The daily worker., 1925-03-01
BRITISH FIGHT
AMSTERDAM FOR
WORLD UNITY
(Continued fron. paRa 1.l

made rash promises. Oudegeest
and JOuhaux clearly were not in
fluenced by any excitement" for re-
volution.
Fred Bramley OF the British dele
cation opened up the fight for unity
in reply. 1t was an achievement in
itself, and will go down as the best
speech Bramley has ever made, and
the only pity is that 1t. ws made in
private council and Is lost to the
worlds workers.
5ramIey Frays oudegeest
Bramley showed both surprise and
displeasure at 0udegeest's insinua-
tions against the sincerity of the Rus
sian unions efforts to reach unity.
He clearly pointed out that Oudegeest
had lodged and evaded the offers Of
the Russians and never made any ef-
fort to meet them.
Bramley Uses Plain Talk
AS Oudegeest and Jouhaux had TAX
en- exception to the statements Of the
British delegates made both while in
Russia and in England, as of no i'm
portance because they were merely
individual statments." Bramley caust-
Jelly asked why no reference had been
made to the British delegations col
lective statements concerning Geor-
gia, the improved and happy condi-
tions of the Russian workers, and so
on.
Bramley excoriated Oudegeest's
methods of suppressings these and
other matters in the publications of
the Amsterdam International and the
bitterly hostile correspondence carried
on by Oudegeest in vain attempts to
prevent the growing friendship be-
tween the English and the Russian
workers. *
British for Unconditional Meeting
Coming to hiss positive program,
Bramley offered, in. the name of the
British General Council of Trade Un-
ions, a resolution calling for an un-
conditional conference between Am
sterdam and the Russian unions, in
which a heart-to-heart talk could take
place upon a later world congress,
which might or might not follow.
This resolution was supported by
Fimmen of the International Trans
port Workers and Cook of the Miners
International, while Mertens of Bel
gium and Grassman of Germany sup
ported Oudegeest. Bitter argument
followed on both sides, with the Bri-
tish standing like rock for the deci-
sion of their general council
Reformlsts Fear Outside Pressure
Knowing that the rank and file of
European unions would never support
their insolent refusal of offers of unity
and faced with the solid left wing
bloc of British, the reformists ad-
journed and there was much scurry-
ing about the American Hotel, where
the meeting was held.
When the next~ session opened
Stenhuis of Holland moved their
tricky compromise resolution, de-
claring the readiness of the 1. T. F. q.
to meet the Russian delegates in
the city of Amsterdam, providing the
Russian unions declare their desire
to affiliate to the Amsterdam Inter
national.
Tricky Motives In Proposal
The motives of the right wing
could not be hidden. They hate the
idea of meeting the Russian unionists,
but they hate still more to have the
largest and strongest section Of Am
sterdam, without which Amsterdam
would not last single day. the Bri-
tish unions, going over their heads
and comforting with the Russians.
Another resolution from Switzerland
for an unconditional conference to be
held at Moscow was offered. Am
sterdam, being one of the few capitals
hard for Russians to visit because
Holland has not recognized Soviet
Russia yet, was unsuitable.
The Vote On Three Proposals
The left wing pressed the British
resolution. But it was defeated by a
vote Of thirteen to six. The sam vote
showed on the Swiss resolution. Thei
the Stenhuis resolution carried b!
fourteen to five. the five being the
solid British delegation supported by
Fimmen.
The councils meeting was marked
by the most disgraceful lies in tht
capitalist press, which brazenly stated
the complete falsehood that both
Bramley and Purcell had "repudiated"
the idea of a world congress as
Communist trickg Tracing these
outrageous lies tostheir source, It is
discovered that none other than Sas-
senbach of Germany gave out such
information" ~
Socialist insists On Lying
Even this was not enough. Mertens,
in the council, moved that this alleged
"repudiation" be recorded in the min
utao and purcal1 oud Rramlav vfROr-