In 1905 I was repeatedly asked in all seriousness by academically educated Russians who had lived in Germany for a long time (1) whether Germany would intervene in the case of expropriation ofprivately owned Russian land; (2) if so, whether the Social Democrats would be able to prevent this. A negative answer to both these questions, which for those familiar with the situation in Germany are equally absurd, met with total disbelief. Undoubtedly the attitude of the conservative Prussian police has done its bit towards the rise of this belief. I do not wish to enumerate again their undignified and politically pointless services. I believe that is now all in the past. However, the direct cause of the ridiculous notion was the arch-reactionary military governor of Warsaw, Skalon, in 1905, who knew very well what he was doing.33 None of those in power in Petersburg today believe this nonsense. And yet they use it every bit as much as Skalon did. And it seems that the representatives of Russian socialism have the choice of eitherjoining in this pathetic game or giving up a share of power. Equally they have to go along with the ignoring of the message of peace issued by the Central Powers, and have to tolerate the issuing of war manifestos and interviews which have the warlike aim of ‘destruction of Prussian militarism’ or ‘the overthrow of the Hohenzollem’ or the dismemberment of Turkish or Austrian or German territories. Otherwise there will be no money for the preservation of their own dominance in the country.
This crystal-clear situation of Russian pseudo-democracy and in particular of the socialist leaders in Russia places the German Social Democratic Party and its leaders in a position of great responsibility.
The situation is now as follows: alongside material factors the attitude of Russian socialist leaders rests on a fundamental assumption: with an army of negroes, ghurkas and all the barbarian rabble in the world standing at our borders, half crazed with rage, lust for vengeance, and the craving to devastate our country, they assume that German Social Democracy will still be a party to the fraudulence of the present Russian Duma plutocracy and, morally speaking, stab the army which is protecting our country from savage nations in the back. It rests also on a tremendous underestimate of German military power and of our resolve if need be to take upon ourselves any privation in order to enforce a lasting peace if the Russian rulers once more succeed, as it appears they may, in frustrating the peace negotiations. It is absolutely necessary for the German workers to know that at the moment there can be no question of any genuine ‘democracy’ in Russia, and why this is so. We could make an honourable peace at any time with a genuinely democratic Russia. We could probably not do so with the present one; for those in power need the war to maintain that power

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Pub: 26 Mar 2024 14:50 UTC
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