War gives rise to revolution¶
Core Argument¶
The chapter argues that the Second World War, far from being a mere repetition of 1914-1918, represents a higher stage of the same imperialist contradictions, and that the war itself is now generating the first proletarian uprisings of a new revolutionary epoch. The inglorious fall of Mussolini and the collapse of Italian fascism, followed by the spontaneous formation of workers’ committees (soviets) in Italy, are presented as the opening acts of a chain of revolutions that will sweep Europe. The core narrative thrust is that the war has created a revolutionary conjuncture in which the objective situation is ripening for the overthrow of capitalism, and that only the treachery of reformist leaders has prolonged the crisis.
The chapter draws heavily on the Marxist theory of imperialism, positing that the war was caused by rivalry between the established colonial empires (Britain and France) and the latecomer plunderers (Germany and Italy), with Japan challenging the Anglo-American position in the East. It claims that the primary aim of German imperialism in the present war was to subjugate Europe as a base from which to challenge the United States for world domination. The evidence cited for the shift in the balance of power is the defeat of France, the ruin of Europe, and the bleeding white of Germany and the Soviet Union, leaving American imperialism as the only power likely to emerge strengthened—yet even America, the chapter insists, will not escape the social eruptions that will deny any single power a clear victory.
The text is explicitly polemical, arguing against reformist illusions and the scepticism that had demoralised the labour movement. It contrasts the mass chauvinism that greeted the First World War with the sullen resignation that met the Second, arguing that a generation of experience has raised working-class consciousness. The chapter also polemicises against the idea that any imperialist power can enjoy a stable victory, insisting that the war will give way to civil war and proletarian militarism. It draws historical parallels to the Russian Revolution, treating the Soviet Union as the first breach in capitalist walls, and predicts that the revolution in Germany—once it begins—will unfurl with terrific force, transforming the hub of European reaction into the citadel of the world proletariat. The guerrilla movements in Yugoslavia and Poland are identified as embryonic forms of dual power.