LiberalismSocialismWorking Class

96 THE CLASS STRUGGLE EDITORIALS 97 can conceive of a United States Senate, any considerable portion of which would refuse to sanction a treaty of peace, once it has been adopted by the peace plenipotentiaries of the great powers.
In France, there have been no national elections since before the beginning of the war, and its people have had no opportunity to give expression, either to the aims for which they were fighting or to their opinions on the terms of peace. Clemenceau represents France at the Peace Conference, not at the direction of the French people, but at the behest of a Cabinet that he himself has appointed, whose continued existence in power depends entirely upon his good will.
If by public opinion we mean the desires and demands of the ruling, capitalist class, then indeed Clemenceau may truly be said to represent the people of his nation. He outspokenly supports their lust for increased territory and power, and demands openly an opportunity for industrial rehabilitation by increased possibilities for exploitation.
Lloyd George, alone of the three, speaks with some semblance of authority for his nation: the people of England have just returned him to power with a big vote. But the official leader of Liberalism in England has long ago lost the support of all honestly liberal and progressive elements in England, and retained himself in power only by an affiliation with the reactionary Tory elements of the country against the most progressive spirits of his own party. Lloyd George sits at the Peace Table as the official spokesman of the ultra capitalistic, ultra jingoistic elements of the British nation.
He was chosen by. a Cabinet that, with two exceptions, is made up of bred in the bone Conservative Unionists. His codelegates he chose from the same party.
The delegations from the other powers, from Japan and Italy, not to mention those smaller nations and national fragments whose fate hangs in the balance at Paris, have been definitely and openly relegated into the background. Their opinions carry no weight, their demands are completely ignored. The ideals of former days, open diplomacy, peace. by negotiations, selfdetermination of small nations, and international labor legislation, have given way for the struggle for world domination.
To the superficial reader of the capitalist press of this country, it may seem as if the democratic ideas of the President were dominating the negotiations of the Peace Conference. As a matter of fact, Wilson appears in this role only because he has been willing to compromise on every issue, from the secret sessions of the Conference to the colonial question. Humanité, the French Majority Socialist newspaper, which has always belonged to the most ardent admirers of President Wilson and his policies, openly deplores his compromise, saying that the result justifies all the contentions of those who say that a war of capitalistid states cannot end in a peace of the people. On the other hand, the French capitalistic press is equally dissatisfied. The Echo de Paris attacks Lloyd George for breaking with France, and accuses him of flirting with radical opinion in England. And herein lies the secret of Wilson apparent domination of the Peace Conference. He who has succeeded in making his name the symbol of progressivism and radicalism in the countries of Europe, is being used to hide from the eyes of the restive masses of Europe the sordid motives, the capitalist interests, that are dominating every decision of the Conference.
And so, after all, not President Wilson, not the American people, but the revolutionary European proletariat holds in its hands the future of the world. The capitalist Peace Conference at Paris is laying the cornerstone for new national conflicts, new wars. The revolution of the proletariat of the world alone can achieve universal peace and international brotherhood.
The Crime of Crimes was in the detention coop waiting for bail, after being arrested for agitation against conscription. In the room were a number of other criminals, their appearance a mixture of dejection, swagger and trembling apprehension. Two men one was only a boy had been convicted of selling cocaine;