Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/223

 It was understood that in a reply to the convocation of the Soviet we should announce our refusal to take part in a full Conference, and we drew up, in common agreement, the conditions clearly enough to make sure there would be no mistake and to put an end to any diplomatic manœuvre on the part of our adversaries. "More than ever," said our letter, "are we convinced that a meeting to which would be admitted those who supported the present policy of the Majority Socialists in the Central Empires would be useless and dangerous; useless because such a meeting of contrary views could not end in action; dangerous because it would give rise to misunderstanding, and would lead the working and peasant classes to think that a just and durable peace was possible before aggressive Imperialism is destroyed.

"As long as by a public declaration made without reticence or reservation in their own country, on the responsibility of their own working classes, the Socialists of all nations interested have not renounced their association with an aggressive Imperialism,