Source/Published: “England and Germany”, Justice, 4th May 1907, p.5
Online Version: August Bebel Internet Archive, August 2004
Transcription: Ted Crawford
HTML Markup: Mike B.
Proofread by: Nik McDonald (September 2005)
DEAR Comrades - The May-Day Festival of the international class-conscious proletariat shows itself more and more with each succeeding year to be an intellectual necessity.
The fact that on a certain day in each year the class-conscious warless of all lands come together in meetings and demonstrations in order to emphasise the demands and objects which they are unitedly pursuing, must necessarily have the effect of elevating and inspiring the masses of the people, and of strengthening the feelings of international solidarity.
And in point of fact when we see how the class struggles between the working class and the employing class continue to increase in violence, through the intensification of the antagonism of interests, when we see the employers organising themselves, not only nationally, but internationally against the workers, it would be a crime against themselves for the latter not to recognise and put into practice the necessity of understanding each other and uniting internationally. But the national antagonisms also, which through the economic war in the world-market are ever assuming a more serious character, and, in spite of all Peace Congresses, are becoming intensified rather than modified, force the workers of all civilised countries to unite action in order to stave off a military catastrophe, the cost of which, in blood and money, the workers would more than anyone else have to bear.
Especially between the bourgeoisie of Germany and England the present jealousy and rivalry has assumed a character which is charged with the danger of a conflict. But if the workers of England and Germany stand together as brothers against every attempt at an armed settlement of existing differences, they will do a great service to themselves, to their respective countries, and to humanity. May the 1st of May give the most effectual expression of this unity of feeling on the part of the workers in both countries, here Germany, and there in England! — with fraternal greeting, yours sincerely,
A. BEBEL
Schönberg-Berlin, Hauptsrasse 84
April 16, 1907