In the winter of 1912-13 the Joint Committee co-operated with the
National Committee for the Prevention of Destitution (of which later) in
a big War against Poverty Campaign, to demand a minimum standard of
civilised life for all. A demonstration at the Albert Hall, a Conference
at the Memorial Hall, twenty-nine other Conferences throughout Great
Britain, all attended by numerous delegates from Trade Unions and other
organisations, and innumerable separate meetings were among the
activities of the Committee. In 1913 a large number of educational
classes were arranged. In the winter of 1913-14 the I.L.P. desired to
concentrate its attention on its own "Coming of Age Campaign," an
internal affair, in which co-operation with another body was
inappropriate. A few months later the War began and, for reasons
explained later, joint action remains for the time in abeyance.
It will be convenient to complete the history of the movements for
Socialist Unity, though it extends beyond the period assigned to this
chapter, and we must now turn back to the beginning of another line of
action.
The International Socialist and Trade Union Congresses held at intervals
of three or four years since 1889 were at first no more than isolated
Congresses, arranged by local organisations constituted for the purpose
in the preceding year. Each nation voted as one, or at most, as two
units, and therefore no limit was placed on the number of its delegates:
the one delegate from Argentina or Japan consequently held equal voting
power to the scores or even hundreds from France or Germany.
Pages:
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258