Pioneer

Representation of the People  Bin Bill SOUTH WALES SUFFRAGISTS' MESSAGES TO PARLIAMENT. The South Wales and Monmouthshire Federa- tion of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societiesi has sent to Mr. Bonar Law, as leader of the House of Commons, and Sir George Cave, as the Minister in charge of the Bill, a resolu- tion expressing its satisfaction at the adoption by the House of Commons of a measure of women's suffrage by the third reading of the Representation of the People Bill. I 1

i The Electric Theatre. I Crowded houses have been the rule this week again at the Merthyr Electric Theatre, the con- tinued popularity of which is easily explained by the uncontrovertible fact that it's programmes always contain the biggest, best and latest re- leases in the cinematograph market. "The mar- riage of William Asche," adopted for the film from Mrs. Humphrey Ward's society novel, has lost littlp of her literary charm in the pictureised version; whilst The .Tide of Life," topping the bill from Thursday onwards, was a production pleasing in conception and gripping in appeal. That delightful young photo-player, Ella Hall, well known to Merthyr audiences as the heroine in almost innumerable serial features and big- reelers, stars in a five-part" Blue Bird picture, Ambrosia," shown on Monday next. The pro- duction is a combination of exciting episodes cleverly relieved by clean and wholesome comedy. Supporting it amongst the usual s hort-drama, educational and interest films, will be one of the hilarious Gaumont comedies, After the balled- up ball." On Thursday's change-over the top of the bill will be occupied by another of the famous Ultus pictures, The Three Button Mystery." Pic- ture-goers are too intimate with the daring ex- ploits of Ultus for any necessity to dilate upon the merit of these features, for not only have his adventures been repeatedly screened at Merthyr but he has, it will be remembered, ap- peared in person at the Electric Theatre. Fairyland," which is also included in the pro- gramme is redolent with the spirit of Yuletide, attractive in it's appeal to old and young, whilst the current issue of the great serial Judex," namely, "The Heart of Steel," brings us to the hero's sore temptation to break his oath and leaves us with the poignant problem, "Has Mother relented? Altogether next week's shows are "top-notch" and more big features are promised for the Christmas week.

EVERY PRINTING ORDER given to the Pioneer Press" means more Ammunition for Party Propaganda. Get into the Line of our MUNITION WORKER?.

I Those 1000 New Members THB excellent spirit with which the Merthyr I.L.P. has launched itself upon itis campaign for a thousand new members by Easter, 1918; the completeness of the preliminary organisation, and the excellence of the result of the first ap- peal, made last Sunday, when 32 new members were enrolled, all give promise of the successful termination of the laudable task which the branch has set itself to perform. Nor do we see that the branch is too ambitious in its aspira-j tions. We see no reason why the ciaimp,aign should stop at 1,000 by Easter, for even with that number drawn inside the movement, there would still be ample scope for pioneering work for membership amidst a populace that is largely sympathetic towards the Party. Merthyr ought to boast the strongest numerical membership of any I.L.P. branch in South Wales, and with a continuance of the effort so well started it will do so. All that is necessary to' bring in large numbers of our populace is to show them the tangible advantages that come from active par- ticipation in the life of the Socialist circles of the town; as distinct from the mental satisfac- tion of all attending Sunday afternoon meetings and voting" right" at Parliamentary and Muni- cipal elections. What are those advantages? Primarily we should ourselves put the highest value upon the revolution that a conception of the Socialist synthesis spells to the student- of sociological ten dencies. In place of a chaotic and nebulous philosophy of life, partitioned into water-tight compartments labelled ethics," history," "economics," and so forth; each of them so encrusted with meaningless technical terms and phrases that professional politicians and economists have to be sought to interpret the simplest of social problems, the Socialist stu- dent finds them all worked out in a scientific system so complete that the growth and expan- sion of his mentality comes as a new power in life; illumines the dark places, and irradiate.s with the saffron of a new dawn the eastern sky of to-morrow*. To the average man who has con- sciously attempted to find his way in the ortho- dox economists, and who later attaches himself to the Socialist Plarty, the most wonderful thing to him is the complete, all-pervading nature of the Socialist outlook. He finds that those things that were strictly ruled out of economics by the Capitalists apologists of the university and the popular Press, are all brought within the survey of his new science; that Socialism takes the dry bones of politics and enwraps them in the healthy, beautiful flesh of humanity. In place of the old Frankenstein of the anti-Socialist school he finds that the Socialist's sociological method has produced a masterpiece of beautiful aspect, perfect parts, high mentality and pure ethics; and that because it has no reservations to make in its search after truth. Its philoso- phers are not compelled to seek a justification for the existence of a parasitic, non-producing class, and to explain the laws underlying social acts in the light of that justification, but are free to traverse the past with the historian and the biologist; and search the present for the un- derlying causes behind things. And what is the moral result of such a search, and such a synthesis as is found at the culmination of such a search in Socialism? We have said above that ethics fall into its proper play under Socialism, as the part of a glorious whole, and not a thing apart; but listen what non-Socialist moralists have said about the present system and about Socialism's promise of a better moral order. Pro-, fessor Cairn es has declared that the results of the present industrial system are not easily re- concilable with any standard of right generally accepted amongst men," and quotes Shakes- peare as being on his side. Professor Sidgwick, an eminent writer on morals, has said If the former method (the Socialists') of providing for the progress of Industry could be trusted to work without any counterbalancing drawbacks the perpetuation of the inequalities of distribu- tion that we see to be inevitably bound up with the existing system would be difficult to recon- cile with our common sense of justice!" It seems needless in these days of war, which have. seen the Socialist principle of industrial government so perfectly justified even in its adoption as part of a system to which it is antagonistic, to dwell upon Professor Sidgwick's "if." So that even the professional moralists in their serious state- ments are compelled to admit the justice of the Socialist conception. It is this justice founded, upon sane scientific laws of criticism and pro- gression that has given us a majority of the really great minds of modern times. Amongst the artists from Wilde to Shaw the best among them have seen that art can only be truly great when given the freedom that Socialism alone offers to development, in the realm of the na- tural sciences the most thoughtful have accepted Socialism as the only scientific sociological sys- tem in consonance with the evolutionary char- acter of modern scientific methods and findings. Ferri and a host of others have demonstrated this; and Grant Allen with his usual careful cri- ticism, has told us that it is because Socialism will preserve the natural inequalities of mankind, that the present machine system destroys in its search for uniformity that compelled his march- ing forward with the great army of Socialism. In religion, too, it has long been recognised by hard thinkers that Socialism alone is compatible with the Sermon on the Mount, and that until the day when the Red Flag shall fly over every capitol in the world Christianity is a ehimera when it is not a conscious hypocrisy. It is to know these things in their detail; to feel the good breath of the future reanimating the jaded and hopeless being of ourselves that it is good to be in the Socialist iife of our centre' of activity. Because from thence a& from a miraculous font we may draw the strength and the courage to face life's troubles, and in the light of the knowledge that is the most priceless heritage of Socialism to examine, reject &nd re- construct the whole of the social system in con- tact with which we are every moment of our lives compelled to live. From the sympathetic contact with the minds of Socialism our minds broaden, our lives sweeten, our determination draws inspiration to do the work of giants, and so we further the day that will herald the dawn of all. It will be a glorious privilege to be one of that thousand who will climb the mountain's peak, and survey the world anew, while they breathe for the first time the pure air of free- dom. Will you be one to breathe it? No matter that you do not live in Merthyr, or that in your locality no special effort is being made. There is a branch near you, full of the good things that will recase your life whether in the work- shop, or the bigger world beyond its walls.

I Mr. Asquilh's Speech IF lVb-. Asquith's careful pronouncement at the Birmingham Town Hall on Tuesday is to be taken as having any meaning at all, it can only mean that the cleavage which has been so plainly exhibited in the political crises to which we have been treated of late is to develop still further; and the Government of the knock- out Blow" and the Economic Conference" is to be seriously challenged by a party who will establish their peace aims on the cold sanity of the Lansdowne letter. For Mr. Asquith is still the leader of the better element in Liberalism, and with Lord Lansdowne and such Conserva- tive support as lie would bring, strengthened with the backing of the Labour Party, whose peace memorandum is coincident with the main lines of Lansdowne's famous letter, there seems strong prospects of an effecitive challenge being thrown at the Georgian bureaucracy. Such a reconstruction, whilst leaving very much to be desired, would be a vast improvement on the present state of affairs, and particularly so if the Paris Economic Conference decision to wage, what Mr. Asquith himself called a "veiled war after the war," Is definitely jettisoned. That decision to shut Germany off from the trade of the world has, in our opinion, been the most fatuous incident of the war. We have all along argued that nothing was more calculated to de- lay peace, and consolidate the forces of internal Germany than this decision to strangle Ger- many to death after the war in the field had been concluded at the negotiation table. The definite repudiation of this oiile policy, to which we have ii?vez- known whether we were oSciaJIy to be committed or not, would he. worth a much greater saorificei than would be represented in a re-shuffling of the political power in Britain to-day. It is significant that the venue of the address of the last constitutionally appointed Premier should have been the modern home of the Imperialist policy. If one may judge from the reports in the Press even the place of manu- facture of demogods for heathen peoples, and of vocal devils for hom? politics is so sick of Armageddon that it is prepared to cheer the Asquith-Lansdowne adoption of I.L.P. criticism. We are confident that the country as a whole would not only cheer, but would vote also for a fuller assimilation of that criticism than Mr. Asquith or Lord Lansdowne are themselves pre- pared to take.

Freedom or Victory ? Which Shail We Choose? An Examination of Things as they are BY BERTRAND RUSSELL. We are sometimes told that this is a war for freedom; at otilr times, with more sincerity, that it is a war for victory. Let it be conceded at once that freedom and victory are both very good things, but it would be well if people re- cognised that they are not compatible and that, though freedom would proba,bly result from a peace made now, victory, even if it could be attained some three years hence, would be pur- chased at the cost of freedom and of everything else that makes life worth living. What has happened to freedom at home dur- ing the war we ail know. Men have been sent to prison over and over again for refusing to abjure profound religious and moral convictions. It has become a crime to circulate, or even to possess, any literature dealing with the war or with the peace after the war in a spirit not wholly acceptable to the Government. Appro- priately enough. Mills' Liberty has been seized by the police. I have not so far heard of a man being sent to gaol for mentioning Magna Oharta, but doubtless that will come. By the law of the land as it now exists, any man or woman can be kept in prison for the duration of the war without any charge being formulated or any trial being held. Those of us who are still at large owe-thanks to the Government for its clemency. In America, since the United States became a belligerent,, the 'state of affairs is even worse. The. leaders of the I.W.W. were imprisoned by the fiat of the Government for no discoverable reason except that their opinions were adverse to the war. Conscientious objectors, except when they are Quakers, are treated even worse than they are with us. Troops have been called in to disperse Pacifist meetings, and there. has been no hesitation to stimulate mob violence. WESTERN POWERS AND RUSSIA. Meantime the attitude of the Western Powers towards the new-born liberties of Russia has been a mixture of bigotry and folly, which ib would be hard to parallel in the annals of states- manship. It is said that our Government de- sires to see democracy in the Central Powers, but that certainly is the only place where our rulers can tolerate it. One is tempted to sup- pose that they regard democracy as a curse and wish ,to inflicit, it upon Germany as part of the price of defeat. In Russia, by forcing Kerensky into his ill-starred offensive by refusing to allow Stockholm or to revise their war aims, they secured the victory of Lenin and made a separ- ate peace inevitable. It is not for a moment to be supposed that our authorities desired this re- sult. But it is the result which their actions were bound to produce, as all intelligent people foresaw. It is absurd to accuse Lenin of treachery. Russia is too distracted, too worn- out, too destitute of supplies, too near famine to be physically capable of carrying on the war. Ever since the Revolution Russia has spared no efforts to bring about a general peace. These efforts having failed, sheer stark necessity has compelled the attempt to secure a, peace. Probably Lenin's advocacy of peace IS the chief source of his strength. It is clear that as part of the terms of peace, the -Finns and the Poles, whom the Tsardoin oppressed, are to re- cover their liberty. Although we are the cham- pions of small nations, we have not displayed any extravagant joy in this partial realization of our programme. Our newspapers have been filled with lies about Lenin.; that lie is a Jew, that he is a German, that he is in the pay of the Kaiser. The fact is that lie is a Russian aristocrat who 'long ago sacrificed everything to his principles. Meanwhile our newspapers, in their moments of optimism indulge in the hope of a military domination by the Cossacks under the leadership of Kaledin, which we are given to understand might be as intelligent, as enlight- ened and 'as free from corruption as the Tsar- dom of blessed memory. LORD LANSDOWNE'S LETTER. Amid the clamour of the Never-Endians in our own country Loftl Lansdowne's letter has c-ome "as a .sudden gleam of sanity. His sugges- tioii is, I.a l'i brief, that we should make it clear that we are fighting for security against future wars, not for territorial aggrandisement. The outburst of mad rage with which this suggestion has been received shows how far it is from re- presenting the mind of Lord Northcliffe and his wage-slaves in the" Government." The Ger- man and Austrian Governments, in their re- plies to the Pope's peace note, have made it clear that they favour inter national arbitration and progressive universal disarmament. Can we suppose that our militants desire these things? Is it not clear that militarism, con- scription, and the fear of war are a. It all times the great assets of the rich in resisting the claims of Labour? Can anyone doubt that dis- armament and international security, if they could be brought about, would lead to an economic reconstruction in which profiteering and capitalism would receive short shrift? Can Anyone suppose that Lord Northcliffe would welcome such a state of affairs, or that he would favour a policy likely to bring it about? Mr. Lloyd George, in his famous Paris speech, alluded to the impenetrable barrier in the West. I should be liable to prosecution if I en- dorsed his opinion, but merely to quote it can hardly be considered illegal. Yet, with Russia out of the war, the fighting must be more and more confined to battering against this" im- penetrable barrier." America cannot have a large army in France until the year after next, and if I were not afraid of being unpatriotic I should suggest that there is no reason to expect American troops to succeed where British troops have failed. The war is being carried on partly from inertia, partly because it gives power and wealth to certain persons who may not improba- bly find themselves in a less enviable position after the conclusion of peace. There is no rea- son whatever to expect that we shall be able to obtain better terms two years hence than could be obtained now. It is clear that we could ob- tain now the restoration of Belgium and Northern France with international agreements for arbitration and progressive disarmament. The objects with which our soldiers enlisted in the' early days of the war could be achieved to- morrow. The territorial objects which our Gov- ernment professes to have in view can probably not be achieved either now or later. The na- tion, deluded by a lying press, has remained for the most park blind to these patent facts, but there are signs of awakening, especially in the Labour Party. Upon the Labour Party at this moment a heavy responsibility rests. They have the power, if they will, to bring the Government to reason. Will they use that power, or will this opportunity, like so many others, foe al- lowed to pass ?

Dick Wallhead's Appearance, TO CONDUCT HIS OWN CASE AT NEATH. I To-dav (Friday) Dick Wallhead appears be- fore the Neath magistrates for alleged contra- iven.t?oli,s of the Defence of the Realm Regula- tions made in speeches at Maes teg and Briiton Ferry. Dick wiM conduct his own case. We shall publish a full account of the proceedings in our issue of next week.

I Briton Ferry Notes. I Miss Wilson and Freedom." Under the auspices of Jerusalem Baptist Church the peace meetings were continued on Thursday, December 6th, when the speaker was Miss Theodora Wilson Wilson (authoress of "The Last Weapon "). The meeting, which was magnificent, was the best attended of the series. This proves that the desire for peace is increasing. The speaker glave a detailed account of the raid cn the premises of "The Crusader." Two large waggons were necessary to carry away the "pernicious literature." The task. of "removal" was so great that Thank the Lord was ejaculated on the removal of the last parcel. Not only literature, but money also was taken. Miss Wilson's private flat was even ransacked. Her account of such doings in a land of freedom was greeted with cries of Shame." "Christ," she said, "was not behind the Bri- tish guns, nor the German guns, but stood be- tween, and every casualty,, whether of British or German, was, felt bv Him." All Thoughts on Wallhead. Naturally, our thoughts these last few days are with "Dick" Wallhead. By flome he is re- garded as a firebrand." We rather regard him as a "torchbearer," who has helped to lighten the dark places of error and ignorance, I by the installation of Light and Truth. Thou- I s,nds in England and Wales will be anxiously awaiting Friday's verdict.

I. Palestine for the Jew I I MESSAGE FROM ZIONIST PRESIDENT. I Dr. Oh, Welznlqnll, preisideiit. of the English Zionist Federation, has sent out the following message: "The capture of Jerusalem secures for General Allenby and the British army he leads immor- tality in the long line of famous men who have won the most famous of all cities. It is an achievement which will rank high in moral as in military history, for it has redeemed from the most unlovely rules a city sacred to the three great religions of the world. Moslem, Christian, and Jew know that henceforth the dearest tra- ditions of their faith are secure. "For Jews this event is doubly memorable, since for them Palestine is the land of their fathers, the land of their national redemption, of which the British Government's declaration is the charter. The happiness of us, Jews in this hour has, therefore, a special intensity, and our debt of recognition to General Allenby and his gallant army a special quality.

HOW? How does the editor of the "Daily News" reconcile both the Economy Campaign and his temperance professions with his half-page adver- tisements of Hennesy's brandy? So far as I can gather, eight bottles or casks of wine are used to make one of brandy. The whole process looks like a stupendous waste of good food. ECONOMY? For another kind of economy, see the "Daily News" for November 21st: £ 4 4s. for a toy. A gold-laced commissionaire and his assistant were to be seen yesterday afternoon in Regent- street carrying} a toy motor-car, nearly five feet long, from a toyshop to a waiting taxi-cab. A ømáll crowd watched the "toy" being hoisted with difficulty on to the roof of the cab. En- quiry showed that the price of the toy motor was C4 4s. Other patterns cost £ 3 5s. and £3 12s. 9d. Toys of all sorts are fetching as- tonishing prices in the West End. Evidently people who are making money out of the war have already begun to do their Christmas shop- ping." Then follows a list off prioes from 11/6 to £3 12te. 6d.