| Main Performers | George Lansbury (Chair),
H W Nevinson,
Israel Zangwill,
Robert Williams,
Robert Smillie,
Maude Royden,
Josiah Wedgwood MP,
Albert Bellamy,
Arthur Lynch MP
W C Anderson MP - speakers
Clara Butt - vocal,
Sydney Wright - organ |
| Set List | Organ Recital (Sydney Wright),
'When Wilt Thou Save Thy People?,
'What is This, the Sound and Rumour?'
Resolution: 'This Meeting sends joyful congratulations to the Democrats of Russia and calls upon the Government of Great Britain and of every country, neutral and belligerent alike, to follow the Russian example by establishing Industrial Freedom, Freedom of Speech and the Press, the Abolition of Social, Religious, and National inequalities, an immediate Amnesty for Political and Religious offences, and Universal Suffrage.'
Speeches (George Lansbury, H W Nevinson, Robert Smillie, Robert Williams, Israel Zangwill, Maude Royden, Josiah Wedgewood MP, Albert Bellamy, Arthur Lynch MP, W C Anderson MP),
'Give To Us Peace in Our Time, O Lord!' (Clara Butt),
Collection,
WCA,
'The Red Flag',
'God, the All-Terrible!' to the tune of the Russian National Anthem (Clara Butt),
'England, Arise! The Long, Long Night is Over' (Clara Butt),
'Lift Up the People's Banner' (Clara Butt) |
| Performance Notes | A report in the form of a pamphlet was subsequently published which contained the texts of 10 speeches delivered at the event and a postscript by H N Brailsford, printed by The Herlad Office, 21 Tudor Street, London. The pamphlet states that there were 10,000 people in the audience. The pamphlet is free to view online via Warwick Digital Collections.
The foreward states:
"...there was held on March 31st 1917 at Albert Hall one of the most important meetings of modern times. The speakers represented all that is most advanced in Trade Union, Labour, Socialist and Radical movements. The hall was packe dout, and five thousand people were turned disappointed from the doors.The whole tone of the meeting was overwhelmingly pacifist and internationalist...No words can describe, and no report of the speeches can hope to convey, the passion which inspired the meeting - its singleness of purpose, its resentment of oppression, its desire for the coming of a new day. It was felt by everyone present that here was the beginning - a revolution of thought, a revolution in way of life. Held to welcome the Russian Revolution, the meeting may yet prove to have inauguarted a new era in Great Britain." |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1917/14) |