world. The Russian revolution is alluded to as not having succeeded in coordinating the popular energies against the militarism of the Central Powers, while the great American democracy has had to enter the conflict to impose the recognition of right upon the brutal domination of the Central Empires.

It is to combat definitely this evil influence of imperialism, the document proceeds, that the allied nations must pursue vigorously their military efforts and show clearly what are their war aims and their peace conditions, for a stable peace must be founded upon right. The Socialists find the best guarantee of this kind of peace in the principles affirmed by the Russian revolutionists, with certain exceptions, namely, that peace without contributions must not exclude just reparation for damages and peace without annexation must not exclude dis-annexation of territories conquered by force.

Belgium Must Be Indemnified

The right of peoples to govern themselves can only be brought about by a society of nations founded upon international law and strong enough to resist all Governments which might attempt to violate that law, the argument runs. The Socialists, accordingly, desire Belgium to be restored and indemnified for the violation of her neutrality; they want Serbia and Rumania re-established in independence and economic life and the Polish question settled in conformity with a Polish plebiscite and with the complete restoration of Poland in its original independence in view. They desire the same principles applied to all Europe, from Alsace-Lorraine to the Balkans, including Trieste and the Trentino, so that each shall be nationally reunited with the country to which its inhabitants desire to belong.

The Socialists say they feel it an es

sential duty to oppose every offer to transform & war of right and defense into one of conquest, which might bring about new conflicts. The peace they desire, a just and durable peace, is not possible, according to their profound conviction, until all the peoples enjoy democratic institutions which shall guarantee them against dynastic ambitions and the political and economic designs of hegemonies, castes, and ruling classes.

The Socialists express themselves as convinced that the peoples of Germany and Austria cannot achieve their de sired peace until they have discarded their present irresponsible Governments for democratic régimes, which shall include the downfall of militarism.

The declaration concludes with the statement that this must be the last of all wars, but adds the reminder that this can be achieved only if the Socialists of all parties work for the creation of a pacific Federation of the United States cf Europe and the World, which shall assure the liberty of the peoples and the unity, independence, and autonomy of the nations.

An incomplete conference of international Socialists opened at Stockholm Sept. 5, 1917. The German delegates present were Georg Ledebour, Social Democratic leader; Hugo Haase, leader of the Socialist minority in the Reichstag, and Arthur Stadthagen, Social Democratic member of the Reichstag. There were also present Russian, Rumanian, Finnish, and Scandinavian delegates. It was announced on Sept. 7 that the conference originally proposed would be postponed for two months, but it was generally recognized that the movement had ended in a fiasco. This was confirmed on Sept. 13, when it was announced that on account of the complications in Sweden over the exposure at Buenos Aires the conference, if called again, would not meet in Sweden.

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DUARD BERNSTEIN, minority Socialist leader and member of the Reichstag for Breslau, contributed an article to Die Neue Zeit, a German Socialist weekly, Aug. 3, 1917, in which he assailed the Reichstag peace resolutions. In the course of his article he quoted from the July 19 speech of Hugo Haase, leader of the Independent Social Democrats:

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"The statement regarding the beginning of the war is historically untenable,' Herr Haase said, ' and the same verdict must be passed upon the new Chancellor's version of those events. We do not forget Austria's ultimatum to Serbia, Austria's mobilization against Russia, nor the councils held here in Berlin July 5, 1914, nor the activities of Tirpitz and von Falkenhayn in those critical days.' And after revealing the confused and equivocal nature of the Reichstag peace program, our colleague said: The resolution ends in a bellicose blare of trumpets (in schmetternde Kriegsfanfaren) and lashes the people into war-fury once more.' In truth, could any man read the closing words of the resolution as an invitation to peace?

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The words 'Right to Development' contain the whole controversy between Socialism and Chauvinism, and can be used by the Jingo parties-not only Herr Michaelis, but Count Westarp and Herr Dietrich Schäfer and all the Ueberannexionisten to cover their war aims. There is but one word that can draw a clear line between peace and imperialism

* it is the right of self-determination for all peoples. That word is missing in the Reichstag's pronouncement. Not only is it missing, but its place is taken by phrases which leave the door open to all kinds of veiled annexations, economic and other; and instead of clinching the matter by a demand for international free trade, the Reichstag demands the 'freedom of the seas.' Listen to Haase on that:

"What do you mean by "the freedom of the seas"? Before the war our fleet, in its brilliant expansion, sailed proudly

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"The demand made in the threefold declaration of the pacifists closed with the sentence: 'Unless the Reichstag insists on disarmament as part of a general peace program, its ostensible intentions will assuredly-and justifiably-be misinterpreted abroad.' The reception of the report of July 19 abroad proves the justice of these words. *** At first a profound impression was made, and all over Europe men breathed more freely. ** * In Germany and in every country a change was wrought under our very even the fiercest anti-German writers changed their tone a little * and everywhere men began to see light through the darkness of war. But these hopes were utterly destroyed by the issue of the Ministerial crisis. Bethmann Hollweg fell, not before the new Block, (Centre, People's Party, and majority Socialists,) but before the sweeping attack of the Right, reinforced by all the elements of reaction in German society. He went, followed by the tears of the Left. * * *Bethmann fell before the onset of reaction. Tied hand and foot by his entourage-those serried ranks of reactionaries whose voice always has the last word in our affairs-he was powerless to make progress. And Michaelis

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**? He steps into office with the benediction of these gentlemen, hailed as the trusted agent of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, and his speech bears the hallmark of the approval of the High Command. * *The army has won; and, politically, we know what 'the army means. The manner in which the crisis

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has been solved is a manoeuvre * and even if half a dozen parliamentarians were made Ministers, the essence of the system remains absolutely unchanged. * * We are not one inch nearer a parliamentary régime.

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"Dr. Michaelis is not a parliamentary Chancellor * * he is the hope of the stern, unbending Tories * * and his declaration that German war aims could be realized within the limits of the majority resolution was but an empty favor (ein Blumensträusschen) thrown to the new bloc, which only made the resolution itself ring the more hollow. It is depressing to realize this, and we cannot be surprised that the promised jubilation fell flat. Let us acknowledge that the bourgeois parties have progressed in adopting the policy of the resolution * * * but we must also confess, with pain, that for Social Democrats it is a miserable compromise. Coalitions always lead to compromise, and, as is well known, I am not an uncompromising opponent of political coalitions. But this coalition means, not compromise, but the betrayal of our Socialist faith and the desertion of well-tried Socialist comrades. It throws doubt on the good faith of the German people.

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The Real Enemy of Peace

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"In the Chancellor's speech, security and guarantees figure largely. * * Security is, in this war, the greatest of all questions; it appears in every speech of friend and foe alike * * * but it can only be found in a radical change of the State systems and in the uprooting of militarism. One accident or another may bring hostilities to an end * but there can be no enduring peace between the nations as long as militarism holds sway. And one of the causes which has given this question such prominence has been the capitulation of German Socialists to militarism. * * *

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"The formation of the bloc with the Centre and the People's Party does not

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alter this, but rather emphasizes it * for the framers of the resolution have shown their anxiety not to arraign German militarism. * * Here, if nowhere else, we had to say No! And in saying it we run no risk of being misunderstood, for our attitude is clearly defined in the memorial which Haase gave to the DutchScandinavian Peace Committee on our behalf, and in the resolution which the Independent Socialists tabled in the Reichstag in the following form:

The Reichstag seeks a peace without annexations of any kind or indemnities, based on the right of self-determination of all peoples.

It demands the restoration of Belgium and compensation for all the wrongs done to her.

The Reichstag demands the immediate initiation of peace negotiations on the basis of this program: an international agreement for general disarmament, freedom of international trade as well as unrestricted international intercourse; an international agreement for the protection of workmen from exploitation; recognition of the equal rights for all the inhabitants of any State, irrespective of sex, race, speech or religion; protection of national minorities; an international tribunal for compulsory arbitration.

For the execution of this peace program and for the attainment of peace, the immediate raising of the state of siege is the most urgent prerequisite. Equally indispensable is the complete democratization of the whole constitution and government of the Empire and its constituent States, which can only find a final and sure issue in the creation of the social republic.

"Let any one compare the true mind of socialism, thus clearly and succinctly set forth, with the Reichstag resolution and then bethink himself how differently German Social Democracy would stand before the world today, how much nearer it would have come to an understanding with the Socialist-Labor Parties of other countries, and thus to the end of the war, if the resolution I have just quoted had been backed by the united force of all its representatives, one hundred strong, in the German Reichstag."