Newark post., 1915-01-20

OF parIiamentS; of these one III
about eight are Socialists. In Bel
gium there were forty Socialists in
one hundred and eighty-six mem.
bers Of parliament. But Belgium
Socialists quite in accord with
their party belief, resisted, in self.
defense, when attacked from out.
side the country. The Austrian
Socialists in the parliament at
Vienna numbered eighty-two out
of five hundred and sixteen. With
less than one in six they could have
done little. England had forty
two Socialists in a body containing
six hundred and seventy. The rev
olutionists there were certainly not
responsible for the war. France
had in her Chamber of Deputies
one hundred and one, out Of five
hundred and ninety-seven mem
bers. Germany had one hundred
and ten Socialists in a Reichstag of
three hundred and ninety-seven.
Servla had only two members of
that party in national Legislature
of one hundred and sixty-six. Rus
sia had in the Duma fourteen Soc
ialists out Of membership of four
hundred and forty-two. The four
teen were so active in stopping the
war that they were promptly put
in Jail and are there now. For his
activity in opposition the great
French statesman, Jaurez, was as
sassinated. Liebnecht, the German
statesman, went to the length of
voting "No, against the whole
Reichtag, on December 1st and
has been sent to the front though
fOrty-four years old, the govern
ment being perhaps afraid to order
him shot and hoping to thus dis
pose Of him.
The anti-war activity of Social
lists has not always failed and had
there been time for it last August
it might have been effective in pre-
venting the catastrophe which
other political parties had invited
by militarism and disregard of pop
ular interests. Socialists, in 1911,
through a great convention in
London, had much to do with pre-
venting war between Germany and
France over the Morocco affair.The
party stopped war between Swed-
Ell and Norway, after it had been
declared, in 1905. The interna-
tiOnal conference Of Socialists meet
ing in Switzerland, did much to
prevent the spread of the Balkan
war; they announced they would
tie up the railroads if the other
nations mobilized.
1t is to German Socialists that
many people turn when giving
blame. But Germany had only
four and quarter millions of So
cialists out Of sixty-six millions of
German population. They had
but twenty-eight per cent in the
Reichstag. A similar condition
existed in France. The only way
the specialists could have prevent
ed war by force was by leadership
of non-Socialists and the German
section was mislead by the Prus-
sian militarists into thinking the
Slavs were already over the bor-
der when in fact they were not.
With kings in power the armies
were called and set in motion. Then
began the action Of a great self
pi eserving principle in human life,
which has been usually ignored in
discussions of this war; the prin-
ciple of racial self-preservation. It
Is a law in nature, a law no Social
ist finds fault with, that each rae
lal group, whether, like the Hebrew
and Armenian, without land, or
like the Dutch with land to rule.
must pi eserve its independence and
unity in order to work out happi-
ness for the individuals of the
group and the aspirations of the
race. Under legitimate impulse
the German, the French, the En-
glish, the Belgian, the Servian and
the rest of the race groups seized
their arms. Exploitation by home
capitalists was an evil; exploitation
and race-group destruction at the
hands of foreign enemy was not
to be endured. In this the instinct
of mankind is sound; it was this
which put arms into the hands of
Socialists who before the war and
now most ardently hate war and
love peace.
To understand the situation we
must understand why war exists.
The profit system takes from the
producer in each country part of