{"id":7418,"date":"2014-08-15T16:41:02","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T16:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=7418"},"modified":"2021-03-21T18:22:09","modified_gmt":"2021-03-21T18:22:09","slug":"one-hundred-years-of-counter-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/15\/one-hundred-years-of-counter-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"One Hundred Years Of Counter-Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kool34 sent us a comment on the\u00a0articles in our recent bulletin on the First World War (<a href=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/09\/emancipation-liberation-special-bulletin-the-centenary-of-the-world-war-i-imperialist-slaughter\/#more-7342\">Emancipation &#038; Liberation Special Bulletin \u2013 The Centenary of the World War I Imperialist Slaughter<\/a>). This comment invited us to read the\u00a0following article by Mark Kosman. We are pleased to draw this to the attention of our\u00a0readers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7423\" src=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/th-14.jpeg\" alt=\"th-14\" width=\"480\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/th-14.jpeg 480w, http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/th-14-300x202.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In 1871, Karl Marx wrote that governments use war as a fraud, a \u201chumbug, intended to defer the struggle of the classes\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">K Marx <cite>The civil war in France<\/cite> (1871) chapter 6: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1871\/civil-war-france\/\"><span class=\"footnote_url_wrap\">http:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1871\/civil-war-france<\/span><\/a>. Marx\u2019s earlier views on war were more ambiguous than this statement, but \u2018The Internationale\u2019, also written in 1871, was very clear about war and includes the lines: \u201cPeace between us, war to the tyrants! Let the armies go on strike.\u201d<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. In 1914, that fraud was so effective that not only most workers, but also most Marxists, supported their respective nation\u2019s rush to war. Ever since then, governments have used war to defer class struggle and prevent revolution. But this strategy cannot last forever.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In all the commemorations for the centenary of World War I, it is unlikely that there will be many references to the huge strike wave that preceded the conflict. But this strike wave, known as the Great Unrest, created considerable insecurity among Britain\u2019s elites. This was especially the case, as these strikes coincided with other disturbing social movements, such as the nationalist upsurge in Ireland and the increasingly violent campaign for women\u2019s suffrage.<\/p>\n<p>By the summer of 1914, workers were mobilising for what the left-reformist commentators, Sydney and Beatrice Webb, called \u201can almost revolutionary outburst of gigantic industrial disputes\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_2');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_2');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_2\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_2\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">B Millman <cite>Managing domestic dissent<\/cite> London 2000, p.36.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. The future prime minister, David Lloyd George, warned that if these industrial disputes coincided with the looming civil war in Ireland then Britain would face \u201cthe gravest [situation] with which any government has had to deal for centuries\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_3');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_3');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_3\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_3\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">P Thompson <cite>The Edwardians<\/cite> London 1992, p.168.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. Another reformist author, HG Wells , claimed that Britain\u2019s wage-earners had \u201cdefinitely decided not to remain wage-earners for very much longer\u201d and he warned of \u201ca series of increasingly destructive outbreaks \u2026 culminating in revolution\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_4');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_4');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_4\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[4]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_4\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">HG Wells <cite>An Englishman looks at the world<\/cite> Charleston 2009, p.60.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>Wells may have overstated what he called the \u201cdrift towards revolution\u201d. But even Basil Thomson, the head of Britain\u2019s political police, the Special Branch, seems to have shared Wells\u2019 fears when he predicted that \u201cunless there was a European war to divert the current [of unrest] we were heading for something very like revolution\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_5');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_5');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_5\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[5]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_5\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">A Hoschchild <cite>To end all wars<\/cite> p70-71; S Hurwitz <cite>State intervention in Britain<\/cite> London 1968, pp.27-57.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the situation in Britain\u2019s empire, the \u201cdrift towards revolution\u201d was certainly real in the Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian empires. Europe\u2019s politicians and media could divert some popular discontent into nationalism, imperialism and masculinist militarism. But this only encouraged a situation in which, when confronted with inter-imperialist war in 1914, politicians on all sides felt unable to back down, fearing what Lloyd George called \u201cnational dishonour\u201d and \u201cshame\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Britain faced no serious threat of invasion in 1914. Nevertheless, having seen the male youth of France and Germany rush to war, Lloyd George was very concerned that the British male should also act like a \u201creal man\u201d, so that Britain would not end up as \u201cthe only land whose children are not prepared to sacrifice themselves for [their nation\u2019s] honour\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_6');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_6');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_6\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[6]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_6\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">D Lloyd George <cite>From terror to triumph<\/cite> Charleston 2010, ppix, 1, 9, 50-57.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> In a similar vein, the prime minister, Herbert Asquith, argued that \u201cno self-respecting man could possibly have repudiated\u201d Britain\u2019s obligation to defend Belgium<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_7');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_7');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_7\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[7]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_7\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">D Welch <cite>Justifying war<\/cite> London 2012, p.98.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_7').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_7', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. Meanwhile, in Germany, kaiser Wilhelm was even more anxious not to be seen as \u2018unmanly\u2019, insisting that \u201cthis time I shall not chicken out\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_8');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_8');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_8\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[8]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_8\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">I Hull <cite>The entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II<\/cite> Cambridge 2004, pp.238, 265.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_8').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_8', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>, while his chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, said that for Germany to have backed down in 1914 would have meant \u201cself-emasculation\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_9');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_9');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_9\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[9]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_9\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">H Afflerbach <cite>An improbable war?<\/cite> Oxford 2007, p.245-50.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_9').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_9', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>For these politicians, this defence of male honour, combined with the defence of their countries\u2019 great power status, was crucial for maintaining respect and authority at home as well as abroad. No British politicians were as explicit as the Prussian conservative leader who said that \u201ca war would strengthen patriarchal order\u201d or the German military leader who said that a war was \u201cdesirable in order to escape from difficulties at home and abroad\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_10');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_10');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_10\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[10]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_10\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">I Hull <cite>The entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II<\/cite> Cambridge 2004, p259; M Neiberg <cite>The World War I reader<\/cite> New York 2006, p.309.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_10').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_10', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. But, when war in Europe seemed inevitable, both Asquith and Churchill immediately saw it as a relief from domestic conflict &#8211; a way to \u201cescape from Irish troubles\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_11');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_11');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_11\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[11]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_11\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">S Hurwitz <cite>State intervention in Britain<\/cite> London 1968, p.42. 1<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_11').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_11', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, working class men also saw war as a way to both assert male honour and to give them a sense of purpose and community without having to make a revolution. Consequently, politicians like Lloyd George soon began enthusing wildly about the \u201cnew patriotism\u201d that was so effectively motivating millions to fight and die for their governments rather than fighting to overthrow them<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_12');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_12');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_12\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[12]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_12\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">D Lloyd George <cite>From terror to triumph<\/cite> Charleston 2010, p.14.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_12').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_12', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this counterrevolutionary strategy could only work as long as governments had a hope of winning the war. Failure to provide this hope, or to provide people with sufficient food, could easily create the conditions for revolution, and, as the war dragged on, working class women started protests and food riots right across Europe. Such protests were particularly effective in Petrograd, where female workers spread the idea of a general strike on International Women\u2019s Day, 1917. On that day, March 8, hundreds of women dragged their fellow male workers onto the streets and in a few days the Russian tsar had abdicated and his regime had collapsed<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_13');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_13');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_13\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[13]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_13\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">See M Kosman, \u2018Is revolution back on the agenda?\u2019: <a href=\"http:\/\/libcom.org\/history\/revolution-back-agenda-mark-kosman\">Is revolution back on the agenda? &#8211; Mark Kosman<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_13').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_13', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<h3>Cynical<\/h3>\n<p>Fearing the spread of what he called a \u201cnew enemy, more dangerous than the Entente: international revolution\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_14');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_14');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_14\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[14]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_14\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">N Hollander <cite>Elusive dove<\/cite> Jefferson 2014, p.173.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_14').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_14', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>, the Austrian emperor, Franz Josef I, immediately proposed ending the war. The German kaiser, however, was determined to keep fighting, fearing that if his government made peace without victory then that would only exacerbate any revolutionary tendencies<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_15');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_15');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_15\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[15]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_15\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">E Ludendorff <cite>The general staff and its problems<\/cite> Vol 2, London 1920, pp.420-26.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_15').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_15', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>Lloyd George was equally concerned about his government making a peace without victory and he even claimed that, if conditions got any worse in Europe, then \u201crevolution in France, England, as well as Germany, was about certain\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_16');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_16');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_16\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[16]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_16\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">B Millman <cite>Pessimism and British war policy, 1916-1918<\/cite> Abingdon 2001, p61.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_16').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_16', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. When mutinies broke out in the French army, the British government then felt compelled to launch the disastrous <em>Passchendaele<\/em> offensive in the hope that more refusals to fight could be \u201caverted by a great [military] success\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_17');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_17');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_17\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[17]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_17\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">D French <cite>The strategy of the Lloyd George coalition<\/cite> Oxford 1995, pp.119-22, 92-93, 146.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_17').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_17', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. So it seems that even if the need to hold back revolution was not a major reason for starting the war, it was an important reason for <em>maintaining<\/em> the slaughter. Indeed, general Douglas Haig was quite explicit about the counterrevolutionary purpose of the <em>Passchendaele<\/em> offensive, when he wrote that, if the Allies could win the war in 1917, \u201cthe chief people to suffer would be the socialists\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_18');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_18');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_18\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[18]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_18\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\"><cite>Ibid<\/cite> pp.92-93, 146.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_18').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_18', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>By 1918, the kaiser\u2019s government was still determined to hold back revolution in Germany, so general Erich Ludendorff launched his own counterrevolutionary offensive. Fortunately, this offensive failed and refusals to fight became so widespread in the German army that Ludendorff called for an immediate armistice to contain any threat that retreating soldiers might \u201ccarry the revolution into Germany\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_19');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_19');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_19\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[19]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_19\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">D Moran, A Waldron (eds) <cite>The people in arms<\/cite> Cambridge 2003, pp.128-29.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_19').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_19', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. Lloyd George then agreed to uphold this armistice, seeing it as far preferable to any risk that \u201cGermany may collapse and Bolshevism gain control\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_20');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_20');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_20\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[20]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_20\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">A Read <cite>The world on fire<\/cite> London 2009, pp.37-38.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_20').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_20', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, this cynical use of both war and peace to counter any threats of revolution was very effective and the workers\u2019 revolutions in Germany and Russia were soon contained and repressed. However, a decade later, the unemployment and austerity of the Great Depression put European revolution back on the agenda. This situation then compelled the German capitalist class to revive the militarism and national unity of 1914 by letting the Nazis take power. Britain and the US still feared competition from a revived German imperialism. But they were hesitant to push their own reluctant populations into a repeat of the 1914-18 land war, with all its mutinies and revolutions. Consequently, they held back from invading France and, instead, prioritised the bombing and blockading of German civilians for much of World War II<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_21');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_21');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_21\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[21]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_21\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">T Ben-Moshe <cite>Journal of Modern History<\/cite> Vol 62, pp.504, 529-36.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_21').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_21', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>By 1945, the two world wars had successfully decimated and redisciplined much of the world\u2019s working class. The US and the Soviet Union then maintained this discipline by keeping the world in a constant state of cold war. However, by the 1960s, once they realised that the cold war was unlikely to lead to a nuclear war, workers became increasingly free of wartime discipline. American soldiers in Vietnam refused to fight and some even killed their own officers. US failure in the war, combined with widespread strikes, as well as black and feminist rebellions, then encouraged a growing anti-capitalist consciousness.<\/p>\n<p>Western governments now had little choice but to roll back state provision and introduce mass unemployment in order to make workers think twice about going on strike. By relaunching the cold war in the 1980s, these governments were also able to rediscipline workers while, at the same time, maintaining investment in industry through massive military spending.<\/p>\n<p>This whole counterrevolutionary strategy was, again, very successful. But it could not last. When the Soviet Union collapsed and the cold war ended, capitalist investors neglected industry in favour of finance. This led inexorably to the crisis of 2008, which in turn led to today\u2019s economic policy of seemingly endless austerity. Such a policy has, so far, been very effective at demoralising and demobilising people. But, without a global confrontation on the scale of the cold war, it has little chance of long-term success<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_22');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_22');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_22\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[22]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_22\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">See Hillel Ticktin\u2019s articles, \u2018Marxist method, working class struggle and capitalist crisis\u2019 (<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/radicalperspectivesonthecrisis\/finance-crisis\/general-theories-of-crisis\/ticktinmarxistmethodworkingclassstruggleandcapitalistcrisis\">Ticktin: &#8220;Marxist Method, Working Class Struggle and Capitalist Crisis&#8221;<\/a>); and \u2018A Marxist political economy of capitalist instability and the current crisis\u2019 (<a href=\"http:\/\/libcom.org\/library\/marxist-political-economy-capitalist-instability-current-crisis-hillel-ticktin\">A Marxist Political Economy of Capitalist Instability and the Current Crisis &#8211; Hillel Ticktin<\/a>).<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_22').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_22', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the 20th century, no government, whether fascist, Stalinist or Thatcherite, could successfully impose austerity on people without also distracting and uniting them through a constant state of war emergency. The cold war was ideal for this. But all attempts to revive the cold war in the 21st century as the \u2018war on terror\u2019 have resulted in failure.<\/p>\n<h3>New great unrest<\/h3>\n<p>Despite the brutality of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, international opposition did deter the US military from bombing people on the scale of the Korean and Vietnam wars. At the same time, however, the US population\u2019s reluctance to sacrifice its soldiers compelled the US military to use a level of violence to protect its personnel that only increased opposition to the American presence. Unable to bomb people into submission or to win their support, US defeat was inevitable.<\/p>\n<p>This defeat later helped to encourage the Arab spring uprisings across the Middle East. Unfortunately, counterrevolutionary repression and civil war have, so far, crushed these uprisings. But the US and other western governments still need to use troops on the ground to stabilise these counterrevolutions, and people\u2019s reluctance to sacrifice any more soldiers makes that an extremely risky proposition. Unable to unite their populations around wars in Iraq, Iran or Syria &#8211; let alone Ukraine &#8211; western politicians are, instead, keen to commemorate the national unity and futile sacrifice of past wars in a desperate attempt to pretend that we really are \u2018all in this together\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>With no concession to any historical truth, Barack Obama has praised the \u201cprofound sacrifice\u201d that Allied soldiers made in 1914-18 \u201cto fight and die for the freedom we enjoy\u201d<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_23');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_23');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_23\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[23]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_23\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Speech made on March 26 2014.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_23').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_23', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. Meanwhile, David Cameron was so fixated on the idea of the \u201csacrifice\u201d that British soldiers \u201cmade for us\u201d that he used the word eight times in one commemoration speech<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_24');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_7418_1('footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_24');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_24\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[24]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_24\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Speech made on October 11 2012. Cameron also repeated the 1914 propaganda lie that British soldiers went to war to counter Prussian \u201catrocities in Belgium\u201d. Such atrocities were all too real, but they were hardly the motive for war and hardly worse than Britain\u2019s use of concentration camps in the Boer War (or her naval blockade which contributed to the deaths of over half a million civilians in World War I). A Downes, <cite>Targeting Civilians in War<\/cite> p. 87.<br \/>\n<br \/>This article was first posted at:- <a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140812204637\/https:\/\/libcom.org\/history\/world-war-one-100-years-counter-revolution-mark-kosman\">World War I and 100 years of counterrevolution &#8211; Mark Kosman<\/a><\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_24').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_7418_1_24', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script>. Fortunately, if Britain, with its strong military traditions, cannot tolerate the loss of 179 soldiers in Iraq, then no western societies are likely to tolerate the \u201csacrifice\u201d of vastly greater numbers in any new global war. Nevertheless, the western ruling classes are still hoping that people will agree to sacrifice their living standards in order to compete with workers in Asia and so, somehow, rejuvenate western capitalism.<\/p>\n<p>Such a sacrifice, such a \u2018race to the bottom\u2019, would be less bloody than the inter-imperialist competition of 1914-18, but no less pointless. As in the early years of the Great War, people will go along with government propaganda for a while, but &#8211; eventually &#8211; they will realise that they are dying for nothing. Then it may only be a matter of time before we see something comparable to that of the Great Unrest. And, this time, our rulers will have serious problems containing any such unrest, because there is no easy way to divert people\u2019s energies into war, as there was in the cold war &#8211; or in the Great War.<\/p>\n<p>The British government\u2019s desperate attempt to revive what Cameron called the \u201cnational spirit\u201d by commemorating the monstrous slaughter of 1914-18 is a good opportunity to expose the real history of capitalism and its counterrevolutionary wars.<\/p>\n<p>See <a href=\"https:\/\/therealww1.wordpress.com\/\">TheRealWW1<\/a> for information about future events and for more anti-war articles.<\/p>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><h3><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_7418_1();\">References<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_7418_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_7418_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/h3><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_7418_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">References<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">K Marx <cite>The civil war in France<\/cite> (1871) chapter 6: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1871\/civil-war-france\/\"><span class=\"footnote_url_wrap\">http:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1871\/civil-war-france<\/span><\/a>. Marx\u2019s earlier views on war were more ambiguous than this statement, but \u2018The Internationale\u2019, also written in 1871, was very clear about war and includes the lines: \u201cPeace between us, war to the tyrants! Let the armies go on strike.\u201d<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_2');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_2\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>2<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">B Millman <cite>Managing domestic dissent<\/cite> London 2000, p.36.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_3');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_3\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>3<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">P Thompson <cite>The Edwardians<\/cite> London 1992, p.168.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_4');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_4\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>4<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">HG Wells <cite>An Englishman looks at the world<\/cite> Charleston 2009, p.60.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_5');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_5\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>5<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">A Hoschchild <cite>To end all wars<\/cite> p70-71; S Hurwitz <cite>State intervention in Britain<\/cite> London 1968, pp.27-57.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_6');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_6\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>6<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">D Lloyd George <cite>From terror to triumph<\/cite> Charleston 2010, ppix, 1, 9, 50-57.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_7');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_7\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>7<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">D Welch <cite>Justifying war<\/cite> London 2012, p.98.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_8');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_8\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>8<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">I Hull <cite>The entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II<\/cite> Cambridge 2004, pp.238, 265.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_9');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_9\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>9<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">H Afflerbach <cite>An improbable war?<\/cite> Oxford 2007, p.245-50.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_10');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_10\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>10<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">I Hull <cite>The entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II<\/cite> Cambridge 2004, p259; M Neiberg <cite>The World War I reader<\/cite> New York 2006, p.309.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_11');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_11\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>11<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">S Hurwitz <cite>State intervention in Britain<\/cite> London 1968, p.42. 1<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_12');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_12\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>12<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">D Lloyd George <cite>From terror to triumph<\/cite> Charleston 2010, p.14.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_13');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_13\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>13<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">See M Kosman, \u2018Is revolution back on the agenda?\u2019: <a href=\"http:\/\/libcom.org\/history\/revolution-back-agenda-mark-kosman\">Is revolution back on the agenda? &#8211; Mark Kosman<\/a>.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_14');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_14\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>14<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">N Hollander <cite>Elusive dove<\/cite> Jefferson 2014, p.173.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_15');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_15\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>15<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">E Ludendorff <cite>The general staff and its problems<\/cite> Vol 2, London 1920, pp.420-26.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_16');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_16\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>16<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">B Millman <cite>Pessimism and British war policy, 1916-1918<\/cite> Abingdon 2001, p61.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_17');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_17\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>17<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">D French <cite>The strategy of the Lloyd George coalition<\/cite> Oxford 1995, pp.119-22, 92-93, 146.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_18');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_18\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>18<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\"><cite>Ibid<\/cite> pp.92-93, 146.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_19');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_19\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>19<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">D Moran, A Waldron (eds) <cite>The people in arms<\/cite> Cambridge 2003, pp.128-29.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_20');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_20\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>20<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">A Read <cite>The world on fire<\/cite> London 2009, pp.37-38.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_21');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_21\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>21<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">T Ben-Moshe <cite>Journal of Modern History<\/cite> Vol 62, pp.504, 529-36.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_22');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_22\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>22<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">See Hillel Ticktin\u2019s articles, \u2018Marxist method, working class struggle and capitalist crisis\u2019 (<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/radicalperspectivesonthecrisis\/finance-crisis\/general-theories-of-crisis\/ticktinmarxistmethodworkingclassstruggleandcapitalistcrisis\">Ticktin: &#8220;Marxist Method, Working Class Struggle and Capitalist Crisis&#8221;<\/a>); and \u2018A Marxist political economy of capitalist instability and the current crisis\u2019 (<a href=\"http:\/\/libcom.org\/library\/marxist-political-economy-capitalist-instability-current-crisis-hillel-ticktin\">A Marxist Political Economy of Capitalist Instability and the Current Crisis &#8211; Hillel Ticktin<\/a>).<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_23');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_23\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>23<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Speech made on March 26 2014.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_7418_1_24');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_7418_1_24\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>24<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Speech made on October 11 2012. Cameron also repeated the 1914 propaganda lie that British soldiers went to war to counter Prussian \u201catrocities in Belgium\u201d. Such atrocities were all too real, but they were hardly the motive for war and hardly worse than Britain\u2019s use of concentration camps in the Boer War (or her naval blockade which contributed to the deaths of over half a million civilians in World War I). A Downes, <cite>Targeting Civilians in War<\/cite> p. 87.<\/p>\n<p>This article was first posted at:- <a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140812204637\/https:\/\/libcom.org\/history\/world-war-one-100-years-counter-revolution-mark-kosman\">World War I and 100 years of counterrevolution &#8211; Mark Kosman<\/a><\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_7418_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_7418_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_7418_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_7418_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_7418_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_7418_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_7418_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_7418_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_7418_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_7418_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_7418_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_7418_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_7418_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_7418_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kool34 sent us a comment on the\u00a0articles in our recent bulletin on the First World War (Emancipation &#038; Liberation Special Bulletin \u2013 The Centenary of the World War I Imperialist Slaughter). This comment invited us to read the\u00a0following article by Mark Kosman. We are pleased to draw this to the attention of our\u00a0readers. In 1871,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1843,1858,1867,1846,1845,1848],"tags":[3043],"class_list":["post-7418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-capitalists-organise","category-oppression-liberation","category-emancipation-liberation-and-self-determination","category-british-imperialism","category-us-imperialism","category-ex-ussr","tag-author-mark-kosman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":5117,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7418"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18791,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7418\/revisions\/18791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}