Budapest, Febr. 23d, 26.
Dear Miss Addams,
I am just returned from Paris where Mme. Duchêne's hospitality kept me for a whole week after the Executive Meeting.
It was very kind of Madeleine Doty to make it possible for me to take part in this gathering; I had the feeling of a duty to go to Paris, but without the help of the Geneva office and the Hungarian Section it would have been impossible. Even now I feel that my presence was useful there, first of all in order to make clear the difficulties of Madeleine Doty's position; I could do this much easier now than she.
I am sorry to have had to throw the burden of part of my [traveling] expenses on the budget of the Geneva office, but I could not help it for this time. Let me thank you for this help in carrying out what I felt my duty. [page 2]
As I see it, the great features of our meeting were
1) the presence of Miss Marshall,
2) that of our Irish fellow workers,
3) the public meeting of the French Section.
Miss Marshall was quite herself again: full of initiative and zeal, and besides she has become an incarnation of the spirit of conciliation, although her position between the British Section and the rest of us was by no means easy. Our two vice presidents were agreed on this point; Mme Duchêne also stood for an agreement, although she is tied down by the decision of the French Executive to stand by the mentioning of defensive war, as they have been [organized] during a so-called defensive war.
Miss Bennett and Miss Chenevix came with the serious decision to receive as much of an instruction as possible. Miss Bennett is an expert [organizer] and could give the very best information about local conditions; before she left, she expressed the hope that she could perhaps get a leave from her Trade Union job and take over the [organization] of the Congress herself [page 3] instead of appointing somebody else. This would be the best possible arrangement; I hope she will succeed in carrying out her plan. Miss Chenevix will take charge of the local arrangements.
The public meeting of the French Section -- under the heading "Where Colonial Imperialism leads" -- has shown the whole progress of our movement in France during the last three years. Quite important people like Félicien Challaye and Francis Delaisi have shown such an appreciation of our League -- the first [organization] which had the courage to take up this problem -- that they as well as the English speaker Wise and two [illegible] on behalf of the natives implored us ↑the French section↓ to deal with this question and to lead it to a solution, just as they succeeded to bring nearer to a solution the problem of reconciliation between French and German.
An epilogue of our meeting was the visit to the devastated areas of our three German friends -- Heymann, Baer, and Perlen -- in order to agree with the mayor of Arras about the alley of trees they want to have planted there. [page 4] You will have read that they sent the money for it to Romain Rolland for his 60th birthday and that he published their letter, saying that it was the most touching of all the manifestations which have reached him at this occasion.
Please pardon me for this long letter; I have the desire to show you some [nonofficial] features of the meeting which I suppose may be of interest for you.
With best wishes and kindest regards
sincerely yours
Vilma Glücklich
Comments