Lenin: 1916/ni-eps: TRADE UNION LEADERS (original) (raw)

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

NOTEBOOK “ε”

(“EPSILON”)

TRADE UNION LEADERS

Trade Union Leaders

The Daily Telegraph, October 7, 1915.

“After hearing addresses by the Prime Minister and Earl Kitchener, and holding lengthy conferences on the subject of recruiting, the chosen leaders of Labour have issued a strongly-worded appeal for men, in which it is stated that ‘if the voluntary principle is to be vindicated, at least 30,000 recruits per week must be raised’.

“Mr. C. W. Bowerman, M.P., Secretary of the Trades Union Congress Parliamentary Committee, handed a representative of The Daily Telegraph a copy of the appeal yesterday afternoon. It reads as follows:

The Crisis

An Appeal to Free Men

| N.B. | | | “Fellow countrymen.... At no time in the historyof our nation has it been faced with a crisis of suchgravity as the one which now exists.... Aggression[of Germany, etc... (the aim)]: secure such a victoryas will free the world from the fear of that militarytyranny which Germany would impose upon it....”An appeal to enlist in the army. For the sake ofwhat?... “Not only because by so doing they will bedefending their own interests, but also because theiraction will preserve the vital interests of the nation”.... | | ---- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | |

“We know that defeat or an inconclusive peace would mean for us not only the loss of prestige as a nation and the certainty that the conflict would be renewed in a few years’ time, but the loss of those personal liberties and privileges which have taken centuries of effort to win”....

| N.B. | | | H. GoslingC. W. Bowerman | } | Trade Union Congress Par-liamentary Committee. | | ------------------------- | - | | ---------------------------------- | - | ---------------------------------------------- | | J. O’GradyW. A. Appleton | } | | General Federation of TradeUnions. | | | | G. J. WardleW. S. Sanders | } | | Labour Party Executive. | | |

Ibidem, October 9, 1915 (Saturday). In addition to mass meetings (x x) there is to be

| N.B. | | | “the conference that is to take place on Monday(October 11, 1915) between the Earl of Derby, thenew Director of Recruiting, and the signatoriesto the important Labour manifesto, published on | | ---- | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

| | Thursday (October 7, 1915) last.” “This conference,to which the Labour representatives have beeninvited by his lordship, will be held at No. 12,Downing Street”....(✕✕)... “that halls have already been placedat the disposal of the Executive [= of the threesignatory organisations], free of expense, for thepurpose of holding the mass meetings”.... )) | ⎞⎠ | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------ | | | hallsgratis | | | | | | |

Besides mass meetings, tours of propagandists, “workshop meetings”, “dinner-hour gatherings”, etc., are being organised.

| ...there will be made available “a copious amountof propagandist literature, mainly in the form ofhand-bills, for distribution at the various meetings”...etc. | | | N.B. | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ---- |

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