Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/365



We saw above, that Socialism, in the solution of concrete questions in the field of national state-groups and organizations of a new kind, can make no step without the principle of national self-determination, which latter in its last instance appears as the recognition of the right of every national group to decide its national fate, hence as the right of peoples to sever themselves from a given state (as for instance Russia or Austria). The only democratic way of getting to know the "will" of a nation is the referendum. This democratic-obligatory reply will, however, in the manner described, remain quite formal. It does not enlighten us with regard to the real possibilities, ways and means of national self-determination under the present conditions of capitalistic management: And yet the crux of the matter lies in all this.

For many, if not for the majority of the oppressed nations, national groups and factions, the meaning of self-determination is the cancellation of the existing borders and the dismemberment of present states. In particular, this democratic principle leads to the deliverance of the colonies. Yet the whole policy of Imperialism aims at the extension of state borders regardless of the national principle of the compulsory incorporation of weak states within the customs border, and the acquisition of new colonies. Imperialism is by its very nature both expansive and offensive, and it is this qualification that characterizes Imperialism, and not the changeable manuevers of diplomancy.

Whence the perennial conflict between the principle of national self-determination which in many cases leads to state and economic decentralization, and the powerful efforts at centralization on the part of Imperialism which has at its disposal the State organization and the military power. True, the national-separatistic movement very often finds support in the Imperialistic intrigue of The Neighboring State. This support, however, becomes decisive only in the application of war-might. As soon as there is an