A Political Pilgrim in Europe.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 February 1922, Page 4

A Political Pilgrim in Europe.

Since the war Mrs Philip Snowdpn I has represented .the .(British Socialists j at various conferences held on the Cqn- j uinent, .and jigs ;hecjn ,-a Relegate pni ■Socialistic,missions ,to,several,countries. , lifer experiences .are .recorded ,in “A Political jPilgrjm in ,Euvope,” an informative ~and,at Aimes .amusing bpdk, .which .contains some .piqgppt .sketches, of, socialistic celebrities. oMrs f|3po,wden alias a sense, of ijgunour, .ppfl a sense of j proportion, .qualities ,in IMbMh JTbW l ot | I those professing ilier political ifftith j^ e > t ! for .all .their .virtues, somewhat dpfi- ; ,cient. iln, her references ;to -,t»!ie ,war she ) admits Abut .even an .office*' mmy ibe a, .gentleman, and ishe can .appreciate the foibles of her “.comrades-” a ,fprm jof, socialist address, iby Alie .wW) which she. .detests. -She ohjeots ;to ~be called ,copi-. rade ,by .persons who have ( no more feel-, ing for her “than a iPPSt. of ,WOS-,« quitoes;” and she quotes .with relish a J postcard-from one .pillar .of Socialism to j another. It .was .adorned with a skull;, and .erossbones, and ,ran : "iDear cqm-, rade, —You are a liar and a scqundrel., Y T ou ought to be shot! Just yo.U .a At till I catch.yon out .by yourself! Lqok out -for your dirty hide! You Mthy ( dog!— Yours (fraternally, X.” She has .no-patience -.with the general article of the Socialists Ao the bourgeois. “To 4hcsc solemn idiots a .boni geois ;is .a man who [keeps bis family respectable, and goes to cluiroh -op Spnday. He is a man who retains some affection for the old-fashioned virtues of industries and .thrift. 'There is, for , 1 thorn, a bourgeois morality, a bourgeois mentality, n ‘bourgeois faith. Radok ! writes of the necessity of destroying-' the bourgeois institutions of religion, ' the family and private property. Lenini ! jeers at the bourgeois idea of liberty. To be middle class is to he bourgeois,! ‘ even if you have to work hard for a ' living. . . . And to be bourgeois is: : to be condemned by this class of ‘su- ! perior’ person in socialist circles. It is! all so very silly and so very young.”' 1 ‘To an Australian these words sound! 1 strange coming from a professional! 1 socialist. ‘But sometimes her sense of > : proportion fails her. There is a glow- - ing eulogy of Fredericli Adler. Mrs: : Snowden expatiates on his charm, bis gentleness, and his ability. The delegates to the second International cheered him to the echo as a friend of humanity. Then wc learn that this amiable gentleman is a murderer. He bad assassinated Count Sturgb, the Austrian Premier, in cold blood, although, as Mrs Snowden remarks, “lie didn’t like doing the tiling be did. He hated it.” Assuredly the mildest mannered man that ever slit a throat. But in view of this information, the entliu- 1 siasm of the Pacifists is a little odd. Only a few pages back Mrs Snowden has proclaimed her credo, that evil can never be destroyed by evil. Would she have written in a similar strain of the slayer of Jaures? 'Hie second International was held in Berne early in 1919. The German Majority Socialists sent representatives whereupon the Belgians refused to attend, on the ground that the Majority Socialists had supported the war and had expressed no contrition. Mrs Snowden thinks that the Belgian attitude was unreasonable; she was positive that the German Socialists bad not rejoiced at the invasion of l)elgium. But that was not the poijit. The one had rejoiced at the outrage. The charge against them which they have never been able to refute is that they uttered no word of protest. In the Reichstag the representatives of the Majority Socialists, unlike those of the Minority Socialists, voted for the Avar credits. Only Avlien things began to go ill for Germany did the Majority Socialists slioav any opposition to the i Avar, and never did they declare themselves penitent. The second International passed a resolution condemnatory of Bolshevism. To the Socialist tlie Russian system is as objectionable as it is to the Capitalist and the hated bourgeois. The Third International of -Moscow lias been declared bogus by the Socialists as a device to enslave them to Russia. “All individuality, whether of person or nation, must ho ruthlessly suppressed at the dictates of the governing brain in Moscow. All attempts at an honourable compromise Avitli the arbitrary Russians are doomed to failure. It is impossible to reconcile the irreconcilable.” Mrs Snowden has a first-hand knowledge of Bojshevik Russia, and lias already Avritten a book giving a very unfavourable account of Bolshevism and all its Avorks. In this book she returns to the charge- Its leaders are “haughty and bigoted doctrinaires,” and their sole aehiovement has been the “poisoning and dividing of the working class movement of the world.” Tlie Australian delegates to Russia have declared that Mrs Snowden “is either a knave or a fool.” But her observations have been amply confirmed by impartial witnesses. The second international seepis to have been rather a babel. Everyone talked at once, and in different languages. One unfamiliar Avitli the atmosphere of socialist conferences on the Continent Avould have imagined that a free fight Avas imminent. Mrs Snowden, of course, Avas accustomed to these demonstrations, and knew that they meant nothing. But twq British delegates, blunt piiners from the porth, Avore bewildered by the proceedings, and at last when the French group seemed on the point of a general fracas, one of thorn, “leaping to his feet, his ruddy face gloAving with pleasure, cried, ‘Come on, chaps; come on. Let’s have a toav.’ ” From Berne Mrs SnoAvden proceeded on a mission j to Southern Germany, Austria, and j Hungary. She gives a grim picture ol ! tlie conditions in the toAvns of the lat- | ter countries. The people Avorc starv- j ing, hopeless, numb with misery. Yet , tlie theatres Avere always croAvded. \ “They cap do Avitliout bread,” said an , Austrian acquaintance, “but they must t have the roses.” Tn the country things j \yeye much better; the man on the land , can always get fowl- Incidentally, she ; mentions a development which was . everywhere (ippnrfjit in Central i Fu)r°PP- M very much fear,” said Dr ■. Bauer, jijre Austrian Foreign Minister, ; to tier, “that tjie social problem ol Europe for a generation or mpr? wiH be ( thp town against tjie gpuntry, and Avhjoh will win?” Her observations suggested that the victory of the country Avas probable. “It has conquered . in Bavaria, and, in a measure, in Austria. It will conquer in Russia, and , the victory of tlie country in European

politics does not mean maypoles and flowers and Appling ‘beer arid fat living for everyone. It means, at present, 4jlje tfqign ( of jignor&nee ,a,pf! (bigotry and superstition apd (individualism, anti tlie decline of all the things which make jfor ,n cultivated i civilisation.” A gloomy .prophecy which has been uttered by other .travellers in .Central Europe.