LABOUR'S PEACE PROGRAMME

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 278, 20 August 1919, Page 8

LABOUR'S PEACE PROGRAMME

SIR. SAMUEL GOJIPERS ON IDEALS OF

RECONSTRUCTION

A FORCEFUL ADDRESS

In his addres; at the opening of the 39th Convention of the American Federation of Labour, Mr. Samuel Gompere reviewed tho reasons Labour had in supporting the war and the character of that support, and then took up the pressing matters which the transition (o peace will bring in which Labour must bear a conspicuous part. "The American people were 100 per cent, determined to see to it that the opportunity of the democratio peoples of. tho world to live tiioir own lives should bo made secure," he> said. "To us it seemed that if tho representatives oi' militarism and autocracy should win in .the war, there would be no opliortunity of freedom generality, nor could 1 there be room ill the whole world for a well-ordered and well-devoloped Labour movement to protect the rights and interests of the working people. Our movement has made good, there has not been any question as to the straightforwardness of our course.

"The war, for all practical purples, is over, and the day lor reconstruction or readjustment is at hand. The war has brought into play new thoughts of' the rights-of man, has brought into play and developed tho thought that the relations •between nation and nation must be better than they have ever been in the history of the world, and that the relations between man! and man must bo just, whether he occupy a position of supposed powor or wealth, be he an employer, bo ho a skilled mechanic, or a ditch-digger.

New Concept of Right, "The workers of America, the workers of the world, are determined that this new concept of the raations between man and. man, and this new concept of the right of tho workeis to have a voice in the determination of the conditions of their labour and of their lives shall be recognised.

"1 am very proud and gratified to know that to a ! very large extent this new concept is beng accepted and expressed by employers, yet there are other emplojersi who, like the Bourbons of old, yever forgot anything because they never learned anything. Untold numbers of men and women gave up theii lives that tho principles lor winch ilie var was conducted should be made living issues, not tor the war itself, not for fighting, not for taking other human beings' lives, hut lor an i,!eal, for 11 principle. 'J'liese are the tlioughts that piompted the men and the women of our time to make such tremendous sacrifices—sacrifices unknown in any othei period of tho world's history. In making those sacrifices it was not the intention that tlia principles for wiiicii we contended in making those sacriLVea should be lost when the war was won. .

"Well, in the year of grace 1919, sanctified by more than four years of bloodletting, the day of tyranny and autocracy, whethei it be in the political life or the industrial life of our people, has gone. If an,y employer believes that industrial, autocracy or industrial despotism is going to prevail in tho United States ot America bo has counted and is counting without his host. "Tho principles for which this Labour movement lias been contending from its very inception must come to full fruition. We are making no unjust or unwarranted demands upon society or uj>on epiployers as such, but for the service which tho meu a,iid the women of Labour give to 60cicty, a service without which civilisation itself i.ould perish, we insist upon a return that shall give us the opportunity lo live a full rounded life—ourselves, our wives, our children, our dependants—and to make of this country of ours and of this world of ours a place worthy of the civilisation of bur time."