In order to urge the Governments of the world to put an end to this
bloodshed and to establish a just and lasting peace, this International
Congress of Women delegates envoys to carry the message expressed in the
Congress Resolutions to the rulers of the belligerent and neutral
nations of Europe and to the President of the United States.
These Envoys shall be women of both neutral and belligerent nations,
appointed by the International Committee of this Congress. They shall
report the result of their missions to the International Women’s
Committee for Constructive Peace as a basis for further action.
* * * * *
The memorable Congress adjourned on May 1. In closing the sessions
Miss Addams said: “This is the first International Congress of Women
met in the cause of peace in the necessity brought about by the
greatest war the world has ever seen. For three days we have met
together, so conscious of the bloodshed and desolation surrounding us,
that all irrelevant and temporary matters fell away and we spoke
solemnly to each other of the great and eternal issues as to those who
meet around the bedside of the dying. We have been able to preserve
good will and good fellowship, we have considered in perfect harmony
and straightforwardness the most difficult propositions, and we part
better friends than we met. It seems to me most significant that women
have been able to do this at this moment and that they have done it,
in my opinion, extremely well.
“We have formulated our message and given it to the world to heed when
it will, confident that at last the great Court of International Opinion
will pass righteous judgment upon all human affairs.”—
In accordance with Paragraph 20 of the resolutions the members of the
different delegations appointed to present the resolutions to the rulers
of the belligerent and neutral nations of Europe and to the President of
the United States of America began their work on May 7th. Various
delegations with Miss Addams and Dr. Jacobs as speakers, were received
on that day in the Hague by Prime Minister Cort van der Linden; on May
13th and 14th in London by Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey and Prime
Minister Asquith; on May 21st and 22d in Berlin by Foreign Minister von
Jagow and Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg; on May 26th in Vienna by
Foreign Minister von Burian; on May 30th in Buda Pest by Prime Minister
von Tisza; on June 2d in Berne by Foreign Minister Hoffmann and
President Motta; on June 4th and 5th in Rome by Foreign Minister
Sonnino, and Prime Minister Salandra; on June 8th by the Pope; on June
12th and 14th in Paris by Foreign Minister Delcassé and Prime Minister
Viviani; and on June 16th in Havre by the Foreign Minister of Belgium,
M. d’Avignon. Other delegations submitted the resolutions to the Prime
Ministers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Russia. The resolutions were
likewise sent to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of all countries not
visited by the delegates, and to President Woodrow Wilson.—
That all these efforts by noble-minded women, to secure the cessation of
hostilities, failed, is a grave reproach to those men who directed the
war. Blinded by hate and revenge they insisted that the murderous
struggle be carried on to the bitter end. And to do this unhindered and
unmolested, they decried all “pacifists” as despicable creatures to whom
no attention should be paid. To speak of peace was made a crime, equal
to illoyalty and sedition, and so the resolutions of the Woman’s Peace
Conference were drowned under waves of detraction and calumny.
One of the most glaring examples of this sort of warfare was that of
=Miss Jeanette Rankin=, who in 1917 had been sent by the State of
Montana as the first woman member to the House of Representatives. Her
first act in this body was very dramatic. When on the memorable April
6th, 1917, the House voted on the question, if the United States should
enter the World War, she answered the call with the words: “I love my
country and I want to stand by it. But I cannot vote for war! No!” After
these words she sank, tears in her eyes, into her chair. Although Miss
Rankin had without doubt expressed the feeling of the overwhelming
majority of American women, she nevertheless excited the wrath of the
notorious “National Security League,” who in 1918 defeated the
re-election of Miss Rankin by sending broadcast to Montana tons of
literature in which her vote against the declaration of war was
stigmatized as an “infamous and damning act.”
Undaunted by such persecutions the gallant women once more raised their
voices when it became evident that the so-called Peace Congress of the
allied delegates at Versailles, instead of giving quick relief to the
starving millions, and instead of promoting good will and better
understanding among the different nations, was degenerating into an orgy
of autocracy, merciless extortion and land-grabbing, repudiating all the
high-sounding phrases of humanity, democracy, self-government, political
and economic liberty, with which the war had been carried on.
On May 12th, 1919, delegates of the “International Women’s Party for
Permanent Peace” assembled at Zurich, Switzerland, to discuss the work
of the Peace Congress in Versailles and the movement for a League of
Nations. Sixteen countries were represented, the neutral with
thirty-five, the countries of the Entente with forty-nine, and the
Central Powers with thirty-six delegates. Among the twenty-three
delegates of the United States were Jane Addams, and Jeanette Rankin,
ex-member of Congress for Montana. Again Miss Addams acted as president.
The noble spirit, that had brought these women together, found
expression first in the following address of the French delegates to the
German women:
“To-day for the first time our hands which have sought each other in the
night can be joined. We are a single humanity, we women. Our work, our
joys, our children, are the same. French and Germans! The soldiers which
have been killed between are for both of us alike victims. It is our
brothers and our sisters who have suffered. We do not want vengeance. We
hate all war. We push from us both the pride of victory and the rancor
of defeat. United by the same faith, by the same sense of service, we
agree to consecrate ourselves to the fight against war and to the
struggle for everlasting peace.
“All women against all wars!
“Come, to work! Publicly, in the face of those who have vowed eternal
hate, let us unite, let us love each other!”
To this address the German women made the following reply:
“We German women have heard the greetings of our French sisters with the
deepest joy, and we respond to them from the depths of our souls. We too
protest against the perpetuation of a hate which was always foreign to
women’s hearts. Our French sisters! It is with joy that we grasp your
extended hand. We will stand and march together, in common effort for
the good of mankind. On the ruins of a materialist world, founded by
force and violence, on misunderstanding and hate, we women will, through
death and sorrow, clear the road to the new humanity. As mothers of the
coming generations, we, women of all nations, want love and
understanding and peace. Despite the dark gloom of the present we
stumble, comforted, toward the sunshine of the future.”
On May the 14th the delegates passed the following resolution, which was
sent to the Congress at Versailles:
“This International Congress of Women expresses its deep regret that
the terms of peace proposed at Versailles should so seriously violate
the principles upon which alone a just and lasting peace can be
secured, and which the Democracies of the world had come to accept. By
guaranteeing the fruits of the secret treaties to the conquerors the
terms tacitly sanction secret diplomacy. They deny the principle of
self-determination, recognize the right of the victors to the spoils
of war, and create all over Europe discords and animosities, which can
lead only to future wars. By the demand for the disarmament of one set
of belligerents only, the principle of justice is violated and the
rule of force is continued. By the financial and economic proposals a
hundred million people of this generation in the heart of Europe are
condemned to poverty, disease and despair, which must result in the
spread of hatred and anarchy within each nation. With a deep sense of
responsibility this Congress strongly urges the Allied Governments to
accept such amendments of the terms as may be proposed to bring the
peace into harmony with those principles first enunciated by President
Wilson upon the faithful carrying out of which the honor of the Allied
peoples depends.”
This communication was proposed by Mrs. Philip Snowden of England and
seconded by Miss Jeanette Rankin of the United States.
Another resolution protested against the prolongation of the blockade as
bringing starvation and death to innumerable innocent women and children
of the Central Powers. It also urged that all resources of the world,
food, raw materials, finance, transport should be organized immediately
for the relief of the peoples, in order to serve humanity and bring
about the reconciliation and union of the peoples. A third resolution
demanded representation in the League of Nations for women, and that
Miss Addams be the first woman representative. At its concluding session
the Congress voted unanimously to call a world-wide strike of women in
the event another war be declared, even if such a war should be
sanctioned by the League of Nations.
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