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    "source_key": "britannica_1926",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926)",
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    "chunk_id": "1926:ku klux klan:28e919d69fa8",
    "title": "KU KLUX KLAN",
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    "verified_text": "on thanksgiving night in 1915 william joseph simmons, preacher, travelling salesman and ex- perienced promoter of fraternal.orders, gathered some friends on stone mountain, near atlanta, ga., before a “‘ fiery cross ” and administered the oath of the ‘ invisible empire, knights of the ku klux klan.” <a state charter gave corporate rights to his organisation. as imperial wizard, simmons could hold office for life and have final authority unless opposed by two-thirds of the imperial kloncilium, council of supreme officers and dele- gates from other states. activities of simmons.—thus legally established, simmons called upon the world to witness that his was a “‘ high-class, mys- tic, social, patriotic, benevolent association ” devoted to the sacred duty of protecting womanhood, to the idea of the “ father- hood of god, brotherhood of man,” to the principle of “‘white supremacy ”—in short, to “real patriotism ”’ and “ pure ameri- canism.’’ simmons capitalised the mask of secrecy and roaming by night that had made so effective the old klan. in the next four years, his order won some 5,000 adherents, mostly in the southern states. they displayed the patriotism of klansmen on the “ home front,” against alien enemies, idlers, draft-dodgers, strikers in war industries and immoral women. nevertheless, the tradition of the old klan lost vitality. simmons met finan- cial difficulties. the order would have languished had not new impetus been given. growth of the organisation on june 7 1920, simmons con- tracted with e. y. clarke to increase the membership. as im- perial kleagle, he was to receive $8 of the $10 admission fee, and $2 for every member added to a local klan within six months after its organisation. he agreed to pay all expenses of the cen- tral office and $75 a week to simmons. when clarke’s system was perfected, $4 of the original fee went to the local kleagle, $1 to the king kleagle or state sales-manager, $0.50 to the grand goblin, or head of the local klan. the remaining $4.50 went to atlanta. other revenues accumulated from the sale of regalia by the subsidiary gate city manufacturing company. when congress made an investigation in oct. 1921, it found that the klan had funds enough to purchase an imperial palace and to take over control of lanier university. the invisible empire then had a membership little short of 100,000. expert salesman- ship alone, however, did not account for the rapid growth of the klan. it was not checked by the revelations before the con- gressional committee nor by the devastating attacks of such newspapers as the new york world. the control slipped from the grasp of simmons and clarke into the hands of klansmen from the state of texas and soon une order spread rapidly through the united states. 650 the appeal of the klan.—the appeal of the klan came to a people suffering from the hysteria of the world war. those who had enjoyed power in citizens’ committees which forced the pur- chase of liberty bonds, intimidated german sympathisers and hounded slackers, saw in the klan a continued outlet for their patriotism. those who were outraged by immorality flaunted before inert police used the terror of the klan to punish evil- doers. those chafed by the deliberation of the courtroom and convinced that the guilty too often slipped through some loop- hole in the law, found the klan a direct way to prevent the mis- . carriage of justice. whether authorised or not, many acts of violence were perpetrated in the name of the invisible empire. but far more numerous were those who cherished the racial and religious prejudices of their ancestors. kleagles had no difficulty in selling membership in a crusade for protestant christianity and native americanism. in the south, where the negro is a social problem, purity of womanhood and white supremacy are stressed in the creed of klansmen. on the pacific coast, japa- nese compete with native farmers and labourers. there the cry is against aliens. in the eastern states the klan is most suspicious of jews and catholics. to the klansman, the knights of colum- bus are in conspiracy against the constitution to prostrate the american people before the pope. from religious hatred the klan in every section of the united states draws vitality. it has gained its greatest strength in the south and west, among descendants of the first white stock of america, those english and scotch-irish pioneers, strong prot- estants, who laid the foundations of american society. a secret order offered to such persons escape from the dullness of frontier life into romance with weird ritual, exalted titles and closer friend- ships. it was the same impetus that during the middle of the roth century spread “ know nothing ” (q.v.) lodges over the land. jealousy and hatred of the irish-catholic newcomers swept them on into politics. for much the same reasons, descendants of the pioneers have joined the ku klux klan and concentrated its power at the polls, in jan. 1926 it was impossible to say whether the klan was still growing, or whether, like its predecessor, the know nothing movement, it would prove only another temporary though mete- oric organisation. bibliography.—the ku klux klan, hearings before the com- mittee on rules, house of representatives, 67 cong., first session, washington, 1921. h.p. fry, the modern ku klux klan (1922); w. j. simmons, the klan unmasked (1923); j. m. mecklin, the ku klux kian: a study of the american mind, (1924); a frost, the challenge of the kian (1924). (a. b. da.) kun, bela (1886-— ), hungarian politician, was born near gy6r, of middle class jewish parentage. he passed his youth unnoticed, and he eventually entered the university of kolozsvar, where he graduated in jurisprudence. he intended to become a lawyer, but soon tired of the profession and took up journalism and politics. his upbringing and ideas naturally led him to sympathise with the “ under-dog” and he early became an extremely active membcr of the socialist party. but his work as a party organiser and agitator did not go beyond the limits of his province, and the same may be said about his intluence and popularity. having entangled himself in the question of the mismanagement of the funds of a workmen’s co-operative so- ciety, he fell into disgrace and was obliged to withdraw tem- porarily from public life. he therefore went to budapest and some time after succeeded in getting a minor post on the socialist daily paper, nepszava. soon after the outbreak of the world war he was appointed lieutenant-commander of an ammunition supply column on the galician front. captured by the russians early in the war, he was in russia at the time of the revolution. he immediately ranged himself on the side of the bolsheviks and became an apostle of their gospel among the hungarian prisoners of war. after the armistice, he planned to return to his country in order to help to win her to bolshevism. he was already known to, and appreciated by, lenin. he was therefore furnished with a false passport, and, disguising himself as a red cross doctor, suc- kun, bela ceeded in crossing the frontier together with some of his com- panions in captivity, all anxious to upset the present order. although lenin did not fail to supply kun with money to aid him in his plans, more than money contributed to his success, namely the critical condition of hungary at that time: unaccus- tomed to self-government, and flooded with crowds of ex-soldiers, embittered at finding no employment or means of livelihood and ready for the first opportunity to revolt. kun’s wild and revo- lutionary gazette, veres ujsag (red news) which he began to publish soon after his return to budapest, therefore found nu- merous readers amongst all those who, for one reason or another, disliked the karolyi government. kun soon found himself in conilict with the police and on one occasion shortly before his advent to power was badly injured and imprisoned. he had not yet recovered and was still in gaol when the karolyi cabinet as a protest against the harsh conditions of the victorious powers decided to hand over the government to the bolsheviks, and placed kun at their head. kun’s programme was to “‘ arm at once, and forcibly transfer every industry and all landed property without conservation into the hands of the proletariat.” at first he collaborated with the social democrats, but soon shouldered them aside, nationalised all banks, all concerns with over 20 employees, all landed prop- erty over 1,000 acres, every building other than workmen’s dwellings. all jewellery, all private property above the minimum (e.g., two suits, 4 shirts, 2 pairs of boots and 4 socks) was seized; servants abolished, bathrooms made public on saturday nights; priests, with the insane, criminals and shopkeepers employing paid assistants were declared incapable of the active or passive suffrage. international loans of over 10,000 kronen were repudiated. all this entailed prodigious work and the creation of a new bureaucracy which was most unpopular. moreover, the reforms were unsuccessful; in practise the former owners of estates and factories remained on as their managers, the only difference being that production deteriorated very rapidly and the state had to pay the wages and make up the deficit. kun started to issue a new currency, which the peasants, already disappointed that the large estates had not been parcelled out, and fearful that their turn would come to be nationalised, refused to accept. they boycotted the towns; and as the blockade was still on, the urban population starved, while prices soared. kun planned to convert the peasants to communism by force of arms; but meanwhile there were foreign campaigns to wage. after a first failure with the “ soldiers councils’ system, kun and boehm organised a well-disciplined army, with which they attacked and defeated the czech troops occupying slovakia. kun, who considered himself lenin’s advance guard in central europe, and held long daily conversations by wireless with his master, made tireless communist propaganda at home and in vienna, and tried hard and not unsuccessfully to play off the allied great and lesser powers against each other. when, how- ever, the entente stopped the hungarian advance in slovakia, he could no longer appeal to nationalist feelings, and his posi- tion became desperate. the peasants were discontented, the counter-revolution was organising. kun commenced a “ red terror ’’ against his enemies in hungary, and again attacked the rumanians, but they easily drove his forces back, and he fled to vienna on aug. 1. here he was interned in the local lunatic asylum, but after an attempt had been made to murder him by means of poisoned easter eggs (which, being a jew, he did not eat), he was allowed to go to russia. kun was a man of medium size, rather plump, on his short neck was a square, massive, bold head. he resembled a small shop-keeper rather than a tribune or revolutionary leader. he was, however, the only man amongst the hungarian bolsheviks ww ho possessed at the same time an ¢titude for ruling a country and the exalted faith of an apostle. 1t was this idealism, his firm belief in the truth of bolshevism which gave him this superiority. he was a cruel and violent man only when he thought it neces- sary for the triumph of his ideas. he was, however, impulsive and incredibly naive, with an extremely limited knowledge of men. (grc. as dt) kupka—kut, siege of kupka, frantisek (1871- }, czech painter, was born at dobruska in bohemia. he studied at the academy of fine arts in ]'rague, at vienna and in paris, where he took up his permanent residence. his inventive talent, strengthened by a close knowledge of contemporary society and coloured by his sceptical outlook, was manifested notably in satirical drawings and caricatures which appeared in such [arisian papers as cocorico, l’assietie au beurre and le canard sauvage. he be- came known principally through a series of drawings entitled “l’argent ” and through his admirable illustrations to the book l’komme et la terre by e. reclus (1905). in 1908 kupka provided the illustrations for a bibliophile edition of the fates by c. m. r. leconte de lisle and three years later for the lysis- trata of aristophanes. he later began to experiment in new directions and looked for a new form of artistic expression. he became an adherent of the tendency known as “f orphism,” and produced large canvases in which the interest of the subject matter is subordinated to the rhythm of the colour scheme. his ironical powers of observation, his bold imagery and philosophi- cal outlook make kupka one of the most interesting and dis- tinguished artistic figures of his time. kurdistan (see 15.949), is an expression applied to the geographical area stretching north and south from mount ararat down to the river diyala, and east and west from persia to the river kara su. it is now divided between turkey, ‘iraq (under british mandate) and persia, and has a kurdish pop- ulation of approximately 1,500,000 people. turkish kurdistan consists of certain parts of the vilayets of diarbekr, bitlis, hakkiari, van, erzerumand adana, and is inhabited by some of the oldest tribes like the mullis, haiderans, ravan- dis, and the large group of tribes known under the generic appella- tion of bohtan. 2 ted gauiprises the core of kurdistan proper: the cities of the ancient kingdom of shehrizor, such as erbil, kirkuk, sulaimaniya and the whole region of the two zab rivers, as well as the ancient and famous tribes like the babans, the hamavends, jaffs and the historic bahdinan, persian kurdistan consists of the two valyats (governments) of luristan and ardelan, and contains the bakhtiaris, the lurs, the kalhoris, the ardelanis and their numerous sub-divisions. between the lakes of urmia and van are scattered the great tribes of shikaks, jallalis, the ilartoshis, the mukris and others. this division of the kurdish race under three sovercignties is likely to retard the growth of the kurdish people into a homo- geneous community, and may result in disastrous consequences for their future. the kurds before the war.—from an administrative point of view the kurds of persia since 1911 have undergone little change. the young turk revolution 1908, however, gave new opportu- nities to the masses of the kurdish people. with the fall of ‘abdul hamid were also suppressed the privileges of the so-called kurdish ilamidiye cavalry, which since 1890 had been a scourge indiscriminately for the peaceful kurdish and armenian peas- ants. the suppression of the hamidian regime brought forward more constructive and enlightened elements of the kurdish people, and several kurdish deputies in the turkish chamber and the senate took up the cause of their nationality. kurdish newspapers and party clubs were established in constantinople, baghdad and mosul to cultivate a common language for the use of all kurds. this nationalist movement was ably conducted by two great kurdish leaders, sheikh ‘abdul kader, a senator 651 (hanged in aug. 1925 by the turks) and baban zade ismail hakki. concurrently with this ensued war between the young turks and several kurdish tribal chiefs. the former met strong opposition in 1909-12 in their attempt to repress those kurdish chiefs who were favoured by the fallen sultan. the young turks waged regular war against [brahim pasha of the mullis, the sheikh barzani near mosul, the hamavends and the tribes of dersim. in spite of this warfare in particular areas, the tribes and the settled people greatly benefited by the general prosperity which resulted from greater liberty allowed under the young turk rezime. asa result of the turkish defeat in the balkans, sheikh said ‘ali, of khizan (southeast of bitlis) rebelled in 1913. but he was soon captured and hanged. the kurds in the war.—none of the kurdish tribes had any interest in the world war; yet from the beginning they were involved both on the caucasian and the mesopotamian fronts. most of their manhood was killed in the war, and whole tribes suffered terrible losses owing to forced retreats and the conse- quent evils. | kurdistan in the peace treaties.—at the peace conference in paris in 1919, sherif pasha, a kurd, presented the claims of the kurdish race demanding independence from turkey. in the treaty of sevres, kurdistan was defined as a narrow strip of territory lying between the southern frontier of armenia and northern ‘iraq. the treaty of lausanne did not mention kurdistan. it left the delimitations of the northern boundary of ‘iraq to a fricndly agreement between great britain and turkey; failing this, the dispute was to be solved by the council of the league of nations (see mosur). while the council of the league was discussing this essentially kurdish problem, a kurdish rebellion broke out in turkey in feb. 1925, having ginj and other middle taurus heights as its centre. a sheikh said, followed by some well-known tribal chiefs, had some initial successes. the turks collected regular troops, and aftcr some short and decisive assaults broke the kurdish rebellion and captured the kurdish ringleaders. it was noted at the time that the powerful tribes of bohtan, of sasun and of armenia in general did not rise in any way. a turkish court-martial was set up at diarbekr, which condemned to death sheikh said, dr. fuad, and 46 other kurdish nationalist leaders. they were all executed in aug. 1925. the kurdish leaders died with the independence of kurdistan on their lips. the president of the turkish court-martial stated later that the kurdish rebellion had a purely nationalist motive. brsliography.—e., b. soane, to mesopotamia and kurdistan in disguise (1912); ewald banse, die ttirket (1915); w. w. hay, two years in kurdistan (1922); see also temperley, hist. of the peace conference, vol. 6, pp. 90-92 (1924). (a, sa.) kuroki, itej, count (1844-1923), japanese general (see 15.952), was put on the reserve list in 1909 and died in tokyo feb. 4 1923. kuropatkin, alexei nikolaievich (1848-1921), rus- sian general (see 15.952), died at the village of shemshurino in the pskov district on or about feb. ro 1921. kut, siege of: see mesopotamia, operations in. 652 ment of labor is the outgrowth of an agitation that began shortly after the civil war, when federal recognition of interests and rights of the great group of wage-carners was first sought. this agitation resulted in the creation of a bureau of labor in the department of the interior in 1884. in 1888 this bureau was enlarged and made an independent establishment of the government, with its head reporting directly to the president. in 1903, under the administration of president roosevelt, the department of commerce and labor was created, and the bureau of labor was transferred to this new de- partment. continued demand that the wage-earners be repre- sented in the president’s cabinet led to the law of 1913 creating the present department of labor and transferring to it the bureau of labor (now the bureau of labor statistics), the children’s bureau and the bureau of immigration and naturalisation. by the terms of this organic law, ‘“‘ the purpose of the department of labor shall be to promote, foster and develop the welfare of the wage-earners of the united states, to improve their working conditions and to advance their opportunities for profitable em- ployment.” the law also gave the secretary of labor author- ity to conciliate industrial disputes submitted to him for settle- ment, and this conciliation service has become one of the major functions of the department. at the end of the world war the women’s bureau and the u.s. employment service were taken over as normal and necessary adjuncts to the department, and built up from skeleton organisa- tions left from work inthe war. of thestrictly war services only the bureau of industrial housing and transportation remains, to dispose of the vast amount of property which it acquired for the convenience of workers and for the acceleration of production during the war. the department of labor as constituted in 1926, therefore, includes the bureaux of immigration, naturalisa- tion, labour statistics, conciliation, women and children, whose titles sufficiently indicate their scope. ge j.-d) labori, fernand (1860-1917), french lawyer, was born at reims april 18 1860. educated at reims and paris, he spent several years in england and germany. he was called to the bar in 1884, and rapidly mace a reputation as a brilliant lawver and advocate, being counsel for the defence in most of the important political trials of the day during a period of nearly 30 years. it was his conduct of the dreyfus case, however, which placed him at the top of his profession and earned him his unique reputation. he fought with unremitting energy for his client during both the first and second revisions of the trial, in 1898 and 1899, a task attended with considerable danger, as political passions were so strongly excited at the time that labori was shot at and wounded at rennes on the eve of his cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution. dreyfus was not finally declared innocent until 1906, and labori never once relaxed his efforts on behalf of the unfortunate officer. other notable trials in which he was concerned were the prosecution of emil zola for libel (1898) which arose out of the dreyfus case; the humbert affair (1902); and the trial of madame caillaux for the murder of m. calmette, editor of le figaro (1914), when he secured her acquittal. he died in paris march 14 1917. labouchere, henry du pre (1831-1012), british poli- ticlan, was born in london nov. g 1831. iie was educated at eton, and, after spending a short time at trinity college, cam- bridge, entered the diplomatic service in 1854, becoming in 1863 second secretary to the british embassy at constantinople. in 1864 he abandoned diplomacy for politics, and in 1866 was elected liberal member for windsor, but was unseated on peti- tion. in 1867 he won a by-election for middlesex, but failed to be re-elected in 1868. in 1880 he again entered the house of commons as radical member for northampton, and this seat he retained until his retirement in 1906. he began his journal- istic career with the daily news, of which he became part pro- | abor, department of (see 16.25).—the u.s. depart- labor, department of—labour party ptietor just before the franco-german war. in 1874 he became associated with edmund yates on the world (see 28.908); but three years later he started truih which had a remarkable record in the exposure of shams and organised impostures, especially frauds on the charitable. labouchere was a strenuous advocate of the abolition of the house of lords (see 20.845, 846); at the time of the parnell commission he had much to do with the unmasking of pigott; and he was a member of the inquiry into the jameson raid, his hostility to mr. chamberlain being as pronounced as against lord rosebery when the latter became leader of the liberal party. after 1903 he lived mainly in italy, at a villa near florence, where he died jan. 15 1912. see a. l. thorold, life of henry labouchere (1913). labour: see 10urs of labour; international labour or- ganisation; industrial relations; strikes; etc. labour, ministry of.—this department of the british govt. was set up in 1916 to deal with the increasing amount of administrative work caused by the extended activities of the state. it took over certain duties from the board of trade and also the administration of the national health insurance scheme, hitherto under the treasury. the ministry looks after most matters affecting the welfare of the wage-earners, including unemployment insurance, although the inspection of factories and workshops remains under the home office. it is also the authority for dealing with industrial disputes. the minister of labour is the head of the department: his chief assistants are the parliamentary secretary, like himself a politician, and the permanent secretary, who is a civil servant. the head offices of the ministry are at montagu house, whitehall, s.w.1. some of the self-governing states of the british empire have a public department charged with similar duties, and known as the min- istry of labour. labour party (sce 16.28). —the year 1910 found the labour party in great britain marking time. in parliament it was hampered by the conflict between the two houses; within it- self the osborne decision (1908), that trade unions could not legitimately subscribe money to political objects, had created financial difficulties which had not been got over. in the election of jan. r9ro it ran 98 candidates, returned 40 and suf- fered a net loss of five seats; in the dec. election, of the same year, owing to financial stringency, it ran only 56 candidates, but returned 42. at the beginning of the year it polled a total of 505,690 votes; at the end 370,802. from 1ortr till the out- break of the world war in ro14 the parliamentary embar- rassments of the party continued. pledged to home rule for ireland, the provisions of the parliament act compelled it to keep the liberal govt. in office. and deprived it of complete freedom of action. industrially, the position was not good. the history of the labour movement is marked by decided swings backwards and forwards, between a trust in industrial and in political action. between 1906 and roro, the swing was towards politics; between ro1r and the outbreak of the world war it was towards indus- trial, or, as it is called, direct action. trade union mem- bership was on the increase; industry, especially railways and coal-mining, was disturbed; the osborne judgment drove active trade unionists on to the left as the political road seemed to be barred; trade-union action, as regards this labour demand and that, gave swift and decisive results that justified the impatient mood of the time, whilst political action seemed to be impotent and slow. rise of the syndicalists—moreover, in france and america the new school of syndicalists had arisen. its doctrines were laid down in the former country by g. sorel in his reflections sur la violence (1912), and elaborated in a series of books and pam- phlets written by members of the confederation general du travail; in the latter country de leon, as a disciple of marx, preached a similar doctrine, and the industrial workers of the labrador world, a rival to the american federation of labor, was founded to enforce it. the influence of these doctrines was felt in great britain. several new socialist societies were started from splits in the existing ones, like the socialist party of great britain and the socialist labour party, and though their membership never reached more than too or 200, their virulent and virile criticisms had some effect in spreading discontent amongst sections of the labour party. this was reflected in the literature of the time, which consisted largely in defences of the parliamentary position and of political as against direct action. looking back upon those years, one really finds the beginnings of what later on has become known as bolshevism. upon this philosophy of the inevitable revolution the russian social democratic party split (1903) into the two schools which were to make history by the two revolutions of march and nov. 1917. repeal of the osborne judgment—at last, in 1913, the par- liamentary party succeeded in getting the osborne judgment repealed by the trade union political levy act. to make this possible the annual conference of 1911 had decided to abolish the pledge imposed upon all labour members to act with the party and to be independent of other parties. this political success was an effective weapon against the syndicalists and revolutionary trade unionists, and in the year preceding the outbreak of war, the pendulum had begun to swing back towards a belief in political action, and syndicalism had evidently gone beyond its zenith. in addition to the trade union act, the party in parliament had directed its attention (ro1r) to electoral reform, the women’s suffrage agitation then being in evidence, 2 minimum wage, the feeding of necessitous school children, and the government proposals for national health insurance. on the question of national insurance, the party was much divided, and in the report which the parliamentary members made to the annual conference the action of the recal- citrant minority was reported in terms of censure. in that year (1911) payment of members was begun and a fund from which the party had made allowances to its members to meet some of their expenses was terminated. the year 1912 was one of industrial trouble and was marked by the passage of the coal mines (minimum wage) act to end a coal strike—a historical departure from which much in both government and trade union policy dates. the party before the war.—the question of discipline within the party distracted its attention and reduced its efficiency, and the annual report for this year drew attention to the grave effect that the action of certain members was having upon party fortunes. nevertheless, by-elections showed a steady strength- ening of the grip of the party in the country, the first approaches to a political understanding with the co-operators were made, and the daily citizen, the first labour newspaper, appeared. meanwhile, the party had settled down to face seriously the question of organisation, and 1912 and 1913 show a great im- provement in that respect. the first disappointment with parliamentary methods was still vocal, but was working itself out. the state of the country, owing to the ulster agitation, was overshadowing everything else. civil war seemed to be imminent and preparations for it were being made. obviously a general election had first of all to be held so as to get a vote of confidence for the government’s home rule policy. over- tures were being made to ascertain how the party would stand in the conflict, and offers made to its leaders to join the govern- ment; but another cloud was hurrying up to blacken the whole sky. the annual conference records are blank between feb.1914 and jan. 1916. the world war had come. labour in the war—the party hesitated. it had steadily opposed sir edward grey’s european policy, and it associated itself at first with the neutrality committee. on aug. 2 1914 it resolved to oppose britain’s entry into the war, but on aug. 6, by a majority, it decided to make no statement when the first war credits were to be voted. some of its leaders, including mr. ramsay macdonald, its chairman, resigned, and thenceforth the activities of the party were those of the nation. through- out the war, however, it never ceased to discuss the best form 653 of peace. it joined in an international conference of the socialist parties of the allied countries in feb. 1915, and issued a dec- laration of war aims; in may 1915 by a majority it joined the coalition govt.; in jan. 1916 it was instructed by a spe- cial national conference to oppose conscription, and the labour ministers resigned, but withdrew their resignation pending the annual conference which was about to meet. this condemned conscription, but refused by a narrow majority to ask for the repeal of the act that had just been passed. the ministers remained. when in dec. 1916 the new coalition was formed, the party, by a majority, agreed to remain in it with added representation. meanwhile, the party was pursuing its discussion of peace terms, and in may 1017 decided to be represented at the abortive stockholm conference, to which delegates from the > enemy states had been invited. this led to mr. henderson’s severance from the cabinet in august. the party was returning to its independence. at the annual conference held at notting- ham in jan. 1918 a war-aims programme was agreed upon, in furtherance of a forward movement, and a new constitution making the enrolment of individual members possible was considered. hitherto, the party had been a federation of socialist societies and trade unions; now, it proposed to form local labour parties in the constituencies, consisting of individual members as well as delegates from affiliated bodies. it also took a stand against bolshevism and in favour of constitutional democracy. at a special national conference held in london in june, the declaration of the policy and principles of the party known as the new social order was launched, the truce had been broken in the salford by-election won by labour (nov. 21917), and in nov. ror8 the party withdrew its ministers from the govt., and once more stood independent. labour in office—after the election that followed in dec., the party strength was only 57, though its poll was increased to 2,244,045. a capital levy was advocated in 1920, and by 10922 the question of unemployment again came to the front. by- elections were encouraging and by the end of the parliament the labour party numbered 75 members. the election of nov. . 1922 brought up the number to 142 and labour became the official opposition. its vote in the country had increased to 4,236,733. in dec. 1923 another election was held, and 191 labour members were elected and the party vote increased to 4,348,379. the govt., though in a minority, decided to meet parliament. when it did so, in jan. 1924, it was de- feated by 328 votes to 256 and thereupon the first labour govt. in this country was formed with mr. ramsay macdon- ald as prime minister. the govt. could rely upon the sup- port of less than one-third of the house of commons and legislation was difficult. it directed its attention to unemploy- ment, housing and to the preparation of national schemes for internal development. it had also to face a dangerous develop- ment in the irish boundary problem and take legislative action to enable it to set up the irish boundary commission. its foreign policy was devised to secure international co- operation and to pacify europe, and it was successful in settling outstanding reparation difficulties at the london conference (aug. 1924) and was responsible for the protocol which was drafted at the assembly of the league of nations that year. it was also bent upon creating good diplomatic relations with russia, for both economic and political reasons, and negotiated two treaties which were not ratified by its successor. the govt. was defeated (oct. 8) on its handling of a commu- nist prosecution, but really fell on its russian policy. when the election came next month, the eleventh-hour publication of a letter, known as the zinovieff letter, had considerable effect on the results, and, though the party vote increased to 5,551,540, its members fell to 151. the govt. at once resigned and the party became the official opposition. 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