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

DEFENCE OF NEUTRALITY261sitions. It should be borne in mind that the Swiss bourgeoisieexports capital, no less than 3,000 million francs a year,i.e., imperialistically exploits backward nations. That is afact, and another fact is that Swiss banking capital isintimately associated and intertwined with the bankingcapital of the Great Powers, that the Swiss Fremdenindustrie,*etc., represent a permanent division of imperialistwealth between the Great Powers and Switzerland. Moreover,Switzerland has reached a much higher level of capitalistdevelopment than Rumania and Bulgaria. There can beno question whatever of a popular “national” movement inSwitzerland: that period in its historical developmentended many centuries ago. This cannot be said of either ofthe Balkan states referred to above.It therefore befits the bourgeois to try to instil in thepeople, in the exploited, faith in the bourgeoisie of his owncountry and use plausible phrases to conceal the realitiesof its imperialist policies.Something quite different, however, is expected of thesocialist, namely: merciless exposure that leaves no roomfor illusions about the real policies of his “own” bourgeoisie.And continuation of these real policies by the Swiss bourgeoisie,such as selling the nation to one of the imperialistcoalitions of states, is much more probable and much more“natural” (i.e., more in conformity with the nature ofthis bourgeoisie) than defence of democracy in the true senseof the word, which would be contrary to its profit interests.“To each his own”: let the Grütlians, as servants and agentsof the bourgeoisie, deceive the people with phrases about“defending neutrality”.Socialists, on the other hand, as fighters against thebourgeoisie, must open the people’s eyes to the very realdanger, proved by the whole history of Swiss bourgeoispolitics, of being sold by their “own” bourgeoisie!Written (in German)in January 1917First published in 1931in Lenin Miscellany XVIIPublished according tothe manuscriptTranslated from the German* Industries catering to foreigners.—Ed.