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

REPLY TO P. KIEVSKY (Y. PYATAKOV)23Kievsky is very angry when told that he has given wayto fear, to the extent of rejecting democracy in general. Heis angry and objects: I am not against democracy, onlyagainst one democratic demand, which I consider “bad”.But though Kievsky is offended, and though he “assures” us(and himself as well, perhaps) that he is not at all “against”democracy, his arguments—or, more correctly, the endlesserrors in his arguments—prove the very opposite.Defence of the fatherland is a lie in an imperialist war,but not in a democratic and revolutionary war. All talk of“rights” seems absurd during a war, because every warreplaces rights by direct and outright violence. But that shouldnot lead us to forget that history has known in the past (andvery likely will know, must know, in the future) wars (democraticand revolutionary wars) which, while replacing everykind of “right”, every kind of democracy, by violence duringthe war, nevertheless, in their social content and implications,served the cause of democracy, and consequently socialism.The example of Greece, it would seem, “refutes” allnational self-determination. But if you stop to think, analyseand weigh matters, and do not allow yourself to be deafenedby the sound of words or frightened and oppressed bythe nightmarish impressions of the war, then this exampleis no more serious or convincing than ridiculing the republicansystem because the “democratic” republics, the mostdemocratic—not only France, but also the United States,Portugal and Switzerland—have already introduced orare introducing, in the course of this war, exactly thesame kind of militarist arbitrariness that exists in Russia.That imperialist war obliterates the difference betweenrepublic and monarchy is a fact. But to therefore rejectthe republic, or even be contemptuous towards it, is to allowoneself to be frightened by the war, and one’s thinking tobe oppressed by its horrors. That is the mentality of manysupporters of the “disarmament” slogan (Roland-Holst, theyounger element in Switzerland, the Scandinavian “Lefts” 18and others). What, they imply, is the use of discussingrevolutionary utilisation of the army or a militia when thereis no difference in this war between a republican militia anda monarchist standing army, and when militarism is everywheredoing its horrible work?