Foreign News: Change of Mind

A year ago Britain’s Trades Union Congress, representing 6,500,000 workers, brought a storm about its ears by declaring that the Nazis, not the German people, should be held responsible for Germany’s guilt. Last week, after a year of reconsideration and buzz-bombs, the T.U.C. changed its mind. Meeting in annual session, it resolved, by 5,056,000 votes to 1,350,000, that the German people must also be treated as guilty.

Equally significant was the Congress’ willingness to waive a sacred trade-union right: German forced labor should be used for the rebuilding of Nazi-devastated Europe. So far, only Russia has announced its intention to use German forced labor. Exclaimed excitable Will Lawther, Mineworkers’ Federation president: “It is sheer humbug … to hail the Red Army in one breath, but in the other to say ‘to hell with you’ when it comes to footing the bill.”