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Show LABOR COUNCIL - I OF ACTION IS I LONDON WORRY I I Some Think Britain Is Threatened Threat-ened With Beginning of Soviet GROUP REFUSES TO PERMIT WAR THREAT Lloyd George Declares Move Is a Blow at England's Constitution B MIl.TON BRONX EH, j European Manager, X. E- A. j LONDON, i id. 5. Is Great Brltat.i ; with a labor "Council of Action" .threatened with the beginning of soviet government? "No," say the sober labor leaders. "Ves," say the excited newspaper or-; or-; gans of the Tories. Labor's lew i that it has said to 'the goernment: "When labor does not believe In a war. labor will not dig the coal, oper ate the railroads, load the ships or i un the machiner'. necessar for a na jM tion making war." And it is true that to enforce thH view upon the government it ha-formed ha-formed a committee with the onvlnou Ml.- of "Council of -Action.' which i-to i-to sit constantly and wutch the man-euvers man-euvers ,.f the government. The com-mittee com-mittee has been clothed wttlj power? to call either local or general or trade Strike to make sure that the nation H shall not be plunged inUb a fresh war over the Russo-Polish uuarrel. vioitv i n rtii.n lb- cables probably do not to Americans the sensation;.; of the whole thing the un-feigned un-feigned delight of the more revolutlo; iiun.W , workmen in. i , - ""fTL 4. of til'- - S leaden, the fear of those Knglishmen ho believe in constitutional govern-ment govern-ment and the blind wrath of the junk Friday. AVig. 13. 1920. 8 pretty cer-tain cer-tain to be written large in the history of England. Le me recount what happened Just before and after that date. Bolshevik Kusnia was smashing Poland Premier l.lod Ueorge had made the statement that the allies could not stand by and Poalnd wiped off the map as an rOKIl U W i l li W LR i"be Tory press at once showed an r itlon for war. Arthur Henderson. secretary of the labor Party, wired to every labor leader in every district and town in Great Britain to hold meetings f protest against more war. The response was marvelous Noth-Ing Noth-Ing like it was ever seen here. Hun-dreds Hun-dreds of meetings of protest were held These declared the nation was war-weary war-weary and determined to have peace. J The "Council of A tin" was formed. Composed among its membership The parliamentary committee of th-Trades th-Trades Union Congress. The executive committee of the La-bor La-bor parly and the Labor party in par- J. R. Clynes. a member of the parlla-ment parlla-ment and of the King's Privy Coun i il. who had been a cabinet minister. i'. ii. i nomas, ol me KaiiroaO mens R, B Walker, of the powerful Ag-i Ag-i icultura I Laborers' I'nion. Miss Margaret Bondlleld. of the Na-LlonaJ Na-LlonaJ I'ederatlon of Women worker H Roheri Bmlllie, president of the re- jH doubtable Miners' Federation. Krnest Hevln, of the dock workers. and many more like them. Th. v b id a meeting with the pre-mi' pre-mi' r and told him labor would nol H stand for a war with Russia over the H Polish matter, that Poland had been the aggressor and must take her medi- The premier's reply did not satiaf) : the labor world. Conseiiuently, on the H morning of Aug 13 there was held a ! conference of 1044 delegates repre- sen tins a" the labor elements of Ens land. Scotland and Wales. They un-lanlmouslj un-lanlmouslj approved the formation of the "Council of Action." Conservative labor leaders like W. Adamson, J. R. Clynes and J. 11. Thomas, all members of parliament. were at one with radicals like Ruber Smillie, Robert W illiams and A. G. Cameron. mi in IMBAST ABOUT n There was no bombast about It. ,.or empty rhetoric, nor politics, nor even class feeling. But there was a tremen-' tremen-' dous emotion and earnestness. There w.i - i passionate determination to have The speaker par excellence was Ern-est Ern-est Bevln, whose short, squat figure and rough hands showed that he not only led the dockers, but had done hard work as a docker. He is a natui -al l. ader of men. Bevin told the pre-mler pre-mler what the "Coun. II of Action" wanted. He is a wonderful orator. He held the crowd In the palm of his But it was the cold unemotional Thomas of the Railway men s Union who made the couference realize the true significance of Its action- This regular opponent of sensational action in approving what the conference wai "Do not think your action mean-mere mean-mere strike, a mere down-tools polio 1 1 is nothing of the kind. It mean- I challenge to the whole constitution of the Labor ha announced Its determine H tion not to recede from Its position H I ' claims ii ha" performed a great shi ZJH for Die peace loving people of |
