Debs with praise and respect for the defiant internationalism and anti-militarist stand of Karl Liebknecht, sentenced to prison for leading a 1916 May Day demonstration against the war.

‘Karl Liebknecht—Germany’s Conquering Hero’ by Eugene V. Debs from The National Rip-Saw. Vol. 13 No. 11. January, 1917.

Karl Liebknecht in prison as expatriate is a more formidable foe to the German Kaiser and to Prussian Junkerdom than he was.when he sat as representative in the Reichstag. From the beginning of the war to the present hour he has held the most trying position of any of the Socialist leaders in Germany and to his lasting honor be it recorded that never for a moment has he weakened under persecution or shown the white feather in the face of peril. He is the one Socialist leader in Germany who has stood boldly and without quibbling or evasion for the true international position, and for this he is as much hated by the Socialist dough-faces who, unfortunately, had the movement in control when the war was declared, as he is by the kaiser and the junkers themselves.

It is in the fire of fierce conflict that true manhood is developed and true leadership vindicated. Karl Liebknecht has proven himself beyond question to be the son of his stern and uncompromising father, whose faith face was set like granite against all compromise.

Since his conviction and incarceration Karl Liebknecht, leader of the revolutionary minority, has maintained his position in the face of the most shameless persecution to which he has been subjected by the government, backed, to their eternal disgrace, by the majority of dough-faces who at the crack of the kaiser’s whip, leapt like hounds into the fray for their (?) fatherland and for the glory of their exploiting masters. It is these milk-and-water reformers who so long masqueraded as Socialists and who showed when the crisis came that they were for the kaiser and the ruling class of Germany first, rather than for the international Socialist movement, who are largely responsible for the present war and entirely responsible for the collapse of the international movement. Had they followed the leadership of Liebknecht and stood their ground squarely as revolutionary Socialists instead of Junker reformers, as internationalists instead of nationalists, as fighters for the working class of the world instead of for the master class of their fatherland, history would have been differently written and the international Socialist movement would today be the most powerful intellectual, economic, political and moral force in the world.

Karl Liebknecht is in the fullest sense the hero not only of Germany but of Europe and of the present war. His clear head, his dauntless spirit and his unconquerable soul shine forth in every attitude he has taken, every word he has uttered, and every act he has performed, and never has his message been more eagerly awaited or his influence been greater than since the kaiser’s attempt to gag him by denouncing him as a traitor and committing him to a felon’s cell.

Yes, Karl Liebknecht, thank God, is a traitor, a glorious traitor whose name will shine with splendor in the history of the future. He is a traitor to the savage kaiser, to heartless junkerdom, and to the whole gang of ruling parasites and bloodthirsty militarists who have despoiled the nation, enslaved its toilers, and are now soaking the earth with their blood.

Every Socialist and indeed every believer in democracy and peace instead of militarism and war should read this inspiring message recently sent out by Karl Liebknecht from behind his prison bars in spite of the strict censorship imposed upon him:

“The charge of treason against an international Socialist is sheer nonsense, for he recognizes no belligerent power to aid, and he opposes every capitalist government alike. His ideal is to work in co-operation with the Socialists of every land to oppose alike every imperial power with his full strength. This is the sole idea.

“He fights in the name of the international proletariat against an international capitalist class. He fights as best he can, and at all times, even in his own country. He combats at home the representatives of that opposing class which is the enemy of his class in every land.

“And in this same way of class struggle against the rulers the classes are arrayed against the war power.

“That is the meaning of the words of Jaures placed at the end of my statement of March, 1915: ‘Class war against the war.’

The Pitiful Farce

“Should the German Socialists combat the English Government, and the English Socialists fight the German Government, it would be worse than a farce. Those who will not fight the enemies of their class in their own land, but seek with sham courage to attack the capitalists of another country with the approval of their own masters, are not Socialists, but pitiful retainers of their own rulers. Such a policy creates war and is not helping the class struggle.

“The international Socialist, of course, has the right to attack foreign capitalists, as he does the capitalists in his own country. But there can always be found enough of that kind of leaders, demagogues, and shams at home, so that every power of attack can be directed against the home government, at least to offset its worst designs.

“Therefore it is not my duty to point out the faults of strangers, but those of the German Government, and it is part of my work to correct as far as I can the false information that has been spread about foreign governments, and to fight error whenever and wherever opportunity affords, for by spreading lies governments keep up the war madness, and by nothing more.

Shuns Arousing War Spirit

“Whenever possible, I have opposed foreign governments in the open, and I did the same at home. But I will never do this when it may result in arousing a war spirit against any nation. “Because of my opposition to the policy of the German Government to support the Czar in his Russian policy I have been attacked by the authorities here for many years. Before the war these ideals of mine were hated by the Prussian representatives in the Reichstag. When the war broke out I was found guilty of just the contrary.

“As part of the recognized international war of the classes the Socialist expects the support of the Socialists of other nations, and he realizes that his Comrades in other lands are pursuing the same course against their capitalist enemies as he does in his country.

“Uncertainty, indecision and compromises that hinder the opposition of these conflicting elements hampers the class war. And it is the task of those who believe in these doctrines to explain this fundamental error and to propagate the opposition of the international Socialist movement against war.”

These are the ringing words of a defiant and uncompromising social revolutionist. He does not quibble or evade, or simply mouth phrases. He toes the mark of duty squarely and every sentence he utters is clean-cut and to the point. He vindicates in fearless terms from behind prison bars the true international position. He is opposed to the war and boldly declares himself the arch-foe of national patriotism. He is for the working class of the world and against the capitalist class of the world. He is not one whit less hostile to the ruling class nor one whit less loyal to the working class of Germany

than to any other nation on earth. That is the true position and the infallible test of international socialism.

Karl Liebknecht is against war, against militarism, and against preparedness so far as war and militarism and preparedness have to do with the working class of one country fighting the working class of another country under any pretense whatsoever. He has no patience with and makes no exception of so-called wars of invasion and defense. He knows that these catch-phrases are used by cunning knaves to delude their ignorant dupes and that such wars are without exception capitalist wars and waged for capitalist conquest and for working class subjugation.

It is this position of absolute, uncompromising and eternal hostility to military preparedness and ruling class wars that the international socialist movement is bound to take and maintain at all hazards if it is to recover its lost prestige, vindicate its smirched integrity, and take its historic place in the international struggle of the working class for emancipation.

Karl Liebknecht, heroic minority leader of the present, will be the triumphant majority leader of the German Socialist movement of the future, when it shall have been restored to sanity and to a clear sense of loyalty to its international principles, and in that day he will be most honored by the very ones who are now denouncing him for having stood staunch and true to the cause in its gravest crisis.

The National Ripsaw, a Free-Thinking, Socialist magazine that, in the 1910s, included the O’Hare’s and Debs on its board. The paper under the O’Hare’s was a voice of the Party’s anti-war wing and became a main literary vehicle for Debs before it, like all of the anti-war Left press, was banned from the postal services. In it’s previous incarnation, The Rip-Saw was an openly racist, exclusionary “Socialist” magazine under editor Seth McCallen from 1903 until 1908 when the paper was taken over by Phil Wagner and the politics of the paper changed. Thereafter it was a leading anti-war voice, changing its name to Socialist Revolution before its banning.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/national-ripsaw/170100-nationalripsaw-v13n11w155.pdf