Quotes Bebel and Elder Liebknecht.
The words of Bebel and of the elder Liebknecht have always been heard
with favor in America. And what, for example, has Bebel said in this
connection?
In the preservation of Germany's independence all the laboring
classes, to the very least among them, are just as much concerned
as those who consider themselves the chosen leaders and rulers of
the people, and the working class in nowise desires to bend its
back under any sort of foreign rule.
Still more fully did Bebel declare himself during the session of the
Reichstag of March 7, 1904. At that time he said:
Gentlemen: You cannot in the future carry on any successful wars
without our aid. ["Very true!" "Right!" from the Socialists.] If
you conquer you will conquer with us and not against us; without
our help you can no longer subsist. ["True!" "Right!" from the
Socialists.] I will go still further, we would have the greatest
possible interest were we to be involved in a war--a war in which
the existence of Germany was threatened, for--and I give you my
word for it--we are ready to the last and the oldest man among us
to shoulder arms and protect German soil not in service to you but
to ourselves--as far as I am concerned, in fact in defiance of you.
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