Thus on September 15th, Chamberlain, who had never traveled by airplane before, flew to Bertschesgaden [Hitler's Bavarian mountain retreat] for a meeting with Hitler. [3] The meeting laid the groundwork for the later Munich Agreement: Hitler demanded the total incorporation of the Sudetenland by October, and Chamberlain willingly offered to give it to him. [4] Chamberlain came back to England the next day, and began to press Czechoslovakia to meet Hitler's demands.
The Labour Party strenuously opposed this from the very beginning. Except for a small "pacifist" minority, Labour was united behind opposing Hitler. On September 8th, the Joint National Council [a policy making committee made up of representatives from the trade unions, the N.E.C., and Parliamentary leaders] issued the Blackpool Declaration:
The British Government must leave no doubt in the mind of the German Government that they will unite with the French and Soviet Governments to resist any attack on Czechoslovakia.... Whatever the risks involved, Britain must make its stand against aggression.... Labour cannot acquiesce in the destruction of the rule of law by savage aggression.
[5]
This declaration was followed by a similar one two weeks later by the National Counicl of Labour, another policy making group, which attacked the British and French proposals (giving Hitler part of the Sudetenland) in response to the threat of German military action; saying that it constituted a "shameful betrayal of a peaceful and democratic people" and a dangerous precedent for the future. [6]
Before Chamberlain left for Bertchesgaden, Clement Attlee went to see him. According to Attlee's account, he insisted that Chamberlain "mustn't give away to threats, we have a duty to the Czechs, and principles which all parties in Britain now adhered to must not be compromised." [7] Attlee recalled that Chamberlain "had very little to say [in reply]: nothing really." [8]
Two days after he went to Bertchesgaden [September 17th], Chamberlain agreed to meet a delegation of Labour leaders consisting of Walter Citrine, Herbert Morrison and Hugh Dalton. At the meeting, Citrine asked Chamberlain whether he believed that Hitler wanted a peaceful settlement. After a pause, Chamberlain replied: "If we accept the challenge now it means war. If we delay a decision something might happen. Hitler may die." [9]
