"THE ATTITUDE OF THE PROLETARIAT TO THE QUESTION OF PEACE"

By Lenin

The Attitude of the Proletariat to the Questions of Peace

Proposal for Theses

[objectively] The present war is the result of the imperialist contradictions engendered by bourgeois property relations [its essence]; its goal
THE SAME PRECONDITIONS ARE NECESSARY FOR THE SO-CALLED RIGHT OF NATIONS TO SELF-DETERMINATION. SO LONG AS PEOPLES ARE, IN THEIR INTERNAL ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL RELATIONS, DOMINATED BY PROPERTIED CLASSES WHO DISPOSE OF ALL ECONOMIC AND STATE MEANS OF POWER WITH WHICH THEY OPPRESS AND EXPLOIT THEIR OWN FELLOW COUNTRYMEN, THE PEOPLE CANNOT DETERMINE THEMSELVES.

PROCEEDING FROM THESE CONSIDERATIONS, THE PROLETARIAT MUST, WITH THE SAME DECISIVENESS WITH WHICH IT REJECTS THE IMPERIALIST WAR, ALSO REJECT THE UTOPIAN DEMANDS OF BOURGEOIS PACIFISTS AND EMBOURGEOISIFIED SOCIALISTS WHO ARE PREPARING TO AWAKEN NEW ILLUSIONS IN PLACE OF OLD ONES AND TO PLACE THE PROLETARIAT IN THE SERVICE OF THESE ILLUSIONS, WHICH IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS SERVE ONLY CONFUSION, THE INCITEMENT AND FOMENTING OF CHAUVINISM, MILITARIST FERVOR, AND THE POLICY OF FIGHTING THE WAR TO VICTORY.

II

IF ON THE BASIS OF CAPITALIST SOCIETY THERE EXISTS NO POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING LASTING PEACE, THEN ITS PRECONDITIONS ARE CREATED IN THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIALISM. BY ABOLISHING CAPITALIST PRIVATE PROPERTY, SOCIALISM SIMULTANEOUSLY ELIMINATES, TOGETHER WITH THE EXPLOITATION OF THE POPULAR MASSES BY THE PROPERTIED CLASSES AND THEREBY NATIONAL OPPRESSION AS WELL, THE CAUSES OF WAR. THEREFORE, THE STRUGGLE FOR LASTING PEACE CAN CONSIST ONLY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE REALIZATION OF SOCIALISM. EVERY PROLETARIAN ACTION THAT REPRESENTS A RENUNCIATION OF CLASS STRUGGLE AND SUBORDINATES THE GOALS OF THE PROLETARIAT TO THE GOALS OF THE BOURGEOIS CLASSES AND THEIR GOVERNMENTS, INSOFAR AS IT SOLIDARIZES ITSELF WITH THE NATIONAL CLASS OF EXPLOITERS, WORKS AGAINST THE CREATION OF CONDITIONS FOR LASTING PEACE. SUCH ACTIONS NOT ONLY TRUST THE CAPITALIST CLASSES AND BOURGEOIS GOVERNMENTS WITH A TASK THAT THEY CANNOT FULFILL—THEY MOREOVER CAST THE BEST FORCES OF THE WORKING CLASS USELESSLY TO THE SLAUGHTER AND IN SO DOING CONDEMN TO DESTRUCTION AND ANNIHILATION THE MOST ENERGETIC AND CAPABLE PART OF THE WORKING CLASS, WHICH ABOVE ALL WOULD BE CALLED UPON TO CARRY ON THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIALISM BOTH DURING THE WAR AND IN THE SUBSEQUENT PERIOD OF PEACE.

THE ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTION FROM THE STANDPOINT OF PROLETARIAN INTERESTS IN OPPOSITION TO THE BOURGEOIS OBJECTIVES OF PEACE IS THEREFORE THE CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE ARMISTICE AND THE PROMPT COMMENCEMENT OF PEACE NEGOTIATIONS, REGARDLESS OF THE MILITARY AND STRATEGIC SITUATION AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT.

III

ONLY TO THE EXTENT THAT THIS CALL FINDS AN ECHO IN THE RANKS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROLETARIAT AND LEADS TO ENERGETIC ACTIONS IN THE SPIRIT OF CLASS STRUGGLE WITH THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE OF OVERTHROWING CAPITALIST CLASS RULE WILL THE WORKING CLASS SUCCEED IN EXERTING INFLUENCE ON THE CHARACTER OF THE COMING PEACE. ANY OTHER POSITION EXCLUDES THE INFLUENCE OF THE PROLETARIAT ON THE CHARACTER OF PEACE AND LEAVES THE DETERMINATION OF ITS CONDITIONS TO THE ARBITRARY WILL OF GOVERNMENTS, DIPLOMACY, AND THE RULING CLASSES.

WHILE CARRYING ON REVOLUTIONARY MASS STRUGGLE FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVES OF SOCIALISM, AND THEREBY FOR THE LIBERATION OF HUMANITY FROM THE SCOURGE OF MILITARISM AND WAR, THE PROLETARIAT MUST AT THE SAME TIME TURN AGAINST ALL ANNEXATIONIST DESIRES OF THE WARRING STATES. THE PROLETARIAT MUST CARRY ON THE STRUGGLE AGAINST ANNEXATIONS NOT BECAUSE IT REGARDS THE MAP OF THE WORLD AS IT EXISTED BEFORE THE WAR AS AN IMMUTABLE CONSTANT, NOT BECAUSE IT CONSIDERS THE FUTURE FORMATION OF NEW STATE BOUNDARIES UNNECESSARY AND IMPOSSIBLE. SOCIALISM ITSELF STRIVES TOWARD THE ABOLITION OF ALL NATIONAL OPPRESSION THROUGH THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL UNIFICATION OF PEOPLES ON A DEMOCRATIC BASIS, WHICH CANNOT BE REALIZED WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF CAPITALIST STATE BOUNDARIES. BUT IT IS PRECISELY ANNEXATIONS, IN WHATEVER FORM THEY MAY APPEAR, THAT IMPEDE THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THIS OBJECTIVE, BECAUSE THE VIOLENT DISMEMBERMENT OF NATIONS, THEIR ARBITRARY DIVISION AND INCORPORATION INTO FOREIGN STATES, WORSEN THE CONDITIONS OF PROLETARIAN CLASS STRUGGLE.

EQUALLY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE INTERESTS OF THE PROLETARIAT AS ANNEXATIONS IS THE DEMAND FOR REPARATIONS. JUST AS THE RULING CLASSES IN EACH COUNTRY SEEK TO SHIFT THE COSTS OF WAGING WAR ONTO THE SHOULDERS OF THE WORKING CLASS, SO TOO WILL THE BURDEN OF PAYMENT OF REPARATIONS IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS FALL UPON THE PROLETARIAT OF THE RESPECTIVE COUNTRY. THIS SHIFTING OF THE BURDEN WILL ALSO DAMAGE THE WORKING CLASS OF THE VICTORIOUS COUNTRY, INASMUCH AS THE DETERIORATION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE PROLETARIAT OF ONE COUNTRY HAS A RECIPROCAL EFFECT ON THE PROLETARIAT OF ANOTHER COUNTRY AND THEREBY COMPLICATES THE CONDITIONS OF INTERNATIONAL CLASS STRUGGLE.

NEITHER ANNEXATIONS NOR REPARATIONS, BUT RATHER THE COMMON LIBERATION FROM THE BURDEN OF WAR THROUGH THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE OF THE PROLETARIAT AGAINST THE RULING CLASSES IN EACH COUNTRY—SUCH IS THE SLOGAN OF SOCIALIST WORKERS IN THEIR ACTION FOR THE IMMEDIATE ESTABLISHMENT OF PEACE.

PRECISELY BECAUSE THE PRESENT WAR IS ROOTED VERY DEEPLY IN THE TOTALITY OF THE RELATIONS OF THE IMPERIALIST EPOCH (COMPETITION FOR WORLD DOMINATION, FINANCIAL CAPITAL, MONOPOLIES, DIVISION OF THE WORLD ETC.), THEREFORE BENEVOLENT PHRASES ABOUT LASTING PEACE, ABOUT DEMOCRATIC PEACE ETC., ABOUT PEACE WHICH SUPPOSEDLY IS POSSIBLE UNDER THE PRESENT GOVERNMENTS, GIVEN THE PRESERVATION OF POWER BY THE RULING BOURGEOIS CLASS, SUCH PHRASES DECEIVE THE MASSES, CONCEAL FROM THEM THE REAL, ACTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF IMPERIALIST POLICY, INSTILL FALSE CONFIDENCE IN THE BOURGEOISIE, AND TRANSFORM THEMSELVES INTO REFORMISM.