ings of
European finance and diplomacy, dealings which are encouraged by the
"torpor of public spirit"; his cry of alarm at "the sensational lies of
the press, actuated by the rotten system of capitalism, sowing panic and
hatred, and playing cynically with the lives of millions of men, through
mere financial considerations or delirious pride"; his contemptuous
words for those whom he calls "the jockeys of his country"; his clear
perception of all responsibilities;[48] his foreknowledge of the
domesticated attitude which would be adopted in case of war by the
Social-democratic party of Germany, to whom he showed, as in a mirror
(at the Amsterdam Congress in 1904) their haughty weakness, their lack
of revolutionary tradition, their want of parliamentary strength, their
"formidable powerlessness";[49] of the attitude which certain leaders of
French Socialism, too, and amongst others Jules Guesde, would maintain
in the conflict between the great States of Europe;[50] and, looking
even beyond the war, his premonition of the consequences, near and
remote, national and international, of this conflict of nations.

How would he have acted had he lived? The proletariat of Europe looked
to him for guidance, and had faith in him--Camille Huysmans has said so
in the speech delivered at his grave in the name of the Workers'
International.[51] There can be no doubt that when he had fought against
the war until all hope of preventing it was gone, he would have yielded
loyally to the common duty of national defense and taken part in it with
all his might. He had announced this point of view at the Congress in
Stuttgart, in 1907, in full agreement therein with Vandervelde and
Bebel: "If, whatever the circumstances, a nation were to refuse from the
outset to defend itself, it would be entirely at the mercy of the
Governments of violence, barbarism, and reaction.... A unity of mankind
which was the result of the absorption of conquered nations by one
dominating nation would be a unity realized in slavery." On his return
to Paris, in giving an account of the Congress to French Socialists
(September 7, 1907, at the Tivoli Vaux-Hall), he impressed upon them
their double duty--war against war, so long as it is only a menace upon
the horizon, and in the hour of danger war in defense of national
independence. For this great European was also a great Frenchman.[52]
Yet it is certain, too, that the firm accomplishment of his patriotic
duty would n