Page:Rosa Luxemburg - The Crisis in the German Social-Democracy (The "Junius" Pamplhet) - 1918.pdf/33

 Rh aims, because whatever favors Prussia harms Austria, The old unholy jealousy has again broken out; Prussia is to be weakened, destroyed, dishonored. All treaties with Prussia are void, German lords are not only called upon, but persuaded, to sever their alliance with Prussia. Wherever we look, in Germany, we are surrounded by enemies whose war cry is—Down with Prussia!"

Praying for the blessings of heaven, King William ordered a general day of prayer and penance for the 18th of July, saying:

"It has not pleased God to crown with success my attempts to preserve the blessings of peace for my people."

Should not the official accompaniment to the outbreak of the war on August 4th have awakened in the minds of our group vivid memories of long remembered words and melodies? Had they completely forgotten their party history?

But not enough! In the year 1870 there came the war with France, and history has united its outbreak with an unforgettable occurrence; the Ems dispatch, a document that has become a classic byword for capitalist-government art in war making, and which marks a memorable episode in our party history. Was it not old Liebknecht, was it not the German Social-Democracy who felt in duty bound, at that time, to disclose these facts and to show to the masses "how wars are made?"

Making war simply and solely for the protection of the Fatherland was, by the way, not Bismarck’s invention, He only carried out, with characteristic unscrupulousness, an old, well known and truly international recipe of capitalist statesmanship. When and where has there been a war since so-called Public opinion has played a role in governmental calculations, in which each and every belligerent party did not, with a heavy heart, draw the sword from its sheath for the single and sole purpose of defending its Fatherland and its own righteous course from the shameful attacks of the enemy? This legend is as inextricably a part of the game of war as powder and lead. The game is old. Only, that the Social-Democratic Party, should play it is new.