II.

There is no way out of Imperialism for Capitalism.

There is no salvation for the proletariat through Imperialism.

Imperialist Capitalism has divided the nations of the world into two groups to fight for the mastery of the earth.

Three powerful nations—Germany, England, and the United States—have the leadership of these two groups.

There is no hope of a peaceful settlement of this struggle, for all three nations, and all the countries allied with them, want world power for one of themselves, or for the group to which they belong.

There is no means of deciding the issue but war.

The bourgeoisie, the reformists, and the social-patriots seek a settlement, but their solutions have no real value, and serve only to blind the workers and keep them in subjection. A Court of Compulsory Arbitration, a League of Nations, Disarmament, the Right of Self-Determination for all nationalities, Democracy—neither these nor any of the other petty little proposals put for ward by these groups can extricate Capitalism from the contradictions into which it has fallen. From the mass of surplus wealth which it heaps up; from the desire for expansion which is the result of this accumulation; from the conquest of foreign markets which it must make; from the wars that must result; from the self-destruction that will follow from that warfare: from these there is no escape for Capitalism.

The proletariat will not be able to bear the strain of the struggle. They will be forced to revolt in order to escape from the slaughter and oppression.

And they can only escape Imperialism by destroying Capitalism.

Their revolt, then, is the necessary Revolution against World Capitalism, the Social-Revolution of the World-Proletariat, the World Revolution.