ulation. But it is time to pass on to
the question of yet another secret association, for amongst those
present at the Conference referred to were members of the group Clarte.

This society, of which the name as well as its avowed aims are
singularly reminiscent of Illuminism, was first heard of in France and
was led by men who carried on active anti-patriotic propaganda
throughout the war. Amongst these was Henri Barbusse, author of _Le
Feu_, a defeatest novel which was received with acclamations from
"illuminated" reviewers in the press of this country. Yet although
outwardly a French organization, the real inspiration and teaching of
_Clarte_ is essentially German-Jewish and a great number of Jews are to
be found amongst its members, particularly in Central Europe. At the
inaugural meeting of the Austrian group it was stated that 80 per cent.
of those present were of the Jewish race. The keynote of _Clarte_ is
Internationalism--abolition of nationality, destruction of frontiers,
and pacifism or rather the substitution of class warfare for war
between nations. For this purpose it is willing to make use of all
subversive doctrines, to whatever school of thought they may belong.
Hence, although the creed of the leaders is professedly Socialism, they
readily co-operate with Syndicalists, Anarchists, or revolutionaries of
any brand, carrying on propaganda in Trade Unions and various workers'
organizations; some are secretly in the ranks of the Communists. In fact
members of _Charte_ have succeeded in penetrating into almost every
subversive group, even as far afield as New Zealand, where the society
has an agency in Wellington and disseminates the most violent
revolutionary teaching and literature.

But whilst thus making use of the "proletariat" to further its ends, the
point of view of _Clarte_ is fundamentally undemocratic--for the real
grievances of the workers it has no use at all. The plan of this
group--who were recently described in the French press as "the finest
specimens of cannibals smeared with humanitarianism (les plus beaux
specimens de cannibales barbouilles d'humanitairerie)"--is to constitute
a sort of International Hierarchy of Intellectual Socialists, whose
influence is to make itself invisibly felt in literary, educational, and
artistic circles all over the world. For the members of _Clarte_ are as
careful as were the adepts of Weishaupt to preserve their incognito and
not to be known as "Illuminati.