Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/279

 produce no action. Now, to our great grief, events have constantly shown us since the beginning of the war that the Socialist majority of the Central Empires, or at least the leaders who speak in their name, the only ones that we could meet in conference, are opposed to us in thought and action.

They attached themselves from the very first day to that aggression of which we have been the victims. They have not ceased to uphold it, and they are still upholding it.

It is with their complicity, with the help that they give their Emperor, that our country is invaded and that our comrades suffer.

We are fighting for our liberty and for the defence of universal democracy.

They are supporting against the Union of Democratic Nations the military effort of the last semi-absolute monarchs. They are even supporting it against the first effort of German democracy.

It is they who foresee and who fight against the revolt against the Hohenzollern.

What purpose could a meeting of them