↓*↓ 1. On Page 17 of the Congressional Record, reprint of July 3, 1926, it is stated "The Women's International League has also led the pacifist campaign to 'disarm America first' as an 'example' to the rest of the world; has urged women to take slacker oaths and pledges against all service to their country in time of war (see official W.I.L report, Second International Congress of Women, at Zurich, 1919, pp. 156, 160, 161, 162, and official W.I.L report, Third International Congress of Women at Vienna, 1921, pp. 195, 196, 262."
[cut] ↑reply↓ I have turned down the quoted pages in the Zurich Report which I am sending you. You will see page 156 Emily Balch's original pledge "The ending of War and the Coming of Permanent Peace." This was done immediately after the scene ↑between↓ Jeanne Mélin and Fraulein [Heymann]. After much discussion the [resolution] was finally passed. It is #37 among the resolutions found on page 262 of the Zurich Report. The resolution however, urged the National Section etc., and it did not take a flat footed stand. The Executive Committee took it up later and as you will see on page 195 of the Vienna Report the American Section entered an objection. This is confirmed on the next page 196. I do not know what the reference is on page 262 probably ↑[illegible]↓ the examination of the school texts.
[cut] These references make the statements appear to be correct. I am sure you told me that in both the National and International meetings a motion had been made on behalf of the "slacker oath and pledges against all service to their country in time of War," but it had been voted down in both cases. ↑Correct --↓ Jane Addams. [signed]
[cut] ↑reply↓ The so called oath was voted down both in Vienna in 1921 by the International and also later in Washington. Mrs. Villard was present in Vienna and she and her members pressed hard for the pledge.
[cut] WILL YOU HAVE SOMEONE REFER TO THESE TWO REPORTS AND NOTE WHAT IS SAID ON THOSE TWO PAGES, LETTING ME KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE, OR HAS THE NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE EVER ACCEPTED ANYTHING THAT CAN BE CONSTRUCTED INTO A SLACKER OATH?
[cut] ↑reply↓ The discussion and resolution at Zurich might easily be so construed.
[cut] HAS IT EVER TAKEN ANY RESOLUTION TO "DISARM AMERICA FIRST AS AN EXAMPLE?" I SUSPECT THAT THIS HAS BEEN SOMEBODY'S SUGGESTION AND VOTED DOWN LIKE THE OTHER, BUT I SHOULD LIKE TO KNOW.
[cut] ↑reply↓ I recall at one time that several of our Quaker members suggested it would be a very great example if the United States both because of its strength and isolation should disarm first. Such a resolution, however, has never been adopted by our society. The [Shipstead] resolution sponsored through Congress by Mrs. Villard's society [do] make such a proposition. The I suspect we are often confused with her.
[cut] ↑*↓ Am sending reports of the Hague, Zurich, Vienna, Washington and Dublin, all of them marked. J A [initialed] [page 2]
[cut] "The Women's International League has also gone on record for the 'gradual abolition of property privileges,' another name for the gradual establishment of Communism," (see W.I.L. official report, Third International Congress of Women, Vienna 1921, pp. 101, 261, and Outline History of Women's International League, issued by same."
[cut] ↑reply↓ I am sending a copy of the Outlined History. The reference referred to is page 9.
[cut] WHAT IS THERE IN THIS?
[cut] ↑reply↓ Both the discussion and the resolution passed in Vienna was an attempt to state that many futile [conditions] giving special privileges to property owners in Nations such as Hungary and [Romania] should be modified by legal enforcements already adopted by Western Nations; such as death duties and land reforms. These latter were carefully specified and could not possibly be confused with the Communists proposals.
[cut] 3. It is further stated that the W.I.L. adopted at the last Congress in Washington a proposal that the World's Labor, raw materials, and food supply, shall be governed by an International, representing trades and occupations in each country -- a straight Soviet system, although the W.I.L avoids calling it by its right name.
[cut] WHAT IS THERE IN THIS?
[cut] ↑reply↓ This must have been taken from the "Cahier" submitted by the French Section, which the Washington Congress did not ratify but sent to all the Sections for study. The English Section did not even circulate the "Cahier" in the [illegible] Report of the Congress, fortunately it was so printed that it was easily removed. Any one accustomed to the Latin passion for abstract discussion could easily understand the situation. Please read foot note at the bottom of page 163 of the Washington Report.
[cut] 1924 International Congress Washington The great event of 1924 was the Fourth International Congress, held in May, in Washington, the first of these international congresses to meet on American soil. New National Sections were accepted in four countries -- [Czechoslovakia], Belgium, Haiti, and Japan, making 22 National Sections represented by delegates, besides visitors or fraternal delegates from 11 other countries. The subject of the Congress, A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER, was chosen in response to a feeling, especially in Latin countries, that it is imperative to consider ultimate ideals as well as immediate purposes and methods for realizing them. (It is perhaps a concession to an Anglo-Saxon tendency to be most concerned with that which lies nearest that the subject of the next congress is to be NEXT STEPS TOWARD PEACE.) [page 3]
[cut] 4. A personal charge is made against you because of your book Peace and Bread in Time of War. "Miss Addams shows conclusively that she desired I have not read this book and will not have time to do so. ...
[cut] ↑reply↓ I am asking Macmillan to send you a copy. I of course said nothing of Communism. I advocated that some of the Inter allied arrangements for the distribution of raw food material be taken over by the League of Nations and be made World wide. It was really one of President Wilson's fourteen points on the allocation of raw material.
[cut] IN YOUR JUDGMENT, IS SUCH A CONCLUSION JUSTIFIED BY READERS OF THE BOOK ↑no↓ AND WAS IT YOUR HOPE THAT THERE MIGHT BE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNISM? ↑no↓
Jane Addams [signed]
Nowhere is it said "Miss Addams is a Communist," but the whole combination is designed to show that all these people attacked are either ignorant dupes who do not know they are being used as tools, or they are secretly working to help the Communists. They would not print this mess if they could not convey to others the idea that this is true. The effect of their writings is found in the influence they have had upon other people. I find other people, reading their literature, say definitely that you are a Communist.
I THEREFORE ASK YOU ARE A COMMUNIST? ↑no↓
ARE YOU A BOLSHEVIST? ↑no↓
ARE YOU A SOCIALIST? ↑no↓
OR ARE YOU A DUPE? ↑no --↓ Jane Addams [signed]
[cut] 5. IS ANNA LOUISE STRONG A COMMUNIST?
Probably she is. It is stated in one place that she is a "Friend." In some literature, put out in Boston, there is a question from a man who is a Congregational Clergyman and who is announced as her father. Please do not bother to give me her biography, but it is stated in this comment that Miss Abbott was announced as one advisory member for the League from this country and it is further stated that properly, the other is Miss Strong, who is a Communist in Moscow.
[cut] ↑reply↓ Miss Strong was working with the Quakers when we met in Vienna in 1921 and was made a [delegate]. She was never an Advisory member. Her father is a Congregational Clergyman who lives in Seattle now but formerly lived in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. Miss Strong was the youngest student ever to take a PhD at the University of Chicago. She does not call herself a Communist but is a very sympathetic friend of Russia and is responsible for the support of several children's colonies. I do not know that she is at present a member of the W.I.L but she may be. [page 4]
[cut] ↑6↓ IS IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO TELL ME WHO THE TWO ADVISORY MEMBERS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE? IS MISS ABBOTT ONE OR WAS SHE EVER ONE? IS MISS STRONG ONE OR WAS SHE EVER ONE?
[cut] ↑reply↓ Two advisory members at present are Mrs. Hannah Clothier Hull of Swarthmore, Pa., and Mrs. Lucy Biddle Lewis of [Lansdowne], Pa. In Dublin they were, Miss Katherine Blake of New York, Mrs. Bessie Kind of Philadelphia. Dr. Alice Hamilton and Lillian D. Wald were at one time advisory members. Miss Abbott I think never was one although she attended the first meeting at The Hague in 1915. She has not been active with the organization since then.
[cut] So many of the charges are founded on half truths and on statements taken out of their contexts. We have always had our right and left wings. Our largest Sections (about 19000) in Denmark, in Great Britain etc., are the conservative Sections and some of the smaller ones are the radicals. It is impossible to reproduce the atmosphere of each of the Congresses which are quite distinct. We met in Vienna, of course, only a few months after Béla Kun's regime in Hungary. It was most interesting but of course in a sense perilous and I suspect so far as I am concerned I shall have can do little to make my position clear, until there is a decided change in public sentiment and something more like an historic perspective on the entire situation. A book which has given me much satisfaction is entitled "The French Revolution in English History." It was written by a young man named Brown and has a preface by Prof. Gilbert Murray.
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