A keen observer of U.S. politics, Lenin knew of and respected Debs since he became a figure in the U.S. Socialist movement. Debs’ internationalism and anti-war positions were pointed to by Lenin in his own fight with social-chauvinism and social-imperialists. And while it is true that Debs remained with the Socialist Party, he–to the end of his life–admired and respected Lenin–and a defender of the Soviet Union and its accomplishments. Trachtenberg, who knew Debs and was Lenin’s publisher, on their limited, but real mutual respect.

‘Lenin Speaks of Debs’ by Alexander Thrachtenberg from The Communist. Vol. 14 No. 6. June, 1940.

FOLLOWING a meeting of the International Socialist Commission held on February 8, 1916, in Berne, Switzerland, an international meeting dealing with the imperialist war which was then raging in Europe was held at which representatives of various Socialist Parties spoke. Lenin, a member of the Commission, was one of the speakers at that meeting–representing the Russian Bolsheviks. He spoke in German and the speech was printed in the official organ of the Swiss Socialist Party, the Berner Tagwacht (Berne Guardian). The translation is from the original German.

Lenin quotes from an article by Eugene Debs which appeared in the Appeal to Reason, a popular weekly Socialist paper which was published in Girard, Kansas, and which had a wide circulation among the city workers and the farmers throughout the country. Some issues of the Appeal reached, in circulation, as high as a million copies. Lenin referred on several occasions to the Appeal to Reason, especially to its popular character and large circulation.

The article which was published in the September 11 issue of 1915, and which Lenin made historic by quoting from it at the international anti-war meeting at Berne, had its own history. During the years 1915-16, while the first imperialist war was raging in Europe, the American press carried on a great campaign for military preparedness. Already then the imperialist interests were working to bring the United States into the war on the side of Allied imperialism, even as they are doing today. The militant Appeal to Reason was engaged in a fight against the preparedness campaign. It published a mass edition of the paper, calling it the “Jingo” edition, which it advertised widely several weeks before in order to secure the maximum circulation. Warren and Wayland, who managed the paper, were a great team with a genius in finding popular issues and securing mass support for the “Little Old Appeal” as it was affectionately known among the masses at the time.

Gene Debs was a constant contributor to the Appeal and it was natural that he should write an article against war for the “Jingo” edition of the paper which was issued on August 28, 1915. The article was entitled “Never Be a Soldier.” In it he characterized the soldier as “the hired assassin of his capitalist master,” and he called upon every worker “never to become a soldier and never to go to war.” These and other expressions in his article were considered by many readers as being pacifist, and many workers wrote to Debs and to the Appeal expressing their disapproval. Debs was very much moved by this criticism; he was always responsive to the reaction of the masses. Two weeks later he published his reply to the criticism in the issue of September 11.

At the very beginning of his reply, he states the reason for his writing the article:

“Since my characterization of the soldier in the Jingo edition, I have been asked if I was opposed to all war and if I would refuse to be a soldier and to fight under any circumstances, and to make my answer through the Appeal to Reason.”

He continued by giving the following answer:

“No, I am not opposed to all war, nor am I opposed to fighting under all circumstances, and any declaration to the contrary would disqualify me as a revolutionist. When I say I am opposed to war I mean ruling class war, for the ruling class is the only class that makes war. It matters not to me whether this war be offensive or defensive, or what other lying excuse may be invented for it, I am opposed to it, and I would be shot for treason before I would enter such a war. If I were in Congress, I would be shot before I would vote a dollar for such a war.”

Two years later, when American imperialism forced the United States to enter the war, Debs repeated his uncompromising stand against imperialist war and for that, at the age of 65, he was sentenced to the Federal penitentiary for ten years under the “New Freedom” administration of Woodrow Wilson.

Lenin quoted two paragraphs from the Debs article. The last sentence of the first paragraph reads in full in the original as follows: “I refuse to obey any command to fight from the ruling class, but I will not wait to be commanded to fight for the working class.”

The last sentence of the second paragraph reads in full in the original as follows: “In that war I am prepared to fight in any way the ruling class makes it necessary, even to the barricades.”

Following the part of the article which Lenin quoted in his speech, Debs said: “There is where I stand and where I believe the Socialist Party stands, or ought to stand, on the question of war.” The history of the position of the leadership of the Socialist Party on the question of war and similar burning problems affecting the masses of the working people during and since the World War is well known. The emergence and growth of the Communist Party was a result of this.

In France, Leon Blum and Paul Faure; in England, Clement Attlee and Herbert Morrison have summoned their parties to service in behalf of French and British imperialism just as the leaders of the same parties did twenty-five years ago. Five Labor Party leaders enter the British Cabinet and Attlee becomes Assistant Prime Minister. To explain away this position to the workers, Harold J. Laski, ideological leader of the Labor Party, is even ready to stake his “Marxist” scholarship and predict that British capitalism will abdicate immediately after it has defeated its imperialist rivals and that “socialism in our time” will be at last realized!

Only the heroic Communist Parties in France and England, as well as in Germany, remain loyal to their socialist ideals and are bringing to the masses the slogans of opposition to imperialism and its criminal designs. As against the few Karl Liebknechts at the beginning of the last war, thousands of them are today fighting to prevent the war from spreading and to bring the carnage to an end altogether.

American Social-Democracy in common with their brethren abroad is today whooping it up for the second imperialist war, calling for a class peace and aggression against the Soviet Union.

Forgotten are the St. Louis Resolution, Debs, Ruthenberg and scores of other Socialists who languished in jail for their uncompromising anti-war stand in 1917-18. Under pressure of the St. Louis Resolution, even the Centrist Hillquit was compelled publicly to refuse to buy war bonds during his New York mayoralty campaign in the summer of 1917; this must be bringing horrible memories to the “Socialist” advance guard of the war party in the United States.

Remembering Debs’ internationalist stand during the last war and his militant socialism throughout his active political career in the labor movement, can anyone doubt that his tradition belongs today to the Communist Party?

The complete speech made by Lenin at Berne is included in Volume XIX of his Collected Works which will be published shortly, by International Publishers. The volume contains the writings of Lenin during 1916 and the first part of 1917, up to the February Revolution. The translation of this volume was made by the late M.J. Olgin. With the Lenin writings already available on the first imperialist war, Volume XIX of the Collected Works will be an addition to the rich literary heritage he left to the world working class.

There are a number of journals with this name in the history of the movement. This Communist was the main theoretical journal of the Communist Party from 1927 until 1944. Its origins lie with the folding of The Liberator, Soviet Russia Pictorial, and Labor Herald together into Workers Monthly as the new unified Communist Party’s official cultural and discussion magazine in November, 1924. Workers Monthly became The Communist in March,1927 and was also published monthly. The Communist contains the most thorough archive of the Communist Party’s positions and thinking during its run. The New Masses became the main cultural vehicle for the CP and the Communist, though it began with with more vibrancy and discussion, became increasingly an organ of Comintern and CP program. Over its run the tagline went from “A Theoretical Magazine for the Discussion of Revolutionary Problems” to “A Magazine of the Theory and Practice of Marxism-Leninism” to “A Marxist Magazine Devoted to Advancement of Democratic Thought and Action.” The aesthetic of the journal also changed dramatically over its years. Editors included Earl Browder, Alex Bittelman, Max Bedacht, and Bertram D. Wolfe.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/communist/v19n06-jun-1940-The-Communist-OCR.pdf