NOTES
[32]
The "Military Programme of the Proletarian Revolution" (in a letter Lenin refers to it as an article "On Disarmament") was written in German and meant for publication in the Swiss, Swedish and Norwegian Left Social-Democratic press. However, it was not published at the time. Lenin somewhat re-edited it for publication in Russian. The article "The "Disarmament' Slogan" appeared in Sbornik Sotsial-Demokrata No. 2, December 1916 (see pp. 94-104 of this volume).
   
The original, German text appeared in Jugen-International, organ of the International League of Socialist Youth Organisations, Nos. 9 and 10, September and October 1917 under the heading "Das Militärprogramm der proletarischen Revolution". The article was printed with this editorial foreword: "In our day, when Lenin is one of the most spoken-of leaders of the Russian revolution, the following article by this veteran revolutionary stalwart in which he sets out a large part of his political programme, is of especial interest. We received it shortly before his departure from Zurich in April 1917." The heading was apparently given by the editors of Jugen-International.
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[33]
See note No. 18. [Transcriber's Note: See "Reply to P. Kievsky (Y. Pyatakov)". -- DJR]
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[34]
Reference is to Rohert Grimm's theses on the war question, published in the Grütlianer Nos. 162 and 164, July 14 and 17, 1916. With the growing danger of Switzerland being drawn into the war, a discussion on the war issue arose in the Social-Democratic Party. In April 1916, the Executive instructed Grimm, Müller, Naine, Pflüger and several other prominent party leaders to state their views in the press and their articles were published in the Berner Tagwacht, Volksrecht and Grütlianer.
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[35]
Neues Leben (New Life ) -- a monthly journal of the Swiss Social Democratic Partv published in Berne from January 1915 to December 1917. Spoke for the Zimmerwald Right and early in 1917 took up a social-chauvinist position.
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[36]
Reference is to the international socialist conferences at Zimmerwald and Kienthal.
   
The first, Zimmerwald Conference, met on September 5-8, 1915 and was attended by 38 delegates from 11 European countries -- Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway, Holland and Switzerland. Lenin led the R.S.D.L.P. Central Committee delegation.
   
The Conference discussed: (1) reports from the various countries; (2) a joint declaration by the German and French representatives; (3) the Zimmerwald Left proposal for a policy resolution; (4) the Zimmerwald Manifesto, (5) elections to the International Socialist Committee (6) a message of sympathy with war victims.
   
It adopted the Manifesto "To the European Proletariat" in which, at the insistence of Lenin and the Left Social-Democrats, several basic propositions of revolutionary Marxism were included. The Conference also adopted a joint declaration by the German and French delegations, a message of sympathy with war victims and fighters persecuted for their political activities, and elected the International Socialist Committee (I.S.C.).
   
The Zimmerwald Left group was formed at this Conference.
   
Lenin's appraisal of the Conference and the Bolshevik tactics will be found in his articles "The First Step" and "Revolutionary Marxists at the International Socialist Conference, Septembor 5-8, 1915".
   
The second International Conference was held between April 24 and 30, 1916 in Kienthal, a village near Berne, and was attended by 43 delegates from 10 countries -- Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Norway, Austria, Serbia, Portugal. In addition there was a fraternal delegate from Britain and a representative of the Youth International Secretariat. Representatives of the British Independent Labour Party, the U.S. socialists, and delegates from Bulgaria, Rumania, Greece and Sweden were denied passports and could not therefore attend. Some Left groups were represcnted by delegates of other parties: the Latvian Social-Democrats transferred their mandate to the R.S.D.L.P. Central Committee: Henriette Roland-Holst, delegated by the Dutch Lefts, gave her mandate to the Polish and Lithuanian Social-Democratic representative. The R.S.D.L.P. Central Committee was represented by Lenin and two other delegates.
   
The Conference discussed: (1) the struggle to end the war, (2) attitude of the proletariat on thc peace issue, (3) agitation and propaganda, (4) parliamentary activity, (5) mass struggle, (6) convocation of the International Socialist Bureau.
   
Led by Lenin, the Zimmerwald Left was much stronger, both in influence and representation, than at the earlier, Zimmerwald Conference. At Kienthal it united 12 delegates and some of its
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proposals obtained as much as 20 votes, or nearly half of the total. This was indicative of how the relation of forces in the world labour movement had changed in favour of internationalism.
   
The Conference adopted a Manifesto to the "Peoples Suffering Ruination and Death" and a resolution criticising pacifism and the International Socialist Bureau. Lenin regarded the Conference decisions as a further step in uniting the internationalist forces against the imperialist war.
   
The Zimmerwald and Kienthal conferences helped to unite the Left elements in the West-European Social-Democratic movement on the principles of Marxism-Leninism.
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[37]
The Social-Democratic Labour Group (Arbeitsgemeinschaft) -- an organisation of German Centrists founded in March 1916 by Reichstag members who had broken with the Social-Democratic Reichstag group. Its leaders were Hugo Haase, Georg Ledebour and Wilhelm Dittmann. It published Lose Blätter (Leaflets ) and up to April 1916 dominated the editorial board of Vorwärts. Expelled from the editorial board, the group started its own publlcation, Mitteilungsblätter (Information Leaflets), in Berlin. It had the support of the majority of the Berlin organisation and became the backbone of the Independent Social-Democratic Party of Germany, founded in April 1917. The new party sought to justify avowed social-chauvinists and advocated preservation of unity with them.
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[38]
The war industries committees were established in Russia in May 1915 by the imperialist bourgeoisie to help the tsarist government in the prosecution of the war. The Central War Industry Committee was headed by one of Russia's biggest capitalists, Guchkov, leader of the Octobrists, and included manufacturer Konovalov, banker and sugar king Tereshchenko and other big capitalists. In an attempt to bring the workers under their influence, foster chauvinist sentiments, and create the impression that a "civil peace" had been achieved, the bourgeoisie decided to organise "workers' groups" in these committees. The Bolshevik boycott of the committees was supported by the workers. At a worker delegates' meeting in Petrograd on September 27 (October 10), 1915 the Bolshevik resolution calling for a boycott and for a revolutionary withdrawal from the war obtained 95 votes to the Mensheviks' 81. Only at the second meeting, held without the pro-Bolshevik delegates, were the Mensheviks able to elect a "workers' group" of ten, led by K. A. Gvozdyov.
   
As a result of Bolshevik propaganda, elections to the "workers' groups" were held in only 70 areas out of a total of 239, and workers' representatives were actually elected only in 36 areas.
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[39]
The Basle Manifesto on the war issue was adopted at the emergency International Socialist Congress held in Basle, Switzerland, on November 24-25, 1912, to discuss the struggle against the imminent danger of a world imperialist war, heightened by the first Balkan War. The Congress was attended by 555 delegates. The R.S.D.L.P
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Central (Committee had six delegates. A huge anti-war demonstration and international anti-war rally were held on the opening day.
   
The Manifesto was unanimously endorsed on November 25. It warned the peoples against the mounting danger of world war. It said that "the great nations of Europe are always on the point of being driven at each other, without the slightest reason of real national interests for such attempts on reason and humanity. . . . It would be madness if the governments did not comprehend that the mere notion of a world war will call forth indignation and passion among the workers. The latter consider it a crime to shoot each other in the interest and for the profit of capitalism, For the sake of dynastic honour and of diplomatic secret treaties."
   
The Manifesto disclosed the predatory airns of the war the imperialists were preparing and urged workers everywhere resolutely to combat the war danger, "to pit against the might of capitalist imperialism the international solidarity of the working class" and in the event of imperialist war breaking out, to take advantage of the economic and political crisis to hasten the socialist revolution.
   
Kautsky, Vandervelde and the other Second International leaders voted for the Manifesto, but as soon as the world war broke out, they went back on it, as on other anti-war decisions of international socialist congresses, and sided with their imperialist governments.
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[40]
La Sentinelle -- organ of the Social-Democratic organisation of Neuchâtel Canton, French Switzerland, published at La Chaux-de-Fonds from 1890 to 1906 and resumed in 1910. Followed an internationalist policy in the First World War and in its November 13, 1914 issue (No. 265) carried an abridged version of the R.S.D.L.P. Central Committee Manifesto. "The War and Russian Social-Democracy".
   
Volksrecht (People's Right ) -- daily Social-Democratic newspaper founded in Zurich in 1898 and edited during the First World War by Ernst Nobs. Published articles of Left Zimmerwaldists, and Lenin's "Twelve Brief Theses on H. Greulich's Defence of Fatherland Defence", "Tasks of the R.S.D.L.P. in the Russian Revolution", "Tricks of the Republican Chauvinists" and others. At present Volksrecht's policy on principal home and internationaI issues is practically identical with that of the bourgeois press.
   
Berner Tagwacht -- Social-Democratic newspaper founded in 1893 in Berne. Published articles by Liebknecht, Mehring and other Left socialists in the early days of the First World War. In 1917 came out in open support of the social-chauvinists.
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[41]
The Aarau Congress of the Swiss Social-Democratic Party met on Novemher 20-21, 1915: The central issue was the party's attitude towards the Zimmerwald internationalist group, and the struggle developed between three following trends (1) anti-Zimmerwaldists (H. Greulich, P Pflüger and others), (2) supporters of the Zimmerwald Right (R. Grimm, P. Grab and others, and (3) supporters of tbe Zimmerwald Left (F. Platten, E. Nobs and others). Grimm
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tabIed a resolution urging the party to afilliate with Zimmerwald and endorse the political programme of the Zimmerwald Right. The Left forces, in an amendment moved by the Lausanne branch, called for mass revolutionary struggle against the war, declaring that only a victorious proletarian revolution could put an end to imperialist war. Under Grimm's pressure, the amendment was withdrawn, but it was again proposed by M. M . Kharitonov, a Bolshevik delegated by one of the party's branches. Out of tactical considerations Grimm and his suoporters were obliged to approve the amendment and it was carried by 258 votes to 141.
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