The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 13, 1924, Page 9

Foreign Policies of British Government By KARL RADEK II. The Policy of the English Labor Government The policy of the English Labor Government regarding the Repara- tions Question is pursuing the same ends as those which the Lloyd George and the Baldwin cabinet pur- sued. These aims are: Stabilization of European capitalism in order to restore the European markets, reduc- tion of expenditure on armaments, limitation of the possibility of the res- toration of Germany as a strong com- petitor, removal of the danger of an economic and military hegemony on the part of France. The policy of the labor government differs very little in its methods from the policy of the preceding cabinets. And even that difference in methods which is to be observed is not due to the fact that MacDonald is now occupyifég the po- sition of Foreign Secretary instead of Lord Curzon, but that MacDonald came into power at a moment when France had become somewhat weaken- ed and there was a certain change in the attitude of the United States. In order to judge English foreign policy it is necessary to bear in mind the fundamentat facts of the economic situation of England. This has con- siderably improved in the last year or so. The output of coal for last year to 7.04 million tons, while in 1913 it amounted to 10 million tons, The tex- tile industry is still laboring under a crisis. This can best be seen by the fact that whilst in 1913 England im- ported 19 million cwts. of cotton, in 1923 she imported only about 13 mil- lion cwts. The import of wool, which in 1913 amounted to 21 million cwts, in 1923 only amounted to 7.04 million cwts. Imports of jute flax etc. fell from 600,000 tons to 265,000 tons. Eng- lish foreign trade, reckoned according to the index of prices for the year 1913 affords the following picture: Price index in million pounds sterling with 1913 1923 1922 1913 1923 1922 Imports 735.7 659.4 768.7 93 «85.8 British Export 404.4 361.8 525.2 74.5 68.9 gee 94.0 89.3 81.3 81.5 As is known, England has always covered the deficit in her trade balance by the interest on capital in- vested abroad, with income from ship- ping, banking etc. Unlike France she has not lost the greater portion of her capital invested abroad. This balance of so-called invisible exports, according to the figures of the Board of Trade Journal of 31st January 1924, is made up as follows: In million pounds: 1913 1922 1923 Percentage compared Income from capital in- vested abroa 210 175 150 Income from shipping 94 #110 — Income from banking.. a ae 40 ; 339 325 300 170 Total of ariel ’ serscetlags 339 Surplus of impo it is seen that the favorable balance has decreased by 124 million pounds. All these figures however do not give a clear indication of the economic po- sition of England. Prof. Bowley, the English economist, is of the opinion that in 1923 England only reached 87 percent of her pre-war production. The “Economist” disputes these fig- ures and claims that England has reached 95 percent of her pre-war pro- duction. Keynes (in the “Nation” of 12th of April) agrees with the later, but points out that the population has increased by 2 million. The difficul- ties in all these calculations are best to be seen by the fact that prices of raw material have increased by 50 percent, the prices for articles of necessity by 78 percent, and the prices of exported goods by 90 percent. It is very difficult on the basis of these factors, which indicate a very different grade of development, to give a uni- form picture. That England has not yet reached the pre-war level in in- dustrial production is best shown by the fact of the existence of one million, unemployed, even if one bears in mind ee ne nn amounted to 278 million ton and was only 11 million tons behind the output for 1913, the output of iron amounted 300 i 158 203 Favorable trade balance... 181 155 97 When it is remembered that the pound has lost 42 percent of its value, that which the editor of the “Econ- omist”, Layton, in the discussion over the economic position of England (London. “Nation” 8rd May 1924) rightly points out: That the average number of, the unefnployed before the war amounted to 400,000. But the English bourgeoisie are, not comforting themselves with this improvement in the economic situa- tion. Before all they ask what will happen, if the economic power of Germany is re-established. Already last year Lloyd George said: “If we assume that the reparations question is settled to-morrow and Europe has a@ real peace; will it bring you pro- sperity? The moment when peace is restored in Europe and the valuta stabilised, you will be face to face with a real competition.” Lloyd George referred to this question again in April last, when he wrote: “The monthly surveys indicate improve- ment and a decrease in unemploy- ment. Can any reasonable man how- ever risk his fortune and calculate that normal conditions will recur in the next five years.” English trade has maintained in the last years that level to which it at- tained as a result of the increase of economic relations between England and her colonies. Whilst imports from Europe since 1913 to 1923 have fallen from 41.6 percent to 34.01 percent, the share of English colonies in the imports have increased from 24.08 per- . Whilst the share of Europe in English exports has decreased from 36.09 per- cent in 1918 to 35.02 percent in 1923, the share of the colonies has risen from 37.2 perecent in 1913 to 39.2 per- cent in 1923. This was due in the 4#\ first place to the fact that the ex- port of English capital was chiefly directed to the colonies. In 1913 Eng- land exported capital amounting to 200 million pounds, in 1922 only 150 million pounds and in 1923, 130 mil- lion. (“Statist” of 5th January 1924.) These capital sums are invested as follows: in 1913 England invested 98 million pounds in foreign countries and 99 million in her own colonies; in 1922 foreign loans absorbed about 20 and in 1923 about 30 million pounds less than colonial loans. If England desires now to participate in the res- toration of European economy, she must reduce her export of capital to the colonies which will mean reducing their purchasing power. At the same time she must reckon with the fact that the industrial production of her colonies is increasing and as a result, the prospect of their forming an ever- increasing market for English goods is fading. i In view of these facts the English bourgeoisie at.the last elections re- nounced the utopian ideas of the Con- servatives to disregard Europe and rely in the first place on the colonial markets. The English bourgeoisie, who since the Ruhr expedition of Poin- care have looked passively on at the events in Europe, only attempting be- hind the scenes to egg Germany on to offer resistance, have decided to take an active part in European affairs again. Their role as spectator dur- ing the time of the Ruhr adventure was an enforced one; by what means could they hold back France when she had taken the solution of the re- parations question in her own hands? They were not only unable to venture on war, from,the blows of which they had not yet recovered, they could not even venture to oppose sharply the policy of the French, for this would have meant the breaking up of the Entente. How could England decide to break with France, when she did not have a single ally in Europe, and when she did not know what would be the relations of the United States to her in the future? The only thing to do was to hope that Poincare would break his neck against the German resistance, or that he would exhaust himself, even in the event of a victory over Germany. The latter is what actually occured. The time came when England intervened. Its first form was the participation of England in those manipulations which brought about the fall of the France. This led France to recognize the Experts Plan. The present task consists in compelling France to evac- uate the Ruhr basin. This assures in the first place equal conditions for England and France in the attempts to arrive at a bargain with the German coal and iron kings, and abolishes the cent in 1913 to 29.07 percent in 1923. danger of the creation of a Franco- THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL LIBERATES! German Coal and iron trust; and se- condly, it refluces the pressure of France upon Germany in_ general, lowers the prestige of France in Po- land, Czecho-Slovakia, in Roumania and Yugoslavia, in which countries England has recently. begun very suc- cessfully to counteract French in- fluence. If the loan for Germany amounting to 200 million dollars is carried out, half of which is to be contributed by America and the other half by English banks, then not only Germany, but France also will be ren- dered dependent upon Anglo-saxon capital. The carrying out of the ex- perts’ plan internationalizes the Ger- man liabilities. Germany will not be the debtor of Francé. France’s place will be taken by the International stock exchange. France wilh then not be in a position to put pressure on Germany, to disorganize her economy and by this means to limit the English market. So soon as things are pro- ceeding in this direction France will be strongly impelled to reduce her armaments. Thus reckons English cap- italism. . France demands as recompense for her concurrence in such decisions, the renunciation by England of the debts owing to her from France. The Eng- lish governmentshas not agreed and does not agree to cancel the French debts. MacDonald hasrefused upto now to give any promise in this respect and certainly will not do so unless France makes certain concessions as regards foreign policy and the armaments question. France is aiming at obtain- .ing from England a guarantee for the territory occupied by France and a pledge that she, together with France, adopts punitive measures against Germany in the event of the latter failing to fulfil the obligations taken over by her. England is en- deavoring to avoid the last named obligation by depriving the repara- tions commission of the right to de- cide whether Germany has failed to fulfil her obligations. This right is to be transferred to the banks who have granted the loan. By this means England seeks to transfer the blame for showing clemency to Germany on to America, without whose help it is impossible tofinancetheloan. MacDon- ald, who in Paris was driven to the wall, has thought out a temporary formula for the participation of a representative of America in the so- lution of the question of default on the part of Germany, according which the representative of America will appear as the agent of the Experts’ Commis- sion. He hopes. that with the help of the Americans he will succeed in arriving at clear decisions at the Lon- don Conference which will remove the possibility of the French sabotaging the proposals of the experts. As re- gards the guarantee for French sec- urity, England is endeavoring with all her powers to transfer the respon- sibility for this to the League of Na- tions. The active policy of Macdonald ap- pears in this light as the result of a weakening in the position of France and of America’s participation in the solution of the reparations question. Program of Action (Continued from page 1) drones and sluggards. It wants doers, not observers. At present the degree of activity of our membership is very low. Only a comparatively few members are really active. They carry on the life of the Party. This is an unhealthy condi- tion. The mass must be brot into the Party work. The fate of our Party depends upon this. The Program of Action provides the way to do this. The membership must be educated to the necessity of working in all the fields of Party activity; they must be organized to carry on this work effec- tively; and finally, this committee ma- chinery must be made to function. If these principles are borne in mind and applied faithfully, then our Party will rapidly advance in size, intelli- gence, discipline, and influence. It will soon become a real power in leading the workers to their eventual goal of the Communist Revolution. Russian Dramatists to Present Famous Revolutionary Play Do you understand Russian? If you do, attend the performance given by the Society for Technical Aid to So- viet Russia this Sunday, Sept. 14th, at 7:30 p. m., at the Soviet School, 1902 W. Division St. The Russian Dramatic Players at the head of which is the well-known Russian actor, Anatoly Pokatiloff, will present “The Convert,’ a drama in four acts, from the 1ife of the Nihil- ists, by the famous Russian revolu- tionary writer, Stepniak-Kravchinsky. Who's Next? Japan announced a Defense Day for Nov. 8th. The report says every able bodied man in the Japanese empire will participate in a war maneuver. An army of 80,000 will lead. The latest military devices will be employed. Japan officially declared that the maneuver will be executed to work out a problem of defense “should an imaginary enemy cross Bering Sea, march thru Siberia, take Korea and cut off Japan from the continent.” It is saidethat Japan’s defense day is directed entirely against America because of the recent Japanese ex- cle tion immigration law.