As regards foreign affairs, Mr. MacDonald said that the Labour
Party wanted to put all the quarrels of Europe behind them, and to establish" with France, Italy, Russia, Germany—with all peoples of the nations—an under- standing, not of rival military force, but of human men and women, who have no cause for enmity." To that end he and his friends would do their best to complete the structure of the League of Nations. They would reverse "the pompous folly" of standing aloof from the Russian Govertunent, and that not because they agreed with what the Russian Government had done. To the policy of recognizing Russia we may say here we should by no means object. We have long advocated it. You cannot. cause a country to repent of its crimes or follies by sending it to Coventry. That has been tried, and it has always failed. We do not. want exactly to hobnob with Russia, but we had much better deal with her just as far as public business and trade require. Her sharp angles are much more likely to be knocked off in this way in the world of men than by the policy of driving her into a position of defiant isolation.
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