Abstract

German Socialism drifted towards the whirlpool in 1914 in a vessel straining with contradictions. In internal matters the SPD paid lip service to Marxist doctrine but was, in its day to day operations, profoundly revisionist. It had long since effected a compromise with the Bismarckian state. In foreign affairs the party was pacifist but had no plan to preserve the peace. It cherished the international solidarity of the proletariat but would not use force to preserve it. It deplored the militarism of German foreign policy but did not see that the state, to which Socialists no less than Conservatives were deeply attached, could not be defended with pacifist gestures. Its ideology hobbled its patriotism, while its investments, other material interests and radiant political prospects made it a party of “irresolute Marxists.” The SPD was the Hamlet of international socialism.

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