The peace treaty and the political situation in Europe
Officially, the horrific war that lasted more than four years, unleashed by German imperialism, came to an end on Saturday, June 28, with the signing of the peace treaty; Thus ended a period of human brutality, but also of heroic resistance, the likes of which no century has ever seen, and which history will remember for as long as the human race exists.
We do not intend to dwell at length on the content and significance of the Treaty of Versailles. We will do so all the more because we do not consider the issues provisionally settled by this treaty to be resolved in any way. On the contrary, we believe that the conditions under which peoples will want to begin the new life of the 20th century and that all the social problems that have been addressed too unilaterally and too much in accordance with the old regime of Væ Victis ! by the victorious governments will, in all likelihood, still be revised and fundamentally discussed by the direct representatives of the people before being definitively resolved.
The Treaty of Versailles is nothing more than a truce imposed by the arbitrary will of the Allies, and the League of Nations it proposes is, in essence, an alliance of governments, concluded under the direction of international high finance, with a view to reorganizing global exploitation.
Before world peace can be achieved and a true League of Nations can be realized, the peoples themselves must still declare themselves as supreme arbiters. And we are convinced that the peoples will not delay much longer in resuming the work that the "Four," the "Five," the "Ten," and the numerous technical commissions in Paris hastily prepared, the work they have bequeathed to us. Ten," and the numerous technical commissions in Paris hastily prepared, the work they have bequeathed to us, roughly completed according to their narrow-minded and chauvinistic class conceptions.
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In saying the above, we do not wish to deny that there was a real advantage, if not a necessity, in the harshness and shamelessness with which the Allied governments imposed the terms of peace on defeated Germany.
Since the mid-18th century, when Frederick II conquered Silesia and prepared the first partition of Poland with his proverbial cynicism and lack of scruples, Prussia continued to strive for domination of Europe; and since the war of 1870 – 1871, two German generations have been educated in the worship of material strength and aspirations for world hegemony.
We cannot repeat often enough that at the beginning of August 1914, no protesting voices were raised in the German Reichstag, where war credits were voted unanimously. Even Liebknecht's weak opposition in Parliament did not begin openly until December 2, that is, after the defeat at the Marne!
History dictated that the whole world rise up against Germany: it was necessary to use force against this nation struck by delusions of grandeur, haunted by an obsession with world domination. The need to oppose Germany's brutal force with a superior force was further accentuated by the boundless brutality with which the German armies waged war and the profound disdain that the imperial authorities showed for all international conventions.
We revolutionary internationalists were therefore not surprised that the Allies had to use extreme violence to bring down the German colossus, nor that they kept it under their knees until it clearly acknowledged its defeat.
For decades, the international communist movement had predicted the danger that German imperialism posed to the entire world, "& nbsp;the "Knot-German Empire," as Bakunin said in his time.
We were rather surprised, during the war, at the lightness with which this danger was treated, often in workers' meetings and in the socialist press, which had a certain tendency. How many times did we cringe with shame and anger because speakers calling themselves "socialists" and "internationalists" excused all German cruelties and all violations of international law with some banal phrase such as: "War is war"; "He who wages war in the most cruel manner is the best warrior," etc. How many times, on the other hand, have we heard the origins of war explained with a few simplistic words against "capitalism," words that led people to believe that the titanic struggle waged by the Teutonic race for world domination was justified? Capitalism," words that led us to believe that the titanic struggle waged by the Teutonic race for world domination was, in short, reduced to to speculation on the high dividends earned by two or three dozen big steel bosses!
As libertarians and communists, we have very different views on the danger that humanity has run of having to bow down from now on — and who would have known for how many centuries, if victory had not come under the boot of the Prussian Feldwebel! We also have different ideas about the origin of the war, and we are convinced that a struggle for world conquest, similar to the terrible war of 1914 –1918, could have occurred and could still occur in a fully social-democratic society, and after the abolition of all so-called "capitalist" regimes, — if German social democracy had held, or still holds, to its tendencies to "reorganize" social life in Europe on the model of a Prussian barracks. In that case, other peoples—the French, Anglo-Saxons, Italians, etc.—would never have accepted or will never accept submission; they will always resort to armed revolt.
Behind the scenes at an international labor congress, during a heated debate between delegates from the Dutch opposition and delegates from the German majority, a dreadful "Sozialdemokrat" found this to be the ultimate argument:
"What do you want, you little Dutchies! If necessary, we'll send you a general and a German army to sort things out for you." And let us remember that in Germany itself, during the recent Spartacist revolts, "Comrade" Noske, Minister of War in the new German republic, showed the whole world what social democracy can accomplish in terms of the bloody oppression of popular revolts.
The machine guns and flamethrowers of Social Imperialism were no less diabolical in their power than the weapons of war used by capitalist Imperialism.
The atrocities committed by the German armies in Belgium and northern France were no more extreme than the barbaric punishments inflicted by the armies of the social democratic government democratic government on the Spartacists in Berlin and Munich. Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were treacherously beaten, and Gustave Landauer was tortured with no less barbarity, as were many "hostages" taken at the beginning of the war in Belgian and French villages.
Finally, as for summary justice proceedings, the Spartacist Levine was executed in Munich with the same disregard for human rights as Miss Cavell and Captain Fryat had been treated before them in Belgium.
The vast majority of the German nation lacked the most basic notions of civilization and humanity, and this is a fundamental truth whose importance must not be forgotten when judging the exemplary severity of the Treaty of Versailles.
In its current form, this treaty is certainly untenable in part, and cannot be upheld for long before the court of public opinion; but its extreme severity is understandable and excusable.
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We wanted to set out our conclusions on the Peace Treaty here, before announcing that we intend to devote a few pages of Temps Nouveaux
We will express our opinions as frankly to the left as to the right: we have fought long enough at the forefront of the international labor movement, without seeking to satisfy the interests of any doctrine, and we have suffered enough to take, as compensation, the right to say loudly what we think and to judge, with the same impartiality, all excesses that we believe are harmful to the real and constant progress of humanity.
Whether these excesses stem from capitalist imperialism and autocracy, or are the result of Bolshevik imperialism, calling itself the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, they will always find frank and implacable adversaries among true libertarian communists who love humanity.