Page:Resolutions and Theses of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International (1922).djvu/56

 tive. At the same time, not only are the oppressed peoples rebelling against the rule of England and Japan, but the Anglo-Saxon colonies of Britain seek to protect their interests in the coming conflict between the United States and Japan by a closer union with the United States. The frame of British Imperialism is being more and more shaken.

The New War.

The attempt of imperialist powers to create a firm basis for the domination of the world has failed on account of their conflicting interests. The great edifice lies in ruins. The large powers and their vassals are preparing for a new war. Miailitarism is stronger than ever. Although the bourgeoisie is oppressed by the fear that a new proletarian revolution might follow in the wake of another war, the laws of capitalist society are driving inevitably towards a new world conflict.

The Second and Two-and-a-Half Internationals confine their efforts to supporting the radical wing of the bourgeoisie which represents primarily the trading and banking interests, in its weak fight for the reduction of the reparation payments. As in every other problem, they are working hand in glove with the bourgeoisie. The task of the Communist Parties, and, first of all, those of the victorious countries, is to show clearly to the masses that the Versailles Treaty shifts all the burdens of the war, in the victorious as well as the defeated countries upon the shoulders of the proletariat, that the proletariat is the real victim of this bourgeois peace treaty. On this ground, the Communist Parties, primarily those of Germany and France, should conduct a common fight against the Versailles Treaty. The German Communist Party must declare the willingness of the German proletariat to help the workers and peasants of Northern France to rebuild their destroyed homes; at the same time it should conduct an intense struggle against its own bourgeoisie, which, in agreement with the French bourgeoisie, is conducting its policy of "fulfilment" at the cost of the German proletariat, and is willing to see Germany reduced to a French colony as long as their own class interests are insured thereby. The French Communist Party must fight against the imperialism of its bourgeoisie, against the intensified exploitation of the German proletariat to enrich the French bourgeoisie, against the occupation of the Ruhr, against the partition of Germany. To-day it is not sufficient in France to fight against the social patriots; we must combat the Versailles Treaty at every opportunity. It is the task of the Communist Party of Poland, Czecho-Slovakia and the other vassal countries of France to combine the struggle against the bourgeoisie with the fight against French imperialism. We must convince the French and German proletariat by means of joint campaigns, that the attempt to carry out the