Lenin CW-Vol. 23.pdf - From Marx to Mao

PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN WAR ISSUE157while the mass is steeped in poverty, and that “revolutionarysentiments are spreading” not because of the accursedforeign “instigators”, but because of “the drastic decline inthe standard of living”.And so?And so, we shall be absolutely right if we say:Either the Swiss people will suffer hardships that willincrease with every passing week and they will be faceddaily with the threat of involvement in the imperialistwar, i.e., of being killed in the capitalists’ interests, orthey will follow the advice of the finest part of theirproletariat, muster all their forces and carry out a socialistrevolution.Socialist revolution? Utopia! “A remote and practicallyindefinable” possibility!...It is no more a utopia than rejection of fatherland defencein the present war or revolutionary mass struggle againstit. One should not be deafened by one’s own words or frightenedby the words of others. Nearly everyone is preparedto accept revolutionary struggle against the war. But onemust visualise the magnitude of the task of ending the warby revolution! No, it is not a utopia. The revolution ismaturing in all countries and the question now is not whetherto continue to live in tranquillity and tolerable conditions,or plunge into some reckless adventure. On the contrary, thequestion is whether to continue to suffer hardship and bethrown into the holocaust to fight for alien interests, orto make great sacrifices for socialism, for the interests ofnine-tenths of mankind.Socialist revolution, we are told, is a utopia! The Swisspeople, thank God, have no “separate” or “independent”language, but speak the three world languages of the neighbouringwarring countries. It is not surprising, therefore,that they are in such close touch with developments in thesecountries. In Germany, things have reached a point wherethe economic life of 66 million people is directed from onecentre. The national economy of a country of 66 million isrun from this one centre. Tremendous sacrifices are imposedon the vast majority of the people in order that the “upper