The New York herald., 1920-11-21
Will Use Language of Force
on Meeting the First Obstacle.

on Meeting the First Obstacle.
THE proletarat, graduates Of the school
q war, will feel the need Of talking the Ian
Iuage of force at the first serious obstacle
hey meet within their own countries.
Necessity knows no law they will throw
that phrase in the faces of those who try
TO stop them with the laws of bourgeois
legality And the terrible economic distress
which will gradually appear during the war.
and especially after it's end, will drive the
masses TO break many and many laws"
All this is indisputabe. But to what has
been said must be added this. that the war
exercised no less influence on the minds OF
the governing classes; In proportion as the
masses became more eXigent the classes have
grown more intransigeant.
In peace time the capitalists used to look
after their interests by peaceful robbery
of wage labor, During the war they serve
these same interests by destroying countless
human lives This has given their economic
self-conscdousness new "Napoleonic' trait.
During the war capitalists grew accustomed
to sending TO their deaths millions of slaves
OF their own race and from the colonies. fo
the sake of coal, railways and other form
of gain.
During the war hundreds of thousands of
officers were drawn from the great, middle
and small bourgeoisie. These officers ar
professional warriors. men whose character
has receivedsa military temper and been re
leased from all external restraints-qualfed
legionaries ready and able to defend with q
recklessness that in its way borders on the
heroic the privileged position Of the bour-
geoisie that trained them.
The revolution would probably be more
humane If the proletariat were able TO buy
off all this band" as Marx once put II. But
during the war capitalism put too heavy
burden Of debts on the workers and broke
up the apparatus Of production too thor
oughly to make It possible TO speak seriously
of a ransom that would cause the bourgeoisie
silently to accept the new order. The masses
have lost too much blood have suffered too
much and grown too embittered TO permit
OF such decision which in any case would
be beyond their economic strength.
Sees Divergent Reflex
of the Great Middle Glasses
To this must be added other circumstances.
all tending in the same direction. The bour-
geosie OF the defeated countries has been
enraged by its defeat. the responsibility for
which IL is inclined TO put on the workers
and peasants. who showed themselves in
capable Of bringing the great national war
TO victorious conclusion. From this point
OF view it Is very instructive TO read the
explanations, matchless in their insolence
given by Ludendorf to the commission Of
the National Assembly.
The I.udendorf bands arc burning 20
avenge themselves for their humiliations
abroad on the blood of their own proletariat
AS FOR the bourReoisie of the victorious coun-
tries it Is filled with arrogance and reader
than ever TO defend its social position by the
use of the bestial measures with which IL
secured itself victory.
Written on the blank wall Of the future
/ see the words Meme. meme, tekel uphdTsin.
but our enemies see them not, for they are
blind and will not believe those who have
eyes. while, In any case, not even the gods
themselves can arrest tho march OF fate.
AS FOR the position I'm Europe generally. we
sec that the international bourgeoisie have
shown that they arc incapable Of organizing
without war and ruin. distribution amone
themselves Of their III gotten spols. Can
they agree without nghtng. to relinquish
those spoils altogether? The experiences Of
tho last hve years leaves not the slightest
doubt on this score
IT, even before the war. IL was sheer
Ctop!anism to expect that the appropriation
OF the propertied classes could be carried out
quietly and painlessy without risings. armed
conflicts. attempts al counter-revolution and
harsh repressions. the situation created by
the imperialistlc war will render doubly and
trebly fierce that near and unavoidable civil
strife OF which there can be one and only
one termination dictatorship OF the
proletariat
LEO TRoTZKY.
The Kromu. Moscow. oct 8. 1870.