DOCUMENTS FOR FUTURE SOC, HISTORY 151 150 THE CLASS STRUGGLE ment of a character quite unknown in its previous history, aside from the military tyranny which will prevail while it lasts, all to the great detriment of the democratic institutions of this country and the moral and material interests of its toiling masses.
The working men and women of this country will pay for this war while it lasts in blood and suffering, only to inherit when it is past a world in which their struggle for existence will be harder and the road to their final emancipation much more difficult.
All of these reasons lead us to the conclusion that we must oppose this war with all the powers at our command.
To the Socialists of the Belligerent Countries (Adopted by the National Convention, St. Louis)
Modern imperialism is a world wide phenomenon, although it may be more pronounced in one country than in another. Similarly, the reactionary trend which accompanies it is as broad as our civilization.
for the time being, although in some countries it may assume more obnoxious forms than in some others. The only hope of democracy, therefore, lies in those revolutionary elements of each country which are already to fight imperialism in all its manifestations and wherever found.
The entry of the United States into this world wide war does not in any way change the situation. On the contrary, it proves conclusively that no capitalist government, whether monarchial or republican in form, can be depended upon to fight for democracy, or, indeed, for anything but sordid capitalist interests.
When the great war opened with one of the most lawless and ruthless acts in history, the invasion of Belgium by Germany an act not merely abhorrent in itself, but striking at the very roots of those international arrangements for which we have contended so long and which must lie at the foundation of any international order that will put an end to all wars, the president solemnly enjoined upon the people of this country the duty of remaining neutral, not only in deed but also in thought.
By that declaration President Wilson officially and authoritatively announced to the people of this country, as well as to the world at large, that the existence of international law, the dictates of humanity, the fate of small peoples, and of democratic institutions, were matters that do not concern us.
And they did not concern us so long as our trade was not interiered with. But, when the enormous export trade which we have enjoyed during the past two and one half years was seriously threatened, our rulers suddenly recalled the solemn duty resting upon us to come to the denfense of democracy, civilization and international law.
We therefore brand as a piece of monumental hypocrisy President Wilson statement to the Congress that in this war we wish to serve no selfish ends, and we emphatically declare that our participation in the great world war can serve nothing but the selfish and sordid ends of the capitalists of this country. We enter this war for the sole purpose of upholding the basic law of capitalistic society, that every consideration of humanity must be made subservient to the greed of the capitalist class, concretely represented in this instance by the sacred right of American capitalists to fatten upon the misfortunes of war stricken Europe. And in defense of this secred right the capitalists of this country are ready to sacrifice the lives and limbs of its women.
We must also remember that the war will have the incidental effect of fastening upon the people of this country a permanent military establish Comrades Now, that the people of the United States have been forced by their ruling class into this world cataclysm, as you have heretofore been by your own rulers, we, the Socialists of the United States, feel it our right and duty to address you on this most moincntous subject. We wish to say at the outset that the workers of this country have no enmity towards the workers of Germany, and that we, the Socialists of the United States, feel that the great affliction now shared in common by the workers of the United States and Gerinany should, and we hope that it will, strengthen that consciousness of a common brotherhood between them which will ultimately bring about peace between these two countries, and a general world peace with it. We also wish to convey to you our firm determination, and we pledge ourselves to do our duty and make the sacrifice which may be necessary, to force our masters to conclude a speedy peace, and we hope and expect that, whatever may have been the policies which some of you may have followed in the past, you will henceforth adopt vigorous measures to force your masters to the same course of action. We therefore call upon you to join hands with us. so that all of us may use all the means at our disposal in a common effort to bring about a general peace which will be just and lasting, without indem