( One of the problems that has bedevilled the creation
of a coherent Marxist left in Britain is the chronic
myopia and parochialism that characterise much of
"British Socialism". A continuing theme of World
Politics will be the need to replace this limiting
approach by its converse = Internationalisn.
The following article was written just before the
formation of the"Sparticists" at a time when the
Second International had degenerated into an
irrelevence in the struggle for Socialism, In later
issues we will return to and develop these arguaments
put forward and to examine the need for an International
in present conditions. )
A large number of comrades from different parts of Germany have adopted the a OR AO ee yeaeCG ยป which constitute an application of the Srfurt programmeto the contemporary problems of international socialisn.
1. The world war has annihilated the work of 40 years of socialism: hy destroying the revolutionary proletariat as a political force; by destroying the moral prestige of socialism; by scattering the workers International; by setting its sections one against the other in fratricidal massacre; and by tying the aspirations and hopes of the masses of the people of the main countries in which capitalism has developed to the destinies of imperialisn.
2. By their vote for war credist and by their proclamation Of national unity, the official leaderships of the socialist parties in Germany, France and England ( with the exception of the Independent Labour Party ) have reinforced imperialism, induced the masses of people to suffer patiently the misery and horrars of war, contributed to the prolongation of the massacre and the increase in the number of its victims, and assumed their share in the responsibility for the war itself and for its consequences.
3, The tactic of the official leadership af the Parties in the belligerent countries, and in the first place in Germany, wntil recently at the head of the International, constitutes a betrayal of elementary principles of international socialism, of the vital interests of the working class, and of all the democratic interest of the peoples. By this alone socialist policy is condemned to impotence even in those countries where the leaders have remained faithful to their principles: Russia, Serbia, Italy and - with hardly an exception ~ Bulgaria.
4. By this alone afficial social democracy in the principal countries has repudiated the class struggle in war time and adjourned until after the wars it has guaranteed to the ruling classes of all countries a delay in which to strengthen, at the proletariats expense, and in a nonstrous fashion, their economic, political and moral pos itions. de The world war serves neither the national defense nor the economic or political interests of the masses of the people whatever they may be. Itis but the product of imperialist rivalries between
the capitalist class ef ay, EER |