The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-07-31
BY A. LosovskY.

AOOAN ~ Will DC ten years Since Lue
- European nations had been thrown
into the mad war. The world came
out of the last war in an entirely diff
ferent shape than when it entered into
it. Millions of dead, millions of inva-
lids, incalculable losses in wealth and
means of production, the destruction
~ European economics and the sub
lection of Europe by the powerful
capitalism of America-these are a
few of the results Of the war for
democracy"
The end of the war also brought to
close the world hegemony of the
capitalism of Europe. The center of
gravity was shifted to the United
States. At the present the world is
ruled by the dollar. The war was con-
cluded by the Treaty of Versailles, and
1t is really hard to say what has con-
tributed more to the ruination of the
world-the four years of war or the
six years of peace. The entire CONT
nent of Europe has been shattered to
its foundations.
We recollect a few of the slogans
in the last war. ITO disarm the Prus-
sian militarism," "Self-determination
of peoples" "A war for civilization"
All these slogans were on the ban
ners OF the democracy of Europe. The
result of this democratic" pretence
was terrible and shameless peace of
brigandage-a peace which humanity
had never had to live thru. Up to
this very day Europe is suffering as
the result of the consequences of this
peace.
The last war would never have
lasted more than few months if not
for the support it received from an en-
tirely unexpected source-from the
socialist parties and from the trade
unions. 1t is hard to tell which of the
Two are the more responsible for 1t,
the leader of the social-democratic
parties or the leaders of the trade un.
ions. One thing is certain, that both
are responsible.
Would it have been possible for
capitalist society to mobilize so many
millions of workers for the slaughter
without the support of the trade I'M
ions? Would it have been possible to
keep on sacrificing millions of people
in the course of years if not for the
support of the labor organizations?
Never! The most significant feature
OF the last war was that the trade
unions appeared in the role of pur-
veyors of food for the cannons. The
leaders of the trade unions utilized
the machinery of their organizations,
the discipline of the membership that
was built up thru years of struggle.
in short everything, including even
the craft prejudices of the member
ship in order to drive the masses to
i the slaughter.
More than that, the leaders of the
trade unions were most instrument
tai in creating basis of morals and
ideals for the capitalist war. No soon
er was war declared than Jouhaux.
Legien, Leipart, Appleton, Hender-
son, and many others, made the great
discovery of the existence of such
a thing as "the Fatherland." The
trade union leaders of the Allied
countries were defending the idea of
democracy against the barbarians of
the Central Powers. The patriots of
the Central Powers were saving civil.
ization from the menace of the Rus
sian cossacks. They all pretended
to be fighting in the interests of the
workers, while what they were do
ing in reality was, to fight for the,
interests of their respective capital
list governments.
When we consider the history of
the four years of war and see what
the bureaucrats of the trade unions
have been doing during that time to
confuse the minds of the workers:
: when we also consider that these or
ganizers of mass-murder, these initi-
ators of the international slaughter.
still continue to speak in the name of
the working class; that there are still
in existence millions of proletarians
following these reformist leaders;
when we consider all these facts, we
are compelled to ask ourselves the
following questions: Wasn't all this
enough to free the working class
from their reformist leaders? How
many more tens of millions of PEG
pie must be slaughtered before the
masses will begin to see the light?"
However, such pessimistic ideas
are groundless. 1t is necessary to
understand the reasons why the re-
formists are still influencing the
masses. And when these reasons are
understood the ways will be found for
combating them.
How did it come about that the
leaders of the trade unions gave their
support to the war? How should we
explain the fact that the workers of
England have gone into the struggle
against the workers of Germany with
so much bitterness, and the German
workers, on their part, have thrown
themselves into the struggle against