Imperialism and the Attitude Towards It
1. Economic Definition,
Political]
Reaction
National Oppression
Imperialism = capitalism
1) cartels
2) annexations
a) monopolistic
2) large banks
3) Financial oligarchy (over 100 billion Effektenkapital)
4) colonies and export of capital (division of the world)

(1) export of capital parasitic
Effektenkapital moribund ("transitional")
Basel und Chemnitz 2
2. Contra K. Kautsky blunting of contradictions, concealment, Wegräsonnieren, etc.
camouflaged Marxists national-liberale (Liebknecht);
3. Three lines: lackeys
{crude opportunists cynical} reformists subtle revolutionary soc-dems
4. Fabian + Vandervelde Jaurès & Co. (1907)
+ Sozialistische Monatshefte + Glocke + Benner & Co. — Plekhanoff & "disciples" in Russia.
* Lenin's heading. Ed.
* * of stock capital. Ed.
** Against K. Kautsky. Ed.
*** caveats, etc. Ed.

Manuscript of the plan for the article "Imperialism and the Attitude Towards It."
Reduced.

(1) Abrüstung* (2) United States of Europe (Kartell of imperialists)...
(Organization "Mitteleuropa";**...
(3) Annexations (4) «Peace» (social-nationalism...
(5) «Ultra-imperialism» (6) «Defense of the Fatherland»
(7) Imperialist character of the First World War (8) Freedom of Trade "friedlicher Vorkehr"***
(9) Colonies cf. 1907 and 1911—6) Fort von Kolonien?****
(10) Advantages of colonies import and export from their colonies
versus "freedom of trade" (11) Imperialism and opportunism (Stimmung versus Richtung).*****
(12) «Unity» with the opportunists (13) Richtungen in international Millerandismus (Jaurès), Bernsteinismus, collapse
Englischer "liberal"-labour (14) Voting for credits (15) Massenaktionen = "Abenteuer"?
(16) Früher (1909; 1910; 1911 K. Kautsky) versus 1914—6) und später
(Worte und Taten)
(17) K. Kautsky versus Pannekock 1912 on Massenaktionen
(18) Eklektik versus Dialektik

* Disarmament. Ed.
* * "Central Europe". Ed.
* * * "peaceful relations". Ed.
* * * * Away from the colonies? Ed.
* * * * * mood instead of direction. Ed.

(20) Vertuschung (4 August 1914)*
2 August 1914 and [Ultimatum] Opposition (21) Sympathie für Karl Liebknecht
(überall)
(ob in Europa?)
(22) Zimmerwald und Haag*10

The present document evidently represents the plan of an article or several articles on the question of the attitude towards imperialism of opportunism and revolutionary Marxism. The beginning of this plan entirely corresponds to the text of Vladimir Ilyich's article "Imperialism and the Split of Socialism" (Works XIX, 301). The article begins with precisely that definition of imperialism that is given at the beginning of the plan. It is characteristic that in the plan, as in the article, the export of capital is not singled out as a separate feature of imperialism, but is linked to the "economic and political-territorial division of the world." This further suggests that the plan refers precisely to this article. Having set the task of establishing the connection between imperialism and opportunism in the labor movement, Lenin both in the plan and in the article moves on to a critique of opportunism and its most prominent representative, K. Kautsky. The entire further plan is directed towards establishing the "inseparable historical connection of social-chauvinism with opportunism, as well as their ideologically and politically identical content" (Works XIX, 301). But Lenin did not use the entire plan in the article. It was probably conceived for more than one article. It is interesting that Lenin ends the article with the following words: "In the next article, we will try to summarize the main distinguishing features of this line [the Marxist line. Ed.] in contrast to Kautskyism" (313).

2 Lenin is referring to the manifesto of the Basel Congress of the II International in 1912 against the imperialist war and the resolution of the Chemnitz Party Congress of German Social Democracy in 1912, dedicated to the issue of imperialism and the attitude of socialists towards war (see above, p. 23).

3 The remark: "national-liberals (Liebknecht)" directly adjoins the point: "opportunists crude, cynical." It is probably a question of the national-liberalism of Plekhanov and others, who, in justifying their chauvinistic position, referred to the defensive position of Wilhelm Liebknecht in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. In the articles and brochures "Russian Südekums," "Socialism and War," "The Collapse of the II International" (Works XVIII) and a number of others, Lenin explains in detail the prin fundamental difference between the era of imperialist wars and the era of progressive, bourgeois-national wars, directed against "feudalism and absolutism of the entire old serf-owning Europe."

4 Lenin is referring to the position of the Fabians, Vandervelde, Jaurès, and others at the Stuttgart Congress of the II International in 1907 on the colonial question and on the issue of anti-militarism. The debates in the commission on the colonial question already showed then how much the openly opportunist, chauvinist wing had grown in the ranks of the II International. The rapporteur of the commission Van-Koll, Bernstein, David and others who spoke in the debates demanded that the congress not condemn such colonial policy, which plays a "civilizing role," that is, demanded support for the colonial policy of imperialism. At the congress, it was pointed out that during the Anglo-Boer War, Bernstein, the Fabians, and some English socialists approved of this war on the part of England. In 1907, Vandervelde, as a member of parliament, defended the annexation of the African Congo to Belgium.

On the issue of anti-militarism, the main debates took place in the commission, chaired by the well-known social-chauvinist Südekum. The "struggle" took place between the majorities of the German and French parties. Bebel, Vollmar, and other representatives of German social democracy raised the question that the slogan of the "Communist Manifesto" "Proletarians have no fatherland" was "outdated," that in the event of war the proletariat must "fight with the most effective means," which change depending on the specific conditions and which Marxists therefore cannot predetermine. The representative of the English Independent Labor Party stated directly that by these "effective means" he meant peaceful and legal means (meetings, requests to the government, etc.).

The French — Jaurès, Vaillant — proposed a resolution in which they recognized the defense of the fatherland in a defensive war and proposed to use such means as a mass strike in the struggle against war. Jaurès' "left" phrases were explained by the fact that he was sure that in the event of war it would always be possible to portray his, French, fatherland as defending itself and to defend it, while providing for the use of revolutionary means against the war by the Germans. Vandervelde — the chairman of the congress — leaned towards both (Bebel's and Jaurès') formulations of the question. It is perfectly clear that there was no fundamental difference between Bebel's resolution and Jaurès' resolution. That is why Lenin refers the Fabians, Vandervelde, Jaurès, and Co. to one social-chauvinist wing at the Stuttgart Congress. Revolutionary amendments to the congress resolution on anti-militarism were introduced by representatives of the left wing Lenin and R. Luxemburg. The amendments emphasized the need to use the crisis created by the war to overthrow the "capitalist state" (See Lenin's articles "The International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart" (Works XII, 78 and 86, and XVIII, 424, note 19)).

5 In 1915, Kautsky's book "Nationalstaat, imperialistischer Staat und Staatenbund" ("National State, Imperialist State, and League of States") was published, in which Kautsky defended the idea of the United States of Europe, arguing that even many capitalists are not interested in imperialist war and desire peace, and argued that "capital's striving for expansion" "can best be achieved not by the violent methods of imperialism, but by peaceful democracy, free trade, peaceful exchange of goods." These provisions of Kautsky were subjected to devastating criticism by Lenin in the article "The Collapse of the Second International" (Works, XVIII, 239), in the book "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism" (XIX, 71), in the article "Imperialism and the Split in Socialism" (XIX, 301), etc. "Kautsky broke with Marxism, defending for the era of finance capital a "reactionary ideal," "peaceful democracy," "the simple weight of economic factors," for this ideal objectively drags back from monopoly capitalism to non-monopoly capitalism, is a reformist deception" (XIX, 162).

6 Lenin, apparently, compares the position of the opportunist wing at the Stuttgart Congress of the Second International in 1907 (see note 4) with the openly chauvinistic defense of the colonial policy of imperialism by international Social-Democracy during the war. As early as 1907, at the Stuttgart Congress, the opportunists of the Second International fought against the old slogan of Social-Democracy: "Away with the colonies!"

7 This is evidently about the same book by Kautsky (see note 5).

8 In May 1915, Asquith's liberal cabinet in England was replaced by a national defense cabinet led by the same Asquith, which included both liberals, conservatives, and representatives of the Labour Party. From December 1916, Lloyd George became the Prime Minister of this government. The attitude of the British Labour Party to the war did not differ in any way from the position of the liberals. The Labour Party faithfully fulfilled its role as the bourgeoisie's clerk in the working class. Lenin links Millerandism, Bernsteinianism, and English liberal labor politics into a single knot, showing the connection and continuity of opportunist, social-chauvinist currents in the ranks of the Second International: "Social-chauvinism is a direct continuation and completion of English liberal labor politics, Millerandism, and Bernsteinianism" (XIX, 8-9).

9 See Works, XVIII, 422, note 3:

10 See Works, XVIII, 444, note 186.
During the war, the International Socialist Bureau of the Second International was located in The Hague. Its chairman, Vandervelde, was a Belgian minister, defended the fatherland, and called on Russian socialists to fight against Germany. The ISB was entirely in the service of the Entente. The Zimmerwald Conference formed, in contrast to the completely rotten ISB, a new international body - the International Socialist Commission consisting of O. Morgan (Italian socialist), Ch. Naine (Swiss Social-Democrat), R. Grimm (Swiss Social-Democrat), and A. Balabanova (Italian socialist). The ISC was dissolved at the 1st Congress of the Third International in 1919.

HOLAND-HOLST. «MILIZ ODER ABRÜSTUNG?»
Roland-Holst Article: «Miliz oder Abrüstung?» («Neues Leben», 1. Jahrgang 1915, S. 324 u. 365)
NB: in the text for the most part, if not everywhere, Entwaffnung, and not Abrüstung.......
The main drawback of Roland-Holst's article is that it takes both demands as "Formulas" (326), as "propaganda demands or slogans" (327) "beide gut" (326 u. 327 i. f.).
This is a subjectivist, rationalistic, idealistic (philosophically speaking) posing of the question. "Both are unachievable under capitalism" (in bourgeois society) (325)!! Both are "only" propaganda!!
But our propaganda must go in the line of objective development. Objective development proceeds through the dictatorship of the proletariat. In this and only in this, on this point, is the difference between the scientific socialism of Marx and pacifism, anarchism, opportunism etc.
Roland-Holst has not thought about this at all. "Vielleicht" (!!?? only ? 324, i. f., Zeile 1 von unten) the Volksheer will serve in the struggle "against its national capitalist class"! Only vielleicht?

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