Vienna, August 19th, 1921.
My dear Wilbur Thomas,
Thank you heartily for your telegram of a few days ago. I found a group of women in Salzburg ready and even eager to do something as pacifists for support of the Friends' relief work in Russia. A sort of informal, provisional committee was formed of Mme. Hertzka of Austria, Madeleine Doty of New York, Miss Riegel of Philadelphia, Mlle. Rolland of France and one or two others, which hoped to bring together a large committee composed of prominent persons from different European countries -- representing labor as well as pacifist groups -- who are interested in Russia and ready to support relief work there from a purely humanitarian point of view, such as ↑e.g.↓ [Gerhart] Hauptmann from Germany, Romain Rolland from France, Dr. Friedrich Adler from Austria, Jean Longuet and George Lansbury from French and English labor circles, etc. If such a committee could be formed, we thought, it would be a fine thing for European pacifists to [cooperate] through it and that through such [cooperation] they would strengthen their own fellowship as well as the humanitarian work of the Friends in Russia.
Miss Addams expressed great interest and sympathy ↑[in the plan]↓ and said that she would join in signing an appeal which such a committee might issue, provided, of course, that you and the London office desired that this be done. I therefore cabled to you:
"If Miss Addams prepared organize cooperating international committees supporting Friends work Russia, in whose name special appeal may be made Europe-America, funds to be distributed through you and London, would you desire this? Please wire attitude toward conference called by Red Cross, Geneva, Aug. 15th".
Miss Addams made it clear, however, that she preferred to wait until after [page 2] the development of the Geneva conference, to which she had some desire to go if she should be asked. She was inclined to cooperate with the larger and more official groups gathering at Geneva and told me that, if she should find later that any political activity was being conducted in Russia under ↑the↓ guise of humanitarian relief (of which there have been all kinds of [rumors] afloat) she would resign from the Geneva [organization] and make some kind of "a demonstration". My fear, which I expressed to her, was that she might not know, as a member of a large committee upon which various Governments are officially represented (ten of them, according to the press) as well as the Red Cross, all that might be going on. When I received your cable here I felt that you had made a wise decision, at least for the present, to remain independent from the Geneva [organizations]. This [independence] of action and policy has been the source of the greatest strength to the Friends in the past, particularly in Russia, and I see no reason as yet to think that ↑it↓ will not be so in the future.
I received a letter from Miss Addams yesterday saying that she has gone to Geneva and that, for the present, she would ↑be↓ a member of the Geneva Committee. This makes it improbable that anything can be done about an appeal for the Friends' work to pacifists in Europe because Miss Addams is the only person that I know of who could bring such a committee as that suggested into effective [cooperation].
Cordially and sincerely yours,
Brent Dow Allinson.
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