The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 1, 1925, Page 7

o “The idea becomes power when it pene- trates the masses.” —Karl Marx. SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT THE DAILY WORKER. SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1925 eepe 290 SECOND SECTION This magazine supple ment will ‘appear every Saturday in The Daily Worker. : |The Stabilization of Capitalism By N. BUCHARIN, Below we publish from Com- tade’s Bucharin’s report on “The Present Situation and the Policy of the Party,” at the Sixth Union Con- ference of the Russian Leninist Young Communist League, the in- troductory. section, which deals with the international situation. ae * : N analyzing the international situa- tion, I must dwell on the question of the stabilization of capitalism. First of all we must explain whit» we differ from all theoreticians, econ- omists and politicians of the Secoud Socialist International. When they speak of the stabilization of capital- ism (Hilferding and many who blind- ly follow him in Germany, Austria, etc., are typical in this respect) they describe the present period more o: less as follows: the revolution whicb resulted from the war is, in its na- ture, no proletarian revolution and is altogether a peculiar kind of revolu, tion. It is, as the menshevik Dar says, a military species of revolution. Now the excitement has subsided; Russia which has lived thru the mil itary revolution, is being reestablish- ed, according to their opinion, on the basis of bourgeois conditions, and: a new cycle of sounder capitalist de- velopment is beginning. In the most important capitalist countries, things are again--running. on smooth lines capitalism’ is flourishing once more ~ “ 4 “the curve: of «capitalist development Ss we understand some is escending and capitalism is assum- ing new forms ILFERDING maintains that the Marxist assumption that the de velopment of capitalism is inevitably accompanied by shedding of blood. should be done away with and that peaceful forms of understanding be- tween the great powers are possible Thus we are entering on a greet period of world history with a muck greater advance and much wider de- velopment of capitalist conditions than before the war. This is the thev- “retical conception which the theorets cians of the Second International con: nect with the idea of the stabilize tion of capitalism . When we speak of the stabilization of capitalism, thing quite different. We do not in any way repudiate our assertion that . capitalism has entered on the epoch of its decay. We only state that’in the course of this epoch there will be periods of ebb and flow, periods of decay and periods of expansion of cap- italism. In one country capitalisia will advance, im another recede. It will present a very variegated aspect. | It will be different in ‘the various parts of the globe and - will change with the times. . It would be wrong to imagine that capitalism will necessarily decline at the same rate in every country. ing the last few years capitalism has ‘declined, but now the picture has changéd. In all European countries capitalism was a short time ago on - the declifie, but it is now beginning te raisé its - head again. We say: in the first place, this phe nomenon is a temporary one and in the second place it is not to be soan everywhere. It-does not embrace the whole extent of capitalist conditions, but only some countries in which thy crisis of capitalism has been partice larly acute. This means that when we speak of the stabilization of capital ism, we understand a comparative stabilization, REDLESS to say, this point of view is diametrically opposed to 2 that shared by the theorists of the Second International. The theorists of the Second International maintain taore or less the following: thiuout the whole world, capitalism which hos recovered from its wounds, is udvane ing -uninterruptedly forwards, We however, say that capitalism on th: whole is even now in a period of de- cay. Only in a single section of the front, in which the affairs of capital- ism were in a very bad way, have conditions improved. But this is all. It is not difficult to demonstr: Las that the deliberations of the theoris of the Second International ure stiayply contrary to the facts. In all countrics of the world, an increase of arma- The Second (Socialist) International and Ourselves. do away with the Marxist assumption that there will always be war.” And ibey say this when under our voryr «yes two wars are proceeding. in China and in Africa. We have at pres «Ol 2 whole series of very deep-seated wnflicts aud wo have two wars. in these conflicts “ud wars capital ‘sxe is showing its most lJoathsome sides. TL is carrying on an imperialist policy of plunder which will lead to collisions and seroius conflicts and will inevitably result in a second world war. Therefore the menshevist the- ory as to a peaceful stage in the de- velopment pletely nonsensical, of capitalism is a com-| deceptive, men- | can anyone say that~capitalism | is no German navy and th@iGernfan bourgeoisie has had its fangs drawn; therefore it hisses with a toothless mouth and preaches virtue: “Oh, how disgracefully the entente is behaving in China!” OW as regards England. The cap- italist regime is still in force there. But the working class is there also now beginning to make its appear- ance as a fairly strong revolutionary force. Further, take into consideration a whole series of colonial ferments in Egypt and other countries. P Is all this a pre-war picture? low as dacious and rotten theory, which is/a firmer foothold than ‘before the Breaking Its Chains | ments and preparations for new wars are taking place. OT long ago. a proposition was * made at the Conference of the Limitation of Armaments called by was te restrict the use of bacteriolog- ‘cal war, ic. to institute a campaign against the use of bomDs filled witb cholera and other plague bacilli and all kinds of other good things (laugh contradictory to facts, AN it possibly be said that ‘the present situation is similar to that which preceded the war?) This ~is simply nonsense! Before the war we had czarist Russia. Now we have Soviet Russia. In China, where there are 430 millions inhabitants, we have a colossal movement which is receiv- ing\ spiritual nourishment from ts. A very eminent*German professor open- ly states that he wishes god would give every bourgeois government as much influence with its own people as have Comrade Karachan and tho Soviet embassy in ‘Peking. Thru its correct national policy,’ the. ‘Soviet Union has roused the greatest: sym- pathy for our country among the. enor- mous number of the Chinese ple. Was there anything similar to this be Balire: thie wise we hed a iverd bore erful Germany. Germany and Russia were the incorporation of the inter- national gendarmerie. At present there united bloc against us. If, events in China continue to devilop, {t ig extremely likely that the! “im- perialists, seeing themselves seriously war? It is true, things have apparently im- proved in Germany, but in China there is a great commotion, but war is be- ing carried on in Morocco. England has issued victorious from the Ger- man war, but on the other hand its working class has begun to get a move on. Draw the balance, and we shail see what kind of a stabilization you will have. So you see that stabiliza- tion is of an extremely relative and extremely conditional character, Among the questions of interna- tional relationships present of interest, there must be mentioned the question of the united front of the imperialists against our- selves. OU know that a srian fp short time ago, a munications speared in tie pers to*the-effect that the nin powers are preparing for a general attack against us. They spoke of the demand that the Communist Interna- tional should be expelled from the Soviet Union, of the economic block- ade and so on. An English squadron is to visit the Baltic in order to show how formidable it is. You know many. other things as England’s activity in Afghanistan, Persia, Turkey, Rouma- |nia, -etc., not to mention the confer- -erice of representatives of the general staffs of the Baltic countries whick took place a short time ago. To put it_briefly, they are feeling our pulse in order to ascertain how weak or how ‘strong we are. The campaign against us was es- pecially intensified in connection with the explosion in the cathedral of Sofia and in connection with the terrible, absolutely unpreeedented persecutions which were let loose on mci Communist Party in Bu possibility of united action against us could be felt in the air. It cannot be said that an end has yet been put to this activity. At the first suitable op- portunity the capitalist powers may inflict a whole number of horrors on us. That this has not happened so far is due to the fact that many states have more troubles than they know howto deal with. Do you not think that China is:a pretty hard nut for England to crack? Do you think that Morocco is a trifle for France? You know however, co: things occur in history, sume cause, acting in the leads at one stagé to one sult and at another stage to complete- ly the ‘Teverse result, aggravation of conditions in China has up to now shattered the however, | threatened, will proceed against us in a united front. AH must know that we are not con- cerned in any “maneuvers” and that we desire peace at all costs, which are at~-