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

BOURGEOIS PACIFISM AND SOCIALIST PACIFISM193tion, the actual concrete struggle between the imperialistpowers. And it was quite natural for the social-chauvinists,these agents of the governments and the bourgeoisie in theworkers’ parties, to seize upon the approach of peace inparticular, or even upon mere peace talk, in order to glossover the depth of their reformism and opportunism, exposedby the war, and restore their undermined influence over themasses. Hence, the social-chauvinists in Germany and inFrance, as we have seen, are making strenuous efforts to“unite” with the flabby, unprincipled pacifist section of the“opposition”.Efforts to gloss over the divergence between the two irreconcilablelines of policy will certainly be made also inthe Zimmerwald group. One can foresee that they will followtwo lines. A “practical business” conciliation by mechanicallycombining loud revolutionary phrases (like those inthe International Socialist Committee manifesto) with opportunistand pacifist practice. That is what happened inthe Second International. The arch-revolutionary phrasesin the manifestos of Huysmans and Vandervelde and incertain congress resolutions merely served as a screen for thearch-opportunist practice of the majority of the Europeanparties, but they did not change, disrupt or combat thispractice. It is doubtful whether these tactics will again besuccessful in the Zimmerwald group.The “conciliators in principle” will try to falsify Marxismby arguing, for example, that reform does not exclude revolution,that an imperialist peace with certain “improvements”in nationality frontiers, or in international law, orin armaments expenditure, etc., is possible side by side withthe revolutionary movement, as “one of the aspects of thedevelopment” of that movement, and so on and so forth.This would be a falsification of Marxism. Reforms donot, of course, exclude revolution. But that is not the pointat issue. The point is that revolutionaries must not excludethemselves, not give way to reformism, i.e., that socialistsshould not substitute reformist work for their revolutionarywork. Europe is experiencing a revolutionary situation. Thewar and the high cost of living are aggravating the situation.The transition from war to peace will not necessarily eliminatethe revolutionary situation, for there are no grounds