ABSTRACT
Tillett’s position between 1914 and 1918 was seen by many as a complete repudiation of everything that he had previously stood for. Though a professed internationalist and proponent of class warfare, he opposed all strikes and echoed the cry that the only good German was dead one. Later, his anti-Semitic lapse during the January 1910 Swansea electoral campaign against Sir Alfred Mond suggests that the mature Tillett, no less than young agitator, continued to pander to popular prejudices. In like manner, Tillett opposed the ‘armour rings’ which in his opinion had gained ascendancy over Liberal government, and were inexorably driving towards war. The question of international action against war was linked with domestic campaign in which Tillett participated as well. Tillett often argued that only war which workers should wage was the class war. This, in addition to his advocacy of international strike in case of war, and his opposition to construction of Dreadnoughts, established his credentials as an internationalist.
