The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-01-10
T>ENIN ON THE PROLETARIAT
AND THE WAR DANGER 81

in order to weaken the revolutionary move-
ment of the proletariat, such is the only real
essence, the significance and the meaning of
the present war.
Upon Social-Democracy, in the first place,
devolves the duty to make clear this real mean
ing of the war, and mercilessly to unmask the
falsehoods, the sophisms and the patriotic"
phrases which are spread by the ruling classes,
the landowners and the bourgeoisie in defense
of the war.
One of the belligerent groups of nations is
headed by the German bourgeoise. 1t has
fooled the working class and the laboring
masses by asserting that it wages the war for
the defense of the fatherland, liberty, and civ
ilization, for the liberation of the peoples that
oppressed by czarism, for the destruction
of reactionary czarism. In reality, that same
bourgeoisie, servle in face of the Prussian
Junkers with Wilhelm IL at their head, has
always been the most faithful ally of czarism
and the enemy of the revolutionary movement
of workers and peasants in Russia. In
reality that bourgeoisie will, together with the
Junkers, direct all its efforts, no matter what
the outcome of the war may be, to support
the czarist monarchy against a revolution in
Russia.
In reality, the German bourgeoise under
took predatory campaign against Serbia with
the aim of subjugating it and throttling the
national revolution of the Southern Slavs, at
the same time directing the bulk of it's mill
tary forces against freer countries, Belgium
and France, in order to pillage the richer COM
petitor. The German bourgeoisie, spreading
the fable of defensive war on it's part, in
reality chose the moment which was most pro-
pitious for its warfare, utilizing its latest inn
provements in military technique and forestall-
ing the new ornaments that had already been
mapped out and approved of by Russia and
France
At the head of the other group of belligerent
nations are the English and French bourgeoisie,
which fool the working class and the laboring
masses by asserting that this group leads
war for the fatherland, freedom and civiza-
ton against the militarism and despotism of
Germany. In reality, this bourgeoise has long
been buying for its billions, and preparing for
attack on Germany, the armies of Russian
czarism, the most reactionary and barbarous
monarchy of Europe.
In reality, the task of the struggle of the
English and French bourgeosie is to seize the
German colonies and to ruin competing ma
ton which is distinguished by a more rapid
economic development For this noble aim,
the advanced" democratic nations are help
ing ferocious czarism still more to choke
Poland, the Ukraine etc., still more to throttle
the revolution in Russia
Neither of the two groups of belligerent coun-
tries is behind the other in robberies, bestiali-
ties and endless brutalties of war. But in
order to fool the proletarians and detract their
attention from the only war for real freedom,
namely, civil war against the bourgeosie,
both of their own" and foreign" countries
in order to further this noble aim the bour-
geoisie of each country strives, by means of
patriotic phrases, to extol the significance of
Its own" national war and to assert that it
strives to vanquish the adversary, not for the
sake of robbery and seizure of lands, but for
the sake of 'liberating" all the other peoples
except its own.
Put the greater the efforts of the govern
ments and the bourgeoise of all countries to
disunite the workers and to pit them one against
the other, the more ferociously they use for
this lofty purpose a system of martial law and
military censorship (Which measures even now,
IN time of war, are more successful against
the enemy within" than against the enemy
without), the more urgent is the duty of the
class-conscious proletatriat to defend its class
solidarity, its internationalism, its Socialist
convictions against the orgy of chauvinfsm
of the patriotic" bourgeois cliques of all
countries. To repudiate this task would, on
the part of the class-conscious workers, mean
to renounce all their striving towards freedom
and democracy, not to speak of Socialism.
ITO Be Continued)