Washington Journal., 1916-11-24
LABOR AND PEACE.
An Appeal to the American
Federation of Labor in
Behalf of Peace
Through a Defensive Alliance Of the -Four
Great DsmOcTacIes, Britain, France,
Germany and the United States
BY ROBERT STEIN.

vi tAO WY - -
was a strong movement among French
w~orkingmen in favor Of closer relations
with Germany, on the expressly de-
clared ground that Democrats should
stick together" They are silent about
it now, but it is safe to say that the
subject is never absent from their
minds. Everybody knows that the
French and German socialists had long
been fraterniz;ng. The creed already
has its martyr in the person of Jean
Jaures, the peerless orator, who had
shocked the patriots of the orthodox ira
dition by inviting their attention to the
circumstance that the men on one side
of the boundary are just as human as
the men on the other side-a doctrine
SO plain as to be beyond refutation
save by bullets.
The attitude of British workingmen
is still more decided. The resignation
of John Burns, the labor leader, from
the British Cabinet, was the visible
symptom of labor's protest against the
war. Even in the midst of the war the
British w%orkingmen at their meetings
have lone but kind words for the Ger
man w%orkingmen, and constantly voice
their earnest wish for a speedy resump-
ton of cordial relations with them.
This situation offers a priceless OPP
p%ortunity to the american Federation
of Labor. Britain and France being
already allied, the opportunity consists
in the fact that an offer of a defensive
alliance from the United States to
Britain, France and Germany would al
most instantly CONVEX the present enc
mics into allies, and thus not only stop
the present war but make peace univer-
sal and permanent.
The real motive which impels the
British people to keep up the fight is
the belief that Britain would lose her
rank as a leading power if Germany
were victorious. Now the white peo-
pie of the British empire number So
millions, the population of the United
States 100 millions. Reunite these 15G
million English-speaking people, and
they will be forever invincible. A def
mite prospect of such reunion would thus
mean that the British people would no
longer have any motive to keep up the
fight, but on the contrary the strongest
motive to offer acceptable terms to Ger
many, as the only means to gain the
Commandments consent to the re-
union. When it becomes known that
Britain can make peace with safety and
advantage, her labor organizations will
promptly demand ii, especially when
they know that the initiative was taken
by the American Federation Of Labor.
Germany's terms will not be immoder-
ate. Her aim is simply to maintain her
present rank as a leading power, not to
endanger her neighbors' future.
In order to gain the consent
of the Irish-Americans, Britain will also
be ready to grant complete home rule
to Ireland, knowing hat the ~ mil
lion Cells of Ireland would never com
NIT the absurdity of cutting loose from
the 40 million Celts diffused through the
reunited Anglo-Saxon Cor rather Celt-
anglian) nation.
A league consisting of Britain,
France, Germany and the United States
would evidently be strong enough to
enforce universal peace, and would feel
compelled both by duty and by self
interest to do SO. 1t is to the interest
Of labor that the guardianship of peace
be entrusted to the four great educated
and enlightened d~emocracies, in which
the labor element possesses the greatest
power. AS noted above, the union Of
the three great democracies of Europe
would be welcomed by their working
men, who are already convinced of the
identity of their interests. By taking
the lead in this movement, organized
labor would greatly enhance its pres
tige and power, and contribute to sweep
away the remnants of class privilege,
not only in these four countries but
all over the globe. The four great
democracies, when once united, will by
reason OF their community of interests
be more apt to stay united than govern
ments with conflicting interests.
The difficulty lies in making the start;
hence the start should not wantonly be
made more difficult than it is by ma
ture. II a league of three nations could
be made strong enough, it were foolish
to add a fourth; but evidently not one
OF the four great democracies can be
omitted. Since the four would album
dainty suffice, and since the task of
uniting even these four will be one
OF almost superhuman difficulty, it
would be i~nexcusable, suicidal folly to
val u -.