304 THE CLASS STRUGGLE 305 The Disarmament Cry By LENIN land. The Russian Government no longer appealed to the Finnish bourgeoisie as an insurance company against radical legislation, on the contrary it was the most formidable supporter of absolute proletarian rule in Finland. So the Finnish bourgeoisie took up the cudgels for the independence of Finland, even to the point of war with Russia. The Finnish Socialists, on the contrary, demanded a close union with Russia. In this connection it should also be noted that the policy of the Socialists in regard to Finland relations with Russia, from the very outset of the revolution up to the present time, has been fully approved of by the Russian Bolsheviki with whom the Finnish Socialists have always been in close connection and in complete sympathy. considered it of importance to bring out these facts, as in a recent issue of the Class Struggle there was an article by Comrade Louis Boudin which gave a somewhat incorrect view of the nature of the struggle for independence on the part of the Finnish Socialists.
In a large number of countries, particularly such as are small and not directly participating in the present war, for examp in Sweden, Norway, Holland, Switzerland, voices are being raised in favor of altering an old item in the social democratic minimum program, namely, substituting for militia or an arming of the populace a new demand: disarmament. In the organ of the International Young People Organization, the Jugend Internationale. The International of Youth. No. 3, there is an editorial article on disarmament. In the Theses of Grimm on the war question, prepared for the congress of the Swiss SocialDemocratic Party, we find concessions to the disarmament idea.
In the Swiss periodical Neues Leben. New Life. RolandHolst comes out apparently for a conciliation of the two demands, in reality, however, for a similar concession. In the international organ of the Left Wing, Vorbote. Harbinger. No. 2, there is an article by the Dutch Marxist, Wijnkopp, in favor of the old demand of an armed populace. The Scandinavian Left, as will be seen in the articles printed below, accepts disarmament, but recognizes in it certain elements of pacifism.
Let us turn our attention to the position of the defenders of disarmament.
One of the chief arguments in favor of disarmament, which is not always put in so many words, is the following consideration: we are against war, against any war, altogether, and the most distinct, unambiguous expression we can give of this view is the demand of disarmament.
The incorrectness of this view we have already pointed out in our article on the Junius pamphlet, to which we refer the This article originally appeared in the Sbornik Sotsial Demokrata, No. 2, December, 1916, in Switzerland. It is followed by articles by Karl Chilbum and Arvid Hansen. In No. of the above periodical, October, 1916.