Page:The voice of an oppressed people.pdf/26

16 internationalisation. I am not playing with words when I draw a sharp distinction between inter-nationalǐsm and inter-statism. (I hope that philologists will pardon the word.) True nationalism is not opposed to internationalism, but we abhor those nationalist jingoes who in the name of nationalism oppress other nations, and we reject that form of internationalism and cosmopolitanism, which in fact recognizes only one—its own nation—and oppresses the others. True internationalism is not oppression, but neither is it a-nationalism nor anti-nationalism.

We learn from history that the warlike spirit tends to diminish, that militarism is getting more and more defensive after having been offensive; we learn from history that peoples and nations are more and more ready to work for themselves, without depending on the labour of others. Idleness, the oppressive form of aristocracy, whether in individuals, in classes, in nations and in races, is diminishing. History finally shows that brute force and quantity is less and less esteemed. In all nations the best men are agreed in prizing spiritual and moral forces; humanity is the effective watchword of the champions of all nations.

It is true, and history confirms it, that mankind strives for unity, but it does not strive for uniformity: World-federation, not world-power, Consensus gentium—not slavery of nations and races; the Organisation—not the Conquest of Europe.

If I am not mistaken, this war is a revelation of this historic truth. No Herrenvolk, but national equality and parity: Libertè, Egalitè, Fraternitè among nations as among individuals. These political principles, proclaimed in France in the name of humanity, are the foundation of democracy within the single nations, and they are the foundation of democratic relations between states and nations, of democratic internationalism.

The Pan-Germans appeal in vain to history; the facts are against them. History most assuredly is vitae magis-