Report of the First American conference for democracy and ...

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REPORT

OF THE

A First merican Confeierice

/

for

Democracy and 1 erms of i eace

held at

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN NEW YUKK CITY

May 30th and 31st, 1917

Published by the Organizing Committee

People's Council of America for Democracy and Peace Two West Thirteenth Street, New York City

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REPORT

OF THE

First American Conference

for

Democracy and Terms of Peace

held at

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

NEW YORK CITY

May 30th and 31st, 1917

Published by the Organizing Committee

People's Council of America for Democracy and Peace Two West Thirteenth Street, New York City

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FOREWORD

Two nearly concurrent events led to the First American Confer-

ence for Democracy and Terms of Peace--first, the definite entrance

of the United States into the world war, and, second, the Revolution

in Russia.

With war actually declared, the whole question of democracy and peace presented a new face to the American people. Militarism was no longer a theory, but a hideous condition. All the evils that had been predicted were immediately transplanted bodily to our country : assaults upon the letter and spirit of democracy, invasions of the sacred constitutional rights of free speech, free press and freedom of assembly^ conscription, excessive taxation and unbridled waste of public funds and material resources.

A great wave of indignation swept over the land.

This sense of outrage was not confined to peace societies. It came

from all classes and from all parts of the country. Men and women in all walks of life, who had felt secure, who had believed that the

repeated and urgent warnings of the anti-militarists were merely products of overheated imaginations and therefore not to be heedea,

now realized the situation in all its seriousness. There was need of a nation-wide organization that could bring all

these people together and render them articulate as a mighty force demanding that American democracy, American ideals, American peace, be preserved inviolate. It must be an organization in which

liberty-loving men and women could sink the petty differences that

might have divided them in the past, leaving them free to focus their attention and their strength upon the great fundamental issues of the

crisis before them.

Such an organization was rendered doubly necessary by the Revolution in Russia. Those who might have been plunged into the depths of despair at the thought of America's following in the bloody footsteps of Europe were encouraged to the point of exaltation by the splendid example of that country which has so long been known as "darkest Russia.'' They wanted to make known to this free Russian people that the feelings of those who dwell in America were not truly expressed by the warlike and undemocratic action of the official government that was elected to represent them. They wanted to show that they stand solid behind the Russian democracy and are ready to work determinedly with them until the autocracy of the entire world is

overthrown.

89834d

The following Call to Action was issued to the people of the

United States, under date of May 7, 1917 :

It is now less than six weeks since the United States

("

( entered the world war. In that short space of time the

grip of militarist hysteria has fastened itself upon the

country; conscription is being placed upon our statute

books ;

the

pernicious

*'gag"

bill

is

about

to

be

for^ ed

through Congress ; standards to safeguard labor, carefully

built

up

through

years,

have

been

swept

aside ;

the

right

of

free

speech

has

been

assailed ;

halls

have

been

closed

-- against public discussion, meetings broken up, speakers

arrested and now the danger of a permanent universal

military training law confronts us.

While all this military organization is going on in America, rumors of peace come to us from Germany, ^ Austria, Italy and Russia. Shall it be said that we, the latest to enter the war, are less concerned about the early establishment of a peace based on justice for all ?

We call on all American citizens to unite with us in

the First American Congress on Democracy and Terms of

Peace, at the Madison Square Theatre, on May 30 and 31, ,. to discuss how best we can aid our government in bringing

to ourselves and the world a speedy, righteous and endur-

ing peace.

That those who fostered the movement had judged wisely was

quickly evident from the spontaneous and widespread response. The

time was short, the difficulties of disseminating the call were great and

^equate funds were lacking. It is all the more remarkable, therefore, that when the Conference met at the appointed hour there were mem-

bers present from forty-three of the forty-eight States of the Union.

These represented all shades of political, economic and religious-

thought. There were Jewish rabbis and Christian clergy, farmers,,

editors,

college

professors,

laboring

men

and

professional

men ;

Single

Taxers, Socialists, Democrats and Republicans ; the individualist repre-

senting only himself and the president of a great labor organization

representing 500,000 American workers.

t^ The deliberations were carried on through six long and busy sessTsithooenrsmCaeodnndfetthrheeendcaoecocreosnmdpoeafdnwyMiiatndhgisomoneneetoiSfnqgutshaeroelfarGtgaheresdtheanmr.ads-swTomhreekeetgdmagtcshojetnrhmmaitgtteewveaess.r mpgueatrrhpkeoersdewittahhrgoaruegfauhtlolusstteanbusyhecohafnegtsrhseeatogfrahvasipritrmyioto.nfytThohefemiodmmeeaemlnsbteraasngdrheaaadtdecutonemiretmy_mtaoo-ftdlmioeionmnngodtcsaornaaldenctdydneowaetenphrldiyenpguerapetcsoueorn.lnvtethTdhehesheemeynvaicswtieaedflreoeqrfuwrmeaosertmndiotnathsoen.dtalwwlToyohgmetrhyeeenamhtsawesdhluvbomejaeshcdatbesdolaudttplhyoitsuhsaguenheitd,r

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