The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-01-13

Editors Note: In connection with the Lenin
Campaign of the Communist Party, the Daily
Worker is running Lenin corners during the
month of January, containing some of Lenins
most important teachings on imperialist war
and the organization of the Communist Party.
The present installment is continuation of
the article published in the Daily Worker Fri
day, January 10, which will be concluded in
tomorrow's ISSUE 1t is taken from Lenins
Imperalist War--The Struggle Against So
cial Chauyinism and Social Pacifism, consti-
tutng Vol. XVIII of his Collected Works I'm
ternational Publishers, New York;.
With feeling of deepest chagrin it must
be stated that the socialist parties of the lead
ing European countries have not fulfilled this
duty of theirs, while the behavior of the lead
ers of those parties-pa particularly that of the
German party-borders on direct betrayal of
the cause of socialism. At this moment, which
is of the greatest Importance in world history,
the majority of the leaders of the present, the
second 1889-191D socialist international, are
attempting to substitute nationalism for social
ISM Thanks to their behavior, the workers
parties of those countries have not counter
posed their position to the criminal behavior
appealing to the working class to identify its
position with the position of the imperialst
governments. The leaders of the international
committed treachery with regard to socialism
when they voted for military appropriations,
when they repeated the chauvinst ("patri-
oticn) slogans of the bourgeoise of their"
countries, when they justified and defended the
war, when they entered the bourgeois cabinets
of the belligerent countries, ETC., The point
of view. of the most influential socialist leaders
and of the most influential organs of the So
cialist press of present-day Europe, is chauvi-
mist, bourgeois and liberal, not socialist at all.
The responsibility for thus covering socialism
with shame rests, in the first place, on the
German social-democrats who were the strong
est and most influential party of the second
international. However, one cannot justify the
French socialists either, who took ministerial
posts in the government of the same bour-
geosie which betrayed its fatherland and al
lied itself with Bismarck to crush the COM
mune.
The German and Austrian social-d democrats
try to justify their support of the war by say
ing that thereby they struggle against tsar-
ism. We Russian social democrats declare that
we consider such justification to be down.
right sophisn,. The revolutionary movement
against :sarism in our country has again as
years. The Russian working class has always
marched at the head of this movement. The
political strikes of the last years. embracing
millions of workers, proceeded under the slo-
gan of overthrowing tsarism and establishing
a democratic republic. On the very eve of the
war the president of the French Republic,
Poncare, while visiting Nicholas II, could see
with his own eyes barricades constructed by
the hands of the Russian workers in the streets
of st. Petersburg. The Russian proletariat
did not stop before any sacrifice to free hui
mainly from the shame of tsarsn. We must
say that if there is anything that, under GER
tain conditions, may delay the destruction of
tsarism, if there is anything that may help
tsarism in its struggle against the whole of
Russian democracy, it is the present war,
which has placed at the disposal of tsarism for
the furthering of its reactionary aims, the
purse of the English, French and Russian
bourgeosie And if there is anything that can
make the revolutionary struggle of the Rus
sian working class against tsarism more diff
ficult, it is the behavior of the leaders of
German and Austrian social democracy, be-
havior continually held up by the chauvinist
press of Russia as an example for us.
Even if we assume that German social
democracy was so weak that it was compelled
to abandon every kind of revolutionary action,
even then it should not have joined the chauyi-
mist camp it should not have taken steps which
gave occasion to the Italian socialists justly to
declare that the leaders Of the German social
democrats were debasing the banner of the
proetarian international.
Our party, the Russian social-democratic
party, has suffered, and will yet suffer great
losses in connection with the war. All our
legal labor press has been annihilated. The
majority of the labor unions have been closed
multitude Of our comrades have been impris-
oned and deported. But our parliamentary
representatives-the Russian socal-democratic
labor fraction in the Imperial 'Duma-consid-
cred it its unquestionable socialist duty not to
vote for military appropriations and even to