120 121 THE CLASS STRUGGLE CURRENT AFFAIRS is that it took a second revolution in Russia to make President Wilson formally acknowledge the peace formula of the first.
And it is also a fact which should be borne in mind that when this recognition finally came, it was given not only grudgingly, but in language which almost verged on insult. It was only last December that President Wilson said in his address to Congress. It is this thought that has been expressed in the formula, No annexations, no contributions, no punitive indemnities. Just because this crude formula expresses the instinctive judgment as to right of plain men everywhere it has been made diligent use of by the masters of German intrigue to lead the Russian people astray.
And his views as to the present regime in Russia President Wilson expressed thus. Had they believed these things at the very moment of their revolution, and had they been confirmed in that belief since, the said reverses which have recently marked the progress of their affairs toward an ordered and stable government of free men might have been avoided. The Russian people have been poisoned by the very same falsehoods that have kept the German people in the dark, and the poison has been administered by the very same hands.
We need not therefore be oversanguine because of the eulogistic language now used by President Wilson in speaking of the Russian people and its leaders. It undoubtedly constitutes a great gain. But in order that this gain may be permanent it needs the application of a steadier force than that of a transitory international situation. This, as well as the other gains represented by Mr. Wilson last message, can only be retained permanently by the application of a home power the organized power uf the class conscious working class of America.
gent dealings with her on our part, that we should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak to us, whether for the Reichstag majority or for the military party and the men whose creed is imperial domination.
This suggests a very interesting question: For whom does President Wilson speak?
In this connection, it is well to remember that President Wilson occupies an entirely unique position among the official spokesmen of the contending nations: In the democratic countries comprising the European Entente Allies the official spokesmen the respective Prime Ministers and their aids, the Secretaries for Foreign Affairs are the responsible executives representing the majority of parliament, in whose hands lies the power to make war and conclude peace. In the autocracies comprising the Central European Alliance the men who presume to speak in the name of their respective nations are the servants of the autocrats, in whom also is lodged the power to make war and conclude peace on behalf of those nations. But President Wilson is neither an autocrat having the sole power to make war or conclude peace, nor does he represent the war and peace making power of the country which is lodged in the Congress.
President Wilson views as to the war aims of the country are, of course, of very great interest to this country as well as to the representatives of foreign governments dealing with this country.
It is he who will negotiate the peace treaty in the first instance; and it is quite likely that he may be in a position to force the ratification of any peace treaty that may be acceptable to him.
Nevertheless, the people of this country as well as our enemies are entitled to ask the question: For whom did Mr. Wilson speak on January 8? Whose war aims did he announce his own, those of Congress or those of the people at large?
And this is much more than a mere question of constitutional forms. Had Mr. Wilson consulted with the Senate, in whose hands lies the ratification of any peace treaty, or with the House of Representatives as the most direct representative of the people, before he delivered his message, the formal question might be Who Speaks?
In his war aims message to Congress, President Wilson says with reference to Germany. It is necessary, and necessary as a preliminary to any intelli