Party emerged from the war with increased strength and influence.

FRANCE

The Majoritaires and Minoritaires. In August, 1914, the French socialists, to all outward appearances, showed remarkable unity in their support of the war. It was not long, however, before dissensions arose. The moderate and at first the dominant group in the party known as the Majoritaires demanded vigorous prosecution of the war until the Allies secured a complete victory over the Central Powers. They also opposed any conference between the French socialists and delegates from Germany and Austria. Forty of the Majoritaire group in the Chamber of Deputies, following the visit of the American labor delegates in the Summer of 1918, formed themselves into a separate bloc known as the Varenne Quarante. Albert Thomas, for some time Minister of Munitions, finally joined this group, and was its outstanding figure.

The second group, stimulated partly by the propaganda of the anti-war Kienthal socialists, was designated Minoritaires. In the congress of the Socialist Federation of the Seine in 1918, this group showed three divisions: The extreme left, who believed that the socialists should refuse to vote for the war budget, and demanded social revolution and peace; the Longuet group, who also advocated refusal to vote for the war credits, opposed intervention in Russia, demanded a revision of the war aims of the Allies and urged the participation of the French

3

3 This group was led by Jean Longuet, grandson of Karl Marx, and a prominent member of the Chamber of Deputies. Their organ was Le Populaire. It cannot be said that the vote in the Federation of the Seine was typical of the sentiment in the party throughout France, as this federation, which includes the socialists of Paris, was, during the war, more radical than those in other portions of France.

in the international socialist and labor peace conferences; and the Centrists, led by M. Cachin and others, who emphasized the necessity for vigorous participation in the national defense, but who, nevertheless, favored a "political offensive" in the form of an international conference at which the proletariat would endeavor to establish peace on the basis of President Wilson's declaration. At this congress, the left and Cachin groups obtained for their resolutions approximately 1,000 votes each, as compared with 6,099 for the Longuet resolution. The Majoritaires presented no set resolution.

Minority Becomes Majority. The Minoritaires continued to gain in strength, with every passing month, and, at a meeting of the Socialist National Council in July of 1918, became the majority group, securing 1,544 votes as against 1,172.4

While the successful resolution reiterated the party's determination to support the defense of the nation, it denounced the political, diplomatic and military mistakes of the leaders of the country, and particularly the government's refusal to grant passports to the socialists to attend the Stockholm Conference. It asked why the peace proposals of 1917 were rejected without serious examination and demanded that the French Government revise its war aims and that it publicly condemn militaristic schemes. It urged " a clear and definite statement of our peace conditions on the basis defined by the Russian revolution and by President Wilson," opposed intervention in Russia, and called for the preparation of a scheme for a League of Nations in the terms and spirit indicated by President Wilson.

"A definite peace can only be assured by the establish4 Seven hundred of the 1,172 were voted by the Majoritaires as proxies.

vention in Russia; requested the Trade Union Congress, by a card vote of 1,893,000 to 935,000, to take industrial action to compel the British Government to recall the troops from Russia and to lift the economic blockade; unanimously passed a resolution against conscription, recommending that the Trade Union Congress and the Triple Alliance take industrial action to abolish it; and indorsed the six-hour day in all industries.

The Glasgow Trade Union Congress.-The Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress refused to heed the instructions of the Labor Party and of the Triple Alliance to call a special national conference for the purpose of considering these demands of labor, i. e., the abolition of conscription, the withdrawal of troops from Russia, the raising of the blockade and the releasing of conscientious objectors. The failure of this committee to act led to bitter criticism, and, at the Glasgow Conference of the Trade Unions called for September 8, 1919,— representative of more than 5,000,000 workers — a motion of virtual censorship was passed by a card vote of 2,586,000 to 1,876,000. By some present the vote was interpreted as a vote for "direct action." Others denied this implication.

By an overwhelming vote of 4,478,000 to 77,000, the congress demanded that the Parliamentary committee visit the Prime Minister and insist on the adoption of the majority (Sankey) report of the Coal Commission which favored the nationalization of the mines, and that, if the government refuse to accept this position, a special Trades Union Congress be called to decide what action should be taken to force nationalization. The Congress, by a unanimous vote, also demanded the adoption by the government of the repeal of the conscription acts and the immediate withdrawal of troops from Russia, and, failing

on the principles contrary to all those which constituted the danger of militarism and imperialism."

During the early part of 1919, the party consistently, within and without the Chamber of Deputies, protested against interference of the Allies, by military or economic weapons, with the revolutionary movements of Russia and the Central Empires. It likewise protested against the draft of the peace treaty and of the proposed League of Nations; held a huge parade on April 6, denouncing the acquittal of Raoul Villain, the assassin of Jaurès, and conducted a great May day demonstration throughout Paris and other cities.

The French Socialists and the Second International. -The party congress, held in April, decided, by a majority of 894 votes, to continue as a part of the second International, providing that all those who are socialists in name only are excluded. The motion demanding immediate adherence to the third International at Moscow under the leadership of Premier Lenin and the Bolshevik government, on the other hand, received but 270 votes.

On July 15 the National Council of the party voiced its opposition to the ratification of the peace treaty by an overwhelming vote of 1,420 to 114, some 387 refusing to vote. The party also denounced the "capitalistic " League of Nations.

The General Confederation of Labor.- With the progress of the war came a distinct change of front in the General Confederation of Labor, the chief labor federation in the country, which, in 1918, claimed a membership of nearly 1,400,000. Prior to the war, a large section of the confederation shunned independent political action, as leading to opportunistic parliamentarianism.

In the Summer of 1918, however, it commenced to give more attention to the subjects of a political nature

and to cooperate with the Socialist Party. At its first convention since the beginning of the war, it passed a resolution, by an overwhelming majority, denouncing secret diplomacy and demanding that the people be acquainted with the terms on which a general, just and durable peace might be concluded, such conditions to embrace among others the following:

No annexations, the rights of peoples to control their own affairs, no war indemnities, no economic war to succeed hostilities, freedom of the seas, the establishment of compulsory arbitration to settle international differences, the constitution of a Society of Nations; these conditions being defended by President Wilson, by the Russian Revolution at its beginning and confirmed by the Inter-Allied and International declarations and even at Zimmerwald.

The resolution condemned the government for its refusal to grant passports to socialist and labor delegates to attend the Stockholm Conference, suggested that future refusals be opposed by all the strength of the C. G. T., and declared against armed intervention in Russia, if opposed to the will of the Russian people.

Before and after the signing of the armistice, it issued proclamations similar in sentiment to those of the French socialists the two groups frequently signing joint manifestoes opposing French chauvinism, denouncing any interference with the revolutionary movements in Russia and the Central Empires, and demanding the restoration of civil liberties. At its meeting in August, it favored nationalization of industry, with workers' control and urged the transport workers to refuse to transport ammunition to be used by the Kolchak army.

Labor and the League of Nations. Following the publication of the draft of the League of Nations, the