V. I.

Lenin

Nashe Dyelo (No. 1, 1915), which is published in
Petrograd by the liquidators, is bringing out a translation of
Internationalism and War, a pamphlet by Kautsky. At the same time,
Mr. A. Potresov says he does not agree with Kautsky who; in his opinion,
acts now like an “advocate” (i.e., a pleader for German
social-chauvinism, who denies recognition of the Franco-Russian brand of the
species), now like a “judge” (i.e., a Marxist who tries to apply
the Marxist method without prejudice).

In actual fact, both Mr. A. Potresov and Kautsky have betrayed Marxism in
the main issues, defending as they do national liberal-labour policies, by
using obvious sophisms. Mr. A. Potresov is distracting his readers’
attention from the fundamentals, while arguing with Kautsky over
details. According to Mr. Potresov, the “solution” of the
problem of the attitude of the British and the French “democracies” towards the war (the author is referring to
working-class democracy) is “on the whole a good solution”
(p. 69); these democracies, he says, “have acted correctly”,
although their solution has been, not so conscious as “in accord with
a national solution, through a happy coincidence”.

The meaning of these words is clear. Under Anglo-French cover,
Mr. A. Potresov, is defending Russian chauvinism, and justifying the
patriotic tactics used by the socialists of the Triple Entente. Mr. Potresov
argues against Kautsky, not in the way a Marxist should argue against a
chauvinist, but like a Russian chauvinist against a German counterpart. This
is an old and threadbare method; it should, however, be noted that
Mr. A. Potresov disguises and confuses in every possible way the clear and
simple import of his words.

Itle points on which Mr. A. Potresov and Kautsky agree are the
gist of the matter. For instance, they agree that: “the present-day
proletariat’s internationalism is compatible with defence of
country” (K. Kautsky, p. 34 in the German edition of his
pamphlet). Mr. A. Potresov speaks of the special situation of a country
“that has been subjected to an attack”. “The people fear
nothing more than an enemy invasion...”, Kautsky writes. “If the inhabitants of a country see the cause of war, not
in their own government, but in the evil designs of a neighbouring
state-and what government does not attempt to inculcate such a view upon
the masses through the press, etc.!—then... the unanimous desire to
defend the borders against the enemy flares up in the entire population
.... The infuriated mob would kill those who would attempt to
hamper the dispatch of armies to the borders” (K. Kautsky, p. 33 in
the article of 1911).

This is a would-be Marxist defence of the fundamental idea of all
social-chauvinists.

As early as 1911, Kautsky saw very clearly that the government (and the
bourgeoisie) would deceive “the people, the population, the
mob” by placing the blame on the “evil designs” of another
country. The question arises whether support for such deception-whether by
voting for war credits or by speeches, articles, etc.-is compatible with
internationalism and socialism, or whether it is tantamount to a national
liberal-labour policy! Kautsky is behaving like a most shameless
“advocate”, like the worst kind of sophist, when he substitutes
for this question another one, namely, whether it is reasonable for
“individuals” to “hamper the dispatch of armies”, in the teeth of the will of the majority of a people that have been deceived by
their government. That is not the point at issue. That is not the gist of
the matter. Deceived petty bourgeois must be dissuaded, and the deception
made clear to them. It is sometimes necessary to go with them to the
battleground and be able to wait until they have been sobered by the
experience of war. Not this is under discussion but the question whether it
is permissible for socialists to participate in the bourgeoisie’s
deception of the “people”. Kautsky and Potresov justify such
deception, though they know perfectly well that the guilt for the
imperialist war of 1914 falls equally on the “evil designs” of the governments and the bourgeoisie of
all the “Great” Powers-Britain and France, Germany and
Russia. This is clearly stated, for instance, in the Basle resolution of
1912.

There can he no doubt that the “people”, i.e., the mass of
petty bourgeois and part of the deceived workers, believe in the bourgeois
fable of the enemy’s “evil designs”. Yet it is the duty of
Social-Democrats to combat this deception, not support it. Long before the
war, all Social-Democrats in all countries said that any Great
Power strives in fact to build up and extend its domination over the
colonies, oppress small nations, etc. This was reiterated at Basle. The war
is being waged for the partitioning of colonies and for the plunder of other
lands; thieves have fallen out, and i is a brazen bourgeois lie to claim
that, at this particular moment, some thief is getting the worse of it; to
do so is to present the thieves’ interests as those of the people or
the fatherland. We must speak the truth to the “people”, who are
suffering from the war; that truth is that no defence can be put up against
sufferings of wartime unless the government and the bourgeoisie of every
belligerent country are overthrown. To defend Belgium by means of
throttling Galicia or Hungary is no “defence of the fatherland”.

However, Marx himself, who condemned wars, as, for instance, in 1854-76,
took sides with one of the belligerents when, despite the will of the
socialists, wat had become a fact. That is the main contention and the chief
trump card in Kautsky’s pamphlet. It is also the stand of
Mr. Potresov, who by “internationalism” understands finding out
the suc cess of which side in the war is more desirable or less
harmful from the standpoint of the interests of the proletariat, not in a
particular country but the world over. The war, he says, is being
conducted by governments and the bourgeoisie; it is for the proletariat to
decide which government’s victory presents the least danger
to the workers of the world.

The sophistry of this reasoning consists in a bygone period of history
being substituted for the present. The following were the main features of
the old wars referred to by Kautsky: (1) they dealt with the problems of
bourgeois-democratic reforms and the overthrow of absolutism or foreign
oppression; (2) the objective prerequisites for a socialist revolution had not yet matured, and prior to the war, no socialist could speak of
utilising it to “hasten the downfall of capitalism”, as the
Stuttgart (1907) and Basle (1912) resolutions do; (3) in the countries of
neither of the belligerent groups were there any socialist parties
of any strength or mass appeal, and tested in the struggle.

In short, it is not surprising that Marx and the Marxists confined
themselves to determining which bourgeoisie’s victory would
be more harmless to (or more favourable to) the world proletariat, at a time
when one could not speak of a general proletarian movement against the
governments and the bourgeoisie of all the belligerent countries.

Long before the war and for the first time in world history, the
socialists of all the countries now engaged in hostilities gathered together
and declared that they would make use of the war “to hasten the
downfall of capitalism” (the Stuttgart resolution, 1907). In
other words, they recognised that objective conditions had matured for that
“hastening of the downfall”, i. e., for a socialist revolution. That is to say, they threatened the governments with a
revolution. In Basle (1912) they said the same thing in still clearer terms,
referring to the Commune and to October-December
1906, [1] i. e., civil war.

When war broke out, the socialists who had threatened the governments
with revolution and had called upon the proletariat to bring about that
revolution began to refer to what had happened half a century before, and
today are justifying socialist support for the governments and the
bourgeoisie! The Marxist Gorter is absolutely right in comparing, in his
Dutch brochure, Imperialism, the World War and Social-Democracy (p. 84), “radicals” of the Kautsky type with the liberals
of 1848, who were courageous in word and traitors in deed.

For decades, a conflict between revolutionary Social-Democratic and the
opportunist elements was developing within European socialism. The crisis
has come to a head. The abscess has burst as a result of the war. Most
official parties have yielded to the national liberal-labour politicians,
who defend the privileges of their “own” bourgeoisie, and
the latter’s privilege to possess colonies, oppress small
nations, etc. Both Kautsky and Potresov defend and justify the national liberal-labour policy instead of exposing it to the
proletariat. That is the essence of the social-chauvinists’
sophisms.

Mr. A. Potresov has inadvertently let the cat out of the bag by his
assertion that “the Stuttgart formula was untenable in principle” (p. 79). What of that? To the proletariat, open renegades
are better than covert ones. Carry on, Mr. A. Potresov; to repudiate
Stuttgart and Basle is the more honest course.

Kautsky, the diplomat, is more wily than Mr. A. Potresoy; he does not
repudiate Stuttgart and Basle, He merely—“merely”!—quotes
the Basic Manifesto, omitting all references to revolution! Can it
he that the censor has been using his blue pencil oi both Potresov and
Kautsky? Potresov and Kautsky seem ready to speak of revolution when that is
permitted by the censor.

Let us hope that Potresov, Kautsky and their adherents will propose that
the Stuttgart and the Basle resolutions he replaced by something like the
following: “Should war break out despite our efforts, we must decide,
from the standpoint of the world proletariat, what is most to its advantage:
that India be plundered by Britain or by Germany; that the Negroes of Africa
be taught the use of “firewater” and pillaged by the French or
by the Germans; that Turkey be oppressed by the Austro-Germans or by the
Anglo Franco-Russian alliance; that the Germans should throttle Belgium or
the Russians, Galicia; that China be partitioned by the Japanese or by the
Americans”, etc.

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Notes:
[1]
This refers to the October all-Russia political strike and the December armed uprising
in Moscow, in 1905.