Indeed, the Zimmerwald Manifesto even commented that the “ improvement in welfare proclaimed at the outbreak of the war - want and privation, unemployment and high prices, undernourishment and epidemics are the actual results.”ĭespite all the advancements of modern science and the sacrifices made by health workers across the world, Covid has taken millions of lives, on top of other global epidemics like Cholera– barely noticed because they affect mainly the poor countries. This is no exaggeration: the world is barely emerging from the worst pandemic since the flu epidemic that ravaged the world in 19. But if at that time “modern capitalism” had become irreconcilable with the elementary conditions of human intercourse, it has today created such a catastrophic situation that it has now become increasingly irreconcilable with dignified human existence. The Manifesto, intended for a different epoch, remains entirely relevant for International Workers Day 2022. Although Zimmerwald was attended by just 38 delegates, several later became famous for their role in revolutions that strived to create a world without war by uprooting its cause - capitalism. In line with the principles of revolutionary socialism, they broke with the reformist social democrats who supported the capitalist classes of their own countries in the war. The meeting had been preceded by both the “International Socialist Women’s Conference” and Conference of “Socialist Youth”. Written over 100 years ago in 1915, based on a draft by Leon Trotsky, this was part of the manifesto adopted by delegates to the “Zimmerwald Conference”, a small gathering of International Socialists who opposed WW1. Thus the war reveals the naked figure of modern capitalism which has become irreconcilable, not only with the interests of the laboring masses, not only with the requirements of historical development, but also with the elementary conditions of human intercourse.” Cultural devastation, economic decline, political reaction these are the blessings of this horrible conflict of nations. “The burdens of war will consume the best energies of the peoples for decades, endanger the achievements of social reform, and hinder every step forward.
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