Translated by: Juan R. Fajardo,
2016.
Source of the text: Translated from Historia de la
crisis mundial, in Obras Completas, volume 8, https://www.marxists.org/espanol/mariateg/oc/historia_de_la_crisis_mundial/index.htm
Editorial Note: This text is available in print as
part of: José Carlos Mariátegui,
History of the World Crisis and Other
Writings, Marxists Internet Archive Publications (2017); ISBN
978-0-692-88676-2.
Author’s Notes:
War literature. The press, martial instrument. Its toxic function. Its character as a capitalist instrument. Its lack of high moral directions. The myth of war of Civilization against Barbarism. “The novel ends; history begins,” said Bernard Shaw. In tempo di guerra piú bugie che terra.
Economic causes of the war: development of British industrialism and the development of German industrialism. The economic war between England and Germany. The struggle for markets, for colonies. Effects of protectionism in the European countries’ economies. The role of international finance. Capitalist groups’ rivalries. Then as now, a policy of economic co-operation and solidarity could have avoided the catastrophe. Demography has an important place in the origins of the war. Adriano Tilgher’s words: page 106 of The World Crisis[1]. In one century the European population went from 180 to 450 millions. Industrialism, stimulus for population growth. Reduction in the three causes of depopulation: plague, hunger, war. Germany, cut-off, could not feed 70 million inhabitants. Italy could not remain neutral.
Political causes: The process of the war’s causes, according to Bernard Shaw. The traditional policy and position of England, an island power. The development of Germany’s naval power. England, France, and Belgium have an understanding. The Franco-Russian alliance. Anglo-French secret military intelligence. The violation of Belgian neutrality saved England from embarrassment. But there is information and antecedents which show the type of agreement which exists between England and France. If England had truly wished to avoid the war, says Shaw, it would have needed only to announce that it would fight alongside the nation which was attacked. The hypothesis of a noose, of a trap. More believable is the hypothesis of the impossibility of the English government’s revealing its military agreement with France. Thus, from this point of view, the war turns out to be a consequence of French diplomacy.
Another cause: French revanchism, German Deutschland über alles. European nationalism, in short. Psychology of the French petty bourgeoisie and of the German bureaucracy. Germany felt dispossessed next to the privileged nations. Poincaré. The Kaiser. The Tsar. Lloyd George’s words in the British Parliament; page 39 of Caillaux’s book.[2]
Another cause: armed peace. The balance of power. There existed in Europe a flammable atmosphere.
The diplomatic cause: the assassination of the Austrian heir. The war could have
broken out earlier. In the instance of the Russo-Japanese War and of the Agadir
incident of 1912. Words from Viviani to Rapoport: page 33 of the latter’s book.
Contrast of capitalist organization. It needs international unity as a condition
of life and promotes nationalism in opposition to class struggle. How a people
is moved to war. The novel, Clarté.[3]
Absolute war and relative war. War of nations and war of armies. The myth of democratic war. The direction of public opinion in England, in Italy, Austria, and Russia, insofar as there was no ideal which could unite the people behind their respective governments’ military enterprises.
The behavior of the socialist parties and of the syndicalist organizations. The Second International’s position. The Stuttgart and Basel declarations. The technical issue of how to avoid the war was left to the Vienna Congress which was to meet in 1914. Before then, the war arrived. Müller’s mission in France. The death of Jaurès. Gustave Hervé’s case.
Above the conflict. The manifesto of the 93 German intellectuals. The countermanifesto by Nicolai the physiologist, Einstein the physicist, Buek the philosopher, Foerster the astronomer – the latter surprised by the 93 intellectuals. Romain Rolland.
Let the proletariat mull over the causes of this great tragedy. Let it think
about how a few men and a few interests have been able to unleash a war which
has caused fifteen million dead, which has sown Europe with hatreds, which has
destroyed so much economic wealth, and which has deleteriously poisoned the
moral atmosphere of Europe. And, let the proletariat tell itself if it is
worthwhile to rebuild capitalist society, bourgeois society, so that in forty or
fifty years, perhaps sooner, the world will again be lit up in another
conflagration and another slaughter takes place.
_________________
[1] Adriano Tilgher, La crisi mondiale e saggi critici di Marxismo e Socialismo. Bologna, 1921. - Trans.
[2] Likely a reference to Joseph Caillaux, Où va la France, où va l'Europe?, Éditions de la Siréne, Paris, 1922. - Trans.
[3] Henri Barbusse, Clarté, Librarie Ernest Flammarion, Paris, 1919. - Trans.