Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., delivered the presidential address at the
Annual Conference of the Independent Labour Party, which opened at Derby on Monday. After reviewing the achievements of the past year--the annul mirabilis in Socialist history—he declared that the future success of the Socialist movement depended on the Independent Labour Party. They were bound to support such reforms as shorter Parliaments, payment of Members, abolition of the powers of the House of Lords, and the enfranchisement of women, but when they had got them, the questions had still to be answered How was the power which they gave the people to be used ? and, What was to be the social value of political enfranchise- ment? He answered that their ideal was the Socialist State, and their task was to mould society until it became the Socialist State. No land legislation would be satisfactory unless it increased the ownership powers of the State, and other proposals—old-age pensions, national secular education, the treatment of the unemployed, licensing, and taxation —could be considered from the same point of view. Resolutions in favour of old-age pensions and secular education were carried without much discussion, but a lively debate arose on the woman suffrage question. Ultimately a resolution was carried declaring in favour of universal suffrage for both sexes, but recommending the immediate extension of the suffrage to women on the same conditions as to men, an amendment limiting the resolution to a declaration in favour of universal suffrage for men and women being lost by a large majority.
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