Page:Lenin - The Collapse of the Second International - tr. Sirnis (1919).pdf/16

14 Manifesto, which exposes the change of front by the leaders of Socialism, which can only be designated by one word—treason.

The Basle resolution does not speak of a national, or of a people’s war. We have examples of such wars during the period 1789-1871. The Basle resolu­tion does not speak of a revolutionary war, which has never been repudiated by Social democrats. It deals with wars such as the present one, waged by both groups of the warring powers in the interest of capi­talist imperialism and dynasties. Both the Austro-German and the Anglo-Franco-Russian group pursue a policy of conquest. Kautsky, Plekhanov and Co. practice downright deception on the workers when they repeat the interested lies spread by the bourgeoisie of every country, which does its best to represent this preda­tory imperialist colonial war as a people’s defensive war—defensive in some way or other. Kautsky and Plekhanov also practice deception when they seek to justify this war by referring to historical examples of wars of a non-imperialist nature.

The purely predatory imperialist and anti-working class nature of the present war has long since ceased to be a purely theoretical question. Imperialism has been denounced in its main features as the struggle of a perishing, decrepit, and rotten bourgeoisie for the division of the world and seeking to enslave “small” nations, this argument has been presented thousands of times in the vast newspaper press of the Socialist movement in every country. In his pamphlet, The Impending War, the Frenchman, Delaise, who represents a nation allied to us, explained in a popular way' the predatory nature of this war and of the part to be played by the French bourgeoisie. More than that, representatives of the working class parties in every land unanimously and formally expressed their firm conviction that the impending war would be of an imperialistic character, and accordingly drew certain tactical deductions therefrom.

We must reject, therefore, as sophisms statements to the effect that the difference between national and international tactics has not been sufficiently discussed by the Socialist movement. This is, we repeat, a mere sophism. A many-sided and scientific discussion of imperialism had begun. The discussion upon