Title | The collapse of the Second International |
Creator (LCNAF) |
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Contributor (Local) |
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Publisher | The Socialist Labour Press |
Place of Creation (TGN) |
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Date | 1920? |
Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
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Subject.Name (LCNAF) |
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Genre (AAT) |
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Language | English |
Type (DCMI) |
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Original Item Extent | 72 pages: portrait; 20 cm. |
Original Item Location | HX11.I5L383 |
Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b8320090~S11 |
Original Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/scpamp |
Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections |
Use and Reproduction | This item is in the public domain and may be used freely. |
File Name | index.cpd |
Title | Image 38 |
Format (IMT) |
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File Name | uhlib_4975147_037.jpg |
Transcript | 36 workers; on the contrary, he consoles and soothes the proletariat by quoting instances of wars when the bourgeoisie wes revolutionary and progressive; or when "Marx himself" desired the victorv of this or that bourgeoisie. Kautsky consoles the proletariat by quoting whole rows and columns of figures to prove the " possibility " of capitalism, without colonies and pillage, without wars and armaments, to prove that the methods of a " peaceful democracy " are preferable to all others. Lacking courage to deny that the misery of the masses is becoming more acute and that a revolu tionary situation has arisen before our very eyes (the censorship will not permit this to be spoken of!). Kautsky cringes before the capitalists and the opportunists by picturing the possibility (though it is impossible to guarantee its feasibilty) of certain forms of struggle, in a new phase, when there will be " less suffering and less sacrifice." Franz Mehring and Rosa Luxemburg are right in having dubbed Kautsky a prostitute (Maedchen fuer alle). * * # * * » In August, 1905, there existed a revolutionary situa- ition in Russia. The Tsar promised a Duma, a la Bulygin, to " console " the seething masses. Bulygin's legislative consultative regime could be termed an "ultra-absolutism," if one may use the term, "ultra- imperialism " in regard to the renunciation of armaments by financiers and an agreement between them to observe a "lasting peace." Let us suppose for a moment that to-morrow a hundred of the biggest financiers of the world, whose interests are interlinked in a hundred different gigantic concerns promise the nations to uphold disarmament after the war. (We must make this supposition for a moment in order to follow out to the end the political deductions from Kautsky's half-baked theory.) Even in such a case would it not be treason to the proletariat to counsel it to refrain from revolutionary action, without which action all promises and fine schemes are but a mirage. The war has not only brought the capitalist class enormous profits and splendid prospects of fresh plunder—Turkey, China, etc.—it has brought new orders running into hundreds of millions and new loans at a higher rate of interest. More than that, it has brought the capitalist class even still greater political gains in that 1 |