The Political Situation
The question, which was always a delicate one, of the International Conference of Stockholm remains to be discussed. The Belgian delegation had been able to come to an agreement on the common attitude to be taken up with Albert Thomas and Henderson. But afterwards the latter was won over to agree to a consultative Conference, and in any case up to the present the Russians remain immovable.
When we were in Petrograd they seemed to have a kind of Messianic faith in the Conference. They believed that the prestige of their Revolution would put them in a position to impose their peace formula on the other Socialist parties, including the German Majority Socialists. They were upheld in this by the acquiescence of the last French National Council. They knew, perhaps, that in other Allied countries the idea of going to Stockholm to explain their views to the Germans found sympathy in high places. Moreover, such men as Tseretelli and Kerensky, whose point of view, at bottom, was very like our own, were persuaded that every effort in favour of the Stockholm
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