From International Press Correspondence, Vol. 2 No. 79, 15 September 1922, p. 596.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2020). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
Madness continues to prevail in the world. Intoxicated by the victory and the Versailles Treaty, the French bourgeoisie continues to exert its utmost pressure upon Germany and to extract the last dregs of life from the German people. The German working class sinks every day deeper into the abyss of misery. The French bourgeoisie reckons upon the enslaved masses of Germany; it wishes to bring Germany to collapse and dissolution; it wishes to convert the German workers into slaves, in order to be able to exploit them for decades to its advantage.
And at the same time that France places the war noose around the neck of Germany, the leaders of the German and French Labor Federations and of the Amsterdam International run about helplessly in the ante-chambers of the Ministers, in the hope of being able to persuade the assembled imperialists, who can only be influenced by a mighty insurgence of the working masses. While the French Bloc National draws the noose tighter around the neck of the German proletariat it throws the other noose about the neck of the French proletariat. One and the same chain fetters the workers of France and Germany. The blood of the French proletariat was shed in Le Havre, and the Bloc National is prepared to strew the whole of France with corpses, merely in order to guarantee the safety of its gold bags. The Social Democratic and reformist unions of both countries do nothing whatever to avert the threatening war. The remain helpless on the spot, convinced beforehand that in the event of a war each of them will defend his fatherland and murder his international comrades. Hypocrisy and lies form the basis of their attitude from which only the bourgeoisie of these countries are able to derive any benefit.
Immediately before the approaching war storm and before a further depression in the level of wages of the German and French workers, there is no other way out than a union between the revolutionary proletariat of these two countries. A mighty cry must be raised on both sides of the frontier: “Down with the Treaty of Versailles! Away with the oppressors of the workers of Germany and France!” The workers of both countries must bridle their bourgeoisie. The German chauvinists make use of the provocative policy of France in order to sow the seeds of chauvinism among the working masses of German. The yellow press in France does the same. The workers of both countries must take up a ruthless struggle against their bourgeoisie. In view of the growing misery of the working masses, a real control over trade and production must be established. It is necessary to organize Revolutionary Workshop Committees which will be used by the workers of all tendencies as weapons for revolutionary action.
The struggle against the Versailles Treaty and the provocative policy of the French Government must be carried on chiefly by the French workers. They must make the fight against the robber policy of their bourgeoisie the centre point of their further activity. The German workers will be pursuing a real revolutionary policy only if they make use of this fight not for nationalistic, but for purely revolutionary class purposes. The fight on both sides of the frontier against the bourgeoisie, the cruel, ruthless fight against the class enemy, the overthrow of the class domination of the exploiters – this is the only way out of the bloody chaos which, again hangs over exhausted, bled, and devastated Europe.
If in the near future, the workers of both countries do not overpower their bourgeoisie, if they cannot lay their proletarian hands upon the natural riches of their countries, if they leave it to the bourgeoisie to dispose of the property of the people, then the standards of living of the German and French workers will sink lower and lower, and the working class will be thrown back for several decades.
Long live the real solidarity of the workers of all countries and the revolutionary, ruthless war against the bourgeoisie!
Long live the alliance of the revolutionary workers of France, Germany, and Russia, in the fight against international capitalism!
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The Executive Committee of the R.I.L.U. |
Red International of Labor Unions, Moscow
Last updated on 31 August 2020