AT ITS Stuttgart and Copenhagen congresses the International formulated these guiding principles for the proletariat of all countries in the strugsie against war "If a war threatens to break out, it is the duty of the working classes and their parlia mentary representatives in the countries involved, supported by the co-ordinating activity of the International Socialist Bureau, to exert every effort in order to prevent its outbreak. They must employ the means they consider most effective, which naturally vary according to the sharpening of the class struggle and the general political situation.
"In case war should break out anyway, it is their duty to intervene for its speedy termination and to strive with all their power to utilise the economic and political crisis created by the war to rouse the masses and thereby hasten the downfall of capitalist class rule."
Recent events oblige the proletariat more than ever to devote the utmost force and energy to planneo and concerted action. Un the one nano, te general craze for armaments has aggravated the high cost of living, thereby intensifying class antagonisms and creating in the working class an implacable spirit of revole. The workers want to put a stop to this system of panic and waste. On the other hand, the incessantly recurring ing effect. The major European peoples are constantly on the verge of being driven against one another. Yet these assaults on humanity and reason cannot be justified by even the slightest pretext of service to the peoples' interest.
If the Balkan crisis, which has already caused such terrible disasters, should spread ger to civilisation and the proletariat. It would also be the greatest outrage in all history, because of the crying discrepancy between the immensity of the catastrophe and the insignificance of the interests at SeKe The congress records with satisfaction the complete unanimity of the Socialist parties and of the trade unions of all countries in declaring war against war.
The proletarians of all countries have risen simultaneously in a struggle against imperial. ism. Each section of the International has rallied the resistance of the proletariat against the government of its own country and mobilised the public opinion of its nation against all desires for war. duced a mighty co-operation of the workers tributed a great deal toward saving the threatened peace of the world. classes' fear of a proletarian revolution resulting from a world war has proved to be an essential guarantee of peace.
The congress, therefore, calls upon the Social Democratic parties to continue their campaign by every means that seems appro priate to them....
The congress records that the entire 1910: German social democrats stage a massive 100,000-strong anti-toar rally in Berlin emphatically demands peace. This has proThe ruling strikes.
class bring about. sive. Socialist International is unanimous on these principles of foreign policy. It calls upon the workers of all countries to rally the power or internatonal provetarian solidarity against capitalist imperialism. It warns the ruling of humanity. classes of all states not to increase by acts of war the misery of the masses brought on by the capitalist system of production.
pestilence.
Let the governments remember that, given the present condition of Europe and the mood of the working class, they cannot unleash a war without danger to themselves. Let them remember that the Franco-German War was followed by the revolutionary outbreak of the Commune: that the RussoJapanese War set into motion the revolutionary energies of the peoples of the Russian Empire; that the military and naval arms race gave the class conflicts in England and on the continent an unheard-of sharpness and unleashed an enormous wave of It would be insanity for the governments not to realise that the very idea of a monstrous world war must inevitably call forth the indignation and the revolt of the working Proletarians consider it a crime to fire at each other for the profits of the capitalists, the ambitions of dynasties, or the greater gory of secret amplomate treates If the governments cut off every possibility of normal progress, and thereby drive the proletariat to desperate steps, they themselves will have to bear the entire responsibility for the consequences of the crisis they The International will redouble its efforts to prevent this crisis; it will raise its protest with greater vigour and make its propaganda more and more energetic and comprehenThe congress therefore directs the International Socialist Bureau to follow events even more closely, and, no matter what may happen, to maintain and strengthen the bonds uniting the proletarian parties. The proletariat is conscious that at this moment it is the bearer of the entire future The proletariat will exert all its energy to prevent the annihilation of the flower of all peoples, threatened by all the horrors of mass murder, starvation, and The congress therefore appeals to you. Make your voices heard in this decisive hour. Proclaim your will everywhere and in every form; raise your protest in the parliaments with all your force; unite in great mass demonstrations; use every means that the organisation and the strength of the proletariat place at your disposal. see to it that une governments are comr stantly kept aware of the proletariat's vigilance and its passionate desire for peace. Counterpose the proletarian world of peace and fraternity of peoples to the capitalist world of exploitation and mass murder.
IS SOCIALIST OUTLOOK