League of Peace and Freedom: Report and Financial Statement, January 1920

LEAGUE OF PEACE AND FREEDOM

REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT

From August, 1915, to December, 1919

1920

LEAGUE OF PEACE AND FREEDOM

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

GERTRUDE BAILLIE-WEAVER

H. BAILLIE-WEAVER

T. R. BRIDGWATER

ELIZABETH FOSTER BROWN

EDWARD FULLER

EVA GORE-BOOTH

MARGERY GRUBB

CARL HEATH

BERTRAM LLOYD

MURIEL MATTERS

HELEN NEILD

ESTHER G. ROPER

LEISA K. SCHARTAU

HAROLD SCOTT

HENRY J. STONE

MARY STONE

W. A. WILLINGTON

Hon. Treasurer: CHARLES WEISS

Hon. Secretary: EDWARD G. SMITH

Assistant Secretary: DOROTHY MATTHEWS

WE submit to our members and friends a short record of the work done by the League of Peace and Freedom, and a forecast of the work we hope to do in the immediate future.

The League was founded in August, 1915, to carry on educational propaganda in the principles expressed at the Conference on the Pacifist Philosophy of Life, held in the Caxton Hall in the previous month. It thus did its work persistently during three and a-half out of the four and a-half years of the war. [page 3]

It has not attempted direct political action. Its method has been to influence the mind and consciousness of individual men and women with the object of inducing a change in the common attitude: to show people how to live for Peace in their everyday lives, and, by forming peaceful units in society, contribute to a peaceful world-state.

PUBLICATIONS

A GREAT deal of the work of the League has been done through the distribution of literature, of which a large quantity has been prepared and circulated. Its first work in this respect was to issue in a shilling volume, bearing the title "Towards Ultimate Harmony," the papers read at the Conference on the Pacifist Philosophy of Life. This volume has had a very considerable sale, was widely reviewed both in this country and abroad, and orders for it have been received from all parts of the world.

In order that certain papers in this book should have as wide a circulation as possible they were [reissued] in the form of penny pamphlets, and the following have had a sale of many thousands: --

The Pacifist Philosophy of Life, by the Hon. Bertrand Russell.

Religious Aspects of Non-Resistance, by Eva Gore-Booth.

Peace for the Strong, by Edward G. Smith.

Art and Peace, by Joseph E. Southall.

Darwinism and Development Through Mutual Aid, by Herbert Burrows.

Bergson and Freewill, by Caroline E. Playne.

Woman's Function in Social Development, by L. Lind-af-Hageby.

School Antidotes, by John Russell, M.A.

The Oneness of all Movements for Sympathy and Liberation, by H. Baillie-Weaver.

Besides these, the following pamphlets have been published: --

The Basis of International Authority, by Arthur Ponsonby. [page 4]

The Spiritual Aspect of International Unity, by Marian E. Ellis.

Rhythms of Art, by Eva Gore-Booth.

Nature Peace, by Leisa K. Schartau.

The Universal Kinship, by Gertrude Baillie-Weaver.

The Tyranny of the Super-State, by Edward G. Smith.

The Force of Pacifism, by Edward G. Smith.

The League published in pamphlet form the complete [judgment] of Lord Shaw of Dunfermline in the Zadig Case under the title of "The Liberty of the Subject," and commenced a series of Reprints with Emerson's famous essay on "War." It is hoped to continue these reprints of Peace literature, which is classic and beautiful, and of which there is a great deal, comparatively unknown.

The League took over from the original publishers Mr. Laurance Housman's paper on "Great Possessions," and now sells it as a threepenny pamphlet.

In addition, the League has published the following leaflets: --

Conscription as a Source of National Weakness.

Bach's Christmas Music in England and Germany, by Vernon Lee.

The Liberties of the Subject as affected by the [Defense] of the Realm Act, by F. W. Pethick Lawrence.

Can Armaments secure Peace?

What do we mean by Peace?

Education for Peace.

Deadlock and Release.

The Peace of Freeism.

Freedom and Reconciliation.

Also the League has issued a short series of slips, useful for putting into letters, with striking quotations from Bunyan, Plato, Lamennais, Spinoza and Lord Hugh Cecil.

In preparing and issuing pamphlets and leaflets, it has always been the object of the Committee to deal with the [page 5] fundamental principles of the Peace movement, and this has made the League's literature of exceptional educational value, and probably accounts for the considerable quantities which were applied for by Conscientious Objectors at Dartmoor, Wakefield and other work [centers].

Especially has the League considered the question of a League of Nations, endowed with the authority of armed force; and its literature on this subject has [endeavored] to point out the fallacy of attempting to maintain Peace by a coercion which is a denial of Freedom.

Altogether the League has sold or otherwise distributed more than 800 copies of "Towards Ultimate Harmony," 20,000 pamphlets, 30,000 leaflets and 7,000 quotation slips.

MEETINGS

THE League has held in various halls and rooms over 100 public and invitation meetings at which the speakers have included Lady Clare Annesley, H. Bailie-Weaver, Mrs. Baillie-Weaver, Dr. Thomas Baty, Mrs. Besant, Mr. Henry Bryan Binns, Mr. S. V. Bracher, Mr. H. N. Brailsford, Mr. T. R. Bridgwater, Mr. Gilbert Cannan, Miss Irene Cooper Willis, the late Mr. Richard Cross, Mrs. Despard, Miss Isabella O. Ford, Miss Marion Fox, Mr. Edward Fuller, Mr. Harry Goodenough, Miss Eva Gore-Booth, Mr. Loftus Hare, Mr. Austin Harrison, Mr. Carl Heath, Mr. J. A. Hobson, Dr. Henry Hodgkin, Miss Julie Huntsman, Mr. George Ives, Mr. Jerome K. Jerome, Rev. Stanley B. James, Mr. Joseph King, Mr. B. N. Langdon-Davies, Mr. George Lansbury, Mr. Pethick Lawrence, Vernon Lee, Miss Lind-af-Hageby, Mr. Bertram Lloyd, Mr. Francis Meynell, Miss Muriel Matters, Mr. Miles Malleson, Miss Lucy Morland, Miss Mary Neal, Miss Helena Normaton, Mr Hermon Ould, Miss C. E. Playne, Miss. W. G. Rinder, the Rev. Richard Roberts, Miss Esther Roper, Mr. R. E. Roper, Miss Maude Royden, Mr. Bertrand Russell, Miss L. K. [page 6] Schartau, Mr. Harold Scott, Mr. Horace Shipp, Mr. Edward G. Smith, Mr. Edward Spencer, Mrs. H. M. Swanwick, Dr. Walter Walsh, and Miss M. P. Willcocks.

Speakers representing the League have addressed a number of meetings of various kinds throughout the country.

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE TO THE GERMAN PEOPLE

DURING the December of 1918 the League prepared the following "Christmas Message to Men and Women of Germany": --

"At this Christmas-time, we, British men and women, send you a message of goodwill and hope. The war is virtually ended, but there is still much to be done in creating a new world of Peace and Freedom. A new era is before us, and its fashioning will be the common task of all humanity. It is our honest hope that the shadow between the nations shall pass away, and that, in the great light of the future, we, with all other nations, may go forward in peace and friendship, each contributing of its best to the common task of turning discord into harmony, so that the old evils shall pass away and a true community of nations shall be [realized]."

This was signed by a number of British men and women, including: --

[Councilor] Margaret Ashton, Hon. Lady Barlow, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Roden Buxton, Lady Byles, Dr. Estlin Carpenter, Mr. H.G. Chancellor, Dr. Clifford, Lady Courtney, Mrs. Creighton, Mr. Lowes Dickinson, Mr. John Drinkwater, Mr. Havelock Ellis, Marian E. Ellis, Joan Mary Fry, the Dean of Winchester, Mr. and Mrs. Norman Garstin, Mr. G. P. Gooch, John William Graham, Professor L. T. Hobhouse, Mr. J. A. Hobson, Dr. Henry T. Hodgkin, Miss A. E. F. Horniman, Dr. Robert Horton, Dean Inge, Rev. Hewlett Johnson, Professor L. P. Jacks, Mr. Jerome K. Jerome, the Bishop [page 7] of Killaloe, Mr. Joseph King, Hon. Emily Kinnaird, Rev. Walter Lock, Lady Emily Lutyens, Judge Mackarness, Mr. H. W. Massingham, Lady Ottoline Morrell, Dr. W. E. Orchard, Lord Parmoor, Lady Maud Parry, Rev. J. E. Rattenbury, Joseph Rowntree, Mr. Bertrand Russell, Lady Margaret Sackville, Rev. W. B. Selbie, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Shaw, Mr. Robert Smillie, Sir Daniel Stevenson, Mr. Robert Williams, and Mr. Israel Zangwill.

The message appeared in the English daily Press on Christmas Eve, and during the first week in January was circulated, as an official wireless message, by the German Government, together with the names of a number of the signatories, and a few days later the following reply from Germany appeared in the English Press: --

"Owing to the [unfavorable] times and the difficulty of communication, the Christmas greeting which a number of high-minded British women and men sent to the German people has only now become known in Germany.

"Heartily gratified by the spirit of conciliation expressed in that British demonstration, the German Liga für Völkerrecht expresses sincere thanks. The Deutsche Liga für Völkerrecht confidently hopes that such a spirit of reconciliation between the nations, after long years of force and intoxicated blindness, will lead the spiritual leading women and men of Great Britain and Germany to renewed joint efforts for the sake of humanity; and that in the future it may become the common possession of the whole of [civilized] humanity.

"The German Liga für Völkerrecht is confident that in Germany the conviction of the necessity and justness of such development is constantly growing, and begs groups with similar tendencies among all other nations to strive energetically for the extension of such a feeling.

"The Executive of the Liga für Völkerrecht is composed of Count Arco, Under State Secretary Bernstein, Count [Bernstorff], Dr. Dernburg, State Secretary Erzberger, Professor [page 8] Francke, Professor [Jäckh], Dr. Junck (member of the Reichstag), Dr. Paul Nathan, Professor Niemeyer, Professor Beer, Professor Ludwig Quidde, Fräulein Elisabeth Rotten, Professor Shücking, Frau Helene Stocker, and Herr Max Warburg. Among the members of the General Committee are Prince Max of Baden, Fräulein Gertrud Bäumer, Professor Bonn, Herren Ebert, Giesberts, Haase, Hermann, Müller, and Scheidemann, Dr. Solf, Dr. [Südekum], Professor Franz Oppenheimer, and Reichstag Members Gothein, Wolfgang Heine, Von Liszt, Dr. Naumann, and Dr. Von Richtofen."

This was one of the first public expressions of goodwill sent from this country to the people of the new republican Germany.

RECENT WORK

THE end of the war opened up for the League opportunities for pacifist education which were well-nigh impossible during the actual fighting. There was a widespread desire for a new life. The original purpose of the League was to help men and women to find the way to the new life of Peace, and to show that it can be found only by a complete change of our ways of living and the impulses and valuations which those ways imply.

CONFERENCE ON CREATIVE PEACE

IN the September of 1919 the League [organized] in Ruskin College, Oxford, a ten days' Conference on Creative Peace which, we believe, was unique in its inclusion of Art, as an expression of the creative and [harmonizing] power which must be active in all efforts to produce peace in the world. The [program] of the Conference comprised, in addition to sessions devoted to addresses and discussions, concerts of Chamber Music in which a number of well-known artists took part, and, in the East Oxford Theatre, a performance of Professor Gilbert Murray's translation of Euripides' "Trojan Women," very kindly [page 9] produced by Mr. Lewis Casson. This production resulted in the series of matinées of "The Trojan Women" which have aroused so much interest in London. In addition to Euripides' tragedy, there were performances of the morality play "Everyman," of Miles Malleson's one-act play "Young Heaven," and "The Price of Coal," by Harold Brighouse. For the production of this latter play we are indebted to the [cooperation] of the Arts League of Service. Amongst those who gave addresses at the Conference were Mrs. Besant, Mrs. Despard, Miss Maude Royden, Miss M. P. Willcocks, Miss Mary Neal, Mr. George Lansbury, Mr. Gilbert Cannan, Rev. Richard Roberts, Mr. Baille-Weaver, Mr. Austin Harrison, Mr. Henry Bryan Binns, and the Rev. Stanley B. James. The Committee wishes here to take the opportunity of thanking the members of the Society of Friends in Oxford for permitting the concerts to be held in the new Friends' Meeting House and of the Oxford Theosophical Lodge for their hospitality and kindness to the members of the Conference throughout the ten days. There were very lengthy reports in the local Press and the Conference undoubtedly made a great impression upon the feeling and thought of the University City.

CLASS CONFLICT AND THE PEACE SOLUTION

THE Committee [realizes] the great danger that the international war will give place to a wide-spread class war. The revolutions in Russia, Germany, Austria and Hungary have let loose a great wave of class-consciousness and class antagonism. On the one side is a bitter hatred of capitalism and bourgeoisie; and on the other a violent fear and hatred of what has been generally termed "Bolshevism." We believe that it is the work of pacifists to do all in their power to mitigate the bitterness and violence of this war as of the war between nations, and to reveal to humanity the true solution of this conflict of interests. In this belief the [page 10] League [organized] in the early part of the year a series of small Conferences on the subject of class conflict in the Mortimer and Fabian Halls, which were attended by a number of men and women holding different opinions and different economic interests who met together in friendly discussion. It is hoped that these Conferences were of some service in the cause of social peace.

CONFERENCE ON REVOLUTION AND PEACE

FOLLOWING up this idea, the League, in conjunction with the London Union of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, [organized] in the first week in January of this year a Conference on "Revolution and Peace" at the West Central Hall, Alfred Place, W. At this Conference, Revolution was considered in the sense of Revaluation, and during the different sessions various aspects of life were dealt with in this spirit. The Conference was well attended and amongst those speakers who took part in it were Mrs. Despard, Miss Lind-af-Hageby, Miss Eva Gore-Booth, Mr. Jerome K. Jerome, Dr. Henry Hodgkin, Mr. Ballie-Weaver, Rev. Stanley B. James, Mr. George Ives, Mr. Paul Gliddon, and Mr. Carlton Smith.

As at Oxford, the Conference included a concert, in which Madame Lily Henkel, Mr. Ernest Whitfield and Mr. John Goss, took part, and another performance of the play "Everyman" produced by Mr. Harold Scott, and the members of "The Curtain Group."

LECTURES BY EDWARD CARPENTER

IN January of this year the League arranged two lectures by Edward Carpenter on "Rest" and "Freedom" in the Mortimer Hall which, on both occasions, was crowded to its capacity. The Committee wishes to express its very sincere gratitude to Mr. Carpenter for his great kindness in delivering these two valuable lectures. [page 11]

DISCUSSION MEETINGS

DURING the year the League has continued in the Minerva Café its weekly Discussion Meetings which have been held with short intervals since the winter of 1915-1916. These meetings have been addressed by a number of representative speakers who have delivered a series of valuable papers.

SECRETARYSHIP

DURING the year 1919 the League was glad to have as its secretary Mr. Harold Scott who did a great deal to increase the scope of its activities. On his retirement, the Committee wishes to thank him warmly for the work he has done and wishes him the greatest possible success for the new work he has undertaken in [organizing] what is hoped will be a truly democratic People's Art Theatre. We are very glad to welcome the appointment of Miss Dorothy Matthews, B.A., to the position of assistant secretary of the League.

FORTHCOMING WORK

AT the end of March the League is [organizing] in the Mortimer Halls an important Conference on Humanitarianism at which a number of distinguished speakers have already consented to take part. This Conference has been designed to demonstrate the essential unity of the Humanitarian movement and the movement towards World Peace, which are commonly regarded as distinct and independent, and to bring together those who have worked in either movement for mutual consideration and understanding.

CONCERTS OF CHAMBER MUSIC

COMMENCING on Friday evening, April 9, we are [organizing] a series of concerts of Chamber Music in the West Central Hall, Alfred Place, W., to [page 12] which admission will be free with a collection to defray expenses.

These concerts are being arranged in the belief that music is in the fullest sense a universal language which rises above and passes all national and racial boundaries, and will become more and more widely [recognized] and loved as an unbreakable link between all humanity. This has, indeed, been demonstrated throughout the war when the great music has been performed in all countries without consideration of its national origin.

LUNACY REFORM

FEELING that the present treatment of the mentally-afflicted is a gross example of the ignorance and coercion which keep the world in a state of conflict and cruel injustice, and, therefore, make a true state of peace impossible, the Committee arranged a meeting to be addressed by Mr. Ernest Parley, an ex-attendant, on his experiences in one of the public lunatic asylums. It is the intention of the Committee to follow this up by other meetings, by the distribution of Mr. Parley's pamphlet "Life in a Madhouse," and by working in other ways for reform in this very important matter.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

IT is hoped to [organize] in London during the autumn another Conference on Creative Peace, which shall be international in its speakers and attendance, and as comprehensive in its form as the one at Oxford last year. We believe that the increased facility in travel and the obtaining of passports will make possible the attendance of a number of delegates from the Continent and America.

MONTHLY ORGAN

THE League has decided upon the adventurous step of starting a monthly publication with the title of The Flame. The price of this journal will be threepence per [page 13] month, and it will be sent free to all members of the League who pay an annual subscription of five shillings and upwards. It is believed that this organ will be of great service in making more widely known the League's message and of communicating with members, especially with those who live away from London.

LOCAL GROUPS AND STUDY CIRCLES

IT is proposed to arrange as soon as possible local groups and study circles in those towns where the League has already a nucleus of members or where such a nucleus can be formed. To assist in this work the League is preparing, and will publish shortly in pamphlet form, a guide to the League's principles and methods of working for the use of study circles and discussion meetings. Members who are willing to help us in this work are requested kindly to communicate with the honorary secretary.

LITERATURE AND SPEAKERS

THE enormously increased cost of printing has made it impossible to continue the series of PEACE AND FREEDOM REPRINTS, which was begun with Emerson's Essay on "War," but we hope that very soon circumstances will make it possible to bring out additional numbers, several of which are already prepared. The same reasons have compelled us to postpone the issue of new numbers of the PEACE AND FREEDOM PAMPHLETS, of which there are now fourteen in the series. Present conditions render it urgent that these educational pamphlets should be continued as soon as possible.

We feel that the great desire that exists so widely for increased knowledge of the fundamental truths of life affords opportunity for our propaganda from many different platforms, and we shall be very glad to send speakers representing this League to address meetings of Religious, [Labor], Ethical, and Debating societies and any other bodies whose [page 14] members are interested in progressive thought. We invite secretaries of such bodies to communicate with the honorary secretary on this subject.

Education in the principles of the life of Peace has become even more urgent with the end of the Great War. It will need all our efforts to change the life of competition --  which is war -- by which the world lives normally, into the life of [cooperation] and service, which is the activity of peace. In order to do our work, we shall need the

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

of all our friends. The expenses of the League have been carefully kept down to a minimum, and we think we can claim to have done a very large amount of work with a very small amount of expenditure. In the future, in order that our capacity for work may be able to respond to the increased call for it, we hope that our friends will [cooperate] with us by means of donations and subscriptions, and by persuading new members to join us.

The minimum subscription is 2s. per year, and those who subscribe 5s. and upwards receive THE FLAME, our monthly organ, post free; but we appeal for larger donations, as it is impossible in these times to do our work on small subscriptions.

During the very difficult years of the war we persevered. We urgently ask our friends to help us to continue and gather for the world the fruits of our [labors].

In making this appeal we offer our very sincere thanks to all those who have in many ways helped and encouraged us in the past.

January, 1920. [page 15]

LEAGUE OF PEACE AND FREEDOM

Statement of Position as at December 31st, 1919

1915-1919