The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-07

FDREPAREDNBSs WEEK" has
ended and the Man In KHAKI
has begun 10 come back In the
public eye. April 6th-anniverssry
Of Americas entrance into the war
Is at hand. The capitalist world
threshtng about in its dying agonies,
clasps the howitzer-the argument
Of arguments-Unto its bosom.
The Far Eastern border Of the
Soviet Union2 The Western border
Of the U. s. S, R.? Central Europe
No one knows exactly where. but
everyone feels the imminence Of a
new war Only the threat Of an
aroused prolstsriat and the far
sighted, persistent peace policy Of
the Soviet Government have thus
far averted war.
It Is in such a period as this that
the military question-alwsys im-
portant-becomes vastly more signi-
flcant for the working class. At q
time like this, therefore, it is worth
while to review, in the light OF
present events. an old proletarian
treasure like Liebknechts 'Militar-
ism"
Liebknecht back m 1906 pro-
claimed the principle.
That the fatherland for which
he 1.-THE worker is to fight is not
his fatherland; that there is only
one real enemy for the probe
tsriat Of every country-the CAPT
talist class which Expresses and
exploits the proletarist (p. 36).
Defining very clearly and pre-
cisely the class function Of capital
list militsrism, Liebknecht stated:
Militarism does not only serve
for defense and attack against the
foreign enemy; 1t has second
task. one which Is being brought
out ever more clearly with the
growing accentuatiOn Of class an
tsgonism D.. that Of protecting
the existing state Of society, that
Of being a pillar of capitalism and
all resctiOnary forces in the war
of liberation Of the working class.
(p. 38).
Huddled in the ruins Of the Karl
Marx apartments, the heroic
Viennese workers saw this clearly,
as did the Partisan masses demon
strating against the Daladier gov
eminent.
I IEBKNECHT, by tmpIio alton,
IL showed the difference between
capitalist militarism and the armed
proletariat, He clearly implied that
not only is the class function Of q
capitalist army different but that
the entire internal structure Of the
army, its methods Of dealing with
the individual in the army, it's en-
tire outlook is fundamentally diff
ferent from that OF q workers armed
force, He showed that under capt.
talisrn military pedagogy is slavish,
discipline Is inspired by fear, vanity
Is catered to in barbaric degree.
brutality is comnon-even neces-
saTy for the establishment of auth
or1ty - and that initiative is de-
stroyed. With an eye on the Prus-
sian ba1Tack-room he states:
Thus the recruits are frHgged,"
confused. fattered, bribed, OPP
pressed, imprisoned, polished and
beaten"
Anyone who has seen the Red
Army in the Soviet Union and
talked 10 the Red Arnyists. has
seen total lack Of the professional
soldier outlook. Within the Red
Army there is developed in every
man a deep consciousness of the
fact that he is no armed mercenary
but soldier Of the Revolution. He
Is taught loyalty to the interna-
tional working class and oppressed
colonial peoples.
Within the Red Army the prin-
ctple Of conscious. subordination
works out in actual life, Red Army
lists are ready to DO and die, but
they know the reason why. Noting
the lack Of distinction of an
epaulette caste. and the comrade-
ship between officer and rank-and-
file, one cannot help but feel the
correctness of the implicit distinc-
ton that Liebknecht draws between
the internal mechanics of the capt
tsltst army and armed force of the
workers.