The Future Belongs to the PeopleLiebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich
History
The Future Belongs to the People
Liebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich
World War, 1914-1918
"My vote against the War Credit Bill of to-day is based on the following
considerations. This War, desired by none of the people concerned, has
not broken out in behalf of the welfare of the German people or any
other. It is an Imperialist War, a war over important territories of
exploitation for capitalists and financiers. From the point of view of
rivalry in armaments, it is a war provoked by the German and Austrian
war parties together, in the obscurity of semi-feudalism and of secret
diplomacy, to gain an advantage over their opponents. At the same time
the war is a Bonapartist effort to disrupt and split the growing
movement of the working class.
"The German cry: 'Against Czarism!' is invented for the occasion--just
as the present British and French watchwords are invented--to exploit
the noblest inclinations and the revolutionary traditions and ideals of
the people in stirring up hatred of other peoples.
"Germany, the accomplice of Czarism, the model of reaction until this
very day, has no standing as the liberator of the peoples. The
liberation of both the Russian and the German people must be their own
work.
"The war is no war of German defense. Its historical basis and its
course at the start make unacceptable the pretense of the capitalist
government that the purpose for which it demands credits is the defense
of the Fatherland.
"A speedy peace, a peace without conquests, this is what we must demand.
Every effort in this direction must be supported. Only by strengthening
jointly and continuously the currents in all the belligerent countries
which have such a peace as their object can this bloody slaughter be
brought to an end.
"Only a peace based upon the international solidarity of the working
class and on the liberty of all the peoples can be a lasting peace.
Therefore, it is the duty of the proletariats of all countries to carry
on during the war a common Socialistic work in favor of peace.
"I support the relief credits with this reservation: I vote willingly
for everything which may relieve the hard fate of our brothers on the
battlefield as well as that of the wounded and sick, for whom I feel the
deepest compassion. But as a protest against the war, against those who
are responsible for it and who have caused it, against those who direct
it, against the capitalist purposes for which it is being used, against
plans of annexation, against the violation of the neutrality of Belgium
and Luxemburg, against unlimited rule of martial law, against the total
oblivion of social and political duties of which the Government and
classes are still guilty, I vote against the war credits demanded.
KARL LIEBKNECHT.
BERLIN, _December 2, 1914._"
KARL LIEBKNECHT CONDEMNED BY HIS PARTY FOR VOTING "NO" ON DECEMBER 2,
1914, AND HIS ANSWER
In December, 1914, the Social-Democratic representation of the Reichstag
censured Karl Liebknecht for voting "No" in the open meeting of the
Reichstag.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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