Frank La Rue nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

by poet - (i've a day off work it's a state/religious/bank holiday where I live)[they mix these things] Mon Dec 08, 2003 14:16

aren't we all gripping our wee seats.
Will Peace in Ireland or Palestine feature again? or will it be... _international arbitration_?

December 10th is the anniversary of the death of Mr Nobel who made blowing up things easier, and I thought some of you'd be interested to learn a little about the winner in 1903 a hundred years ago.

William Cremer.

he was secretary to the English section that attended the 1st International. But then left. He founded the carpenters and joiners union after having served an apprenticeship at 15 to be a journey carpenter. He came from a single parent family and things were as unspeakable for him growing up as most of us have forgotten.

in 1858 (in his thirties, "your age"),
he campaigned for a nine hour day.

How many hours do you work?

He was a member of the 1st internat. established in 1864 of "the International Working Men's Association", in which Karl Marx and other socialists from the continent took part. This organisation built on many previous disparate international activities which had included support for the Union side in the American Civil War, empancipation, the welcoming to England of Giuseppe Garibaldi, and supporting the Poles against the Russians. Cremer was elected general secretary in 1865, but resigned after two years, later maintaining that the organization had come under the direction of "men who cared more for their isms than for the cause of real progress."

he left, coz of the ism.

In 1871 he became secretary of the Workmen's Peace Association. He held that position till his death in 1908. He was in some ways one of the first lefty peacniks, but they didn't have "-niks" yet. Perhaps he didn't want them to happen @ all. And that might of helped him get the Nobel and then a year before he died a title "Sir".

He donated the vast bulk of the Nobel Peace Prize ( £7,000 of £8,000) to the International Arbitration League which he had founded.

It dissolved itself years later because no-one was really interested and it couldn't pay the rental charges on it's office. A multi-national-corporation bought the stationery, logo and ideas and has prepared them for future marketing.
So don't worry about a thing.
nothing changes.


This is the excerpt from Hansard when he spoke on female suffrage, he himself had relied on the Reform act of 1884 to see trade union representatives be elected.
(25th April, 1906)
[he's having a "go" at Hardie who was leader of the lefties]
He had always contended that if we opened the door and enfranchised ever so small a number of females, they could not possibly close it, and that it ultimately meant adult suffrage. The government of the country would therefore be handed over to a majority who would not be men, but women. Women are creatures of impulse and emotion and did not decide questions on the ground of reason as men did.

He was sometimes described as a woman-hater, but he had had two wives, and he thought that was the best answer he could give to those who called him a woman-hater. He was too fond of them to drag them into the political arena and to ask them to undertake responsibilities, duties and obligations which they did not understand and did not care for.

What did one find when one got into the company of women and talked politics? They were soon asked to stop talking silly politics, and yet that was the type of people to whom we were invited to hand over the destinies of the country.

It was not only because he thought that women were unfitted by their physical nature to exercise political power, but because he believed that the majority of them did not want it and would vote against it, that he asked the House to pause before they took the step suggested by the honorable member for Merthyr Tydfil (Keir Hardie). He believed that if women were enfranchised the end would be disastrous to all political parties. He therefore asked the House to pause before it took a step from which it could never retreat.

by interested Fri Sep 12, 2003 14:05

Just heard him on the pat kenny radio programme. Sounds like an interesting organisation. I think I read about him in the papers last february or march.

by Other Days Fri Sep 12, 2003 03:31

Sorry about that. Thanks for clarifying it.

by Kev Fri Sep 12, 2003 00:24

Justin Morahan (of the Peace People) and Justin Moran (of Sinn Fein and Santa Claus suit fame) are two different people.

J Morahan posted this article, not J Moran.

by Other Days Thu Sep 11, 2003 22:52

I remember when the shinners used to refer to her as "More aid - new car again".
And now they are posting her statements on indymedia!