Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 21 - From Marx to Mao

42
LETTER TO VORWÄRTS
AND WIENER ARBEITER-ZEITUNG
Dear Comrades:
Some days ago, Vorwärts published a brief item regarding
the paper I read in Zurich, on the subject of war and socialism,
and conveying an entirely false impression of that
paper. The impression is created that I limited myself to
a polemic against tsarism. In actual fact, however, as one
who is convinced that it is the duty of the socialists of
every country to wage an unrelenting struggle against the
chauvinism and patriotism of their own country (and not
only of the enemy), I vehemently attacked tsarism, and, in
that connection, I spoke of freedom for the Ukraine.
However, the sense of my argument may be utterly distorted
if no mention is made of what I said of opportunism and the
collapse of the Second International, and against the stand
taken by the Social-Democrats of Germany and Austria.
Nine-tenths of my paper, whose reading lasted two hours,
dealt with that criticism.
I would be grateful for publication, in Vorwärts, of the
omissions I have named (or...). 27
Written between October 29
and November 8 (November 11)
and 21), 1914
With Social-Democratic greetings
First published in 1930
in Lenin Miscellany IV
Published according to
the manuscript
Translated from the German