A decision as to whether international Fascism is to go anti-Semitic or not is awaited tonight at Montreux, where representatives of sixteen Fascist organizations from fourteen countries are meeting in what was to have been a secret conference.
Rumanian Fascist delegates headed by Jan Motza demanded that Fascism adopt an extreme anti-Semitic attitude, while delegates of the Latin countries, led by Italians, voted to appoint a special committee which was empowered to decide whether to take up the Jewish question and in what manner to “solve” it. The Rumanian Iron Guard representatives voted with the delegates from the Nordic countries.
General Ryan O’Duffy, known in Ireland as “give them the lead O’Duffy,” is representing the Irish Blue Shirt organization he founded and led until recently. Sir Oswald Mosley, British Fascist leader, declined an invitation to be present. Hitlerite representatives also are absent.
The agenda of the conference, first of its kind, calls for a united program and action against “liberalism and Marxism.”
Motza made an impassioned speech against the Jews, declaring: “They are making our life impossible in Rumania.” He also accused the Jews of “fostering greed and egoism.” Judaism and Freemasonry, he declared, “are allied against Christianity.”
Delegates arrived at the meeting place with a conspiratorial air, only to find newspapermen waiting for them.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.