The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-28

C6SSlCy OIL CIVIL wars, l.e., WdIl
the oppressor, of slaves against the
shareholders, of seTfs against the
landowners, of wage workers against
the bourgeoisie. We Marxists differ
both from pacifsts and Anarchists
in that we recognize the necessity
of an historical study of each war
individually. from the point of view
of Marks dialectical materiahsm.
There have been many wars in his
tory which, Notwithstanding all the
horrors. cruelties, miseries and tor
lures, inevitably connected with
every war, had progressive char
scter, |. e., they served the develop
ment of mankind, aiding in the
destruction of extremely pernicious
and reactionary institutions las,
for instance, absolutism or serfdom j,
or helping to remove the most bar
barous despotisms in Europe chat
of Turkey and RUSSIA. 1t is there
fore necessary to examine the lis
toric characteristic of the present
war taken by itself.
The Present War is an Imperialist
War
Nearly every one admits the
present war to be an imperialiSt
war. In most cases, however, this
term is either distorted, or applied
to one side only, or loophole is
left for the assertion that the war
Is eois-progressive means for
national liberation. Imperialism is
the highest stage in the development
of capitalism, one that has been
reached only in the twentieth CEN
tury. Capitalism began to feel
cramped within the old national
states, without the formation of
which it could not overthrow feudal-
ism. Capitalism has brought about
such economic concentration that
entire branches of industry are in
the hands Of syndicates, trusts, or
corporations of billionaires; almost
the entire globe has been parceled
out among the giants OF capital"
either in the form of colonies, or
through the entagling of foreign
countries by thousands of threads
of financial exploitation. Free trade
ard competition have been super
seeded by tendencies towards mono
poly, towards seizure of lands for
the investment of capital, for the
export of raw materials, etc. Capt.
talism, formerly a liberator of ma
tions, has now. in its imperialist
stage. become the greatest oppressor
of nations. Formerly progressive, it
has become reactionary force. 1t
has developed the productive forces
to such an extent that humanity
must either pass over to Socialism,
cr fer years, nay. decades, witness
armed conflicts of the great" ma
tions for an artificial maintenance
of capitalism by means of colonies,
monopolies, privileges, and all sorts
of national oppression.
What Is Social Chauvinism?
Social-chauvinism Is adherence D
the idea Of defending the father
land" in the present war. From this
idea follows reputation of the class
struggle in war time, voting for
military appropriations, etc. In
practice the social-chauvinists con-
duct an nti-proletarian bourgeois
policy, because in practice they in
sist not on the defense of the
fatherlsnd" ir the sense of fighting
against the oppression of a foreign
nation, but upon the right" OF
one or the other of the great" ma
tons to rob the colonies and Cypress
other peoples The social-chauvin-
lists follow the bourgeoisie in de-
ceiving the people by saying that
the war is conducted for the defense
of the freedom and the existense of
the nations; thus they put them
selves on the side of the bou-geoisie
against the proletariat To the
social chauvinists belong those who
justify and idealize the governments
and the bourgeoisie of enc of the
belligereat groups of nations, as well
as those who, like Kautsky, recog-
nize the equal right of the Socialists
of all belligerent nations to defend
the fathe,land" Social-chauvinism
being in practice defense of the
privileges, prerogatives, robberies
and violence of 'one's own Cor any
other imperialist bourgeoisie, is a
total betrayal of all Socialist con-
vlctions and violation OF the deci-
sions of the International Socialist
Congress in Basic.
Cnlsfnes Of the Second International
The Socialists Of the whole world
so,cnnly declared in 1912, in Basle
that they considered the coming
European war criminal and re-
dictionary undertaking of all the gov
ernments. an Undertaking which
must hasten the breakdown of capt.
talism by inevitably generating a
revolution against it. The war
came, the crisis was there. Instead
of revolutionary tactics, the major
ity of the Social parties
followed reactionary tactics, siding
with their governments and their
respective bourgeoisies. This be-
trayal of Socialism means the COL
lapse of the Second 39-1914 In
ternational. We must make clear
to ourselves the causes of that COL
lapse, the reasons for the birth and
growth of social-chauvinism
The economic bass OF opportu-
nism and socisl-chauvinism is the
same: the interests of an insight