THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

of making the neutrals understand... what the difference will be upon
our victory, between their situation and that of our enemies. Just the
opposite would be the case if they could see the place and the role
reserved for them in a well organised Society of Nations ...
The events of the war have therefore confirmed me in my internationalist
opinions. They furnish me with the explanation of the war ...
they permit me to see clearly the motives of the neutrals with
respect to us.
These opinions agree deeply with my patriotic faith, for the interests
of Belgium are linked to the final triumph of these principles.
It is for its liberty, for the honour of its given word, for the cause
of its violated rights that my country has accepted its martyrdom
(King Albert, his ministers, all of the Belgians). It is because of this
that my two sons, my only children, have gone to fight. The younger,
voluntarily enlisted with my consent, has been reported missing in
the Battle of the Yser. If this war should not end in the establishment
of a stable Society of Nations, all of our sacrifices will have been
in vain... It alone... will give precious meaning to the words which
are our battle cries ... But again, this new regime, impossible if we do
not triumph, will not be established by itself on the morrow of victory
if we have not prepared for it and pushed it forward by study,
discussion and exposition to selected groups.
Believing that men who have given pledges of deep attachment to
their national cause and who continue themselves to offer battle to
the enemy by word and pen, being no longer of an age to do otherwise,
should give themselves to such preparation as they can carry out
without danger to any one, I have adopted such a line of conduct. 16
In these words which summarise and explain so much of
what Otlet wrote during the war years, is revealed the scholar,
the idealist, the generalist, the patriot. That he should have
been frequently maligned seems improbable". Yet when the patriotic
society, «Belges Partout — Beiges Toujours», a society
in the formation of which he had been active and of which he
was President, met in Switzerland in July 1916 he found it
necessary to make a vigorous complaint about «the measures
taken against him and the attacks of which he is the object».
The meeting, to which he had invited some of his adversaries
to debate their accusations but who did not appear, expressed
its «lively regret» that its «eminent compatriot* had been
the victim of base political manoeuvres and paid hommage to
his character and to his «ardent and pure patriotism*. 17
Nevertheless, Otlet continued to be the victim of scurrilous
attacks. The French socialists with heavy irony ridiculed
him as one of what they called «national socialists*. They alleged
that Otlet and his ilk wanted «to awaken the traditions of
the French revolution and French socialism against German
Marxism. To the battle of the classes, they oppose the organisation
and co-operation of the classes, placing on the first
level of preoccupation, the organisation of a Society of Nations
and the association of work, talent and capital*. 18 In an
issue of La Victoire which appeared not long after this, an attack
on German periodicals and ideas, especially ideas about
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