Karl Liebknecht
http://www.marxists.org/archive/liebknecht-k/works/1915/05/main-enemy-home.htm
8 July 2005
The Main Enemy Is At Home!
(Leaflet, May 1915)
Source: Karl Liebknecht, Ausgewählte Reden und
Aufsätze (Selected Speeches and Essays), Berlin 1952, pp.
296-301.
Transcription: Einde O’Callaghan for Marxists' Internet Archive
Translation and Markup: John Wagner for Marxists' Internet Archive
Online Version: Karl Liebknecht Internet Archive (marxists.org) 2002
What has been expected every day for the past ten
months, since the Austrian invasion of Serbia, has come
to pass: There is war with Italy.
The masses in the warring countries have begun to free
themselves from the official webs of lies. The German
people as well have gained insight about the causes and
objectives of the world war, about who is directly
responsible for its outbreak. The mad delusions about
the "holy aims" of the war have given way more and more,
the enthusiasm for the war has dwindled, the will for a
rapid peace has grown powerfully all over – even in the
Army!
This was a difficult problem for the German and Austrian
imperialists, who were seeking in vain for salvation.
Now it seems they have found it. Italy's intervention in
the war should offer them a welcome opportunity to stir
up new frenzies of national hatred, to smother the will
for peace, and to blur the traces of their own guilt.
They are betting on the forgetfulness of the German
people, betting on their forbearance which has been
tested all too often.
If this plan succeeds, the results of ten months of
bloody experience will be made worthless, and the
international proletariat will once again be disarmed
and completely discarded as an independent political
factor.
This plan must be wrecked – provided that the part of
the German proletariat which has remained true to
international socialism remains mindful and worthy of
its historical mission in this monstrous time.
The enemies of the people are counting on the
forgetfulness of the masses – we counter this with the
solution:
Learn everything, don't forget anything!
Don't forget anything!
We have seen how when war broke out, the masses were
captured for the capitalist aims of the war with
enticing melodies from the ruling classes. We have seen
how the shiny bubbles of demagogy burst, how the foolish
dreams of August vanished, how, instead of happiness,
suffering and misery came over the people; how the tears
of war widows and war orphans swelled to great currents;
how the maintenance of the three-class disgrace, the
unrepentant canonization of the Quadrinity –
semi-absolutism, junker rule, militarism, and police
despotism – became bitter truth.
Through this experience we have been warned – learn
everything, don't forget anything!
Offensive are the tirades with which Italian imperialism
glosses over its pillaging; offensive is that roman
tragicomedy in which the now-common grimace of the
Burgfrieden ("civil truce") is present. More offensive
still is that in all of this we can recognize, as if
reflected in a mirror, the German and Austrian methods
of July and August 1914.
The Italian instigators of war deserve every
denunciation. But they are nothing but copies of the
German and Austrian instigators, the ones who are
chiefly responsible for the outbreak of war. Birds of a
feather!
Whom can the German people thank for this new
affliction?
From whom can they demand explanation for the new piles
of bodies which will tower up?
It is still the case: The Austrian ultimatum to Serbia
from July 23, 1914 was the spark that ignited the world,
even if the fire was very late in spreading to Italy.
It is still the case: This ultimatum was the signal for
the redistribution of the world, and by necessity called
on all capitalist pillager-states to participate in the
plan.
It is still the case: This ultimatum contained in it the
question of the dominance over the Balkans, Asia Minor,
and all of the Mediterranean, and therefore contained
all the antagonisms between Austria-Germany and Italy in
one stroke.
If the German and Austrian imperialists now try to hide
themselves behind the scenery of Italian pillaging and
the backdrop of Italian disloyalty; when they don on the
toga of moral indignation and aggrieved innocence, while
in Rome they have found nothing but their equals, then
they deserve the cruelest scorn.
The rule "Don't forget anything" applies to how the
German people were just manipulated in the Italian
question by the very honorable German patriots.
The Triple Alliance treaty wth Italy has always been a
farce – you were all deceived about that!
The experts have always known that in the case of war
Italy would be a certain opponent of Austria and Germany
– you were led to believe it would be a certain
confederate!
A good part of Germany's fate in world politics was
decided in the Triple Alliance treaty, which was signed
and renewed without your consultation – till the present
day not one letter of this treaty has been shared with
you.
The Austrian ultimatum to Serbia, with which a small
clique took all of humanity by surprise, broke the
treaty between Austria and Italy – you were told nothing
of this.
This ultimatum was given with the express condemnation
of Italy – that was kept secret from you.
On May 4 of this year Italy dissolved the alliance with
Austria – until May 18 this crucial fact was withheld
from the German and Austrian people, yes, in spite of
the truth it was directly denied by the officials – a
parallel to the intentional duping of the German people
and the German Reichstag about Germany's ultimatum to
Belgium from August 2, 1914.
You were given no influence on Germany and Austria's
negotiations with Italy, on which Italy's intervention
depended. You were treated as sheep in this vital
question, while the war party, the secret diplomacy, a
handful of people in Berlin and Vienna rolled the dice
about the fate of Germany.
The torpedoing of the Lusitania not only consolidated
the power of the English, French, and Russian war
parties, invited a grave conflict with the United
States, and set all neutral countries against Germany
with passionate indignation; it also facilitated the
disastrous work of the Italian war party right in the
critical moment – the German people had to be quiet
about this as well; the iron fist of the state of siege
was held around their throats.
Already in March of this year peace negotiations could
have been initiated – the offer was made by England –
but the greed for profit of the German imperialists led
this to be rejected. Promising peace endeavors were
thwarted by German parties interested in colonial
conquest on a grand scale and in the annexation of
Belgium and French Lorraine, by capitalists of the big
German shipping companies, and by the agitators of the
German heavy industry.
This was also kept secret from the German people, once
again you were not consulted about it.
We ask – whom can the German people thank for the
continuation of the horrid war and for the intervention
of Italy? Who else but the irresponsible people at home
who are responsible.
Learn everything, don't forget anything!
For thinking people, Italy's imitation of Germany's
actions from summer of last year cannot be a spur for
new war frenzies, just an impetus to scare away the
phantom hopes of a new dawn of political and social
justice, just a new light for the illumination of the
political responsibilities and the exposure of the
public danger presented by the Austrian and German
pursuers of war, just a new indictment of them.
But the rule "Learn and don't forget" applies most of
all to the heroic struggle against the war that our
Italian comrades have fought and still fight. Struggles
in the press, in meetings, in street demonstrations,
struggles with revolutionary energy and boldness,
defying with heart and soul the rabid crash of
nationalist waves which were whipped up by the
authorities. Our most enthusiastic congratulations for
their struggle. Let their spirit be our example! Provide
that it should be the example of the International!
Had it been since those August days, the world would be
better off. The international proletariat would be
better off.
But the resolute will to fight cannot come too late!
The absurd slogan "stick it out" has hit rock bottom; it
leads only deeper and deeper into the maelstrom of
genocide. International proletarian class struggle
against international imperialist genocide is the
socialist commandment of the hour.
The main enemy of every people is in their own country!
The main enemy of the German people is in Germany:
German imperialism, the German war party, German secret
diplomacy. This enemy at home must be fought by the
German people in a political struggle, cooperating with
the proletariat of other countries whose struggle is
against their own imperialists.
We think as one with the German people – we have nothing
in common with the German Tirpitzes and Falkenhayns,
with the German government of political oppression and
social enslavement. Nothing for them, everything for the
German people. Everything for the international
proletariat, for the sake of the German proletariat and
downtrodden humanity.
The enemies of the working class are counting on the
forgetfulness of the masses – provide that that be a
grave miscalculation. They are betting on the
forbearance of the masses – but we raise the vehement
cry:
How long should the gamblers of imperialism abuse the
patience of the people? Enough and more than enough
slaughter! Down with the war instigators here and
abroad!
An end to genocide!
Proletarians of all countries, follow the heroic example
of your Italian brothers! Ally yourselves to the
international class struggle against the conspiracies of
secret diplomacy, against imperialism, against war, for
peace with in the socialist spirit.
The main enemy is at home! |
Karl Liebknecht Internet Archive
Leibknecht, Karl. The Main Enemy is At Home, (1915), World War I
[core] Primary
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