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

284V. I. LENINMünzenberg that one cantonal secretariat will, in all probability,support referendum.Jan. 22, 1917. The Berner Tagwacht and Volksrecht carrya statement by National Council member Gustav Müller.He presents the party a veritable ultimatum, stating onbehalf of his group (he writes: “our group”) that he willresign from the National Council because he cannot accept“the principle of rejecting war credits”.Jan. 26, 1917. In his fourth Volksrecht article, Greulichpresents the same ultimatum to the party, saying that hewill “naturally” resign if the party congress approves paragraph3 of the majority resolution. 118Jan. 27, 1917. E. Nobs says in an editorial comment (“Onthe Referendum”) that under no circumstances can he endorsethe referendum motivation. 119Platten is silent.Jan. 31, 1917. The Secretariat decides to convene the partycongress on June 2 and 3, 1917 (it will be remembered thatthe Secretariat had earlier decided to convene it on Feb. 11,1917, but the decision was repealed by the Party Executive!).Feb. 1, 1917. Part of the Zimmerwald Conference meets atOlten, attended by representatives of organisations invitedto the conference of Entente socialists (March 1917).Radek, Zinoviev, Münzenberg, one member of the Internationale(the Spartacus group in Germany, of which KarlLiebknecht was a member) publicly castigate R. Grimm, statingthat his alliance with the social-patriots against the Swisssocialist workers makes him a “political corpse”.Press is silent about this conference.Feb. 1, 1917. Platten publishes his first article on the warissue. 120 Attention should be drawn to the following twoof his statements.First, Platten writes, literally: “Of course, the absencewas felt in the commission of the cool-headed, courageousand consistent Zimmerwald champion who would have insistedon pigeon-holing the war issue till the end of the war.”No name was mentioned, but it should not be hard toguess against whom this blow was aimed.Second, Platten makes this statement of principle:“The war issue is not only a battle of opinions aroundthis question, but is indicative also of a definite trend in