The interesting thing about the conference to discuss the position of women under Guild Socialism, which was held at Central Hall, Westminster, recently, by the Women's International League, was that the chief women speakers were so frank in their criticism of the scheme.
The afternoon session was devoted to preliminary discussion, Mrs. Swanwick, who presided, said that the question of Guild Socialism was at present discussed much more at meetings of men than by women, but it was time women considered seriously.
Mrs, G. D. H. Cole put the case for Guild Socialism, and in the discussion that followed a good deal of attention was given to the question of the position of mothers under the scheme.
'At the evening meeting Mrs. A. Robinson, of the Manchester Women's' International League, said she regarded the propaganda of the Guild Socialists as of great' value and hoped that some time there would be an attempt to carry out their theories. She thought that, as far as the position of women in such a scheme was concerned, the chief difficulties would be that women were only to a small extent employed in the industries—mining and railways—in which the first experiments were likely to be made, and that those in other occupations were not very effective trade unionists, and were also apt to pass over the control of the unions to men.
She did not think women should be debarred from any employment, though all were not suitable for them. She looked forward to a great development for women's work in industries connected with the home, and, believing that many married women could and should remain in industrial life, she hoped™ that any scheme of Guild Socialism would set apart certain occupations for married women. People must get rid of the idea that a married woman was necessarily a home maker or that her life could be filled by the interests of children and the home.
Mrs. Barton, of the Women's Cooperative League, thought that Guild Socialism, tended to be too sectional. It thought of the producers, while tha ce-operative movement realized that the organization of the consumers was equally important. The only complete way was to realize that all were consumers. The ideal was to get the whole means of production, raw materials, and s© on, into the hands of the people and get rid of profit and interest. The ce-operative movement would open up international trade, and she had not heard that Guild Socialism would work on that line.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.