MIA > Archive > Heinrich Brandler
From International Press Correspondence, Vol. 3 No. 41 [23], 7 June 1923, pp. 391–392.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
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Reform socialism to bankrupt, nationally and internationally, and so is centrism. It is perfectly clear that the amalgamation of two bankrupt currents of the labor movement cannot signify any positive gain, any advance. As was the case in Germany, where the amalgamation of the Social Democratic Party with the Independent Social Democratic Party has not brought any increase in the power of action displayed by the combined parties, but has had rather a weakening and diminishing effect, so In the case of the union of the 2nd and Internationals, this will not increase the international power of action of the combination.
Reform socialism went bankrupt at the outbreak of war of 1914. In the year 1914 the revolutionary phraseology of the reform socialists revealed itself to be empty talk; despite all the solemn resolutions passed by their national and international conferences, they did not take up the fight against war but capitulated and went over to the camp of the bourgeoisie.
Centrism crystallized in the formation of a separate party precisely because of the war policy pursued by the reformists. Here again the history of the Independent Social Democratic Party is typical; it began as a rebellion against the war policy of the reform socialists, but was incapable of opposing the clear and positive civil peace and cooperation policy of the social patriots with an equally clear and determined revolutionary program. Centrism never got further than pacifist arguments, while the reform socialists openly stuck to the bourgeoisie through thick and thin, the Independents trotted at their heels, arguing all the time. After the collapse of the war, centrism could not straightaway make it up with the reform socialists. While the Russian Revolution was glowing, it utilized this revolutionary phase to gather together the war-weary and passive labor elements beneath the flag of passive support for the German Socialist Party.
Easy come, easy go. The hard demands which the proletarian class war laid upon organizations and leaders alike, in the times following the war, replaced the revolutionary phase by the advance of victorious counter-revolution. The practical policy of the Independent Social Democratic thirty of Germany in no way differed from that of the reform socialists, the revolutionary elements deserted it, after being deceived by it but for a short time, and went over to the communist camp. After the Social Democrats and Independents had become completely bankrupt, they amalgamated into the United Social Democratic Party of Germany. During the Rathenau crisis, both parties demonstrated their bankruptcy so openly, that it was impossible for anyone to be deceived any longer; they showed that they feared the revolutionary struggle of the workers more than anything else, and that their amalgamation served merely mechanical and organizatory ends, but had no further political significance.
The amalgamation of the 2. and 2½ Internationals occurs at a time when the clear will to fight for the rule of the working class must be supported by courage, courage and again courage, if the duties imposed by the present struggle are to be efficiently carried cut. We have reached a decisive turning point. The international capitalist offensive is concentrating upon a renewed attack on the revolutionary stronghold of the world proletariat, Soviet Russia. The antagonisms in the Entente have become so acute that the bankrupt statesmen can only hide their bankruptcy from the broad working masses for a brief period by plunging into fresh war adventures. France has appropriated to herself the military and political domination of Europe. England fights in vain for the re-establishment of her position of world power. The consolidation of Soviet Russia, the improvement of the economic conditions and of the standard of life among the masses of workers and peasants in Russia, the only state of its kind in the world, are becoming a serious menace to the existence of bourgeois rule in the old capitalist countries. Lenin’s serious illness lures the English bourgeoisie, which feels itself threatened by Soviet Russia’s increasing strength, to try what resistance Soviet Russia is able to offer will out Lenin; hence England’s present inclination to try a new intervention, a new economic and commercial blockade, accompanied if possible by armed predatory invasions through the agency of vassal states.
The situation is extremely grave. French imperialism is trying to complete its hegemony by shattering Germany. English imperialism is trying to recover its lost position of world power by shattering Soviet Russia. In this situation the representatives of the 2nd and 2½ Internationals can find nothing better to do than to pursue their civil peace and cooperation policy in obedience to their bourgeoisies. The echo of the recent declarations of war against war, made at the congress held by the 2nd and 2½ Internationals at the Hague, has scarcely died away, and yet these heroes are already preparing, side by side with their piratical and war-mongering bourgeoisies, to tolerate and co-operate in the subjection of Germany and the subjection of Soviet Russia.
The revolutionary working class, Hie communists and the revolutionary trade unions, once more put to the reformists and centrists the unequivocal question: Will you join us in the formation of the fighting proletarian united front against war and the Fascist world anger – despite all other differences of opinion – and help us to organize this; or will you – as in 1914 – form a united front with the bourgeoisie, against the proletariat?
The decision of the Hamburg Conference to join forces with the bourgeoisie, against the proletariat, will aid the disintegration of the ranks of the working class still backing up the representatives of the reformist Internationals; it will nave the effect of separating the working masses from their treacherous leaders and uniting them with the. revolutionary workers, The formation of the proletarian united front can be hindered by the united leaders of the 2. and 2½ Internationals, but it cannot be prevented. Months will pass before the present capitalist world crisis develops into open counter-revolutionary war between world bourgeoisie and world proletariat, into practical execution of the designs against Soviet Russia. It is incumbent on the Communists to use the short time still at our disposal, to rouse the working populations of the whole world, to prepare them to join forces and take up the fight against war and Fascist world reaction, if need be without and against the one-time leaders of the Western European labor movement.
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