Page:Lenin - The Collapse of the Second International - tr. Sirnis (1919).pdf/30

 How does he deduce a justification of Socialist jingoism from this “theory"?

It is done in the following manner, a strange one for a “theoretician”:—Social-Democrats of the Left wing­ in Germany say that imperialism and the wars produced by it are not an accident but a necessary product of capitalism which has led to the domination of finance capital. Therefore, transition to a revolutionary struggle on the part of the masses is needed, for we have come to the end of the comparatively peaceful period. Social-Democrats of the "Right Wing" declare, crudely, that since imperialism is necessary we must be imperialists, too. Kautsky, who sides with the “Centre,” tries to act as conciliator.

When speaking of the immediate realisation of Socialism, Kautsky resorts to exaggeration, for he knows that in Germany, especially under military cen­sorship, one cannot speak of revolutionary action. He knows well that those of the Left wing desire the party to do propaganda work forthwith and to prepare for revolutionary action, and not for “the immediate prac­tical realisation of Socialism.”

Those of the Left wing deduce the necessity of revo­lutionary action from the inevitableness of imperialism. “The theory of ultra-imperialism serves Kautsky to whitewash the opportunists, to put the whole thing in such a light as if the latter had not gone over to the side of the bourgeoisie, but had merely “no faith” in the immediate realisation of Socialism, or in the expectation that “there may ensue” a new era of dis­armament and of a lasting peace. The "theory" merely amounts to this, that by the expectation of a new peaceful era of capitalism Kautsky justifies the opportunists and the official S.D. parties which have joined the bourgeoisie and have repudiated revolutionary i.e., proletarian tactics during the present stormy period, in spite of the solemn declarations contained in the