II
The end of the war will not come by merely wishing it. Nor because one of the two belligerent groups wishes it. We can't put an end to the war by grounding arms.
The war cannot be ended by "an agreement between the Socialists of all nations," by "a decisive step on the part of the proletarians of all nations," by "an act of will of all the nations," etc. These words are meaningless and yet they fill every article in the papers of the "revolutionary defense" group, of the half-baked internationalist groups, and the flood of resolutions, appeals, manifestoes and statements issued by the Council of Workers and Soldiers. These phrases simply express the empty, harmless, humanitarian longings of the small bourgeois.
There is nothing more dangerous than phrases like "the nation's declaration of peace," "the steps taken by the proletariat of one nation after after another" (after the Russians it would be the Germans' turn)' etc. All of which is pure sentimentalism in the style of Louis Blanc, a part of the political game.
The war was not started by the sinister will of robber capitalists, although it is fought purely in their interests and is not enriching anybody else. The war was a consequence of the development of international Capitalism in the course of the past fifty years, of its endless connections and ramifications.
We cannot wiggle out of an imperialistic war, we cannot have a democratic peace, but only a peace imposed by violence, until we overthrow the power of Capitalism, until the powers of government pass into the hands of a different class, the proletarian class.
The Russian Revolution of March, 1917, was the first step in the transformation of the imperialistic war into a civil war. That Revolution took the first step toward putting an end to the war. Another step, however, is needed to realize the end of the war; the surrender of governmental powers to the proletariat. This will start the assault on the international "front line trenches," the trenches of capitalistic interests. It is only after storming these trenches that the proletariat will be in a position to save mankind from the horrors of war, and to secure for mankind the blessings of a durable peace.
In organizing the Councils of Workers' Delegates, the Russian Revolution has already given to the Russian proletariat the order to storm those trenches.
