The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1915-12-30

Win the QUALITIES required Tor q pc.
litical leader of the working class in
a capitalist state. The Bakounin type,
1t is true, also had its own peculiar
environment, in which 1t was natural.
ly adapted This was the Russian
ment corresponded practically to that
of France before the great reyolu.
ton. In other words, Russia was
one hundred years behind the evolu-
ton of western Europe In such a
backward environment, the only tyne
of revolutionist who could express a
revolt against feudalism- without The
backing of capitalist or working
class, was the revolutionary intellec.
tual. This type could never become
the leader of great class movement,
especially not in capitalist environ.
ment. He could make martyr Of
himself and enact melodraina all
his own, but he could never organize
and develop a working class move
ment along historical lines. Bebel
and Lieblnecht did not initiate this
type of indlvidualist revolutionism
for the simple reason that universal
military education" was a part of the
Socialist program and included a de
mand for Il national militia. They
contented themselves with a protest
against the war and an appeal to the
international solidarity of the work
ers. This, however, could not have
any other force but that of a general
propaganda of future ideals. It was
not a solution of the Immediately
pressing problem which had to be
met and handled Such purely mega.
tive protests are always useless when
a constructive action is required for
a protest without a program of prac-
ticable action is equal to a platonic
saving of the air. All the other So
cialists, even Marx and Engels, real
Socialists cannot afford, to shirk their
national duties for the mere reason
that some day in the future the work.
ers will all be internationally united.
In the war of 1870, the German So
cialists for the first time had face ths
question as to what attitude they showS
assume, when a defensive war turns
into war of conquest. Marx and
Engels as well as many Socialists in
Germany maintained that peace
should be concluded, as soon as Ma
poleon had been captured and a
French republic declared. Nearly all
the Socialist representatives took this
position. When the Germans con-
annexing Alsace-Lorraine, the Social
lists denounced the war vigorously.
And when the workers of Paris re-
sisted the attempt of the French CAPT
talists to surrender Paris and were
crushed by the masters of the new
republic, Marx wrote a glowing tri-
butte to the Partisan workers in his
civil War in France"
Here we see once more on a still
larger scale than during the previous
wars, that it is practically impossible
for Socialist minority to serve both
its international and its national inter
ests at the same tine. AS soon as we
try to take practical part in the prob
lens of capitalist life, our internation-
al ideal is continually crossed by our
inevitable adaptation to the prevail
ing capitalist environment. Interna-
tionalism can be propagated as COM
ing ideal, but so long as development
forces us to meet national problems
first, we cannot achieve anything
practical by violent protests and by
tragic appeals to international solidar-
ity. Even if the Socialist minorities
on both sdes should try to resist en-
listment and die at home rather than
on the battlefield, they would not
serve the cause of lnternationalism
nor stop the drift of capitalist war
sentiment. And as a mere propagan-
da proposition, it is evident that we
can serve Socialism better by finding
an easier road to the minds of our
own nations workers, whom we shall
have to convert to Socialism, than
by appealing to the Socialist workers
in the enemys country, who are just
as helpless as we are, However, re-
sistance to enlistment or to war serv-
ice has never been part OF the pro
gram of European Socialists.
I shall not go into a closer analysis
OF their attitude here. For the pres
ent I am merely enumerating certain
facts as they developed and illustrat-
ing them as I go along. I want to
outline the historical facts first, and
then pause and consider them more
closely.
The foregoing facts show plainly