Page:Lenin - The Collapse of the Second International - tr. Sirnis (1919).pdf/15

13 military authorities render timely assistance to the traitors of Socialism in issuing their censorial decrees, which forbids one to speak of the class struggle and of revolutionary activity.

Perhaps, it may be stated, the Basle manifesto is merely a rhetorical appeal without substance and devoid of either historical significance or tactical value. The reverse is the case. In the Basle resolution there is less rhetoric and more concrete substance than in any other Socialist resolution. In it are references to the war which is now upon us. It speaks definitely of the imperialist conflicts which afterwards burst into open war in 1914-15. It critically examines the Austro-Serbian conflict over Albania. It deals with the Anglo-German struggle for markets and colonies. It analyses the Russo-Turkish quarrel over Armenia and Constan­tinople. The Basle resolution emphatically refers to the present war between the “great powers of Europe.’’ And it also distinctly points out that such a war cannot be justified by Socialist principles, nor by the supine plea that it is being waged in the interests of the people.

Let us take Plekhanov and Kautsky, two of the most typical Socialist authorities nearest at hand. The former writes in Russian and the latter’s works are translated into Russian by our opportunists. They both search— with the assistance of Axelrod—for sundry "national justifications" of the war. These declarations are, to speak more correctly, mere vulgar justifications culled from the capitalist gutter press. With learned mien, backed up by a series of distorted quotations from Marx to serve as “ examples,’’ Plekhanov and Kautsky set forth their case. Plekhanov uses Marx where he refers to the wars of 1813 and 1870. Kautsky likewise utilises Marx’s references to the wars of 1854, 1871, 1876-7 and 1889. Only men who are devoid of all Socialist conviction and conscience could seriously put forth such arguments. One cannot help protesting against such unheard of jesuitism, hypocrisy and general prostitution of Socialism.

Let the Executive Committee of the German S.D.P. hurl anathema against the Internazionale, the new paper issued by Mehring and Rosa Luxemburg, because it exposes Kautsky in his true colours. Let Vandervelde, Hyndman, Plekhanov and Co., with the assistance of the Triple Entente, treat their opponents in a similar fashion. In answer, we retaliate by reprinting the Basle