As The 100th Anniversary Of World War I Continues -The Anti-War Resistance Builds –The Russian Revolution Breaks The Logjam

As The 100^th Anniversary Of World War I Continues -The Anti-War Resistance Builds –The Russian Revolution Breaks The Logjam    

The events leading up to World War I (known as the Great War before the world got clogged up with expansive wars in need of other numbers and names and reflecting too in that period before World War II a certain sense of “pride” in having participated in such an epic adventure even if it did mow down the flower of European and in some cases colonial youth from all classes) from the massive military armament of almost all the capitalist and imperialist parties in Europe and elsewhere in order to stake their claims to their unimpeded share of the world’s resources had all the earmarks of a bloodbath early on once the industrial-sized carnage set in with the stalemated fronts (as foretold by the blood-letting in the American Civil War and the various “small” wars in Asia, Africa, and, uh, Europe in the mid to late 19^th century once war production on a mass scale followed in the train of other less lethal forms of  industrial production).

Also trampled underfoot in the opposing trenches, or rather thrown in the nearest trash bin of the their respective parliamentary buildings were the supposedly eternal pledges against war in defense of one’s own capitalist-imperialist  nation-state against the working masses and their allies of other countries by most of the Social-Democrats and other militant leftist formations (Anarchists, Syndicalists and their various off-shoots)representing the historic interest of the international working-class to stop those imperialist capitalist powers and their hangers-on in their tracks at the approach of war were decisive for 20^th century history. All those beautifully written statements and resolutions that clogged up the international conferences with feelings of solidarity were some much ill-fated wind once bullet one came out of gun one.

Other than isolated groups and individuals, mostly like Lenin and Trotsky in exile or jail, and mostly in the weaker lesser capitalistically developed countries of Europe the blood lust got the better of most of the working class and its allies as young men rushed to the recruiting stations to “do their duty” and prove their manhood. (When the first international conference of anti-war socialists occurred in Switzerland in 1915, the famous Zimmerwald conference, one wag pointed out that they could all fit in one tram [bus].) Almost all parties assuming that the damn thing would be over by Christmas and everyone could go back to the eternal expressions of international working-class solidarity after the smoke had settled (and the simple white-crossed graves dug in the vast bone-crushed cemeteries that marked the nearby battle fields too numerous to mention). You see, and the logic is beautiful on this one, that big mail-drop of a Socialist International, was built for peace-time but once the cannons roared then the “big tent” needed to be folded for the duration. Jesus.  

Decisive as well as we head down the slope to the first months of the second year of the war although shrouded in obscurity early in the war in exile was the soon to be towering figure of one Vladimir Lenin (a necessary nom de guerre in the hell broth days of the Czar’s Okhrana ready to send one and all to the Siberian frosts and that moniker business, that nom de guerre not a bad idea in today’s NSA-driven frenzy to know all, to peep at all), leader of the small Russian Bolshevik Party ( a Social-Democratic Party in name anyway adhering to the Second International under the sway of the powerful German party although not for long because “Long Live The Communist International,”  a new revolutionary international, would become the slogan and later order of the day in the not distant future), architect of the theory of the “vanguard party” building off of many revolutionary experiences in Russia and Europe in the 19^th century (including forbears Marx and Engels), and author of an important, important to the future communist world perspective, study on the monopolizing tendencies of world imperialism, the ending of the age of “progressive” capitalism (in the Marxist sense of the term progressive in a historical materialist sense that capitalism was progressive against feudalism and other older economic models which turned into its opposite at this dividing point in history), and the hard fact that it was a drag on the possibilities of human progress and needed to be replaced by the establishment of the socialist order. But that is the wave of the future as 1914 turned to 1915 in the sinkhole trenches of Europe that are already a death trap for the flower of the European youth.  

Lenin also has a "peace" plan, a peace plan of sorts, a way out of the stinking trench warfare stalemate eating up the youth of the Eurasian landmass. Do what should have been done from the beginning, do what all the proclamations from all the beautifully-worded socialist manifestos called on the international working-class to do. Not a simple task by any means especially in that first year when almost everybody on all sides thought a little blood-letting would be good for the soul, the individual national soul, and in any case the damn thing would be over by Christmas and everybody could start producing those beautifully worded-manifestos against war again. (That by Christmas peace “scare” turned out to be a minute “truce” from below by English and German soldiers hungry for the old certainties banning the barbed wire and stinking trenches for a short reprieve in the trench fronts in France and played soccer before returning to drawn guns-a story made into song and which is today used as an example of what the lower ranks could do-if they would only turn the guns around. Damn those English and German soldiers never did turn the damn things around until too late and with not enough resolve and the whole world has suffered from that lack of resolve ever since.)

Lenin’s hard-headed proposition: turn the bloody world war among nations into a class war to drive out the war-mongers and bring some peace to the blood-soaked lands. But that advanced thinking is merely the wave of the future as the rat and rain-infested sinkhole trenches of Europe were already churning away in the first year as a death trap for the flower of the European youth.   

The ability to inflict industrial-sized slaughter and mayhem on a massive scale first portended toward the end of the American Civil War once the Northern industrial might tipped the scales their way as did the various German-induced wars attempting to create one nation-state out of various satraps almost could not be avoided in the early 20^th century once the armaments race got serious, and the technology seemed to grow exponentially with each new turn in the war machine. The land war, the war carried out by the “grunts,” by the “cannon fodder” of many nations was only the tip of the iceberg and probably except for the increased cannon-power and range and the increased rapidity of the machine-guns would be carried out by the norms of the last wars. However the race for naval supremacy, or the race to take a big kink out of British supremacy, went on unimpeded as Germany tried to break-out into the Atlantic world and even Japan, Jesus, Japan tried to gain a big hold in the Asia seas.

The deeply disturbing submarine warfare wreaking havoc on commerce on the seas, the use of armed aircraft and other such technological innovations of war only added to the frenzy. We can hundred years ahead, look back and see where talk of “stabs in the back” by the losers and ultimately an armistice rather than decisive victory on the blood-drenched fields of Europe would lead to more blood-letting but it was not clear, or nobody was talking about it much, or, better, doing much about calling a halt before they began the damn thing among all those “civilized” nations who went into the abyss in July of 1914. Sadly the list of those who would not do anything, anything concrete, besides paper manifestos issued at international conferences, included the great bulk of the official European labor movement which in theory was committed to stopping the madness.

A few voices, voices like Karl Liebknecht (who against the party majority bloc voting scheme finally voted against the Kaiser’s war budget, went to the streets to get rousing anti-war speeches listened to in the workers’ districts, lost his parliamentary immunity and wound up honorably in the Kaiser’s  prisons) and Rosa Luxemburg ( the rose of the revolution also honorably prison bound) in Germany, Lenin and Trotsky in Russia (both exiled at the outbreak of war and just in time as being on “the planet without a passport” was then as now, dangerous to the lives of left-wing revolutionaries and not just them), some anti-war anarchists like Monette in France and here in America “Big Bill” Haywood (who eventually would controversially flee to Russia to avoid jail for his opposition to American entry into war), many of his IWW (Industrial Workers Of the World) comrades and the stalwart Eugene V. Debs (who also went to jail, “Club Fed” for speaking the truth about American war aims in a famous Cleveland speech and, fittingly, ran for president in 1920 out of his Atlanta Penitentiary jail cell),  were raised and one hundred years later those voices have a place of honor in this space.

Those voices, many of them in exile, or in the deportations centers, were being clamped down as well when the various imperialist governments began closing their doors to political refugees when they were committed to clapping down on their own anti-war citizens. As we have seen in our own times, most recently in America in the period before the “shock and awe” of the decimation of Iraq in 2002 and early 2003 the government, most governments, are able to build a war frenzy out of whole cloth. Even my old anti-war amigo from my hometown who after I got out of the American Army during the Vietnam War marched with me in countless rallies and parades trying to stop the madness got caught in the bogus information madness and supported Bush’s “paper war” although not paper for the benighted Iraqi masses ever since (and plenty of other “wise” heads from our generation of ’68 made that sea-change turn with him).

At those times, and in my lifetime the period after 9/11 when we tried in vain to stop the Afghan war in its tracks is illustrative, to be a vocal anti-warrior is a dicey business. A time to keep your head down a little, to speak softly and wait for the fever to subside and to be ready to begin the anti-war fight another day. “Be ready to fight” the operative words.

So imagine in the hot summer of 1914 when every nationality in Europe felt its prerogatives threatened how the fevered masses, including the beguiled working-classes bred on peace talk without substance, would not listen to the calls against the slaughter. Yes, one hundred years later is not too long or too late to honor those ardent anti-war voices as the mass mobilizations began in the countdown to war, began four years of bloody trenches and death.                  

Over the next period as we continue the long night of the 100^th anniversary of World War I and beyond I will under this headline post various documents, manifestos and cultural expressions from that time in order to give a sense of what the lead up to that war looked like, the struggle against its outbreak before the first frenzied shots were fired, the forlorn struggle during and the massive struggles after it in places like Russia, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the hodge-podge colonies all over the world map, in order to create a newer world out of the shambles of the battlefields.     

Leon Trotsky

The International
Will the Allies Throw Away the Last Chance?

(January 1918)

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Source: L Trotsky, “The International. Will the Allies Throw Away the Last Chance?,” The Call, 10 January 1918, p.3;
Transcribed: by Ted Crawford.

The following material appeared in the British Socialist weekly paper The Call in January 1918. It is not altogether well translated but is clearly an important political document of the time.

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The following pronouncement by L. Trotsky, the People’s Commissioner for Foreign Affairs in the Russian Government, was transmitted through the wireless stations of the Russian Government on December 29th. On Friday, January 4th, extracts were released for publication. The first paragraph appeared, and on the evening of that day the Liberal organs in the Press were demanding the reason for withholding the information for five days. The Press was, and apparently is still, without knowledge of the fact that the paragraphs published were but excerpts from a document of profound world importance.

TO ALL THE PEOPLES AND GOVERNMENTS OF THE ALLIED COUNTRIES.

The peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, between the delegation of the Russian Republic and the delegations of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria are interrupted for ten days till January 8th, with the purpose of giving the Allied countries the last possibility of taking part in the subsequent negotiations and of securing themselves against all consequences of a separate peace between Russia and the enemy countries. Two programmes have been formulated at Brest-Litovsk. The first expresses the views of the All Russian Congress of the Workmen’s, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies. The second is in the name of the Governments of Germany and its Allies.
The programme of the Russian Government is the programme of an ultimate Socialistic democracy. This programme has for its object the creation of such conditions, first, that every nationality, independently of its strength and the level of its general evolution, should have complete freedom for its national progress, and, secondly, that all the people should be united in economical and cultural cooperation.
The programme of the Governments of the countries at war with us is characterised by the declaration that the Allied Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) have not in view the forcible annexation of territories occupied during the war; that is to say, that the enemy countries are ready – in accordance with a peace treaty – to clear themselves away from the now occupied territories of Belgium, the Northern Departments of France, Serbia, Montenegro, Rumania, Poland, Lithuania, and Courland with the purpose that the future destinies of territories the nature of whose Governments is a matter of contest should be settled by the respective populations themselves. This step, which the enemy Governments are taking under the pressure of circumstances and chiefly under the pressure of their own labouring classes to meet the demands of Democracy, consists in the renouncing of new violent annexations and indemnities.
But, renouncing new annexations, the enemy Governments have they idea that the old annexations and the old violence, over the people are sanctioned by historical prescription. This means that the destinies of Alsace-Lorraine, Transylvania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and so on, upon the one side, and of Ireland, Egypt, India, Indo-China, and so on, on the other side, should not be subject to revision. Such a programme is profoundly inconsequent, and represents a compromise resting on no basis of principle between the pretensions of Imperialism and the demands of the Labouring Democracy. Nevertheless, the submission of such a programme is a big step forward.
The Governments of the Allied peoples (those in alliance with Russia) have not joined in the peace negotiations up to the present, and they have sternly refused to state clearly the reasons for their attitude. It is impossible now to affirm that the war is for freeing Belgium, the Northern Departments of France, Serbia, and so on, because Germany and her Allies are expressing their willingness to withdraw from these territories if a general peace is concluded.
Now that the enemies have declared their peace conditions it is impossible to solve the existing difficulties by general expressions as to the necessity of carrying the war onto the end. It is necessary to state clearly what is the peace programme of France, Italy, Great Britain, and the United States. Are they asking, like ourselves, that the right of the determination of their own destinies should be given to the peoples of Alsace-Lorraine, Galicia, Posen, Bohemia, and South Slavonia? If they are doing so, are they willing also to recognise the right to the determination of their own destinies in the case of the peoples of Ireland, Egypt, India, Madagascar, Indo-China, and other countries, just as under the Russian Revolution this right has been given to the peoples of Finland, Ukrainia, White Russia, and other districts? It is clear that the demand that the right of self-determination be given to peoples who are a part of the enemy States, and to refuse this right to peoples of their own States or their own colonies would mean the putting forward of the programme of the most cynical imperialism
If the Governments of the Allied countries would express their readiness, together with the Russian Government, to found a peace upon the complete and unconditional recognition of the principle of self-determination for all peoples in all States, if they would begin by the giving of this right to the oppressed peoples of their own States, this would create such international conditions that when the inherently contradictory programmes, of Germany, and especially Austro-Hungary, were shown in all their weakness objection would be overcome by the pressure of all the interested peoples. But up to the present, the Allied Governments have in no way shown, and, in view of their class character, they could not show, their readiness to accept a really democratic peace. They are not less suspicious and hostile in regard to the principle of national self-determination than are the Governments of Germany and Austro-Hungary. Upon this point the awakened proletariat of the Allied countries have as few illusions as ourselves. With the existing attitude of the Governments, all that is possible is that the programme of Imperialistic compromise, which is the basis of the peace conditions of Germany should be met by another programme of Imperialistic compromise or the war be continued. But now, when at Brest-Litovsk two programmes are before us, it becomes necessary to give a clear and categorical reply. Ten days were given for the continuation of the peace negotiations. Russia is not depending in these negotiations upon having the agreement of the Allied Governments. If these continue to be opposed to a general peace, the Russian delegation will nevertheless continue the peace negotiations. A separate peace signed by Russia undoubtedly will be a severe blow to the Allied countries, first of all to France, and to Italy. The provision of the inevitable consequences of a separate peace must determine the policy not only of Russia, but also of France and Italy, and all the other Allied countries. The Russian Government has striven all the time for a general peace. Nobody can deny the importance of the results obtained in this respect, but as to the future, all depends upon the Allied peoples themselves. To force their own Governments to state immediately their peace programmes and to participate in the peace negotiations has become a matter of national self-preservation with the various Allied peoples. The Russian Revolution has opened the way to an immediate general peace on the basis of agreement. If the Allied Governments are willing to make use of the last opportunity, general negotiations could be started immediately in one of the neutral countries. In these negotiations, with the conditions that there should be complete publicity, the Russian Delegation would continue to defend the programme of International Socialistic Democracy as opposed to the Imperialistic programme of the Governments, Allied and enemy alike. The success of our programme will depend upon the degree in which the will of the Imperialistic classes will be paralysed by the work of the Revolutionary proletariat in every country. If the Allied Governments with the blind tenacity which is characteristic of decadent perishing classes again refuse to take part in peace negotiations, then the working classes will be placed under the iron necessity of grasping the authority from the hands of those who cannot, or will not, give peace to the peoples.
In these ten days the destinies of hundreds of thousands and of millions of human lives will be settled. If on the French and Italian fronts an armistice is not concluded before there is a new offensive, irrational, pitiless and useless, like all those that have preceded, will demand new and incalculable sacrifices on both sides. This war, begun by the dominating classes, logically is leading to the complete destruction of European nations. But the people will live, and they have the right to live. They must overthrow all those who are not permitting them to live freely. Addressing the Governments with the present proposal to take part in peace negotiations, we promise every support to the working classes of every country which will rise against their own national Imperialists, chauvinists and militarists, under the banner of peace, the brotherhood of people, and the Socialist reconstruction of society.

(Signed) L. TROTSKY,
People’s’ Commissioner for Foreign Affairs.

MANIFESTO of the International Zimmerwald Socialist Commission and the Foreign Representatives of the Executive Committee of the Bolsheviks: –

“Men and women workers! On November 7th, in Petrograd, the workers and soldiers won a victory over the Government of capitalists and landowners. .... As you read this manifesto, the Baltic fleet, the army in Finland and the vast majority of the soldiers at the front and in the rear are ranged under the flag of the Government of the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils. The Government just hurled from power, and which had been set up by the people on the ruins of Tsarism, trod under foot the popular interests; raised the price of bread in the interests of the landowners.; left the war profiteers untouched; gave the masses courts-rnartial instead of freedom; made no attempt to enter into peace negotiations, but continued to drive the soldiers and workers to war, as the hostages of the Allied capitalist classes. The workers and soldiers of Petrograd drove out this Government, as they had previously driven out the Tsar. Their first word is Peace. They demand an immediate armistice, immediate peace negotiations, which must lead to the conclusion of an honourable peace without annexations or contributions, and on the basis of the right of every nation to decide its own fate. Men and women workers! Red Petrograd is appealing to you – to you, before whom stands the spectre of a fourth war winter; with his ice-cold hands outstretched towards your sons, fathers and brothers. The next word lies with you.

“However courageous the Russian workers and soldiers may, be, they cannot, alone, win bread, freedom or peace. The capitalists, landowners and generals of Russia, all the forces of exploitation and oppression, will use every effort to drown the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Revolution in blood. They will attempt to cut off the supply of foodstuffs to the towns; and they will egg on the Cossacks against the Revolution. This internal foe is not the only deadly danger threatening the pacifist policy of the Russian Revolution. The Governments of the Central Powers, as those of the Allies, are enemies of the Russian Revolution, for the latter paves the way for the liberation of the masses the world over. The Central Powers may attempt to take advantage of civil war to gain new victories, thereby strengthening the waning will of their peoples to continue the war. The Entente countries will help the counter-revolutionaries with money. Workers of all countries – it is a question of your own vital interests, of your own blood!

“If the Russian Revolution is defeated by the combined efforts of Russian and foreign capital, the capitalist classes will drag you from one battlefield to the other, until you are bled to death. We appeal, not for words of sympathy, but for real help in the fight. Rise in your might, go forth into the streets, exert pressure on your Government by every means at your disposal. There must not be a fourth winter campaign. Do not accept high-sounding peace-loving phrases. Judge each Government in accordance with its readiness to conclude an immediate armistice on all fronts; in accordance with its readiness to enter into negotiations and to conclude peace.

“We invite the representatives of all parties which intend to take part in this struggle for peace to Stockholm. Make insistent and energetic demands for passports, demand the liberation of imprisoned comrades who enjoy the confidence of the International proletariat, so that they, too, may take part in the work for peace. Let us have a speedy armistice! Let not another shot be heard! Forward for peace negotiations! Rise for the struggle for peace based on the free desires of all the peoples! Long live the international solidarity of the proletariat! Long live Socialism!”