The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-17
BY LEON PLATT.

A RECENT statement of President Hoover
n and Secretary of State Stimson reads;
NAVAL rivalry between the United States and
Great Britain is definitely at an end" The
chief of the Labor Government Macdonald Is
jubilant over the great success of the three
power agreement" which is bound to consoh-
date international "peace." The capitalist press,
though seeing the failure of the London con
ference halls the three power agreement as
contribution of permanent world peace" The
workers, however, must ask themselves: How
concretely were the results of the London con-
ference? Why was it impossible to get five
power agreement? Why was it necessary for
Hoover and Macdonald to have treaty at all
costs?
The statement that 'naval rivalry between the
United States and England is definitely at
an end" is nonsense. Naval rivalry between
America and Great Britain can never be abol-
shed so long as the economic and politica!
antagonisms between these two greatest I'M
peralist powers can not be abolished.
In our every day life, in every corner of the
world the imperalist interests of the United
States and England conflict with each other.
1t is necessary to point out only the recently
more intensified struggle between the Royal
Dutch Shell and the Standard Oil, the strug-
gle between British and American shipping
interests, the renewed struggle for the control
of the Latin American markets, etc. All these
factors combined make not only impossible the
abolition of the naval rivalry between the
United States and England, but on the con-
trary it sharpens and inteEsifies this rivalry.
The treaty itself shows the great mistrust and
antagonisms between these two imperialist
giants.
Why a Three Power Agreement?
The foreign policies of the Labor Govern
ment were characterized by the capitalist class
as a Success" The role of Snowden at the
Hague conference, Hendersons treaty with
Egypt, the reorganization of the commercial
representatives of the British empire in for
eign countries actually won the admiration of
British imperialism for the foreign policies of
the Labor government Particularly approved
were the policies of Macdonald in Palestine
and in India, where workers and peasants are
being slaughtered for fighting against the OPP
preston of British imperialism. Another trump
card in the hands of the labor government is
its pacifist illusions spread among the masses,
concerning "peace" and disarmament"
However, the difference between the imper-
ialist powers were so great that no five-powe
agreement, no real reduction of ornaments was
possible of achievement. The London confer.
ence, therefore, proved to be a failure. The
workers began to learn that disarmament and
peace is impossible under capitalism. They
also began to see the feverish war prepara-'
tons and the inevitablity of war against the
Soviet Union and between the imperialist pow
themselves.
To counterfeit this, to save the prestige of
Macdonald and the British Labor Party, to
have some issue and achievement to the credit
of the Labor Government, on the basis of which
it could again appeal for support to the British
Workers--ln short, to save its own face the
British Labor Government, with the help of
the other lmperialists, patched up three-pow-
er agreement.
Campaign Issues.
The same is also true about the Hoover adj
ministration. The Congressional and Senator
ial elections are approaching. The bursting of
the bubble of American prosperity, the serious
industrial and agricultural crisis, growing un
employment, greatly impaired the prestige of
the Hoover administration and the Republican
Party as whole. In the coming elections the
Hoover administration has no issues on which
it could come to the American masses 1t too
wants to the fake disarmament" of the
London conference as an achievement of the
Hoover administration. The three power agree
ment was, therefore, in the words of Chairman
Brittn of the House Naval Committee, an act
ito save the faces of the members of the
American delegation
Disarmament la Macdonald and Hoover.
The Labor Government and the Hoover adj
mlnlstration boast of the great savings of the
London Conference and the limitations of naval
ornaments. Upon a close examination of the
facts one can easily convince oneself of the
tricks and hypocricy Of Hoover and MacDon-
old We read, for example, that the United
States and Great Britain will scrap a number
OF battleships. 1t is of interest to know that
the battleships to be scrapped were already
strapped, regardless of any conference. be-
cause OF their age limit. The same applies 70
cruisers. The $4,000 tons of cruisers which
Stimson was ready to sacrifice at the London
conference are today obsolete. The 10000
tons OF destroyers long ago had been put on the
disposal list by the American navy. They were
hastily constructed in the last world war TO
meet the attack of German submarines. and
ven prior to the conference were put on the
inactive list. This also applies to 10000 tons
OF submarines. Disregarding any conference.
the American navy had nearly 100000 tons of
naval e"aft which was absolutely out of COM
mission and could not be used for any effective
warfare. AS one of the bourgeois correspond
ents expressed himself in his report on tba
London conference:
THE London conference merely recorded