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

161ON THE DEFENCE OF THE FATHERLAND ISSUEThe bourgeoisie and its supporters in the labour movement,the Grütlians, usually pose the question thus:Either we recognise in principle our duty to defend thefatherland, or we leave our country defenceless.That presentation is fundamentally wrong.This is how the question stands in reality:Either we allow ourselves to be killed in the interestsof the imperialist bourgeoisie, or we systematically preparethe majority of the exploited, and ourselves, for seizure—atthe price of less sacrifice—of the banks and expropriationof the bourgeoisie in order to put an end to the high cost ofliving and war.* **The first presentation of the question is thoroughlybourgeois, not socialist. It disregards the fact that we areliving in the imperialist era, that the present war isan imperialist war, that in this war Switzerland will underno circumstances be ranged against imperialism, but on theside of one or the other imperialist coalition, i.e., will infact become an accomplice of one or another group of thebig robber powers, that the Swiss bourgeoisie has long beentied to imperialist interests by thousands of threads. Itis of no concern whether this is implemented by a system ofinter-relationships and “mutual participation” of the bigbanks through export of capital, or through the touristtrade, which thrives on the patronage of foreign millionaires,or through unscrupulous exploitation of disfranchisedforeign workers, etc.