Page:Lenin - The Collapse of the Second International - tr. Sirnis (1919).pdf/21

 opportunists alike pass over these facts in silence. Unrest and a vague desire for peace begins to manifest itself amongst the masses, and the longer the war lasts and the fiercer its character becomes, the quicker will develop the revolutionary activity of the working class―the class that is called upon to make the greatest efforts of self-sacrifice. The experiences of the war, even as the experience of some calamity in a man's life generally tends to stimulate him and make him wiser, will, in the long run, steel, strengthen, and enlighten the majority of the toilers.

The coming of "peace" will not put an end to these intensified antagonisms, but, on the contrary, it will bring home with awful vividness to the most backward section of the population the terrific calamities bred by imperialism and war. In a word, a revolutionary situation is present in most of the progressive countries of Europe. In this respect the anticipation of the Basle manifesto is fully justified. The jingo Socialists pass over this in silence, a thing tantamount to intent to deceive and mislead the working class.

How long is this revolutionary situation going to last, and how much more acute is it going to become? This we know not. It will only be by experience in the measure that the foremost class―the working class―evolves revolutionary methods and passes to revolutionary action. We internationalists have no illusions on the question of the outbreak of immediate revolution, and do not offer to guarantee the happenings of either to-day or to-morrow. But we realise that the fundamental duty of all Socialists is to point out to the workers the presence of a revolutionary situation, to explain its nature, and to awaken by insistent propaganda the revolutionary consciousness of the proletariat. Nor do we stop short at theorising, but advocate and help the workers to take up revolutionary action, building up for that purpose an organisation corresponding to the needs of the time.

Without illusions, the Basle manifesto lays down the correct attitude and duty of the Socialist Parties of all lands. That duty is to incite and stir up the working class to a consciousness of its deplorable position in society; not to lull it to sleep by means of jingoism, as has been done by Plekhanov and Axelrod in Russia, Kautsky and Cunow in Germany, Hyndman in England, and Thomas in France, etc., etc. It is the imperative duty of all Socialists to make use of the crisis to