ABSTRACT
The position of Attlee and of the majority of Labour's political leaders postulated an inclusive League of substantially disarmed states in which coercion—moral, economic, financial, even perhaps military—would be in the control of the international body. The National Council called for an urgent meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, the General Council of the Trade Unions Congress, and the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. Labour's leaders were aware of evasions of the agreement from the start, for example through Portugal, yet given the situation in France, the General Council believed that the non-intervention policy was the only practical policy to follow. Arthur Greenwood almost apologetically presented to the delegates the resolution endorsing the National Council of Labour's support for non-intervention. Paying lip service to long-standing Labour positions, Hugh Dalton argued that they must be linked to a foreign policy that would breathe new life into the League of Nations and recreate respect for international law.
