First Secretary of the CC of Communist Party, Turkey (KP), soL columnist ,Kemal Okuyan wrote a noteworthy article on October 16, 2016, on the historical roots of the imperialist crisis that led to the betrayal of Social Democracy and the First World War, making analogy with today's crisis-hit world sliding in a chaotic atmosphere.
Nationalism and class reality from 1914 to 2016
It was the year of 1914; the First World War seemed to be only a matter of time. While the time for imperialists to settle the scores was approaching with a flourish of trumpets, a Yugoslavian nationalist fired bullets hitting Ferdinand, the Austrian Archduke, so as to accelerate history.
Europe was the center of gravity of the war that became almost unavoidable, and the working class was the only force that could stop a war in Europe.
The center of the working class movement was Germany, the rising imperialist country at the time. Enjoying millions of votes, over a million members and thousands of media organs, the Social Democratic Party [the SPD] was a “quasi-state” party. Communists did not break with the social democratic tradition yet, and Marxism was expressing itself within the social democratic parties all over the world.
Most people believed that the war could be prevented by the international worker movement organized within the Second International. Germany and France, the two neighbouring countries which would definitely be positioned in opposite blocks, were also leading the worker movement. Well, the Germans were hegemonic and dominating the movement, but the total volume of the workers’ organizations in both countries were adequately widespread to fill humanity with hope. Furthermore, since the trumpets of war had been blown, the German and French social democrats were visiting each other, and shouting arm-in-arm: “We will not shoot our fellows!”
However, it was omitted that the German Party had developed such “theories” that would legitimize colonialism in previous years, that it linked its future to the rise of the German state, that it properly –slightly but immorally- established the relationship between the working class’ existing rights and the German economy which was devouring the new sources, and that, rather than a revolutionary party, it was transformed into a hormone-injected lobby counselling the capitalist establishment. The others were neither different.
Administrators of “quasi-state” parties felt that they would lose their priorities and prestigious seats in parliaments if they did not shoot each other. Majority of them had worker origins; who were pulled from workplaces and put into trade unions or party offices, confined to professionalism, and far from the sense of mercy and wisdom. Parliaments passed pro-war resolutions one after another. Some hands were raising on behalf of “holy values” on the right side of parliaments, while some others were raising in favour of “liberties” on the left side. The boss and the worker were united for the “homeland”. The German worker was to shoot the French worker for the sake of the “homeland”!
They did. Hundreds of thousands killed each other. A handful of revolutionaries, who rejected to be a bystander on this massacre, were first expelled from the social democratic parties, and then were put behind bars.
We always say, “Nationalism is a class collaboration”; the most disgraceful, ignominious and bloody example of this reality appeared in 1914. The significance of the distinction between patriotism and surrendering to the bloodsucking scoundrels of the homeland appeared so explicitly for the first time.
The German hegemons’ account was apparent: economy was increasingly growing, thus new markets and sources of raw materials were necessary; for the rivalry with Britain, it was required to spoil the bargaining power of the working class that had increasingly escalated the labour costs in previous years; it was necessary to hinder the society’s search for an egalitarian system, and to unite the Germans around a single ideal. They might venture on a war.
The German social democrats were definitely aware of this kind of reasoning and how the crisis of capitalism turned war into an inevitable phenomenon. However, they made way for war instead of waging a struggle to destroy the system as the only possible way of resisting the existing reality. If Germany won, they would also win!
The Tsarist Russia was fighting as well. A part of the Russian workers and almost all of the peasantry were sure of the fact that Tsar would refresh his beloved servants in the event of victory. Such a great prize as Istanbul was also pledged.
The ravenous poor were massacring each other so as to line the rich classes’ pockets.
At the very beginning of the war, a rare voice was shouted from the same Russia, adopting an explicit attitude towards this disgrace. Having always been merciless in polemics, Lenin almost went crazy before the betrayal of international worker movement. He sparked not only his rage but also his intellectual talents completely against the betrayal in question. He explicitly revealed the reasons of the war, showing how social democracy decayed inwardly. Indeed, he penned Imperialism by virtue of this motivation.
Indicating to the fact that the current war in September 1914 turned the working class’attention away from the inner political crisis, shattering the class unity and its vanguard political organization, he was trying to prevent the war from being considered a geopolitical arm wrestling between the “big forces”.*
Well, imperialists started a bloody combat; still, the monopolies were extremely making profit in Germany, Italy, France, and Britain; strikes were banned in the name of homeland and nation, wages were cutting down, public sources were allocated to this militarist delirium, almost every sector designated itself in accordance to the epoch of war. Food monopolies were pouring canned foods and chocolate bars to the fronts, textile industry was sending military coats, and weapon industry was providing ammunition. As for finance capital… Some sources read that banks were making profit ten thousand $ per one killed soldier!
What is the point of uttering all these realities today?
I note all these to remind that every strategy seeking for laying together the working class and capital one way or another at any level would be accomplice to the historical crime that I have summed up above.
Those, who think that the contradiction of labour and capital should be swallowed today for the sake of democracy, liberty, laïcisme, and national interests, should know that the arguments of those who acted with the same logic in Germany or France in 1914 were not less “persuasive”. The French argued that their liberty was under the danger of the German despotism, and were talking about the liberation of the peoples of the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Germans, on the other hand, set forth that they joined a battle of life-and-death on behalf of civilization against the reactionary Russian regime.
Everyone had a reasonable excuse for having lined up behind his/her boss.
Some may object, “But Turkey is not an imperialist country”.
Here I will not dwell on the debate on imperialism. Becoming imperialist, however, is intrinsic to entire capitalist countries as a tendency; the Turkish capitalists’ greed, passion of profit, and hostility towards the people are no less than that of the warmongering maniac monopolies of 1914.
All the practices and bloody adventures witnessed yesterday in the Caucasus and the Balkans, and in Syria and Iraq today have not only served the interests of the leading imperialist countries, they have also satisfied the Turkish capitalist class’ concern for new sources of investment, market and energy on the other hand.
The assertion, “Should our boss win, then the working class wins”, has been refuted throughout history. Notwithstanding that the capitalist class employs a small portion of richness in order to acquire a small section of the labourers, the welfare of the section in question has never been permanent even in the richest countries. Moreover, millions of people out of that small minority are stuck on everlasting poverty, unemployment, and heavy working conditions.
Big monopolies have reached incredible profit rates in the AKP’s Turkey, while real wages have been reducing continuously. What fails to the working class’ share from the bosses’ deposit boxes is the obligation of respecting the “national will”. Today’s national will is the same as that of 1914; nationalism is one of the most influential weapons of the exploiting classes.
As we have said, patriotism is the will of purging our beloved country of exploiters, thieves and parasites.
*Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 21, p. 25
