The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 12, 1927, Page 8

Results of the Imperial Conference Rese British Empire is the huge territory seized and held by the tentacles of British capitalism stretched out over the whole surface of the globe. Over a quarter of the world, both in area and population, is within its grasp. A white popula- tion of a few million, a minute fraction of the whole, is attempting to monopolize for its exclusive bene- fit these vast stretches of country against the rest of the population of the world. The problems in- volved in the maintenance of this system have enor- mously augumented since the war. It was the ob- ject of the Imperial Conference to consider and settle these problems. For over a month, starting from October 20th, the white rulers of the empire were engaged in this task. What has been the out- come and what is its significance? The general opinion, as expressed both in the imperialist and in the labor press of this country, has been that the main result of the conference consists in a further move towards independent status on the part of the White dominions. This view is radically wrong and indicates that even left wing labor representatives have fallen a victim to the clever cambuflage by which British capitalism disguises its actions. The question of status of the dominions was not the central question of the con- ference, nor was the result of the conference in any way a recognition of their increasing independence. A Secret Conference. The first and foremost difficulty in eliminating the results of the conference lies in the secrecy and silence with which it surrounded itself. To judge of its results it is necessary to bear in mind both what is known to have been discussed, and what was actually reported of its proceedings, and what was not reported. Most of the real work was done in seeret session, behind closed doors, and no report given. The empire rulers are becoming increasingly more afraid either to confess their failures or to reveal what they are engaged upon. As an indica- tion of this it is sufficient to notice that three years ago the last conference made publie half of the ord Curzon report on foreign relations, this year nothing of Baldwin’s report has been published. Inter-Imperial Relations. It is true that the Conference, as far as is known, most prominently concerned itself with, firstly, the constitutional questions of inter-imperial relations, and secondly, with greater significance but less pub- licity, with the problems of foreign relations. The constitutional issues arising from the dif- ference of interest taken between the white rulers of the centre and of the dominions form the most apparent obstacle to empire unity. The economic development of the dominions, the changes in the relative strengths of the chief imperialist powers resulting from the world war, and especially the re- * lative decline in the strength of British imperial- ism, have caused the white dominions to demand an ever-increasing measure of freedom from central control. Both Mackenzie King, the Canadian Prem- ier and General Hertzog, the South African Prem- ier and Nationalist Leader, had been returned to power by parties representing nationalist or separa- tist tendencies which had .decisively defeated the conservative or loyalist parties in their countries. The “Free” Dominions. The report om international relations published in full, appears to show that Great Britain has made great concessions. It declares “every self- governing member of the empire is now the master of its destiny. In fact, if not always in form, it is subject to no compulsion whatever.” A great deal is made by the decision that hence- . forth the governor-general represents the crown and is “not the representative or agent of His Majes- ty’s Government.” The press, no doubt, obediently responsive to hints from above, proclaimed with all its force that the king was now the “Empire’s only link.” All were tnited in this view from the capitalist “Economist,” which hailed the realization of “our long cherished ideal that the empire should depend on a state of mind and not on any set of formal institutions,” to Jiansbury’s weekly, which declared that the domin- ions were now republics in all but name, and the governor-generals relegated to the position of er- rand boys. The Power of the Purse. The wholé thing is a trick and represents a clever diplomatic victory for Great Britain. The more realistic press of the United States has not failed to point out that Britain loses none of its power by creating the new empire status, while the French paper “Le Journal” crudely declares that the British Empire will still cling together while Lon- don holds the purse. In fact the domination of British capitalist power over the dominions has been strengthened and not weakened by the change. The crown is only the intangible and unattackable sym- bol of British capitalism. The governor-generals, as representatives of the crown, will receive all in- formation, and have access to all secret documents, The part they will play will be the larger for being behind the scenes. ' . The use of the crown as a binding link over the dominions wil] no doubt be fully demonstrated in the next war. How far the representatives of Brit- ish imperialism succeeded in actually tying the hands of the dominion leaders and committing them to support of Great Brithin in the next war, it is not possible to say, for the vital discussions on foreign relations took place under an impenetrable cloak of secrecy, but it is possible that the chief endeavors were devoted to entangling the dominions rather than ‘to demanding promises and declarations in black and white. The “Crown” link provides an in- comparable weapon for this purpose. When the war comes, full use will be made of the “Entente” trick, and every effort will be made to stampede the do- minions’ by insisting that they have been bound in honor, and that the only alternative is to secede from the empire. The dominions object to being compelled to sup- port the struggle of British capitalism for power in Europe. Their representatives came prepared to raise all sorts of awkward questions about the Lo- earno Pact. Nevertheless, astute British diplomacy here also seems to have been victorious. Though the dominions ‘still may not sign the pact, they ap- pear to have been argued out of their scruples against it. It may be that their attitude was deter- mined by the knowledge that they were dependent on Britain for imperial defense, and naturally enough, therefore, with regard to foreign policy it was “frankly recognized that the major share of responsibility rests now and must for some time continue to rest” on the British government. The Dominions and Defense. Great Britain may have scored a victory as far us the question of supporting the Locarno policy goes. But on the much greater issue on which the endeavors of British capitalism have long been bent, viz., the task of persuading the dominions to shoulder part of the burden of imperial defense, there has been no progress. Payment towards the cost of armaments is the material expression of imperial Wall Street: Looks as if Nicaraguans want Diaz as president. oe - solidarity, and for this the dominion representatives refused to lift a finger, at least in public. They. were ready enough to welcome the Singapore base, the growth of imperial air forces, etc., but they politely regretted that they were not in a position to undertake financial responsibility. The clearest illustration of the dominions’ outlook on this matter is seen in the figures of their payments per head of population for the upkeep of the navy. While the amount paid per head in Great Britain is £1 6s. 10d., Australia pays 13s. 2d. per head, New Zealand 8s., South Africa 1s. 9d., and Canada 13 cents. This gives a fairly true estimation of their relative valu- ations of the benefit of keeping within the British Empire. 4 It is Australia and New Zealand that especially feel the need of protection. They are in the fight- ing ground of the next war. Their six million in- habitants are doing their best to exclude the teem- ing millions of Asia from invading the vast areas that they so sparsely occupy. The recent visit of the American fleet to Australia met with an en- thusiastic reception, much to the disgust of the British Navy League. The U. S. A. as much as hinted that Australia might reckon on her as a protector. It will be remembered, also, that, when the Labor government declared against going ahead with the Singapore base, Australian politicians hint- ed very broadly that in that case they would have te look elsewhere for protection. The need of the empire being so much greater than that of the other dominions, and their financial tie being so strong (the Australian public debt, practically all held in England, is over £1,000 millions for a population less than that of London), it is not surprising that at the Imperial Conference it was always Bruce, — 4 am By C. P. DUTT the Australian Premier, that was put forward to defend British policy. Great Britain and Empire Trade. Yet even Bruce could not help raising the ques- tion of the economic stability of Great Britain, and his doubts were immediately echoed by all the others. Here the real fundamental economic problem of the empire was touched upon, but it could not be solved. All the attention, all the display was given to the superficial political questions, while the economie questions were practically ignored, with a tacit ad- mission that nothing could be.done about them. Of course, for propaganda purposes it was pro- claimed that economically also the British Empire is becoming closer knit together. It is reported with jubilation that the proportion of British trade with the empire has increased, but it is not pointed out that the absolute total has gone down, now that the dominion trade with Great Britain shows a dimin- ished proportion both as regards exports and im- ports. The dominion premiers emphasize too that they have in fact given increased preference to Great Britain. They do not mention that this preference is insignificant in comparison with the heavy all- round increases in the height of the tariff walls. As a matter of fact, the Balfour Committee in its survey of overseas markets.notes that the tariff rates imposed on British exports have increased within the empire by 66 2-3 per cent in the same period that the general tariff rate of foreign coun- tries on British exports has decreased by 20 per cent. These figures disclose at a glance the whole im- possibility of welding the empire together by means of imperial preference. The subject was therefore quietly put on the shelf at the Conference in spite of the fact that it forms an indisputable part of the scheme of empire unity as contemplated by British imperialists. Such a scheme of imperial preference can only be based on the idea that Britain remains the workshop of the empire, while the other parts supply the raw material, and nothing will induce the dominions to consent to this. Mond’s Dream Shattered. On this rock also foundered all the schemes of “nationalization” of imperial production, such as those prominently put forward by Sir Alfred Mond. In this connection it is striking to note the out- burst of indignation in the whole Australian press that oceurred during the visit of the Empire Parlia- mentary Delegation last September, when Mr. Ar- tour Henderson, M.P., naively asked why Australia should experiment with and establish secondary in- dustries when such already existed in Great Britain. The time for Australia to be self-contained, he said, would come when its population was 106 millions and not six millions. The Australian press points out, firstly, that restriction to primary protection means unemploy- ment and poverty, and secondly, that already more workers are employed in factories and secondary industries than in agriculture or mining. The farm- ers themselves depend more on the home market than on export. Thus the “Daily Standard” (22-9- 26) says: —“Excluding wool we find that out of 520,- 670,000 units of production only 156,900,000 were. sent abroad.” The conclusion,is drawn’ that any Possibility of immigration, of colonization, depends on the es- tablishment of great secondary industries. The Failure of the Emigration Policy. The colossal failure of the Empire Migration schemes destroys the second main plank in empire coordination. The whole policy of holding the do- minions as a monopoly for white men depends on being able to colonize them from Great Britain. Yet in Australia, for example, the increase of popula- tion since the war has been practically limited to the natural increase. Meanwhile the unemployment rate increases in all the dominions, all mass migra- tion schemes came to nothing, and Great Britain is unable to supply the types that are able to be ab- sorbed in the colonies. The new empire policy of concentration on the’ crown colgnies and mandated areas can only accen- tuate the dangers threatening the empire. It means further economic decline in Great Britain. It means intensified competition with the rival imperialists of the U.S. A,, etc. Finally, it will inevitably give a part impetus to the movement for national libera- tion on the part of the exploited masses in the colonies. The subject populations grow ir” eon- sciousness in proportion to the growth of capitalist exploitation, 5 The threats to the British Empire are growing and increasing. It is not enough, however, merely speak of the inevitable decline of British imperial- - . It is necessary to analyse the changes that are taking place in each of the dominions and their significance in the development of imperial rela- tions in relation to the decline of British capitalism as a whole. It is necessary to show their impor- tance for the struggle against the deceptions and illusions of social reformism, with its slogan of a Commonwealth of Nations, of socializing the em- pire and the impossibility of social revolution in Great Britain. i