Socialists and World War I: Turn the imperialist war into a civil war

Doug Enaa Greene writes about Socialists and World War I: Turn the imperialist war into a civil war.

And as opposed to fellow revolutionaries such as Trotsky, Bukharin, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Radek, Lenin was able to see the potential for anti-colonial national liberation movements to bring capitalism to its knees. Lenin scoffed at those revolutionaries who saw the revolution where “one army lines up in one place and says, “We are for socialism”, and another, somewhere else and says, “We are for imperialism”, and that will be a social revolution!”

Rather, Lenin had a much more dialectical view of the possibilities for revolution. He believed that revolution would not strictly confined to workers against capitalists in the heartlands of capitalism, but that:

The revolutionary movement in the advanced countries would actually be a sheer fraud if, in their struggle against capital, the workers of Europe and America were not closely and completely united with the hundreds upon hundreds of millions of 'colonial' slaves who are oppressed by capital.

And too many sections of the left, even those who proclaim fidelity to Lenin forget these words:

To imagine that social revolution is conceivable without revolts by small nations in the colonies and in Europe, without revolutionary outbursts by a section of the petty bourgeoisie with all its prejudices, without a movement of the politically non-conscious proletarian and semi-proletarian masses against oppression by the landowners, the church, and the monarchy, against national oppression, etc.—to imagine all this is to repudiate social revolution.

This perspective of Lenin would guide the Bolshevik Party during the Russian Revolution of 1917 — which was not just the overturn of Tsarist Absolutism and feudalism along with being the world's first socialist revolution — one of history's most successful anti-war movements.

Lenin, and other socialists and communists, were in a minority in their opposition to World War I — they were imprisoned, denounced and killed by the imperialist rulers and their social democratic lapdogs. Yet we should remember this — it was Lenin, Liebknecht, Luxemburg, and all the others who were proven right. They were correct to not only oppose the war, but to expose the system that spawned the slaughter and to organise to bring capitalism down. On this centennial of the First World War, we should remember their struggles, sacrifices and lessons.

Emphasis Mine

We, workers, should not be dogmatic about how a social revolution develops; but, rather, be open to anyone who agitates against the current system.

However, there is definitely a problem of working with avowed racists, sexists, xenophobes, and homophobes. For these people, by their nature, are not for an inclusive society of equals.

On the other hand, working with people who are ignorant of their racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia, enables an open discussion about such issues when they interfere with political action and debate.