So much for Cecil Rhodes the land buccaneer and pirate—the Empire Builder! If additional evidence is required, L. Woolf, in his book "Economic Imperial- ism" relates a striking story of how the ruler of Matabeleland and his people were robbed of their land and cattle. "In 1889 the British South African Com- pany received a Royal Charter. The object of this joint-stock company, as defined in the Charter, was the acquisition and use of concessions in the country north of Bechuanaland and the South African Republic, now known as Rhodesia. Its operations were controlled by Cecil Rhodes and his lieutenant, Dr. Jameson. "A year after the grant of the Charter the Company occupied Mashonaland with armed force. Two years later Rhodes and Jameson raised an alarm force for the in- vasion and occupation of Matabeleland. The terms of enlistment were significant: every trooper was to be entitled to choose for himself about nine square miles of Matabele's land and to share the loot—i.e., cattle—with the Chartered Company. "The Company then picked a quarrel with Lo Benguela, the Matabele king, and its mercenaries invaded his country and defeated him. "By this conquest a joint-stock com- pany, situated in 2, London Wall Buildings, London, E.C.2, claimed to become the abso- lute owner of 148,000 square miles of terri- tory and 700,000 Africans situated between latitudes 16 and 22 south of the Equator." —("Economic Imperialism," pp. 47-48.) This was, of course, the usual method of "acquiring" Empire. Of course, some would feel upset if men like Rhodes and Jameson were accused of barefaced robbery and plunder. CROMWELL "IN Cromwell we see an imperial states- man of the first order: 'perhaps the only Englishman who has ever understood in its full sense the word Empire' (Egerton) . . . Throughout his policy, indeed, Cromwell continues the school of Raleigh, with its union of religious zeal, imperial spirit, and mercantile aims." —"Expansion of the British Empire" William Harrison Woodward. 16 ] RHODES the Hero? MR. RHODES was convicted of crimes not hitherto regarded as venial in public or private life, yet he received a welcome from London which would have been appropriate to a great national hero. He counts divines amongst his apolo- gists, Court personages and an ex-Premier amongst his friends, the chief newspapers amongst his private organs, and a Poet Laureate as a kind of pocket Homer to his Achilles. Mr. Chamberlain's dictatorship is an- other milestone on the long road of degradation of character. He lies under a grave charge, and a great part of the press affects surprise at the demand that a Minister of the Crown should clear his character. . . . There is another moral to be drawn from our complacent indifference to Mr. Rhodes' conduct. The Matebele were first duped and cajoled into making concessions to the Goldfields Company, then deliberately provoked into war, and finally crushed with every circumstance of brutality and horror. Mr. Rhodes, after securing the transfer of British Bechuanaland to Cape Colony in 1895, made a slight disturbance the pretext for a great campaign, hunted, shot down, and starved out the Bechuana, and deported 2,000 of them to Capetown. The Chartered Company introduced, as Sir Richard Martin reported, a system of forced labour into Rhodesia. These things were done in the name of England. (J. L. Hammond, "Liberalism and the Empire 1900.") Rhodes' successors have well carried on what he begun. Margarine and Massacre BY an ordinance the British Govern- ment declared all the land of Kenya not already in the possession of foreigners to be Crown land. In short, the British declared Kenya to be theirs and took it. Both British East Africa and Nigeria were stolen through the operations of Chartered Companies, who received their Charters from the British Government. And these areas are now safely in the hands of the bondholders and the soap combines. There is also a deadly indictment of Labour imperialist rule in Nigeria, which only dates back to 1929. The big combine Lever Bros. (now Unilever), which control the entire soap and margarine industries from the raw material to the finished product, were forcing down the prices of raw materials paid to Nigerian women. So desperate was the situation that the women attacked the station of Aba on December 14, 1929. Not less than six women were shot dead by the police. Two days later a larger number of women col- lected at Opobo. They were attacked by troops, who killed nineteen, fatally wounded another ten and pushed a further eight into the river, who were drowned as a result of the panic that followed. While this massacre was carried out the soap and margarine combines were making enormous profits; in this case 300 per cent. was made in 1930 and 50 per cent. of the issued ordinary capital was placed to re- serve. The general reserve of this combine in 1930 was 13 million pounds! It is now to be increased to 17 million pounds! EGYPT SINCE 1878, when an International Debt Commission was appointed to take con- trol of Egyptian finances, Britain has been interfering in Egyptian affairs. The process by which that country has been exploited by European imperialism has been the usual one: money (£91,000,000) advanced by financiers in London and Paris to an autocratic ruler, the Khedive Ismail, at 12 per cent., the money squan- dered, nothing to show for it except the Suez Canal, the profits of which do not go to Egypt, the people of Egypt saddled with the debt. The British Government, obedient to pressure by the bankers, in- vites France and Italy to join in interven- tion. They decline—Britain proceeds alone; bombards Alexandria and defeats the Egyptian army at Tel-el-Kebir (1882). Hostilities continue intermittently for years. In 1885 General Gordon is killed on the capture of Khartoum by the Mahdi. In 1898 Kitchener leads an expe- ditionary force into the Sudan, defeats the Khalifa, successor of the Mahdi, at Atbara and Omdurman, and gives an exhibition of "Kultur" by desecrating the Mahdi's tomb, exhuming and decapitating the body and flinging the remains into the Nile. In 1899 a Convention was signed placing the Sudan under the joint control of Britain and Egypt, the latter paying for administration. After the outbreak of war, 1914, Britain did not annex Egypt outright, but placed the country under martial law and declared it a British Protectorate. At the conclusion of peace, Britain refused to re- nounce the Protectorate or to evacuate the country. A nation-wide agitation de- veloped in support of the demand for Egyptian independence. The British refused passports to the Egyptian Indepen- dence Mission to Europe and deported Zaghlul and his co-delegates to Malta. [ 17
Malaria Slays over 80,000 in Ceylon GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE THIS year one of the devastating malaria epidemics swept Ceylon. Over 500,000 persons were affected or one- tenth of the population. "Times" Correspondent, 20-6-35:- "Deaths in Ceylon from the malaria epidemic and allied causes for seven months November-May (1935) are esti- mated at 81,404, this being the excess over the corresponding period a year ago." In the Galli area, out of a total popula- tion of 365,000, no fewer than 250,000 have been attacked by the disease and the mortality has been specially severe among the children, who were dying at the rate of 100 a day. In certain villages the whole of the child population have been wiped out. For this severe mortality the Govern- ment alone is responsible. The possible outbreak of malaria was forecast with precision, but no effort was made by the Government to spray the malarious water with oil nor was prophylactic treatment organised. But the main cause of the severe mor- tality is to be attributed to anæmia caused through undernourishment. P. E. Pieris, Trade Commissioner for Ceylon, Ceylon House, Aldwych, W.C.2, in a letter to "The Times" of July 27, 1935, says:- "... Fortunes have been made out of tea and rubber plantations, yet the villagers are left on the borderline of starvation. They lack the reserve of physical energy needed to resist the recurrent attacks and they have no reserve of money with which to purchase adequate sustenance during illness. A village woman if she can find employment will earn 4d. a day, but the classes from whom the majority of the malaria victims are drawn do not always have the opportunity of earning even this." The interests of the capitalist com- panies who dominate the internal economy of Ceylon prefer to grow tea, rubber or 18 ] coffee rather than rice. So under British rule foodcrops are of secondary importance. As a result of this situation coupled with long hours of labour and extremely low wages the peasants are reduced to such a weak state that they are unable to resist when attacked by malaria. With a population of 5,312,548, the main source of wealth is provided by the cultiva- tion of tea and rubber. Of the total acre- age devoted to their production, 80 per cent. and 40 per cent. respectively is con- centrated in European hands. The export of these commodities in 1934 was: Tea, 218 million pounds, valued at Rs. 145 million Rubber, 186 million pounds, valued at Rs. 59 million Other exports are Cocoa, Cinnamon, Cardamoms, Citronella, Copra, Cocoanut oil, Gems, etc. It is intended to make Ceylon one of the war bases of the British Empire and an area near Trincomalee is reserved at the request of the Air Ministry as an air base. Trincomalee is one of the finest natural harbours in the world and is the base of the British East India Squadron. World's Raw Material Production The countries of the British Empire control more than 50 per cent. of the world's cocoa, ground- nuts, wool, jute, rubber, nickel and gold; 30 per cent. or more of the world's manganese ore, chrome ore, zinc, lead, and tin ore; and more than 20 per cent. of the world's wheat, vegetable oils, copra, cotton, coal, and copper; and just on 20 per cent. of the world's silver. -"The Economist, 26/10/35. What Means This Empire? WHY YOU SHOULD STAND SOLID WITH COLONIAL PEOPLES WHAT DOES THE EMPIRE MEAN TO THE WORKERS IN BRITAIN ? Does it mean that they benefit from the exploitation of markets, etc.? So the im- perialist preaches, and "patriotic" labour leaders echo them, in a propaganda that is as shortsighted as it is criminal. For it is only a small upper section of the workers that has received a minute share of the spoils in the shape of privileged conditions of employment. The realities of the question of Empire for the workers in Britain are very dif- ferent from this imperialist propaganda. First, it means that the surplus ex- tracted from the labour of the workers in Britain goes, not to develop production in Britain and increase employment, but to further the plunder schemes of the capi- talists overseas in the hunt for ever higher profits. These higher profits of colonial plunder lead to relative neglect of development of industry in Britain, backwardness of equip- ment, growth of parasitism, and so to ever renewed attacks on the standards of the workers in order to maintain a competi- tive level. The principal period of im- perialism since the end of the nineteenth century coincides with steadily worsening conditions of the workers in Britain. Second, the profits of empire give to the capitalists reserves of strength to enable them to fight more successfully against the working class in the home country. Third, international working-class soli- darity is broken by the division of im- perialist and coloured workers, of white and coloured workers, as seen con- spicuously in the problems of the seamen, or in a country like South Africa. Capital plays off one against the other; and the drive becomes increasingly to bring all down to the "coolie standard." COLONIAL SPOILS Fourth, the ever growing conflicts of the imperialist powers over the spoils of colo- nial plunder lead to growing militarism and wars. Such was already the war of 1914-18 for the division of the world, and renewed and yet more intense war of the imperialist powers threaten. Poverty and worsened conditions, work- ing-class division and ever renewed capi- talist attacks, militarism and war-these are the consequences of imperialism for the workers. Against this system of imperialism the colonial peoples all over the world are in revolt. This revolt is spreading and extend- ing in its range year by year, above all since the world war, which revealed to all the contradictions and inner rottenness of imperialism, and since the Bolshevik Revo- lution which freed the subject peoples under Tsarism. FIGHT GOES FORWARD In India and Egypt, in Burma and Malaya, in Palestine and Nigeria, the fight goes forward. Hundreds of millions are awakening. Colonial wars, military opera- tions, police terrorism are ceaseless, but cannot stay the movement of revolt. What is the only possible policy of the British working class in relation to the struggle of the colonial peoples for freedom? It is to support that struggle as part of a common fight against capitalism. It is to support their fight for freedom without reserve, up to the full right of secession and independence. The only alternative is inevitably unity with capitalism to shoot down the colonial masses. There is no half-way house. The [ 19
choice is before us, and is heavy with re- sponsibility for the whole future of the working class. Imperialism is the common enemy. Unity is strength. Imperialism will be overthrown by the combined struggle of the working class and the colonial peoples. England The Slave Trader THE slave traffic was the monopoly of the Portuguese, who were master pirates of the Guinea coast about 1600, and were the only people who took part in the transportation of human cargoes. In the next century this monopoly was broken by the Dutch. The English at that time took little part in the nefarious trade. John Hawkins carried five shiploads of Negroes from Guinea to Haiti in 1562. In the eighteenth century this vile traffic was almost entirely in the hands of the god-fearing English. It is recorded that between 1783 and 1793 some 303,737 slaves, valued at £15,186,850, were transported from Africa to America. The peak of this trade was reached about 1770, when 197 English ships in all were employed. Of these, 107 were from Liverpool, 57 from London, and 33 from Bristol. From the accumulated lucrative profits of slave-driving the basis was laid for large-scale industry in Lancashire and other parts of England; in fact, the foundation of the Empire was built on slavery. EMPIRE leads to WAR WE cannot have an Empire and have peace, and we cannot have an Empire and in the long run preserve our own liberty as a working class here at home. There is no doubt whatever, from the im- perialist point of view, that the possession of an Empire is a good thing. If the 20 ] British capitalist class are boasting now that we have weathered the crisis better than they have in Germany or Italy or the U.S.A., that weathering of the crisis is precisely due to the possession of this huge colonial Empire. EMPIRE AT ANY COST Consequently we have in the world to- day not merely the desire to protect their Empire, but we have also the desire on the part of other capitalist countries, which have no empire, to build an empire at any cost. And so we have the invasion of Japan into Manchuria, the challenge thrown down to the old treaties under which they divided up China, the man- œuvres of British imperialism in Tibet and Chinese Turkestan, the driving of Ger- many for an empire, the invasion of Abyssinia by Italy, and this imperialist struggle is becoming more acute because of the colonial policy of the British im- perialists. Cabinet Ministers glibly express the great desire of the governing class of this country for peace. Yet there is not one who would be prepared to give up un- conditionally one single inch of the British Empire either to the colonial peoples within the Empire or to any competing imperialist Power. A survey of the trade within the British Empire shows that as a result of the Ottawa Agreement British imperialism has succeeded in diminishing the share of its imperialist rivals in Empire markets and increasing its own. This only accentuates the struggle for markets throughout the world. URGED ON BY CRISIS In fact, the whole development of the crisis has shown every imperialist Power the importance of colonies and an empire as a sphere of exploitation. The operation of the Ottawa Agreement, the drive to- wards a "closed Empire" has roused the colonial rivalry of the British and American imperialists. At the same time British imperialism is seeking to effect a political and economic compromise with Japanese imperialism in order to obtain Japanese support against the United States and in order to direct the Japanese expansion drive towards the Soviet Union. Furthermore, we see the dangerous situation which has arisen in East Africa owing to the conflict between British and Italian imperialism over Abyssinia. Besides the large economic interests possessed by Britain in Abyssinia, the prosperity of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan depends upon the headwaters of the Blue Nile situated in Abyssinia. Italian capitalism, on the other hand, must obtain colonial markets and the monopoly of a source of raw materials. Abyssinia is the only remain- ing free territory in Africa, and has thus attracted Italian imperialism as well as British interests. Similarly German capitalism must find colonies at the expense of those who have them, and is arming in preparation for a war to obtain them. Imperialist an- tagonisms are therefore creating another world war for the redistribution of colonies. Empire and Peace there cannot be, because both are contradictory terms. Children and the Empire In every school the Teachers will tell the children about the great British Empire, in school history books the chil- dren read of the great Empire, at the cinema they see and hear of the great Empire, and what a wonderful thing it is that little Britain should rule over great countries wheres there are millions and millions of coloured people. But the children are never taught that the coloured people of the colonies are everywhere terribly poor, with not enough food or clothes. They work far longer than your father and mother do-growing rice and tea and corn, working in the mines, carrying heavy loads on their heads or backs. The children also have to work because their parents cannot earn enough to keep them. Instead of going to school, the children in many colonies have to work all day long under the hot sun, digging or plant- ing seeds with a stick, or carrying water. A great many die through hunger while they are still tiny tots. In the towns, they work in the cotton mills, ten or twelve hours a day, minding the machinery. They get so tired that they fall asleep at the machines, and often get badly hurt by moving machinery. The children often eat and sleep, as well as work in the noisy, dirty factory. They earn only a few pence, and are very thin and pale, and many die young. If you ask about this, you will most likely be told that coloured people can live on a basinful of rice a day. This is not true; any more than it is true to say that you can live on porridge and nothing else. The white rulers do not treat the coloured people well. They beat them severely for the slightest offence. All this is done by a few rich people from England who want to become richer. These are the same rich people for whom your father or your mother or grown-up brothers have to work. The rich are enemies of the workers in every country. The workers everywhere should be brothers and friends of one another, whether they are white or brown or yellow or black. When you grow up, stand up for your brothers in the colonies. Remember that the rich people's Empire means slavery for millions of people. [ 21
HOW THE SOVIET UNION SOLVED THE NATIONAL PROBLEM TSARIST Russia was a great Empire, built up by the sword over many cen- turies. Less than a third of its population (56 millions out of over 170 millions) were Russians. But the Russian ruling class— landlords, manufacturers, bankers and merchants—controlled the fates of over a hundred million Ukrainians, White Rus- sians, Georgians, Jews, Armenians, Kazaks, Uzbeks, Turkmenis, etc. Only a tiny handful of landlords among these subject nationalities shared in political power. The subject peoples had no local govern- ment of their own, except in Finland. They could not receive education in their own language, save in a few religious schools in the Asiatic provinces. They were consequently debarred from the higher posts in all professions. While in European Russia nearly a quarter of the people could read and write, in the Caucasus the figure was only 12 per cent. and in Central Asia 5 per cent. Their countries were kept as sources of raw material, food grain, flax, peat, cotton, oil and industrial development was held back. The subject peoples represented a huge mass of peasants, living at the very lowest degree of misery, disease and ignorance, contemptuously treated as “natives” in- capable of thinking like the white man— the Russian with a small sprinkling of workers earning five or six shillings a week for a 12- or 14-hour day. In short, the Russian Empire was just as much a “prison house of peoples” as the British Empire, and ruled like the British Empire with the help of bayonets and machine-guns. 22 ] For years the Bolsheviks had preached that Socialism could never be achieved by the Russian workers unless they helped the subject peoples to gain complete indepen- dence, including the right if they pleased to separate completely. The Bolsheviks always supported to the utmost any strike or national revolt of the subject peoples. Immediately the Soviet Government was established by the revolution of November 1917, the Bolsheviks set about fulfilling their promises. The “Declaration of Rights of the toil- ing Peoples of Russia”—later incorporated into the Soviet Constitution—gave full freedom to all subject peoples to decide their destiny as they pleased. Moreover, the Soviet Union from the beginning pursued the policy of special economic assistance to the former subject peoples, in the shape of huge expenditure on irrigation and drainage works, on edu- cation, on agriculture and above all on the development of the national industrial wealth of their countries. Mines, factories, railways have covered the face of previous blank spots on the map, adding vastly to the resources of the former subject peoples, and moreover under the new Soviet conditions—seven- hour day, free social insurance, equal pay for equal work, workmen’s committees in control of conditions, etc. National jingoism—such as “race propa- ganda,” anti-semitism, contemptuous treat- ment of the former “natives,” etc.—is sternly repressed. But the Bolsheviks of every one of the national States of the Soviet Union strive to lead their own people—the workers, col- lective farmers and individual peasants— by the shortest and quickest path towards a completely classless society, in which no trace of the former national privileges and inequalities remain. Instead of 101 provinces of the old Tsarist Empire governed by fire and sword from St. Petersburg, the Soviet Union in 1932 already consisted of seven Federal Re- publics (the principal Sovereign States), with 16 autonomous Soviet Republics (i.e., enjoying Home Rule), 17 autonomous national Regions, and hundreds of self- governing national districts and even vil- lages in their midst. За боевое КОМСОМОЛЬЦЫ! Чыгы вајd 46 rajona SOMOLLAR Since then dozens have been added to their number, and scores of districts, regions and autonomous Republics have moved up into a higher status as their eco- nomic and social progress made it possible. Never has there been in the history of the world a country presenting such a variety of national units, all based on national self-expression, and all in a state of continuous growth. Yet never in the world has there been a state so united, powerful and free from ex- ploitation and parasitism of any kind as the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Happy and Free Workers in Soviet Central Asia [ 23
AN APPEAL to YOU! THE League Against Imperialism and for National Independence serves as the concentration point for all anti-imperialist, national-revolutionary movements, whether these movements are in the colonial coun- tries, or movements of oppressed peoples and national minorities in Europe. The League undertakes the task of uniting these movements with the struggle of the workers and peasants in the imperialist countries in a joint struggle against im- perialist oppression. On the basis of this united front of all anti-imperialist forces in the colonial and semi-colonial countries and in Europe, the League aims at secur- ing complete national independence for the colonial and semi-colonial countries, and the full right of self-determination, including the right to separate from the State to which they are at present attached. We appeal to all genuine anti-imperialist fighters and to all those who sympathise with the national revolutionary struggle of the oppressed people for freedom to join the League, whose basic demands are:— (1) The complete national independence of the colonial and semi-colonial peoples. (2) The full right of self-determination for all oppressed nationalities. (3) Complete freedom of movement for all national-revolutionary organisations, and in particular for all revolutionary work- ing-class and peasant organisations. (4) The removal of the imperialist armed forces from all colonial and semi-colonial countries. (5) The confiscation without compensation of all undertakings, mines, banks, plan- tations, lands, etc., at present in the pos- session of the imperialists, and the nationalisation of the same. The aboli- tion of all debts to the imperialists, and the abolition of all reparation payments. (6) The confiscation without compensation of all lands at present in possession of rich landowners, and the distribution of same amongst the working peasants. MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM. TO THE LEAGUE AGAINST IMPERIALISM, 53, Gray's Inn Road, London, W.C.1. I wish to become an individual member of the League Against Imperialism, and enclose.................................. as subscription (donation). This organisation .......................... desires to affiliate to the League Against Imperialism, and encloses .................... as affiliation fee. Please send further information on con- ditions of affiliation and membership. (Strike out if not applicable.) Name .................................... Address .................................... .................................... Date.................................... The subscription for individual members is 2s. per annum (can be paid quarterly). The affiliation fee for local organisations is 2s. 6d. per annum. The affiliation fee for national organisa- tions is £1 per 1,000 members, and 10s. for each additional 1,000 members, or part. Printed by the Marston Printing Co. (T.U.), Nelson Place, Cayton Street, London, E.C.1.
CONGRESS OF PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP WITH THE U.S.S.R. LONDON 6th, 7th and 8th DECEMBER, 1935 OFFICIAL PROGRAMME AND CATALOGUE ARA MEMORIAL 499 LIBRARY PRICE THREEPENCE Issued by the Congress Organising Committee, from 35, Great James Street, London, W.C. I
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Delegates are requested to make careful note of the THREE DIFFERENT HALLS being used, being (a) on Friday and Saturday the Friends House, (b) on Sunday morning the Metropole Cinema, Victoria, (c) on Sunday evening the Cambridge Theatre. 2. VISITORS' TICKETS for the Congress can be obtained at a price of 2s. 6d. for the four sessions, or 1s. for one session. During the Congress applications should be made to the Congress Enquiry Bureau at the Friends House (Saturday) or the Metropole Cinema, Victoria (Sunday morning). Tickets for the FILM SHOW (1s. 6d., 2s. 6d., 3s. 6d., 5s., 7s. 6d.) on Sunday night can be obtained in the same way. 3. There will be a CONGRESS ENQUIRY BUREAU at the Friends House in the North Corridor, near the Main Entrance, which, inter alia, will issue DELEGATE'S CREDENTIALS, CONGRESS TICKETS, SESSION TICKETS, Luncheon Tickets, and Lists of Accommodation. On Sun- day morning the Congress Enquiry Bureau will be moved to the Metropole Cinema, Victoria, where the Session will be held. Minor queries should be referred to the STEWARDS, who will wear dis- tinguishing badges. 4. While the Organizing Committee cannot undertake the arrangement of HOTEL AND OTHER ACCOMMODATION for Delegates, a list of addresses has been prepared and can be obtained from the Congress Enquiry Bureau. 5. For the Convenience of Delegates the following ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEALS have been made: On Saturday, at the Friends House, Lunches (3 course—meat 1s. 6d., vegetarian 1s. 3d.) will be served in the Tea Room in the basement. There will be two services, and, to avoid overcrowding and to ensure smooth service, Delegates are requested to obtain their tickets in advance from the Congress Enquiry Bureau. On Sunday, arrangements have been made for Lunches to be served in the Restaurant (downstairs) and the Café (upstairs) at the Metropole Cinema, Victoria, where the morning Session will be held. Specially reduced prices can be obtained by producing this Official Programme. 6. The attention of Delegates is directed to the EXHIBITIONS of Photographs of Soviet Life and Industry, Soviet Posters, Books on the U.S.S.R., Russian Children's Books, Soviet Handicrafts, to the STALLS of Collet's Bookshop and Intourist Ltd. 2 FOREWORD The days are now past when the British public could be per- suaded to believe that Soviet Russia stands for the destruction of all civilization and culture. Thinking men and women to-day are refusing to accept at their face value the tales about religious persecution and famine, about slave camps and lack of freedom that appear in certain of our daily papers. Every year has seen a growth in the demand for reliable information and unbiassed opinion about conditions of life in the new Russia. The uncompromising peace policy of the Soviet Government has gradually earned the respect and admiration of persons of good will in every country of the world. The honest and determined stand of Litvinov and his colleagues at Geneva for disarmament and for the independence of small nations has stimulated, more than anything else, a new interest in the great social transforma- tion that is being carried through in the U.S.S.R. Our Congress, with its recognized authorities, both Russian and British, breaks through the barrage of legend and misrepresen- tation that surrounds the U.S.S.R. It is designed to meet the demand for intimate information, and is directed towards the friendly co-operation of the peoples of Britain and the U.S.S.R. in the cause of international reconstruction and world peace. 3
OFFICIAL PROGRAMME Friday, 6th December, 1935 — Friends House, Euston Road, N.W. I 6.30 p.m. Friends House open for Provincial Delegates. 8.15 ,, RECEPTION to PROFESSOR OTTO SCHMIDT, Leader of the Chelyuskin Arctic Expedition, under the Chairmanship of AUGUSTINE COURTAULD, the British Arctic Ex- plorer. Saturday, 7th December, 1935 — Friends House, Euston Road, N.W.I SESSION I.—PEACE POLICY OF THE U.S.S.R. 10.0 a.m. Congress to be opened by the EARL OF LISTOWEL (Chair- man of the Organizing Committee). 10.15 ,, Chairman (ROBERT BOOTHBY, M.P.) to open Session. 10.30 ,, SEYMOUR COCKS, M.P., to speak on the PEACE POLICY OF THE U.S.S.R. 11.15 ,, LORD ALLEN OF HURTWOOD to move RESOLUTION, That this non-party Congress of Delegates from British social, cultural, religious, industrial, co- operative, and political bodies, Expresses its deepest appreciation of the Soviet Union's efforts to promote world peace, particularly by upholding the Covenant of the League of Nations, Urges His Majesty's Government to spare no efforts to promote trade and friendly intercourse between this Country and the U.S.S.R. in the common interest of all peoples, Declares its conviction that the interests of Inter- national peace and the welfare of mankind require the closest possible co-operation in international affairs between the Governments of Great Britain and the U.S.S.R., And calls at the same time for a widening of friendly contacts, visits, and in every other way between the common people of both countries, as a solid basis for mutual understanding. 11.30 ,, A. G. MARSHALL to second the Resolution. 11.45 ,, DISCUSSION. 12.55 p.m. Resolution to be put before the Congress. 1.0 ,, Adjournment. See General Information, Item 5, for Lunch arrangements. SESSION II.—BUILDING THE NEW ECONOMIC SYSTEM 2.15 p.m. Chairman (H. E. METCALF) to open Session. 2.30 ,, SIDNEY WEBB to speak on PLANNED PRODUCTION FOR COMMUNITY CONSUMPTION. 3.15 ,, SIR JOHN MAYNARD to speak on AGRICULTURE. 3.35 ,, JOHN JAGGER to speak on TRADE UNIONS. 3.55 ,, LESLIE PAUL to speak on CO-OPERATIVES. 4.15 ,, DISCUSSION. 5.15 ,, Adjournment. See General Information, Item 5, for Tea arrangements. SESSION III.—CULTURAL AND SOCIAL LIFE 6.0 p.m. Chairman (THE EARL OF LISTOWEL) to open Session. 6.15 ,, MRS. BEATRICE KING to speak on EDUCATION. 6.45 ,, PROFESSOR P. M. S. BLACKETT to speak on SCIENCE. 7.15 ,, MRS. CECIL CHESTERTON to speak on WOMEN AND CHIL- DREN. 7.45 ,, PROFESSOR HAROLD LASKI to speak on LAW. 8.15 ,, GEOFFREY A. WHITWORTH to speak on THE THEATRE. 8.45 ,, PROFESSOR OTTO SCHMIDT, Leader of the famous Chelyuskin Expedition to the Arctic. 9.30 ,, DISCUSSION. 9.45 ,, Adjournment. Sunday, 8th December, 1935—METROPOLE CINEMA, Victoria, S.W I SESSION IV.—CULTURAL AND SOCIAL LIFE (contd.) 10.15 a.m. Chairman (VISCOUNT HASTINGS) to open Session. 10.30 ,, LORD MARLEY to speak on THE JEWISH AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC AND THE FAR EAST. 10.55 ,, MRS. AMABEL WILLIAMS-ELLIS to speak on LITERATURE. 11.20 ,, DR. EDITH SUMMERSKILL to speak on HEALTH. 11.45 ,, PETER HALL to speak on SPORT AND RECREATION. 12. 5 p.m. DR. S. F. OSIAKOVSKI to speak on ART. 12.30 ,, HON. IVOR MONTAGU to speak on FILMS. 12.55 ,, DISCUSSION. PROFESSOR OTTO SCHMIDT. 1.35 ,, Closing Remarks. 1.45 ,, Termination of the Congress. See General Informa- tion, Item 5, for Lunch arrangements. Public Celebration Meeting and Film Show - CAMBRIDGE THEATRE, Great Earl Street, W.C. 2 6.30 p.m. PUBLIC FILM SHOW AND MEETING at the CAMBRIDGE THEATRE, with "THREE SONGS OF LENIN," "RUSSIA, 1935," and News Reel. Songs by INA DELAHAYE. Greetings to Meeting by PROFESSOR OTTO SCHMIDT, Leader of the Chelyuskin Expedition to the Arctic. Tickets, price 1s. 6d., 2s. 6d., 3s. 6d., 5s., 7s. 6d., can be obtained during the Congress from the Enquiry Bureau, at both the Friends House (Saturday) and the Metropole Cinema (Sunday morning). 4 5
LIST OF PROMINENT SUPPORTERS OF THE CONGRESS PEACE AND POLITICS. Vyvyan Adams, M.P., Lord Allen of Hurtwood, Lady Clare Annesley, Philip Noel Baker, Oliver Baldwin, Lady Barlow, S. J. Barlow, Harrison Barrow, Robert Boothby, M.P., H. N. Brailsford, S. Cavendish-Bentinck, Air-Commodore L. E. O. Charlton, Seymour Cocks, M.P., Lt.-Col. Delahaye, D.S.O., Mrs. Barbara Drake, Mrs. D. Eckersley, Hon. Mrs. E. L. Franklin, Viscount Hastings, George Jeger, Jenny Lee, The Earl of Lis- towel, Capt. H. Macmillan, M.P., E. Ruth Mansell-Moullin, Lord and Lady Marley, A. G. Marshall, Sir John Maynard, Lady Muriel Paget, Sir George Paish, D. N. Pritt, K.C., M.P., Major Henry A. Proctor, M.P., Lt.-Col. Wakefield Rainey, Eva Reckitt, Frances Countess of Warwick, Brig.-Gen. W. H. II. Waters, C.M.G., Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb, Col. J. C. Wedg- wood, M.P., Wilfred Wellock, Monica Whately, Edgar C. Willis, Lt.-Cmdr. E. P. Young. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION. Prof. Lascelles Abercrombie, Prof. G. Barger, H. L. Beales, J. D. Bernal, Prof. P. M. S. Blackett, Prof. E. F. Carritt, Prof. Catlin, Prof. V. Gordon Childe, G. D. H. Cole, Margaret I. Cole, Prof. F. M. Cornford, Maurice Dobb, G. P. Gooch, Sir R. A. Gregory, Prof. J. B. S. Haldane, Prof. Stanley Jevons, Dr. C. W. Kimmins, Beatrice King, Prof. Harold Laski, Prof. H. Levy, R. McKinnon-Wood, Prof. John Macmurray, H. E. Metcalf, Sir John Russell, L. Shlouude-Sheldon, Prof. R. H. Tawney, Dr. G. M. Vevers, Alex Wood, Barbara Wootton. TRADE-UNIONS. John Bromley, Alex. Gossip, John Jagger, M.P., G. H. Jones, Will Lawther, M.P., Leah Manning, John Williams. CO-OPERATIVES. Margaret Llewelyn Davies, R. G. Gosling, S. F. Perry, Alder- man Joseph Reeves, Michael Tippett. 6 RELIGION. Rev. Albert D. Belden, Rev. S. Crawford, Rev. J. Clark Gib- son, Rev. A. Herbert Gray, Rev. Samuel Keeble, Dr. John Lewis, Rev. Conrad Noel, Dr. F. W. Norwood, Canon C. E. Raven, Rev. Leyton Richards, Dr. Maude Royden, Dr. W. M. Selbie, Rev. Etienne Watts, Rev. H. Cresswell Webb. LITERATURE. Valentine Ackland, Vernon Bartlett, Vera Brittain, Mrs. Cecil Chesterton, Stephen Embleton, Havelock Ellis, Rosita Forbes, Hamilton Fyfe, Hon. Mrs. Christopher Fremantle, Hubert Griffith, George Godwin, Louis Golding, Victor Gollancz, John A. Hobson, Laurence Housman, Carmel Haden-Guest, Henrietta Leslie, Capt. B. H. Liddell Hart, C. M. Lloyd, Ethel Mannin, Sean O'Casey, T. F. Powys, Evelyn Sharp, John Robertson Scott, Stephen Spender, George Bernard Shaw, Hannen Swaffer, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Amabel Williams-Ellis, A. E. Wilson. MEDICINE. P. G. Doyne, F.R.C.S., Dr. Margaret Dunstan, Dr. Robert M. Dunstan, Prof. J. Marrack, Dr. D. C. Norris, Dr. Edith Summerskill. MUSIC, STAGE, FILM, ART. Pearl Argyle, Pearl Binder, Rutland Boughton, Maurice Browne, Alan D. Bush, Lewis Casson, Albert Coates, Ina Dela- haye, Robert Donat, Eric Gill, E. McKnight Kauffer, David Low, Louise Morgan, Donia Nachshen, Barbara Nixon, Herbert Read, Paul Robeson, Sir W. Rothenstein, Sybil Thorndike, Geoffrey Whitworth, R. Vaughan Williams, Clough Williams- Ellis. 7