Page:Jean Jaurès socialist and humanitarian 1917.djvu/103

 be held in Amsterdam in August of the same year.

The German Social Democrats had been discussing this very matter of participation, in their own Congress at Dresden in the previous year and it was their Dresden resolution which was discussed at Amsterdam.

"I was one of the British representatives on the Commission which discussed the Dresden resolution," says J. R. Macdonald, "before it came up for debate in the full Congress and I saw much of Jaurès at that time. Among the members were Adler of Austria, Vandevelde of Belgium, Bebel of Germany, Ferri of Italy, Branting of Sweden, and every day brought its great duel, for the Commission was sharply divided. I sat next to Jaurès and when the time drew near for him to reply he became as lively as a cricket. He interjected spear-point remarks whilst others were speaking and his whispered comments were like the playful good nature of an accomplished swordsman making fun of a novice. Then he rose himself without a note. The room crowded up. People filled the windows and some were helped to a precarious sitting on a mantelpiece. He singled out Bebel and the Germans for special attack. One moment he laughed at them, the next he belaboured them. He was mischievous and he enjoyed himself. Then he plunged into