60 THE CLASS STRUGGLE POLITICAL PARTIES IN RUSSIA 61 II This fact became particularly apparent when the new government not only did not publish the secret treaties concluded between the late Czar and the capitalist governments of England, France, etc. but even formally confirmed these secret treaties, which promised Russian capitalists a free hand in China, Persia, Turkey, Austria, etc. without consulting the Russian people. The concealment of these treaties from the Russian people completely deceived them as to the true character of the war.
For this reason the proletarian party can support neither the present war, nor the present government, nor its loans without breaking completely with internationalism, that is, with the fraternal solidarity of the workers of all lands in their struggle under the yoke of capitalism.
The so called revolutionary defense, which, in Russia, has taken possession of all the nationalist parties (national socialists, laborites, social revolutionists, etc. as well as the opportunist party, of the social democratic mensheviks (Organizing Committee, Tseretelli, Cheidze, etc. as well as the majority of the non partisan revolutionists, embodies in itself, by reason of its class position, on the one hand the interests and the standpoint of the wealthier peasantry and a part of the small landlords, who, like the capitalists, draw a profit from their domination over the weaker nationalities. On the other hand, the revolutionary defense is the outcome of the deception by the capitalists of part of the proletariat and semi proletariat of the cities and villages who by their class position have no interest in the profits of the capitalists and in the waging of an imperialist war.
The Conference declares that any form of revolutionary defense is completely intolerable and would actually betoken a total break with the principles of socialism and internationalism.
As for the defensive tendencies present among the great masses, our party will struggle against these tendencies by ceaselessly emphasizing the truth that any attitude of uncritical confidence in the government of the capitalists at the present moment is one of the greatest obstructions to an early conclusion of the war.
No confidence is to be placed in the promises of the present government to renounce annexations, that is, conquests of foreign territory, or in the promise to renounce forcible retention within the confines of Russia of this or that nationality. For, in the first place, since capitalists are bound together by the thousand threads of banking capital, they cannot renounce annexations in the present war, as they have not renounced the profits on the billions invested in loans, in concessions, in war industries, etc. And, in the second place, the new government, having, in order to deceive the people, renounced annexations, then proceeded to state, through the mouth of Milyukov (Moscow, April (22. 1917. that it had no intentions of renouncing annexations and to confirm, in the note of April 18 and the elucidation of the note (April 22. the aggressive character of its policy. In warning the people against the empty promises of capitalists the Conference takes pains to point out the necessity of a sharp distinction between a renunciation of annexations in words and a renunciation of annexations in fact, that is, the immediate publication and abrogation of the secret treaties for conquest, and the immediate granting to all nationalities of the right to determine whether they wish to become independent gove ernments or to become part of any other state.
III As for the most important question of the manner of concluding as soon as possible the present capitalist war, not by a dictated peace, but by a truly democratic peace, the Conference recognizes and declares the following: This war cannot be ended by a refusal of the soldiers of one side only, to continue the war, by a simple cessation of warlike activities on the part of one of the warring groups only. The Conference reiterates its protests against the low intrigues circulated by the capitalists against our party, with the object of spreading the impression that we are in favor of a separate peace