On Imperialist War. Selected Writings: 1

This volume is a collection of Lenin’s writings on the crucial question of the position of revolutionary Marxists towards war and, more specifically, in relation to the First World War. When the war broke out in 1914, the Socialist International betrayed its own anti-war resolutions and gave wholehearted support to the imperialist slaughter. Lenin started a battle, against the stream, to defend the working-class principles of internationalism, explaining that the war was an imperialist one and therefore the main enemy of the workers was at home. War eventually gave way to revolution and ultimately to the foundation of a new, Communist International. Lenin’s writings on the struggle against the imperialist war are a vital resource for revolutionary activists today. This is the first of a series of thematic collections of Lenin’s writings by Wellred Books, published to mark the centenary of his death in 2024.

Contents

21 chapters

• Note on Dates
• Introduction
• 1907
• 1914
• 1915
• Socialism and War
• The Draft Resolution of the Left Wing at Zimmerwald
• Revolutionary Marxists at the International Socialist Conference, 5-8 September 1915
• 1916
• Proposals Submitted by the Central Committee of the RSDLP to the Second Socialist Conference at Kienthal
• The Junius Pamphlet
• To the Workers Who Support the Struggle Against the War and Against the Socialists Who Have Sided With Their Governments
• How To Achieve Peace (Fourth ‘Letter from Afar’)
• Report at a Meeting of Bolshevik Delegates to the All-Russia Conference of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies
• The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution (April Theses)
• Resolution of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(B)
• Seventh (April) All-Russia Conference of the RSDLP(B)
• Appendices
• Resolution of the Seventh International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart
• Timeline
• Glossary