Denver labor bulletin., 1918-02-09


immediate peace. Thus the new gov
ernment sees itself obliged to institute
a reign of terror against the major
lty of the people since they are hostile
to military dictatorship. The result
is arbitrary prosecutions and violence
even against the Socialist opposition,
together. with the suppression of the
liberty of press and assemblage. Sew
eral Socialists have been thrown in
prison.
Further, the foreign policy of Le-
nine, inspired by the desire to achieve
immediate peace promised to the SOL
dlers, is taking on a character which
is contrary to democratic and interna-
tionalist conceptions of peace, espec-
tally since the militarists wish to take
advantage of the position of a gov
ernment not recognized by the major
lty of the people to bring about a
separate and anti-democratic peace.
'Lenine and Trotzky now refuse
to recognize the sovereignty of the
constitutional assembly, the majority
of which is composed of non -Bolshe-
wiki Socialists. In the endeavor to
get Lenineist majority a number
of members of the constitutional as
sembly have been arrested, including
the bourgeois minority.
This is why the Marxist minority
of the working class is obliged to stand
apart from this pretended proletarian
dictatorship and to struggle against
the reign of terror, which will inev-
ltably lead to a civil war between
working men and peasants and to the
triumph of unter-revolution.
As long as the majority of the
working class does not force the party
of Lenlne to renounce its dictatorship,
and does not oblige him to recognize
universal suffrage and to form a coal
ltIon government of all the Socialist
parties of Russia from the extreme
right to the extreme left, the situation
will remain grave"
Upon receiving this telegram Lon
Euet frankly expressed his opposition
to the "semi-auarchist semi-Commun-
lst position Of Leninc, especially re
nouncing his insurrection against the
provisional government and his nego-
tiations for a separate peace. Fur
ther, there followed the remuneration
of the Bolsheviki by the entire French
Socialist party-a remuneration which,
1t will be seen, applies just as well
now that the Brest-Lotovsk negotia-
tons have broken, as it did before.
The French Socialists-in an appeal
to the Socialists of Russia-denounced
these negotiations as likely to lead to
a separate peace:
"Such a conclusion would not only
allow the central empires to prepare
and secure a military triumph. by
means of force; it would serve again.
as it has served already, the designs
of all the enemies Of democracy and
socialism thruout the world by en-
abling them to hold up the Russian
l.. y,f 4,
zation and decentralization"
Prolongs the War.
Whether a formal separate peace
results or the Bolsheviki drive Rus
STA to separate peace by disbanding
its army is a matter of secondary
Importance to the French Socialists -
since their main argument is that for
Russia to retire from the war will
necessarily lead to its prolongation:
THE democracies Of the west,
whose long historic effort the Russian
democracy has no right to despise,
even If they have not yet reached
their Socialist goal; the great Amcri-
can democracy, whose idealist vigor
no one can would not these ma
tons feel themselves threatened by
the weakness and abandonment of
their great northern ally? Would
they not, then, be compelled to harden
themselves for a prolonged fight, be-
cause they did not wish to see arise
the political, military and economic
hegemony of those who let loose the
catastrophe ?"
Finally the French Socialists, with
practical unanimity backed up Mart
offs demand for a coalition socialist
government and for constitutional
assemblage.
THE divisions which had already
weakened your efforts before the war
will paralyze the work of reorganiza-
ton. From afar, we, your friends,
have suffered much from rude diver
gcncies and rivalries. Everywhere
they run the risk Of making possible
the return of a reaction from which
the whole world will suffer
Besides, Russia must find as
quickly as possible that stable regime
out of which her new life will arise
Its constituent assembly can alone
provide it. It. alone can put an end
to the struggles which displace the
dictators without giving authority or
security for the morrow. 1t alone
can say that it governs for the people
by the people. 1t alone will offer to
the other nations of the world the
guarantee of the engagements which
Russia is called upon to undertake in
the international movement of events"
Among the signers of this docu-
ment were the following leading
French pacifst Socialists: Longuct,
Maveras, Mistral, Pressomane, Sixte-
Quenin.
This is also the position of the Brit
ish labor party.
HAD HIM.
Senator Simmons was discussing