Not Taking Any, Thanks!
The following, we think, sufficiently explains itself
MALATESTA RELEASE COMMITTEE.
London, W., June 14, 1912.
Dear Comrade,—At a meeting of the above on the 13th inst., it was unanimously agreed that your party should be asked to send a delegate to join and co-operate with us, in order that this committee should be as representative as possible of all those who are in sympathy with the objects of this committee.
We are resolved to carry on this agitation on a wider scale and are assured of the support of prominent men, including M.P.’s and other influential people.
Awaiting your favourable reply,
Yours fraternally, (Signed) J. F. TANNER, Hon. Sec.
Mr. J. F. Tanner.
MALATESTA RELEASE COMMITTEE.
Sir, –Your letter inviting the Socialist Party of Great Britain to send a Delegate to co-operate with your committee was duly placed before my Executive, who instructed me to inform you that The Socialist Party declines to join with working-class enemies for any purpose whatever, and that therefore your invitation is declined.
Your Mr. Malatesta, if a victim at all, is but a victim of the system both he and you do your best to maintain by the spreading of confusion in the minds of the working class. Your whining for mercy, therefore, savours even more of the hypocrite than of the coward, while your “Demand” for release is grotesque.
That your committee should have entertained the idea (even for a moment) that the Socialist Party could be seduced from its allegiance to the working-class by the glamour of temporarily associating with “prominent men including M.P.’s and other influential people” shows not only how woefully you have miscalculated the moral strength and integrity of the Socialist Party, but also the cant, humbug, and mental debasement of the ultra-revolutionists—the Anarchists—the anti-political giants who yet can be got to glory in the prospect of associating with “M.P.’s and other influential people.”
In the interests of the working class we decline your invitation and say “Down with Anarchy ! Long live Socialism !”
On behalf of the Executive of
The Socialist Party of Great Britain,
C. L. Cox, Gen. Sec. pro. tem.