The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-23
BY VLADIMIR lLYITcH LENIN.

Note.-The following article by
Comrade Lenin was published re-
Gently in the Pravda, official organ
of the Russian Communist Party for
the first time The manuscript has
not been dated by Comrade Lenin.
Hence it is impossible to state ex-
actly when 1t was written. The
Pravda estimates that it was probably
written about the beginning of 1915.
TN England there has existed up
till now an incomparably larger
measure of political freedom than in
any other European country. Here
the bourgeoisie has been more used
to governing than is the case in other
countries and understands the art of
governing better.
The relations between the classes
are more developed and in many re
spects clearer than in other countries.
Freedom from compulsory military
service affords the people greater lib
erty in respect to their attitude to war
insofar as everybody is free to refuse
to enter the army. The government is
therefore compelled Tin England the
government constitutes in its purest
form a committee for conducting the
business Of the bourgeoisie) to exert
all its forces in order to arouse pop
ular" enthusiasm for the war.
kn 10 off1A 70
achieve this aim, without committing
a fundamental breach of law, were
the proletarian mass not completely
disorganized and demoralized by the
minority Of best paid and qualified
workers organized in the unions go
ing over to liberal, that is, TO bour-
geois politics. The English trade I'M
ions comprise one-ffth of the wage
workers. The leaders of these trade
unions are liberals for the greater
part, and Marx long ago designated
them as agents Of the bourgeoisie.
ALL these peculiarities of England
"A enable US on the one hand to
understand the nature of present day
social chauvinism the more easily, as
it Is precisely the same in the coun-
tries with a despotic form of govern
ment, as well as in the democratic
countries, in the militarist countries
as well in those without compulsory
military service. On the other hand
they help us, when regard is had to
all the facts, to estimate the import
ance Of those reconciliatory tenden-
cies with social chauvinism, which
find expression for example in the
Qualification of the slogan of peace,
etc.
The most complete expression of
opportunism and of liberal labor poll
tics is undoubtedly to be seen in the
Fabian Society. In this connection
the reader should carefully peruse the
exchange of letters between Marx and
Engels and Serge. He will there find
a brilliant Characterization OF this So
ciety by Engels, who treats Messrs.
Sidney Webb & Co. as a gang Of
bourgeois scoundrels, who wish to
poison the workers and to influence
them In a counterrevolutionary direc-
ton. We can be quite sure that not
a single one of the influential and ~
sponsible leaders of the Second Inter
national has at any time attempted to
refute this judgment OF Engels and
that none Of them have attempted to
cast any doubt upon the correctness
Of this judgment.
T EFT us lay aside theory for a mo-
II ment and compare the facts. We
shall see that the attitude OF the
Fabians during the war (see for ex-
ample their weekly paper, The New
Statesman) and that OF the German
social democratic party, including
Kautsky. is exactly the same. The