117 CURRENT AFFAIRS 116 THE CLASS STRUGGLE on a concert of power, America will not leave her isolation. world organized on the creed of victory is a world in which America must arm to the teeth and pursue a purely national policy.
But a few short months have elapsed since. But, by the grace of Heaven, what a transformation!
Almost before the ink was dry on the pen that wrote those words, America did leave her isolation without exacting from the Allies a promise that they would not set their heart on victory.
Nay, America, speaking through the self same lips, has assumed the role of chief spokesman for an eloquent defender of the creed of victory when one of the Allies, the New Russia, renounced it. In his message to the Russian people as well as in practically all his recent utterances President Wilson now insists on Peace With Victory in as vehement a manner as any European statesman has ever done. The contemplation of an embittered world which would necessarily follow such a peace, which would shatter the foundations of any possible world organization, evidently does not make the fore taste of victory distasteful to us. cynically minded person might jump to the conclusion that. Peace without Victory was a creed particularly suited to neutrals, while Peace with Victory was the natural. creed of belligerents, and that for all its nobility of sentiment, etc. etc. the former is as selfish at bottom as the latter. Such a conclusion would be entirely erroneous, however, Free Russia has demonstrated that there is nothing wrong with the world as such, but only with the particular world order of which Mr. Wilson is so typical an exponent. Revolutionary Russia, although a belligerent, has dropped the victory creed at the very moment that Reactionary America has adopted it. It is not merely a question of neutrality or belligerency. The revolutionary working class stands for freedom and world organization whether it be neutral or belligerent, for it does not seek any selfish ends either in neutrality or belligerency. On the other hand, the capitalist class and the remnants of feudalism allied with it make war or keep out of it for purely selfish reasons and they therefore naturally change their slogans to suit their selfish ends.
Lost Peace Demand One of the interesting by products of our entry into the war and the change of sentiment effected thereby, is the dropping out of one of our Peace Terms. the demand for the Freedom of the Seas. The present writer was never counted among the admirers of this particular peace demand, believing it to be a demand of the German Imperialists masquerading under the guise of a Freedom. So he does not mourn its demise. But the disappearance of this Freedom from the roster of official freedoms at this time is very interesting. Particularly in view of the fact that the American nation is rather hard put to it nowadays for high sounding phrases with which to dot its official eloquence. It is therefore worth while noting the fact of its disappearance even though it may be too early to hold a postmortem examination into the causes of its death.
Ever since the present war began and the German Imperialists have formulated their peace terms which included the demand for the Freedom of the Seas, we of these free and blessed United States never missed a chance of expressing our deep sympathy with this demand. In his famous address to the Senate, on January 22, Mr. Wilson mentioned it as one of the principal items on his program for a world peace. Since then, however, the Freedom of the Seas has not been heard from again.
To the vulgar pro German this is, of course, another proof that Wilson has sold out to Great Britain. To the vulgar proAlly it is a redemption from Mr. Wilson former pro Germanism.
We do not care to inquire into this intensely interesting and patriotic psychological problem, beyond suggesting that this particular German demand happened to coincide with what is usually termed American national interests and that Mr. Wilson insistence of the Freedom of the Seas was part of the policy of national selfishness which he has pursued throughout the entire war. And this raises a question of some moment to those who are interested in the question of the future peace and the means whereby it will be attained: Is our demand for the Freedom of the Seas dead or has it merely been put to sleep? Have we dropped it for the present out of consideration for our Al