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Tuesday December 28, 1915
From the Appeal to Reason: Socialist Legislators from Three Nations Seek to End the War

From the Christmas Day edition of the Appeal comes the news that Socialists from the legislative bodies of Great Britain, Germany, and the United States have asked for an end to the war now raging in Europe:

Socialists Ask to End War in Parliament of Three Nations
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Great Britain

On December 8, 1915, Philip Snowden, Socialist member of House of Commons, called upon the British Prime Minister for a statement as to the possibility of ending the war. This was Asquith's reply made in Parliament:

If proposals of a serious character for a general peace are put forward by the enemy governments either directly or through a neutral power they will be discussed by the allied governments.

Asquith thinks it is a sign of weakness for his country to begin peace negotiations. If that view is taken by all seriously and adhered to nothing but death of all the soldiers at the front could possibly end the war. Somebody must begin. Why not Great Britain?

Germany

On December 8, 1915, Philip Scheidemann, representing the Socialist party of Germany, presented the following interpellation at the Reichstag:

Is the imperial chancellor ready to give information as to the conditions under which be would be willing to enter into peace negotiations?

Chancellor Von Bethmann-Hollweg then made a lengthy speech of which the following extract was substantially the answer of the German capitalist government:

As long as in the countries of our enemies guilt and ignorance of statesmen are entangled with confusion of public opinion it would be folly for Germany to make peace proposals, which would not shorten but lengthen the duration of the war.

United States

On December 6, 1915, Meyer London, the lone Socialist member of the House, introduced the following resolution:

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, that the President of the United States be and he is hereby called upon to convene a Congress of neutral nations, which shall offer mediation to the belligerents, and which shall sit in continuous session until the termination of the war.

Needless to say, London's resolution was filed away in a musty pigeon hole while the administration busied itself in promoting and protecting the shipment of war munitions as it has since the day it ordered the people of this country to pray for peace.

All three capitalist governments are responsible for continuation of the terrible war.

[Photographs added.]

More on the Capitalists' War from the Appeal:

Comrade Debs, 1912
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MR. BRYAN continues to urge President Wilson to assume the role of mediator in the european war. Doubtless the President would like to accommodate the nations at war with his pacific services; but he is unfortunately prevented from following his natural inclinations in the matter, having his hands full just now with trying to rush a big military program through Congress. After he gets this country ready for war, President Wilson may consent to help get the European nations ready for peace.

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[Photograph of Comrade Debs added.]

DON'T forget that those preparedness guns are the same kind that Mr. Rockefeller's thugs used at Ludlow.

Machine gun pointed at Ludlow.

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[Photograph and emphasis added.]

SOURCE
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-Dec 25, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/image/67311916/

IMAGES
Philip Snowden, House of Commons 1906-1924
http://spartacus-educational.com/REsnowden.htm
Phillip Scheidemann, member of Reichstag 1903-1918
http://spartacus-educational.com/FWWscheidemann.htm
Meyer London, House of Representatives 1915-1919, NY12-SPA
http://spartacus-educational.com/Meyer_London.htm
Eugene Victor Debs, LOC, 1912
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2008001005/
Debs, The only War I will fight, AtR, Dec 25, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/image/67311916/
Machine gun pointed at Ludlow
http://www.du.edu/ludlow/gall2b.html

See also:

William Jennings Bryan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan

Preparedness Movement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preparedness_Movement

President Wilson's Third Annual Message to Congress, December 7, 1915
http://millercenter.org/president/wilson/speeches/speech-3794

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The Workers Song - Dropkick Murphys