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From Socialist Appeal, Vol. IV No. 26, 29 June 1940, p. 8.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
There is always one question sure to be thrown at me whenever and wherever I speak on the war question. Naturally during the main speech or lecture I explain that in a war between imperialist countries our party urges the workers to continue the class struggle even to the point of revolution regardless of the effect that the struggle of the workers might have on the military front. And I also explain that this policy applies as well in a war between the “democratic” imperialist countries and Hitler Germany.
“Wouldn’t you,” – so the question runs – “by this tactic, permit Hitler’s armies to conquer the democracies? While the workers would be struggling against the capitalists wouldn’t Hitler’s armies march in and take over everything?”
Invariably the questioner is troubled. He is perfectly willing to fight for the workers to take governmental power into their hands, but he is afraid that to do so in the midst of war would play into the hands of the fascists.
I must admit that my answer based on socialist fundamentals does not always or very frequently convince the questioner. My answer is generally as follows:
Revolutionary workers, as a matter of principle, cannot and must not support their own government in an imperialist war. If continuing the class struggle at home with the possible effect of a defeat at the front is an evil, then supporting an imperialist government with a victory at the front is a greater evil and we are compelled to choose the lesser of the two evils.
Then I proceed to explain that a successful attack on the enemy at home is so all-important that the workers must take the risk of having the foreign enemy take advantage of the confusion and weakening of the military front which must inevitably come as a result of a revolutionary struggle. If the revolution should be successful then the workers, after a short period of disorganization, can better defend themselves against a foreign army.
Another argument that I advance is that even if “our democratic” imperialist government should defeat the fascist countries, fascism would result if the workers failed to take power into their own hands.
The surrender of the French army furnishes revolutionary Marxists with a very telling practical argument. Here was an army touted by every expert as the finest army in the world. “The Germans could easily defeat the Polish army but wait until Hitler comes up against the French army.” So the experts expressed their wishful thinking.
But the French army did no better than the Polish or Norwegian army against the mechanized forces of Hitler.
Neither the French nor the Polish bourgeois governments could furnish adequate leadership for the defense of France and Poland.
This does not mean that the Hitler government is unbeatable by any other capitalist government. Given a sufficient period of preparation the United States with an industry more powerful than Germany’s could in all probability be victorious over Hitler.
But it could do so only if it adopts the same fascist regime that Germany has. It could do so only by suppressing every right the workers enjoy at present.
On the other hand a working-class regime has forces at its disposal that no capitalist government can possibly muster.
It would muster the burning enthusiasm of the masses who, conscious that they are fighting for their own interests, would be capable of devotion and sacrifice that they would not possibly exert when in the army of a capitalist government.
And what is of the greatest importance, a workers’ government could appeal with tremendous effect to the soldiers and workers of the enemy army.
It is very significant that the English and French imperialist governments very soon after the war gave up the idea of appealing to the German people over the head of the Hitler government. They soon adopted the line of blaming the German people as well as the German government.
No wonder! Why should the German workers listen to the French and British imperialists? What can the German workers expect from the British imperialists?
An appeal from a French or British Soviet government, on the other hand, would inevitably have a tremendous effect upon the German masses. They would know that to defeat Hitler would not mean their enslavement by the French or British imperialists but a union with their French and British brothers.
The lesson of the conquest of France by Hitler is clear and should be taken to heart by every worker. The French armies were not defeated because the workers disorganized it by revolution. They were defeated because there was no revolution.
If there is any way to defeat Hitler and Hitlerism it is through a workers’ government fighting for a socialist world.
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