We report as an epigraph a phrase by the German internationalist Karl
Liebknecht, taken from his declaration against the imperialist First
World War that we report at the end of this editorial, not only to
remember his assassination on January 15, 1919 together with that of
Rosa Luxemburg and other internationalists, but also to resume, update
and re-propose his indications. ---- As we have been repeating for some
time, the phase we are living is full of dramatic events that follow one
another at a very rapid pace, projecting us into new and alarming
scenarios that put to the test both social protagonism and its
organization, and the capacity for analysis and forecasting. In such a
context, it is therefore difficult to define the real possibility of
building a better future than the one that capitalism is instead
proposing in order to perpetuate its domination over the world, in a
crescendo of inequality, exploitation, misery, destruction and death
that represents the price that the environment and all of humanity find
themselves paying to guarantee capital ever-increasing profit margins.
The conflict between the main imperialist powers for control of the
world market is becoming more acute: proxy wars are spreading, pitting
populations against populations that are bloodily fighting each other to
defend interests that are not their own, as is the case in the war in
Ukraine triggered by Russian aggression and now in its third year; as is
happening in Palestine where the Israeli army continues to pursue a
genocidal practice against the Palestinian civilian population with
impunity; as is happening in over 50 conflicts that destabilize and
bloody entire areas of the planet.
NATO, historically aligned to defend US interests, is shaken by numerous
contradictions that mainly concern the European Union, which, despite
bearing the huge economic and political costs of the alliance, is
sidelined by the incoming US president D. Trump, who demands in no
uncertain terms that the member countries of the European Union will
have to dedicate 5% of their GDP to it and claims possession of
Greenland in addition to control of the Gulf of Mexico.
It would be a serious mistake to underestimate these statements,
precisely because they represent the precise strategic will to affirm
that the USA is still the main world power, thus halting its historic
decline. Today the link between financial capital, imperialism,
militarism and war appears to be at its maximum extent: the military
industry accumulates enormous profits and the States are engaged in a
frenetic arms race.
The strategic need for territorial extensions is growing, also supported
by the powerful technological development that has been concentrated
(like capital, after all) in a few private hands, and with them the
possibility of new and increasingly dramatic conflicts, which from the
current proxy wars risk degenerating to the point of opposing the main
imperialist powers in a direct clash capable of triggering the third
world conflict.
This whole situation has an indisputable projection on the resilience of
bourgeois democracy, which is unable to avert its own crisis of values,
as well as the inability to oppose the emerging reaction that,
historically, arises from its soft underbelly. Lastly in Austria, which
sees a far-right party rise to government, and in Germany, where the
elections next February risk crowning, in second place after the CDU,
the AfD, a reactionary and nationalist party. These are the latest news
on the advance of the far right in Europe and in the world.
The scenario that we have schematically and believe objectively
described, is not the result of chance, of simple historical contingency
or of some other accident: it has grown over time, in the course of
countless political and institutional directions and responsibilities
that have weakened the resistance capacity of our class and its
organization, thus turning the management of the crisis against the
proletariat of the entire world: "... it's not for nothing that we
lost!". This last statement certainly expresses pessimism but only in
appearance, as the ability to resume the path for the construction of a
better world by identifying new hopes, passes through the recognition of
defeat, however bitter it may be. But we have an additional task: to
begin to reflect on the defeat and its causes, and we must do so with a
profound self-critical intent, that is to say also facing our
responsibilities as revolutionaries.
History, and above all that of our class, the history of our victories
and defeats, can be of help to us as long as we have the ability to
relate it to today, avoiding the unfortunately widespread nostalgia for
past experiences that are uncritically re-proposed. Just one example
among all: the inability to recognize the real state of global
imperialist competition and the forces that compose it leads to
mistaking the most aggressive imperialism for the only one. Thus it is
that the opposition to imperialism involves siding with the weakest
components since every enemy of the USA becomes a potential ally for the
anti-capitalist struggle, even though this involves the liquidation of
every internationalist perspective.
So the following quote, even if it is over 100 years old, still presents
its great relevance today. Even if the nominal and temporal references
that have been overcome by history are changed, the internationalist
teaching that adapts perfectly to the current dramatic situation will
remain unchanged.
On December 2, 1914, Karl Liebknecht, a member of the parliamentary
component of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), of which he
represented the left-wing tendency, was the only member of the German
Reichstag to vote against the imperialist First World War.
The contents of this declaration will be overlooked as a minority and he
will be exposed to the contempt of his own party comrades who instead
voted unanimously for the war, thus supporting the imperialism of their
own country and helping to align the German proletariat against that of
other countries.
But it is necessary to remember that Karl Liebknecht was kidnapped and
killed on January 15, 1919, together with Rosa Luxemburg and other
internationalist revolutionaries, by the ultra-nationalist Freikorps
soldiery hired by the government of the Social Democrat Ebert and his
Interior Minister Noske, to repress the revolt of the Berlin proletariat.
Karl Liebknecht's statement to the German Reichstag on December 2, 1914
against "war credits":
"I justify my vote for the bill submitted to us today in the following
way. ... This war, which none of the peoples involved wanted, did not
break out for the good of the German people or of other peoples. This is
an imperialist war, a war for capitalist domination of the world market
and for the political domination of the countries important for bringing
industrial and banking capital there.
From the point of view of the revival of armaments, it is a preventive
war caused jointly by the German and Austrian war parties in the
darkness of semi-absolutism and secret diplomacy. It is also a
Bonapartist enterprise tending to demoralize, to destroy the growing
workers' movement. This is what the events of recent months have
demonstrated, with ever greater clarity, despite a cynical staging
intended to mislead consciences. The German slogan: 'against Tsarism',
just like the English and French slogan: 'against militarism', has
served as a means of activating the noblest instincts, the traditions
and revolutionary hopes of the people in favor of hatred against the
peoples. An accomplice of Tsarism, Germany, until now the model of
political reaction, has no qualities to play the role of liberator of
the peoples. The liberation of the Russian people, as of the German
people, must be the work of these peoples themselves.
This war is not a defensive war for Germany. Its historical character
and the sequence of events forbid us to trust a capitalist government,
when it declares that it is demanding credits for the defense of the
fatherland. A rapid peace that humiliates no one, a peace without
conquests, that is what must be demanded. Every effort directed in this
direction must be welcomed. Only the continuous and simultaneous
affirmation of this will in all belligerent countries will be able to
stop the bloody massacre before the complete exhaustion of all the
populations involved. Only peace based on the international solidarity
of the working class and on the freedom of all peoples can be a lasting
peace. It is in this sense that the proletariat of all countries must
make, even during war, a socialist effort for peace. I agree to credits
as long as they are requested for works capable of overcoming existing
misery, even if I find them totally inadequate. I also agree with
everything that is done in favor of the fate of our brothers on the
battlefields, in favor of the wounded and the sick for whom I feel the
most ardent compassion. Here too, nothing that is asked will be too much
in my eyes.
But my protest is against the war, against those who are responsible for
it, those who direct it; it is against the capitalist policy that
generated it; my protest is directed against the capitalist ends that
the war pursues, against the plans for annexation, against the violation
of the neutrality of Belgium and Luxembourg, against the military
dictatorship, against the complete oblivion of social and political
duties of which the government and the ruling classes are guilty, even
today. And that is why I reject the request for military credits".
Against imperialist wars and against the states that support them, today
as yesterday, long live the internationalist unity of the world proletariat!
http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Liebknecht, taken from his declaration against the imperialist First
World War that we report at the end of this editorial, not only to
remember his assassination on January 15, 1919 together with that of
Rosa Luxemburg and other internationalists, but also to resume, update
and re-propose his indications. ---- As we have been repeating for some
time, the phase we are living is full of dramatic events that follow one
another at a very rapid pace, projecting us into new and alarming
scenarios that put to the test both social protagonism and its
organization, and the capacity for analysis and forecasting. In such a
context, it is therefore difficult to define the real possibility of
building a better future than the one that capitalism is instead
proposing in order to perpetuate its domination over the world, in a
crescendo of inequality, exploitation, misery, destruction and death
that represents the price that the environment and all of humanity find
themselves paying to guarantee capital ever-increasing profit margins.
The conflict between the main imperialist powers for control of the
world market is becoming more acute: proxy wars are spreading, pitting
populations against populations that are bloodily fighting each other to
defend interests that are not their own, as is the case in the war in
Ukraine triggered by Russian aggression and now in its third year; as is
happening in Palestine where the Israeli army continues to pursue a
genocidal practice against the Palestinian civilian population with
impunity; as is happening in over 50 conflicts that destabilize and
bloody entire areas of the planet.
NATO, historically aligned to defend US interests, is shaken by numerous
contradictions that mainly concern the European Union, which, despite
bearing the huge economic and political costs of the alliance, is
sidelined by the incoming US president D. Trump, who demands in no
uncertain terms that the member countries of the European Union will
have to dedicate 5% of their GDP to it and claims possession of
Greenland in addition to control of the Gulf of Mexico.
It would be a serious mistake to underestimate these statements,
precisely because they represent the precise strategic will to affirm
that the USA is still the main world power, thus halting its historic
decline. Today the link between financial capital, imperialism,
militarism and war appears to be at its maximum extent: the military
industry accumulates enormous profits and the States are engaged in a
frenetic arms race.
The strategic need for territorial extensions is growing, also supported
by the powerful technological development that has been concentrated
(like capital, after all) in a few private hands, and with them the
possibility of new and increasingly dramatic conflicts, which from the
current proxy wars risk degenerating to the point of opposing the main
imperialist powers in a direct clash capable of triggering the third
world conflict.
This whole situation has an indisputable projection on the resilience of
bourgeois democracy, which is unable to avert its own crisis of values,
as well as the inability to oppose the emerging reaction that,
historically, arises from its soft underbelly. Lastly in Austria, which
sees a far-right party rise to government, and in Germany, where the
elections next February risk crowning, in second place after the CDU,
the AfD, a reactionary and nationalist party. These are the latest news
on the advance of the far right in Europe and in the world.
The scenario that we have schematically and believe objectively
described, is not the result of chance, of simple historical contingency
or of some other accident: it has grown over time, in the course of
countless political and institutional directions and responsibilities
that have weakened the resistance capacity of our class and its
organization, thus turning the management of the crisis against the
proletariat of the entire world: "... it's not for nothing that we
lost!". This last statement certainly expresses pessimism but only in
appearance, as the ability to resume the path for the construction of a
better world by identifying new hopes, passes through the recognition of
defeat, however bitter it may be. But we have an additional task: to
begin to reflect on the defeat and its causes, and we must do so with a
profound self-critical intent, that is to say also facing our
responsibilities as revolutionaries.
History, and above all that of our class, the history of our victories
and defeats, can be of help to us as long as we have the ability to
relate it to today, avoiding the unfortunately widespread nostalgia for
past experiences that are uncritically re-proposed. Just one example
among all: the inability to recognize the real state of global
imperialist competition and the forces that compose it leads to
mistaking the most aggressive imperialism for the only one. Thus it is
that the opposition to imperialism involves siding with the weakest
components since every enemy of the USA becomes a potential ally for the
anti-capitalist struggle, even though this involves the liquidation of
every internationalist perspective.
So the following quote, even if it is over 100 years old, still presents
its great relevance today. Even if the nominal and temporal references
that have been overcome by history are changed, the internationalist
teaching that adapts perfectly to the current dramatic situation will
remain unchanged.
On December 2, 1914, Karl Liebknecht, a member of the parliamentary
component of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), of which he
represented the left-wing tendency, was the only member of the German
Reichstag to vote against the imperialist First World War.
The contents of this declaration will be overlooked as a minority and he
will be exposed to the contempt of his own party comrades who instead
voted unanimously for the war, thus supporting the imperialism of their
own country and helping to align the German proletariat against that of
other countries.
But it is necessary to remember that Karl Liebknecht was kidnapped and
killed on January 15, 1919, together with Rosa Luxemburg and other
internationalist revolutionaries, by the ultra-nationalist Freikorps
soldiery hired by the government of the Social Democrat Ebert and his
Interior Minister Noske, to repress the revolt of the Berlin proletariat.
Karl Liebknecht's statement to the German Reichstag on December 2, 1914
against "war credits":
"I justify my vote for the bill submitted to us today in the following
way. ... This war, which none of the peoples involved wanted, did not
break out for the good of the German people or of other peoples. This is
an imperialist war, a war for capitalist domination of the world market
and for the political domination of the countries important for bringing
industrial and banking capital there.
From the point of view of the revival of armaments, it is a preventive
war caused jointly by the German and Austrian war parties in the
darkness of semi-absolutism and secret diplomacy. It is also a
Bonapartist enterprise tending to demoralize, to destroy the growing
workers' movement. This is what the events of recent months have
demonstrated, with ever greater clarity, despite a cynical staging
intended to mislead consciences. The German slogan: 'against Tsarism',
just like the English and French slogan: 'against militarism', has
served as a means of activating the noblest instincts, the traditions
and revolutionary hopes of the people in favor of hatred against the
peoples. An accomplice of Tsarism, Germany, until now the model of
political reaction, has no qualities to play the role of liberator of
the peoples. The liberation of the Russian people, as of the German
people, must be the work of these peoples themselves.
This war is not a defensive war for Germany. Its historical character
and the sequence of events forbid us to trust a capitalist government,
when it declares that it is demanding credits for the defense of the
fatherland. A rapid peace that humiliates no one, a peace without
conquests, that is what must be demanded. Every effort directed in this
direction must be welcomed. Only the continuous and simultaneous
affirmation of this will in all belligerent countries will be able to
stop the bloody massacre before the complete exhaustion of all the
populations involved. Only peace based on the international solidarity
of the working class and on the freedom of all peoples can be a lasting
peace. It is in this sense that the proletariat of all countries must
make, even during war, a socialist effort for peace. I agree to credits
as long as they are requested for works capable of overcoming existing
misery, even if I find them totally inadequate. I also agree with
everything that is done in favor of the fate of our brothers on the
battlefields, in favor of the wounded and the sick for whom I feel the
most ardent compassion. Here too, nothing that is asked will be too much
in my eyes.
But my protest is against the war, against those who are responsible for
it, those who direct it; it is against the capitalist policy that
generated it; my protest is directed against the capitalist ends that
the war pursues, against the plans for annexation, against the violation
of the neutrality of Belgium and Luxembourg, against the military
dictatorship, against the complete oblivion of social and political
duties of which the government and the ruling classes are guilty, even
today. And that is why I reject the request for military credits".
Against imperialist wars and against the states that support them, today
as yesterday, long live the internationalist unity of the world proletariat!
http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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