122 THE CLASS STRUGGLE DOCUMENTS 123 and Austria, iti order to strengthen their struggle against the internal as well as external brigands and violators of their rights. All Russian Soviet institutions, central as well as the local, all trade unions, factory committees, the committees of the poor peasants and the cooperative societies are ordered to partake in a most effective manner in the mobilization of a powerful Red Army and in the organization of the food reserves of the social revolution. Joffe.
Berlin, October 4, A. From the Moscow Izvestia of October 19th)
The Appeal of the Spartacus Group to the Berlin Workmen (Appeared in the Novy Mir, Dec. 18th)
Workers, Awake!
The dreams of the German imperialists of world domination, which they sought to rear on heaps of corpses, in a sea of blood, has gone up in smoke. Vain are their efforts! The sword cannot forever rule the world. In one night everything has tumbled down with a crash. The shameless commerce with peoples in the East over the corpse of the strangled revolution has brought its fruits; it forced the peoples of the West to unite for a desperate war of self defense.
Everything goes down. In the battlefields of Flanders, the Balkans and Palestine defeat after defeat. The alliance of the Central Powers, that was to serve as a foundation for world domination by Germany has failed completely. Hardly had the robbers terminated their quarrels about the booty: Poland for Germany and Austria, Rumania for Bulgaria and Turkey, Dobrudja for Germany, Austria and Bulgariawhen Bulgaria left the coalition and concluded a separate peace with France and England. The German people do not any longer want a German protectorate and war, the people desire peace. And already the German soldiers are being driven from the West in order to force Bulgaria to continue the war. The German proletarian, who has nothing to eat whose wife and children pine away for their husband and father this proletarian must now take by the throat the Bulgarian proletarian and force him to go on fighting.
Thus the ruling clique in Germany tries to remain in power. It feels that the ground is slipping away beneath it. It is bankrupt: bankrupt in the battlefields, bankrupt in its internal and external policies. And now it stands aghast before the consequences of its criminal military adventure. It is appalled at the very thought of the awakening of the tortured, misled proletariat, at the thought of the coming judgment of the people.
And at this very moment the government socialists the Scheidemanns offer their services in order to sustain the tottering power of the German bourgeoisie. At this hour of a possible world revolution they are busy with petty bargaining, attempting to get a few ministerial seats; and to get them they stand ready to save the situation for the imperialistic bourgeoisie, ready to force the people to a further waiting for the war end, and to prolong the slaughter among the peoples. They want merely to put up a few patches and blur the class rule of the capitalists and Prussian reaction, so that their rule may be more acceptable to the people. What were the conditions for which they consented to do these lackey services?
The solemn promise of the German government to abandon the idea of annexations and indemnities in the sense of the famous July resolution of the Reichstag. Yes, right now, when the English and French field guns are exerting their efforts not to give any indemnities and contributions. More: the franchise reform in Prussia. Yes, right now, after the universal franchise, thanks to the shameless and piteous role which the Reichstag has played during the war, has become an empty mockery. And these arm bearers of the bourgeoisie dared not even demand an immediate revocation of the martial laws, did not demand even that the Reichstag should sit intermittently.
Thus they declare their readiness, in return for a few contemptible ministerial seats, to play the comedy of reformed Germany, and thus defend the rule of the capitalist class against the outburst of the people wrath. This is the meaning of all this talk about the reforms. Our task consists precisely in that we must destroy this agreement at the expense of the proletariat and the future of socialism. Now everything is at stake. Down with the whole refuge of Prussian reaction and the rule of the capitalists! The thing now is to obtain an immediate and a permanent peace! But to attain a stable peace these things are required: destruction of militarism, rule of the people, and a republic. Thus, the German proletariat must become the master of the whole situation. Forward with the banner of Socialism! Long live the revolution of the international proletariat!
We must not look forward to a victory of Anglo French imperialism. If arms dictate peace, then the cause of freedom and socialism will be lost. No matter which guns be victorious whether German or English, the working class everywhere will have to pay the bill. The international reaction and militarism, in case they are victorious, will put on the working class chains ten times heavier than before.