delegates who accompanied the committee of inquiry which the
National Service League sent to Switzerland in the autumn of 1907 were
apparently less interested in the efficiency of the Swiss army for
national defence than in its attitude during conflicts between labour
and capital.[546]

Fearing that a national militia might not be willing to lend itself to
revolutionary purposes, that it might become a patriotic force as is
the Swiss militia, many Socialists condemn every kind of military
service, and are quite ready to disarm the nation in the name of
humanity and civil freedom. For instance, at the annual conference of
the Socialist Independent Labour Party of 1907 the following was moved
by a well-known revolutionary Socialist, Mr. Bruce Glasier:

"That this Conference believes that the time has come when militarism
in every form should be denounced and resisted as alien to civil
freedom and social progress, and expresses itself emphatically against
compulsory military service, and the attempts which are being made to
introduce military training in public schools or other public
institutions, and views with alarm the purposes of Mr. Haldane's Army
Territorial Bill, which, if passed, will make military service
practically compulsory under officers drawn wholly from, the upper
classes, will make industrial employment dependent upon military
service, and, instead of promoting international unity, will foster
and increase the spirit of militarism and aggression."[547]

In moving this resolution Mr. Glasier said that "he denounced
militarism root and branch," and Mr. Keir Hardie, a Communist
Socialist, in seconding, said: "The resolution was not only a
declaration against militarism, but a special and specific
condemnation of the Territorial Army Scheme now before the House of
Commons. The Socialist party was bound to protest against a system of
that kind. The particular feature which emphasised the danger was that
there were to be county associations formed to have charge of the new
territorial forces, and to have a majority of military men upon them
with landlords and possibly employers of labour. A citizen army was as
great a menace to an industrial population as a professional army. The
new army would be recruited from the people, and officered by the
enemies of the people, just as the professional army was. Children
were to be taught that the flag was the great thing to value in life.
They would find that a citiz