SOCIALIST TERMS OF PEACE 16 14 THE CLASS STRUGGLE Russian Revolution was willing to construct its peace program; and its real significance lay in the act of renunciation which it contained the renunciation by Russia of any designs of conquest, and particularly the waiver of its claim to Constantinople.
The principles thus announced by the Russian Revolutionary Government are of universal application; and if adopted by all belligerents and honestly adhered to would make the conclusion of peace much more easy than it is at present. But they certainly are not a peace program. For that purpose the Russian formula is neither definite enough in formulation nor adequate in scope. And the principles therein contained will very often be found to clash with each other in application.
Take the first principle of the Russian peace formula: No Annexations. Just what does that mean? Supposing all belligerents were to adopt this principle, would that settle the question of Alsace Lorraine, which must be settled in the terms of peace? Evidently not. Take, then, the next principle of the formula: No indemnities. Just what does that mean? Will Germany have to make good the damage to Belgium if that principle is adopted, or will she not?
Nor are we helped much by the amended formulation of these principles: forcible annexations is, if anything, less clear than just annexations. and punitive indemnities is certainly less definite than mere indemnities. Suppose this principle were adopted by all the belligerents, what of the damage done by Germany in Northern France? Would Germany have to learn to say restoration, or would she not? The German majority Socialists who are supposed to have accepted the Russian peace formula evidently think she would not, but our restorationists would certainly be justified in claiming that they accepted the principle in reliance on the well settled legal distinction between actual damages and punitive damages.
And how about the German colonies. Evidently no statement of peace terms is adequate that does not cover this subject. And the Russian formula doesn It is not covered by the no forcible annexations formula, for the African natives surely care little whether they belong to the German or British Empire. And it is safe to say that the Russian revolutionary Socialists would not adopt a peace principle which would raise the return of colonies to their original allegiance to the dignity of a Socialist peace demand. The Socialists of all countries have always opposed the acquisition of colonies by their governments, and it would be utterly absurd to make such restoration a Socialist peace demand. Such a policy would be simply monstrous: It would, for instance, require the Socialists of this country to support the government in the event of a war with Japan over the possession of the Philippines.
But there they are the German colonies; conquered by Great Britain, and the German majority Socialists say that they must be restored before peace can be concluded. We must therefore take definite position in the matter. We cannot evade responsibility by merely shouting No Annexations.
The same ambiguities and uncertainties are latent in the third term of the Russian peace formula: The right of all nationalities to determine their own fate. As a principle there is certainly no fault to be found with it. Nor yet as Russian peace term. It was intended to announce to the world that the Russian people, as represented by the Russian Revolutionary Government, are ready to give to the people of Russian Poland absolute freedom to determine their own destiny. But as a general peace term it is clearly too indefinite to be of any use: Does it mean that German and Austrian Poles should also have the right to determine their own destiny, or only the Russian Poles? Does it mean that the Bohemians, South Slavs, Roumanians, and the other nationalities living within the confines of the Austro Hungarian Empire and clamoring for independence or re patriation, should also have the same right; or only those living within the domain of the Russian Republic? These are burning questions, and cannot be lightly answered. At any rate, they are not answered by the Russian formula. If we attempt to enforce the principle of nationality in accordance with the letter of the formula we shall break up the Austro Hungarian Empire, and he must be an idiot who thinks that Germany