and the assembling of the Berne Conference in March made
necessary the election of delegates by the National Executive
Committee.

"The so-called Left Wing members of the National Executive
Committee participated in the election, nominating and voting for
candidates. None of their nominees were elected, and shortly after
the election an organized attack was made against the international
delegates by the Left Wing....

"The National Executive Committee, in session, decided that if our
delegates arrived at Berne in time and the conference failed to
take the position of the party on war and imperialism, we were to
withdraw with any other elements favoring a genuine working-class
International. It was agreed that we would not affiliate with any
International that excluded the Russian Comrades, who were fighting
world imperialism, or the Comrades opposed to the Ebert-Scheidemann
regime in Germany.

"Before our delegates could leave the country, the National
Executive Committee learned that the Berne Conference had failed to
respond to its opportunity.... Learning this, the National
Executive Committee decided to send one delegate abroad to impart
information to the Comrades in Europe, informing them of our
attitude on international questions."[I]....

"Yet, despite all this, a systematic campaign of falsehood has been
waged against the party by a faction within the party. This faction
has falsely claimed that the party is allied with the Berne
Conference.... They have denounced the party and its officials as
an organization of 'Scheidemanns' and 'Noskes,' asserting that if
the party were intrusted with public power it would murder our own
Comrades with machine guns and hand grenades....

"These slanders have been accompanied with a similar propaganda
regarding Russia. The party and its officials, especially the
members of the National Executive Committee, have been charged with
being 'Kolchaks' and 'counter-revolutionists,' the implication
being that the party has been committed to counter-revolution in
Russia, allied intervention, and support of Kolchak in Siberia.

"As in the case of Germany, so in the case of Russia, the National
Executive Committee and the party in general have opposed
intervention in Russia or support of Kolchak a