The International Workingmen's Association, 1867

Poland and the Russian Menace


More than 30 years ago, a revolution broke out
in France [1830 July Revolution]. This was an event not foreseen by St.
Petersburg, for shortly before that it had concluded a secret treaty with
Charles X for the improvement of Europe's administration and geographic
order. Upon the arrival of the news of the revolution, which frustrated
all plans, Czar Nicholas assembled the officers of his Guard and delivered
to them a brief, warlike speech which ended with the words: To horse, gentlemen!
This was no empty threat. Paskevich was sent to Berlin, there to prepare
the plan for the invasion of France. Within a few months, the plans were
ready. The Prussians were to concentrate on the Rhine and the Muscovites
were to follow them. But then "the vanguard turned against the main army",
as Lafayette said in the Chamber of Deputies. The uprising in Warsaw saved
Europe from a second anti-Jacobin war.

Eighteen years later, a new revolutionary eruption, or rather,
earthquake, shook the whole Continent [the 1847-48 Revolutions]. Even Germany
began to move, although it had been kept constantly at Russia's apron strings
since the so-called War of Independence. Ever more astonishing was the
fact that, of all German cities, Vienna was the first to set up barricades,
and to do so with success. This time, for the first time in history, Russia
lost its composure. Czar Nicholas no longer turned to the Guard, but published
a manifesto to his people in which he complained that the French pestilence
had infected even Germany, that it was nearing the borders of the Empire,
and that the Revolution in its madness was turning its feverish eyes on
Holy Russia. No wonder! he cried out. This Germany, after all, has been
for years the refuge of unbelief. The cancer of an infamous philosophy
has affected the vital parts of a people that appeared to be so healthy.
And he concluded his proclamation with the following appeal to the Germans:
"God is with us! Bear it in mind, you heathens, and submit, for God is
with us!"

Shortly thereafter, he had his faithful servants Nesselrode send
a further message to the Germans which dripped with tenderness for this
heathenish people [July 6, 1848]. Why this turn? Now the Berliners had
not only made a revolution, they had also proclaimed the restoration of
Poland, and the Prussian Poles, deceived by the enthusiasm of the people,
began to construct military camps in Posen. Hence the flatteries of the
Czar. Once again, it was the Polish nation, the immortal knight of Europe,
that forced the Mongols to retreat! Only after the Germans, especially
the Frankfurt National Assembly, betrayed the Poles did Russia begin to
breathe again and gather enough strength to deliver the final blow to the
Revolution of 1848 in its last refuge, Hungary. And even there, the last
knight to oppose Russia was a Pole -- General Bem.

Today, there are still naive people who believe that everything
would have been different if Poland had ceased to be "a necessary nation",
as a French writer put it, yea, even if Poland were only a mere sentimental
memory. You know, however, that neither sentiment nor memory is a salable
commodity on the exchange. When the last Russian ukase on the insurrection
in the Polish kingdom became known in England, the organ of the leading
moneybags [the London Times] advised the Poles to become Muscovites.
And why should they not, if only to insure the repayment of the 6 million
pounds sterling which the English capitalists had just granted to the Czar?
At worst, should Russia seize Constantinople, the Times wrote, England
would be allowed to seize Egypt in order to secure the route to the great
Indian market! In other words: England may leave Constantinople to Russia
only if she receives permission from Russia to dispute France's claim to
Egypt. The Muscovites, the Times writes, gladly floats loans in
England and pays well. He loves English money. He does indeed. How well
he like the English themselves is best described in the Gazette de Moscou
[Moscovskye Vedomosti, news daily of ruling classes, from 1756 to
1917] of December, 1851: "No, the turn of perfidious Albion will finally
come and we will conclude a treaty with that people only in Calcutta."

I ask you, what has changed? Has the danger from the Russia side
been lessoned? No. Rather, the delusion of the ruling classes of Europe
has reached its pinnacle. Above all, nothing has changed in Russia's policy,
as her official historian Karamsin admits. Her methods, her tactics, her
maneuvers may change, but the pole star -- world domination -- is immutable.
Only a crafty government, ruling over a mass of barbarians, could devise
such a plan nowadays. Pozzo di Borgo, the greatest Russian diplomat of
modern times, wrote to Alexander I during the Congress of Vienna that Poland
was the most important instrument in carrying out Russian intentions for
world domination; but it is also an insurmountable obstacle, if the Pole,
tired of its unceasing betrayal by Europe, does not become a fearful whip
in the hands of the Muscovites. Now, without speaking of the mood of the
Polish people, I ask: Has anything taken place that would frustrate Russia's
plans or paralyze her actions?

I do not have to tell you that her conquests in Asia are making
constant progress. I do not have to tell you that the so-called Anglo-French
war against Russia delivered the mountain fortress in the Caucasus to the
latter and gave her domination over the Black Sea and maritime rights --
something that Catherine II, Paul, and Alexander II had vainly tired to
wrest from England. Railroads untie and concentrate her forces once scattered
over a wide area. Her material resources in Congress Poland [that chunk
of the Kingdom of Poland which went to Russia during the Congress of Vienna,
1814-15], which constitutes her fortified camp in Europe, have increased
colossally. The fortresses of Warsaw, Modlin, Ivangorod, points once selected
by Napoleon I, dominate the whole length of the Vistula and comprise a
formidable base for attacks on the north, west, and south. Pan-Slavic propaganda
progresses to the extent that Austria and Turkey have become weakened.
And what Pan-Slavic propaganda means you can see from 1848-49, when Hungary
was invaded, Vienna ravaged, and Italy pulverized by the Slavs who fought
under Jallachich, Windischgratz, and Radetzky. And as if this were not
enough, England's crime against Ireland created for Russia a powerful new
ally on the other side of the Atlantic.

The plan of Russian policy remains unchanged; its means of action
have grown considerably since 1848, and until now only one thing has remained
beyond its reach -- and Peter the Great touched on this weak point when
he said that for conquering the world, the Muscovites lack nothing except
souls. The invigorating spirit that Moscow needs will be acquired only
with the engorging of the Poles. What will they then have to throw into
the scales? This question is being answered from many points of view. A
continental European would perhaps answer me that with the emancipation
of the peasants, Russia can belong to the family of civilized nations,
that German power, recently concentrated in the hand of Prussia, can defy
all Asiatic attacks, and that, finally, the social revolution in Western
Europe would put an end to the danger of "international conflicts". But
an Englishman, who reads only the Times, could answer me that, at
worst, if Russia conquers Constantinople, England would annex Egypt and
thus secure for itself the route to the great Indian market.

In regard to the first -- that is, in the emancipation of the
serfs -- the government has freed itself from the obstacles that the nobility
could have put in the way of its centralization. It created a wide field
for the recruiting of its army, dissolved the community property of the
peasants, isolated them, and strengthened their faith in the Czar as a
Little Father. It did not free them from Asiatic barbarism, for it takes
centuries to build civilization. Every attempt to elevate the moral level
of the peasants is considered a crime and punished as such. I only remind
you of the temperance unions, which aimed to save the Muscovite from what
Feuerbach calls the substance of his religion, namely, alcohol. Whatever
one may expect of the peasant emancipation in the future, it is clear in
any case that, for the time being, it has enlarged the powers at the disposal
of the Czar.

We now come to Prussia. Once a vassal of Poland, it has become,
under the aegis of Russia and because of the partition of Poland, a power
of the first rank. If it lost its Polish booty tomorrow, it would merge
into Germany, instead of swallowing it. In order to maintain itself as
a separate power in Germany, it has to depend on the Muscovite. The most
recent extension of its rule has not loosened this tie at all, but rather
made it indissoluble and strengthened its antagonism to France and Austria.
At the same time, Russia is the pillar on which the unrestrained role of
the Hohenzollern dynasty and its feudal vassals rests. Russia is Prussia's
shield against the anger of the people. Hence Prussia is no wall against
Russia, but the latter's tool, destined to invade France and conquer Germany.

And the social revolution -- what else is it but a class conflict?
It is possible that the conflict between workers and capitalists will be
less cruel and bloody than the conflict between feudal lords and capitalists
in England and France. Let us hope so. But in any case, such a social crisis,
even if it could enhance the energies of the people of the West, would,
like any other inner conflict, call forth aggression from outside. Thus
Russia would again play the role she did during the anti-Jacobin war and
the Holy Alliance -- the role of a savior of Order chosen by Providence.
It would enlist in its ranks all the privileged classes of Europe. Already,
during the February Revolution, it was not only Count Montalembert who
had his ear to the ground to hear the hoof beats of the approaching Cossack
horses. The Prussian bumpkin-Junkers were not the only ones who, in the
representative corporate bodies of Germany, proclaimed the Czar the "Father
and Protector". On all the European exchanges shares rose with every Russian
victory and fell with every Russian defeat.

Thus Europe faces only one alternative: Either Asian barbarism,
under the leadership of the Muscovites, will come down on Europe like an
avalanche, or Europe must restore Poland and thereby protect itself against
Asia with a wall of 20 million heroes, to win time for the consummation
of its social transformation.