government which will appeal to the peoples of the Central Powers over the heads of their military rulers. With a Government like this, the ('nil of the war would be near, the securing of a just, and last in lt peace would be at hand. I NOT INSEPARABLE DIFFICULTIES. in the way of getting rid of this incompetent Government. are not insuper- able. Its unpopularity in the country and even in a lesser degree in the House of Commons is undoubted, and that lmpopularÜy is daily grow- ing. It might be difficult unless some specially acute crisis arises. to turn them out of office by a.n adverse vote in the House of Commons. Rut speaking for myself only, 1 would like to see- the a-nti-Government Members of the House of Commons vote constantly against the Govern- ment 011 every issue concerned with the prose- cution of the war, and to directly challenge the Government by a vote of no confidence. By tins mean- I h?]i?\-? a "tron. Opposition couid 1)? developed which would make the position of filtik(, tll(, poitioll 0" taU by th? L'?ad?r of dH' House in moments of il rirat,ion it. is probable that the Government W m 1 h i h.f,1 \I-q.) +1" tnl- iMiy on nnn.n.1'rl1ni,'r l.J' Cf.n L.J¡; oft J.J. "t"I"'I. l" to resign from what they must, know in an im- possible and intolerable position. An active* Opposition in the House of C'.ommous would rally opposition in the country. By I these methods I believe we could compel the Govern- ment to resign in the coming period of re-action after the present military offensive. A "LABOUR" GOVERNMENT IMPOSSIBLE-1 The personnel of the Government to succeed the present is not a matter which need trouble us much at the moment. If the Labour Party bad a. worthy record on peace and international- ism, if it had not by its support of participation in this Government, become so cl osely identified with its policy and its sins, the nation would have called upon the Labour Party to take con- trol of the Government uow. and to extricate the country and the world frnm this appalling situation. That would have been the oppor- tunity for securing a- genuine^ and democratic peace. ( Hut the painful failure of the Labour Party has made a. Labour Government now neither possible nor desirable. Whatever be the personnel of the Government which succeeds the present it can only be a Government pledged in dw words of Lord Lans- downe to explore every avenue which may lead to peace. Personally I would not hesitate to support any Government set up for that specific purpose only, even if a.t its ht-ad was a states- man of aristocratic and Tory tradition. The supreme necessity of an immediate honest peace transcends all personal or party considerations. For this war must stop. The plain men and women of the world unskilled in the arts of dip- lomacy, untr.ained in the methods of politics, hut knowing clearly what they want, must have their say. and above the roar of battle, must declare in one another's ears for the peace upon which they have set their hearts, a peace based upon that great principle which gleams like a star out of the blackness of the Russian chaos— the right of every nation to determine its own destiny, a peace built upon the sure foundation of international disarmament, established and confirmed by the Society of Nations for the safe- guarding of the future and the guarantee of the world's progress towards complete social democracy. For such a peace as t.his the Inde- pendent Labour Party stands. For such a. pea-ce as this the Socialists of all countries stand." RECEPTION OF THE SPEECH. The speech was followed with the utmost seriousness oy Conference, and at its close the whole body of visitors und delegates rose and cheered him to the echo. A vote was moved to Philip thanking him for the speech by a Scottish delegate, seconded by a Birmingham comrade and put to the Conference hy Fred Jowett. "The Rev. Canon Donaldson, vicar of St. Marks, here, was granted an opportunity to make an announcement; and this he briefly pre- faced with a sentence that is well worth record- ing:" "With deep, feeling T have listened to Mr. Snowden's utterances, and I share with you the impulsive hope that rang through his words. that peace may lie within. a measurable dis- tance, and the awful woe and horror that, over- comes one's own heart and the hearts of mil- lions may be removed speedily. He then stated that in a?cordanc? with requests he would willingly exhbiit the wonderful mural decora- tions on the "Travail and Triumph of LahmJT which covered the walls of his church. Amongst the letters of greeting was one from Ben Spoor, and a humourously pathetic one that touched the delegates, from A. Fenner Brockway, writing on behalf of the Walton Gaol I.L.P. of 40 members. WALTON NEWBOLD AND BOLSHEVIKS. Procceding to deal with the N.A.C. report, a few verbal alterations in which were made, but which stands as we dealt with it last week in these columns, Waiton Newbold protested that there were no words of congratulation to the Bolsheviks of Russia, to which Mr. Snowden re- plied that there was blame also attached to the Branches, if it was held that any attached to the .A.C." for not a single resolution had been sent in to that effect. Bruce Glasier suggested that in the interests of the whole International Socialist Movement no discussion should be rai-ed in the Conference on the terms suggested. He did not think theie was much difference of opinion in that Conference with respect to our admiration of the work which had been done by the Bolshe- viks, out at. t.he same time there was a division in Russia. There were many important- matters at stake there, and those of us who were in COD,Itllt.itioii with 1 epresentatives to the Inter- national felt. that it would be unwise, perhaps unfair, in our present state of knowledge, to make a pronouncement, of sympathy with the Bolsheviks against other sections of Socialism in Russia. AGREED. I Conference adopted the N.A .C. Report on In- ternational relationships—that section t'xposing the unconstitutional action of the Executive of the Labour Party and the Parliamentary Com- mittee of Trades Unloii Congress in shouldering the British Socialist organisation out of the In- ternational, and Mr. Snowden said that the new N.A.C. would now know how to guide their conduct in this matter through the coming year. I.L.P. AND THE LABOUR PARTY EXECUTIVE. Anlongst other matters which engaged atten- tion on the N.A.C. Report was the question of the I.L.P. nomination to the Executive of the Labour Party, and Councillor Myers (Dewsbury) moved that it should be a recommendation to the N.A.C'. to present their nomination for a seat, on the Labour Party Executive under the new constitution of the latter. This, he held, in a. speech of much ability, would give the Trades Unionists a chance of showing their ap- preciation of the I.L.P. work initlie past. Other speakers felt that, the trades unioni.sts in the Labour Party were throwing out a challenge to the Socialists, and t.hat this should be accepted by the I.L.P., and it was urged that no man should be put on the Executive, this section pleaded cleverly that we should lie accepting what was felt to be a wrong by nominating in the way the constitution now laid down, and that, we should, therefore, wait twelve months before definitely deciding. Philip Snowden felt that it, was unfortunate that the N.A.C. was unable to offer advise, but it. was equally divided ill opinion. He briefly summarised the case for and against representation as argued in the N.A.C.. after which the vote was taken, show- ing. a the resolution. F. W. Jowett was adopted as the I.L.P. nominee, a. course which was supported by W. C. Anderson, M.P.. who spoke in high terms of his experience .of Fred's work, whilst lie served along with the Bradford member on the Executive of the Labour Party. WOMEN CANDIDATES. I On the motion of Alis^ Isabel hord'it was de- cided to place the names of a number of women on the list of available I.L.P.. Parliamentary candidates. In connection with the Parliament- ary list, Bruce Glasier announced the addition to the list of available candidates the names of Chas. Roden Buxton, Dr. Dunstan. and T'ap- tain E. N. Bennett. The inclusion of these names led to a very keen discussion on the question of admitting as candidate*, men who had come into the party on t'he war issue and who had not been tested in our peace-time war on the Capitalist Class. Many hard words were used, not against the men, but against, the principle, and a. resolution was moved to i-ofer bsCck the list of available candidates, each nallW to he. considered, and the name of any person who had not the qualification of twelve months' membership of the party should be taken off the list, and no name added to the list, unless the jierson had that qualification. Ramsay Mac- donald pointed out. that the list was simply a list of men from which Branches might, if they so desired, select, candidates. The branches could put these1 men through their paces. The discussion was closured by the putting of t.he previous question. R. C. Wallhead withdrew his nomination for the Chairmanship of the Party, and Philip Snowden wa»; re-elected to the chair for the en- suing twelve months. I AFTERNOON SESSION. I Bob Smillie nyule his appearance at this after- noon's session, and was heartily cheered as he wok the platform in company with Bruce Glasier. Mr. Brookhouse, the new National Organiser, declared that our opportunities in the country to-day were very favourable, and suggested that we should set as a goal 100,000 mem tiers by October 1st next. As a step towards this he desired to see a. healthy rivalry existing between Branches and Divisions. After Mr. Benson had brought the N.A.C. Report to a close by his statement on financps —a very cheery one—Miss Isabella O. Ford moved on behalf of the N.A.C. the following emergency resolution: — '• That this conference records with indigna- the shameful attempt to introduce under cover of the Defence of t.he Realm Act the old Conta- gious Diseases Act, which were repudiated a.b- solutely hy the nation's conscience as long ago as 1806, and calls upon the Government to im- mediately withdraw the Order." This was se- conded by Miss Margaret Bondfield. atid car- ried unanimously. CONGRATULATING RUSSIA. Another emergency resolution was one arising out of Walton New hold's protest in the morning session on the Bolshevik position. The resolu- tion read: "That, this Conference of the I. L.P. places on record its appreciation of the stand made for social and economic freedom by the workei-s of Russia, and their exposure of Capi- talism hy the publication of the further treaties; nnd, further pledges itself to do all in its power t,o make plain to the people of Great- Britain the truths of the position adopted by our Rus- sian comrades iv the interests of International Socialism." This, too, was carried without dis- cussion or dissent. HAIR SPLITTING." This brought us to the Agenda proper, and with less than an hour to run to the close of the first day's work, the City of London delegate, Mr. Bacharach, stood up to move his branch's amendment to the first resolution on H Prin- ciples in the N.A.C. Constitution of the Party, seeking to wipe out the st&t?mcnt that the I.L.P. is a political organisation. This ob- jection was apparently due to the loose meaning a-ttaehing to the word "political. He did the work cleverly, too, though there was a lot of truth in the defence of the resolution as framed, put forward by Mr. C. Anderson, M.P., when he declared that Mr. Bacharach had treated us to a fine splitting of hairs. It was defeated. Bruce Glasier pleaded the N.A.C. first resolu- tion from the attack of Middlcsoorough. who sought to give a more definite line to the par- ticipation of industrial associations in the carry- ing on of general industry, by securing to the workers participation of the workers in the management of their own indus- try. Mr. Glasier supported the broad statement, and pleaded for the holding of the balance of harmony between ideas. By the- State the N.A.C. meant the representative will of the people expre StS ed centrally, but also ex- pressed locally. Mr. Halla m (Leicester) thought that we should have to divide sovereignty with the in- dustrial associations and recognise the limitation of the political State. National ownership would not give industrial freedom, and where there was not industrial freedom, then there was no freedom. The resolution was adopted a? drafted. At the close of the session we had only dealt with the first two of the N.A Constitution proposals. The election of four national members to serve on the X.A.C. gave a clear majority in the first ballot to Miss Bondfield, Air. J. Bruce Glasier and Fred Jowett, .)f. P but the fourth place was so closely contested between Jas Alaxt-on and Egerton P. Wake, that two more ballots had to be taken before the position fell to Maxton.