Pioneer

Merthyr's Peace Campaign. 2,000 PEOPLE DEMAND TERMS OF PEACE ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING IN THE RINK I The first public meeting organised by the new Stop the War and Peace Council of the Mer- thyr Borough—an organisation consisting of the I.L.P. and the N.C.F, the Fellowship of 1 Reconciliation. the Union of Democratic Can- trot. and Trade Union Lodges—was held in the Itink on Thursday evening last, and from every Point of view was a great success. Something like 2,000 Merthyr citizens, many of whom have always in the past regarded the I.L.P. as an QpPonent organisation, registered their abhor- rence of war in no uncertain spirit. The most remarkahle feature of the meeting was the hole-hearted way in which the huge assembly a.greed with the speakers in their condemnation ofthB present methods of conducting the policy the nation. The J-. Morgan Jones, of Hope. Chapel, CUtPled the chair, and the chief speaker was Air. R. Wailhead, the well-known Socialist pro- Pagandist. IDick," however, had been un leky lui:sSing his connections from York, and wis unable to arrive before 8.45, Dr. Orchard, WIO was also announced to speak, was unfortu- rfe'y unable to attend, and his place was tal?e? 0\' Mr. George Davies, General Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Tllc, REV. MORGAN JONES, in his opening sn peeci h, declared that this war was the disco v- y of the nature of all war, revealing the es- g ^tial unreason, the essential inhumanity, and moraüty of all wars. He knew men who had pro-win- men who had been turned into lfits by the descriptions of the operations at the wont in the Press. He was in London on ¡¡, etüher last, and witnssed the Zepp elin raids, 11Q.. he would never forget the: remarks of a medical man to him. You are quite right, old n," he said—and he had been a violent par- ^11 the war- you are quite right, war is lRveason and hell." Meanwhile, the logic of W. a," had been unfolding itself in other ways, I>eoia]jy in the introduction of Compulsory Uitary Service in our country, which had done kO"'e than anything else to disturb the minds ? gl0Us people and ministers of the Gospel. fully-' expected Conscription from the be- Ri? ?"?6. As long ago as the middle of Septem- ? 1914. he had had a conversation with bl-iree? Pronlil-101,i Welsh Ministers, and he had ven .? to prophesy that within 12 months a very ?.?ent statesman would be an avowed Con- t}?'??ist: they only smiled, and they smiled t.h0 lie in l ntained-a.s lie had main- § Ined fO" the past 25 years—that Conscription ? ? logi. cal collolary of war. You cannot have ?a? and Freedom. (Cheers.) You cannot have 'iI and Liberty of Conscience. (Loud Cheers.) oi 11 may have one war, but it is due to ac- cir?) Qta-1 circumstances that it does not produce ?t ]t has produced in this case. He had tt|hJijfi?11j. n the army, but he found it difficult to | hat there were any parents in Merthyr a. t whose anxiety was deeper or more Hinf Uf ?r those lads of 'ours who were out in at iii,ht w hose anxi?,,tvwas deepei- or more Paillful?li.?,th ose ]'ads of' ours w ho mei-e out in the trenches at that moment. I profess before h onC^. Llr th ?? even as I hate w.ar I love Oo.:n. honour those lads. (I1oud cheers.) But in my 1 for them there are elements of com- fort- ? know that they have gone forward of ?€ir °? ree will to do what they believed was t}),; '*lty.- they fall the State will only have kill 1 their bodies, but what of these others, H are sent forth against their will to do what ? consider is wrong. These men who believe, I have beheved for many years, that if war is &;ht: then nothing is wrong. (Loud cheers.), ?e of them I know find themselves in oppo-  for the first time m their lives to the ??Rds of the State; they can hold up their  ? this town of Merthyr and say that 11:"er hèfore have they been in conflict w?th the '?lllaaids > of the State upon them, they are in hrst time ;in their lives in the situation t[j„j they have to c h oose between ob e d ience to ?t they have to choose oetween obedience to W j °hedience to men In this case I am ?0) to say that the State is the monster t4ltt l?ills solils. (Loud cheers.) And so ? tragedy proceeds, involving some new del- ?la?, and there seems to be no limit ?""e horror tha.t is overwhelming the nation. :■ tk ahv wonder as we stand on the brink of  awtnhfiby'ss that is yawning before us, I t?}, We are found together, crying out for a foi., a. trucce. for /m attempt, the last de- ,??n,g attempt, to find a. way of escape? K,r cheers.) That is the meaning of the meet- j?R. JOHN DAVID moved the following reso- ton: '? ±hat this meeting of Merthvr citizens de- Imands that the British and Allied Govern- 41e.n?.-3 deCJar0 the terms, in unequivocal lan- ?.?age, upon which they are prepared to filter upon Peace negotiations. S? ?ov?d this resolution, he said, not as an  politicÜn, but as an ardent lover of jt?e. He believed that war was an i-mn-lit' ??!i. and that it behoved everyone who held ? ?h??? belief to show as much courage in Oh ?g war as others had shown in oa,nymg ?.? t?e war. (Chøeh.) He had held for years l l.1 t w.r ought to be avoided at all costs, be- t44ge ? ?'?s the accumulation of all the > evils #\ t.the powers of darkness are capable of. His ? <? !lIon had grown upon him with years and by ??dy of his New Testament, which con- ???- to him. the truth and the principles of 4 ???S righteousness. (Cheers.) He took '? ?L?dy there, and he had come to the con- ?L? from that study that war was a gigantic .(CL^t'v that should be stopped at aJl" costs. ;(?C{)??tsy .) But leavmg that aside, he }JBhmed St the time had come when ever people who Ight that ??' was justifiable under certain ?? ) ?stances, and who believed that this was those wars, were coming to believe in ??sing numbers that this war should r)"   ?to a close. (Loud cheers.) During the ■' NW t i,• months how much of real gain had fiWo oeen even from a military point of 4it was very trining compared with the 1% ^mloirs cost. He had been told on good 44i4('I'ity that we as the British nation was INi, at the rate of 1,000 men per day. What ??''ble toll of life. not to mention the five ?? of money that we were spending every ?'h??? (-?verv nation at war was losing in W,l101,tion.some in 7ieater, some in less ratio. ? 'V???dd form no conception of what the war ("osting Europe to-day. Europe is strewn corpses of strong, brave, gallaait young ,?V ^he pitli and marrow of the nations, our n')'' brothei-s, and lie yielded to none in those men who had lived up to conception of duty. Win- had those men ifo out to be slaughtered? Because some- blundered- (Loud cheers.) And these ,|k eT|t young men had to pav the cost. How pf them would return ? The homes of Eu- Australia and Canada were in mourning: 11 this to go on for ever (No!) All these things had convinced him that it was the duty of ail who loved peace together to destroy this Moloch that was destroying us. (Cheexs.) Mil. W. H. EVANS, seconding the resolu- tion, declared that no war that had ever been fought had been worth, the price that humanity had had to pay. It took a finer courage to stand for Peace than to stand for war, and he had often declared it as his opinion that the cowards had enlisted and the brave men had stood. This called forth cries of "Shame" from a section of the audience, and the Chairman appealed that Mr. Evans should be allowed to finish his sentence; and Mr. Evans proceeded to. say that he meant his remark to apply to those who had sneered at the pacifists as cranks and had yet at the moment of trial deserted their own principles, and had joined the army because it was popular at the moment, as for the men who had gone out to fight, as they thought for Liberty, who had thrown up everything for this great ideal, he was at one with the other speakers in honouring them. (Applause.) Peace was constructive, war dest- ructive peace was positive, war negative; peace was the master builder. When righteousness and peace should have dawned in the hearts of the nations, then we should have the Milenn- inrm. when all would live in amitv and con- cord that was what the pacifist worked for. Was it worth working for? (Yes.) Then if it was worth working for, work hard for it, for the fores that were arrayed against them were strong and cunning and unscrupulous, and they would not hesitate to use any means to fur- their ends. In a brief survey of the past 20 months, he showed tihat the militarists had rea- lised that a great moral appeal was necessary before the public would engage in waa;, acd, so the moral appeal was made; yet now it was discovered that all the time the militarists had, been tricking them behind ther backs. (Cheers.) In many odious ways pressure had been brought to bear. We had Conscription now as an Act of .Parliament; but we had Conscription before that Act was placed on the Statute Book. Now; after 20 months people were beginning to ask: Wliat-ai-e we fighting for?" He had often' aiskecl the question, and had never yet got an, answer that was satisfactory. No one knew., The time for vague statements was gone; the, time had come for action, and they must act. It was no use talking. If they wanted peace, they must work for peace, and working for. peace meant action in many ways. (Cheers.), They must all be prepared to pay the price that working for peace might mean. (Cheers.), And the peafe that was to be made must be i lasting peace. We were told that this was a- war to end war, and we must see to it that that pledge was kept. though all the others had been falsified. The people who were calling for peace, were not pro-German, they were not even pro- British: they were pro-human. (Cheers.) They wanted the human note in life; something that would make life sweet and wholesome and good. And we could not have that if we continued as a militarist nation. How could we have goodness if we forced men into positions wherein they, were denuded of all the restraints of civilisa- tions. and aroused ^ii the elementary passions of their natures P (Cheers.) Mil. GEOiiGE DAVIES (Secretary of the! Fellowship of lieconciliation, said he was often told that the demands of the Pacifist and the Sermon on the iVIount—from which personally he drew his inspiration—were outside the realm of practical politics, and he would like to con- sider for a uloine-ut-the practical politics of the men of blood .and iron, the demi-gods of the editorial chair, who made this statement. He, was told tha,t the casualties m Europe up to the present were something like 15 million; that at the last attack at Loos the French lost something like a quarter of a million men, and we lost 60,000 with nothing gained; and we had. all read how the Germans had just lost at least 200,000 or 250,000 men; in this country wei had lost practically al the liberties on which' we had prided ourselves, and there was even al censorship of private correspondence. Knowing, tins he was inclined to ask whether these; "practical politics," which we had been led to believe was the wisdom of our leaders, was not the most sheer anarchy that the world could; possibly have been led into. (Loud cheers.) One of the greatest tragedies of it all was that the splendid devotion of manhood to high ideals' should have been turned to such a ghastly end. The time had come when we must demand, as never before, a principle of life that will steer us clear of such terrible situations as the one into which we have now drifted. He was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for lie believed it was yet, even in this 20th Century, the Power of God for the salvation of the world. One of the greatest tragedies of the war was! that a majority of professing Christians who had dictated that a moratorium of Christianity for the period of the war, that Christ's teachings were well enough in times of Peace, but in the great tragedies of war they must be put aside. That he believed to be the root error that had led us into our present state. (Cheers.) He was out to preach not for a selfish commu? nity of interests any longer, but for cuml?u-I mon of hearts. (Cheers.) Fellowship was life; lack of fellowship death. We were at present, facing the war, but there would be a. war after- the war, and we might then experience priva- tions more terrible than any we had experienced in the past, and for that reason it was essen- tial to get a principle of life that would wea- ther that storm. Looking at Christianity, it seemed to him the Churches which had elabo- rated their creeds and their ecclesiastical systems had just missed the one thing that our' hearts had been craving for—personal affection and per- sonal goodwill. That to him seemed to be Christ's teaching first and last. (Cheers.) People told him that the Sermon on the Mount was not corn- mi on- sense. Then he submitted that it was un- common sense, and what was wrong with our sense was that it was so common. (Cheers.) The one thing we had to do for the future was to conquer our fears; to learn to stand against the emotions that had landed Europe into 60 wars durng the last 40 years. The old world; was breaking down in blood and misery, and in the new world we had to learn that "man does not live by bread alome"; we had, to believe that man had a soul, and that there was a spiritual order that came first and, foremost. MR. R. 0. WALLHEAD. who had arrived just before the last speaker concluded his address, and was given a great reception, said that no one in that room could find any parallel in his own experiences, or in the recorded experiences of others, that would equal the period through which we were now passing. We had seen at- tempts made by men desirous of fostering their own methods and desires on the nation, to trample-on the most sacred convictions of other men—for the liberty of conscience was man's most sacred possession. (Loud cheers.) But when he knew, as he did, because he travelled a. good deal and came into contact with many men, the tremendous fight that the young me were putting up, and the tremendous issues that they felt they were fighting for, he was filled with admiration for the moral enthusiasm that would enable these young men-for the most part untried men--to face all that those issues involved. He felt that they were writing a splendid page in human historv. (Cheers.) He believed that they were not fighting for the transient victories of the sword; he felt that they, were fighting the more splendid fight of the spirit. (Cheers.) And all this was going to tell in the ultimate evolution of man, if he was to occupy the place we believed he was to occu- py in the cosmic scheme. He believed that these young men were rendering a, tremendous service not only to us in this country, but a service of value to every country in Europe, because he believed that what they were doing would in- spire hundreds and thousands of young men to do in countries where conscientious objection to warfare had been unknown owing to the Con- scription that has been so long in vogue. (Cheers.) What one had to clearly understand was this, that if men did not kill war, war would certainly kill men. (Loud cheers.) It will kill all that is vital in manhood if men do not get the better of this hideous monster. If men !■ are prepared to continually saci-ifice on the altar of Moloch, Moloch will inevitably eat men up, j. as surely as day follows night. (Cheers.) That cannot be avoided, and here in. the very period through which we aire passing is ample justifica- tion for what he was saying. What had the political organisation to which he had the honour to belong been asking for the past 18 months'? It was that the Gov- ernment should make a simple, single definite declaration in unmistakable language, first what it is we are fighting for; and, second, upon what terms the British Government were prepared to consider the making of peace. Not the terms on which the enemy were prepared to consider, but the terms on which our Government were pre- pared to consider peace. Vh-. Asquith had made a speech, and we were always referred to that. It was: "We will not sheathe the sword," etc., a statement that was couched in ambiguous language, and most indefinite terms, yet we were always referred to that. (Cheers.) When Mr. Snowden delivered his great speech in the House of Commons—(loud cheers) Mr. Asquith again referred him to the Dublin speech: "We will not sheathe the sword until the military power of Germany is broken." (Cheers.) He was as desirous as anyone to see it broken, but where he differed from those who applauded that statement was on how they were going fo break that power. (Cheers.) Mr. Asquith had again reiterated his grandiloquent phrases, and the German Chancellor had replied to him. The first thing that the German Chan- cellor fastened upon was this so-called breaking of the German military power, the extermina- tion of German as a military nation, and he says: "Suppose Mr. Asquith and myself sat down at a table and Mr. Asquith says that this is the first condition, then the conversa- tion for discussing peace would end before it had begun." Then Mr. Asquith last Monday night made another speech, which Mr. Wall- head thought marked a new departure. It was the first hopeful sign that he had seen coming from a. public man, for Mr. Asquith had cen- tured into the realm of detail, and had begun to explain what he meant by the crushing of German militarism, which was what we had been wanting him to do all along the line..For we had recognised that these Jingo speeches mad e in this country, the Jingo articles in our press, and these declarations about smashing Germ- any, and the dismemberment of Germany sim- ply meant an added list of casualties, and more rivers of blood flowing for every country engaged in this war. This is what we had recog- nised. and this was what it had meant for these speeches, articles and declarations were trans- lated and scattered broadcast by the German Government. What we wanted was that the German people should understand that we did not want to see the dismemberment of their Empire, that we bore them, as a people, no ill- will. (Cheers.) What we wanted them to under- stand was that upon their shoulders had fallen the duty of smashing their own militarist caste, and that if they were strong enough to do that they would have accomplished our purpose. (Loud cheers.) Time brings its own revenge, and the wheel had gone the full circle. We of the I.L.P. who had stood on platforms up and down the country, had faced abuse and contumely because. we had attempted to keep some sanity of mind, were now getting our views corroborated by some of the highest in the land. He had before told Merthyr audiences of the corrobora- tion offered by the "English Review," and "safe" papers like the Morning Post," and now we had Lord Cromer in last Tuesday's "Times," discussing just that portion of the German Chancellor's speech to which lie had referred. Lord Cromer thought that this ut- terance was worthy of attention for three rea I sons—(1) because it represents what the Ger- nihll GovNnment wished the rest of iTi? woAd, to believe (2) because it probably embodied what the vast majority of Germans themselves believed and (3) because so long as the Germans cont inued in this belief the difficulties of, concluding peace would be almost insuperable., There we had from Lord Cromer, after 21 months of the most awful holocaust that the, world had ever seen, a frank admission that the demands of the I.L.P. put forward 18 months ago were reasonable, because they were calculated to break down these very beliefs in the minds of the German people. (Cheers.) What else did Lord Cromer say? He suid: So far as I know no one in this country wishes to destroy the military power of Prussia," that would be news to many, would it not? How would those who had been fed on the ponderosi- ties of "John Bull" and the witticisms of the "Daily Mail" like that? (Cheers and laughter.) Lord Cromeft- says further: "The military strength of Prussia has been, is now, and prob- ably will continue to be very great. None in this country would object to its maintenance." Lord Cromer is wrong. s one speaking now who will object. (Loud cheers.) Lord Cromer may not object to the breaking of Prussian militar- ism, because if it is smashed it will mean a weakening of militarism in this country, in France and in Russia, and as tending to bring the people of Europe together in one fraternal brotherhood, and it is the object of the milit- arist all the world over to foster racial and national antagonisms, in order to maintain their own places, and privileges and posts. (Cheers.) Catherine the Great of Russia said: If we are to maintain this Empire of omg, we must embroil the people in foreign quarrels, and so substitute national antagonisms for the social aspirations of the people. Exactly. History proved from time to time that the governing class in every country had been prepared to hurl their own nation at the throats of others in order to divert their peoples from the social aims at home. But what else did Lord Cromer say in his wonderful letter? He said: My second view is that any change in the direc- tion of bringing Junkerdoni under more effect- ive control must be the work of the Germans themselves." (Cheers.) What does that mean? It meant that however victorious the Allies might be, however many lives "they might squander, the work of altering the internal poli- tics of Germany had got to be the work of the Germans themselves. (Cheers.) Even if the Ger- mans were completely vanquished it would be a fatal error to endeavour to impose from without any internal reforms." Where were we getting to now that Lord Oromcould tell us that ? That dd not come from the Fellowship of Re ooncili ation, or from a parson alien to the rest of his cloth to a large extent—(cheers) — and it did not come from the I.L.P.: it came from a Member of the. House of Lords, one of the governing class, and he had told us now that we could not change the internal policy of Germany, that we could not smash militarism by wax, and that it is not the intention of the governing class to attempt any such foolish thing. Then he wanted to know what in the name of Heaven it was all about I If Lord Cro- mer was right, why continue this slaughter? (Loud cheers.) Why was it not possible for the peoples of the various countries to get together and get their countries to impose the terms of peace? The reason was that behind the awful sacrifices that ZheTipeople weremaking, behind the awful toll the war was taking of the man- hood of the country, the Governments them- selves were intriguing, were breaking down ev- ery moral basis with which they started in this war. They had told us that we were out to defend the rights of small nationalities yet, as he had before pointed out, negotiations were go- ing on which were simply laying up fuel for the next great war. Dalmatia. peopled by a purely Slav race—Slav in feeling, in language, and be- longing to the Greek Church was to be handed over to Italy. Prince Alexander of Servia had been in London recently, and last week he had visited Paris, where he had been waited upon bv members of the Hague Slav Committee, whose President expressed the Committee's un- dying affection and devotion to the Prince. What did it mean? Here they had the people whom it was proposed to place under Italy actually declaring their fealty to a Serbian Prince and expressing their desire to be under the Serbians, and not under the Italians. If Dalmatia was handed over, then there was the foundation for more wars in the -Balkans and Heaven knew where it would spend to, for this war started there. Was it not here that some of us were begin- ning to think of settling this war by other than military means? (Cheers.) The people were tired of the bloodshed, and wanted to get back to saner methods, and he believed that the movement which had been started in Merthyr would rapidly spread and would pave the way for the re-settlement of Europe. We who took the unpopular side now were helping to lay the foundations for the wider fellowship of man and nationalities that must come if tiie world was ever to find peace. War had brough nothing to Democracy that could not have been gob tenfold by saner methods, and the people who were talk the settlement of this war were the people who would talk us into another war if we were not exceedingly careful. The same short- sighed, narrow and exclusive views of the statesmen and diplomats would lay the founda- tions of another catastrophe in the near future. That was why he was appealing to them to consider these matters from a patriotic point of view. That was the greatest service we could render posterity; the greatest service we could render ourselves, and the generations who woitfd come after us. ,> On being put to the meeting only 2 voted against it, and one of these called far cheers for the Government and the countrv. and was only laughed at for his pains. The meeting closed with the singing of God Save the People."